Teshome and Eshetu were classmates in college. They were both cerebral bookworms. There was a fierce academic competition between them. If either of them got a B in any subject it was a defeat for the other. It was typically a draw most of the time, which meant they both got A’s in all the subjects after exams.
In one mid –semester exam Eshetu got a B in genetics. As was customary between these two student intellectual giants, this fact was established after they both revealed their grades by simultaneously dropping their exam result slips to the ground for everybody to see.
“Didn’t I tell you that IQ is 75 percent environmental and only 25 percent genetic”, said Teshome with no mean trace of intellectual triumphalism in his voice. He continued, “How then would you explain Einestien getting lost in deep contemplation for hours on end? Isn’t that perspiration rather than inspiration? Inspiration represents hard work which is essentially environmental.”
“You can perspire all you want, but what matters is the spark of genius that uncovers a colossal truth – laden theory such as the theory of relativity. Not everybody is endowed with that innate mental ability. It must be genetic. We’d better try to find the intelligence gene”, replied Eshetu half in jest about his last sentence, realizing the enormity of the task.
Nobody knew exactly how the ritual of the academic contest of dropping the result – notification slip to the ground began, but it was quite a momentous occasion. Classmates and other students would throng in a circle to witness the spectacle. For most students it was a moment for soul- searching. What was it in the DNA of consistently straight –A students that they did not have, or was it simply the length of time they spent at Kennedy Library that made the difference?
Eshetu and Teshome walked to the college dining hall together for lunch. They had a choice between Doro Watt and Pastalfurno and milk was literally on tap. In retrospect, that would be a dream now, but
at the time students took such a menu for granted,because it was in the early 1960’s. Yeah! That was the golden age of Ethiopia under Emperor Haileselassie!
“Ohu! Was I famished!” exclaimed Eshetu after voraciously gorging on his favorite Ethiopian dish and drinking two plastic cups of milk like water.
“Any change in insight and opinion after the blowout? Is IQ mainly a function of nature or nurture? As you have amply demonstrated before my eyes, nutrition is transformational!” Teshome tried to instigate his friend to pursue the vexed issue after consuming the lighter European dish on the menu of the day.
“If anything, it has had a dulling effect on my intellect,” responded Eshetu in a quick riposte. They were about to call it a day and part ways when they saw something disgusting down the road in front of them. Taddess, an economics major, ran towards Kinfe and struck him across his legs. Kinfe fell down to the ground, his eye glasses flying off his face.
Both Teshome and Eshetu hurried to the scene. Teshome spoke first. “You are the violent party. Why did you hit him?”, asked Teshome.
“You don’t know Kinfe. He is an underground Marxist Crocodile.”
“So What?”
“He is plotting to orchestrate a Marxist revolution in Ethiopia on the debunked principle that the capitalist class exploits the working class by underpaying the latter.”
“ If Kinfe is a Marxist Crocodile, what are you? An underground capitalist Nacet?” queried Teshome.
“How did you know that I am a Nacet?” said Taddesse, surprised at Teshome’s knowledge of his supposedly closely guarded secret regarding his political orientation.
“Well, don’t you know that I am a regular contestant in the grade- result slip dropping ceremony on campus? It is my business to know. I am not a straight –A student for nothing, wise guy!” Teshome responded deliberately pompously.
“Don’t you go blowing your trumpet now! If your business is to know, how come you don’t know I am the candidate for the Chancellor’s Medal for the upcoming graduation year from the economics class?” Taddesse tried o reply in kind.
“ If you are that smart why do you resort to violence?”
“That was my last resort. Kinfe would not listen to overwhelming theoretical economic proof that in perfect competition the market wage rate is the right payment for labour and that there is no unpaid labour whatever and that the origin of profit is scarcity,” Taddesse almost recited one of the paragraphs from one of his economics text books.
Meantime, Knife, who had recovered from the unexpected strike after staggering to his feet, had been overhearing the heated and pompous exchanges between Teshome and Taddesse and he said:
“Under capitalism there is no perfect competition. It is a fantasy! What there is in reality is oligopoly and monopoly where capital is concentrated in the hands of a few capitalists who make huge profits on turnover as well as on price rises.”
Teshome, who was listening to Kinfe with great interest, turned to Tadesse and said: :“How dare you strike a person with such a formidable intellect? Shame on you!”
“I am sorry! But Kinfe is campaigning against Mekonen Bishaw and in favor of Tilahun Gizaw for President of the Ethiopian Student Union. I don’t much like the way Kinfe interprets the so –called “national question” in the Ethiopian context”.
“Even then, it is absolutely wrong to resort to force except in self – defense,” Teshome offered his admonition.
Then, in a dramatic change of heart, Taddesse walked up to Kinfe and stretched his arm for a handshake with his erstwhile political adversary. Even more surprisingly, Kinfe accepted the handshake of reconciliation.
The four of them, Teshome, Eshetu, Taddesse, and Kinfe looked like a bevy of geniuses on campus. They were all extremely intelligent although they might differ on ideas about the source of their robust intellectual rigour and about the kinds of political economic systems that would be appropriate for Ethiopia or for that matter for any other country in the world. So, they agreed to meet again and went their separate ways for the time being.
A few months later they met again as agreed and formed a political party called EPRP (Ethiopian Popular Rational Party.) The EPRP initially helped galvanize the Ethiopian people in support of the Derg (a military junta headed by strongman Mengistu Hailemariam) which deposed the aging Emperor Hailesellassie in a bloodless coup prior to the unleashing of the Red Terror, which the Derg (after falling out with EPRP) claimed was launched against EPRP’S White Terror in self defense.
On the contrary, Teshome, the Secretary General of the EPRP, true to his admonition to his co –founder of the EPRP Taddesse during the latter’s altercation on campus with another co –founder of the party, Kinfe, categorically denied the allegation that the EPRP used force first and that, in fact, it was the military junta (the Derg) which initiated the use of force without provocation.
At any rate, while the military junta consolidated its power, the four members of the executive committee of the EPRP fled the country hoping to fight another day. Meanwhile, the Derg was humiliatingly defeated in a protracted and bloody civil war by the TPLF and its domestic and external allies. And now, after the TPLF was removed firm the epicenter of power, the Secretary General of the Rational Party (short for EPRP) Teshome declared on ESAT that he is planning to return to Ethiopia and play a part in the country’s democratic transition on the following political and economic platform:
- The Rational Party’s political and economic ideology, rationalism!
- No identity –based group with a population of 10 million and above will be allowed to form an identity – based political or territorial party;
- No identity – based group shall be allowed to be armed;
- Merit shall be the sole criterion for political and economic advancement and gain, and benefit of any other kind except in the case of citizens with disabilities or any other natural disadvantages or special conditions;
- The languages policy of the country shall be determined by an elected parliament;
- An alternative presidential system of government shall be seriously considered by an elected parliament or constituent assembly;
- Participatory capitalism via profit sharing schemes for workers shall be the economic ideology of the party;
Teshome, Eshetu,Taddesse and Kinfe are today in their early seventies, but they are every bit as brilliant as they were while they were on campus back in the early 1960’s. In fact, they have mellowed with a great deal more insight and wisdom. Some fifty years ago their clarion call was “provisional popular government now!” Fifty years on the Ethiopian people’s demand is unchanged. EPRP’S brilliance never fades with time! It only glows more to illuminate ever more space occupied by Ethiopians! By the way the acronym TEKT stands for the initial letters of the names Teshome, Eshetu, Kinfe and Taddesse.
The Ethiopian Herald Sunday Edition February 23/2020
BY TEKLEBIRHAN GEBREMICHAEL
