What are the controversies about this election
all about? Why are the loudest noises disproportionally in immigrant
communities in the West? On its surface the answer to both questions is a
no-brainer. Everybody knows that the upcoming election is simply part of
universally accepted instrument of political change and in that regard the
Ethiopian Government plays foul. And Ethiopians residing in the West are better
positioned to speak truth to power. At a deeper level, however, the answer to
the questions is the reverse. That is because the election is not merely a one-size-fits-all
universal mechanism, but a particular instance informed by global processes. And
Ethiopians in the West are not speaking truth to power but are intoxicated by
the power of their countries of residence therefore entitled to lecture Ethiopians
in the homeland. The danger of making the election universal fashions the
individuality of Ethiopia in terms of abstract benchmarks. And the danger of
accrediting the expatriate with the truth reinforces their collective myth that
is necessary to assuage their existential predicament.
Discarding universal
dogmas and appraising the election in global context describes the individuality
of Ethiopia in terms of historical qualifiers. And the fact of contextualizing
the immigrant communities within western context makes them social actors with
real agenda as opposed to high standing objects of selflessness. From a
universal frame of reference, because of the hegemonic criteria, the election
is an end in itself. What matters the most is how the game is being played.
There is no room or concern in debating the most relevant issues which have
real effects on the lives of the people. From a global point of view, because of
the primacy of historical discretion, the election is a means to an end. What
matters the most is how the interests of the people is being served.
When immigrants
look at their communities within their immediate existential context forces
them to study the political systems of the countries they live in. An eye-opener
revelation which helps the expatriate integrates in his/her new home not as a disoriented
subjects, but as a productive citizen. Emigré
in the US will confront the hard fact that it is neither the executive nor the
legislative body of the government that sustains the body politic. The
intermittent and periodic elections are too fragile and too uncertain to
maintain the continuity and change that the system needs to maintain stability.
To that end, it is the Supreme Court, which is composed of nine justices
tenured for life, that interprets who is a person/citizen or not. All of the major
decisions concerning what constitutes a person or not are sanctioned by the
High Court.
For
instance, a slave was 3/5 of a person. Blacks and women became persons later
through constitutional amendments. And most significantly, under US
constitution a corporation such as GM and an Investment Bank such as JP Morgan
is legally a person, with all the privileges of a citizen, but immune from the penalty
and sentence an individual citizen has to deal with. Hence being a diehard
adherent to liberal democracy and advocating for its implementation in Ethiopia
does not only show unforgivable ignorance, but perilous political standpoint.
It is therefore crucial to see the election as
a battle between those who are satisfied with and subscribe to fixed universal
norms, and those who are wrestling with dynamic global relations and processes.
If the contest was between globally grounded political parties, things would
have been constructive. On the other hand, if it was between universally
suspended entities, things would have been detrimental. At least this time, the
election in Ethiopia is neither ideal nor dreadful. It reflects the systemic
transformation of the Modern World-system or the capitalist world economy that
is underway in our time. Hence the election is between globally/historically
conscious party, on the one hand, and universally/abstractly intoxicated
entity, on the other. While the former is busy trailblazing a path in the
uncharted terrain of a changing reality, the latter is contented in travelling
in the worn-out avenue of liberal democracy that leads to a dead-end only to
experience a head-on collision.
Hence the
most important question regarding the election should not be whether or not
EPDRF is following universal tenets to the letter. Instead, it should be
whether or not the oppositions are sensitive to global structural changes.
After all, total submission to universal dogmas is not new in Ethiopian
politics. The previous regimes were officially pursuing the universal norms of
their time without reservation. Whether monarchic or communistic, the country
was subjected to dysfunctional modernization projects, which had turned the
people and their environment into statistical prototypes. As a result, the
majority of the people residing in the countryside are not only universally
labeled as backward parasites impeding the thrust of development, but also
dehumanized through manmade institutions. Serfdom or villagization are cases in
point. Likewise a great portion of the land was also universally depicted as virgin
and idle predisposed for ill-advised development schemes. Famine and
deforestation are the natural outcomes. Now the march of unrestrained modernization
is terminated. And development has to conform to the needs and priorities of
hitherto marginalized people, and to the exigencies of the environment.
If there was
a fitting event that symbolizes the paradox in the body politic of Modern
Ethiopia, it would be the Battle of Adwa. And if there was an opportune maxim that
captures the ambiguity of the incident it would be: Menelik Tenesto Bayanessa Gasha, Gebru Enkulal Neber Yihen Gize Abesha. As much as this well-known Amharic proverb manifestly
honors the glorious triumph of Emperor Menelik over Italian imperialism, it
does equally hide from view the much more crucial side of the war itself. For
those who see only the self-evident aspect of the battle proper, the whole
matter is clear and uncomplicated. The battle is an end in itself. It is in
effect a one day affair whereby Ethiopia turns out to be the triumphant party
and Italy the vanquished period. For those who chose to ponder on the hidden
facets, however, the Battle of Adwa is the beginning signifying an epic struggle
of historic proportion that is far-reaching in scope and long-drawn-out in
scale.
To view Adwa
solely in terms of one day event reduces far-reaching structural transformation
into crude, albeit colorful, battle chronicle. Doing so necessarily elevates the
battle at the expense of entrenched social-relations that are still tormenting Ethiopia
and the Horn Region at large. For this distorted logic to be intelligible, either
Ethiopia has to exist as a fixed whole first so that it can be defended second,
or the battle has to be total victory first so that it can defend Ethiopia
second. Either way, instead of being contextualized within historical framework,
the battle proper becomes an end in itself; alpha-omega. Accordingly, when
viewed as such, the adage Menelik Tenesto
Bayanessa Gasha, Gebru Enkulal Neber Yihen Gize Abesha is silly. It suggests that the battle of
Adwa is a total victory of beef lover Ethiopians over chicken enthusiast
Italians.
To the Enkulal obsessed the battle of Adwa is a
triumph of actual Burundo or meat
consumption under Menilik’s protection over the threat of potential Enkulal or egg eating under Italian
overlord ship, which makes Enkulal or
egg the key word. However, when examined carefully, because of the severe
famine, in Menelik’s Ethiopia there was only small supply of Burundo for palace feast. At the same
time, the possibility of eating Enkulal is
also implausible. The Great Famine, which had devastated the entire region, made
beef a rarity, not to mention Egg which was altogether unknown in Ethiopian
diet. Hence, it is not so much the actuality of either Burundo or Enkulal, but
their symbolism that matter. Thus the
maxim can only be taken as a metaphor alluding to a more pertinent problem. It
is therefore wiser to interpret the battle not as an absolute victory, but as a
relative triumph of material scarcity (beef) over existential nothingness (egg).
The Battle of Adwa allowed Ethiopia to negotiate the terms of its integration
in the Capitalist World Economy, not to avoid the phenomenon altogether.
Unfortunately,
the Ethiopian cosmopolitan elite have made what is metaphorical literal. Accordingly,
they have made the Battle of Adwa absolute; a triumph of Burundo over Enkulal.
However, because Enkulal represents
Western Hegemony the simplistic
interpretation does not hold its ground when faced with reality. As result, the
elite resorts for the next best thing, this is having the Burundo and eating the Enkulal
simultaneously. Apparently, the two institutions that embody the Burundo and Enkulal facets were the military and the intelligentsia
respectively. The contradictory relationship between the two has more or less
marked out the political history of Modern History. Together the military and
intelligentsia have dominated political discourse and actions, even though the
most important social movements are attributed to matters outside their realms.
The history
of the Derg narrated through the
biography of Mengistu is basically a tale of Burundo. Its social origin is the palace Madbet and its purpose in life is to be in charge of the palace Elfign. Unlike his predecessors and contemporaries,
who engaged in military coups, Mengistu knew what he wanted; the annihilation
of his self-acknowledged masters only to step into their shoes. It was a costly
process that has indiscriminately ravaged deep-rooted social fabrics and precious
values. The history of the intelligentsia illustrated through the EPRP/MEISON
saga is a fable of Enkulal. It
inspiration and drive are the interpretation and application of alien doctrines
without historical qualifiers. It was insensitive and condescending to the
social and cultural state of affairs in the country. Its purpose in life is
holding political power. Not by starting from the palace Madbet, but from the cradle of Western Metropolis. That
was also a costly process that has seriously emasculated the spirit of a whole generation
and poisoned the political culture of an entire nation. Who does not know the compound
burundo and enkulal murderous orgy that had befallen the country?
The main
concern here is not about the past wherein the inferiority complex of Burundo obsessed DERG coupled with the superiority complex of Enkulal fixated EPRP/MEISON had turned the country into a
killing zone and the peoples into cannon fodders. The main point is that the
same frame of mind still holds sway among the so-called cosmopolitan elite. Mainly
living in West, they still believe that Ethiopia is an isolated island to be
engineered ad infinitum by either Burundo
or Enkulal master plan. By making
their callings engraved in stone, they are oblivious to the concrete
social-historical condition in the country. They refuse to accept the fact that
Ethiopia is composed by real people fully cognizant of their aspirations and
interests. They are truly convinced that they possess the magic wand to
salvation. This skewed outlook makes them believe that they are important
political agencies with real power.
When looked
at as a relative success, the maxim:
Menilik Tenesto Bayanessa Gasha, Gebru Enkulal Neber Yihen Gize Abesha
becomes much more profound and sophisticated. It signifies that the battle of
Adwa is merely the beginning not the end by any stretch of imagination. This
time around, instead of the trivial Enkulal,
the key term is Geber, which had
implications in three social-relational matters: Geber as an officially
recognized redistributive banquet; Giber as a legally administered tributary
system; Gebar as a peculiar form of
labor organization. The three significations of Geber bear out the fact that the battle of Adwa is a symbolic
articulation of three different social-historical relations. The very fact of
realizing this simple fact has a humbling effect. It mitigates the audacious
and impulsive knowing it all pressures. Most importantly, it makes one realize
that the Battle of Adwa has not ended and its intermittent aftershocks have
been reverberating and have been responsible to the many social eruptions in the
history of Modern Ethiopia.
As soon as Geber is accepted to be the key term,
the symbolism of Adwa is exonerated from the narrow confine of the battle
proper. Even though the Battle of Adwa is a signifier in instituting the three
aspects of Geber System in the making of modern Ethiopia, what has been signified is
the Great Famine, also known by its Amharic appellation of Kiffu Ken or Evil Day. The famine was not only taking place at
approximately the same time period as the Battle of Adwa, it was also sparked
off within the context of Italian military adventurism, intensifying Menelik’s
predation over southern Ethiopia, destabilizing the ecological balance in
Northern Ethiopia, and forcing Menelik
from kicking Italy out of Eritrea.
The
immediate cause of the Famine is the decimation of domestic animals by
Rinderpest panzootic. The introduction of infected animals through the Red Sea
by the Italians had spread the disease like a wild fire throughout Ethiopia and
eventually as far as South Africa. In less than a decade all types of domestic
and wild animals were destroyed throughout the continent. In Ethiopia and the
Horn Region in general, the devastation was unprecedented in scale it reshaped
the social-relations, which were reinstituted in the Geber System. In the Horn of Africa, despite ecological and
occupational differences, livestock in general and cattle in particular is the
principal form of capital. As a means of production in the agricultural
highlands and as a repository of wealth in the pastoralist lowlands cattle were
the backbone in the regional economies. The near total extinction of cattle impoverished
the population by decimating the main form of capital. Accordingly, despite the
victory at Adwa the negative impacts of the pandemic on capital formation could
not have been reversed. The long-term implication is the total destruction of
Capital and the reduction of the people to alienated labor.
Those who
see Adwa in terms of Enkulal are
incapable of explaining why Ethiopia, despite its victory, has remained in
chronic poverty. When the reality of famine forces itself on them, they resort
to simplistic explanations, which in the end wind up victimizing the victims. The
experiences of the Derg and the intelligentsia are very revealing in
understanding the subtle relationship between meat or egg consumption and
famine. Even though Ethiopia under the Monarchy had been the nesting ground of
the gebar system, Ethiopia under the Derg, despite its violent break with the
ancient regime, was deeply in the same order. The rage and obsession of both
the Derg and the Intelligentsia was not against the system that perpetuates
famine, but it was directed against those who have access to meat and egg
respectively.
Now after
almost two decades after their demise, the Burundo
and Enkulal enthusiasts are still
trying to undermine and dictate what is taking place in Ethiopia. Reincarnated
as born-again capitalists and new-age liberal democrats, they are busy to
reclaim and reinstitute their “god given rights” to the geber system.
Mehretab
Assefa May 6 2010