Addis Neger

When was the last time where we saw mothers or fathers being appreciated for being model parents? Which religious leader deserves to be called an advocate of human rights and justice in Ethiopia out of conviction for a socially relevant belief? Do we have somebody anywhere close to personalities like Archbishop Desmond Tutu? How successful have we become in producing successful athletes, musicians, artists, philosophers and thinkers that we can look up to as leaders? When was the last time we have read famous literary works in the ranks of “Fikir Eske Mekaber” or “Adefris”? In almost every aspect of our national life, there is a decline and, even worse, a glaring lack of iconic leaders-role models that the young generation could look up to.

I will not be surprised if the Front transforms itself to a united national party along the lines of CCP, CCM, BDP or its immediate Ethiopian predecessor, the WPE! Given its record of staggering pragmatism (Remember the premier’s frequent remark that EPRDF never repeats its mistakes!), the Front does have the courage to reinvent itself like this. This may turn the table on all pan-Ethiopian opposition parties pulling the carpet from beneath, while satiating the ethno-nationalists by retaining the current ethno-federal structure of the country. The massive influx of the urban voters to support (be it out of conviction or provision) and comprise the EPRDF could serve as one possible trigger of such a phenomenon. The jury is out to find the verdict but still all eyes are on Leviathan.

The notion of economic development should not be divorced from analyzing the nature of the state, the market and community structures into account. That oft-made distinction made between the workings of the economy and the state is deceptive. The issue should be recast asking one basic question, “How does the workings of the State in Africa promote or hamper economic development?”

Three things strike you about the Ethiopian community. First is the sheer absence of any franchised civil or political influence of the Ethiopian Diaspora on local (city-county) or state politics in America. In a country where communities found organizations that promote the welfare, rights and opportunities of their members, one cannot mention of any such organization in the Ethiopian context.

The Marxist literature worked on a taxonomy of ‘people’ some of whom could be eligible to exercise self determination and others were not. At the top of this evolutionary pyramid we have ‘nations’, succeeded by ‘nationalities’ and ‘people’ right at the bottom of the ladder. Remember infamous acronym for one of the regional states in Ethiopia whose name goes the “Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Regional State (SNNPRS)? Quite a mouthful of Stalinist classification!