Yonas Biru, PhD
Some three or four weeks ago there was a good beginning to unify the Amhara diaspora. Unfortunately, the first meeting was fraught with problems rooted in the Amhara hermitized culture. There were different people with different political views. That was the good part. But there were also groupies of different regional interests within the hermitized Amhara universe.
Par for the course in the Amhara hermitized culture, the clashes were stealth in nature and passive aggressive in their delivery. Neither group was forthright in articulating nor selling its political agenda. Rather, its strategy was employing passive aggressive political tools to undermine their adversary’s agenda.
It is true that the warring factions did not wear jerseys sporting Eskinder the Great’s or Zemene the Amhara Tzar’s name or image. But that does not change the fact that they are groupies of the Esku-Zemu duo. The sad thing is that only a few individuals were standing in the way of progress. But the hermitized culture did not allow the rest to tell them to fuck off. That would be a violation of the ክብረ ነክ crap in our culture. The end-result is that a small group of hermitized clowns drive the political agenda toward a cliff.
This may be a result of inertia driven by the hermitized culture or an outcome of a sinister political calculus to claim a monopoly status in the hermitized Amhara politics. Rant if you must until your face turns purplish blue, but the source of Amhara political crisis is its hermitized culture that brings high-octane idiots to the fore. አንዳንዴ የሁሉም universe አምላክ የኢትዮጵያን አምላክ የፈጠረው ኢትዮጵያን ፍዳ ለማሳየት ነው እንዴ ያሰኛል።
Let me start with the two 800-pound gorillas – Esku and Zemu. I do not understand how people can cheerlead for the two clowns. There is nothing I can say other than saying እንኩዋን ከዘመነ እስክንድር ጭብጨባ ወደ ዘመነ ዘመነ ሽብሸባ በሰላም አሸጋገራችሁ. Anybody who thinks either Esku or Zemu will help lead the Amhara to the promised land is a hermit from the 18th century sleepwalking in the 21st century.
The effort to unify the Amhara diaspora was initiated in good faith. But the first meeting was fraught with serious problems, owing to የተለከፈ hermitized culture. To start with the process to elect a committee was part ደርግish, part ህዋሃትish, and part ፒፒish. So was the decision to issue a letter to Fano that was done in a non-transparent way. A few souls outside of the conference took it upon themselves to issue it. Selected souls were invited offline to sign.
Another major issue was that the meeting’s failure to stop three different groups who are preparing three manifestos independently. What is the point of unifying the Amhara if three independent Amhara groups are issuing their own manifesto independently and confidentially.
You can rant or even throw yourself to your demise from your basement window, but this, too, is product of the hermitized Amhara ሚስጥረኝነት and ተጠራጣሪነት culture. Indeed, የሁሉም universe አምላክ የኢትዮጵያን አምላክ የፈጠረው ኢትዮጵያን ፍዳ ለማሳየት ነው።
Sadly, one of the results of the first meeting was the formation of a splintering group is in the process of starting another platform to bring the Amhara together. Only a fool or one scuffled by the hermitized culture fails to see the effort is driven by Zemene groupies. The front person who is organizing the meeting for the splintered group is non-other than Professor Girma Berhanu.
ትላንት እስክንድርን እንደ ታቦት በጭንቅላታችሁ ተሽከሙ ይሉ የነበሩ ምሁሮች ዛሬ ደሞ ዘመነን ታቦት ነው ሊሉን ይዳዳሉ። There is nothing I can say other than እንኩዋን ከዘመነ እስክንድር ጭብጨባ ወደ ዘመነ ዘመነ ሽብሸባ በሰላም አሸጋገራችሁ.
I sent an earlier version of this draft to the moderators of The Global Ethiopian Discussion Group. It was rejected with a thinly guised threat that if I keep writing such an article or blog, the forum will block me. Sadly, it is my belief that the forum has morphed itself from ከዘመነ እስክንድር ጭብጨባ ወደ ዘመነ ዘመነ ሽብሸባ.ዘሜ ከሷ የማይስማማውን ጎጃም ላይ ታስራለች። የሷ ደጋፊዎች ደማ ዘሜን የነካን ይቦልካሉ። ጉድ በል ወለየ ይሉ ነበር አጎታችን
My proposal to the two groups is to go to the drawing board to discuss the possibility of coming together. As I noted above, the establishment of the second group is due partly to the badly botched first meeting of the first group. It is also partly due to the Amhara hermitized culture. Rather than fixing the problem, we run away from it and create our own fragmented group. The hermitized diaspora cannot unite Fano before it unites itself. Try for a day to step out of the 18th century confines and embrace the 21st century. I promise you will like it.
