PART IV
Reviewing the Damaging Effects of Ethiopian Diaspora Politics on the
Wider Community and its Future Initiatives: The Search for
Alternative Mechanisms - Concluding Remarks
6 May, 2009 | Maru Gubena
remarks it contains, I thought it would be wiser and perhaps more readable to
publish them separately. For me this final section is a must-read text, the
backbone of the entire paper; I hope that the alternatives suggested and the
concluding remarks will receive broad attention, but even more that they will lead
to a fruitful discussion. In addition to briefly reviewing and reflecting on all of the
sections of the paper as a whole, and the reasons behind the persistent reluctance
of Ethiopian Diaspora political movements, their interest groups and supporters to
pay attention to repeated proposals to establish a single, united and respected
Ethiopian Diaspora House – an institution that functions professionally and
embraces all of the segments of the Ethiopian Diaspora community – this final
section provides bold and unambiguous alternatives to the current course of
Ethiopian Diaspora politics and our political groupings. If our current course
continues, the closing remarks envisage a gloomy future, with a painful,
disappointing conclusion for those who have even minimal expectations for
concrete results from Diaspora politics. A process of recovery can commence
and take on the desired shape only if we are willing to redirect the current course
of Ethiopian Diaspora politics and bring about a drastic change, moving our
mindsets and behaviours from family and group-oriented towards a focus on
ourselves as Ethiopians, and on Ethiopians as one community.
The Search for Alternative directions and Mechanisms -
Concluding Remarks
Ethiopian Diaspora politics are almost as old as the Ethiopian Diaspora itself, as
mentioned in part two of this article. Not surprisingly, however, while a
disproportionately high number of the rapidly growing group of Ethiopian
Diaspora community members have succeeded in aggressively and progressively
advancing in a number of areas, including extraordinary achievements in their
education and living standards and taking on huge responsibilities in supporting
family members both in Ethiopia and in the Diaspora, our Ethiopian Diaspora
politics have never succeeded in receiving their support, or even in attracting their
attention. Consequently, Ethiopian Diaspora politics, political organizations, and
their individual founders have remained, not just dysfunctional, but also entirely
unknown to the large majority of the community. Even those few among the
community who have had an opportunity to be familiar with the existence of
Ethiopian Diaspora politics and its interest groups accuse the founders of those
organizations and their supporters of being the source of persistent tensions,
divisions and conflicts within the community, its community-based organizations
and church institutions, and thereby preventing resourceful, potentially helpful
community organizers with vision – those who are capable of planting seeds of
harmony within the community and working towards socio-cultural, political and
economic changes in our country – from coming out of their fortresses and
contributing to the multiple needs of the community and the country at large. Due
to these long-existing, smoldering tensions and anxieties, Ethiopian Diaspora
politics have also been seen by many as a potential obstacle to the establishment,
development and functioning of a non-political, professional Ethiopian Diaspora
institution (or institutions) – an institution whose founders, employees and
volunteers don’t and should not aspire to either political power or a political role in
Ethiopia and Ethiopian politics. An institution that is conducive to embracing all of
the segments of the Ethiopian Diaspora community and its community-based
organizations, and capable of changing the current circumstances and mood of the
entire community to become harmonious, strong, united and hardworking –
hardworking, first of all to achieve unity and confidence building for the
community itself. Once this has been accomplished, the attention of the institution
and our community resources and energies in general can be directed at the
various issues of Ethiopia, including human rights and democratization processes,
carrying out networking and professionally established diplomacy and lobbying
activities with a collective voice. The tasks and responsibilities of, or if necessary,
providing resources to local communities that need to reinforce their existing civil
society organizations and establish and strengthen new institutions will be among
the many goals and activities of the Ethiopian Diaspora House.
Even though I am clearly aware that, due to my complete openness in writing
about what I see is going to happen to us or to our planned activities and goals, or
that the road on which we are traveling is a bad and most dangerous one that will
not take us to the intended distention, I have been accused, not once but
repeatedly, by the then Kinijit supporters of being a “good fortune teller” and “a
potential enemy of Kinijit,” for simply having said, in the summer of 2006, that
Kinijit was “a thing of the past.” And despite not knowing what might follow, or
what the repercussions of the views and arguments I give below might be, it
would certainly be wrong of me and would go against my firm beliefs and
principles if I failed to share my perspectives about the future directions of
Ethiopian Diaspora politics and what exactly needs to be done in the future by the
community as an alternative to previous activities and current engagements –
perspectives based upon my observations, events that have taken place and my
interactions with my readers and the wider Ethiopian community regarding their
observations and experiences. In addition to my beliefs and principles, I continue
to do my best to contribute my part to the debate and perhaps also to the process
of learning from each other. Due to my profound interest, involvement and
engagement in research and work about asylum seekers/refugees, including
interactions and activities of Ethiopian asylum seekers/refugees and our Diaspora
community in general, the history of other Diaspora communities, including the
African Diaspora, the “White Russian Refugees,” the émigrés from China, Chile
and Argentina, and their roles and contribution to peace and development in their
countries of origin. I do this despite the absence of a relatively democratic
platform and despite the many unpleasant, hurtful events and disappointments of
past and present Diaspora politics, especially since 2005.
Yes, it seems, at least to me, from my own experiences, observations,
assessments and understandings, that the damaging effects of Ethiopian Diaspora
politics in the past few years on the morale and interest of the community
members in future hopes, socio-political activities and organizational initiatives
involving the multiple issues of our country have been huge – incalculable and
difficult, if not impossible, to repair or to mend. Even though unstructured and
unorganized, some Ethiopians have been spontaneously interested in establishing a
collective voice against the TPLF leadership. Their contributions could potentially
have supported the process of stabilization, peace and development, and they
might have helped to influence and redirect the course of politics in our country;
instead, however, a disproportionately high number have already been badly hurt.
As we know, the activities that have come from Ethiopian Diaspora politics have
always been entirely motivated by a desire to respond to the cruel and inhuman
actions and measures undertaken by the TPLF leadership. And unless something
dramatic takes place in the land of Ethiopia – something tragic, politically,
comparable to the May 2005 election or even uglier – the task of reversing our
current state, or at least reviving a part of the excitement and profound
involvement of the Ethiopia Diaspora community to resemble what we witnessed
throughout the spring of 2005 and into the early months of 2006, will be almost
insurmountable. It will take, at least, two or even three decades, and will require
an enormous amount of effort, including dramatic changes in the attitudes and
behaviours of each and every member of the Ethiopian Diaspora community
towards each other, finding ways to reconcile even with those whose political
views differ from our own. Meanwhile, if the current engagements and activities
of Ethiopian Diaspora community politics continue, the damaging impact will
undoubtedly increase rapidly, to the point that generations born in 2005 and
beyond, feeling its direct and indirect effects, will react to the phrase “Ethiopian
politics” with frowning faces, feeling appalled and disgusted.
It would probably be healthy, even wise, to ask whether Ethiopian Diaspora
politics alone have been and are the main reason – the cardinal source – of our
terrible failure and defeat, which I see as demoralizing and paralyzing us? I would
say, “no.” It is not. As suggested by the title of part one of this paper, I personally
see Ethiopian Diaspora politics as a factor that contributes to the smoldering
tensions, anxieties and divisions among the Diaspora community, but not the only
nor even the determining factor for our failure. The first and cardinal reason,
which is undeniably true, based on Ethiopians’ experiences, what they have
witnessed, and on repeated statements and threats, I would insist unambiguously,
is that we Ethiopians don’t like each other and we don’t like our country! In fact I
would argue that loving a given country means nothing more than loving and
respecting the people themselves and the land in which they live. And if that is
true, then the often-heard talk about how deeply and how broadly we love Ethiopia
simply consists of endless lies.
Imagine now just for a while, just for a moment, that we, the entire community of
the Ethiopian Diaspora, had lived through the remarkable and testing four-year
period, from winter 2005 to early 2009, a period marked by an irremovable black
stain on the minds of the Ethiopian Diaspora community, on our own island. I will
call it Zaldonia. We are there with no rules and laws of our own, just as we are
living now. It should not be at all difficult for any member of our community with
a healthy common sense who walked the rough paths of those high, treacherous
mountains with us throughout those four remarkably tragic years to predict or
guess what would have happened to some, or even most of us. Yes, the past few
years have put the long-held grudges and deep-seated resentments many of us
hold against each and every one of our own compatriots in a bright light. In fact,
the past three and half decades, but especially this brief four-year period, have
shown us unmistakably that we have completely lost our direction with respect to
finding a path to togetherness and unity.
The second major reason is that we have only been talking, often from a far
distance, about the issues of our country and about the many common goals we
want to develop and carry out. Regrettably and perhaps depressingly, we have
never been willing, never been interested in actually translating this talk into
practice. All of the talk and plans we have been engaged with throughout the past
twenty-five or more years are not in any of our dossiers, not even on paper or in
our computers. Why? Because the majority of us strongly believe that working for
our common cause does not directly and immediately benefit us, for example by
helping to support ourselves or our families at home. Yes, we are not also sure
that working for a common cause would provide each and every of us with some
kind of socio-political status. As a result, we choose to attack the TPLF leader,
Meles Zenawi, and those around him only with modern technological products
located thousands of kilometers away overseas, by means of our own individually
owned radios, websites and other means of communication.
The oddest of all, which is actually tragic, is that we find it so easy to lie in our
beds or sit on our chairs, accusing, charging Meles Zenawi and his cadres day in
and out with being everything that one can imagine, rather than making peace with
ourselves – with each other – and doing something meaningful together, not for
anyone else, but for ourselves, which would greatly boost our morale and our
confidence. Instead, we feel weak, incapable and totally powerless to fight and
resist our own backward personal and exceptionally detrimental cultural pride,
which is firmly and irremovably attached to us, to all parts of our bodies. Our
stubbornness limits and even totally blocks our capacity to think positively
towards those with differing views – even to make a simple phone call to someone
we feel may not like us, and talk to them with the pure intention of making peace,
of being social, being friends with them by saying “I am sorry, dear! I think I
probably, knowingly or unknowingly, have hurt your feelings. Can we please have
a cup of coffee or tea together this afternoon, or tomorrow?” Yes, instead we
choose, we prefer, to go on and on in endlessly fruitless talks, because it does not
cost us anything, since we do our talks in our free time or while we are lying in
bed. On the other hand, coming together face-to-face to fashion strategies aimed
at building a community whose members are and remain loyal and respectful to
each other, who work together to establish functional, helpful institutions with
teaching/lecture and conference halls, professionally set up libraries/documentation
centers, cafeteria spaces and recreation areas will require seriousness,
responsibility, time, energy, and perhaps money as well from each and every one
of us.
Perhaps (and to me, even certainly) these two reasons, as well as possibly a lack
of clear understanding of what having our own collectively owned House could
mean for our community, explain why we cannot feel jubilant and proud, and
react enthusiastically to the idea of establishing our own Ethiopian Diaspora House
– an institution that would allow the Ethiopian community to educate and train its
own educators, diplomatic representatives and professional legal and organizational
experts.
The vital importance of unity and confidence in allowing a community to win over
its crisis and achieve its intended goals was more effectively and strongly
articulated by the late president of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt, than
by anyone else. He said briefly and so powerfully, "Confidence and courage are
the essentials of success in carrying out our plan. Let us unite in banishing fear.
We have provided the machinery to restore our financial system. It is up to you to
support and make it work. It is your problem no less than it is mine. Together we
cannot fail." It should be abundantly clear, in my irreversible view, that without
courage and confidence we will not be able to make peace with one another; and
without making peace with one another we will not have the confidence and
courage to be able to build a functional Ethiopian Diaspora community. Without
having the required confidence in each other, we will not be able to work closely
together, and without working hand-in-glove, all of the efforts we have made
from time to time, whether as individuals or in small groups, will be fruitless; they
will even produce still more tension, anxiety, frustration and pain within the
Ethiopian Diaspora community and for the people of Ethiopia at large. And we, as
the Ethiopian Diaspora community, will continue to mature within our own family
and group circles, dying as scattered and as hostile to each other as we are today,
exactly as a sizable number of the “White Russian Refugees” of 1920 and 1940,
who, due to their failure to agree and work together against the Bolsheviks who
seized power during the October Russian Revolution of 1917, melted almost
without a trace into the beautiful western mountains, into peaceful and relaxing
rural landscapes and wealthy capitalist societies, to the point that no one today
would notice either their origin or culture.
I have talked and presented papers related to the issues discussed here in various
meetings and conferences, including Michigan State University in East Lansing,
Michigan, in May 1997, in Washington DC in May 1997, in Los Angeles,
California in July 1997, in Atlanta, Georgia in July 1998, in Leiden, The
Netherlands in 1999, in Leuven, Belgium in March 2006, and in The Hague, The
Netherlands in April and May 2007. Besides presenting papers and speaking at
various gatherings and on media outlets, I have also been publishing articles related
to the urgent need to make peace among ourselves, reviving our morale and
confidence; and the important difference that establishing our own institutions
could make to each and every of us as a proud and productive community
member. But in the final analysis it is “up to you to support and make it work. It is
your problem no less than it is mine.”
Let me now conclude by quoting myself – something I usually don’t like to do,
but the paragraph below seems to fit the issues highlighted above very well. “I
would certainly not hesitate to point out that the ball has been and is still in our
hands, in the hands of all Ethiopians; there is still the potential for us to make up
our minds and come together in an effort to heal our deep-seated socio-political
fractures and help redirect Ethiopia’s current position both in Ethiopia and within
the international community. This seems, at least to me, a question of waiting to
see what we want; whether we will be willing to come back to our senses and be
prepared to restore, not just our feelings of Ethiopianess and belonging to one
another, but also the shattered components of Ethiopia’s culture and the pride of
its people. Again, it is my strong conviction that if we, collectively, are to play a
meaningful role in helping to clear away the huge clouds surrounding our country
and people, to create mechanisms conducive to moving our country from the
status of a beggar society to one of self-reliance, this role will be conditioned by,
and perhaps depend largely upon, our willingness to fight against the bad and ugly
sides of our own culture – but also upon our readiness to engage in the cultivation
and development of democratic institutions, confidence building, self-education
and self-democratization efforts.” Maru Gubena, in “Evaluating Three Decades of
Ethiopian Resistance, its Challenges, Achievements and Failures: Perspectives for
Political and Leadership Change,” published June 2007.
Maru Gubena
Readers who wish to contact the author can reach me at info@pada.nl
Back to Perspective or Home
Reviewing the Damaging Effects of Ethiopian Diaspora Politics on the
Wider Community and its Future Initiatives: The Search for
Alternative Mechanisms - Concluding Remarks
6 May, 2009 | Maru Gubena
- Dear readers, as promised when part three was
published about three weeks ago, here is the
final section of the entire paper (“Reviewing
the Damaging Effects of Ethiopian Diaspora
Politics on the Wider Community and its
Future Initiatives: The Search for Alternative
Mechanisms”). The title of this important
section is “The Search for Alternative
directions and Mechanisms - Concluding
Remarks.” Initially this was to be published
together with part three, but for smooth
remarks it contains, I thought it would be wiser and perhaps more readable to
publish them separately. For me this final section is a must-read text, the
backbone of the entire paper; I hope that the alternatives suggested and the
concluding remarks will receive broad attention, but even more that they will lead
to a fruitful discussion. In addition to briefly reviewing and reflecting on all of the
sections of the paper as a whole, and the reasons behind the persistent reluctance
of Ethiopian Diaspora political movements, their interest groups and supporters to
pay attention to repeated proposals to establish a single, united and respected
Ethiopian Diaspora House – an institution that functions professionally and
embraces all of the segments of the Ethiopian Diaspora community – this final
section provides bold and unambiguous alternatives to the current course of
Ethiopian Diaspora politics and our political groupings. If our current course
continues, the closing remarks envisage a gloomy future, with a painful,
disappointing conclusion for those who have even minimal expectations for
concrete results from Diaspora politics. A process of recovery can commence
and take on the desired shape only if we are willing to redirect the current course
of Ethiopian Diaspora politics and bring about a drastic change, moving our
mindsets and behaviours from family and group-oriented towards a focus on
ourselves as Ethiopians, and on Ethiopians as one community.
The Search for Alternative directions and Mechanisms -
Concluding Remarks
Ethiopian Diaspora politics are almost as old as the Ethiopian Diaspora itself, as
mentioned in part two of this article. Not surprisingly, however, while a
disproportionately high number of the rapidly growing group of Ethiopian
Diaspora community members have succeeded in aggressively and progressively
advancing in a number of areas, including extraordinary achievements in their
education and living standards and taking on huge responsibilities in supporting
family members both in Ethiopia and in the Diaspora, our Ethiopian Diaspora
politics have never succeeded in receiving their support, or even in attracting their
attention. Consequently, Ethiopian Diaspora politics, political organizations, and
their individual founders have remained, not just dysfunctional, but also entirely
unknown to the large majority of the community. Even those few among the
community who have had an opportunity to be familiar with the existence of
Ethiopian Diaspora politics and its interest groups accuse the founders of those
organizations and their supporters of being the source of persistent tensions,
divisions and conflicts within the community, its community-based organizations
and church institutions, and thereby preventing resourceful, potentially helpful
community organizers with vision – those who are capable of planting seeds of
harmony within the community and working towards socio-cultural, political and
economic changes in our country – from coming out of their fortresses and
contributing to the multiple needs of the community and the country at large. Due
to these long-existing, smoldering tensions and anxieties, Ethiopian Diaspora
politics have also been seen by many as a potential obstacle to the establishment,
development and functioning of a non-political, professional Ethiopian Diaspora
institution (or institutions) – an institution whose founders, employees and
volunteers don’t and should not aspire to either political power or a political role in
Ethiopia and Ethiopian politics. An institution that is conducive to embracing all of
the segments of the Ethiopian Diaspora community and its community-based
organizations, and capable of changing the current circumstances and mood of the
entire community to become harmonious, strong, united and hardworking –
hardworking, first of all to achieve unity and confidence building for the
community itself. Once this has been accomplished, the attention of the institution
and our community resources and energies in general can be directed at the
various issues of Ethiopia, including human rights and democratization processes,
carrying out networking and professionally established diplomacy and lobbying
activities with a collective voice. The tasks and responsibilities of, or if necessary,
providing resources to local communities that need to reinforce their existing civil
society organizations and establish and strengthen new institutions will be among
the many goals and activities of the Ethiopian Diaspora House.
Even though I am clearly aware that, due to my complete openness in writing
about what I see is going to happen to us or to our planned activities and goals, or
that the road on which we are traveling is a bad and most dangerous one that will
not take us to the intended distention, I have been accused, not once but
repeatedly, by the then Kinijit supporters of being a “good fortune teller” and “a
potential enemy of Kinijit,” for simply having said, in the summer of 2006, that
Kinijit was “a thing of the past.” And despite not knowing what might follow, or
what the repercussions of the views and arguments I give below might be, it
would certainly be wrong of me and would go against my firm beliefs and
principles if I failed to share my perspectives about the future directions of
Ethiopian Diaspora politics and what exactly needs to be done in the future by the
community as an alternative to previous activities and current engagements –
perspectives based upon my observations, events that have taken place and my
interactions with my readers and the wider Ethiopian community regarding their
observations and experiences. In addition to my beliefs and principles, I continue
to do my best to contribute my part to the debate and perhaps also to the process
of learning from each other. Due to my profound interest, involvement and
engagement in research and work about asylum seekers/refugees, including
interactions and activities of Ethiopian asylum seekers/refugees and our Diaspora
community in general, the history of other Diaspora communities, including the
African Diaspora, the “White Russian Refugees,” the émigrés from China, Chile
and Argentina, and their roles and contribution to peace and development in their
countries of origin. I do this despite the absence of a relatively democratic
platform and despite the many unpleasant, hurtful events and disappointments of
past and present Diaspora politics, especially since 2005.
It is in this light that I
have been reviewing
the damaging effects
of Ethiopian Diaspora
politics on the wider
community, our
organizational hopes
and potential future
initiatives, so that we can
consider the actions and
measures that will be
required and perhaps
make corrections to some
policies and planned
activities.
Yes, it seems, at least to me, from my own experiences, observations,
assessments and understandings, that the damaging effects of Ethiopian Diaspora
politics in the past few years on the morale and interest of the community
members in future hopes, socio-political activities and organizational initiatives
involving the multiple issues of our country have been huge – incalculable and
difficult, if not impossible, to repair or to mend. Even though unstructured and
unorganized, some Ethiopians have been spontaneously interested in establishing a
collective voice against the TPLF leadership. Their contributions could potentially
have supported the process of stabilization, peace and development, and they
might have helped to influence and redirect the course of politics in our country;
instead, however, a disproportionately high number have already been badly hurt.
As we know, the activities that have come from Ethiopian Diaspora politics have
always been entirely motivated by a desire to respond to the cruel and inhuman
actions and measures undertaken by the TPLF leadership. And unless something
dramatic takes place in the land of Ethiopia – something tragic, politically,
comparable to the May 2005 election or even uglier – the task of reversing our
current state, or at least reviving a part of the excitement and profound
involvement of the Ethiopia Diaspora community to resemble what we witnessed
throughout the spring of 2005 and into the early months of 2006, will be almost
insurmountable. It will take, at least, two or even three decades, and will require
an enormous amount of effort, including dramatic changes in the attitudes and
behaviours of each and every member of the Ethiopian Diaspora community
towards each other, finding ways to reconcile even with those whose political
views differ from our own. Meanwhile, if the current engagements and activities
of Ethiopian Diaspora community politics continue, the damaging impact will
undoubtedly increase rapidly, to the point that generations born in 2005 and
beyond, feeling its direct and indirect effects, will react to the phrase “Ethiopian
politics” with frowning faces, feeling appalled and disgusted.
It would probably be healthy, even wise, to ask whether Ethiopian Diaspora
politics alone have been and are the main reason – the cardinal source – of our
terrible failure and defeat, which I see as demoralizing and paralyzing us? I would
say, “no.” It is not. As suggested by the title of part one of this paper, I personally
see Ethiopian Diaspora politics as a factor that contributes to the smoldering
tensions, anxieties and divisions among the Diaspora community, but not the only
nor even the determining factor for our failure. The first and cardinal reason,
which is undeniably true, based on Ethiopians’ experiences, what they have
witnessed, and on repeated statements and threats, I would insist unambiguously,
is that we Ethiopians don’t like each other and we don’t like our country! In fact I
would argue that loving a given country means nothing more than loving and
respecting the people themselves and the land in which they live. And if that is
true, then the often-heard talk about how deeply and how broadly we love Ethiopia
simply consists of endless lies.
Imagine now just for a while, just for a moment, that we, the entire community of
the Ethiopian Diaspora, had lived through the remarkable and testing four-year
period, from winter 2005 to early 2009, a period marked by an irremovable black
stain on the minds of the Ethiopian Diaspora community, on our own island. I will
call it Zaldonia. We are there with no rules and laws of our own, just as we are
living now. It should not be at all difficult for any member of our community with
a healthy common sense who walked the rough paths of those high, treacherous
mountains with us throughout those four remarkably tragic years to predict or
guess what would have happened to some, or even most of us. Yes, the past few
years have put the long-held grudges and deep-seated resentments many of us
hold against each and every one of our own compatriots in a bright light. In fact,
the past three and half decades, but especially this brief four-year period, have
shown us unmistakably that we have completely lost our direction with respect to
finding a path to togetherness and unity.
The second major reason is that we have only been talking, often from a far
distance, about the issues of our country and about the many common goals we
want to develop and carry out. Regrettably and perhaps depressingly, we have
never been willing, never been interested in actually translating this talk into
practice. All of the talk and plans we have been engaged with throughout the past
twenty-five or more years are not in any of our dossiers, not even on paper or in
our computers. Why? Because the majority of us strongly believe that working for
our common cause does not directly and immediately benefit us, for example by
helping to support ourselves or our families at home. Yes, we are not also sure
that working for a common cause would provide each and every of us with some
kind of socio-political status. As a result, we choose to attack the TPLF leader,
Meles Zenawi, and those around him only with modern technological products
located thousands of kilometers away overseas, by means of our own individually
owned radios, websites and other means of communication.
The oddest of all, which is actually tragic, is that we find it so easy to lie in our
beds or sit on our chairs, accusing, charging Meles Zenawi and his cadres day in
and out with being everything that one can imagine, rather than making peace with
ourselves – with each other – and doing something meaningful together, not for
anyone else, but for ourselves, which would greatly boost our morale and our
confidence. Instead, we feel weak, incapable and totally powerless to fight and
resist our own backward personal and exceptionally detrimental cultural pride,
which is firmly and irremovably attached to us, to all parts of our bodies. Our
stubbornness limits and even totally blocks our capacity to think positively
towards those with differing views – even to make a simple phone call to someone
we feel may not like us, and talk to them with the pure intention of making peace,
of being social, being friends with them by saying “I am sorry, dear! I think I
probably, knowingly or unknowingly, have hurt your feelings. Can we please have
a cup of coffee or tea together this afternoon, or tomorrow?” Yes, instead we
choose, we prefer, to go on and on in endlessly fruitless talks, because it does not
cost us anything, since we do our talks in our free time or while we are lying in
bed. On the other hand, coming together face-to-face to fashion strategies aimed
at building a community whose members are and remain loyal and respectful to
each other, who work together to establish functional, helpful institutions with
teaching/lecture and conference halls, professionally set up libraries/documentation
centers, cafeteria spaces and recreation areas will require seriousness,
responsibility, time, energy, and perhaps money as well from each and every one
of us.
Perhaps (and to me, even certainly) these two reasons, as well as possibly a lack
of clear understanding of what having our own collectively owned House could
mean for our community, explain why we cannot feel jubilant and proud, and
react enthusiastically to the idea of establishing our own Ethiopian Diaspora House
– an institution that would allow the Ethiopian community to educate and train its
own educators, diplomatic representatives and professional legal and organizational
experts.
The vital importance of unity and confidence in allowing a community to win over
its crisis and achieve its intended goals was more effectively and strongly
articulated by the late president of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt, than
by anyone else. He said briefly and so powerfully, "Confidence and courage are
the essentials of success in carrying out our plan. Let us unite in banishing fear.
We have provided the machinery to restore our financial system. It is up to you to
support and make it work. It is your problem no less than it is mine. Together we
cannot fail." It should be abundantly clear, in my irreversible view, that without
courage and confidence we will not be able to make peace with one another; and
without making peace with one another we will not have the confidence and
courage to be able to build a functional Ethiopian Diaspora community. Without
having the required confidence in each other, we will not be able to work closely
together, and without working hand-in-glove, all of the efforts we have made
from time to time, whether as individuals or in small groups, will be fruitless; they
will even produce still more tension, anxiety, frustration and pain within the
Ethiopian Diaspora community and for the people of Ethiopia at large. And we, as
the Ethiopian Diaspora community, will continue to mature within our own family
and group circles, dying as scattered and as hostile to each other as we are today,
exactly as a sizable number of the “White Russian Refugees” of 1920 and 1940,
who, due to their failure to agree and work together against the Bolsheviks who
seized power during the October Russian Revolution of 1917, melted almost
without a trace into the beautiful western mountains, into peaceful and relaxing
rural landscapes and wealthy capitalist societies, to the point that no one today
would notice either their origin or culture.
I have talked and presented papers related to the issues discussed here in various
meetings and conferences, including Michigan State University in East Lansing,
Michigan, in May 1997, in Washington DC in May 1997, in Los Angeles,
California in July 1997, in Atlanta, Georgia in July 1998, in Leiden, The
Netherlands in 1999, in Leuven, Belgium in March 2006, and in The Hague, The
Netherlands in April and May 2007. Besides presenting papers and speaking at
various gatherings and on media outlets, I have also been publishing articles related
to the urgent need to make peace among ourselves, reviving our morale and
confidence; and the important difference that establishing our own institutions
could make to each and every of us as a proud and productive community
member. But in the final analysis it is “up to you to support and make it work. It is
your problem no less than it is mine.”
Let me now conclude by quoting myself – something I usually don’t like to do,
but the paragraph below seems to fit the issues highlighted above very well. “I
would certainly not hesitate to point out that the ball has been and is still in our
hands, in the hands of all Ethiopians; there is still the potential for us to make up
our minds and come together in an effort to heal our deep-seated socio-political
fractures and help redirect Ethiopia’s current position both in Ethiopia and within
the international community. This seems, at least to me, a question of waiting to
see what we want; whether we will be willing to come back to our senses and be
prepared to restore, not just our feelings of Ethiopianess and belonging to one
another, but also the shattered components of Ethiopia’s culture and the pride of
its people. Again, it is my strong conviction that if we, collectively, are to play a
meaningful role in helping to clear away the huge clouds surrounding our country
and people, to create mechanisms conducive to moving our country from the
status of a beggar society to one of self-reliance, this role will be conditioned by,
and perhaps depend largely upon, our willingness to fight against the bad and ugly
sides of our own culture – but also upon our readiness to engage in the cultivation
and development of democratic institutions, confidence building, self-education
and self-democratization efforts.” Maru Gubena, in “Evaluating Three Decades of
Ethiopian Resistance, its Challenges, Achievements and Failures: Perspectives for
Political and Leadership Change,” published June 2007.
Maru Gubena
Readers who wish to contact the author can reach me at info@pada.nl
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