How should we navigate our development ways?

I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to my dear compatriot Adal Isaw. He is known to me by his fabulous and tireless works he delivers to us to nourish our ideas and provide alternative outlooks and shows us different experiences and deeds in a real world that all live in. It would not be fair to me if I fail to appreciate his effort towards his wonderful thoughts.

As usual I read the article written by Adal Isaw: “Democracy and the Destructive Political Culture of the Western World” with enthusiasm. I couldn’t hide that this time the content and the essence of the above mentioned article raised to me a lot of questions which need to be further clarified and augmented.

I spent about a decade in the former Soviet Union for education purpose during the cold war era. Now I am working and living in Europe the same way like most of Ethiopian compatriots including my dear brother Adal Isaw do it in North America.

If I should stand as a witness on the question about socialism, I think, it is my obligation to tell the hall world about the bare truth concerning the reality in the former USSR on the ground. It was the communist party who had held hostage the people by the name of Socialism (Social justice). On the other hand the most people will was aspiration and desire to the ‘west way of life’. The majority of the soviet people may support socialist ideology in the beginning but never did it in late times. The simple evidence is that when Mr. Gorbachev came out with the initiative of “Glasnost and Perestroika (openness and reconstruction) ideas, there was no any challenge from the people as well as political elites. As a result they had changed with in a short period of time the way of development which they had been preaching for almost 75 years as the best one in the world. Through these 7 decades my country Ethiopia was among others who became victim of that ideology, which is still not vanished from some of ours conscious and minds.

I would like to ask those who were portraying and teaching us in my teen ages that the west is as bad as evil especially American Imperialism by labeling that: “Imperialism is the enemy of human kind”.  But where are those people currently living and getting an opportunity to exercise their all rounded rights and run their rest of live? Actually where do people go when they fail or finish their political will in their own country, specially Ethiopians Like some high profile members of the EPRDF and other members of the opposition groups? Is it not the west especially the Anglo-Saxon Countries? Is it not USA the “the country of hope” for the new generation of the world? Why we have to trash out all the efforts that the west is doing as a development partner with the Ethiopian Government currently?

I am convinced that we should have to defend the false information that ICG used to produce such inflammatory report, which, its substance is not based on the reality on the ground in our country. The report undermines the peace and security maintained in place and the desire of Ethiopian people for development. But I am afraid to assume that ICG represents western countries foreign policy to wards Ethiopia. It is after all like any other International Non Governmental Organization which claims to be authorized to watch the human beings right and so on.

World Bank, IMF, Donors, Lenders and so on, which most of the time are financing big projects depending on the economic or political interest of individual country or groups are belonging to the western countries by membership in general.

I would like to remind that the current Ethiopian Government has been recognized by international community the moment after the result of 2005 election. The three major observers of the 2005 election were the European Union Parliament, the Carter Center from USA and The African Union. Two of them expressed their satisfaction and submitted a report that, the over all process and result was based on the standard except some causality in some places which could be improved next time. Only the European Union Parliament representatives which had been led by Anna Gomez rejected the credibility of the result. That means roughly we could say that 2/3 of the international community have recognized the credibility of the result of the 2005 election. It was in fact more than enough for the satisfaction of practicing democratic exercises in the third world. So, I urge to focus on the success of the coming election in 2010 rather than blaming “the west” based on ICG report which does not earn credibility as per the reality on the ground in Ethiopia today.

On the other hand some of us may think that China is an alternative development partner in our desire to economic growth. But let us count on how much China has invested in Ethiopia rather than winning easily those international bids for different projects in Ethiopia financed by different western fund institutions and donors (I don’t have the data here). To go further most of the local manufacturing enterprises are crippled in Ethiopia like else where in Africa by the massive and cheap availability of Chinese finished products. Where do we get that hard currency to import from China? The question is we are not oil-infused country to have enough foreign currency to import every thing from abroad even if it is cheap. Unless we don’t have to support and capacitate local manufacturing companies, which could supply most of the local demand and strengthen our export items, I think it will not be worthy  for the Ethiopian farmers (the Ethiopian mass) as far as for the country itself to rely on imports.

I would like to come on other occasions the issue of China’s development success by being socialist country when others are collapsing; A and also Racism and the Aryan and Jew question.

After thorough reading of the article mentioned above I would like to kindly ask Adal about ‘how should we navigate our development ways?’ Is that still socialist orientation or should we follow the “Western ideas and ideals” which are most of the time decorated by business-like partnership in all aspects and democracy? My point of view is let us think and orient our selves from business point of view in addition to our courageous history , so that we (Diaspora people) could be able to go back home and work for our people and country.

Buzu Mengistu 10/06/09

Buzumen2@hotmail.com