What is this rattling noise about the "Left" and Socialism?

Tesfaye Habisso 04/23/10

Introduction

Since the onset of live public debates via the ETV, however boring and artificial they may be and lacking any lustre to the public watching them, between the political parties circulating in the nation's political arena, we have heard some voices among the protagonists fretting to vilify and blame the Ethiopian "Left" for no cause. It is indeed distressing to observe young Ethiopian political leaders talking back and/or talking down to each other instead of talking to one another in a mutually respectful manner during the public debates and some amongst these going beyond the political campaigns to unjustifiably denounce the old "Left" of our country and trying to hold members of that generation responsible for today's left-leaning socio-economic and political policies and strategies. Does the Ethiopian "Left", by any stretch of the imagination, deserve such cruel attacks and misguided condemnations?

The answer to the above question depends on whom you ask. If you ask any living members of the old generation of the 1960s and 1970s, like myself, who adore and positively respect the self-less struggles and the immense sacrifices of the Ethiopian Left and the Student Movement, he or she would pity these half-baked politicians of today for their ignorance of the domestic and global political context of those days and the sufferings of the peasant masses of the country under the yoke of an absolutist monarchical regime (1930-1974) and a doctrinaire Marxist/Socialist military regime (1974-1991) and for unashamedly uttering such politically incorrect statements. On the contrary, if you ask any members of the old generation who then silently opposed the struggles of the Ethiopian Left and the students of those days for a just socio-economic and political order, they would join the bandwagon of the avowed and self-declared liberal democrats of Ethiopia today who are now raising their voices to condemn the "Left" as well as to scaremonger about "Socialism", the latter allegedly being pursued by the EPRDF today. On the other hand, if you ask those members of the younger generation born since the demise of the military regime, in most cases, they do not know anything or don't care much about either the former student movement struggles or about the "Left" and "Socialism".

This brief article of mine is intended to express my personal disagreement with the wrong-headed stance of some of our political leaders of the 'Centre-Right' and the 'Far-Right' and members of both Old and New generations, circulating in the political marketplace today, who have began an unabated vilification campaign against the Ethiopian "Left" and the Ethiopian Student Movement of the 1960s and 1970s.

The "Left" of the 1960s and 1970s in Ethiopia were those progressive forces hailing from all parts of Ethiopia and who steadfastly and persistently struggled against the feudal monarchy of Emperor Haile Sellassie I and succeeded in tearing down the pillars of the oppressive imperial regime and in ending feudalism and its attendant oppression including the notorious 'settler system' ("neftegna sirat") as well as the suppression of the self-determination rights of the more than 80 ethnic groups and their complete dispossession of their lands and other natural resources. It was the "Left" who proclaimed "Land to the Tiller!" It was the Ethiopian "Left" who raised the two most significant and burning peoples' questions of the day: the National Question and the Land Question. It was the "Left", nationally and globally, who stood against colonialism and apartheid, and against the Unilateral Independence of Ian Smith's White rule in Rhodesia. It was the "Left" and the Socialist camp which stood for the justice and equality of all the peoples of the whole world.

How bitter and immense sacrifices the Ethiopian "Left" paid in these struggles for a just and egalitarian society in Ethiopia and elsewhere cannot be fully expressed in words. The consequence of what passed as the "Red Terror" was a complete destruction of the "Left" as it literally decimated the educated generation: thousands upon thousands were tortured, killed and maimed, hundreds of thousands languished in prisons while hundreds of thousands fled their country. The impact of the terror campaign left an indelible scar in the minds of numberless people who still suffer from mental problems of a sort, "post stress traumatic disorder" (PSTD), in psychiatrists' terminology. On top of everything, the devastating and dehumanising impact of the Red Terror expressed itself as throwing a whole lot of people into a political withdrawal bordering on apathy. To fret to blame this "Lost Generation", to 'blame the dead', so to speak, or to vilify the "Left" who paid many untold sacrifices including their own dear lives so that today sons and daughters of peasants may be able to rise as political leaders on their own right, unlike in the past, and so that today's generations may live in a more just society where individual and collective rights are protected, where peace and freedom reign, where prosperity and democracy flourish, is totally uncalled for and very cruel. What healthy minds would dare to target Tilahun Gizaw, Wallelign Mekonnen, Baro Tumsa, Megersa Beri, Birhane Meskel Redda, Yirga Tessema, Meles Tekle, Martha Mebratu, for example, and many thousands of student leaders and activists who died for the sake of future generations? Who would dare to attack the "Left" of Ethiopia for today's social ills and economic malaise? It is indeed a mind-numbing historical folly by some of today's younger generation who call themselves 'liberal democrats', without any deep knowledge about the practice and functioning of the ideology that they, rightly or wrongly, dearly hold and claim to espouse.

Illusions About Liberal Democracy and Capitalism

Whatever the case, is it the case that, unlike all other ways of organizing society which preceded it, liberal democracy and capitalism, the society we live in today, can't be replaced by better ways of meeting people's needs? Will they last forever with this or that small adjustment? Are these--liberal democracy and capitalism-- really the best that can be achieved by humanity? How is it possible to achieve a decent minimum wage, full employment, good governance, freedom, good education and health services? How better can collective and individual rights, physical security, basic liberties and freedoms be guaranteed and protected? How can the rule of just laws be the order of the day? How can homelessness be a thing of the past? How can we end inequality, food insecurity and poverty? Through liberal democracy and capitalism? I don't think so. If liberal democracy and capitalism were the 'end point' of human salvation from want and fear, why are growing numbers of people considering becoming socialists today?

None of the major political parties in Ethiopia are avowedly socialist, socialism does not feature on the national curriculum in schools, and the TV is not packed with programmes arguing in favour of it.

On the contrary, if you were to judge purely by the media, parliament, or the education system, you would decide that socialism is a spent force.

Anti-Capitalist Ideas on the Rise

And yet, it clearly isn't. Ideas traditionally associated with the 'left' are increasingly popular, because the 'left' always and consistently stood for justice and equality. Growing numbers of young people are taking part in anti-capitalist demonstrations in the liberal democratic capitalist world, condemning the injustices of the G-8, the G-20, the World Bank, the IMF and the WTO, and for their negative roles in perpetuating an unjust and lopsided global political and economic order. And more workers are today taking strike action all over the world.

None of this is caused by 'socialist propaganda'. On the contrary, most people who support re-nationalisation, who have been on anti-capitalist demonstrations, or have been on strike would not call themselves socialists. But an arrow tracing their political trajectory would point clearly towards the left. Broadly speaking they're moving in a socialist direction. The reason is fundamentally simple: many people don't like the way the world is at the moment.

It is their experience of the capitalist world we live in that drives people towards socialism. Twenty years or so ago capitalism declared victory when the Soviet Union collapsed. What existed in the Soviet Union was not genuine socialism but a grotesque and dictatorial caricature of it.

Nonetheless, its failure was a golden opportunity for capitalism world-wide. However, despite all the capitalists' efforts to permanently eliminate socialist ideas they're gaining ground once again. Abhorrent as the Stalinist system in the Soviet Union was, capitalism has shown itself incapable of offering an alternative. In the former-Soviet Union capitalism is an unmitigated disaster. The economy has collapsed by 50% and life expectancy has fallen in ten years to the same level as in the 1950s.

About the Brutal Capitalist World

THE HUMAN suffering resulting from the reintroduction of capitalism is immense. Look up 'capitalism' in the Collins English Dictionary. It suggests you compare it with the alternative 'socialism'. Genuine socialist ideas have been developed over centuries in the course of humanity's fight for a better life. Today they remain the only viable alternative in an increasingly unstable and brutal capitalist world.

Capitalism has created unimaginable wealth alongside unbelievable poverty. The World Summit for Sustainable Development sums it up. Millions of dollars were spent on keeping 65,000 delegates in luxury. But all the caviar in the world couldn't help the delegates agree a single target to bring electricity to the two billion people on the planet without it.

Capitalism means that 815 million people go hungry world-wide. We live on a planet where 55% of the 12 million child deaths each year are caused by malnutrition. And it's getting worse. According to the United Nations (UN), the poorest countries are worse off now than they were 30 years ago. On current trends, the numbers living in absolute poverty - that is, on less than a dollar a day - will increase by ten million a year for the next 15 years.

The Aids epidemic has already killed 25 million people and is predicted to kill a further 68 million in the coming decades. In Botswana alone, 39% of the adult population have HIV/Aids.

Meanwhile in the US, the richest country on earth, the richest 1% have seen their incomes increase by 157% in real terms since 1979. By contrast, the bottom 20% are actually making $100 less a year in real terms, 45 million people live below the poverty line and over 40% have no medical cover.

Yet under capitalism humankind has developed science and technique to a level unimaginable for previous generations. Humanity is capable of space exploration, has mapped the human genome, can modify genes and clone animals, yet we cannot feed the world on the basis of capitalism.

Wealth and Poverty

FOR MOST of human history it has not been possible to satisfy even the most basic human needs. Now, as a result of the labour and ingenuity of working people, the potential exists to eliminate want forever. The barrier to achieving this is the capitalist system itself. Based as it is on the private ownership of the productive forces (factories, offices, science and technique), capitalism creates immense inequality and deprivation when the potential exists for providing the material components of a decent life for all.

Capitalism is driven by big business' need to make the maximum possible profits. A socialist society, by contrast, would be driven by the need to provide a decent life for all humanity, whilst protecting the environment for future generations.

Socialism has to be international. It's impossible to create socialism in one country, surrounded by a world capitalist market. Nonetheless there is an enormous amount that could be achieved by a socialist government after it came to power as part of a transition from capitalism to socialism.

A genuine socialist government would extend and deepen democracy enormously. This would be much more far-reaching than the parliamentary democracies of capitalism where we simply get to vote every few years for MPs who do what they like once elected. Elected representatives would only receive the average wage. Nationally, regionally and locally - at every level - elected representatives would be accountable and subject to instant recall. So if the people who'd elected them did not like what their representatives did, they could make them stand for immediate re-election and, if they wished, replace them with someone else.

It is often argued that socialists simply want to share out the wealth. This, it is asserted, would only mean increased misery for the rich - as the wealth would not be enough to obliterate poverty. But we are not interested in merely doing this.

Of course, it would be nice to take some of Bill Gates' $36 billion (£24 billion), but in order for socialism to work it would be necessary to do much more than that.

Whatever the case, as the poor and oppressed of entire countries are fighting back against the effects of capitalism, a minority are beginning to consciously look for an alternative system. It is this reality that should guide us to respect the Left and not fret to denigrate this progressive force. It is this reality that ensures that socialism isn't a spent force but the wave of the future.