TPLF/EPRDF Crisis:The Way Forward
By: Tolossa Gofta Kassane
This is a brief commentary in the light of TPLF'S current crisis. I will not deal with the cause of the crisis, but rather this is an attempt to hint at the possibility of establishing a legitimate and representative government in Ethiopia and how this could come about.
�
I take that the root cause of this conflict is a lack of stable political environment,in a broader sense. Given this state of affair,the remedy is changing the ball game.How?
There is no easy answer to the ''how?'' question. But, the only sure way to ending on-going political conflicts and to bringing peace to our people is through a system in which all the stake holders have confidence in and which everyone perceives as a non-threatening.
With TPLF on its last legs, this opportunity is availing itself if we know how to constructively conduct ourselves/our affairs. I suggest a few possible directions in this regard:
1. Encouraging democratic tendencies in the current crisis:
I argue that the present crisis is the outcome of Ethiopians' struggle against the forces of oppression and discrimination. It does not matter what shape the crisis is taking,who is winning or who is losing.
What this crisis would do is weakening the ideological foundation of the political reality of the day thereby opening up opportunities of the protagonists being amenable to outside influences beyond their narrow respective power bases.
We could put conditional demands to any tacit endorsement we may provide to the protagonists to the effect that the political process should be accessible to all Ethiopian actors.
We have to assist the machinery of oppression to run itself down and to run out of steam through pressuring and enticing.
In simple terms,we should demand of what is on offer to us from TPLF protagonists to earn our grudging support,left and right, (?) whilst we are sure that the only lasting solution is to get rid of the machinery of oppression itself.
But, it is in Ethiopians' long term interests that our conditional demand is realistic and is perceived by the losers as 'a win win solution'.
In truth, it has to be ''a win win'' solution for everyone, including for those whose exclusive domination will come to an end.
The framework for the game should be well thought out,however. For instance,if we demand an all inclusive government as we should, this I believe, should be understood in ts metaphorical sense in terms of the time scale involved for implementastions and in real sense in terms of its modality.
What does this require?
This requires combined effort of all Ethiopians working towards the said goal,based on mutual trust and of respect for each other's concerns.
Opposition groups need hammering out their differences with a view to agreeing on the basic minimum strategy and program.
In short,opposition has to be at the level of a 'government in-waiting' to step in with a comprehensive and all inclusive strategy.
2. All out upheaval to unseat TPLF:
This has a place/role/scope in the long term strategy,but is unhelpful in the short term when much remains to be done in mobilizing Ethiopians across the board for the common cause.
It could be a destructive process as TPLF/EPRDF's track record of governance has demonstrated, as it is the art of starting from a scratch whose outcome and fairness are unpredictable.
Nevertheless,we need this approach as a fall back position should our engagement with those in power at present fails to deliver on or/and should a situatiobn arise that may require this course of action.
3. Using international leverages:
Evidence from our engagements with the international community is encouraging in the areas of human rights and in highlighting economic mismanagement by the TPLF.
However, international sympathy and reaction are dependent on Ethiopians' perceived organizational strength and our ability to go with the ethos of the time-the political maturity which is perceived of us!
I think the international community,particularly western governments would take note of Ethiopians' productivity in dealing with each other, in promoting stability in the Horn of Africa region and in our ablity to constructively engage with the dying regime.
4. Generating ''ideas of tomorrow'':
As sociologists note,the most successful society is that whose elites (educated or otherwise) are forward looking. Our track record in this regard is not encouraging.
The irony is that Ethiopia has a significant number of 'cream intellectuals', so to speak,particularly in the diaspora. However, our affiliation with political groups has limited our ability to generate the 'ideas of tomorrow'.
I argue and plea that this reality should be reversed with everyone of us looking at our individual psyche to disentangle ourselves from the narrow confines in which we oprate.
How could we fail to understand the simple logic of an organism-the principle of 'self-maintenance as a system of being',as biologists assert?
5.Summary:
I would like to summarize my comment:Ethiopia is at a crossroad and is in need of an enlightened leadership. The current crisis within the TPLF/EPRDF is a 'God sent' opportunity for all of us to come together to provide that required leadership.
We need to act on several fronts, from engaging TPLF/EPRDF constructively to lobbying the international community using all leverages at our disposal.
We have to be able to see beyond narrow entrenched views and start speaking in the language that is audible to all our audiences from ordinary Ethiopians to western powers/international community.
It is in our long term interests to provide guiding hands to those who are panicking.
In short,this is our opportune time to rise to the demand of the current crisis.
I hope the response will be positive.
Tolossa Gofta Kassane.
Opinions in this article are solely that of the writer