Will Ethiopia’s revolution be bloodless?

If a system is malfunctioning, says Tony Blair in his new book, Tony Blair A Journey (2010: 249), it does need to change, whether that change be gradual or abrupt. There is a regime that is oppressive and dictatorial, but may decide to go into the right direction of reform despite it is slow; but there is also a regime whose very nature lies in its oppression. This regime will not change, not by evolution, not by the exercise of its own will- because that will is directed towards oppression- and for a long time, at least, it will not change by the will of the people who, because they are oppressed, lack the means to overthrow the regime.
Tunisia had a malfunctioning system, a system whose very nature lies in its oppression. It had a system that failed to address the will of the people, which is freedom- the freedom from fear, the freedom from persecution, the freedom from hunger and death and the freedom from “I now for you” mentality. Ben Ali’s regime had stifled those freedoms for the last 20 plus years, but couldn’t sustain that oppression for long. The younger generation, the globalised generation, couldn’t accept a 19th c system, a system that makes God’s children slaves and sub humans. The Tunisian boys and girls decided to dismantle that archaic system, and did they succeed. President Ben Ali was disgracefully overthrown and fled to Saudi Arabia to join another dictator there. However, the journey of Tunisia is not yet finished; the daunting task is still ahead. But, they have repossessed the “ball of choice”. They have now a choice- a choice to choose freedom or a choice to choose slavery. That is not the case in Ethiopia and in most parts of Africa.Read More