Ethnic Discrimination In Ethiopia

Discrimination in it s every form can be found within any society. But Ethnic discrimination is the worst of them all. And Ethiopians are not immune from this disease. Ethnic discrimination in Ethiopia has existed since the beginning of time.

For a country who is made up of at least 70 ethnic groups, Ethiopia has been the poster boy for ethnic discrimination.

What drove me to write this? The dilemma that faces Ethiopians as people and Ethiopia as a nation.

In 1993, the EPRDF has implemented ethnic based federalism. A plan crafted with the help of Washington, and was designed to devide and conquer the people of Ethiopia.

It is striking to realize that some part of our society had gladly accepted the plan to form their own nation (state) based on their ethnicity, culture and so forth. I will not name any ethnic groups here as my personal opinion is irrelevant compared to the big picture and problem that faces Ethiopians.

When the EPRDF introduced this form of running the government, i was not for it. But i must admit the genius of the Meles regime. They have taken advantage of a serious problem that has faced Ethiopia for the longest but was ignored by its people or its elected leaders.

We have the Oromo, the Amhara, the Gurage, the Tigrayans and all the others looking down on each other for as long as they have all existed. Am i lying here? I don’t think so.

Ethiopia is a nation where all the question that faces it today is solvable, BUT we have so far chosen to turn a blind eye to our problems and expect it to solve itself. There is nothing wrong with taking pride in your culture or language but raising an eye brow when you come across someone who speaks in a different language is a disease that needs tackling YESTERDAY.

The Meles regime had shown us we are a weak society and we have ourselves to blame. They have shown us that devide and conquer works, they had shown us that we are our ethnic group before we are Ethiopians.

Do you think this was created by Meles? If you do, you are yet to wake up. Meles and his gang has taken advantage of what has already existed for centuries.

The U.S. is a country under one flag. They are the United Sates of America, when we are the Devided States of Ethiopia.

So many Ethnic groups have their own tough questions that they ask themselves. Some ask why Amarigna is the chosen language of Ethiopians? Why is it we have Amraigna as our national language when we are made up of more than 70 ethnic groups? Ask yourslef, “Is it a valid question?”

I believe it is. I believe this was the work of certain ‘power groups’ in the past. When the whole education system for the last 50 plus years was designed to be taught in Amarigna, the Tigrayans may have a valid question when they say, “They are better when they learn in Tigrigna”, which is their spoken language.

And you can see how a certain ethnic group could feel injustice by somewhat little but overlooked issues as the above example.

No ethnic groups should be allowed to push an agenda based on the need of its ethnic group.

We are Ethiopians before we claim to be any ethnic group. I have been astounded by the many groups that the Ethiopians in diaspora seem to form. There are all this groups that stands for the causes of The Ogaden, The Oromia and Etc.

Ask yourself, “Do these folks have any one government to blame for their chosen isolation?”

I, personally, don’t think so. You can’t blame any given government for your devision, when you have a deeply rooted pride in your ethnic group. A pride that is worth nothing.

We all should rally behind our nation before we rally behind any ethnic group. Meles and Co. would be toppled some day, but Ethiopians will still have the problem of Ethnic Devision and Ethnic Discrimination.

And that’s the only fact that will remain to be true, unless we address it now without going to the finger-pointing.

We can blame this-ethnic-group or that-government for our problems, but i am afraid that will not lead us in finding the solution that we so desperately need and deserve as a nation.

In order to move forward and welcome our better days, we ought to tackle our problem of ethnic devision and discrimination with one voice as one people.