Ethiopians yesterday warmly received New Year with new spirit, new commitment and renewed courage to make a difference in all aspects withstanding a number of extraordinarily heaped ups and downs they have been encountering for the first time in the history of the nation.
Of the problems Ethiopians from every nook and cranny of the world have been facing, the myriads of challenges especially emanated from the ill-intended acts of the terrorist Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) remnants have come at the forefront as numerous people were killed and have displaced following it.
Of course, repercussions of COVID-19, the increased number of internally displaced persons are of the very hurdles seriously compromising the safety, security and wellbeing of all citizens throughout the year.
Interestingly, all the aforesaid challenges and the not yet cited ones have further cemented the fraternity, amicable state and unity of all Ethiopians at home and from abroad even have caused irreversible national unity.
Thanks to the irrevocable bond they have been framing, all citizens of the country have successfully contained each and every obstacle and multifarious futile attempts. Being prettily challenged with multifaceted problems, all Ethiopians received the New Year joyously with a fortified national unity.
Having a say with this writer, Mehari Mengistu, a sociologist said, “As things stand at present, Ethiopians residing at home and from overseas have been enunciating their unreserved support to the Ethiopian Government and the heroic Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) regardless of age, gender, political point of view, religious affiliation, ethnic background with a view to prevailing peace all over the nation.”
According to Mehari, instead of accepting the truth, the international community has even been getting themselves involved in smear campaigns against Ethiopia in furtherance of winning the hearts and minds of the terrorist TPLF supporters. However, thanks to the national unity cemented earlier, all destructive measures of anti-peace elements have been well aborted. Nowadays, Ethiopians residing in various parts of the country have been showing keen interest to push their country to the next level of success with a special determination at the dawn of the New Year.
He said, “The New Year has set in with peace, harmony, thinking of one another, even officials have deliberately nominated the five days of the Pagumen with telling and meaningful practices. All what have been done during these days are reflections of true Ethiopians and the richness of the country to bring about real change if citizens capitalize on doing everything well through unity and cooperation.”
Receiving inputs from all information sources that exemplify the importance and benefits of unity, collaboration and teamwork—people working together to unite above their divisive drives—will all start feeling that unity is important, and their attitudes to each other will become calibrated in that direction. Yes, fairness plays an integral role in fostering unity by equipping individuals with an educated and objective perspective on intercultural interaction, helping them effectively and effortlessly navigate through the waters of diversity, he underlined.
According to Mehari, national unity however, does not imply homogeneity. It advocates rather, a ‘community of communities’ which respects diversity and share values, experiences and geographical relativity. True, national unity in the form of racial and religious tolerance is an indispensable pre-requisite to societal peace. To reiterate, national unity is essential in maintaining a harmonious and functional society. The just seen off year attested this fact.
One of Addis Ababa residents, Teshome Tolcha said, “In times earlier than Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power, the terrorist TPLF bureaucrats were placing the country between the hammer and the anvil. There were many a slip between the cup and the lip.”
Teshome elucidated that when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power, the people of Ethiopia set in motion breathing a sigh of relief and putting across their infinite happiness time and time again. However, through the passage of time, the terrorist Junta began partaking in quite a lot of undertakings that posed a threat to Ethiopia and its people.
“I would go as far as to say, members of the defense forces are the hearts and souls of all Ethiopians. That is why all Ethiopians at home and abroad have been supporting them with a view to coming up with firm national unity and territorial integrity,” he added.
He further said, “All Ethiopians are known for fortifying unity and fraternity specially whenever their country is exposed to external aggressors and anti-peace betrayals inside. God forbid it. The country has never encountered devil sons like the terrorist TPLF. The good thing is, no matter how complicated and sophisticated the conspiracy the terrorist and its mercenaries have been orchestrating against Ethiopia, the firm unity and cooperation of its peace-loving citizens has successfully reversed the situation and enemies are being buried in the grave they have dug.”
He said, “National unity and subsequently societal stability contributes to nation-building. One aspect of nation-building revolves around economic developments which, in extremely simplified terms, may lead to elevated standards of living and viable prosperity.”
According to Teshome, Ethiopians need a present and future of which they can be as proud as they are of their past. “I wonder what my great-grandfather would think if he could see that the conflict raging in his country today is not between Ethiopians and their would-be foreign subjugators but between his own compatriots.”
He further stated that unity is important because nature wants us to unite. By uniting, we feel positive, phenomena fill our lives—happiness, confidence, peace and harmony.
“On the contrary, by making no motion toward unity, our egos grow unabated, and we let division, sense of jealousy, resentment and hatred separate us more and more. Accordingly, we experience increasing negative phenomena in our lives, i.e., suffering from personal, social, ecological and global scales which need to be sidestepped forever,” he stated.
Moreover, he said, it is important that our unity is above all divisions, and not merely the unity of one group against another. The latter is simply a group-inflated ego that serves to increase division and hatred in society, and which also leads to no ultimately positive outcome. Therefore, the prominence of unity is the importance of our very survival, and whether we live our lives harmoniously or painfully.
“Establishing the importance of unity in society requires regular education and examples of unity above division. The key to the transformation from division to unity is to start a process of unity-enriching learning. People will need to reach the realization that nature wants us to unite. We do not demand the impossible from people, nor force anyone to do anything that they do not want to do. We simply organize our socio-cultural and political influences to bring the need for unity to the center of public discourse, and we will then think about it more and more, as well as start wanting it to happen,” he opined.
“Eventually, said Teshome, unity above division would become as commonplace as smoking-free zones in various public places: people would simply feel that this calibration to act positively to others above their divisive drives is the correct and socially acceptable thing to do. Moreover, it is important to emphasize that at the foundation of this change is nature, we understand how nature is guiding us to unite, and by doing so, we do not simply wish for a slightly better life through our unity, but we literally save and upgrade everyone’s lives on the nation via intensifying hard work and advancing towards transformation.”
He wrapped up saying ‘national unity is crucial for the growth of Ethiopia in terms of guaranteeing societal stability and spurring economic growth for the betterment of the people especially during the just set in New Year and on.’
BY MENGESHA AMARE
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD 12 SEPTEMBER 2021
