Addis Neger

by Abebech Belachew This article was prompted by the questions that Samuel[1] posed to my earlier article on pastoralism entitled “Meles’ Subterfuge”. The previous article was not aimed at coming up with a note constructed to define pastoral development as such. It was all meant to expose Meles’ utter ignorance on the issue. The following [...]

René Lefort
Meles Zenawi has been protecting himself from any Arab-spring copy-cat movements in Ethiopia. On balance, it is unlikely that the opposition is strong enough to mount the kind of challenge seen in Egypt and Tunisia. Conditions are not seen to be as brutally unjust in Ethiopia, and no one doubts that the army would be loyal to the Tigray-dominated regime. But there may be surprises yet.

by Mahmood Mamdani
That self, in both cases, is a political self. It is a historical self, not a metaphysical self as nationalists are prone to think. When nationalists write a history, they give the past a present. In doing so, they tend to make the present eternal. As the present changes, so does the past. This is why we are always rewriting the past.
To return to the referendum, the referendum is a moment of self‐determination. Not every people gets this opportunity. Not even every generation gets this opportunity. If the opportunity comes, it is once in several generations. It comes at a great price. That price is paid in blood, in political violence. It is fitting that we begin by recalling that many have died to make possible this moment of self‐determination. Let us begin by acknowledging this sacrifice, which signifies this historical moment.

In Ethiopia, similar prejudice towards pastoralism was constructed partly due to the fierce rivalry between the kingdoms based on pastoral communities mainly the caliphates that reigned in Harrar, Afar and Somali regions and that of the Christian kingdoms based on the highlands. The infamous conflict that went in history as the “religious war” of the 16th century between Ahmed ‘Gragn’s’ caliphate and Libnedingil’s Christian kingdom can be cited as an example. Now, the various anti-pastoral constructs that emanated in the highland has their origins in these conflicts. In the final analysis, pastoralism is baptized as ‘nomadism’ and the common Amharic word for pastoralists is zelan, which is derogatory through and through. There is a great deal of prejudice among the highland population towards pastoralists and the typical depiction of pastoralists is ‘backward’ and ‘uncivilized’. Even the radical revolutionaries of the 60s and 70s who emerged on the political scene in Ethiopia all postulated development and modernity from the Eurocentric point of view which includes Marxism and still shared the prevailing prejudicial perception on pastoralism. Woyane, that swung ideologically from Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tse Tung Thought of the Albanian brand (during the struggle) to the neo-liberal Washington consensus (now), undoubtedly shares this prejudicial construct on pastoralism as Meles Zenawi’s infamous subterfuge attests below.