Ethiopia Suffered for Decades after the PhDs Took the Role of the Blattas

By Belayneh Abate

According to scriptures, a person is a creature, created in the image of God. Philosophy defines a person as a moral agent that makes moral judgements and take moral actions.

A Doctor of Philosophy(PhD) degree is bestowed to persons who have achieved the highest level of education in certain disciplines that contribute to the wellbeing of society, the environment, and its biodiversity. With a few exceptions such as medicine, a PhD degree is awarded to a person whether the highest level of education that person achieved is philosophy itself or other disciplines and there is a reason for this design of award.

When an individual is awarded a PhD degree, it is assumed that firstly that individual is a person, secondly that person has achieved the required knowledge in that filed and thirdly, that knowledge is covered and protected by  wisdom. The  degree is called Doctor of Philosophy to signify that philosophy, which means love of wisdom,  is the most important part of education if not the sole purpose of education.

Scriptures teach wisdom comes from God and wise men are unlikely to be swayed by Satan and unable to be tricked by liars and traitors. Similarly, philosophy reaches wise men have the ability to discern the right from wrong, the truth from falsehood. Ethiopian forefathers used to call these kinds of wise men BLATTAs.  Blattas are wise people with good fund of knowledge acquired through formal or informal education or just through life experience. Blattas never value material wealth but sacrify everything for truth and justice.

Until half a century ago, the Ethiopian communities lived in harmony and internal peace because of the holly  works of these wise men- the Blattas. The blattas were the real lovers of wisdom (philosophers) that deserved Doctor of Philosophy degrees. After an imported “modern” education system started to replace the indigenous wisdom- based teaching methodologies, knowledge (the sward) divorced from wisdom (the scabbard). Knowledge is about knowing how to use the sword, but wisdom ( based on unshakable conscience) is about why, when and for what purpose you use the sword.

Four years ago, it was agonizing to see lots of Ethiopians with PhDs and equivalent degrees dancing and chanting in support of the current Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (Aka PP). Unlike the dancers with PhDs,  Ethiopian Blattas would never sing behind criminals who have been directly or indirectly involved in national treason, mass murder,  genocide, ethnic cleansing, torture and displacement for nearly three decades. Unlike “the modern” educated people with PhDs, no liar, traitor and preacher could cheat or mislead Ethiopian Blattas. Under no circumstance Ethiopian Blattas would equate killers, liars and cheaters with Muse and Eyassu.  By no means Ethiopian Blattas would forget the  martyrs crucified in search of justice, and dance with criminals who in one or another way participated in their murders and sufferings. Regrettably, many Ethiopians with PhDs and equivalent degrees danced, and many are still shamelessly dancing with these criminals.

I believe the educated Ethiopians have observed the  crimes committed for 30 years and have read the resumes of the current rulers. One has  to read the resume and look at the experience of a candidate to give a position to a custodian let a lone to the leader of a nation. The resumes and the experiences of the current rulers are packed with treason, massacre, torture, displacement, robbery, theft, and other surmountable crimes.

Therefore, I challenge  the educated Ethiopians who danced, wrote, and talked  in support of these criminals why they fell in love with  their phony preaching? I challenge the educated people with degrees to tell us what propelled them to forget all the innocent citizens who were massacred under direct or indirect order of these criminals. I challenge the educated people who supported these criminals to tell us who gave them the mandate to forgive on the behalf of the victims who were disabled, sterilized, tortured, and murdered for the last 30 years.

The fact of the matter is naked education or knowledge without wisdom is a double- edge sword with no scabbard. One can use this double-edge sword recklessly to his own advantages. Many educated people use their degrees to advance their personal interests, many others to treat their inferiority complexes and still some others use it to have access to corrupted businesses and government positions and work with the criminals.

While these educated  people are advancing their own interests, their reckless sword is slaughtering back and forth two Ethiopian generations . One  edge of their sword is slaughtering the formers victims of EPRDF again, the other edge has continued wiping out the remaining innocent citizens, particularly Amaras.

The glues of Ethiopians were the Blattas who never forgot their martyrs and  never betrayed the past, the current and the future  generations. Ethiopia  suffered for decades after the PhDs took the rolls of Blattas.

The educated people shall cover their double-edge sword with scabbard. Those of them who are believers shall ask wisdom from God like kidus Dawit and Blattas. Those of them who are non-believers shall think deep, ask tough and logical questions like Socrates instread of following the liars’ preachings similar to the Sahara tiny sands that follow the directions of the mighty cyclones.  Thank you.

The writer can be reached at abatebelai@yahoo.com

June 27, 2022