CUD AT A GLANCE

By Rabbi Kahin

Recently, I had a chance to have a short political discourse with few of my colleagues at the workplace. National politics had never before featured in our daily encounters, scheduled meetings and routine inter-office interactions. Discussions on national politics are often discouraged at the place of work; staff is prohibited from active participation of national politics and in making public their political views on sensitive national issues.

Yet, these days it is almost impossible to steer clear of the intense debate that ensued the contentious May 15 elections. Our rather impromptu conversation of this fateful day centered largely on latest scoops on regional election results, political maneuvering and counter-maneuvering of the opposition and the ruling party and sensational gossips circulating within the popular grapevine avenues. A desultory but interesting exchange of information often interjected with occasional descriptive accounts of a subject under discussion expounded by one of the participants of this informal discourse.

The conversation slowly shifted towards the troubling polarization of national politics in the aftermath of the May 15 election and its possible ramifications on ethnic rapport. The astonishing rapid inroads made by the emergent opposition parties into national politics and their potential bearings on the future direction of the country were also dealt with in detail.

The salient political differences between the opposition and the ruling party were earnestly explained to the rest of us by a well-versed fellow colleague, an avid supporter of the opposition party, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD). His explanations were quite opinionated, though. The colleague blamed the EPRDF for sowing the seeds of disintegration of this ancient country through the introduction of ethnic-based federal system of government. Trivializing the importance of the EPRDF introduced constitution safeguarding the equal rights of all the ethnic groups within the country, the colleague accused the ruling party of increasingly devolving authority to the regions at the expense of the Centre. The colleague contended that by “ inflaming the latent passion of certain ethnic groups” that the EPRDF is encouraging the regions to brazenly defy the Center, at will.

In reply to my query on his views on the CUD, my colleague elatedly elaborated the rather controversial political program of the CUD. “The agenda of the CUD”, he explained, “is to scrap the current constitution, abolish the system of federation, and strengthen the authority of the Central Government and to bring back Eritrea to the fold”. He also stated that the CUD will reintroduce Amharic as the sole official language of the country. Lastly, my colleague emphatically depicted the CUD as the “embodiment of the traditional ruling class” that allegedly enjoyed the “God-given mandate to rule”.

Until that day, I have never contemplated the possibility of coming across anyone, or any group for that matter, that staunchly espouse to or accept as a well-founded truth the notion of a certain ethnic group with divine mandate to govern the numerous nations, nationalities and ethnics that call themselves as bona fide citizens of this august country, Ethiopia .

These stated objectives of the CUD seemed to me as a mere nostalgic yearning than plausible political program. Despite all of its flaws and shortcomings, any attempt geared towards the revocation of the current federal system in Ethiopia is bound to fail. The CUD or any other Centralist political group that intends to push forward an anti-federalist agenda would face stiff resistance from erstwhile neglected regional states that are determined to defend the gains of their decade-old self-governance. In view of that, I asked myself why the CUD should gamble on such a sensitive and highly controversial issue.

I have lent receptive ears to the comments and arguments of my fellow colleagues and had remained reticent throughout the course of this informal discourse. As a matter of fact, I have eagerly attended the entire discourse, largely to enrich my limited knowledge of the political developments in the country, particularly events taking place at the nation’s Capital City . For the most part, lack of sufficient in-sight on the subject of discussion has contributed to my reticence. However, the very last remark of my outspoken colleague simply roused my curiosity.

The message of my colleague, the zealous supporter of the CUD was ominously laud and clear. The noble aristocratic class is back with a vengeance. That Ethiopian nations and nationalities that are currently enjoying their hard-won democracy, economic and political stability, will be reduced to downtrodden subservient populations. That the traditional oppressing class with “God-given mandate to rule” is back to unleash bloody wars of conquest (towards the warm waters of the seas) and stifle, bully and terrorize ethnic minorities.

In the aftermath of that discussion, I started to have a close look at the CUD; intently observing its inherent characteristics, monitoring its official pronouncements and carefully studying the political disposition of its leadership. I have also looked at CUD’s efficient utilization of the rumor mill in spreading defamatory messages or distortions and its liaison with the “free press”.

However, I have only been able to observe and assess the overt aspects of the party, since much of its body politics remain shrouded in mystery. Notwithstanding the efforts of many political pundits in this country who are earnestly trying to unearth the true self of the party, the enigma surrounding the CUD would be hard to fathom, at least in the near future, due to the secretive nature of its political business. By the same token, it will be difficult to understand the political mission of the CUD without understanding both the personality traits and psychological motivations of the ideologues who engineered it as a political outfit. In view of the ambiguity surrounding the subject, I have intentionally restricted myself to mere empirical observations.

Inside the CUD machinery

The Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), a subtle and masked ethnic movement, mysteriously shrouded in secrecy, took Ethiopia by surprise in the aftermath of the May 15 elections. Within a period of less than two years, the CUD made swift inroads into the national political arena, enlisting supporters mainly from residents of the City of Addis Ababa , including both the moneyed classes and the lumpen-proletariat. What are the long-term objectives of the CUD? Who is its funding father? Is the movement an indigenous one or the machinations of foreign hand? These are pertinent but unanswered questions haunting those observing the current political developments in Ethiopia .

Much has been said or written about the CUD in the recent past. However, the movement still remains intricately shrouded and exclusive. It is intimately veiled with a thick cloak of secrecy. As the CUD phenomenon continues to baffle political analysts, we - the curious - would certainly continue the search for answers that might not be forthcoming. For those of us destined to witness the unfolding mysterious movement, what do we have to know about the CUD?

The CUD has all the inherent characteristics of a shadowy coalition founded on narrow chauvinistic political program. Its political program is replete with misleading chauvinistic manifestations. In actual fact, the CUD is a movement of the back-to-the-past - a mere reincarnation of the despotic regimes of the past. Its cardinal objective is to reverse the wheels of history and roll back the calendar to Ethiopia of yesteryear.

The primary distinguishing feature of the CUD is that it is determined to assume power by any means possible, constitutional or otherwise, including use of Georgia-style mass mobilization for full-scale public disobedience and to foment an environment that is ripe for precarious law and order situation. As evidenced by the terrible incident of June 8, the reclusive leadership of the CUD has demonstrated a willingness to do whatever necessary to achieve their ends.

Evidently, CUD is a semi-coherent entity that lumps together political opportunists, ethnocentric intellectuals, and remnants of the despotic, blood-thirsty dictatorial regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam that brought about seventeen years of untold suffering, perpetuated terror and unprecedented devastation to this country. It seems to synthesize nostalgic yearning for the past with illusive utopia. The real ideologues of the movement are none other than the members of the old guard reeling with nostalgic reminiscence for a dark and ignominious period in our recent past history.

As a matter of fact, some of the top CUD leaders were stanch collaborators of the military regime at the height of its infamous “Red terror”. Its support base is confined to certain geographical areas and “pockets” dominated by one ethnic group – an erstwhile privileged ethnic group that produced many of Ethiopia ’s past autocratic and oppressive leaders. The fact that its support stems from that particular ethnic group jeopardizes CUD’s chances of rallying support from other ethnics, particularly minority groups who were either marginalized or suffered inhuman atrocities under previous regimes. Many ethnic groups in Ethiopia still cherish deep-seated bitterness against single-ethnic dominated regimes of the past, which sanctioned policies of deprivation and marginalization of other ethnic groups. Owing to their inherent vulnerabilities, many ethnic groups continue to be fearful of the possibility of resurgence of the reign of terror. Hence, CUD’s prospect of winning the hearts and minds of the other ethnic groups in the country is pretty slim.

Contamination of objective journalism

The real strength of the CUD lies in its leadership’s skillful articulation of disinformation and application of the fine arts of demagoguery. Taking advantage of the largely unethical and unprofessional opposition newspapers in Addis Ababa , the propaganda unit of the CUD has demonstrated elements of both ingenuity and intrigue in feeding the public with selective, overstated, misleading and distorted information.

Unbounded by any restrictive government action and completely relieved of censorship checks, the opposition tabloid newspapers frequently bombard the public with unfounded, inaccurate, tasteless and quite disgusting reports. Many of the so-called independent newspapers that stream into the major streets of Addis Ababa are in essence rumor-mongering substandard tabloids than serious journalistic work. Their editorials impart biased political messages and extreme views that reflect the opinions of few vested interests. Bereft of objectivity, they are neither informative nor engaging. As far as one can tell, they are disgrace to the ethics and ethos identified with the fine arts of journalism.

The poor content of these papers and their inadequacy on substantive facts, lack of accountability and breach of established journalistic standards merely reflect the personality traits and psychological motivations of the editors and their proprietors.

It is indeed perplexing to understand or speculate about the political agenda served by the malicious propaganda spewed out by opposition press, day after day. The distorted, unsubstantiated and often misleading reports, articles and editorials of the ubiquitous opposition newspapers are evidently intended to serve as a lethal catalyst for the revival of old tensions and the incubation of new ones. The fragile ethnic bond that had been painstakingly cultivated during the course of the past 14 years is threatened by the venom of ethnocentric politicians and unregulated opposition press.

The prognosis is not promising. The political manifestations of the CUD and its rabble-rousing and seditious propaganda presage a future of uncertainties for the people of Ethiopia . The political demagogues of the CUD have the tendency to exploit public vulnerabilities to ethnic or religious sentiments. Exploiting the latent ethnic passions of their constituencies, political opportunists at the helm of the CUD are ruthlessly sowing the ominous seeds of discord and disintegration - driving a wedge between ethnic groups. Indeed, trouble is brewing on the horizon.

Another paid commentator by Woyanes for Woyanes. blah…blah…blah…blah....

We know who you are; Enslaved cadre of the backward TPLF!
Mark this word and please tell your masters, our dogs Meles and his cronies the follwoing: The Ethiopian people have not bought into your master's game of devide and rule. Only intellectually and emotionally challenged, coward people try to stay in power by manipulating and inseiting ethnic haterade, blaming one so he looks better than the other. This is a coward's man game. Your days are numbered and NO ONE, NO EU, NO USA, NO AU, NOT EVEN GOD WILL SAVE YOU FROM THE PIT YOU HAVE DUG FOR YOURSELVES !!!!!

G/Minaminte,
Why did you fail to tell us the source? Is it IFTIN? or the Nation?

Thank you for letting us know the official statements of the TPLF/Meles in the mouth Endirias and Mulugeta gangs. I was to respond but I decided other wise for it is full of crams of empty accusationary propaganda Ethiopians are tired of listening on the daily ETV/ER broadcastings. The only difference is that this guy, thought, the best appaoach would be to pose it as something which came as a result of his conversation with a "CUD supporter".

G/Minaminte, your stupid Professor thinks that any one other than you will buy a story of one conversation leading him to come to all those conclusions and blatant accusations. He has a lot of recommendatios made which we will be seeing in the next few days. This include: furtehr attack on the private media, attack against the leadership of CUD and the party in general would be few amongst the many.

Thank you, G/M
But again, don't forget to site your source.

Email: jaduethio@yahoo.com

City: DC area

Gebre

too long to read. i m not bothered!

Email: fklstd@aol.com

City: Washington

Gebremariam,

"Be Menilik gize yedenekore Minilik yimut sil yinoral"!

Give it up! This is no time for ethnic politics. This is no time to scare people by citing the atrocities of the past. This is no time to shade crocodile tears about the millions of Ethiopians that lost their lives under repressive regimes, including your beloved Meles and Co.

It is mind boggling that the mothers of ethnic hatred - Meles and Co.- are accusing others of spreading ethnic hatred. Do you think we are from another planet? We all know who engineered the killing of Amhara Ethiopians in Arssi, Harrar and Illubabur! We all know who engineered the killings of Oromo Ethiopians for the crime of being OLF symphatizers! We all know who killed so many Tigrean Ethiopians for being anti TPLF! We all know who killed so many young and old in South Ethiopia for being supporters of parties that oppose the party in power! We all know who mass murdered innocent youths -Ethiopians from all corners of the country - ("unemployed youth", in your darlings words)in Addis Ababa for no crime other than demanding for a proper counting of the pepoles'votes.

No matter how hard they try, no body will hereafter fall for Meles and Co.'s hate propganda. The figgt is not between Ethiopians of one ethnic origin and Ethiopians of other ethnic origin. In the end we are all Ethiopians!

The fight, my friend, is between those who want to stay in power against the will of the Ethiopian people, and the Ethiopian people who are demanding their votes to be respected. The fight is between wrong and right and ultimately right will prevail. No one has ever governed any people against their wills forever. Sooner or later, the people would say enough is enough. Wake up and see the facts: Ethiopians have had enough of the misrule by Meles and Co.

I have asked you this question many times before. You chose to go on tangent instead of addressing the issue directly. Let me try it one or more time, and I hope you will address my question so that we can have meaningful discourse.

What is your problem with a rerun of the election with an INDEPENDENT board at the helm, in the presence of INDEPENDENT observers in all polling stations, with equal media access to all parties, and with cadres, soldiers, and their guns out of the way!

Vistor,
I agree with you 100%.

Mr. Kahini,
(1) Why do you have to base your discussion of CUD on something your "CUD supporting Colleague" told you instead of basing it on the political program of CUD which is publicly avaialble for all to see? The only thing I learnt from your write up is that both you and your "CUD supporting Colleague" are obssesed with ethnic politics. "Birds of the same feather fly together." I just wonder if you are both graduates of the political school of Meles and Co.
(2) Do you know your degree of freedom is zero when you base your conclusion on a sample of 1? Not very convincing emprical analysis? Get more data, my friend!
(3)You seem to be unhappy about the free press. If the free press is as useless as you described it and given the availability of the government controlled media, why do you think rational people (the Ethiopian public) are spending their hard earned money to get news from the free press? You either do not beleive in the rationality of the masses or the govenrment controlled media is more useless than the free press? It has to be one or the other, do not you agree? These "irrational masses" do not know the difference between good and bad hence they need help from people like you to figure out what is good and not good for them, right? Or, they are given no better choice by Meles and Co. hence they have to settle for the "inferior fress press" in search of news! Who would blame them?