Enough is Enough: No Room for Political Games

[By Bereket Kiros]

“No political party can long pursue advantage at the expense of public honour or by rude and indecent methods without protest and fatal disaffection in its own body” (Inaugural Address by US President Benjamin Harrison on March 4, 1889—Avalon Project, Yale University).

Why am I quoting Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd President of the United States, who left the political scene over a century ago? The answer is simple. Today, there is a pressing need in Tigray for such a discerning and insightful message to reach the political establishment. 

Debretsion and TPLF leadership collectively have suffered a considerable loss of credibility in the eyes of the Tigrayan people. They prioritise staying in power by making endless bickering, internal squabbling, and inability to work together with urgent issues of the Pretoria peace agreement. A spontaneous public uprising similar to the First Weyane (Raya and Enderta revolt) could occur again in our turbulent history. Keeping the lid on the opposition through imprisonment, censorship, blackmail, roundups, and extortion will only build pressure and hasten change. Our history is filled with false starts and abrupt changes.

TIRA is holding the present government responsible for every evil under the sun, and failing to appreciate the good set in motion only perpetuates the distrust stalking our beloved homeland and its people. Debretsion has stepped on too many toes and cannot continue on that track forever. Returning to the drawing board and upholding the Pretoria Agreement is the way out. That act will dignify it, not diminish it.

There is no room for political games now, especially when both PP, the Amhara elites, and Shabia are attacking Tigray from inside and outside. All Tegaru, irrespective of our political differences with TPLF, must rally around the TIRA, TDF, and the Pretoria agreement. Analysing the present Tigrai politics and the nature and characteristics of the TPLF party, the Tegaru Diaspora has exhibited silence and complicity about the past and current TPLF political intrigues and the crafted continuing PP systematic genocide project against the people of Tigray.

The Diaspora could not deeply fathom TPLF politics, lacking ideological and political clarity. Noam Chomsky once said, “The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion strictly but allow lively debate within the spectrum.” What of the Diaspora? The public uprising should be left primarily to those close to ground zero. The Diaspora should mainly play a supportive role.

Millions of Tegaru have suffered much at the hands of their leaders, and millions more who did not make it, dying on battlefields, on migration routes, murdered and tortured to death, or dying of starvation. The people of Tigray suffer daily, yet they are full of great spirits and still hold on to our Tigrai with all their mighty resilience. We should talk about unity and a common destiny for all Tegaru. We should always be thankful for our TDF’s heroism that helped us rise from the ashes of extermination.

There can be no political or economic urgency for Tegaru to compromise our territorial integrity and self-determination. However, we must find a political solution to establish an all-inclusive council to oversee and securitise interim government functions.

Tigray political parties must be supported to practice democracy and accountability. They are our leading opposition forces, scrutinising and exposing maladministration in political life. The diaspora must help democracy flourish in Tigray. Every Tigrawi must stand against the agents of the PP and PFDJ.

Abiy Ahmed and his genocide associates and executioners are still at large throughout the world, including in the United States. We must insist that such individuals be tried for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing wherever they are using universal jurisdiction.

We must uphold our identity, culture, and history intact with great nobility of spirit to resurrect Tigrayan moral principles damaged by the corrupt TPLF leadership and political system in the last three decades. We ought to re-establish our strength of character and survival against human-caused and natural disasters such as recurring famine, civil war, inept leaders, and maladministration. For the time being, we must focus on a single monumental threat to our self-determination and territorial sovereignty posed by genocidal PP and Amhara elites.

Hostile neighbours surround Tigray; we have no friends around us or in the world. A handful of individuals manipulate our political discourse without scruples and are responsible for most of the horrendous problems facing us. And yet, we are fighting like cat and mouse with each other. It is time for everyone to stop nursing grievances and extending blame and begin open, honest, searching discussions of issues that should concern Tegaru.There is much to be done; as the saying goes, time and tide wait for no man.