An Outline Of A Democratic Procedure Of Establishing Reconciliation Forums

An Outline Of A Democratic Procedure of
Establishing Reconciliation Forums

16 November, 2010 | By Teodros Kiros (Ph.D)

------------------------------------------------------------------
Freshly energized by Dr. Ghelawdiwos’ fearless vision, I hereby
submit the following outline of establishing forums of dialogue in
three stages,

(1) A national conference;

(2) Local forums, and

(3) On going community forums of healing the wounds of the
Nation. .

(1) This is the

foundational level that calls

for a National conference of

all

Ethiopians, young and

old from all walks of life,

which can be organized by

activists, church leaders,

elders of the community,

which perhaps be

spearheaded by the writers, teachers and visible intellectuals in the
Diaspora and from within Ethiopia. This will probably be the most
difficult stage, which will require concerned Ethiopians to nominate
themselves and others to deliberate on the logistics of the
conference, Communication through the Internet and other venues
could make suggestions of how to kick this off. Once the
groundwork is done, and the meeting convenes then the burning
themes of the Nation will be openly discussed through a question
and answer forum, which make two or three full days to explore. I
suggest one well-done speech by a noted Ethiopian and then
chairing questions without domination and screening. Let the
wounded speak freely and we must all expect this meeting to be a
forum in which the traumatized must speak, and the duty of the chair
is to let both questions and opinions be voiced, however, vulgarly
they may be expressed.

We must choose a seasoned, rational, patient and a political chair to
lead this meeting, as it will set the tone for the following two stages,

(2) If stage1 is successfully convened, then the dominant themes,
say whatever they may be, will be objectively filtered and be sent to
local forums and their respective leaders to bring them to intimate
discussions at local forums around the major cities and towns where
Ethiopians reside and be intimately discussed at local meetings,
churches, established local chapters and then lead to the most
important stage, where healing will be addresses most seriously, at
the third and final stage of community healing.

(3) This stage is the most important one, as it is the stage in which
Ethiopians could be at their best. We are historically known how
well we party as we sit around and joyously feast on our
internationally admires cuisine. If we can eat and dance so well,
there is no reason, why we cannot practice this as we address the
corrosive effect of ethnicity, which is eating us up. We can openly
address our hurts at these community gatherings in an organized
manner and set the stage for the invitation of the Prime Minister to
meet us at a national conference to be convened again, after we
have addressed our hurts and head on.

The second conference is where the opposition meets the Prime
Minister and addresses the national issues, which are dividing us.

The above is only an outline, and I invite all Ethiopians to examine
the outline and top it, with an even better proposal. This is a modest
attempt at starting a reconciliation movement, for honest discussion.

--------------------------------------------------
Teodros Kiros Professor of Philosophy and English (Liberal
Arts) Berklee College of Music is also a Senior Editor at Ethio
Quest News. His weekly column appears here