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I would have loved to come up with a perky upbeat topic
that I could have written on for this week; it would
have gone to serve as the comic relief for the
tragedy that has become the life we are currently
leading. This calamity of a play is of Shakespearean
proportions and just keeps going on and on, with the
end of even the first act nowhere in sight.
When we are done thinking that we have tackled one more
thing just to survive through the month, the week,
the day, or even the hour, something worse,
requiring much more of the time and energy you do
not have, pops up to start the vicious cycle all
over again.
Times have seriously gotten tough these days; prices are
continually going through the roof - I do not think
it has anything to do with the "greedy businessmen;"
companies have been forced to shut their doors or
downsize because they have not been able to make the
payroll - the service sector and retail businesses
are losing customers because people are spending
more money on basic necessities; and shelves are
getting empty because there are no items to fill
them with - there is little foreign currency in the
reserve so letters of credit to import items have
become difficult. This is just on the economic side
of things.
As if in a deliberate attempt to add insult to injury, the
government keeps tabling new bills to Parliament,
which is more than happy to pass them without asking
too many questions. If, by some spectacular miracle
they do ask questions, more often than not, they
have nothing to do with the issues of substance in
the bill.
Take into consideration the new press law: If anyone who
takes the time to read it does not recognize it as
being a deliberate attempt to stifle the private
press, then I must have gotten the wrong version. Or
the new civil society law; I am the first to agree
with the principle that foreign NGOs and civil
societies that are not home-sprung are a plague on
any nation that is trying to stand on its own two
feet, but Ethiopia has not even been able to crawl
in many regards, and is so severely lacking in basic
necessities and infrastructures that we have not
really been able to provide for ourselves given that
we have switched our attentions to completely
different issues. The icing on the cake has been the
most recent terrorism bill. I am at a loss for words
here; there is no describing the appalling nature of
the document.
Let us face it. We are sinking deeper and deeper into a
reality that would be better served through a George
Orwell novel, as entertaining as that may be on a
superficial level, it has the power to instil a
sense of comprehension and fear of the truth that it
is worthy of. And as we all know, the endings in
Orwellian existences may come out of the hideousness
that is their reality, but they are faced with much
larger uphill battles.
No matter what situation we find ourselves in, it is bound
to be a recounting of the horror stories of not
being able to make ends meet; of someone being
directly affected by the policies of the government,
losing their job, not being qualified after going
through the available educational system, of being
underpaid, or of being any number of things; but the
common thread is that people are miserable.
Our country is miserable. There is no sugar coating that.
This is not a pessimistic manner to look at the
situation that we are faced with, this is the most
realistic and pragmatic approach.
If we decided to focus on the list of problems that our
nation is encountering, then we have nowhere to go
but deeper and deeper into the manic depressive
state that seems to have a strangle hold on us now.
The list would be so long that this column would
have no new topics for the rest of its existence.
The better option would be to look at the possible
alternatives to completely and drastically change
it. The times require radicalism. This is not some
sort of subliminal message to say go out there and
start a violent revolution. On the contrary, the
last thing we need is for the country to regress
into the violence that has been the reality of most
of our existences.
What I mean by radicalism is a shift from the processes,
policies, and stances of the last 18 years to a more
moderate and liberal manner of doing things.
We have been the respectful foot soldiers of whatever
doctrines have been shoved down our throats over
these years. Just as we were the foot soldiers of
the doctrines before then and those that were in
place even before that. We have paid our dues, as
have our brethren and our nation. The time has come
for a change.
We need a new dogma to subscribe to. Ethiopia needs a new
social religion, something that is going to awaken
the faith and energy of the new generation that is
sadly decrepit, passive and lacking in strong
ideology. |
