Freedom is the very nature of human beings. According to the Cambridge dictionary, the word is defined as “the condition or right of being able or allowed to do, say, think, etc. whatever you want to, without being controlled or limited.” To think and act accordingly is central to human nature. This coupled with freedom demonstrates who a human being is.
A society that has developed a way for its citizens to exercise their freedom in an optimal way is a civilized one. Any society that limits the freedom of humans is not only a backward one but it is doomed to fail at some point since it functions against the very essence of being human.
Putting it in a broader context, freedom is one of the elements of human rights. One finds the following text on the website of UN: “Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status. Human rights include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more. Everyone is entitled to these rights, without discrimination.” It is explicit that the UN recognizes freedom as a human right.
Democracy
Of course, if a society has people who are exercising freedom without responsibility, that will also lead to chaos and anarchism. The late Myles Munroe, who was a chief executive officer and chairman of the board of the International Third World Leaders Association and president of the International Leadership Training Institute, said once, “Freedom requires more responsibility than slavery.” Yes, freedom and responsibility should go hand in hand if a society is to function in a cohesive way.
Countries that are balancing their system with these principles in a meaningful way are optimal places to live for many people in the world. Such a system of government or administration can be called a democracy.
That is why the western nations are attracting many people in this age. As in the case of the USA, freedom is the way of life and the three branches of government (legislative, executive, and judicial), provide the check and balance in the democratic system. The fourth branch of government such as the press, the people, and the interest groups plays their part too.
Unfortunately, many countries are still struggling to build such a system. Building a nation with democratic values is a daunting endeavor. Running an election every year can not sufficiently make a system to be democratic. There should be independent, effective, and uncorrupted institutions that can sustain the sanity of that system. In other words, strong entities are required to balance the freedom and responsibility aspects of life.
Democracy should be exercised at micro levels like family, workplace, communities, organizations, and so on before one tries to impose it on a whole nation. Actually, it is the result of the culture, philosophy, and ideology of a society. Education can be one of the vehicles that can create such a system if designed and implemented in a deliberate way. Of course, given an ample amount of time too. That is why many huge organizations chose to invest in education. And that is why many billions of dollars are available for developing countries in this regard every year.
Autocracy and partitocracy
In our world, there seem two other forms of government systems, that are not democratic, functioning right now. One is an autocracy, where one rules with absolute power, and the other is a party-based autocracy, where a party or group of people lead as they want. It is also called partitocracy.
Of course, both autocracy and partitocracy are different from democratic ones, where the people elect their preferred candidates and parties at some time interval.
In the eyes of those governments that have a democratic system, those two autocratic systems are criticized and ridiculed for their handling of human rights. There is a constant engagement from those nations, especially the westerners, to the ones who are individual autocrats or party-based-autocrats.
Now those countries that managed to build democracy are using the values and principles that emanate from a free society to dominate and manipulate other countries using the guilt trip.
The case of H.R.6600 and S.3199
The reason why we say “democracy and human rights are being used as a means to neo-colonization” is that those who think are in a better position on this matter are preaching and teaching to those who are unrepentant and stubborn nations on the subject.
The recent bills on Ethiopia by the House and Senate of the USA, H.R.6600 and S.3199, respectively are examples. Even the name of the bill is revealing: ‘Stabilization, Peace, and Democracy’.
In the name of peace, stabilization, democracy, and human rights, you interfere in a sovereign nation and destabilize it. The main motive to do so is not about the well-being of citizens in the country, but greediness.
Remember, the Christian missionary trips to the third world precede colonization. Today a parallel event is taking place: human rights advocacy precedes neo-colonization. It is just a matter of time unless the third world walks up and matures. Those weak countries will be controlled by corporations and a few wealthy elites together with corrupt politicians.
The central aspects of democracy and human rights are used as the framework to deal with those nations that are obstacles to dominance in any sphere: economic, geopolitical, ideology, and even religion and culture. The elements of the framework of democracy like freedom (expressed as the choice of people), participation of people, human rights, and rule of law are used as a pretext to enter into a nation to destroy, destabilize, weaken, and divide, or ruined that country. The new missionaries are using global development goals like the 17 SDG goals as entrance into the spheres of those autocrats and partitocratic systems unless they subdue. If the systems are subdued to the neo-colonizers idea, dominance, policy, and son, no one touches them. They can flourish through the slow flow of money.
To mention a good example, during the partitocracy system of TPLF, Ethiopia flourished somehow. Egypt led by the autocrat is the right hand of the west in the region since it bows down to the neo colonizers’ plans and strategies. Egypt enjoys some benefits also. As they say in Amharic እከክልኝ ልከክልህ – “ you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.” That is why the two bills in the USA mentioned above, H.R.6600 and S.3199, are being driven by Egypt, while the USA enforces it to be the law on the planet. Let us only analyze one of the aspects of these neo colonizers’ bills, as an example. It reads as follows:
“The State Department is required to develop a plan for supporting democracy and human rights in Ethiopia, including plans “to combat hate speech online, support accountability measures for atrocities and efforts to buttress a national dialogue”
The intent of the bill seems to ‘support’ democracy and human rights. It also intends to address hate speech using the internet, social media, and so on.
To be frank there is no problem with this intention at all. We could have supported this with all our might. The question is, who is driving this bill, who is behind it? As they intend to set up a means to hold accountable those who commit great atrocities, why they did not mention TPLF and ONEG SHENE in the bill at all? Are they not these agents committing the atrocity of the century? What kind of support is this? Why do not you say it in plain terms?
We were not successful to bring regime change and now we are going to create a way that will help us get what we wanted from the beginning.
We are not against democracy and human rights. Far from it! We believe that humans should exercise responsible freedom as well as the rights of citizens should be respected at all costs. But we are against using these values as a means to humiliate and dismantle a nation.
As they say, the devil’s in the detail. What do they mean by hate speech? Who are those people and governments investing in it? Who opens and blocks social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, even youtube.
For whom are these allowed and for whom are these entities providing a free ride? How are they going to implement it? These past years, we Ethiopians have seen it all.
There is no deception. You can not deceive us more. Do not use your best things like human rights and democracy as a weapon to humiliate us. Back off, if you can stop the unfair help you are doing to those who create destruction to their own people.
Have you seen how the poor people of Afar, Amhara, and Tigray suffered the past few years, due to your interference? STOP meddling in other countries affairs, please!
Ethiopia is at a crossroads. It was under a system that sold its very soul to the masters, the neo colonizers, due to TPLF. But the reform was created by the movement of the people against TPLF. An early form of democracy has been launched in the form of somehow a free election.
But sustaining that momentum seems a difficult task as the whole system is formed by the image of TPLF. It seems it is hard to break from old habits. Even the new movement called #NoMore seems to struggle to keep its pace.
The force of neo-colonization is working behind. We need to understand the game. Their real reason to interfere might be regime change and national interest, geopolitical interest, economic interest, and so on. But their pretext is aligned with human rights and democratic values.
We need to expose all the wicked ways. For that, we need to see the bigger picture; work for good of humanity; collaborate with the right forces, and so on. We need to hold on. Patience and patience are needed highly.
Ed.’s note: The views entertained in this piece of work do not necessarily reflect the stance of The Ethiopian Herald
BY DEJEN RAS
The Ethiopian Herald 6 April 2022
