Tigray News: Tigray is breeding Napoleans or Washingtons? Napoleon Bonaparte once said: “I can no longer obey; I have tasted command, and I cannot give it up” Napoleon was unambiguous about his intention to stay on the throne of France at whatever cost. He was addicted to the cheers of thousands as he marched at the head of his troops wherever he went. He was accustomed to life in the comfort of the majestic palaces in Paris and Versailles so much that he probably preferred death or messing up France to going back to his village, live with his family and probably cultivate the land as an ordinary person. In contrast, we have what another great general (George Washington, the first President of the USA) did. A blog post on the “Mount Verson” webpage reads:
“On December 23, 1783, Washington presented himself before Congress in Annapolis, Maryland, and resigned his commission. Like Cincinnatus, the hero of Classical antiquity whose conduct he most admired, Washington had the wisdom to give up power when he could have been crowned a king. He left Annapolis and went home to Mount Vernon with the fixed intention of never again serving in public life. This one act, without precedent in modern history, made him an international hero.”
When I read this in the biography of George Washington, a few years ago, I recall tears had come to my eyes. Then I knew the reason why God allowed the Earth to rotate normally as it always did. If all those who come to power were the likes of Napoleon, God would do something bad to the Planet with a terrible feeling of hopelessness in the human creatures of his. George Washington was a brave and skillful commander of the Continental Army of America who defeated the mighty global army of the British Empire. Once he did his job he did not wait for a hefty reward in the form of the Crown of America. He just left for his village to irrigate his farm and enjoy his retirement from public service. For many of us, this is just unbelievable; it can only be the work of an archangel. No wonder, Americans named their Capital after him and many more other things too. The story of Washington did not end there. The most captivating part of the Washington story is this. Americans never failed to see who their best leader could be. They did not allow George Washington to sit in a village and waste his great talents.
The “Mount Version” blog continues: “Washington intended to enjoy his retirement from public service, content to spend his life as a farmer at Mount Vernon. However, his retirement was interrupted when he was once again called on to serve his country. Washington was a unanimous choice to head the Constitutional Convention in 1787. His stalwart leadership, hero status, and dignified manner made him perhaps the only person capable of leading the assembly. He worked with the delegates for over a year to create and ratify the Constitution. Washington continued to lead and was unanimously elected the first President of the United States” Can you imagine this? Washington was forced by the American people to be their President! George Washington may have been the first but not the last to have done such an honorable job. I can cite just one more example; though at a lower level. General Herbert N. Schwarzkopf was his name. He passed away in 2012. Schwarzkopf was called on to respond to the invasion of Kuwait and commanded the coalition forces in the Gulf War. Schwarzkopf retired soon after the end of the war and undertook philanthropies.
Since European kings united against Napoleon and ended his rule, we could not tell a story of how the people of France might have reacted to his rule as an absolute monarch. What we need for the point at hand is how he came to power; a power from which he refused to step down. Napoleon was a famous military leader of the French Revolution; the Revolution that hailed: “Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity”. Its goal was to radically change the oppressive nature of the relationship between the people and the rulers and “redefine political power” in France. The noble cause did not last long enough for the French People to enjoy the fruits of their sacrifices. One of the leaders- Napoleon Bonaparte- staged a coup d’état, appointed himself as the absolute leader of France.
This story is not new to Ethiopian politics. Like the French Revolution it was the “February Revolution” in Ethiopia that facilitated for the military dictatorship of the “Derg”. Nevertheless, it came to no one’s mind that those starry eyed university students, who were the prime movers of the “February Revolution”, were several decades later in a bad mood to be leaders for life. They had chanted for the end of oppression and the perpetuation of power devoid of public consent. What is happening in Tigray is unbelievable.
TPLF was created as a band of seven zealous young men who literally worshipped Marx, Lenin, Ho Chi Minh and Che Guevara and envied them for their determination to transfer political power to the people by the barrel of the gun. Who could fail to trust them in this; who hesitated to follow their path even if it meant death and destruction? Paying the ultimate sacrifice for the progress and welfare of the people is a virtue at the highest level. This was the only reason why for seventeen odd years the people of Tigray died and suffered. At the end of the calamitous guerrilla war people celebrated, chanted and danced although the loss of tens of thousands of lives was unbearable to say the least.
Unfortunately, there was not even a single angel who whispered to the people’s ears that they would soon be betrayed and the class society of the past will be restored in a new “Hi-Tech design”. Those who suffered and those who died were just thanked in the form of millions worth monument to which the top-brass of the TPLF, from the National Capital, would travel to put a wreath on to the somber sound of trumpets. How did the leaders of the TPLF and the few hundreds of their associates manage to keep the betrayed millions and thousands of former combatants, who were left in abject poverty, from being rebellious?
The way the political network was woven from top to the grassroots does not allow the slightest sign of dissent. The persistent brainwashing of the children, the youth, and particularly the mothers of Tigray, has been supported by most advanced and pervasive propaganda machine. The people became literally handcuffed, gagged and blindfolded by the systematic manipulation; the logical outcome of which was people believe what they are told by the ruling politicians and turn deaf ears to opposition politics. The omnipresent revolutionary songs and three decades of interviews and story-telling about the seventeen years armed struggle kept entire millions stuck in the past. The mothers of Tigray who got their children martyred in the struggle are the most vulnerable to systematic manipulation.
The mothers of Tigray are made to believe, from the bottom of their hearts, that their children did not die in vain, that the mothers have to be happy and proud about it. They are possessed by the systematic propaganda so much that they don’t hesitate to declare in public gatherings they blessed and sent four or five of their children to die in the armed struggle. The feeling of pride rises with the number of their children who did not return. It is cruel for mothers to ululate at the mention of their martyred children. Needless to say the mothers suffer for nine months in the womb and at least another three to eighteen years after birth for a single child. If we put aside the social-psychological attachment the mothers have with their kids, death is unhappy event even when we think of child birth and bringing up as a business investment.
The worst and the most desired part of the whole story of manipulation of the family of martyrs is to associate martyrdom with the need to perpetuate TPLF incumbency. The justification begins with the made-in-TPLF premise in which “the spirit of the armed struggle should be eternal”…“it is no other political group but only the TPLF that can guarantee that”…”the martyrs got such a ‘privilege’ to die for the cause because they were led by the TPLF”…so the family of martyrs cannot fail to defend TPLF in power without diminishing the value of martyrdom of their children’. At this point the issue becomes extremely explosive for anyone who dares to oppose TPLF’s indefinite incumbency.
Opposition to TPLF’s indefinite rule did not come from where it had to: Tigray. Entire people in Tigray were and are hypnotized. Poverty eradication, the policies of which inundated ministerial offices in the TPLF ruled Capital of the Republic, were bright stars in the sky for the people of Tigray to watch but not to touch. Poverty was carved into an alternative tool to manipulate the millions in addition and more effectively to the debilitating “mother of martyrs” narrative. In the name of poverty alleviation policies, in which international organizations participated through “relief monopoly” of REST, were deliberately restricted to “safety nets:” perpetuating aid dependency. Aid-dependency in practice was TPLF-dependency.
The Federal arrangement that was set up by TPLF and its partners to ensure unquestionable power of the EPDF member and associate parties in the regional states, left Ethiopian citizens in the regions to the mercy of the regional ruling parties. As none of them were democratically elected they were given a political blank check for rampart corruption, gross injustice and maladministration. The irony was, from all other member states of the Federation Tigray, which bled so much to bring about the “right to the self-determination of nations and nationalities”, was the one to get it all wrong. The only shelter TPLF and its associates had, when the Oromo-youth riots shattered the already loose fabric of EPRDF rule, was the impregnable fortress called Tigray.
Instead of playing appeasement political tactics, with the new rulers at Arat Kilo, TPLF preferred to maintain “the honor of a 50 years old party” by fighting back. The political Dutch courage of fighting back, entire National army of Ethiopia, Amhara militia and a strong foreign army, emanated from the reliance of the TPLF on the millions of impoverished faithful in Tigray. This time TPLF fed a million or more to the cannons and sat for a negotiation with those who replaced it at Arat Kilo. In a normal state of mind what would any person expect TPLF would do when the War ended? Obviously, it would resign and wait for justice to be done on itself and all others who bear greater or lesser responsibility for the terrible things that happened. Actually, this is wishful thinking. Any hint of a suggestion for TPLF to resign and open the way for a new era of democratic politics in Tigray, is considered as a crime.
To everyone’s dismay TPLF led by elderly politicians, who have spent four quarters of their lives in power, still think that they will cling to power “until death do them apart”. When bright minded politicians, with dreams of a better future for the people of Tigray started to jam the political airwaves, when the talents for political analyses of the new generation of scholars went beyond the power of TPLF leaders and cadres to challenge, TPLF resorted to what it can do best: accuse opposition activists, including the more radical elements of the Party, of betrayal of Tigray and collaboration with the enemy. It is not all TPLF members or leaders who are gone politically stale. The locals call those who are at the center of the TPLF induced crisis in Tigray by an acronym as “ADeMe” in Tigrigna. This refers to Alem, Debretsion, and Menjorino. There are also no less rigid TPLFites in the social media identified as “HaMaS”. For those who are working hard for the transformation of the Tigrayan society both “ADeMe” and “HaMaS” have become like dangerously angry wasps.
Their statements are full of contradictions, they don’t choose their words carefully, they care-freely trample on party, regional and federal laws, they are pitting everyone against everyone else creating a mood for a civil war, they are dangerously soliciting support from the army commanders, and they are calling for a sort of mass-uprising against their adversaries in the interim government to the utter dissatisfaction of Federal authorities, It is now crystal clear that TPLF considers Tigray as its hereditary fiefdom. It will agree to nothing less than a confirmation of its permanent tenure in power over the Region. Anything other than this is illogical and a betrayal for TPLF. It is also hard to understand why TPLF and its supporters feel that to govern Tigray some Tigrayans are more eligible than others just like “some are more Tigrayans than others”. This evades conventional rules of thumb about the equality in birth rights.
When Menjorino and Alem spoke in public they were blatant about it. These few leaders and the media people, seemingly in a generous TPLF payroll, would be responsible for any irreversible split in the human geography of Tigray. I don’t think the sub-regional drift will wait for the tectonic forces acting in the rift valley to push east Africa into the Indian Ocean. This will take a million or so years. With further irresponsible actions on the part of the TPLF leadership and affiliated media the table is well set for the dismemberment of Tigray for good. A metaphorical donkey said: “Let the weeds never grow after my death!” There is some light at the end of pitch dark tunnel in Tigray. The youth has risen and has risen for good! The youth of Tigray are singing (my translation from Tigrigna into English of a few of the key verses).
“They are chewing sand with our teeth
They are holding fire with our hands
We are not Abraham’s Ram
We are not born for bullets!
We are not created for bullets!”
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