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The Tragedy of CUD and Its Supporters |
Molla Reda
A recent speech in the European Parliament by Dr. Yacob Hailemariam got me thinking about the state of opposition politics in Ethiopia. The recently freed opposition leaders have begun their carefully-orchestrated publicity tour in Europe and the United States. So far they have paraded themselves before hundreds of clueless supporters as the heroes of the democratic struggle in Ethiopia. Nothing could be further from the truth: these opposition leaders were freed from prison not because of the direct and indirect external pressure exerted on the Ethiopian government; they were freed because of the realization on the part of the Ethiopian government that doing so would accelerate the rate of democratization in Ethiopia by demonstrating the government’s commitment to the process and the lack of any meaningful space for political vendetta against one’s political opponents. Moreover, political magnanimity and the opportunity for national reconciliation following a bitterly contested election are needed to create the necessary political space for further democratic change. It is in that spirit that all of the freed opposition leaders signed a letter taking responsibility for the violence that took place in the aftermath of the 2005 election. In his speech before the European Parliament, Dr. Yacob Hailemariam made a series of provocative, factually wrong and downright embarrassing statements. And this is what he had to say about the role of the European election observers, particularly its head, Anna Gomez: “…the European Observer Team led by Mrs. Anna Gomez has won the respects of the Ethiopian people for the principled stand it took in regard to the 2004 elections and the demand for unconditional release of prisoners of conscience in Ethiopia.” He goes on to say, “this is largely due to the heroic struggle put up by Mrs. Anna Gomez without fear or favor.” I am honestly unsure about where to begin with regard to the bootlicking of Dr. Yacob. Dr. Yacob was not freed by European Union Special Forces from an Ethiopian prison. Nor was he freed by the “heroic struggle” of Anna Gomez for the latter is nothing but an intellectually bankrupt, condescending and third-rate EU politician. The esteemed doctor should realize he was freed because of the tireless efforts that Ethiopian elders and representatives of the Ethiopian government put into the negotiations for his release in the hope that he and his partners would channel their newly found freedom into a constructive presence in the democratization process that is under way in Ethiopia. But I seriously doubt that the likes of doctor Yacob and his partners in the so-called opposition were interested in democracy in the first place. It seems to me that democracy for these people is to kick the current government out of power and satisfy their hunger for power, which they lost years ago with the demise of Mengistu Hailemariam. To these individuals, democracy is to win elections at whatever cost and assume the coveted powers of the prime minister and rule Ethiopia in whatever ways they like. The painful process of democratization that involves building the necessary institutions is a minor inconvenience so long as they could convince the likes of Anna Gomez that they are the true democrats.
What is sad is that most politicians and pundits in Europe and North America tend to have soft spot for who ever label themselves opposition to any government. Anyone that opposes any government is automatically granted some form of legitimacy. Otherwise, serious-minded people would have asked fundamental questions about the May 2005 elections: why did CUD abandon the will of the people that voted for it by boycotting Parliament and the administration of Addis? If the Ethiopian government was so dictatorial and hell-bent on rigging the election, why were the election so competitive and why did the government let CUD win all the regional seats in Addis? Of course, the answers to these questions do not neatly fit into the narrative that CUD and its enables in the Diaspora have crafted mainly for external consumption. It is virtually impossible to have a normal conversation about the state of democratization in Ethiopia without some rabid opposition supporter pointing out the blunders of the current government without necessarily pointing out an alternative agenda espoused by the opposition. Granted, even the Ethiopian government has acknowledged some irregularities during the election but they were not sufficient to invalidate an otherwise free and fair election. Even the most mature liberal democracies experience irregularities during national elections. Dr. Yacob even goes as far as suggesting that Mrs. Gomez is so popular in Ethiopia that she could actually win an election for a national office, such as the presidency or the premiership. This is exactly the kind of rhetoric that is embarrassing and infuriating for any serious-minded Ethiopian. Has the doctor taken any opinion polls about the popularity of Mrs. Gomez in Ethiopia? Or is it just another example of an arrogant intellectual who do not reside in Addis Ababa dismissing the views of millions of Ethiopians? It is so evident that for CUD and its supporters, what constitutes Ethiopia are not it’s the more than 75 million people but rather a small number of elites that are part and parcel of CUD’S noise-making machinery. Otherwise, how could a reasonably educated person such as the esteemed doctor make such a profoundly sweeping statement? I, for one, would not even want Mrs. Gomez in an Ethiopian prison let alone running my country. But again, for the likes of Dr. Yacob, pandering to European politicians and attending cocktail parties seem to have more weight than engaging in the meaningful but arduous task of contributing to a genuine democratic Ethiopia. The paradox of these tragic figures in Ethiopian politics is that they want democracy but do not want to do the things necessary for democracy to materialize. They would rather do all the posturing and reap all the benefits that come with it, such as a speech before the European Parliament. Let’s face it, the EU or any other outside body cannot bring about democratic change Ethiopia; democratic change can only come as a result of a shared commitment by the Ethiopian people. Since democratization is by its very nature very messy and time-consuming, European politicians do the next best alternative: embrace who ever comes claiming to be the savior of Ethiopia. Of course, the implicit premise behind all the pressure on Ethiopia is that just like all the other poor Third World countries, Ethiopia is allergic to democracy and without help from the ‘civilized’ Europe, it can never achieve democratic governance. To most opposition leaders, who seem to have a startlingly blind following in the Diaspora, all you need to do to bring about democratization in Ethiopia is to hold some street protest in front of the World Bank and IMF and the occasional speech in the European Parliament. Then democracy would spring up. Never mind that good governance can only come from within and not through imposition from without. As for supporters of the opposition abroad, it is hard to know if they simply are zombies, who are blindly led by their masters, or they are interested in the well-being of Ethiopia but do not know how to provide any other meaningful contribution to the process of democratization. It is virtually impossible to understand the many beliefs the opposition and its supporters hold that are in contradiction with each other: the Ethiopian government is so repressive yet allows the same opposition leaders to say whatever they want to foreign media outlets from within Ethiopia; the Ethiopian government is so corrupt yet it channels many resources in building critical infrastructure such roads, hospitals, clinics and schools, and Ethiopia is so sealed off from the outside world and that its people are in a perpetual state of fear, yet opposition supporters, somehow, seem to have so much information about the political dynamics in Ethiopia. At times, it almost seems like one is reading about North Korea and not a country that has had three elections in a span of 15 years. CUD and it supporters have to realize that empty rhetoric and posturing cannot propel the process of democratization in Ethiopia forward. If they are genuinely interested in accelerating the democratic process, they had better stop their whining and engage in a constructive dialogue. Based on how they have been behaving in the North America and Europe since their release from prison, however, I would not be surprised if their next stop is Asmara to pay tribute to the dictator. Of course, if Dr. Yacob and others want to thank those who seemed hell-bent on punishing Ethiopia for conducting a highly competitive, and free and fair election, then they would have to necessarily pay homage to the Eritrean propaganda machine. Needless to say, that would be the ultimate tragedy. |
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