Mereja.Forum

[tolcha]

Hey, Buddy! I know you or someone you know might be close to King-7 ( aka-Gabana) of the current Ethiopian PM. Is there anyway you can relay this message to him,please:
1/ Release all political prisoners now
2/ Call all stake holders, opposition parties for negotiation, even the so called detached OLF military wing, Beneshangul rebels, etc
3/ Sit down and discuss how to go forward in peaceful way. Don't underestimate people's claim

[temari]

Hey, Buddy! I know you or someone you know might be close to King-7 ( aka-Gabana) of the current Ethiopian PM. Is there anyway you can relay this message to him,please:
1/ Release all political prisoners now
2/ Call all stake holders, opposition parties for negotiation, even the so called detached OLF military wing, Beneshangul rebels, etc
3/ Sit down and discuss how to go forward in peaceful way. Don't underestimate people's claim

Brother Tolcha, I wish I can give advise to the honorable PM (aka Gobana ) but I am not in that position and I have no connection to PP either. I'm just an individual who currently sees no alternative to the 7-th King left and right. And to be frank with you, I really don't think the so called jailed opposition is mature enough to have a fruitful dialog other than making it a media sensation, attacking and threatening those who disagree with them.

Just to give you one concrete example. Jawar was threatening with mob violence both the PM Abiy administration, Alemu Seme and others including the people of Addis Ababa for excising their democratic rights. The jailed opposition in particular were not ready to compromise but rather were drunk with the power of mob and populism to impose their will on others using mob violence. Unless the opposition divorces its politics from violence and populism and radically change its political language, I see no chance of negotiating with them.

Of course we know the government is full of former EPRDF cadres and officials and it is obvious they are miles away from becoming democrats. And honestly, I see no path from a divisive ethnic politics filled with hatred and division to a democratic system but to a chaotic yemen/somalia route. For now we need a functioning government for at least the next 5 years and may be then we can start serious negotiations. Just imagine implementing full democracy now in an ethnically radicalized society where every ethnic group will vote for the most radical once due to populism and mob agitation. Can you imagine where will end? In my view a transition from highly divided and polarized ethnic politics to democracy is a delusion. It rather ends in a catastrophic civil war.

[sun]

Hey, Buddy! I know you or someone you know might be close to King-7 ( aka-Gabana) of the current Ethiopian PM. Is there anyway you can relay this message to him,please:
1/ Release all political prisoners now
2/ Call all stake holders, opposition parties for negotiation, even the so called detached OLF military wing, Beneshangul rebels, etc
3/ Sit down and discuss how to go forward in peaceful way. Don't underestimate people's claim

Brother Tolcha, I wish I can give advise to the honorable PM (aka Gobana ) but I am not in that position and I have no connection to PP either. I'm just an individual who currently sees no alternative to the 7-th King left and right. And to be frank with you, I really don't think the so called jailed opposition is mature enough to have a fruitful dialog other than making it a media sensation, attacking and threatening those who disagree with them.

Just to give you one concrete example. Jawar was threatening with mob violence both the PM Abiy administration, Alemu Seme and others including the people of Addis Ababa for excising their democratic rights. The jailed opposition in particular were not ready to compromise but rather were drunk with the power of mob and populism to impose their will on others using mob violence. Unless the opposition divorces its politics from violence and populism and radically change its political language, I see no chance of negotiating with them.

Of course we know the government is full of former EPRDF cadres and officials and it is obvious they are miles away from becoming democrats. And honestly, I see no path from a divisive ethnic politics filled with hatred and division to a democratic system but to a chaotic yemen/somalia route. For now we need a functioning government for at least the next 5 years and may be then we can start serious negotiations. Just imagine implementing full democracy now in an ethnically radicalized society where every ethnic group will vote for the most radical once due to populism and mob agitation. Can you imagine where will end? In my view a transition from highly divided and polarized ethnic politics to democracy is a delusion. It rather ends in a catastrophic civil war.

As a none politician I(Sun) often wonder as to how all of these over energized activists who lack capacities and experiences of following a leader and learning from the leader can become leaders themselves and play good leader role model?

These current leaders if I may guess have gone through years of organized follower role experiences, both good and bad, and finally moved to the forefront, climbed to the next level and took up the leadership role which some inexperienced people might think that the leadership role just dropped from the sky for free like the free heavenly promised Manna. On the other hand, all politics is ethnic politics whether direct or indirect and that is not the problem.

Part of the problem is that the country have always been ruled by authoritarian tyrants using authoritarian tyrannical centralized dictatorship in which case transforming such a system to a modern democracy over night might pose great challenges and possible disintegration specially when elites are sharply divided and are up at each others throats. Elites need to cool down and think about the unity of the country, security, prosperity and making compromises and giving the government peace of mind and peace of doing its own jobs so that in the future others who may replace the government may claim the same goodies for themselves and the country.