Wax and Gold: A Visual Anthropology

I am reading a book entitled “Homo Politicus” by Dana Milibank, that witty, satirical and acerbic columnist of the Washington Post. Homo Politicus is a rare comparison of Potomac Man-the political elite in the Nation’s Capital and its entourage-with many of the non-western cultures that anthropologists study. Milibank, an old hand in Washington, gives a powerful insight as to how issues of status, blood and political ties, rhetoric and publicity work in Washington very similar to small scale hunting and gathering communities. Content aside, I cannot help but crave for “forfe”-that popular column of Addis Neger! Didn’t you miss it? It also inspired me to dot down some of my visual observations about the election debates on ETV and the free air time sessions the parties (notably the EPRDF) used for campaigning.
Running those election debate clips and Q&A sessions of ETV, what struck me is the sheer genius of Ethiopians to work on the façade (wax) of elections knowing the real essence (gold) is nowhere near. Let us start from the setting of ETV studios. You have green and blue curtained high rising studios which look like cathedrals of the most drab and depressing religion. They look like morgues. High beam head lights are pointed at the contestants on the floor. There is no studio audience that can ask questions or at least forward it to the moderators. The moderators sit right in front of the contestants usually in semi dark spots and come to light when the camera takes a shot of them. At best, the scene looks a job interview conducted by some mean officers of a big company. At worst, it reminds you of examining officers squeezing their suspects of any alleged crime against the state. So much for the inviting and ‘democratic’ space, where ‘debates’ took place.
Even more entertaining are the journalists of ETV who ‘moderate’ these debates. The pattern is cleanly set. They tell us that election is next door; the round of debate that we are on; and the rules of engagement. The speed with which they recite the text; their nervous and apprehensive gesture; and zealous control of time gives you an impression about the sort of pressure they are under. The contestants scramble for time, just as the journalists. Candidates are usually cut short, save for EPRDF representatives that get enough time because they represent a coalition of independent parties. Even worse, the sheer ineptitude and lack of preparedness of some candidates is astounding (one actually appealed to the public saying “policy yelenim, hulun neger ke ante gar temakiren enadergewalen!!”) Needless to state of the usual bickering between the opposition candidates themselves. This is all about a carefully set ambience, the wax, designed to send off a powerful message to you and me; ‘These are the people you consider for election. Are you sure they deserve any vote?’ The last clip I saw was one where Ato Bereket Simon went vocal about the ‘gold’. He said, “In the first place, the opposition candidates never agree between themselves. They never speak in one voice. These are the people who want to rule Ethiopia?” Bingo, you just got ‘gold’!
Oh, how elaborate we are when it comes to wax engineering! A couple of weeks back, leaders of Arena and OFDM parties announced that their respective candidates were assaulted and murdered, charging the government for politically motivated attacks. The EPRDF responded in kind. In the first instance, they said the Arena candidate died of drinking related fracas in his hometown. The OFDM candidate it was argued was not attacked at all. But later, the game changed course. EPRDF begun to complain that its candidates were beaten, harassed and killed by opposition party supporters! The irony of these serious criminal charges (involving murder) is that we did not hear much from the police commissions or the courts about the charges- wax engineering a la mode. Even more interesting, the election debates went as scheduled even though the contenders were accusing each other’s supporters.
The climax of the story comes with the free air time Q&A sessions of EPRDF. The prime minister was responding to some 900 questions collected countrywide. The part I watched was the one where he passionately argues his case about Eritrea and the opposition’s claim on Assab. The final question, as usual, was if he has any message to the Ethiopian people. (Isn’t it interesting that Ethiopians turn everything into tradition?! Look how we dress up our TV sets, or keep asking similar questions to politicans. I remember journalists asking participants, “ye sibsebaw menfes min yimeslal?”). At any rate, Meles responded that the right to vote is one that people died for (“kefitejna mesweatinet yetekefelebet mebt new”) – note the comparison between sacrifice and rights! Furthermore, all Ethiopians should make Ginbot 15 a day of great ‘democratic bonanza!’(‘Ye Democracy Feshta ken!’). The more things change, the more they stay the same-wax and gold en vogue.