The era of national liberation movement is not over. It is just beginning in earnest. The oppressed peoples are left with no choice but resist oppression as ever no matter how strong and self-confident the oppressors may be. On paper Ethiopia is today a federal republic and has a constitution that mentions the right to self-determination. The Abyssinian Tigray elite in power now do believe words can work magic even if they are devoid of substance.The leaders of the TPLF have certainly excelled all their predecessors in the field of politically dramatized acrobatics in language. I can say only from what I know personally that Melles Zennawi , his close associates in TPLF, and many others who coallaborated with them for long time are extremely sadistic violent men, groomed and presented to the wider world as respectable statesmen.They are capable of keeping smiling, appearing friendly and cool, making an endless series of perfectly logical statments in their propaganda and their so-called constitution while doing in practice exactly the opposite. Again, those who sponsor the regime internationally do seem to be impressed by the performance indeed.
All Ethiopian regimes without exception, as all informed people know, rely ultimately on extremely brutal military machines supported by foreign powers. The typical Abyssinian political elites, whether left or right, old or new, whether in power or in opposition, see little prospect of running Ethiopia peacefully on their own without foreign intervention and backing. They have made very pragmatic practical assessment. Their’s is machiavellian realism. Intrigues and deceitful machinations are equated with intelligence in statecraft. They misuse among their own peoples and in the world the old myths surrounding the the name „Ethiopia.“to justify and legitimise their political hegemony, and the system of repression. This is history, past and present..
The century-old policies of divide and rule and intimidating helpless peoples by systematic brutal repression have worked up to now successfully, and there is no reason why they do not work indefinitely if the oppressed are totally managable, demoralized and remain in their fearsome passivity.
I was not surprised at all to see how many, among the Abyssinian opposition groups to the present regime, did rejoice momentarily when Ethiopian tanks marched into Somalia . It must have reminded them of the past glory of expansion in all directions from historical Abyssinian heartland proper in the north from 18 th century to the last decade of the 19th century at the expense of many independent nations in the horn of Africa, with direct involvement of Europeaan colonialism. Indeed, the European colonialists raised, with their weapons and politics, the Abyssinian kings and warlords in very short time to the the status of junior colonialists who became servants of their interests in the whole of Africa.The socalled war on terror now and the anti- Moslem sentiments in the west could, so goes the sick fantasy of some Abyssinian elites, be used to repeat history and allow Ethiopia now to annex what is left of Somalia, achieving Minlik’s dream to extend the empire to the Indian ocean or, failing this , to impose by military muscle a puppet regime on Somali people, a regime that dances on strings pulled by Adddis Ababa.Then if the Tigray militatrists in power now, were to march on Asmara , perhaps,with the help of the western fleet in the red sea, a new millennium coud be celeberated and added to the Ethiopian history and the TPLF could be forgiven for relegating the Amhara political elite to the second position. The myths surrounding Ethiopia will keep in circulation untill the true history of the Empire-State is rewritten not only on papers but by well oriented democratic , political transformation.
Notwithstanding the faked pride of Ethiopian patriotism, the world is constantly changing with the growing awarenss and change in perception of the oppressed peoples .The Abyssian minority domination must come to an end and it will sooner or later. It is a matter of time. But this will not happen by itself . It is possible only if the oppressed put aside their petty tribal idiocy and are resolved to coordinate their struggle. What is needed is not merely strong convictions but a higher degree of consciousness, integrity and a new form of democratic organization.This, in turn, makes it necessary to have a minimum common political programm around which a high degree of solidarity can be achieved.
International solidarity with our struggle is needed. If the peoples of the west bcome aware of the reality of Ethiopia and bring pressure to bear on their governments to change their policies, it is possible that our ordeal could come to an end relatively peacefully, by reaching some kind of compromise that respects the interests of all nations , big and small, in the area. Are the peoples of the west free enough and conscious enough to check the Anglo-American drive to preserve the status quo and dominate the world? The reality is that the ordinary people in the western world have much less power than most of us in the socalled third world would like to think. Of course this is no reason at all to despair. Democracy is real. It is the result of the struggle of generations of hard working peoples. Evrything is fluid and changing all the time. Human consciousness and human sympathy are undergoing rapid , unpredictable transformation. Capitalism is experiencing major crisis. The ecology issues will inevitably galvanise even the most indifferent sections of the population. Do we really realize how grave the situation is? We must awaken in ourselves by ourselves a higher form of awareness and a sense of resonsibity that goes with it to meet the demands of our time. Each of us makes difference, wherever we are. We must not understimate our positive energy irrespective of our social or professional standing. That is precisely why I have decided to make my voice heard here, breaking a self-imposed long silence.
Even if the western powers change their policies on Ethiopia, who can be sure that the Abyssininan rulling elites will not turn to China or Russia in a last desperate attempt to save their tottering pecular colonialist empire as did Mengistu Haile Mariam already during the soviet era?
But we do not need to wait for anything .There is no handbook that will show us the road to liberation and freedom. The oppressed nations of the empire must wake up from their despondency and despair, pull their energy together and make themselves heard. Again, as things stand now, the Abyssinian supremacy cannot be shaken by isolated armed groups in the present world situation. The latest good example is the Ogaden. Due to their ethnic narrow mindedness and exclusivity, the leaders of the so called Ogaden National Liberation Front consistently avoided considering their struggle as a part of a wider struggle of the oppressed peoples in Ethiopia. Moreover they behave as if the Ogaden clan were the only Somali clan under Ethiopian occupation, thereby expopsing the defensless clan to the horrendous brutality of the the Ethiopian army. Their only worry seems to be the question of colonial legitimacy.