The Silent World of Hippos on Planet Cheetah
In my first weekly commentary of the new year, I
"proclaimed" 2013 “Year of Ethiopia’s Cheetah Generation” (young
people). I also promised to reach, teach and preach to Ethiopia’s youth this
year and exhorted members of the Ethiopian intellectual class (particularly the
privileged “professorati”) to do the same. I have also been pleading with (some
say badgering) the wider Ethiopian Hippo Generation (the lost generation) to
find itself, get in gear and help the youth.
The SOS I put out in June 2012 (Where
have Ethiopia’s Intellectuals Gone?) and now (The
Irresponsibility of the Privileged) has
been unwelcomed by tone deaf and deaf mute “Hippogenarians”. My plea for
standing up and with the victims of tyranny and human rights abuses has been
received with stony and deafening silence. I have gathered anecdotally that
some Hippos are offended by what they perceive to be my self-righteous and
holier-than-thou finger wagging and audacious, “J’accuse!”. Some have claimed
that I am sitting atop my high horse crusading, pontificating, showboating,
grandstanding and self-promoting.
There seems to be palpable consternation and anxiety
among some (perhaps many) Hippos over the fact that I dared to betray them in a
public campaign of name and shame and called unwelcome attention to their
self-inflicted paralysis and faintheartedness. Some have even suggested that by
using the seductively oversimplified metaphor of cheetahs and hippos, I have
invented a new and dangerous division in society between the young and old in a
land already fractured and fragmented by ethnic, religious and regional
divisions. “Methinks they doth protest too much”, to invoke Shakespeare.
My concern and mission is to lift the veil that
shrouds a pernicious culture and conspiracy of silence in the face of evil. My
sole objective is to speak truth not only to power but also to those who have
calculatedly chosen to disempower themselves by self-imposed silence. I
unapologetically insist that silently tolerating wrong over right is dead
wrong. Silently conceding the triumph of evil over good is itself evil.
Silently watching atrocity is unmitigated moral depravity. Complicity with the
champions of hate is partnership with haters.
The maxim of the law is “Silence gives consent” (qui
tacet consentiret). Silence is complicity. Silence for the sake of insincere
and hollow social harmony (yilugnta) is tantamount to dousing water on the
quiet riot that rages in the hearts and minds of the oppressed. Leonardo da
Vinci said, “Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence.” I say nothing
strengthens tyranny as much as silence -- the silence of the privileged, the
silence of those who could speak up but choose to take a vow of silence. One
cannot speak to tyrants in the language of silence; one must speak to tyrants
in the language of defiant truth. Silence must never be allowed to become the
last refuge of the hypocritical scoundrel.
There have been encouraging developments over the past
week in the crescendo of voices speaking truth to power. Several enlightening
contributions that shed light on the life and times of tyranny in Ethiopia have
been made in “Ethiopian cyber hager”, to borrow Prof. Donald Levine’s metaphor.
A couple of insightful analysis readily come to mind.
Muktar Omer offered a devastating critique of the
bogus theory of “revolutionary democracy.” He argued convincingly “that recent
economic development in Ethiopia has more to do with the injection of foreign
aid into the economy and less with revolutionary democracy sloganeering.” He
demonstrated the core ideological nexus between fascism, communism and
revolutionary democracy. Muktar concluded, “Intellectuals who are enamored with
the ‘good intellect and intentions’ of Meles Zenawi and rationalize his
appalling human rights records are guilty of either willful ignorance or
disagree with Professor John Gray’s dauntingly erudite reminder: ‘radical evil
can come from the pursuit of progress’”. My view is that revolutionary
democracy is to democracy as ethic federalism is to federalism. Both are
figments of a warped and twisted imagination.
An
Amharic piece by Kinfu Asefa (managing editor of ethioforum.org)entitled “Development Thieves” made a compelling case demonstrating the
futility and duplicity of the so-called “Renaissance Bond” calculated to raise
billions of dollars to dam the Blue Nile. Kinfu argued persuasively that there
could be no development dam when the people themselves are damned by the damned
dam developers.
I am told by those much wiser than myself that I am
pursuing a futile course trying to coax Hippos to renounce their vows of
silence and speak up. I am told it would be easier for me to squeeze blood out
of turnip than to expect broad-gauged political activism and engaged advocacy
from the members of Ethiopia’s inert Hippo Generation. The wise ones tell me I
should write off (and not write about) the Hippos living on Planet Cheetah. I
should stop pestering them and leave them alone in their blissful world where
they see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil!
Should I?
Restoring Faith With the Cheetahs
We have a problem! A big one. “We” are both Cheetahs
and Hippos. Truth must be told: Hippos have broken faith with Cheetahs.
Cheetahs feel betrayed by Hippos. Cheetahs feel marginalized and sidelined.
Cheetahs say their loyalty and dedication has been countered by the treachery
and underhandedness of Hippos. The respect and obedience Cheetahs have shown
Hippos have been greeted with disdain and effrontery. Cheetahs say Hippos have
misconstrued their humility as servility; their flexibility and adaptability
have been countered by rigidity and their humanity abused by cruel indignity.
Cheetahs feel double-crossed, jilted, tricked, lied to, bamboozled, used and
abused by Hippos. Cheetahs say they have been demonized for questioning Hippos
and for demanding accountability. For expressing themselves freely, Cheetahs
have been sentenced to hard labor in silence. Cheetahs have been silenced by
silent Hippos! Cheetahs have lost faith in Hippos. Such is the compendium of
complaints I hear from many Ethiopian Cheetahs. Are the Cheetahs right in their
perceptions and feelings? Are they justified in their accusations? Are Hippos
behaving so badly?
A word or two about the youths’ loss of faith in their
elders before talking about restoring faith with them. Ethiopia’s youth live in
a world where they are forced to hear every day the litany that their innate
value is determined not by the content of their character, individuality or
humanity but the random chance of their ethnicity. They have no personality,
nationality or humanity, only ethnicity. They are no more than the expression
of their ethnic identity.
To enforce this wicked ideology, Apartheid-style
homelands have been created in the name of “ethnic federalism”. The youth have
come to realize that their station in life is determined not by the power of
their intellect but by the power of those who lack intellect. They are shown by
example that how high they rise in society depends upon how low they can bring
themselves on the yardstick of self-dignity and how deeply they can wallow in
the sewage of the politics of identity and ethnicity. They live in a world
where they are taught the things that make them different from their
compatriots are more than the things they have in common with them. Against
this inexorable message of dehumanization, they hear only the sound of silence
from those quietly professing allegiance to freedom, democracy and human
rights. To restore faith with Ethiopia’s youth, we must trade silence with the
joyful noise of protest; we must unmute ourselves and stand resolute against
tyranny. We must cast off the silence of quiet desperation.
But before we restore faith with the young people, we
must restore faith with ourselves. In other words, we must save ourselves
before we save our young people. To restore faith with ourselves, we must learn
to forgive ourselves for our sins of commission and omission. We must believe
in ourselves and the righteousness of our cause. Before we urge the youth to be
courageous, we must first shed our own timidity and fearfulness. Before we
teach young people to love each other as children of Mother Ethiopia, we must
unlearn to hate each other because we belong to different ethnic groups or
worship the same God with different names. To restore faith with ourselves, we
must be willing to step out of our comfort zones, comfort groups, comfort
communities and comfort ethnicities and muster the courage to say and do things
we know are right. We should say and do things because they are right and true,
and not because we seek approval or fear disapproval from anyone or group.
George Orwell said, “In times of universal deceit, telling the truth will be a
revolutionary act.” We live in times of national deceit and must become
revolutionaries by speaking truth to abusers of power, to the powerless, to the
self-disempowered and to each other.
To be fair to my fellow Hippos, they defend their
silence on the grounds that speaking up will not make a difference to tyrants.
They say speaking truth to tyranny is a waste of time, an exercise in futility.
Some even say that it is impossible to communicate with the tyrants in power
with reasoned words because these tyrants only understand the language of
crashing guns, rattling musketry and booming artillery.
I take exception to this view. I believe at the heart
of the struggle for freedom, democracy and human rights in Ethiopia is an
unending battle for the hearts and minds of the people. In the battlefield of
hearts and minds, guns, tanks and warplanes are useless. History bears witness.
The US lost the war in Vietnam not because it lacked firepower, airpower,
nuclear power, financial power, scientific or technical power. The U.S. lost the
war because it lacked the power to win the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese
and American peoples.
Words are the most potent weapon in the battle for
hearts and minds. Words can enlighten the benighted, open closed eyes, sealed
mouths and plugged ears. Words can awaken consciences. Words can inspire,
inform, stimulate and animate. Napoleon Bonaparte, one of the greatest military
leaders in history, feared words more than arms. That is why he said, “Four
hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets.” That why I
insist my fellow privileged intellectuals and all who claim or aspire to be
supporters of democracy, freedom, human rights and the rule of law to speak up
and speak out and not hide behind a shield of silence. I say speak truth to
tyranny. Preach faith in the divinity of humanity and against the bigotry of
the politics of identity and ethnicity; champion loudly the causes of unity in
diversity and practice the virtues of civility, accountability, amity and
cordiality. Never stand silent in the face of atrocity, criminality, contrived
ethnic animosity and the immorality of those who abuse of power.
It is necessary to restore faith with the Cheetahs.
The gap between Cheetahs and Hippos is not generational. There is a trust gap,
not generational gap. There is a credibility gap. There is an expectation gap,
an understanding gap and a compassion gap. Many bridges need to be built to
close the gaps that divide the Cheetah and Hippo Generations.
Rise of the Chee-Hippo Generation
There is a need to “invent” a new generation, the
Chee-Hippo Generation. A Chee-Hippo is a hippo who thinks, behaves and acts
like a Cheetah. A Chee-Hippo is also a cheetah who understands the limitations
of Hippos yet is willing to work with them in common cause for a common
purpose.
Chee-Hippos are bridge builders. They build strong
intergenerational bridges that connect the young with the old. They build
bridges to connect people seeking democracy, freedom and human rights. They
build bridges across ethnic canyons and connect people stranded on islands of
homelands. They bridge the gulf of language, religion and region. They build
bridges to link up the rich with the poor. They build bridges of national unity
to harmonize diversity. They build bridges to connect the youth at home with
the youth in the Diaspora. Chee-Hippos build social and political networks to
empower youth.
Are You a Chee-Hippo or a Hippo?
You are a Chee-Hippo if you believe
young people are the future of the
country and the older people are the country’s past.
the future is infinitely more
important than the past.
a person’s value is determined not
by the collection of degrees listed after his/her name but by the person’s commitment
and stand on the protection of the basic human rights of a fellow human being.
and practice the virtues of
tolerance, civility, civic duty, cooperation, empathy, forgiveness, honesty,
honor, idealism, inclusivity and openness.
You are a Chee-Hippo if you are
open-minded, flexible, and humble.
open to new ideas and ways of
communicating with people across age groups, ethnic, religious, gender and
linguistic lines.
unafraid to step out of your comfort
zone into the zone of hard moral choices.
courageous enough to mean what you
say and say what you mean instead of wasting your time babbling in ambiguity
and double-talk.
prepared to act now instead of
tomorrow (eshi nege or yes, tomorrow).
prepared to blame yourself first for
your own deficits before blaming the youth or others for theirs.
eager to learn new things today and
unlearn the bad lessons of the past.
committed to finding opportunity
than complaining about the lack of one.
able to develop attitudes and
beliefs that reflect what is possible and not wallow in self-pity about what is
impossible.
fully aware that the world is in
constant and rapid change and by not changing you have no one to blame for the
consequences except yourself.
Any Hippo can be reinvented into a Chee-Hippo.
Ultimately, being a Chee-Hippo is a state of mind. One need only think, behave
and act like Cheetahs. The credo of a true Chee-Hippo living on Planet Cheetah
is, “We must not give only what we have; we must give what we are.”
Damn proud to be a Chee-Hippo!
Professor Alemayehu G. Mariam teaches political
science at California State University, San Bernardino and is a practicing
defense lawyer.
