I write this now because soon the TPLF will be history, and we will have to proceed with building a peaceful and stable Ethiopian political environment... Before the TPLF's recent acts of terrorism, many Ethiopia politicans and pundits that consider themselves centrists were attacking Prime Minister Abiy's administration for its inability to deal with ever increasing instances of ethnic cleansing, especially anti-Amhara ethnic cleansing, taking place throughout the country. Many of these politicians and pundits are now fully on side with Abiy on the issue of the TPLF insurrection.
A year and a half ago, I tried to makes sense of the (incessant) criticism of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and his government. Much of the criticism has to do with two points:
1. The federal and Addis Ababa government's real or perceived bias in favour of Oromos in handing out services and entitlements such as land, employment, etc.
2. The federal government's not preventing repeated instances of ethnic murder and ethnic cleansing of mostly Amharas but also others in Oromia, Benishangul, and SNNP regions.
Before I continue, I ask you to keep in mind the following quote: “When people realize things are going wrong, there are two questions they can ask. One is, ‘What did we do wrong?’ and the other is, ‘Who did this to us?’ The latter leads to conspiracy theories and paranoia. The first question leads to another line of thinking: ‘How do we put it right?’” Bernard Lewis
Of course, criticism has its place and is sometimes necessary. But the context has to be right. In today's Ethiopian political context, virulent criticism of Abiy to the point of advocating for his ouster (along with ethnic nationalists and the TPLF) simply does not make sense. Let me explain.
Fanning anti-Abiy sentiment can have one of two goals:
1. Creating a situation where Abiy steps down or is ousted from power.
2. Putting Abiy under pressure to do more to get rid of Oromo bias and stop ethnic cleansing.
Let's address the first goal. In a scenario where Abiy is ousted from power, it's of course important to consider who or what will step into the vacuum! Does the centre have any political organization or structure that is ready to take over power? The answer is clearly no. The centre has no party, no organization, no civic society, no deep state network that is ready to take over leadership of the country. In fact, in terms of organization and structure, the ethnic nationalists are much more organized than the centre. Thus, if Abiy is ousted from power, we will have a power vacuum which will be filled with chaos, and the ethnic nationalists will have the advantage over the centre. Clearly Abiy being forced from power goes against the interests of the centre. Those politicians and pundits who don't like his policies or execution of policies must first establish a viable alternative organization and power structure before advocating for Abiy's ouster. Otherwise it will be 1991 again.
The second goal seems more realistic, but it isn't... Undoubtedly, criticism from centre politicians and pundits puts pressure on Abiy. Along with the criticism from the public at large, which feels more and more vulnerable with the increasing incidents of ethnic cleansing. The question is how can he respond to this pressure. Is the pressure enough for Abiy to start doing more about Oromo bias and tackling ethnic cleansing? My answer is no. For two reasons. First, the ethnic extremism embedded in the OPDO has been passed on to the Prosperity Party's Oromia branch. From municipal mayors to police chiefs to rank and file civil servants all the way up to top party officials, there are various degrees of ethnic extremism. If one takes a town like Shashemene, the mayor, police chief, kebele and woreda officials, etc., are all some some shade or another of ethnic extremists. In a situation like this, Abiy cannot simply replace all of these officials. That would be politically dangerous. He has to make due with what he has. The second reason is that the ethnic extremists have organizations that are powerful and capable of troubling the government. They can inflict terror, ethnic cleansing, produce protests, sabotage, etc. Because of this, Abiy's government has to tread carefully in managing ethnic extremism, especially Oromo ethnic extremism. Expecting the government to be able to simply purge all ethnic extremists is unrealistic. For these two reasons, pressure from the centre on the Abiy government to put an end to Oromo bias and ethnic cleansing, though somewhat useful, cannot fix the problem. He simply cannot respond fully to such pressure.
So, if Abiy's ouster from power is not good for the centre, and if putting pressure on him is not that helpful, what can centre politicians and pundits do to bring about the desirable result of ending ethnic cleansing and reducing Oromo bias (the latter is not for me a very big issue - we should accept Oromo bias for the near future)? What centre politicians and pundits can do is start and focus on the difficult work of creating organizations, parties, lobbies, civil societies, and deep state networks that can exert real power in the country and counteract ethnic nationalism. This includes joining current institutions, including the government and the ruling party, and exerting influence from within. This is a critical aspect to the struggle.
It is only via a critical mass of organization that ethnic nationalism and radicalism can be tackled in a prudent and effective way, by the use of overwhelming and targetted soft power. The federal government alone cannot do this because ethnic nationalism is too embedded in government institutions and amongst the public. So I would expect our politicians and pundits to remove their focus from complaining about Abiy and his government, to building a centrist political and civic force that is able to peacefully, prudently, and effectively combat ethnic radicalism
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