First Year Anniversary of NEVIS Review

Thank you all contributors and readers of NEVIS Review for your participation by sending us your articles, your constant feedback and encouragement . Thanks to your input, we are now able to celebrate our First Year Anniversary.

Happy Anniversary

NEVIS ET*

NEVIS Review No 25, Section II, Ref# 25.2

NEVIS Review No 25
Section II
Ref# 25.2 ( Danny Arku’s section)
October 7, 2013
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Miscellaneous Aphorisms on some observations on Ethiopian society, and with special emphasis on the younger generation
By Danny Arku
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(1) The danger of flattery

"Away, away with thee! thou evil flatterer!" cried Zarathustra mischievously, "why dost thou spoil me with such praise and flattery-honey? "Away, away from me!" cried he once more, and heaved his stick at the fond beggar, who, however, ran nimbly away” ~Fredrick Nietzsche, “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”

I have seen people with good potential to lapse into a futile, vainglorious "Now, I am at the top of world" feeling after some "good" work they produced. By this, I don’t mean that they should not get recognition. Of course, they should get recognition! And I thank them for their work! My point is, however, the recognition that they get is too high/too uncritical that it throws them into "inflated self-esteem" which then precludes or discourages them from revising their standard further/higher, and which makes them fail to learn from their mistakes in past works so as to come up with better and more perfect work. Hence, we also need critiques that show that there is a even a higher standard to which they should strive, who point out their good and weak points. Anthistenes and Nietzsche come to mind in this regard, with the former saying: ' It is better to fall in with crows than with flatterers; for with crows, you are devoured when you are dead, in the other case with flatters while alive”
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(2) Hero-worship?

It is always good to appreciate when and where one deserves it, but what I see these days is too much hero-worship in our generation .As educated persons, we are supposed to be skeptical and critical of every one and everything. If one is hero-worshiper, the logical result is this : the worshiper cannot be critical of his master, but will blindly follow, be easily gullible and be subject to be easily proselytized to his hero's point of view, however flawed it may be. Moreover, By hero-worship and personality cult, we also groom future dictators.( July 12, 2013)
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(3) Awko Yetegna….

There is too much truth in the Amharic proverb: “Awko Yetegna bekesekisut aysemam”
(How highly applicable it is esp to Ethiopian political and economic discourse and its belligerent debaters who are ready to fight and defend their own view with out even for once stepping back and reconsidering that what they say may be possibly wrong). ( May 20, 2013)
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(4) Primacy of friendship?

Most of the time, and by most people, reality/objective fact is subordinated to friendship. The primacy of friendship ( or affiliation) is the rule in most societies. Although it happens to some degree in every culture, I am very much convinced that it is very conspicuous and more pervasive in Ethiopian national culture, as collectivism seems to permeate the whole social fabric- group-think reigns supreme- to the extent of which the independence of judgment declines.
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(5) Truth or friendship?

It is better to speak the truth-or what you think is the 'truth'-and/ or even correct your friends if you think they have it wrong, logically or factually. If the friend is offended, then his friendship was not worth having it in the first place! As the great philosopher of antiquity, Aristotle, long ago reminded us, both friendship and truth are of course valuable. When the philosopher boldly set out to criticize his teacher, Plato, he remarked, “For though we love both the truth and our friends, piety requires us to honor the truth first.”Hence, it will be dishonest to give more value to friendship than the 'truth' -or what you think is the truth.
Moreover, it won't be helping some one, at least in the long run, by feeding his vanity and boosting and inflating his ego by telling him that he's done perfect work when in fact you see defects.
So I say : Dare to honestly but respectfully criticize the IDEA (not the person of course), even at the risk of losing a friend.
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(6) HDI movement of Ethiopia-

The upward movement in the Human Development Index (HDI gains) of Ethiopia should be lauded and given credit; but the ranking is still much below-at the bottom of the world- or lagging behind even when relatively compared with most African countries. The index, in absolute magnitude, is still too low. Complacence can't be the way to go forward , but honest appraisal which acknowledges and delights in the upward movement but also not denying that the index is too low, and that the ranking very dismal. Denying the HDI gain is not solution (as some opposition do); and exaggerating the gain is not a good solution (by the government). (Relevant Data: Ethiopia's HDI= 0.396 : Ethiopia's Ranking= 173 of 186 : Sub Saharan Average= 0.475)
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(7) There is no change with out temporary inconvenience

I have always said that we Ethiopians have the habit of complaining too much about temporary short-term inconvenience, quick to blame, but have no habit of appreciating good endeavors when they are due.
I see people complaining bitterly about temporary inconvenience like road being blocked/re-routed because of the ongoing light rail construction. There has never been an investment without cost of whatever type for whatever time- how could one want a good infrastructure, roads/trains and yet complain about the digging up and re-routing for some time. There is price to everything we do. It becomes unavoidable that some roads need to be blocked to result in alternative route which may unfortunately be a longer one and may take longer driving time. Still, the extra mileage and additional driving time and/or incremental cost is not a bigger price to pay as compared to future long-run economic and social benefits of a better infrastructure.
( A comment inspired by a friend, January, 2013)
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(8) Timket

"Timket is one of my favorite holidays, together with Meskel, both because of their colorful celebration. I am not to talk here about how colorful it is since every Ethiopian knows it. It is even getting more beautiful every year. Typical example of the intermarriage of culture and religion! What I am more surprised by is the cooperation and discipline of the youngsters (mostly from 15 to early twenties) during the eve and the Timket day. They were helping the people lay the mat, flagging the streets, beautifying the city. Some of them with little-to-nothing to eat and with poor clothes, but their faces radiating joy, enthusiasm, pride. Most of all, they are, as always respectful, no violence, no youth mischief! (it become more remarkable especially when one compare them with youngsters of the same age in large cities of the so-called the developed countries like in the US).Moreover, it seems that Ethiopians “national culture” (in the sociologist’s sense of the word) is in such a way that people seem to be even well-disciplined without or with little presence of police surveillance. I like this "collectivist" kind of cultural phenomenon with its foundation and its moral equivalent called the "natural morality" or Hegelian Sittlichkeit (as a result of customs, habits passed down from generation to generation) as opposed to what Hegel calls moralitat-subjective morality, (typical of Western "individualist" societies) . These are tremendous “social capitals” we have to be proud of, guard and nurture so that it won’t gradually corrode" ( JAN 2012)
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(9) Why the Ethiopian brightest obsessed with politics?

It is sad to see the best Ethiopian minds in facebook and other social media engulfed in only political affairs, pushing aside historical, economic, cultural and global and universal issues. Why are the best Ethiopian minds have all their energy directed to and are obsessed largely, sometimes solely, by current political analysis/affairs?
Politics, important as it is, is only one aspect of a society's life. There are other issues that also matter! We need to have a multiple engagement which include politics of course, but also that includes social issues, culture, literature,books, music.... ( July 2012)
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(10) Brief passing t remarks on two books
A)
Hiwot Teferra's "Tower in the sky"- I was enthralled by her superb story telling, excellent command of English language ( as if it is her mother-tongue), and enthused by her ability to put even the details into her motion-picture like story. Infact, I have reservations when she ended her story with renunciation of every collective effort but solely focus on ‘personal development’, and aversion to anything politics/Marxist, however understandable that may have been following what she and her generation went through. I overall think that she has written a good book, as I see it. But what struck me more than anything else is this- how was it possible that some cadre -some ignorant dilettante, an "Abiyot tebaki"-can go and just shoot a human being- just as simple as that- shoot just because he was found reading or possessing over EPRP's newspaper...How cheap was human life during the Dergue?! Bizarre period of Ethiopian history.

B)
Prof Mesfin's "Mekshef ende Ethiopia Tarik” seemed to be an amalgam of very lucidly written philosophies of history, Ethiopian history, a very remorseless (and honest) social criticism ( and sometime seething with anger condemning some social values which he thinks are holding us back as society; and also his frustration on the "Hige Arawit" (Hobessian "State of Nature"?)- his recurrent theme.
It also tries to show some ways forward so that Ethiopian history won't "mekshef" again. Of course, don't agree with some of his distorted assertions and embedded faulty assumption and of course some of his outdated shibboleths-For example, I believe that it is not a big deal to talk about changes of the names of institutions through time, which they may rightly do as the function and scope of the institution changes through time or, if someone, for example, Tigist is called TT or TG-,although it can be taken as manifestation of neo-colonization, it is only a symptom of another problem However, overall, I strongly suggest it as a good read.
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Ed's note
Danny Arku is Editor-In-Chief of NEVIS Review and welcomes comments and suggestions on his writings.The above short interesting notes above are written in different times as facebook updates, and Danny decided to collect and share it with NEVISers.Finally, as usual, NEVIS ET’s disclaimer: we would like to remind NEVISers that all the opinions which are expressed in all the series of articles in NEVIS Review are the authors' personal opinion and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of NEVIS, the society or the NEVIS editorial team, ET
NEVIS ET*)
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NEVIS Review No 25, Section I, Ref# 25.1

NEVIS Review No 25
Section I
Ref# 25.1
October 7, 2013
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Are you Oromo First or Ethiopian First?
By Awol Allo |The Glasgow Legal Theory
(Credit -http://glasgowlegaltheory.wordpress.com/; Published on July 19, 2013)

That was the question put to Jawar Mohamed by Al Jazeera’s The Stream co-host Femi Oki. Jawar’s response—‘I am an Oromo first’, and that ‘Ethiopia is imposed on me’—raised a political tsunami that provides us with a unique and revealing insight into the moral parochialism and ethical deadlock that pervades our political imagination. Many moved too quick and jumped too fast- seeking to obliterate the political stature of the man they lauded as ‘progressive’ and ‘visionary’ not long ago. Their love affair with Jawar came to a sudden halt with his declaration of loyalty to his ethnic subjectivity, as opposed to his Ethiopian subjectivity. Their objection was not merely against Jawar’s specific claims but a concern with why the ‘Oromo’ question, and why at this time.
As I tried to understand the modes of reasoning, forms of rationality and kinds of logic that permeated the political earthquake that followed, I am reminded of my own politics of location. How should I interpret these multi-polar exchanges that seem to traverse the spheres of politics, affect, thought and reflection? How can I avoid playing into the existing political fault lines- the politically disarming essentialism of Ethiopiawinet and the hyper-coding of ethno-nationalism? I have no answer to these questions except to say that there is no position of neutrality, an outside from which one can speak an objective truth in any discussion of issues so fraught with contingencies and complexities. In what follows, I will only address the debate that pertains to this specific question of what one is in and of himself and how that question is deeply tied to power, force, and right.
Let me begin with the notion of Ethiopiawinet—a master-signifier central to the political storm. What does it signify and how did it come to have the kind of political reality that it has? Allow me to take a bit of a detour here to establish my point. In his ‘history of the present’, Michel Foucault says this about history: “history had never been anything more than the history of power as told by power itself, or the history of power that power had made people tell: it was the history of power, as recounted by power.” History as an index of power, and as an operator and reinvigoration of the hegemony of a particular group! I think those who met Jawar’s response with such utter surprise and outrage are those dazzled by this magical function of history. This history weaves the heterogeneity, indefiniteness, and complexity of the country’s past into a coherent narration. Key events and moments in the nation’s history—stories of origin, war, victory, conquest, occupation, pillage, dispossessions, marginalization, etc—becomes discursive formations tied to power, force, and law. These dissymmetries were coded and inscribed into juridical codes, laws, and institutions- providing Ethiopiawinet the kind of truth that it now has.
Disregarding the vulgarity that has been so ubiquitous, even the most sophisticated of replies take a similar and predictable pattern: Ethiopiawinet is a kind of reality with a deeper meaning and therefore goes without saying. In a short genealogical excavation of Ethiopia’s essentialist historiography, Semir Yusuf offers a trenchant critique of the mainstream history of modern Ethiopia. He provides an interesting insight not into the truth of history but the formation of truths and the system of meaning they constitute and circulate. They overlook the ritual inherent to that concept, the deployments made of it, the reappropriation to which it is subject, the erasures it inflicts, and the claims it seals and keeps inaccessible. I suggest that we conceive Ethiopia as a creation of a grand historical narrative and Ethiopiawinet as an ideology. Ethiopia, like the United States, Great Britain, France, Kenya, or any nation for that matter, has crafted beautiful lies of its own aimed at creating a ‘historical knowledge’ that serves as a weapon of power. Ethiopiawinet, like American-ness, British-ness, Scottish-ness, and Oromumma is an ideological construct. Both as an imaginary and symbolic form, it has no preemptory force that gives claim to truth and rationality.
In Ethiopia, however, historical knowledge was installed in a rather invasive way, in a totalized and totalizing way, eliminating every form of counter-narrative from circulating in the social body. Because of this exclusive access to narrative production, Ethiopiawinethas come to inscribe itself not only in the ‘nervous system’ of its subjects but also in the temperament, making people believe that there is a hidden truth to this beautiful lies and myths. As a result, Ethiopiawinet became a ‘master signifier’, as psychoanalysts would say, and came to signify something pure and superior. For those who embraced the category without questioning its constitutive logic, it is a fixed, stable, and preemptory category that signifies something divine and adulterated. It is perceived as something absolute, eternal, and immutable, an ontological form that has its own intrinsic reality. I think it is precisely this ontologization of an ideological category that explains the fury of Ethiopianists. They don’t recognize that the truth of Ethiopiawinet is a making of our own, that is not independent of social system and power relations. In their refusal to recognize the right of an Oromo to give an account of himself in his own terms and the unassailable sense of correctness that accompanies this refusal explains just how embedded and symbolic this ideology is.
For others, it is a depoliticizing category that mutes differing articulations of identity, commits historical injustice, and conceals the battle cries that can be heard beneath the rhetoric of national unity. By muting an expression of loyalty with the subject positions that power uses but deliberately and systematically misrecognizes, the dominant articulation of Ethiopiawinet depoliticizes other identity categories. By depoliticizing it, it silently erases the injustices it perpetrated against these subjectivities. By refusing to embrace this type of Ethiopiawinet, by proclaiming his loyalty to Oromumma, Jawar is attacking the hinge that connects ‘historical knowledge’ of Ethiopiawinet to power. It is not a denial of his Ethiopian identity but a displacement, and an attack on an exclusionary conception of Ethiopiawinet that is deployed as a weapon in political struggles, and one that does not recognize the right of people to be called by a name of their choosing. If there is any right of people, it is the right to be called and identified with the name they want. The refusal of Ethiopianists to recognize the voices of others reveals a play of power at work in every invocation of this concept.
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The Personal is the Political

True, every nation weaves together its own necessary myths to keep the social fabric and its ideological edifice together. But these ritualized myths that glorify the uninterrupted and untarnished glory of the nation should not annihilate the political agency of those who occupy this subject position. Oromumma is not a necessary biological category. It is a political category. It is a subject position and an identity category. Those who embody the material and lived experience of being an Oromo are political subjectivities with unique and different experience of their own. They were treated with contempt and indifference because they spoke their language. Their dignity and humanity has been reduced because they asserted their identity. For those who endured the every day gestures of humiliation and coded dehumanization, the personal is the political. They become subjects of resistance when their identity is frustrated, demeaned, when my identity, so to speak, fails as a result of a wider systemic failures. It is when the individual links his failure with systemic failure, his with the universal, rather than the personal inadequacy; that the stranger in him emerges. This is precisely what Jawar meant when he said, ‘because we are forced to denounce our identity, we ended up reaffirming and reasserting our identity’.
The words of Steve Biko are poignant reminders: When Steve Biko says, “Merely by describing yourself as black you have started on a road towards emancipation, you have committed yourself to fight against all forces that seek to use your blackness as a stamp that marks you out as a subservient being”, he is trying to politicize blackness. He is trying to destabilize the naturalized nexus between blackness and subservience. Those whose sense of worth questioned, whose dignity squashed, and humanity contested because of their subjectivity will have a different narrative of who we are as a society. Surely, the rage in Jawar’s head, the fire in his belly and the energy with which he sought to reassert his dignity and worth as an equal speaking being represents a redemptive quest for the recognition of his subjectivity and his claims as a discourse worthy of voice and visibility.
In politics, what is not said is more important than what is said in public. I personally do not need a lecture by a mathematician or for that matter a historian that these things happen in Ethiopia. I do not need anyone to tell me that they never occurred. I have seen people argue in meetings that other languages should not be spoken in public places such as universities. I have seen students in academic institution frown upon students who chose to speak in Afan Oromo; I have heard religious figures claim that it is a curse to preach in Afan Oromo. I have seen people pause with astonishment when someone fails to fit their caricatured image of an Ethiopian. And we have all seen the hostile turn around in Taxis whenever a different language other than Amharic is spoken. I know many of you will dismiss this as ‘inferiority complex’—but these are the embodied experiences of a subject that no ideology or vilification can displace. What was evident from the events of the last few weeks was that the hubris of Ethiopiawinet does not and cannot recognize other subject positions unless they speak from within its discourses and frameworks. Whatever the latter says, the former hears it as a noise, not as discourse.
Hegemony is a form of political theology. The hegemonic groups see his hegemonic position as a bestowment. They demand that the oppressed and excluded makes use of the very vocabularies, analytic categories, archives, histories, discourses and standards used by the oppressor when articulating their grievances. It demands that the oppressed and the excluded renounce its claims to past injustices for a reconciled future without saying the terms of that reconciliation. That kind of Ethiopiawinet can no longer go without saying. We need a new beginning, a new concept of Ethiopiawinet that embodies and celebrates diversity and listens to all its voices. We need an Ethiopia of all its people can walk tall assured of its dignity and worth. This subconscious hegemony that compels us from within to squash the dignity of those who refuse to use a partisan and exclusionary discourse is no way to get to that free and democratic Ethiopia.
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(Ed’s note. Although it has been a while-almost three months- since it is first published, we, the NEVIS ET, thought that the article, due to the fact that it has brought up robust arguments and manifests coherent analysis- may stimulate further thought of the members of NEVIS/‘new visionaries’ society’s members and encourage us to engage in critical reflection and re-examination of our individual and collective identity. According to the same website we cited above as a source, glasgowlegaltheory.wordpress.co , Awol Kassim Allo is “ a human rights lawyer from Ethiopia. Currently, he is the Lord kelvin Adam Smith Scholar at Glasgow University Law School. His research interests ranges from critical legal theory and the sociology of human rights to political theory and epistemology. At present, he is interested in concepts of performativity and genealogy..” Finally, as usual, NEVIS ET’s disclaimer: we would like to remind NEVISers that all the opinions which are expressed in all the series of articles in NEVIS Review are the authors' personal opinion and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of NEVIS, the society or the NEVIS editorial team, ET
NEVIS ET*
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NEVIS Review No 24 Section III Ref# 24.3

NEVIS Review No 24
Section III
Ref# 24.3
August 28, 2013
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Mulatu Astatke and Ethiopian jazz
Mulatu Astatke, the father of Ethiopian jazz
(Credit- The economist : http://www.economist.com/blogs/baobab)
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(Ed’s note-1- The following interview with the prominent Ethiopian jazz musician, Mulatu Astatke, was published on October 22, 2012 of “The Economist” magazine. Mulatu, an accomplished "scientist of sound"- to use the interesting and expressive word he used in the interview- states, among other ideas in this interview :"I always say that Africa gave to jazz its whole feeling and conception. Not only the drums, but the science. Musicians are like scientists, just with different chemicals. There's no difference between science and music, we just deal with sound. We are scientists of sound.". We hope you will enjoy reading it.
NEVIS ET*)
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ONSTAGE 68-year-old Mulatu Astatke is as subtle and understated as the Ethiopian jazz he created. The music, a hybrid of traditional Ethiopian music and jazz, is subdued, somewhat melancholy, and at times psychedelic. Mr Astatke, the originator and composer of songs in this canon, plays his principal instrument, the vibraphone, with a light touch. Between songs, there is no small talk. He thanks the crowd, and coolly introduces the next number.
Mr Astatke has completed a Radcliffe Institute Fellowship at Harvard and been an artist-in-residence at MIT in recent years. But the seeds of his “Ethio-jazz” were planted in the 1950s and 1960s when he studied classical and jazz composition in Britain and America and honed his techniques while at Berklee College of Music, where he was the first African student. On visits to New York he hung out with jazz musicians such as John Coltrane and performed with the Duke Ellington orchestra in Ethiopia in the 1970s.
Mr Astatke's name resurfaced in 2005, when his compositions appeared in the soundtrack of Jim Jarmusch's film Broken Flowers. A busy time of performing, recording, teaching, and composing has since followed.
Mr Astatke is doing a world tour at the moment [October 2012, NEVIS Ed's note] and Baobab spoke to him on his London stop when he performed at the Barbican Centre with the London-based group, The Heliocentrics.
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Baobab: While at Berklee in the late 1950s and early 1960s, you started to combine what you were learning about jazz theory with the Ethiopian music you had grown up with. How did that happen?

Mulatu Astatke: My experiences in Boston and New York opened my eyes. I became a student of jazz composition and learnt how the music comes together. It helped me quite a lot, and helped me to find Ethio-jazz. There were so many great musicians at that time, and I lined up with everyone else to watch them. I met John Coltrane, I saw Bud Powell. Now I see people lining up to see me in Paris and Berlin. That's so beautiful to me. I've been very lucky.

Baobab: Since then you seem to have focused on fusing traditional Ethiopian music with jazz and worked hard to develop a distinct voice and style. Is that fair?

MA: Fusion and contribution, that's my thing. There have been tribes in Ethiopia for centuries. Then we see Charlie Parker and the music he's playing using diminished chords. I always say that Africa gave to jazz its whole feeling and conception. Not only the drums, but the science. Musicians are like scientists, just with different chemicals. There's no difference between science and music, we just deal with sound. We are scientists of sound.

Baobab: Ethio-jazz has a melancholy sound to it. Why is that?

MA: We play five against twelve. This is a pentatonic scale that has been fused with a 12-tone progression. My thing was to combine these two without losing our character. The five is floating on top. You see this in Asia, in Japan, in Algeria. We have four different modes, and three modes for church music. It's very beautiful. It's all in how you approach the scales and the notes.

Baobab: You've opened a jazz village in Addis to train young Ethiopian musicians. What are your goals for the centre?

MA: It's an information centre. We host jazz concerts and Ethiopian plays, and teach Ethio-jazz. We want to promote music to young pupils who have talent but who have never had a chance. We're teaching the science of music—arranging, composing. I tell my students, learn the science of music first, don't just jump in too quick. There is a line you have to follow.

Baobab: What kind of music are your students interested in?

MA: Lots want to study Ethio-jazz, but many like dancehall, reggae and hip hop—music with more dancing and jumping. There are few outlets for classical and jazz. There are more and more guitar and bass players now because all they see on television is people with guitars jumping up and down.

Baobab: Your music was featured in the soundtrack for Jim Jarmusch's 2005 film Broken Flowers. How did that collaboration come together?

MA: I was playing in New York and I was told he was coming to the show. I didn't know who he was but said to invite him anyway. He said he had been looking for the right music for his film for six years, and he thought my music was it. I said "no problem". Six months later he called, and that was it. And people have loved it.

Baobab: In what other ways has your music reached a wider audience?

MA: I've been sampled by hip-hop artists like Naz and now the Somali rapper K'Naan. Man, it's exploding, I tell you.

Baobab: You recently composed a score for an Ethiopian film called “Lalumbe.” How did you approach the project?

MA: The film is a love story about people from the Hamer tribe in the south of Ethiopia. This was the first time I've worked with their tribal music and culture—hey hold drums on their back and jump and clap. I used different instruments and dancers to create beautiful fusion music for the film.

Baobab: You're also working on an opera. How is it shaping up?

MA: I'm still working on it. The composition includes excerpts from Ethiopian hymns for Lent. The opera will include choirs, strings, trombones, and an ancient Ethiopian conducting stick. I hope to perform it in a church in Lalibela in North Ethiopia that is carved from a single stone and also in Europe. I decided to work on this project while I was at Harvard. It will be a big challenge for me but I want to see what people will say.

Baobab: Do you think that the music you've created over the years is revolutionary?

MA: It's a cultural revolution. Why not give the world something different?. As long as you can play your own music and combine it with something else, you will have no problems. But it is a challenge, a beautiful and great challenge.
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Ed's note-2-NEVISers interested to know more about Mulatu and his Ethio Jazz music can go the website ethiojazz.com. One interesting interview can be also found following this link:http://www.ethiojazz.com/a-conversation-with-mulatu-astatke-on-heliocentrics-ethio-jazz-and-ellington/ --------------------------------------------//-------------------------------

NEVIS Review No 24, Section II , Ref# 24.2

NEVIS Review No 24
Section II ( Danny Arku’s Section)
Ref# 24.2
August 28, 2013
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[Danny Arku’s original post, March 28, 2012 ]

People emphatically assert they want to see development in their country, and yet in the same breath, they vehemently oppose any kind of changes- they don’t want to be “disturbed”, they don’t want to leave their house in order that new roads are to be built passing through their houses; they don’t want to move away from their birth place (“etbite yetekeberebet”) in order that large scale plantations are to be set up; they are not ready for the forests to be cleared. These people fail to realize that development is a “disturbance”; development is-to borrow a word from the famous economist, Schumpeter-a “creative destruction”! There is always a price to pay in every effort-is there any public policy which satisfies ALL the citizens?!
The best one can argue is not “I don’t want to see a bulldozer around”, or “I want the forest not to be touched forever” but rather, whether the specific project is intended towards maximizing the “general welfare” and whether the policy is overall conducive to social welfare, and whether the relocated people are given the appropriate compensation, and whether it is done in such a way that no human rights are violated..
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[Debates/Discussions]

Mesfin Tekle :
Danny Arku, There has never been development without its related cost. Whether it's removing people or property from one area to another or everything else in between development is not cost free. The question one must ask is about transparency. How transparent are the decisions made and whose interests have priority in a system where the one asking the questions and the one answering them is one and the same?
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Danny Arku:
Mesfin Tekle, thanks for understanding my point. I agree with you that transparency and persuasion are really necessary.
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Beza Hailemariam:
We've heard all that over and over development.... Are the people being compensated for the land and house they are losing? Are they being offered better living in a new place? I don't think so.... So if you are promising development while destroying one’s life, you just end up re-destroying the development you finished building
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Beyo :
I want to add some points:
1: We don't even agree on the meaning of a country?
2: We can't differentiate party policy and national interest?
3: I don't know about other countries practices but in our case we use everything to oppose the government?
Such intrinsic issues are the real reasons behind, rather than agendas of development.
Other critical factor which openness gaps is weak government workers (Civil services),either due to lack of capacity or intentionally hampering the process. Eg: In compensation process, valuation has to be made by some civil servant, but had he may report it negligently to the one who allows to pay (political decision maker), the end result will obviously is catastrophic. This case happens in many situations such as sugar price fixing, condominium housing development, and many more.
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Daniel Seifu:
Danny Arku, I think as most of us may agree....the question is not about "I don't wanna see bulldozer" and development but rather the question is about the following process. Some of the points are said by you and Beyo about "civil services" .But in addition to that, it needs thorough investigation of what the relationship between all stakeholders look like, before just saying by a guess (that is also equally ignorance).One certain fact for me is that about one of the biggest problems but frequently ignored is the one you said “etbite yetekeberebet”. It has many things in it, it has several emotions of belongingness... I don’t think that I have a good skill to express it very well but I think there are good ways to handle it than just sending cadres who harass and intimidate the "victims of development" by telling them emotionally that this is "development".......What do you think about sending "social counselors" with bulldozers? And who listen and help in the process.......ግን ምን ዋጋ አለው s Civil service jobs and positions ምናምን ሁሉ ፖለቲካዊ ሲሆኑ.....ከዚህ አይነቱ ህመም በላይ ምን ይጠበቃል?
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Beyo:
Daniel Seifu , To get to the bottom of the barrel, the issues won't be solved had we send "social counselor", because it is not that people demanding. It is all about political polarization which is hampering the process of development. Had you send "a social counselor" they will tell you another reason because "were yefetaw" .So the only way the government and the one who cares should work to really hear what is at stake and work as much as they can, without giving things any political back and forth. May be you are right in indicating weak "political cadres"(NOT ONLY EPRDF, BUT opposition PARTIES TOO) are part of the problem. If there is a ZOMBI cadre which only tried to implement things without trying to actualize and understand issues at hand, but he work on it only for obedience of political leadership then the result will be much much lower than expected. What did other opposition party political leadership towards indicating the universally right solutions, or in real political solutions. Dear Dani,it is all about lack of engagement of the elites in the development of the country.
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Berihu Assefa :
Danny Arku , you brought up a good issue to discuss

(1) Is this the case of Arrow’s impossibility theorem: “there is no social welfare function that satisfies Non-dictatorship, Efficiency, and Independence?”

(2) True that there are gainers and losers of development policies. This is a distributive conflict. In such cases, the famous principle “the social benefit must outweigh the social cost” is not enough. You need a “political process”. What political process? Since the losers have a legitimate claim (and vote) not to get displaced or to get a full compensation on their loss, one needs a justifiable resolution of the distributive conflict. The political process is most likely “justifiable” when it is democratic. If not democratic, is there any other mechanism to address the questions raised by Mesfin' above.

(3) But what is development? Its definition and scope has so much expanded. The most comprehensive definition is, perhaps, Sen’s definition (development as capability and development as freedom). Sen wrote: “Development is the expansion of individual freedoms”. In authoritarian states, Sen’s development definition will be something like this: “Development is the expansion of public works (roads, dams, etc).” But individual freedoms may conflict (some oppose and others support). What happens when they conflict? What happens depends on whether you are authoritarian or democratic. Though, both can lead to sub-optimal outcomes, the latter has better aspects of reflecting people’s will. To do democracy is to do the right thing; but it doesn’t necessarily mean democracy is just or superior. A democracy can be nastily unjust and economically inferior.

(4) How do individuals decide? Man is rational. She compares her individual benefit with her cost. Does she calculate the social benefit and social cost to decide? When a road that affects my house is built; do I calculate the social benefit and social cost to vote YES or NO? How is this decision different from going to a college? When you want to go to college, do you compare your costs with your expected benefits? Or social benefits with social costs? Education has positive externality.

(5) Schumpeter’s creative destruction: I am not sure if you can apply his concept to public investments (when a government demolishes a house or a village). Originally, he meant it to refer to the death of uncompetitive businesses (or economic forces). The competitive world goes through creative destruction where economic forces determine the surviving and non-surviving.
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Daniel Seifu :
Berihu, when you say "but what is development?" that is what makes me most of the times to be reserved, especially Micheal Todaro's the three core values of development comes in to my mind

1, Sustenance : The ability to meet basic needs

2, Self-esteem : "to be a person" (sense of worth and self respect....here are included authenticity, identity honor, dignity, respect,....)

3, Freedom from Servitude: to be able to choose (he put this one to be understood as emancipation from alienating material conditions of life and from social servitude to nature, ignorance and several others...)

so if these are the core value of development then, isn't that wrong to ignore peoples cry? I mean isn't that better to address their cry as equal as the development?

Isn't that possible to build and develop with integrity and respect? (Listening to others opinion no matter how it seems wrong causes that is development by it self....isn’t it?)
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Beyo :
I may agree somehow with your points but don't you think you are generalizing and concluding when you say " It is all about political polarization", I mean don’t you think that conclusion would limit to listen to genuine outcries?
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Tsedi Lemma:
Danny Arku, In addition to the points made by Mesfin (who often for pleasant reasons speaks my heart and my mind better than I think I do) and Danieln Seifu - whom I like for his viciously straightforward comments, I have one very simple question to ask, can development be brought upon people without the stern attitude of "either or?". Can we find a delicate equilibrium to strike in our ambition to grow? Danny Arku, I know you have many questions by Berihu to answer first.
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Danny Arku:
Thanks all for your comments, this is the kind of discussion that Ethiopia needs. Free civilized discussions- disagreements, and agreements-but still continue to be friends. @ Be Yo, thanks for your comment. I have repeatedly written notes on the fact that we have to transcend the parochial party affiliation and focus on the objective content of any issue at hand- I am against any kind of ethnic-political polarization. I agree with you that lack of capable technocrats, or civil service, to use your term, in Ethiopian government. That is where the government is weak. Asset Valuation is so technical in nature that it may be better left to technocrats. In case it is undervalued, there should me grievance handling procedures.@ Daniel S, I like your sensitivity to the displaced ones, when you cited the social counselors, although I don’t know if that would be practical in our country. HOW one tells you are to be relocated also matters, ie. Convincing them regarding the advantages of the project may help in that regard. Harassing should at any time be avoided. If you see at the end of my note, human rights is one of the items which I pointed out as worth discussing. So I didn’t disregard it. @ Beza, BTW, I didn’t claim the compensation was enough-Indeed, I was implying that the adequacy of compensation is one of the questions that a reasonable person should ask. The people I was resisting vigorously, whom I was intentionally labeling them “hypocrites” are those who try to argue that people should never relocate for whatever the reason, however noble the intentions are-those who categorically state that we don’t need that kind of development if it displaces people, and dismiss any development endeavor as futile ipso fact
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Beyo :
@ Tsedi Lemma your point is good and needs to be considered, we need to find a delicate equilibrium to strike the balance, this should be done, but Ethiopia's problem is multidimensional, in some cases we can't have the luxury to accommodate all what we think is right, We are forced to do it, to the extent that its quest is a matter of our existence too. I hope you can accept anything had you believe we for sure banish hunger for example? Even if there is a stern resistance on it, then why should I listen to it, because waiting can harm my existence too? @Daniel Seifu , Okay, we agreed on some of the aspects then, when there is a genuine claim how can we hear it? 1. Identifying the positive claim? For this, the task should be started from the one who claims his own right, which means he has to ask first what he want and what is his real demand. Like when the government wants to build a dam and when his farm can be affected by the development work, t hen he has to ask for A PROPER LAND FOR FARMING, not "etebete etetete,zere manzere" ,or attached to it some kind of silly political agendas, because a dam is not for a single family rather for a country(the peoples in it).2. Civil servants and experts for the Government, rather than working on the political side of it, they have to engage themselves in realization of claims and problem solving, which is to say, whether one has claimed with truth or with external agitation, they have to practically engage on solving it. That is, when one claims about environmental damages on Dam construction, then they have to take it seriously and devise ways to minimize on the damages on environment without halting the project successes. To conclude, attaching political agenda with real developmental quest doesn't take us anywhere and sizing to develop is unimaginable but apart from it everything is possible with dialogue. @Mesfin tekle 1. "To do democracy is to do the right thing; but it doesn’t necessarily mean democracy is just or superior. A democracy can be nastily unjust and economically inferior."...What is right? Being hungry is right? Or putting a chunk of your country men in poverty is right? I prefer to live like Somalia than India.2. Man is rational...towards his and his own benefits. Man is also social; one’s existence depends on other. One can claim a replacement for his residential area and residence for his demolition house due to road project, because it is a matter of existence but he can't claim about the places benefits had he sold it, because he never add a single value on the place existence or his ownership of a land is just out of sheer chance, so some man are self-centered may approximate that.
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Danny Arku :
I can understand your ecological concerns, but there is always a trade-off in economic decisions. Take China for example, it is being condemned for environmental degradation. I don’t mean it should disregard such claims but it could turn out to be inevitable outcome-and the West who cry about it are the ones who has been polluting the earth for decades- why cry , why all fuss when it comes from China, or other non-Westerns countries. Either a country has to lower its rate of development (number of industries...) with less pollution, or grow at higher rate with some relatively higher pollution. Furthermore, negative externalities on third party may perhaps be handled by the government through different mechanisms. It is good to balance both whenever that is possible, as Tsedi remarked, but it should not be at a high price of economic growth. I hope this would also answer the question that @ Tsedi brought.@ Berihu, I agree with your points 1, 2, esp in the third, you have made a good point, esp for some who argue that democracy is a panacea for development, and those who think that democratic deliberation cannot result in suboptimal decision. On 4) Do you mean people displaced do not take into account social costs and benefits, the positive and negative externality of their action on third parties? The utility function of individuals would of course differ, but individual’s desire may sometimes be sacrificed, or MADE COMPLY, for the sake of long term prosperity even if the person concerned fails to realize the social cost and benefits. On point 5) I used the concept of Schumpeter’s “creative destruction” to make a parallel reasoning with nature of development (that is constant “change”), ie, to imply the fact that economic development like capitalist system, involves perpetual changes and upsetting forces. The origin of the term is NOT, respectfully, as you claimed, but it is rather, as we find it in his book “Capitalism, socialism and democracy’ where he asserts that capitalism as economic system is replete with constant change, where, to directly quote him, “capitalist system incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one. This process of creative destruction is the essential fact about capitalism”
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Berihu Assefa:
Danny Arku, On 5: The parallel reasoning: development as a constant change Vs capitalism as a constant change is fine. What I said on “creative destruction" is not that different from what you said. If I were to put Schumpeter’s creative destruction bluntly, I don’t think it would be any different from what I put it in my previous comment. Creative destruction refers to the non-stationary nature of capitalism. The forces of competition lead to innovation. Then, others follow the innovative pioneers. Then, innovation again. This happens incessantly. It is a cycle – replacing old ones with new ones. Why do old (old means in this case uncompetitive – old product, old technology) ones die? The forces behind this cycle are forces of competition
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Danny Arku:
Berihu, you said "Originally, he meant it to refer to the death of uncompetitive businesses (or economic forces). The competitive world goes through creative destruction where economic forces determine the surviving and non-surviving."It is matter of focus/precision. As you can clearly see from your text, in your interpretation, you are emphasizing on the 'survival of the fittest'-which is the more competitive will survive and the less competitive will be wiped out. But my emphasis was, as Schumpeter clearly stated it by saying "incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one “ is on innovation and entrepreneurship. If you read the chapter on his book, he is referring to innovations, ie, the changes in product features, new technologies, new markets(eg foreign markets) which will continue to make capitalism to constantly evolve through time
Beyo Te :
Tsedi Lemma, What should you expect from a government official as it seems unless you grab power or office you swear that there is no agreement that you make any of the things around, at least you do not believe that you can contribute things without assuming any office. I feel sorry, not only for you but most on their resentment towards the country. I wish we can work on things, on projects and on agendas towards a common goal, at least we can contribute a positive advice. One should better say,” we can do it this way, or that way? or it is better had we done it this way.” rather than “AKURFO Kemekemet” .Rome never been built in a day! People stick with liberty which they never see it in their own house, but when it comes the public they expect to see it from where ...Alien? Much respect with a lot of regrets.
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Tsedi Lemma :
BeYo, I think what we are doing here on FB is in a way contributing immensely without holding a government office. For one thing I never thought I am the right person to be a government official; we all have our own places in this world and I believe mine is not there, yet. You never know though. And I only have respect for our civilized "fights" here on FB and no regrets at all and I don't understand why you should regret it either. FYI, its people's civility in their engagement that helped Rome not only to be built but to be built better. Some wars might have been fought over that but at end what won the day were not the spears but people's civilized respect to one another and their tolerance of agreeing to disagree over many things. So I sometimes like, sometimes accept and sometimes respect what we are doing here and I like to keep the fire burning....even with so much petrol around.
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Mesfin Tekle :
Beyo Te, Democracy is not a panacea! The gridlock nature of democracy can be frustrating but I believe it's better than the alternative. You've more transparency in a democratic give and take than without it. If you have a government dominated media barraging you with one truth without giving you the other side of the story, it creates an unfair balance. Of course, some of the opposition to development might be political but that is part of the deal you have to accept as a government, if you want the idea of transparency and factually based analysis to flourish.
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Tesfakiros Arefe Sahle:
I want to ask Danny Arku about the planning process of the development projects. I hope he has the necessary information that can help him to answer my questions. When and how did the residences know about their eviction from their homes or the construction of the road that disturbs their lives? When & how did they know that the forest is to be cleared? Did the government involve the stakeholders in its planning process? Did they reach at consensus about the objectives of the projects (its social and economic benefits) and the method and amount of compensation, the place to be relocated? Did the government's project show the social, economic and political implication of the project? Did it clearly show that the cost benefit analysis and the economic benefits outweigh the social costs? Thank you
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Beyo :
@Mesfin Tekle, I don't think it would add much value apart from extending the period of accomplishment. As I have indicated it before, the opposition won't come from the issues themselves rather from other agendas, and as a third world country we don't have that luxury. As of me, I don't want to see a stagnant economy because already in the big picture of humanity, we are already in slavery.
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Danny Arku:
@ Tesfakiros, thanks for your insight. I think you are too focused on the means rather than on the end. You seem to imply that it is the means that matters most, and that end has to be sacrificed for the sake of the means, which is an absurd way of reasoning. I am not against a consultation- but this populist perspective assumes that the masses know what is best for them, and that if they can't agree, the course of action is not right. Berihu, Mesfin and I have already discussed how democracy may also result in suboptimal decision. I however, defend democracy because of its intrinsic worth, as I have previously argued on some note. @ Be Yo, I agree with you that consultation may turn out to retard a development process, or it might result in 'decision paralysis'. @ Mesfin, I think you have also to consider these facts, since transparency alone would not make a process fair- what is more important is 'who is the de facto decision maker?', whose interests are represented? A process may not be transparent but may turn out to be in favor of the masses, can’t it? Alternately, it may be transparent but may not be in the interest of the masses. Both ways are possible. Thank you all for your participation
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(Ed’s note- It is hoped by NEVIS ET that documentation of such discussions would stimulate further thought and research on the issue and will serve as a knowledge database. We want to thank Danny and his friends for their reflection on such an important issue. As usual, the NEVIS ET’s disclaimer: we would like to remind NEVISers that all the opinions which Danny and his discussant express in the forthcoming series of articles are their personal opinion and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of NEVIS, the society or the editorial team ET. NEVISers who didn’t participate in the discussion are welcome to add their reflection here in this issue in the comment section. Those who already did participate are free to add/modify their opinion. We have presented the conversations above exactly as they first appeared for the sake of originality and authenticity, except for minor editing of spelling and grammatical errors. NEVIS ET*)

NEVIS Review No 24, Section I, Ref# 24.1

NEVIS Review No 24
Section I
Ref# 24.1
August 28, 2013
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Ethnicity and development (continued)-part II
Experts from “Ethnicity and development in sub-Saharan Africa”
By NDANGA NOYOO
( Source- Journal of Social Development in Africa Vol 15 No.2 July 2000 )
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Ethnicity and development

DEVELOPMENT is a multifaceted process that could be enhanced or impeded by a myriad of factors. There is no consensus on what should be understood by development. Neither is there agreement on how development can best be brought about nor why it has proved so difficult for most of the poor countries in the developing world to achieve any kind of improvement for the large majority of citizens (Martinussen 1997). But we usually assume a positive transformation of people's lives that is both quantitative and qualitative when engaging in debates about development. Adjectives that may denote development are: improvement, enhancement,Elevation, progress; to mention a few. Ideally development should be a process that raises the material and living conditions of people. For development to take place, therefore, other kinds of improvements that can catalyze the developmental process must be present. These include improvements in education, health, access to credit facilities, social welfare and security. There should also be institutions that protect both human as well as property rights. Development also
means improved access to life chances and opportunities such as employment and social security. When these life chances are blocked, due to the fact that people may be from one ethnic group or another, then development is impeded. But more importantly, development has to unfold in countries where good governance abounds, because fair play and social justice must be entrenched by the state, thus keeping ethnicity in check at the national level.

In contexts where there is abject poverty like sub-Saharan Africa the state is the prime mobilizer of resources for the people. But when the state is hijacked by one or more ethnic groups, upward social mobility becomes a preserve of such groups, who use the state machinery for selfish ends as opposed to national development concerns. In this sense a predatory state emerges whereby,clientelism and nepotism are used as yardsticks in the acquisition of state contracts and tenders. Ethnicity in its negative form negates development. It becomes a powerful force that leads to the vices that in turn define the redistribution of a country's resources. Those who do not come from the ruling ethnic group are neglected by the state. In this way ethnicity emerges primarily as an agent of accumulation, both of wealth and political power (Bayart 1993). Indeed, the most striking examples of ethnic strategies are those connected with the resources of the modern economy, for example in gaining employment, education, or loans (Bayart 1993). This situation results in distorted regional development as certain regions are designated for development schemes and projects, even when such places offer no comparative advantages; the sole criterion being that the region is inhabited by the dominant ethnic group.

Development cannot take place in a turbulent environment: one of the pillars of development is stability. Once fuelled, ethnic tensions can and do result in death. Clashes between different ethnic groups have undermined development pursuits in sub- Saharan Africa, again providing fertile ground for full-scale civil wars. The ethnic tensions in Nigeria in the 1960s culminating in the Biafra war remain a case in point. Such a situation deters direct foreign investment into sub- Saharan economies. In many instances potential foreign investors have shelved investment initiatives initially earmarked for sub- Saharan countries because of the unstable and volatile social and political conditions caused by ethnicity. Furthermore, ethnicity leads productive human beings into channel their energies into ethnic clashes instead of using them to develop their country. The 1990s have been typified by a resurgence of ethnic cleavages that now play marked roles in shaping national development efforts in sub-Saharan Mrica. The problem of ethnicity has resurfaced with much vigour in the wake of the economic recessions that countries in the sub-continent of Africa are currently facing. Adekanye (1995:366) argues that the economic austerity measures being implemented by various governments in the sub-region, like SAPs have reinvigorated ethnicity. He asserts that an analysis of the interaction between SAPs and rising ethnic tensions seems to reaffirm a number of long-standing propositions from ethnic conflict studies: that differential economic development acts as an important catalyst of conflict between ethnic or regional groups within a given state.
The coincidence of frustrating political and economic conditions with ethnic jealousies or of socio-economic classes with ethno-regional groupings, tends to intensify inter-ethnic conflicts. Indeed SAPs have revealed intense conflicts between different classes and ethnic groups for the minimal social and economic resources existing in their countries and access to avenues of upward social, economic and political mobility.
[…..]
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Whither sub-Saharan Africa?
THERE ARE several contentious issues that need to be re-explored when confronting problems created by ethnicity. Firstly, the time has come for Africans candidly to revisit the authenticity of post colonial boundaries. The clause in the Organization of African Unity charter which stipulates that boundaries created by colonialists be respected, stemmed in part from questionable motives. Some of the post colonial leaders who had entrenched this clause were tyrants or military dictators who merely sought to emasculate the spirit of regional autonomy.

In retrospect it can be noted that the quest for regional autonomy had surfaced after the post colonial state could not offer a lucid formula towards the realization of an African nationhood. One route that could be taken is the redefining of national boundaries in the light of contested areas. For instance it is clear that Sudan is made up of two distinct and separate entities in terms of religion, physical landscape and culture. Regional self-government could be a viable alternative given the fact the so-called unitary state of Sudan has been effective only in creating conditions for social dislocation. The central government could guarantee regional autonomy in matters of local concern, whilst the centre could oversee the security of the country. As regards areas which are not dominated by people of a particular ethnic group such as urban conurbations or those dominated by migrant workers, there would be no problem if the government clearly articulates a national agenda that celebrates ethnic diversity as opposed to ethnic acrimony. A lucid national ideology that harmonises different ethnic groups would be profound as different groups would not see ethnicity as a viable recourse vis-à-vis opportunities and life chances.

The question of regional autonomy must be soberly examined if any headway in development is going to be made in sub-Saharan Africa. Regional autonomy or federalism, whatever it may be called, could nip problems of ethnicity, corruption and nepotism in the bud. This type of government would also enhance-popular participation in development as ordinary community members would add their voices to the decisions taken by their leaders or even take decisions which their leaders would be obliged to respect. Policies would be more responsive to local needs as proper needs assessments would be conducted by the regional government as opposed to the central government. This would unlock the creativity and zeal of citizens of sub-Saharan countries, which has been deliberately thwarted in the post colonial state. The over centralized post colonial state in Africa has been a total failure.

Secondly, it is important to bear in mind that politicians have been using the ethnic card for political expedience. One redeeming aspect in this whole episode of sub-Saharan ethnic rivalries could be the creation of stable institutions that at least guarantee responsive leadership. Ordinary Africans have allowed themselves to be ruled by politicians with questionable credentials whilst those with skills have left the continent for greener pastures in Europe or America.

Lastly, Africans have to face their problems squarely and acknowledge their mistakes. It is ludicrous always to blame some hidden enemy when in actual fact most of the tribulations of sub-Saharan Africa are self- inflicted. It is also high time that Africans begin to discard unprogressive traditions. This is because Africa is already part of the global village. People can ill afford to continue living as if they are still in pre-industrial times.
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Conclusion

DEVELOPMENT is fostered, among other things, by an enabling environment. This should ideally engender peace and stability and guarantee the security of people and the optimal
Utilization of both human and natural resources. There are many reasons that have been put forward to explain sub-Sahara's economic malaise. The author had briefly touched on some of them in the early part of the discussion. The main argument in this paper was that ethnicity’s ability to throw the development agenda of sub-Saharan countries into disarray has been downplayed or even glossed over. Both politicians and academics choose to deal with the consequences of ethnicity and not with the root cause itself. Development will remain a pipe dream if the problem of ethnicity is not given adequate attention by all who envisage the re-awakening of the sub-continent of Africa. Some possible options were proffered by the author. There are many other strategies that could be employed to stem ethnicity, but there has to be a clear political will to do so from sub-Saharan governments. Only then can these countries begin to engage in the processes of development without any ulterior motives.
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NEVIS Debate update

Info update:

Some NEVISers have recently informed the editorial team that the deadline time for the call for articles for "NEVIS Debate", announced a week ago, is too short.Check this for the earlier announcement : http://nevis-review.blogspot.com/2013/08/nevis-debate.html
 Consequently, we have extended it by one week, that is, the deadline will be on August 20. You an either send us an attachment in facebook or through email: editor.nevis@yahoo.com

Thank you.

NEVIS ET*

NEVIS Review No 23, Section II, Ref#23.2

NEVIS Review No 23
Section II
Ref#23.2 ( Danny Arkus’s section)
August 12, 2013
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[Original note by Danny Arku]

One thing that amazes me is the long queue of our sisters, young ladies not to buy bread or oil as one may expect, but as “setegna adari” [prostitutes] in every corner of Addis, in Haya Hulet, in Kazanchis, in Piassa, and in Bole..That is disheartening and a shame to us, Ethiopians, to put it mildly- or at least, to those of us who consider ourselves concerned and informed/enlightened Ethiopian intellectuals.
I think there are several strategies and interventions that can be directed towards this very issue.There might also be some initiatives so far targeted on this problem which I may not be aware of; Besides, I can’t exhaust all the possibilities on how to solve it . However, one thing that came to my mind,at the time of writing this note, is that the government can design some labor-intensive projects, even at the price of inflation that follows government fiscal expansion, and employ these ladies by giving them some training, if necessary. At the risk of introducing contentious normative recommendation, I believe that inflation is lesser cost to pay than a severe unemployment which translates itself into such social evils as pervasive prostitution. Or alternatively, the government can work with NGO and other institutions by directing and/or funding them; or the NGOs themselves may involve in such direction, at least in the short run. I know the long run solution at macroeconomic level is boosting output which will eventually create employment.
What do you say, friends?

NB. The only thing I may add from the original note is that I see police chasing the prostitutes the prostitutes hiding- a kind of hide- and-seek. This is simply fighting the symptom not the real problem-since the real problem is that the ladies need something to eat and to pay their rent with, not to mention it is simply ridiculous- and funny- measure.

[Discussions]

Hiwot Emishaw:
This is an interesting topic but one that raises the risk of being over simplistic, being judgmental and stereotyping and at the same time making hasty generalization. Even so, I am going to say the following. I think before putting the burden of “rescuing” these women from what they do on the government and some NGOs, you have to look at why they are doing this.
Prostitution is arguably called the “oldest profession” and there is a reason it has survived this long. There is also a category of prostitutes. The ones you are talking about are the “street Walkers” usually believed to be in it for quick money to solve a certain crisis or there to escape poverty as quickly as possible. However, they largely receive little money to live hand to mouth and must stay and prostitute for longer period of time to survive. Now, I have been part of some initiatives designed to do just what you proposed. Although some of them found the Alternative Income Generating Projects helpful as a way of moving out of the their life style, most of them resort back to prostitution because
1- They are used to getting relatively larger sum of money calculated monthly
2- They are used to receiving money on daily bases and can not be bothered to wait for a month to receive their salaries
3- They simply don’t have the patience to wait and become profitable in the future, moving step by step because of pressing poverty and opt out for the quick cash

All in all, I just want to say there is no quick fix solution to this one, Danny. You cannot eradicate prostitution. And men will never stop going to prostitutes. (That will make an even more interesting topic—“Why do men go to prostitutes?”)

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Kiram Yonas:
Danny, my experience working as a social worker with the marginalized group, I realized that we are much concerned on rehabilitation and reintegration rather than prevention. I am saying this because there are significant number of under-age youngsters who are ready to join the group due to the hopeless education they are attending and the increasing cost of living. I suggest to help those at the entry point
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Tessema Simachew:
Criminalizing prostitution is a very good option. One thing which always amazes me is to know that prostitution is considered to be against the moral values of the various states of USA but not Ethiopia. This is not something which I am saying because I saw this post. I always have this idea that criminalizing prostitution in one of the regions in Ethiopia could help to raise the awareness of the public on the issue.
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Danny Arku:
Hiwot Emishaw, you have raised good points. Thanks. The incentive issue is a concern here. I participated in some research conference where one of the researches was rural to urban migration, and one of the issues of discussion was that ladies from the country side first try the cafe-waitress job, and realizing that it pays them 300 Birr or less PER MONTH, which is too much below what they need for bare necessities. They then resort to prostitution never to come back to their waitress job-since they earn as much as Birr 300 or more PER DAY (which they used to get per month in ordinary job!!). Now, the alternative has to be obviously one that pays better than the waitress job, and it has to be supplemented by awareness programs regarding the fact that they are exposed to STDs and other harmful impacts to her in the long run and all that (Social psychologist and social workers like Kiram Yonas cited can help here). Tessema , will criminalizing help? I doubt because that will be fighting the symptom and she will do it in the hiding for she will have to survive. Criminalizing it without giving alternatives to the ladies will be suicidal. In the US, the employment opportunity is wide at least for blue-collar work.
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Costy B Costantinos:
I headed a team that was studying street children and prostitution in Ethiopia for the UN and the Government in 1995. With more than a million engaged in the streets of cities, this is indeed abysmally cruel. Child prostitution is growing in both urban and rural areas of Ethiopia. In the capital city, Addis Ababa, the number of children victimised in commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) is increasing at an alarming rate. Numerous children migrate from rural areas in order to escape poverty, limited educational and job opportunities, drought, violence at home, early marriage, abusive relationships and exploitative labour, only to be become victims of commercial sexual exploitation in the urban centres. School Girls are violated by the ‘supposedly’ right protectors: teachers, law enforcement and it is ‘culturally acceptable” to rape a young girl. The Committee on the Rights of the Child is concerned that a high number, especially girls, are victims of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse, and that the majority of cases remain in impunity. Furthermore, the Committee is deeply concerned at the lack of information in the State party report on the extent of the problem and the number of children affected. The Committee is deeply concerned at reports of sexual exploitation, prostitution, rape and other sexual abuse of children (http://gvnet.com/childprostitution/Ethiopia.htm)
Serious efforts are under way by women’s groups, civic organisations and the government to contain the problem. But the challenges outweigh the efforts exerted. It suggests itself and seems within reach; only to elude, and appears readily practicable, only to resist realisation. While a lot is being done to penalise offenders, the oldest known profession, prostitution, is legal in Ethiopia. Official focus on group and ethnic rights in Ethiopia also seem to cloud the wider state responsibility of human security for its citizens. The expansion of education and the resultant creation of an ‘economic society’ is the only hope we have, as every other effort seems to have evaded any significant result.
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Tessema Simachew:
Danny Arku You are right. Criminalization might not help to solve all the problems surrounding this issue. A law can never do that. But I believe that it can help in changing the way the society perceive the act of prostitution. Of course some aspects of prostitution are already criminalized. But enforcement is always a problem.
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Kibrom Araya:
Danny Arku, I think it might be worthy to put much emphasis on exploring the driving forces behind prostitution in the Ethiopian context before fitting some legal enforcements and incentives that could minimize the syndrome. Of course, poverty would take a lion’s share of the attribution but I also think that there might be some other motives associated with the ‘profession’ or practice because it is also a common legal practice in some other Developed countries where poverty is not an issue. More explicitly, there might be other utility based motives and profit oriented drives. Thus, I would suggest that instead of criminalizing prostitution imposing discouraging taxes on prostitutes and on their respective customers might be worthy. I guess this might be working in Netherland. Of course, this reform would only handle only half of the story (it will discourage prostitutes who are either profit or utility maximizers). So one could complement this reform with other educational and other legal incentives which could provide alternative form of employment.
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Costy B Costantinos :
The Bottom Billion... Can these be the solutions to poverty-driven prostitution? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhAD0dMslB8
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Tessema Simachew:
Hiwot, do you think so? As far as I know, it is the "habitual exploitation for pecuniary gain" which is criminalized. I am referring to article 634 of the Ethiopian Criminal Code which reads: "Whoever, for gain, makes a profession of or lives by procuring or on the prostitution or immorality of another, or maintains, as a landlord or keeper, a brothel is punishable with simple imprisonment and fine." Do you know any law which prohibits prostitution, which is directed to the prostitutes themselves?
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Betty Negash Woldeyohannes :
Thank you for raising this issue! In the workshop that I am attending, there were presentations on experiences of peer-education and grass root level mobilizations and initiatives being done in Uganda & Tanzania,...and you know what one Guy from Uganda asked me during the break? " There was an advanced form of prostitution when I visited Addis in 2005, what did you do about it? is it still rampant?" and I had nothing to say to him except 'yea, it is still there...you know POVERTY.
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Mesfin Tekle:
Danny, this is a very complex issue so is the solution. The incentives are very tempting for young girls. Easy money is very hard to resist specially for people who live in abject poverty. The solution lies in educating young girls at an early age to value themselves and instill confidence in their ability to make a better life for themselves and their family. I disagree with Tessema's suggestion to criminalize the act of prostitution. It's been tried and mostly failed. Here in Canada a court recently rewrote a key phrase in the section of the law to state that charges can only be laid against those "who live off the avails in circumstances of exploitation". Therefore Ethiopian law is fine as it's as long as it protects minors. By the way here in the so called developed world easy money has the same effect on young ladies even though they have a better head start in life than those in Ethiopia.
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Meskerem Mulatu :
Danny, thank you for raising an important issue. As you said thinking of our sisters experience to win bread really hurts. It is very unfortunate that we are in the middle of such societal crisis. I think it is not possible to stop prostitution as there is always a demand. However, I believe that it is possible to reduce the number of prostitute in due courses. If we approach and ask each women why they opted for such a life they do have their own story to tell and prostitution is their last option of life. I agree with you that some kind of project could be designed so that they can participate and generate income. But their willingness to participate in such project must be a mandatory. Besides, starting the intervention based on their situational needs or interest will make strengthen the intervention. As Kiram commented, preventive intervention matters a lot b/c educational attainment is a key for empowerment.
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Yonas Yoseph:
I think expanding graduate social work studies would be meaningful rather than seeking direct intervention from the government
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Selam Bekele:
Thank you Danny for the inclusion in the discussion. There is an ongoing debate between Liberal and Radical feminists on the issue of 'sex work'. In short, the liberals are claiming 'prostitution' is the result of subordination of women by a patriarchal society and need to be alleviated whereas the radicals are saying it is an informed choice made by the women to engage in sex work and it is as any other income generating profession. I am not sure where to categorize our country's context. Sex work might be the only option of economically marginalized women in one way or another (the choice of the choice less). & sex work might be a 'better' choice of women who have an/other choice/s. If we talk about the choice less ones, sure economically empowering them would help to combat the problem. & who should act for that? sure the 'yeferedebet' government, sure 'yeferedebachew' NGOs. How about economically able individuals like singers who sell their single album in millions? How about economically unable individuals who are able to bring the issue into discussion, are able to lobby the community and so? (zurun akererkut?). Hand in hand with exerting an effort to alleviate the root cause, criminalizing the deed (as other commentators up mentioned it) could be helpful. In the country I am living now, buying sex is a crime. Discouraging the buyers (through prosecuting) make the sellers customer 'albo'. When they run out of customers, they by themselves start to look for other options and collaborate with the effort to curb the problem!
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Danny Arku :
Thank you all for your effort to show us multiple sides of the story from different disciplines. All of you (my friends in my circle) always amaze me by your thoughtful and respectful responses to my threads. It looks like a symposium/a think-thank of scholars from every corner of the world who bring multiple perspectives on an issue.
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NEVIS Review No 23 , Section I , Ref#23.1

NEVIS Review No 23

Section I

Ref#23.1

August 12, 2013

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Ethnicity and development in sub-Saharan Africa- Part I

By NDANGA NOYOO

(Source-JOURNAL OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA VOL 15 NO.2 JULY 2000)

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Introduction

Sub-Saharan Africa is presently confronted by many sociopolitical and economic maladies. Many of these negative forces have reshaped people's lives and the manner in which institutions respond to their needs. It has been argued in the past that many problems currently besieging the sub-continent of Africa emanate from the wanton exploitation by imperial European nations of the region's human and natural resources for more than four centuries. This exploitation and subjugation still continues today although in a more subtle and refined way. Even though political or "flag independence" has been attained in sub-Saharan Africa there has been insignificant progress in areas of economic emancipation. This has led to the re-colonization of the region through conditional aid and the regulation of prices of the region's exports by former imperial nations.

Although this conspiracy thesis was accepted for some time, especially during the anti-colonial struggles of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, some Africans today have also come to terms with the fact that many of the problems facing sub-Saharan countries are self inflicted. Indeed the blatant and senseless killing of Africans by depraved African regimes, such as those of Idi Amin in Uganda and Jean Bokasa in the Central African Republic after the attainment of political independence, has reawakened both scholars and activists to the reality that such factors contributed immensely to the region's current poor performance in areas of human development. Rightminded. Africans are now more cautious about attributing Africa's woes wholly to colonialism or neo-colonialism. When we analyse Africa's political and economic catastrophes it is clear that one self inflicted misery that is central to Africa's current situation is that of ethnicity.

To someone who has not visited the continent, Africa south of the Sahara conjures up images of emaciated children, the victims of famines caused by drought and desertification. This is a very different image from the Africa of thirty years ago when the flags of the newly independent states were being raised and a feeling of optimism were widespread beyond as well as within Africa (Grove 1991:39). In contemporary political and economic parlance it is the continent's unstable and volatile situation that stands out.

Although this manner of speaking does not signify a rediscovery of sub-Saharan Africa it merely alludes to the unstable conditions in the sub-continent by highlighting the colossal human tragedies that became pervasive in the 1990s. Much of sub-Saharan Africa is on the verge of imploding as civil wars ravage families and communities while poverty-related problems continue to escalate. The falling prices of the continent's exports on international markets have led to a downward spiral of the economies in the region. Added to this, the Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank continue to accentuate this already unacceptable situation.

Our countries' economic crises appear most pronounced in the field of social welfare, poverty and in standards of living, infant mortality, school enrolment and life expectancy (Hassan 1997).The debt burden compounds the sub-continent's socio-economic and political problems. By the mid-1980s the share of debts incurred by sub-Saharan Africa was simply enormous, considering that most of the world's poorest economies are to be found in that sub-region. For example the total debt stocks for sub-Saharan Africa stood at US$ 55.6 billion in 1980, US$ 98.1 billion in 1985 and US$171.4 billion in 1990. In other words the sub-Saharan African debt more than tripled between 1980 and 1990 (Adekanye 1995:358).

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Ethnicity conceptualized

THE TERM ethnicity refers to some form of group identity. Ethnicity applies to a group of persons who accept and define themselves by a consciousness of common descent or origin, shared historical memories and connections (Chazan et al. 1988). Ethnicity can be broken into two components:

• Instrumental ethnicity - this emanates from material deprivation,

• Symbolic ethnicity - based on the anxiety to preserve one's cultural identity.

In extreme situations the two strands of ethnicity can combine and serve as a motive force for state formation (Oomen 1997:21). Such a situation epitomizes the present conflagration of internecine wars in countries south of the Sahara.

Ethnicity seems to thrive in chaotic social and political environments. Ethnicity is not only a contemporary phenomenon. It was also rife in the colonial era. In many instances African social interaction in urban colonial settings has been typified by ethnic rivalries. Here people of different ethnic groups and cultures met for the first time. Some of these contacts .culminated in ethnic feuds which were - ironically - quelled by the white settlers. White settlers also established bodies such as the tribal elders' system to enforce law and order as well as manage conflicts between the natives. For instance in colonial Zambia on the Copperbelt there was hatred and fighting between different ethnic groups and killings as gangs of young men prowled around the mining compounds making it unsafe for people to appear outside their homes after dark. The hostilities in these colonial urban settings in turn cemented tribal stereotypes (Epstein 1973). In South Africa during the 1950s the tribal climate was not dissimilar from that in Zambia. In the African township of Alexandra the tribal gang comprising the Bavenda and Bapedi tribesmen terrorized other tribes in the area (De Ridder 1961). This was more or less the picture when different African tribes in colonial Africa met for the first time.

Davidson (1992) perceives ethnicity as a negative force and asserts that it is utterly destructive to civil society, undermining a country's morality and flouting the rule of law. But Glickman (1995) takes a more optimistic view by linking it to political processes. He points out that, despite the persistence of ethnic conflicts in the politics of all African states, signifIcant liberalization and democratization are possible. One reason is that the nature of ethnicity in most African states is instrumental rather than primordial.

(Ed’s note- The next part of the article which analyzes the link between ethnicity and development, and the conclusion part will be presented in the next issue)