BY FITSUM GETACHEW
There are people in our country who are preparing to use the upcoming election as an opportunity to seize to make their voice heard, not using the normal ways, but the illegal and undesirable one which is by using the threats of violence. These are evidently forces, individuals and groups who know or suspect that they would not get any sizeable votes, acceptance or preference by the people and would not even have the space of a footnote unless they create some ‘unpredictable event’ that can somehow manage to capture the attention of the media and be somehow on the headlines!
These are in many cases unscrupulous ‘merchants of death’ and destruction because they know that using the peaceful ballot or the peaceful path they cannot reach where they want to go; they cannot win seats in parliament or in any council. But by threatening or using these violent tactics they think they can succeed in showing to the world that they are important, that they matter or that they exist as a force to be reckoned with.
These are people who trade with the newly found great means which is open to all and has apparently no restrictions or limits and generally known as the ‘social media’. These people use these means to stock all sorts of emotional outbursts targeting such and such group or such and such political opponent to whom they find very convenient to attribute every failure, every weakness and every fault in the country or in society as a whole. These are forces that most probably are financed and sent to create some sort of havoc in the normal process of peaceful election by some covert enemy of Ethiopians.
Ethiopians need to open their eyes wide and watch carefully who these forces are and what long term and short term plans and intentions they have! Peaceful and democratic forces must be alert 24 hours a day, seven days a week to check with these forces who trade fake news, fake allegations and invented narratives that try to divide once and for all Ethiopians along their diversities accusing one group against another, linking a certain event to a certain group that may have been allegedly carried out centuries ago, years ago during the so and so leadership, so and so period!
Citizens must be very vigilant to distinguish these forces from the genuine political forces who have the interest and good of the country at heart and have the current and future destiny of the country and not live in the past, trading meaningless narratives which could be potentially a source of study and research at best rather than try to make it the basis for concluding that the current issues of the country, the current condition of the nation are consequences of those stories.
At this particular moment in our history, Ethiopia has lots of enemies, may be more than any other times in its history. These are enemies that are dreaming to create more causes of division than are actually even thought about or dreamed of and they are busy round the clock sowing seeds of hatred, revenge and retribution with a variety of accusations so that people are emotionally charged and get enraged, filled with venom and armed. Revenge is a deadly sentiment if it is nurtured with malice and hate. These forces have certain objectives to reach and they do not care which path they take. We have seen during the past three years since the downfall of TPLF-EPRDF, sustained attempts have been conducted to destabilize the country and possibly have it disintegrate into pieces. Needless to clear, these are arch enemies of Ethiopia! These forces know that they are irrelevant in the present day Ethiopia and the only way they can acquire some recognition is by engaging in these narratives.
These forces know they have no space to occupy in the minds of people because their stories and plans cannot go with the aspirations of the Ethiopian people as a whole. They know they cannot have any influence in the country’s affairs unless they create continuous motives of division and venom among the people taking cynic advantage of certain natural diversities, certain weaknesses, certain deficiencies. These forces are allied with various outside forces who are traditional enemies and rivals of Ethiopia who do not want to see a strong and developed country in their neighbourhood.
The security apparatus of the country has can easily identify who these people are because their actions speak loud about their identity. Their source of income or finance can be traced easily. The national intelligence agencies do know where they get the support, financial, technical and logistics so that they can create havoc at some area and choosing critical intersections where different ethnic or religious communities live, they try to exploit any potential misunderstandings or problems that may arise due to any number of issues such as possibly scarcity of resources that could sustain their life. They try to attribute any negative state of affairs as a cause to rise up against the nearby community and the like!
Unfortunately, Ethiopia is not popular among certain quarters even in the international arena because it can inspire so many countries who try to live a dignified life as independent of certain influences which have the tendency of neo-colonizing them! There is this spirit of independence and freedom that Ethiopians have developed along the centuries that has become contagious to other peoples. Such spirit is not liked by certain forces. Its spirit of dignity is not liked by certain forces and it has the power of spreading among mainly African countries but even beyond in countries where there are feelings of being subdued by some external influence or force. Peoples do not accept outside impositions whatever their nature. Often assistance from the developed world have certain strings that have something to do with one’s identity and dignity. Ethiopians have always been uncomfortable with similar grants. They know there is never a free lunch in our current world.
It is well known that Ethiopia is reputed to represent a huge moral force both historically as well as currently in the diplomatic spheres. Its role in peacekeeping and peacemaking, its role and influence in the midst of international organisations such as the UN and AU are remarkable. This has earned her solid and unwavering reputation. Ethiopia is considered by many as a role model in many aspects at the continental level.
Millions of Africans look towards Ethiopia as an inspiration of African dignity and pride; and this may not be palatable to many rivals of Ethiopia. And this does not please some countries which find themselves in bitter rivalry also because they have their own overarching national interests. This is probably why they look envious of anything positive that is taking place in the country. For instance they do not want Ethiopia to grow fast in the economic sphere because with 120 million people, it has the potential to be a significant force to be reckoned with.
Ethiopia can make its voice heard in the geopolitical context of the Horn of Africa region and the potential it has is enormous particularly in the long run. The issue of the Nile has always been a crucial point on which the rivalry of countries such as Egypt and Sudan is evident even to the lay man, let alone to the expert observers or researchers. In fact, the two regimes have stepped up their open aversion against Ethiopia seeing that it is bent to rise up and use its legitimate share of the Nile resource by building the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, GERD, and this in turn will help the country move another step towards a meaningful progress and growth.
The GERD will have a huge potential for Ethiopians in multiple areas. The world will see that such huge project can be realized and carried out by a small country called Ethiopia because all its peoples have decided to pay all the necessary sacrifices to realize such seemingly dream project! The idea that nothing is impossible in Ethiopia is now reality and this is so even against the various negative recommendations that reputed international bodies have ganged to force on the country’s leaders. This spirit of ‘yes we can’ using our own local means has a significant message to other African countries. The GERD is also a symbol of sovereignty beside one of capacity.
For years Ethiopia was blocked from using its potential over the Nile just to satisfy the ego of countries such as Egypt and its close allies. This has handicapped the entire nation from its legitimate aspirations with more than fifty percent of the population forced to live in darkness for years. No one could take Ethiopia seriously because many believe that it will remain a country perennially begging for aid and support in order to survive as a nation! This vicious cycle will soon be broken if this country attains a certain level of growth and independence. It is well known that Ethiopia has a huge potential in many sectors and if it can have an elected government of the people thus thriving in strength and prolonged stability and peace, something very significant can happen. This has the potential of being an engine of fast growth and it can eventually acquire the voice it has been deprived for years. It can also define and decide its own destiny as a sovereign nation.
That is why some forces are being hired to disturb this gradual and yet relentless process and put out the light of peace, sabotage its path towards progress and towards a democratically elected and established government.
That is why this 6th general election becomes a key and irreplaceable reckoning chapter that should not give any chance to these forces to disrupt the process.
Already the TPLF has tried to destroy the integrity of Ethiopia; already there are forces such as the OLF armed wing that threatens the integrity of the nation; there are certain individuals ‘self appointed activists’ and ‘human right militants’ whose only objective is to see that a country called Ethiopia exists only at the level of imagination and not on the ground! These forces have been trading these and other related narratives so that they can follow and implement their political agenda or that of their employers.
In the history of mankind and in the history of nations, there have always been heroes who sacrificed their lives for the good and realization of their moral mission and their story is written with golden words and ink in the minds of people, in the psyche of generations of peoples. However, there are also those who are the exact contrary, created to destroy what heroes build, what heroes achieve! Their number may be insignificant but they are part of the story as well.
Mercenaries and messengers of death, destruction as well as betrayal have always existed in history; but they are less than footnotes because they are recorded only for condemnation. These people have no moral or ethical identity or any national spirit. They do not live for anything; they do not die for anything meaningful. Everything they do is driven by mere ego and animalistic instincts and they feel free to collaborate with those who are contrary to the heroes’ missions, to their own compatriots and eventually to their own families and kin. We have experienced such events even in our glorious chapters of history. But we know we have the higher moral ground and we know we are in the right path, pursuing the right objectives and ideals. And that is why we know we will succeed; we will triumph defeating those who want to divide and disintegrate us using every means they have at hand.
It may be a huge trouble they are creating, presenting obstacles here and there, actively aided and financed by forces who have as objective the weakening of the country, if not its outright destruction! That is why Ethiopians must open their eyes wide and identify well these forces and then systematically reject their plans. They have to make them irrelevant as political forces; meaningless. That is what elections are for. If we use them with wisdom, elections can give us solutions to these destructive forces.
Elections must be insulated from not only physical violence but also the moral violence, the moral imposition that these forces try to overwhelm us with. Elections must be used as opportunities to reject all such aggressions, dismissing motives of hatred and violence. Elections do not mean violence but a peaceful way of expressing one’s choices and feelings!
The Ethiopian Herald 22 April 2021
