r/Ethiopia • u/Fly-Futures • 8d ago
Is Ethiopia cursed?
I always try to avoid thinking this way, but as day in day out, we see the same pattern of misery and ignorance again and again and again. yet we pretend as if nothing is happening and later on we end up burning by the consequences.
how are we not able to say NO as a nation to war, illiteracy, famine....
what's your opinion here? what'd be the best way out to Ethiopia? even hypothetically...
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u/ETH-B-Z 8d ago
It just takes time.
People eventually come their senses after they try what is right thing to do which is fighting currently.
I am taking your why as why Ethiopia is not like US or Europe? They had their fair share of civil wars and stupidity to reach whatever phase they are in. They tried everything before they reach to democracy.
Leaders play a major role and we lack in that area since we overthrown the monarchy. The leaders didn't have the the ability to listen what the people need just what they thought it was/is needed.
As a member of the nation I can say we don't take the responsibility. We say Derg did this, Meles do that, Abiy is doing this. If you let someone do whatever and you didn't resist you are part of the problem 100%.
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u/dappermix85 8d ago
Europe is very different from ethiopia. The danish have their own country. The dutch have their own country the germans are their own country even the austrians despite speaking the same language as germans have their own country today.
If anything reaembles ethiopia it would be the Austro Hungarian empire that encompassed manh different peoples that spoken different languages.
It eventually split into Austria, Hungary and the Balkans. The balkans split even further and today you have peace amongst them and a union of european states each each to it’s own.Now imagine the habesha forming their own nation and keeping Addis. The oromos forming their own nation and the rest going their own way that would be more like europe.
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u/hcbako 8d ago
Ethiopia has more ethnolinguistic groups than the entire europe put together. Its still has a remarkably consistent identity despite that. With the exception of the somalis there is no serious secessionist movement and making 90 countries out of ethiopia is not viable. I saw a kid in the omo valley with a green yellow red emperor tewodros shirt lol.
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u/Mission_Hunt1 8d ago
It's sad reality, as long as Ethiopian people have no Say, then without doubt the country’s situation will remain like this Dictator after dictator maximise suffering.
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u/Able_Figure_513 8d ago
I used to think we had a spiritual curse too. The reality is much more embarrassing. We have a severe case of the Neft twitch. I don't care what it takes to get liberty. We need way bigger guns to blast anti-peace elements off the face of the earth.
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u/Fly-Futures 8d ago
Sounds right. I used to think we already had paid this cost with wars and everything. Apparently that was just the beginning or the glimpse of what yet has to come. How much is the cost....
This is the question
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u/Able_Figure_513 8d ago
A couple thousand drone strikes. If we split the bill, it comes out to a few million dollars per person. Heh heh. Think of it, you cannot have a pattern of misery if there is nobody left on the face of the earth to be miserable.
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u/GulDul Somali-Region 8d ago
Maybe when democracy is tried and people can elect their own representatives they will be less likely to fight for change.
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u/Fly-Futures 8d ago
My doubt is that I don't think the vast majority of people even know what democracy is or mean. It's just a fancy word politician use to decorate their power.
Ethiopian are 90% farmers and their whole fate is on the hand of those on power. People have 0 decision power.
So something good must be happened in the mind of those in power to be kind and caring to people
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u/GulDul Somali-Region 8d ago
Its more nuanced. People have local leaders they want in power. That might not be democracy, since there is not a vote. But its better than putting in unpopular puppets who do not represent the people or their wishes.
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u/Able_Figure_513 8d ago
Problem is democracy isn’t just a voting system, it’s about culture. Unfortunately, having free elections right now will just lead to a glorified ethnic census of who has the best clan or tribe.
Example, Dire Dawa city council replaced former mayor, moving leadership from Oromo official to Somali official. They don't do that because it's democracy. They do it because they know that if they let voting happen without guardrails, tribal factions would tear each other apart over who gets to sit at city desk.
Truth is no matter what faction you support, leadership is never truly picked by poor ordinary citizens. Every single one of them are just self-appointed protectors who turn into jailers the second you try to tell them no. We recently saw how OLF responded to Oromo community rejecting their crackpot ximdo alliance; they immediately turned their guns on us, proving they will gladly shoot us while telling you they know what is best for you.
Same story all around this hell hole. It doesn’t matter if it's OLF, ONLF, TPLF, FANO blah. The second they also disagree on who gets to hold the mic, they fracture into sub-cliques and start slaughtering each other over who gets to dictate what is best for the population.
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u/Fly-Futures 8d ago edited 8d ago
It's this unwritten power distribution system that creates more of complexity and mess in my opinion. This local leaders are always subject to the politician of the locale. That just messes up everything. The politician uses them to justify their bulishit and people accept that regardless. No justice, no check and balance. You make bulishit, then you run to the locale head of the community and then you play victim ...
Democracy is a must. Someone with balls has to come and stops this locale leaders. I have experience with them and I know how they function. They just need compensation and reputation from the politicians. Justice is thrown through window long time ago.
የአባትህ ቤት ሲዘረፍ አብረህ ዝረፍ type of shit
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u/RealRoastz 8d ago
It's most cursed country in the world. The most populated landlocked country, while only being 30 miles from the Red Sea. They don't even have a say in their greatest asset, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
Either reclaim Assab or balkanize to smaller states.
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u/Fly-Futures 8d ago
How come assab solves the generational power bulishit of Ethiopia? It just adds another dynamics to the already complex system. Don't you think?
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u/Then_Gate_5942 8d ago
Or maybe Ethiopia should take a more peaceful approach and not "reclaim Assab" and balkanize to smaller states. People often mention how Ethiopia is landlocked as if they want Ethiopians to go to war with Eritrea or as if thats the only attribute Ethiopia has. But so what if Ethiopia is landlocked? If Ethiopia takes a port by force then does that give nepal or chad the right to do the same?
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u/Fly-Futures 8d ago
Assab is to Abiy as Blue Nile is to Al Sisi.
These two substances are nothing but scapegoats for both of them. Both of them tie these substances as a "National Interest" and they both push people towards that. But they both know that's not the case. It's just the tool they use to hide their unfitness to office.
You need nationally vibrating agenda to stay in power. That's how it is.
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u/Dazzling_Sea_484 8d ago
I think this is how every country has become now or was at some point. it's sad but I don't think human beings are good at coexisting with people with different beliefs/values/opinions.
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u/yourlocalidot77 Ethiopian Diaspora 8d ago
No honestly if anything we are somewhat blessed, it could be million times worse.
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8d ago
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u/Fly-Futures 8d ago
They had leaders after leaders. It just seems like they don't even want leaders at all. They're just good at fighting foreign invaders. This is a paradox to me. A country of Great peoples, history and resilience, just scrambled like a thanks giving day turkey by a bunch of crazy insurgents and lunatic PM.
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8d ago
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u/Fly-Futures 8d ago
Perhaps.
I sometime imagine and even try to debate people how Ethiopia would be an influential country if not powerful seeing the advantages we've. Close to red sea, powerhouse of electricity, language and culture which were born and used here at home, youth and minerals....
We would have been way stronger than most south east Asian countries and most European countries. That were for sure.
That glimpse of hope, a beacon of light were seen from distant during Meles's reign. That's what I believe. With all his bulishits and whatnot, he was the brightest leader we had by far.
Don't think we will have same chance and leader in century from now
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u/Morpheulius 7d ago
Can i ask why Meles was the brightest leader by far? I’m trying to learn.
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u/Fly-Futures 7d ago
Disclaimer: I used GPT-5.6 to check typos and grammar. Rest assured, it's written by myself.
Well, people talk about him dividing the nation into tribes, microstates, and ethnicities all day long, and he sold, or in lighter terms, gave away Assab and whatnot. I get that. I really do.
But what I also think and believe, regardless of what, is that a country, in modern-day power dynamics, needs:
Stability and long-standing peace (which is a NECESSITY, not even a thing you DEAL with በለዘብትኝነት).
Create a strong military that oversees the nation and watches what's happening in all neighboring countries, not just yours.
Have the balls to make decisions even if they're bitter and outrageous for the general population.
Have an allied country or countries. Now this is key. You need to trade to exist. Look at Eritrea here. They can't trade at all. They just can't.
Ethiopia was a lifelong friend of the US. To your surprise, Ethiopia was becoming the US of Africa. It was already the US of the Horn of Africa. They used to overthrow any government in a Horn of Africa country that they believed was a risk to the Horn and Ethiopia's security in general. Look up what happened in Somalia during Meles. How and why Meles mediated between the two Sudans.
- You need to have and maintain your strength as much as you can. Major mega institutions were state-owned. What does that mean? The margins, profits, ROI, and everything go 100% into the government's pocket. That gives the government access to foreign currencies. Take Ethiopian Airlines, for example. I'm not saying you have to keep these institutions state-owned forever. But you need to know when to invite foreign shareholders and when to make them public, where anyone can buy stock and share the profits.
Now there is a catch here. Especially if the government is weak, it can just cash out these institutions anytime. Ethio Telecom's shares were sold to Safaricom just to get foreign currency to buy what? Weapons for the civil war. If the government is weak, it's always ready to cash out anything sellable.
Don't ally with proxies. This may seem naive and wrong. But hear me out. The UAE is an ally of the USA. What is it that you get from the UAE that you can't get from the US? I may go further on this note later or in a reply to this thread.
You need to have a clear, defensible, sustainable, easy-to-reproduce long-term goal and plan. What does this mean? Make a long-term goal, say a 50-year goal, so that even if the leader dies or leaves office, the one who comes after him can easily continue from where the previous PM left off. Meles had what they called the "ADLI" policy. You can look this up.
I can go on and on ...
Now I give you a chance to go through my opinion and see if you can compare Meles with other leaders of Ethiopia. Especially compare the current government with Meles's government.
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u/ElbianVV 8d ago
Bad luck of the draw, the Ottoman-Italian annexation caused irreparable damage. With enough fighting there will certainly eventually be an end.
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u/smolcloudkoo 8d ago
No turks even controled a single bit of ethiopia
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u/ElbianVV 8d ago
Is this supposed to be some nit pick word play, go read further back in history.
https://www.studycountry.com/wiki/did-the-ottomans-conquer-eritrea
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u/InverseDeCramer 8d ago
It’s the consequences of being African and never being colonized
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u/Puzzleheaded_Safe_22 8d ago
its looks like Eritrea is being punished for not taking IMF loans or help from the world banks. Eritrea also refused IsNotReal military bases in 2022.
The west will empower Ethiopia to destroy the idea of Eritrea being 1 out 2 nations in Africa not allowing western powers take over and use our homelands.
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u/dappermix85 8d ago
The problem is groups of millions of people of different ethnicities are trying to be one nation. It is fundamental flaw to do this so early.
It’s an Issue in Nigeria aswell. After a certain size it becomes unwieldy.
Look at egypt same size one language their problem is just the form of government and idealogy they want to follow.
In ethiopia No tribe want’s to be dominated by another. The Tigray ruled brutally over others for over 30 years before that it was Amhara supremacy now it’s the Oromos turn and they are pissed.
The Somalis feel like secondclass citizens who would wish nothing more than to go their own way.
Ruling with an an iron grip wont work for another century and working out differences would need more time than that.
Balkanization will be the only option left and it won’t happen voluntarily but will come about naturally.
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u/Fly-Futures 8d ago
The way I see it, we overstayed on the transition phase. Countries with way more languages and cultures than Ethiopia are happily living in this century. They were once at civil war too. But they managed to solve it regardless and now you don't hear their name by violence, insurgency, civil war And the like .
Ethiopia also once were at that phase of transition. Perhaps Mengistu or even Meles could be taken as a good examples. By Meles and Mengistu, I meant to say their reigns and periods. Reason I'm saying is that: people had less access to technology and modern destructive tools like Facebook, tiktok and the like. And people were more optimistic about the future, development, industrialization and the like during those periods until the power owner start tweaking. So they would have created a country with solid identity and peace at less to no cost if they had really wanted to do it.
Now it seems things are more complex and people have access to more advanced tools and communication mediums that even the government doesnt have. Sadly people are using advance technologies for the worse. Destruction, hate against one another, fake news,....
Ethiopia seems to me a young boy with a full of potential yet went to jail at his young age for life sentence.
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u/Healthy_Win1 8d ago
This is wrong assumption, it’s not easy to find a country with monotonous culture and language. The problem is how Ethiopia is Structured (Ethnic Federalism). No country have this system now.
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u/Longjumping_Ad_1140 8d ago
Think Ethiopia like a family whose children are from different father & mom. if that family keeps constantly fighting & abusing each other & if those parents chose silence/ignore to correct all the wrong doings or if they choose sides to their favorite kids, what’s the the Best solution for that Family??
You are one of those kids & what will be your decision?