Is It a Revolution We Seek?
Roman Dynasty declined and finally called it a night without shading a stray of light in to the avenue of the future. It is known that history repeats itself, like a meditative mantra, but by God! It is always destruction that repeats. This is the great scene of Greek tragedy that keeps repeating like a new play every time Ethiopian empires rise and fall. This is the saddening spirit of the revolving times. If we do not listen to our own heart and our own calling but rather plunge in, hot headedly, to the abyss of a civil war similar to what we are now seeing in neighboring Arab countries, Ethiopia may once and for all sink in to the Dark Ages.
The Axum Dynasty (100 – 900 AD) crumbled down giving the uprising empire a degraded nation, full of pride, which neither knew how to peacefully retire an old comrade nor appreciate the youth of a new leader. The Axum dynasty left its soul under protection of the prominent religion:- The Orthodox Church, left the people during those changing times within the hands of churchmen, gave one last fight in the name of thy bravery and passed the throne to the Zagwe Dynasty.
The Zagwe Dynasty, 1137 to 1270 AD, once on the throne craved of national popularity and royal glamour building Ethiopia anew. Most aristocrats might not agree with this statement, but it’s simply factual and has been The Primitive Nature of Ethiopian dynasties. They tend to rampage through and destruct the nation like a tsunami before trying to rebuild it. I consider it as a very foolish aptitude for any ruling dynasty or party.
During the Zagwe dynasty individual creativity was driven speaking literary or literally in all parables, to extinction. From then on any art, poetry or sophisticated work of engineering was done for the church or for rulers and was not expected to portray genuine individualism. The coming dynasties or military juntas or superficial democratic governments did not improve on this aspect to any great extent. It was the same pattern of pseudo Ethiopian culture that reverberated through history. This is not enough to become a strong nation. A country lives by the accomplishment of each person and shines by the creativity of every individual. I do believe that Ethiopians need yet to discover 2000 years worth of innovative creativity and self discovery through self analysis. The other alternative is to follow, blind eyed to our dying soul and civilization, the modern shepherd which we all know as western civilization.
The Zagwe dynasty like an abandoning father or a betrayed son (which so ever you choose to accuse) left the country, my country – Ethiopia to the wolves. These wolves, by blood and bone pure Ethiopians, knew of one clearly written ancient manual of French Colonialism in North Africa: The Divide and Rule Theory. It is very hard to pinpoint who, in history, came up with this political concept. History can ascertain such queries as irrelevant; it doesn’t bring any crop to the fields to ask who was responsible for coming up with degrading constructs or concepts. The fruit of the seed is, when applied, this disintegrating idea, had devastating and lasting effects on both North African nations and to speak subjectively; Ethiopia’s nations and nationalities. This political propaganda of ruling a clan and not a nation, ruling an ethnicity and not a whole country gave the Ethiopian kings a wealthy life rid of duty. On the contrary it left a skeptical or worse yet cynical Ethiopian to ferment from the grotto. So yes, our problems resemble Arab countries like Libya’s, Tunisia’s and the whole Middle East’s; as if these problems were concocted by the same sorcerer.
The same card was played by the Solomon Dynasty which ruled from 1262 to 1974. In its history the dynasty had a sudden decline for about 100 years known as the Z’mene Mesafint. During this time the nation disintegrated and the wolves benefited with the divide and rule concept. The same fist of destruction which history saw being used by The Zagwe dynasty was followed by an attempt to reconstruct the nation. Soon came the fall of the Solomon Dynasty by the Dereg regime.
This military junta (Dereg), during the 1970’s and 80’s, brought fear upon the people. It was so destructive and not much was left from the previous dynasty. This obviously was not new to Ethiopia. It was the same Greek tragedy. At the present this beautiful nation is under a so called democratic government.
Ethiopia as a nation was always one. Through time the diverse cultures and languages and ethnicities that color the country where used against the people to disintegrate it. There were many who fought for the unity of our country and who sacrificed their lives so we can have one great nation.
I believe that, historically speaking, the war which brought the EPDRF (Ethiopian’s People Democratic Revolution Front) to power and the fall of the Dereg regime resembled the same war the Middle East and other Arab countries are burning in at the present. We are now twenty years ahead of these nations. In the past fifty years we have seen two revolutions. For most Arab nations this is their first revolution since the end of colonialism. This is the capital difference between Ethiopia and Middle East.
Here in America, still holding the polluted notion of a nation, democracy exits. Any foreigner (third world immigrant or refugee or visitor), in the general terms of understanding but without complete acceptance, acknowledges the monumental democratic rights given by so many great nations including America to their citizens. But there (nostalgia makes such statements really hard), in Ethiopia, the path to democracy is long and filled with dreadful consequences; so potentially alarming that the fight to gain the democratic nation will unjustly ruin the existing civilization. It’s a fact no nation was found democratic. And some might argue at the present time civilization doesn’t exist in Ethiopia. None the less we must come to terms with what we really want. Is it a revolution we seek? Haven’t each of us seen enough blood bath from such forsaken and sickening so called revolutions costing us a beloved’s life? Should we even consider the now ruling government our enemy?
The uprising that is swallowing the Arab nations is a long overdue rebel act by their citizens. They are fighting for their path to a civilized nation. Thus far it is their battle and not ours. The question should not be whether the uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East affect us. Inevitably it will. Question is, “Are the problems they are fighting for similar to our ever pressing needs?” Will it further our democracy or send us back to another civil war? Should we give ear to the domino effect of such an uprising? It is so near to Ethiopia geographically; but is it not so farfetched a solution for our beloved nation and the cries of the people?
Biruk Eyesus
Friday, April 22, 2011
