Op-Ed

The hills of Tigray are radiating with joy after two years of darkness

By Teodros Kiros ( Ph.D)

Tears have dried. Cattle are thirsty.  The famished golden grass is yearning for water.  All those who lost their legs, eyes and ears in the war are thanking God for keeping  them alive, under new forms to which they must adjust. The mothers and fathers who gave their sons and daughters to the war are drying their eyes and rejoicing this exceptional day of hope, amidst hopelessness’.  Bitterness is embraced and transcended with hope. Joy  is sparkling in Tigrean lands where genocide took a million people away.  Trauma is taken inside without arresting change and integrating the suffering with life.

Tigrean people who fought valiantly to bring their tormenters to the negotiating table are enjoying however impermanently this bright day, in which the Tigrean people chose their transitional chairman in Ato Getachew Reda, a brave and committed young leader backed up by the supremely diplomatic General Tsadkan on his side to lead the Tigrean people to  vote on a new regime not too far away.

I have said in the past that No Condition Is Permanent, so were the last two dark years which passed as a new dawn is rising in the historic Tigray, the birth place of  Lucy, Teamrawit, and Zara Yacob, the axumite philosopher, who inaugurated Modernity in the Seventeenth century.

The years of darkness are not permanent either. They are replaced by days of light, change, development, democracy and the inclusive participation of our people in this trying times.

Our new leader has challenges ahead of him to solve problems with the resources of diplomacy, strategy and political patience and engage our adversaries in dialogues aimed at understanding.

I hope that Getachew will work arm to arm with the diplomatically gifted General Tsadkan and own the General’s radical democracy on the behalf of the Tigrean people. 

May I quote myself again and end this piece with the following conclusion I wrote in Reflections on General Tsadkan in Aiga News.

“ I appeal to the existing leaders of the government of Tigray  and General Tsadkan to open the public sphere to those who have invested years of their life journey to specialize in their fields of study, to be invited to reconstruct Tigray.  Not to do so will have devastating consequences for the development of Tigray, now that Tigray’s infrastructure has been destroyed.  Restoring this infrastructure will need thinkers and strategists  from the masses and specialists more than ever before, as the General suggests. 

The remaking of Tigray requires a new vision, as the General advocates.  Gone is the time when Tigrean leaders were chosen on the ground that they have fought in the battle  field.  Of course, I admire that service.  That however is only one criteria.  There are other criteria which must be seriously considered.  I will mention a few.  I admire General Tsadskan for his military bravura. That could not be taken away from him.  But he also a man of ideas, as his article demonstrates.

The first is ideas.

Miliary service should also be based on the appropriate miliary knowledge which supplements knowledge born out of the practice of fighting.  One learns to be a General by practice and theoretical knowledge, which in turn is passed  on to the militia, as is being done, which I applaud, so that Tigreans could defend themselves.  I thank the Generals for doing this important work, but even the Generals, I am sure,  will agree with me, will benefit from the wisdom of thinkers, to supplement what they know.  The great Machiavelli was an advisor to leaders.  We too must nurture this new vision.  We need to develop able advisors, based on a demonstrated ability and record to advise.

Ideas about the human sciences and natural sciences require experts.  This knowledge cannot be carried out by loyalists only. That old model has destroyed  Tigray.  What we need now is mature thinkers who should be encouraged to speak truthfully and challenge the administrators. 

We must revise our educational curriculum and train our children to think freely and allow them  to challenge us, so that they grow to become the fierce and mature  thinkers for whom I am advocating. 

Let a million ideas blossom.   Let all those who think deeply among the masses flourish.  Let them speak and be a source of data and natural insights inside their rational hearts, the dwelling place of the Transcendent.

It is not enough to design committees, where original ideas do not germinate, but becomes a site of circulating old ideas, which go nowhere.

The leaders of Tigray should not feel threatened  by the critically educated not because they have degrees, but because they think deeply and courageously, and love their  homeland.  Let them think freely.  Invite them to contribute. Assign them to positions where they can serve effectively.

Ignoring them as we are thinking to create a New Tigray will have dire consequences.  The possibility of  making the Joint agreement  successful, and it can be, requires the participation of the learned, the wise, the decent, compassionate, empathetic and above all those who are in love with wisdom and the Good. The previous regime has tried  this and it failed after twenty seven years of notable success. It could have succeeded  even more, if the party was not manned by careerists.  

We have to put an end to this and let new parties guided by new ideas flourish, or else, Tigray will fail again and I hate to see this and I am appealing to Tigrean leaders to take this idea seriously.  Let us work together for the Good of Tigray, the victim of genocide.  

There cannot be growth without intellectual battle in the form of differences communicated through the best argument, free of domination.  Let the argument win and invite able intellectuals  and the naturally wise among the Tigrean people, who could articulate these arguments to the public sphere in town hall meetings and conferences, or else, we will remain backward and eventually perish “

I can only hope that the Federal government accept this transitional government and immediately attend to the end of the occupation of Tigrean lands and bring the genociders to face justice. This is an imperative which cannot be delayed.

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