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Jun 28, 2005 - 7:59AM

PARTICIPATION VS VIOLENCE : By Yohannes G/sellasie(Ph.D) Please comment this **** idea.

PARTICIPATION VS VIOLENCE
By Yohannes Gebresellasie (Ph.D)
Canada
June 27, 2005

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It was unusual in Ethiopian political history to talk about democratic participation within the political arena because historically, there was none. Recent fundamental changes in the socio-economic and political structure of the country has given birth to what could be the beginning of the learning process of democratization and people's participation in the democratic process presently in progress in Ethiopia. This phenomenon was demonstrated with recent election in the country. The question becomes not only how important participation is but also what should be done to make it peaceful and democratic.

First, participation provides citizens with the means to influence the selection of their political leaders, communicate their needs and aspirations to government, and hold government accountable for its performances. Participation also enables citizens to express dissent and ventilate their grievances with their government, thereby regulating conflict and promoting political stability.

Participation is also important for the individual because the ability to participate effectively in decisions affecting one's life gives citizens a sense of self-esteem, enhances human dignity and self respect and contributes to the individual's civic education and moral development. To a substantial degree, therefore, the extent to which Ethiopia conforms to the democratic idea is revealed by the nature and extent of the political participation of its citizens. How do Ethiopians participate in the political process and how extensively? Who participates and in what activities? Why do some citizens participate but not others? What is the quality of citizen participation? How effective is their participation in influencing the course of government action? And what are the prospects for promoting a higher level of better-informed and more effective participation in years to come? The answers to these questions reveal a great deal about the health of a nation’s democracy.

Although there are many ways for citizens to show their participation, voting is the most common and widely recognized avenue for citizen participation. It is also the most visible means by which citizens participate in politics. Citizens have the occasional opportunity to vote directly on public issues. Of course, opportunities for citizen participation are not confined to the electoral process. Citizens frequently have interests that cannot adequately be expressed through the simple choice that voting provides or concerns that cannot wait until the next election. Thus, many citizens attempt to influence government directly through letters, telegrams or contact directly with members of parliament.

Although many citizens take advantage of their opportunity to vote, most citizens never participate in political parties or campaigns. Therefore, voting is not heavily practiced. For example, in the United States, only 50%-60% of the populations vote in the presidential election and only 42% in congressional election. This is the result of low voter turnout rather than apathy. Although voter turnout is low, other forms of political participation have increased. Also political parties are often less successful in attracting volunteers between elections. Part of the reason why citizens do not participate more extensively in political parties and campaigns may be that many are unaware of the opportunities that exist. Some studies show that many citizens will contribute both their time and money if they are asked to participate by parties and candidates. While occupation, income and education are the principal determinants of citizen's position in society, other factors such as ethnicity, religion, gender, age and condition relative to social standings influence levels of participation.

It is important to note that numerous barriers to women participation exist today. In particular, it is argued that women are dis-advantaged in many ways. First, women bear disproportionate responsibilities for managing the home and family; responsibilities that reduce political opportunities and drain political energies. Second, women frequently are socialized into a set of political roles that emphasize subservience and passivity; therefore, women participate less extensively in virtually every form of political endeavor. Although these differences are shrinking in the face of the rising women's movement and other changes in society, women still have some distance to go to achieve equality in political activity.

The extent of citizen participation is determined by the interplay of two forces, motivation and opportunity. This means that before citizens participate, they must both want to participate and possess sufficient ability legally and personally to translate motivation into action.

Generally, participation is very important and has a real consequence for the substance of public policy. Participation is the most effective way citizens have to express their interests to government. It follows that inequalities of political participation distort the representation of citizen interests and undermine the fundamental basis of political equality. Therefore, political participation does indeed matter and further it is proven that government is more responsive to the interests of those who participate most extensively in the most demanding political activities. On the other hand however, participation may be used wrongly to advance certain groups political agenda that may be destructive. In this case, certain group of people may wrongly participate on that agenda. Consequently, the uninformed youth may be victims of such a phenomenon. The youth may be encouraged to disobey rules and regulations of the land, conduct unlawful demonstrations, clash with the police and the security or even take arms etc.

Globally, it has been noted that the youth particularly African youth are predominant in the sphere of violence. This is particularly noticeable in warlords in Uganda, Somalia, Liberia, and Democratic Republic of Congo etc. Why are the youth very crucial in such an activity? First, the youth are structurally more available and vulnerable in terms of radicalism, idealism, and attachments and thus, they become ready for mobilization for good or bad reasons. Unemployment, youthfulness and idleness are also contributory factors. The youth population is over 50% in almost every society and they stand central in the crisis of social reproduction in Africa. Since they are marginalized, there is a generational crisis. As a result, they indulge in violent action because they are easily manipulated by interest groups. Since they are vulnerable, they tend to have deviant behavior particularly in urban areas. This sensitivity on the part of the youth in the urban areas is attributed to their social and cultural upbringings and the disintegration of the extended family system that usually exists in the rural areas. Current actions of some youth in Addis Ababa are a good example of the vulnerability for and manipulation to the hidden agenda of the CUD party. They were told to ignore the law of the land and engage in violent clashes with the police and security that are there to safeguard citizen’s welfare. So they did; and what an unfortunate consequence of such an action. Out of all the places, this was done in non-political business areas Merkato and Piassa and that speaks for itself. This shows how much they can easily be manipulated by interest groups such as the CUD. It is sad that opposition groups are using these ill- informed and vulnerable youth by giving them false promises merely for their selfish political gain. Such false promises and sinister political agenda on the part of the CUD party is further extended to few ill-informed Ethiopians in the Diaspora. They are even thinking of politicizing the yearly event of Ethiopian football gatherings in North America. They have already started poisoning this event. Such an event has been peaceful, joyous and it has been a time where Ethiopians from different parts of the globe get together in different North American cities each year, enjoy the sporting events, make some commercial business in order to make money. It has never been an instrument of political groups. Instead, it was an instrument of peace, tolerance, happiness and in simple words; it was a party-time for Ethiopians and friends of Ethiopia. It was a proud moment. By definition sports and politics do not go together. They go parallel to each other and parallel lines repel, not attract each other and never meet. How ever, the CUD party is trying to do the impossible just like it tried to jump to power by any means necessary and that includes violence. Enough is enough! The Ethiopian people have had enough of hardship, violence, exile etc. What they need now is peace and stability and more importantly, they want to get rid of poverty, which is their number one enemy. Sport by definition relates to peace and therefore must not at any time be politicized. To do otherwise is therefore not expected from a political party such as the CUD that wants to govern a nation. Please do not be disgraceful, do not spoil the good intention and good spirit of such a non-political participation of Ethiopians in the Diaspora in such a wonderful and reputable sport activities. Instead, everyone should strive to continue with the event in good spirit despite political differences with because such an event has been an inspiration particularly to those children of Ethiopian descent. It has been a moment where young children of Ethiopian decent and those who did not have the opportunity to see the country of their parents to learn, understand and be proud of their culture and heritage. So do we need to politicize such an event and poison young minds? Anyone with a right mind cannot think of either politicizing or even boycotting such a wonderful event unless of course one wants to advance some party’s in this case CUD’s injurious political agenda.

Email: belayt01@yahoo.com

City: Addis Ababa

Temesgen G

Jun 30, 2005 - 6:42PM