Radar | Nov 19,2022
By Hanna Haile
We are not often told that we are the problem. But that is not true. We are the problem.
It has become easier for most to have ideological debates around issues that concern our country and the world, even if there are still those that prefer to live in their own narrow bubble. Despite this though, there is the lingering thought that something is not right.
Saddening reports of the death of innocent civilians, targeted for their lingo-cultural backgrounds, in various regions of the country is an indicator of the collective responsibility we take for the ills within society.
I have been in these regions before, and even if I was not born or raised there, I had felt safe. Yet the bond between communities had evidently been too loose that it is easily being corroded today.
A colleague of mine mentioned to me how he felt that more than at any one time before in his lifetime, he feels people are clinging to their ethnic identities. The other day on national television, an official was addressing questions related to people’s ethnic and border relationships.
As she laid out plans on addressing these questions procedurally, I started to wonder, would this actually solve the problems? Would changing our flag make any difference? Would a referendum be enough? What does this really change? While our ethnicity enriches our lives, why it has started to take hold of our entire being? When did we realise it had become so prominent that we could no longer move forward? Was our history and identity not shared before?
Yet, today we are at the brink of many internal conflicts over administrative demarcations.
It is important not to oversimplify such situations though. The only way we can come out of this with any dignity is by working together to resolve our issues.
In traveling to rural areas, I have been to schools where Amharic and Oromiffa are the two major languages that students can pick from to learn and take lessons. With scarce resources, communities have managed to make it work.
Why is it then that when the economy has the potential to create better opportunities, the fight over resources has intensified? Is it not obvious that we can create far more resources through the productivity of our human capital than we could ever hope to gain from mineral resources or land?
We can choose to go backward, which for some could be seductive. The past is reconstructed as the utopia it never was. Children died at birth, most were illiterate, and there were far fewer winners back then, while disease and conflict debilitated generations.
The remedy is to recognise that we are all the problem. For far too long, many of us have sat by as half-truths dominated the airwaves, and do as such now with ever-increasing intensity. We have failed to challenge prevailing arguments and provide alternative solutions, not to mention that we have been too dismissive of those that hold different opinions.
Even when we are not on TV or social media, we need to advocate for civility. Each household, social media group and office needs this more than ever. This type of ignorance has to be fought within everyone, including ourselves. Our state is fragile, and emotionalism, nationalism and other isms will not be the way to solve it.
I did not think this was the sort of conversation we would have as a nation at this moment. Yet that is my misconception. We are here in this time in history to deal better with our past, so that we can move on. While some might wish this is a step toward restoring a particular history, I am hoping it is the last step in letting go of the past as we full-heartedly accept the future.
PUBLISHED ON
[ VOL
19 , NO
968]
Radar | Nov 19,2022
Fortune News | May 16,2020
Commentaries | Jan 03,2021
Viewpoints | Apr 02,2022
Sunday with Eden | Aug 28,2021
View From Arada | Jan 15,2022
Viewpoints | Sep 28,2019
Sunday with Eden | Oct 16,2021
Commentaries | Mar 13,2021
Fortune News | Oct 24,2020
Photo Gallery | 97745 Views | May 06,2019
Photo Gallery | 89985 Views | Apr 26,2019
My Opinion | 67509 Views | Aug 14,2021
Commentaries | 65870 Views | Oct 02,2021
Editorial | May 02,2024
Feb 24 , 2024 . By MUNIR SHEMSU
Abel Yeshitila, a real estate developer with a 12-year track record, finds himself unable to sell homes in his latest venture. Despite slash...
Feb 10 , 2024 . By MUNIR SHEMSU
In his last week's address to Parliament, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) painted a picture of an economy...
Jan 7 , 2024
In the realm of international finance and diplomacy, few cities hold the distinction that Addis Abeba doe...
Sep 30 , 2023 . By AKSAH ITALO
On a chilly morning outside Ke'Geberew Market, Yeshi Chane, a 35-year-old mother cradling her seven-month-old baby, stands amidst the throng...
May 2 , 2024
For successive generations of Ethiopia's tax authorities, the chore of tax collection...
Apr 27 , 2024
The Prosperity Party (PP) - Prosperitians - is charting a course through treacherous...
Apr 20 , 2024
In a departure from its traditionally opaque practices, the National Bank of Ethiopia...
Apr 13 , 2024
In the hushed corridors of the legislative house on Lorenzo Te'azaz Road (Arat Kilo)...
May 3 , 2024
The feel-good life coaching industry would have people believe that success is not only about showing up in the swirling whirl of modern lif...
May 4 , 2024 . By BERSABEH GEBRE
Brook Taye (PhD), the director general of the newly established Ethiopian Capital Market Authority (ECMA), has issued a stern warning to com...
May 4 , 2024 . By MUNIR SHEMSU
Dreams of an agriculture sector unshackled from the whims of rain remain tethered to the struggling Minis...
May 4 , 2024
Large public projects exceeding 250 million Br will be required to use Building Information Modelling (BI...