by Teshome Debalke
When Ethiopians is reduced to the imaginations half-baked intellectuals in the service of ethnic tyranny we shouldn’t pretend to be blind not to see the crises. That is not all; when the rest of our contemporary intellectuals that supposedly should guide us in the right direction are missing in action we shouldn’t act as if they are any better than their peers.
By nature tyranny is weak and wicked to expect anything good to come out of it. Naturally, it has to manufacture an imaginary enemy and control the means and ways of production and information to get by. With the help of its functionally illiterate intellectuals and the silence of their peers tyranny manages to dodge the bullet to confuse and bribe its stay in power.
Therefore, when people serve or tolerate tyranny in any shape or form respectively, not only they surrender the very essence of their humanity that define them but, becomes the tools of tyranny that disunities them. From thereon, it has been a slippery slop to the gutter i.e. division, suspicion, corruption, atrocity…thus, mental and physical subjugation.
By surrendering their professional responsibility for whatever is expedite, our contemporary intellectuals joined tyranny or for the most part are missing in action to end tyranny; creating a fertile ground for it to strive. Along the way, they abandoned their profession and their moral obligation to the people and turn in to the tools of the lower order.
Those of us that wholeheartedly believe any form of tyranny is a hoax are at odd with the expressed or implied conventional wisdom of many double thinkers; something good can come out of tyranny. In reality, tyranny shouldn’t be entertained to tend after the Chicken House let alone the affair of a nation of millions. But, the contradiction in the mind and heart of our contemporary intellectuals became the natural habitat of tyranny.
It is important to underscore tyranny doesn’t prop up from somewhere as many of our intellectuals wanted us to believe by their action and in action. It is nurtured by the intellectuals susceptible for it within society. Like bacteria that strive in its natural environment, tyranny strives in an environment where the intellectual minds that entertain remedy-justice, equity, freedom… to come out of tyrannical regimes and groups. Therefore, their minds turn an incubator of tyranny. In another words, the intellectuals that surrender their natural freedom and professional ethics for self gratification turn into the weapon of tyranny.
Free minds never entertain tyranny can do anything good, period. If there are perceived or real things happening under tyranny it is an illusion to justify tyranny and the rubbish that come with it have a place in society. But, the final outcome always remains rubbish-in-rubbish-out to nowhere; as proven over-and-over again at tremendous cost to the people that least affords it.
The intellectual divide
Often, when we talk about tyranny we wrongly assume it is only about tyrannical regimes that maneuver their way to climb in to power. To the contrary, tyranny begins at home; from tyrannical behavior of a father or a husband in the household to national institutions run by tyrants in government agencies, religion institutions, business establishments, political parties etc. Therefore, individuals in a position of leadership don’t just fall from the sky; we nurture them in many ways than one.
Since tyrannical individuals, groups or institutions have noting to offer they have to create tension and conflicts to be relevant. Without victim and victimizer or us and them there is no tyranny. Every tyrannical individual, group or institutions play the same game to justify their existence. The best players of the game emerge to be the best of tyranny.
In modern times, no one mastered the art of tyranny like the intellectuals running the self declared ethnic regime of Ethiopia, Woyane. A product of the combination of Marxist ideology (us against them), ethnic liberation (us from them) and free market (for us not them), it managed to maneuver its way to power and robbery because we allowed it.
To understand Woyane we have to look into the intellectuals in its ranks and those it assemble as its junior partners. What is it we do that makes it possible for functionally illiterate intellectuals to run our lives and make it possible for tyranny to exist and strive is the appropriate question of our time to ask. Indeed, we are our own worst enemy.
EPRDF’s intellectuals
There is no better example to show the wickedness of the ethnic ruling regime than the dysfunctional nature of EPRDF’s ‘intellectuals’. But, the top dogs of TPLF and its three front junior ethnic parties’ intellectuals that make up the national party called EPRDF says more about us than them.
The ‘intellectuals’ in the three ethnic front parties’ remained the pillar that hold together TPLF/Woyane to justify its existence, noting more. The willingness of the stooges to marginalize their designated ‘ethnic population’ in the service of Woyane’s instigated Ethnic Federalism is where the problem began and ends. As a crude jock as they may sound, the very deeds of the regime’s intellectuals says more about their silent intellectuals peers than them. After all, they choice to serve the self declared minority ethnic tyranny they made their bed for whatever it worth. Then why did the rest of our intellectuals choose to remain silent is the million dollar question.
If the objective of freedom and democratic struggle is to empower the people to exercise their God given liberty, no need to look elsewhere but the dysfunctional intellectuals that serve tyranny in any form or shape and the silent majority that refuse to challenge their peers; fully aware of the frauds of the highest order for their profession, humanity and the rule of law.
When the fact on the ground speaks for itself, the bigger question remains; how it is Ethiopian intellectuals collectively tolerated the blunt criminality of their peers that serve tyranny?
Where are the rest of Ethiopian Intellectuals?
TPLF/Woyane intellectual (the weapons of mass destruction) are irrational enough to sell their soul and their profession. In many cases, they are mentally challenged to understand what they’re doing. Posed as ethnic Tigrians or what ever suit Woyane for the moment… they have one thing going for them; empowered to robe the nation with impunity as compensation serving Woyane tyranny. In fact, they never denied their criminality but avoiding the question anyway they can.
The reasons this criminal class accepted their duty to serve an ethnic tyranny is obvious for every rational person to see. Therefore, it isn’t worth wasting time talking about their behavior simply because they don’t possess the moral aptitude to see their role any other way. Their propensity for criminal behavior is high enough to disqualify them from understanding the concept of rule of law, governance, freedom, democracy, and development… beyond their daily bread; consistent with their behavior.
The new ‘Prime Minster’ Hailemariam one statement would sums up the dysfunctional mind of the ethnic regime’s intellectuals. Responding to VOA interview regarding the oppositions, he said:
‘People who are arrested in Ethiopia are not arrested or convicted because they are working in a legal manner. Those who are arrested are has a connection with violent organizations. They are not convicted because of their journalistic business. It is allowed, you know have been there, you have been operating there but you couldn’t cross the red line ahhh to have a connection supporting a violent organization, terrorist organization. That is a case and I think it is a national security matter. It is a different thing. It is not journalism; it is not opposition.’
Parroting his mentor that recruited him to save ethnic tyranny, he casually spews the script of TPLF just to get by. A classic case of a dysfunctional intellectual uttering something he doesn’t have a clue or access about-legality, journalism, national security and oppositions. He is not alone with bizarre statements coming from the best mind of Woyane’s intellectuals. Then, can we blame them instead of ourselves for making a mockery of our people and country?
The rest of our intellectuals
There are many colorful intellectuals in one party or group that, in one form or another claim liberation, freedom and democracy. Some are equally tyrannical as their peers in the Woyane camp but use the slogan of liberation, freedom and democracy to get them where they want to be just like Woyane. Others are truly intellectuals in every sense but overwhelmed and silenced by the chaos created by the hyphenated intellectuals. But, overall they failed to break the back of their peers that serve tyranny that make empty noises as their profession demands.
For example, out of the 200 plus political parties in and out of the country led by the intellectuals of our time, no more than half a dozen qualify to be political parties let alone to promote democracy and freedom. But yet, no one made them accountable for making a mockery of the people’s struggle for freedom and democracy of our people.
That bring us to the main issue of why ‘we are our own worst enemy’. What is it that makes us tolerate dysfunctional intellectuals of our time to run our people and nation to the ground serving tyranny? What are our silent intellectuals waiting to make their peers accountable?
Until we come up with the answer and the mechanism to make our contemporary intellectuals accountable for their action or in action our people are doomed to remain under tyranny of one kind or another for the foreseeable future.
Sorting out the doers from the distracters and the innocent from the criminals is the first order of business to end tyranny. The silent intellectuals must step out of their hiding to help the handful of their peers that carried the burden of ending tyranny for too long.
It isn’t why but when the intellectuals that serve tyranny will go to the Hall-of-Shame. It all depends on our collective ability to make our intellectuals to step out of their hiding and challenge their dysfunctional peers that serve tyranny head-on.
