
It is now months that the issue of students safety in Ethiopian higher learning institutions particularly in the regions has been a source of concern if not outright alarm for parents first, and foremost who send their children to the campuses outside where they normally reside, but also for the students themselves who are about to embark on this new exposure, a new universe of knowledge and research that they have grown up fancying.
Just a few weeks ago a friend of mine had to dispatch his son to one of the universities in the east for matriculation. The boy rushed to take his place at the establishment before the expiry of the registration deadline and made it having decided to take a plane across the five hundred kilometers distance in 45 minutes.
But, soon what he found out was that the way the lodging and food provision were allocated did not suit his tastes. He thought they were below the standard he fancied; but most importantly the major concern of this young man was that the security situation in the campus and the city as a whole seemed to leave a lot to be desired.
He did not feel secure in this new environment and determined that he would not feel safe enough to indulge in the studies. His parents shared his concern and his mother, who had incidentally travelled to the place for official business of her own, corroborated the boy’s assertion and he had to return home. This may be one single negative instance but it has come to grow into becoming a dangerous pattern.
This is now becoming the new normal. Universities’ security situation is being questioned and doubted by students and parents. May be those without alternatives felt obliged to go ahead despite their worries. University education is after all a dream for many.
People are concerned that Ethiopian universities of all other places must be used to table ethnic based hostilities and violence. This has disgusted them. Engaging in rudimentary gangster type violence and lynching against fellow students sounds utterly shameful and throws dirt on our country’s image especially when one considers that this is done by people supposed to have had some acquaintance with civility and education!
We have heard enough about such acts in various African countries and we were all hoping that such acts would never be given an entry visa to our country! Well that optimistic prophesy seems to be contradicted by the recent alarms. How can people forget the Rwandan genocide and certain acts perpetrated in some parts of DRC and other areas? No one wins in such confrontations! Rather; every one is a loser! And yet there are certain elements in today’s Ethiopia who seem to forget or disregard such alarm.
The campaigns that some media outlets are heard conducting preaching hate based narratives among peoples and faiths are testimony to this story. One can clearly observe what sort of abuse of freedom of expression in the name of journalism or activism has been going on in plain daylight these days!
Well, Ethiopians must now respond with an emphatic no to all those abuses and hate narratives that only lead to destabilizing the country. Universities must return to be nests of research and studies rather than one of ethnic motivated agenda. A loud and unequivocal no is needed now more than ever before!
We hear some people say there must be ‘alien infiltration’ in these acts because they are just not something an Ethiopian may do on another national! There are financial intrusions and some foreign forces might take delight in the instability of our country. It is difficult to rule it out. But more investigations and proof are needed and this is a government mandate. People can only tip what they now wherever they are stationed or live.
For someone like me who personally took part in ‘university campaigns’ for the freedom and welfare of the Ethiopian peoples back decades ago, irrespective of any ethnic or language differences, the current situation in the campuses can only be a source of disheartening distress. If I recall that once universities were hotbeds of discussions and debates on what sort of future the country would deserve and whatever protests or rallies were made ‘against those on power’ be it the monarchy or the military junta, today’s developments become for me and my generation hardly understandable.
This time disputes and arguments have assumed a totally new vest and a very dangerous one: fratricidal endeavours along ethnic differences among fellows! It becomes really disturbing to see students of higher learning institutions go against the very basic tenets of Ethiopian society, the peaceful cohabitation and intermingling of peoples, Questions are inevitable. Why? And who is behind all this?
True that the political system of the past two, three decades has been putting more emphasis on the disparities rather than on the bonds that link and tie the various ethnic groups of the country. True that the leaders have been probably concentrating on their political benefits from such divisions rather than pull together the entire country towards a form of patriotism that would by united while aiming to address the various interests. It was such a consistent campaign that made it difficult to expect any different outcome than the current animosities once certain freedoms were unleashed. One could conclude we are harvesting what we have been sowing for years!
It is difficult to condemn some of the acts of these youths who were not well exposed to the bigger idea of a country called Ethiopia. They know little about the years of sacrifices paid to form and preserve an independent and dignified country avoiding with sacrifice what our African brothers had submitted to. Probably this generation has had little exposure to the valours of our forefathers’ prowess and resolve to keep the country free from invadors.
The idea of dividing the country along ethnic and linguistic lines must have been the first seed of animosity and rivalry among nationalities and for the previous establishment this has been the incarnation of their psyche. Today, in the twenty first century, it would definitely be backward to classify people along ethnic and religious lines and determine their life.
The world is globalized and we like it or not it is a village. Today’s rule is one based on thoughts and ideas and not belonging to this or that group. Identity might matter but only to a certain extent and it cannot be a determining factor in a university setting and unfortunately that is what we are learning now in today’s Ethiopia. And the future appears to be ominous if we do not bring to a halt such interferences in our campuses where we hope and are aiming to produce the future engineers, doctors and academics of all sorts.
Rivalry and enmity along ethnic lines does not correspond to the spirit of the times and Dark Age mentality cannot be entertained in an enlightened world such as university which beginning from its very name takes into account an entire ‘universe of knowledge and research’ and study! What we are currently experiencing is clearly a sharp regression in spirit and thought process of the celebrated students’ movements of Ethiopia which have written their own glorious chapters in the history of this nation.
I have heard people commenting that the students of those generations of the seventies and eighties fought for the farmers’ rights. ‘Land to the tiller! ‘Down with the aristocracy’! ‘Down with imperialism!’ were the slogans. The following generation presented grievances for better campus conditions and facilities and probably other academic motivated grievances. And this was quite different from the spirit of revolt of the previous generation. Today, we have apparently reached the worst of all!
This new battle of students can only lead to self-annihilation and throw the country to chaos. It destroys the efforts of parents shattering their dreams of an educated child becoming the new leader the new scientist.
Many authorities say that the true students are not interested in interethnic clashes but that it is infiltrators who, in disguised vests are provoking the others into a mob behaviour. But, here is where people who go to universities need to stop for a moment and ponder. We are not in ‘a football field setting.’ Here we are supposed to have an academic setting, a sober, intellectual setting and hence where there should be logic and rationality rather than instinctive reactions!
How can an educated person just blindly mount on an ethnically motivated, ethnically driven bandwagon? That is the question to pose. Often we hear alien political factions being blamed, but if the students were completely resistant to such exposure, they would not allow anyone be part of such conspiracy, so to say. They would isolate anyone who would try to engage in such mission.
We must check with the susceptibility of the students who are easily influenced by whatever narrative they are presented with. We must check with their maturity that university students should avail of. The message however cannot be any clearer to the government. It must use all its resources to halt this venomous situation harnessing all its good offices including of course the people.
The Ethiopian Herald Sunday Edition 24 November 2019
BY FITSUM GETACHEW