Wednesday, March 26, 2008

"Kinijit Continues"


On the way to earning respectable existence, every organism faces growing pain. It will stumble and rise and it will wilt and regenerate. Probably not a surprise considering that fact that we live on a planet which sometimes is harsh and unfair. In the total scheme of things, Kinijit is an organism that necessarily has to go through life’s cycle. There is no way around it.

Along with Kinijit’s meteoric rise came organizational, financial and political challenges that no young party could possibly have been prepared for. You can compare it to a Katrina type crisis which even mighty America failed to handle skillfully. Along with that meteoric rise also came a great deal of expectation from millions and millions of us. That we were inspired by the party and bestowed it with massive trust was all good; but I am not entirely certain if it was fair to the budding organization.

No doubt Kinijit had faced set backs - it has stumbled, it has disappointed, it has disgruntled its supporters, albeit temporarily, and it even has been a subject of some ridicule. All these come with the territory and they are things the leadership, members and supporters can and must be able to handle. “The greatest glory” Confucius said, “is not in never falling, but in rising after every fall”. Indeed, Kinijit is rising after some very trying political times much to the delight of lovers of democracy and to the chagrin of others who craved its untimely death. With valued experience in its inside pocket, the party will continue with its journey much wiser, stronger and with even greater magnanimity.

The teams of Kinijit parliamentarians and party officials who are about to be dispatched through the length and breadth of the country to collect supporting signatures are harbingers of renewed hope, peace democracy, unity and reconciliation.

No matter which way we look at it, this is a moment to celebrate, to renew vows, to regroup and to look forward to a promising future for Ethiopia. We just cannot afford to let the ugly cloud of gloom and doom prevails over us. When the brave sons and daughters of Kinijit and of Ethiopia volunteer their services and their lives in a most unpredictable environment, the least the rest of us can do is give them the moral and financial support that will help them in getting the job done. We will follow their every step and echo their call for “Andinet”, for “Democracy” and for “Fithe”.

May the team’s presence amidst our people bring good omen as they go through what could be termed as the severest economic hardship and a drought that threatens over nine million lives.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

"Why I continue to be an ardent fan of peaceful struggle."

I want to get some facts straight. The EPRDF of today is the EPRDF of yesteryear - repressive, divisive and corrupt. The entire Kinijit leadership including Hailu, Bertukan, Mesfin, Berhanu, Berhane, Andargachew championed peaceful democratic struggle as the most appropriate for Ethiopian conditions. They earned the support of millions only because the party’s vision and the chosen mode of struggle stroke a chord across the length and breadth of the Ethiopian public.

Strip peaceful struggle off Kinijit and you will end up with an entirely different animal with awfully different set of values and strategies. If the leadership decides to revisit the party’s ways, as it should from time to time, then the place to do it is its own board room and, I might add, in Ethiopia. When individuals who are in the top echelon of the party trigger public discourse over some core values without first having discussed them internally, it becomes a case of recklessness. When it is done from the safety of thousands of miles it even becomes a case of outrage.

Whilst ordinary citizens and the general public have every right to start discourse on any particular topic, the standard, unfortunately, is quite different for party and government officials. With the acceptance of public office, one actually surrenders a little bit of that “personal right” to brag and say what ever one wants. No matter how well crafted a statement an official makes claiming it is a personal view, it will always be construed as the position of the organization. That is why we see responsible politicians walk unenviable fine lines in the public arena. That is also why we should demand people we put in leadership position conform to generally accepted standards of leadership behavior and organizational codes of conduct. It matters very little whether the organization is a blue chip corporation, a democratic party or a communist party of bye gone years; ethical, moral and operational standards are what differentiate our way of life from that of animal kingdoms.

Personally, I am not in a position to declare that peaceful struggle is a failure since we have not even tried a quarter of its potent tools. On the other hand, our entire history, more so the recent one, is replete with examples of armed struggle that resulted in hundreds of thousands of lives being lost with nothing to show at the end. EPRP, OLF, TPLF, EPLF, ELF, ONLF and several others can be cited as examples. When armed struggle reached the finishing line, like it did in Eritrea and Ethiopia, the population ended up with the short end of the stick and worse of from where it started. I hate to speculate there are people among us who are still enamored by the guerilla fighting years of Mao Tse-tung and Che Guevara. Pardon me, but we live in the era of helicopter-gun-ships and satellite communication that could make the life of a guerilla force down right miserable if not devastating. Besides, how does a society that is war-weary factor into the call for armed struggle? Judging from the obscenely unpopular nature of EPRDF, couldn’t one make the case that the inherently subtle, colorless and silent ways of peaceful struggle are working?

As much as I resent armed struggle, I also resent the continued loitering in the arena of individuals who lack the patience and the skill to see a strategy succeed. It is disheartening that the very same people who advocated peaceful struggle and pleaded with millions to follow them are now hoodwinking the party and the movement at their leisure. The fabric that holds Ethiopian society is much weaker today than it was yesterday, all the more reason to exercise caution when we make choices. Choices shall never be made from the dictates of frustration and despair. Let’s be firm, let’s be resolute.

'……but screw your courage to the sticking-place, and we'll not fail.' Shakespeare in Macbeth

Saturday, March 01, 2008

ይድረስ ለአቶ ኃይሉ ሻውል
አሜሪካ
March 1 2008


ቃሊቲ በእስር ሆነህ ለጻፍኩልህ ደብዳቤ እስካሁን መልስ ባላገኝም አንዳችም ቅሬታ አላደረብኝ። አንድም የጤንነትህን ጉዳይ ስለማውቅ ሌላው ደግሞ ከምርጫው ወዲህ የተመሳቀለውን ፖለቲካ ግራ-ከቀኝ አገናዝበህ ያላፊነት ግዴታህን ለመወጣት ፋታ እንደሚያስፈልግህ ስለማምን ነበር።

ይኸው ከተፈታችሁ ስድስት ወር ያህል ሆነ። ታዲያ የኢትዮጵያ ሕዝብ ችገር እጅጉን እየባሰ፤ የመንግሥት አምባገነንነት ቅጥ እያጣ፤ የተቃዋሚ ፓርቲዎች ሮሮ እየጠና፤ የጦርነት ዳመና በሰሜንና በምሥራቅ እያንዣበበና ሕዝባችን ታይቶ በማይታወቅ የኑሮ ውድነት አለንጋ እየተገረፈ ነው። በዚሁ ላቁም ብየ ነው እንጅ ዝርዝሩ እንኳ እርቆ መሳፍርት የለውም።


ከላይ የዘረዘርኩዋቸው ፈተናዎች ከህመምህ የበለጠ እንቅልፍ እንደሚነሱህ ላንዳፍታም አልጠራጠር። ሕዝብ ለነዚህ ሁሉ ችግሮቸ መታደጊያ ይሆነኛል ብሎ ተስፋ የጣለበትን የቅንጅትን ቤት መልሶ ለማቋቋም በሚደረግ ወሳኝ ጥረት ውስጥ ማንንም ምንንም ሳታስቀድም ትሳተፋለህ ብየ ብጠብቅም የምሳሳት አይመስለኝም። ታዲያ በአንድ ቤተሰብ ውስጥ የተፈጠረን ችግር ለመፍታት ይህን ያህል ጊዜ መፍጀቱ ምን ይባላል? ኬንያ ውስጥ በሁለት ተጻራሪ ፓርቲዎች መሀከል የተከሰተው በደም የተበከለ ቅራኔ እንኳ ይኸው በስድስት ሳምንት ውስጥ ተፈቶ የለምን?

ልናገረው ይቀፈኛል እንጅ ስለቅንጅት የቤት ውስጥ ችግር ሰው የሚያትተው ብዙ ነው። በኃሀይሉና በብርሀኑ መሀከል ያለ አለመጣጣም ነው፤ የብርሃኑም የኃይሉም የሥልጣን ጉጉት አለበት፤ የኃይሉ ግትርነት ነው፤ የብርሀኑ አለመጨበጥ ነው፤ የመኢአድና የቀስተ ደመና ተቀናቃኝነት ነው፤ የገንዘብ ንኪኪ ነው፤ የለም የኢሕአዴግ እጅ አለበትና የመሳሰሉት ይገኙበታል።

ከመጨረሻው ልጀምርና ያንዱ ወገን በሌላው ላይ ጥላሸት ለመቀባት ከሚያደርገው የፕሮፓጋንዳ ዘመቻ ባሻገር አንተም ሆንክ ብርሃኑ በኢሕአዴግ የሚሸነገል ዓይነት ርካሺ ህሊና እንደሌላችሁ እውቅ ነው። ሁለታችሁም ከዚያ የርካሽነት ደረጃ ያለፋችሁ ናችሁና። የገንዘብ ንክኪ የሚባለውም አልባሌ ወሬ ለመሆኑ እኔ ራሴ ማረጋገጫ አለኝ። እነዚህን ሁለቱን አሉባልታዎች ካወጣን ግን ችግሩ በሁለት ግለሰቦች መሀከል የተፈጠረ አለመጣጣም እንጅ ከ80 ሚሊዮን ሕዝብ ጉዳይ ጋር የማይገናኝ ሆኖ እናገኘዋለን። በሌላ አነጋገር ቅንጅትና ደጋፊዎቹ ፈረንጆቹ እንደሚሉት የኢጎ አለያም ደግሞ የኋላቀርነት መገለጫ የሆነው የግትርነት ሰለባ ሆነናል ማለት ነው። ታዲያ ይህ አንጀትን ካላቆሰለ ምን ሊያቆስል ይችላል? ታዲያ ይህ መሳቂያና መሳለቂያ ካላስደረገን ምን ሊያስደርገን ይችላል?

ውድ ወንድሜ!

ፖለቲካ ሁሉም በኪሣራ የሚለያዩበት የዳተኞች ጨዋታ አይደለም። አንዱ አሸናፊ ሌላው ተሸናፊ የሚሆንበት የፖለቲካ ቀመርም አይደለም። “እኔ ቅዱስ እሱ እርኩስ” ከሚል እይታ የሚጠነጠን የፖለቲካ ስትራቴጅ ደግሞ የኋላ ቀርም ኋላቀር ነው። ልብ ብለን ካየነው ለሦስተኛው ዓለም ኋላቀርነትና ሥልጣንን በደም የማሸጋገር አስከፊ ባህል መነሻዎቹ እነዚህ አመለካከቶች ናቸው። ቀሪዎቹ ችግሮቻችን የነዚህ ምንዛሪዎች እንጅ ሌላ አይደሉም።

“እሱ እንዲህ ብሎ! እሷ እንዲያ ብላ” እየተባባላችሁ ከፈጠራችሁት በቀላሉ ከሚነሳ የፖለቲካ አቧራ ባሻገር ሁለታችሁም ወገኖች ለኢትዮጵያ ሕዝብ ያላችሁ የጋለ ስሜትና በቅንጅት ራዕይ ላይ ያላችሁ አቋም ቅንጣት እንኳ እንደማይለያይና እንዳልተቀየረም እናውቃለን። ታዲያ ይህ ሁሉ ጭቅጭቅና ውዝግብ፤ ይህ ሁሉ የኢትዮጵያን ሕዝብ ሰቆቃ ማራዘም፤ ይህ ሁሉ ወገንን ማሳዘን በታሪክ ውስጥ ክቡር ቦታን ያስገኛል? ታሪኩም ይቅርና ከህሊናስ ፀፀት ያድናል?

ለሀኪሞች ብቻ ማን እነደሰጣቸው አላውቅም እንጅ “የበሽታውን መንስዔ ለይቶ ማወቅ የመፍትሔውን አጋማሺ ማግኘት ነው” የሚል ብሂል አላቸው። እኔ ግን በፖለቲካና በዕለት-ተለት ኑሮም እንዲሁ ይመስለኛል።

ለቅንጅት፤ ለመሪዎቹና በሚሊዮን ለመቆጠሩ ደጋፊዎቹ የወቅቱ አጣዳፊ ተግባር የፓርቲውን የውስጥ ችግር መፍታት ብቻ ነው እላልሁ። ሰፊውና ውስብስቡ የኢትዮጵያ ጉዳይ አይደለም፤ የዴሞክራሲና የሰብዓዊ መብት ጉዳይ እንኳ አይደለም። እነዚህ ክቡር እሴቶች እውን የሚሆኑት መሪ፤ ተቆርቋሪና አራማጅ ፓርቲ ሲያገኙ ብቻ ነውና።

የቅንጅት አመራር በመሀከሉ ያለውን መለስተኛ ቅራኔ በውይይት ለመፍታት አለመቻሉ ለሕዝቡ የሀዘን ምንጭ መሆኑንና በርካታ ንቁ ደጋፊዎች ወደ ገለልተኝነት እንዲሸጋገሩ ምክንያት መሆኑን አለመገንዘብ ስህተት ይመስለኛል። ለኢሕአዴግና በቅንጅት ለሚቀኑ ለሌሎች ፓርቲዎች ደግሞ የመዘባበቻ መሣሪያ እንደሆነላቸው እውቃለሁ። ስለዚህ ነው ለቅንጅት ይህን አንገት የሚያስደፋ ሁኔታ ከመቀየርና ደጋፊዎቹን እንደገና በትግሉ መስክ ከማሰባሰብ የበለጠ አጣዳፊ ተግባር ሊኖር አይችለም ያልኩት።

ፖለቲካ የድርድርና የሰጥቶ መቀበል ልጅ ናትና ያለፈውን ወደኋላ ትታችሁ ሁሉንም አሸናፊ በሚያደርግ ቀመር ውስጥ ችግሮቻችሁን እንድትፈቱ አይምሮአችሁም ልባችሁም ይከፈት ዘንድ እጸልያለሁ። በፖለቲካው ዓለም ወቅታዊነት ወሳኝ ነውና የሚጠፋ ደቂቃ እንኳ ሊኖር እንደማይገባ አስገንዝቤ እሰናበትሀለሁ።

ከማክበር ሠላምታ ጋር
ኩችዬ
ማርች 1 ቀን 2008 ዓ/ም

ማስታወሻ፡
ቃሊቲ በእስር እያለህ የጻፍኩልህን ደብዳቤ ቅጅ አያይዠዋልሁ