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A close friend and I were discussing this column
that either entertains or irritates many readers
every weekend, and he, being the strongest critic
that I have, voiced an opinion, which I had to take
to heart. This is not to say that I do not take
anything else that he has to say to heart, it is
just that this particular assertion was one that had
my mind churning all week.
Just about every week that I write this column, I
speak on the nature and state of the Ethiopian
people and whether directly or not refer to them and
all the beautiful or horrid things that they do.
Whether or not that is the point of the piece, I
have a way of always referring to everybody in bulk
and including them in all things that I am trying to
say or using them as proof positive of this point or
another.
But what is most interesting about this, and this is
the point that my friend brought up, is that
whenever I am referring to Ethiopians or all things
related to them, I use the term Abesha. To be
honest, this is something that I do completely
unintentionally because I have always thought of all
Ethiopians as Abesha.
Though I may be comfortable in assigning the term to
all the people of this ancient nation, the different
peoples that coexist on this land are not
necessarily so. If we were to take the strictest
definition of the word, it only refers to Semitic
Ethiopians and they are far from representative of
the majority of the population, making up a mere one
third. They are predominantly Orthodox Christians.
If we take a slightly broader sense of the word then
the Semitic speaking Gurage and Harare groups come
into the fold.
However narrow or strict the definition, Abesha does
not include all things Ethiopian. I have to admit
that never once when I was using this word did I
take into consideration the fact that I may have
been inconsiderate or dismissive to certain groups.
Having been raised in the country, I have, since
childhood, assumed that it encompassed all the
people that I wanted to speak on regardless of their
origins. This of course is not taking the accepted
definition of the word, but what it meant in out
traditional use of it, particularly in our native
tongues. And during those times, I had never caused
offence by my use of the word, regardless of the
sort of Ethiopian that I was speaking on.
But these days, not causing offence is not as easy
as it used to be. In fact, that is something that
has become the hardest thing to do given that
everybody has become ultra-sensitive when it comes
to issues of ethnicity and using certain terms to
refer to people. There is both a negative and a
positive side to this.
The Abehsa or the Semites of our nation, whether in
its ancient form as a Kingdom that stretched across
seas, or in the sovereign borders that we know now,
have always been a hospitable people that are
willing to take in guests and make them feel at home
in their homes or on their land. They have not been
so easy as to allow complete assimilation into the
culture or considering those very outsiders as one
of their own. This is a habit that you can see
clearly even in the smallest tasks that many are
still a part of even to this day.
At a policy level, this very issue of including the
rest of Ethiopia in being Ethiopians is put in black
and white under a little title called 'Ethnic
Federalism'. The ideas on which the concept is
formulated is something that should be addressed.
How do we include all the ethnicities that are
living in the country in all things that involve
Ethiopia and Ethiopians? But more importantly, how
do we make all feel as though they belong and that
they are a part of the larger picture?
The incumbent felt that the means by which to
achieve this was to empower all the nations and
nationalities of the people of this country and make
them active in the development, politics and social
responsibilities of their areas. This is a move that
needs to be credited with some appreciation because
not once has there been a government in the country
that is willing to take into consideration all the
nations of this country equally.
This is not to say that the idea of Ethnic
Federalism is being implemented in the correct
manner and that it is free of flaws. The problem now
is that it is not being implemented correctly and is
instead of bringing the sense of bonding and unity
that it was supposed to, it has brought even more
tears to the social fabric that is the Ethiopian
caste system.
Empowering people, whether we wish to use this
example or not is a responsibility that has often
been neglected, and when it comes time to take
action, the empowerment does not usually yield the
results that are wanted. Ethnic Federalism, in
concept, was supposed to bring equality, harmony and
fair representation to all the 80-some nationalities
that are living in the country; it has instead
brought out more animosity and has created a
division and rift so wide, that friends are now
beginning to watch what they say around each other
for fear of offending one another when speaking on
issues of ethnicity.
The policy has also brought to the foreground
underlying questions with certain nationalities that
could potentially be the unravelling of the entire
nation if they are not addressed in the proper
manner. Consider the complaints that are being
raised from the southern parts of the country.
Consider the offence that the tribes towards the
east have taken. Even take some time and think for a
moment of those that feel they have been rightfully
stripped of things that were their ancestors and are
therefore by succession theirs.
Just as my using the term Abesha can be a
manifestation of the wrong route to take, then the
social, political and economic issues that are being
raised as a result of the Ethnic Federalism policy
that are being handled in a manner that is far from
couth to put it mildly.
Will that policy allow for lasting peace and
equality in the long run?
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