Blogger/UKhabesha Thanks (or probably no thanks) to the ease afforded by cyber technology you now get to read all sorts of uncensored, undigested and unbridled ideas and arguments on any topic. Sometimes you wish you didn’t. But once you did, you cannot help thinking about them and you feel the urge to put forward your own unbridled arguments or counter claims. So here are mine for today on HR 2003 – the
Ethiopia Democracy and Accountability Act passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and is on to the next stage.
I should probably start with a brief description of the bill, but, how exactly? If I say HR2003 is about “human rights and democracy”, then I would already be concluding my piece before I start. So the best way to try to describe it is in a pub language along the lines of: “Yankees are saying that you ruling elites in East Africa behave yourselves to your own fellows or there ain’t no money and there would be all sorts of restrictions”.
“Fair enough”, would say my pub mate. “You want the money, behave yourselves. You feel you are being bossed around by these soulless Yankees, then you tell them to get lost with their money, end of story. It is as simple as that; I don’t understand that you guys had to spend so much time arguing and crying over somebody else’ money.”
Well, we
Habeshas are slightly more
sophisticated than that, and there is no way we can look at an issue without invoking conspiracy, colonization, sovereignty, etc. One typical undigested view goes as follows: “I do not want to see any imported answer to my internal puzzles. I want to see local answers to local problems…”.This supposedly sophisticated view is just an empty slogan. People need to remind themselves that the reality in Ethiopia now is that there are generally no local answers to crucial local problems. A huge portion of the government budget has for ever been covered from aid money. Over 10 million people are dependant on food aid. And by the way, during the severe drought year of 2003, the U.S. donated $553 million. Britain provides an overall aid of over £1bn per annum. If you go through the list, you soon discover that quite a lot is “imported” to Ethiopia and there isn’t much “local”.
Another line of an unbridled argument would belabor the obvious by pointing out that United States acts in its self-interest. Who wouldn’t? That is the raison d'être of nationhood. (It is only in current Ethiopia that national interest is an alien concept). Nonetheless, it doesn’t necessarily follow that nothing good comes out of US’s actions. There have been occasions of US’s altruistic foreign involvements (e.g. Somalia, Kosovo, the Marshal Plan). More importantly, there is no reason why US’s interest wouldn’t coincide with the interests of others, in this case the Ethiopian people. Indeed, it can be argued that US’s long term interest lies in having a stable, prosperous and democratic ally, all which would be achieved by siding with the Ethiopian people. So this bill might well be one of those rare instances where America uses its influence for a mutually beneficial end.
Read what one consumed patriotic Ethiopian has to say: “…while we watch a foreign nation pass a bill that undermines our proudly cherished sovereignty!” But, how exactly? The whole issue of aid accompanied by some strings came about because we have an aid –addicted regime that is willing to be paid to act as a guard dog against “terrorist neighbors”. I am reminded of the story of a woman who says she is willing to sleep with her admirer who initially promises to give her a gift of 10,000 birr. Then he has some second thoughts and decides to bargain, and asks her if she still wants to sleep with him for only 1000 birr. Her reply is: do you think I am a prostitute? The man responds: well, that is already established; we are now talking about your price.
To me the notion of sovereign Ethiopia under Woyane sounds like a bad joke. However, let’s not go down that line. Suffice to say that some of us wonder whether America is much more foreigner to Ethiopia than Woyane. Moreover one wonders if these anti-HR 2003 enthusiasts (most of them have made the US their home) that are lambasting the US for its mal-intentions would ever leave the US and live in Woyane’s sovereign Ethiopia.
What the bill aims to do is put some leverage on the regime that is notorious for its horrendous human rights records. It shouldn’t be allowed to continue to use foreign tax payers’ money to kill and maim civilians whose only crime is seeking democracy and justice in their own country. The fact that the bill has met fierce resistance from the regime is testimony that such a curb is indeed necessary. Some folks argue that the regime has already, on its own, started to improve matters, so there is no need for such a bill. Well, if that is the case then there no need to worry about this bill since it will only apply when such improvement wouldn’t materialize. Only a potential thief would be opposed to a law punishing thieves. In fact the bill may even be good for Woyane themselves because it would give them a chance to mellow themselves and try to herald a peaceful and smoother transition to the inevitable democracy in Ethiopia.
The blogger can be reached by crailo@ onetel.com -------------------------------------------------------------------
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