'Ethnicity is beautiful. Ethnicity is the people'. Politicised ethnicity, hence
'ethnic nationalism', is a useful instrument in African politics (and elsewhere). As a crowning glory ethnicity deserves a state—an
'ethnic nation-state'. The 'ethnic nation-state' will be the final remedy against constant instability in Africa, because this type of political entity has its roots in the history of
'authentic ethnic nations' on African soil. These are the basic messages of Seyoum Hameso's Ethnicity and Nationalism in Africa (henceforth
ENA). The author is a London-based economist with ethnic roots among the Sidama people. He is also an activist in exile for the cause of Sidama self-determination and liberation from the predominance of the Ethiopian central state.
Hameso's argument is not new. Skeptical readers may even ask whether any new diatribe against ethnically heterogeneous societies and states serves much more than just being another easy-to-listen-to tune in a global
store... However, it would be unfair to reduce Hameso's argument on the extreme of the negative. He is aware that his
'ethnic nation state' would offer as much space for 'warlords' (like in Somalia) and
'local dictators', what the (post-)colonial ethnically heterogeneous state does for
'multinational autocrats'
(ENA: 155). But Hameso thinks positive. He argues in favour of 'positive ethnicity'
(ENA: 144).
The book is divided into three parts. The first part deals with the theoretical construction of ethnicity, nations and nationalism. The second part relates to the
'most important features of ethnic groups and the vitality of ethnicity in contemporary Africa'
(ENA: 5). The third and final part deals with some brief case studies on ethnic conflict and government response (Nigeria, Zaire, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, Rwanda and Burundi). In a general context, Hameso bases his arguments largely on Anthony Smith,
Gellner, Kellas and Llobera (ENA: 32-4). Within the controversy between 'primordial' and
'constructivist' positions, the full swing of the argument goes in favour of primordialism (i.e. common origin, language, culture). However, although the given ethnic entities are primordial,
'political ethnicity' appears also to be a functional tool, linked to specific 'corporate political, economical and social interests', and the conscious
'promotion of corporate rights'
(ENA: 22).
Hameso's African bete noir is the system of colonial-imposed states
that cross-cut natural units of ethnically homogeneous groups. Facing 'statism' and the distribution of the social good, people had to resort to strategies of group interests that included
'ethnic representation' as a general feature
(ENA: 11). He is certainly right when he complains that the 'belittlement' of such strategies as
'tribalism' show traits of 'cultural imperialism'
(ENA: 5). From an anthropological perspective, many strategies in industrial societies to concentrate corporate capital could also be considered as
'tribal' or 'ethnic'.
In ENA 'positive ethnicity' stands as a catch-all-term for different sets of political, social, economic and memorial activities on several levels.
'With a sense of history, it reminiscences the past; with pragmatic approach to social reality it works out solutions to present problems; and as a form of ideology, it aims to create guidelines and ideals for national revival in the future'
(ENA: 13). In a way, 'ethnicity' appears to be synonymous with the assumed virtues that the old schools of African liberation associated with the collectivity of village life,
'African socialism', 'African democracy', 'national liberation' or the vitality of the
'rural masses'. In fact, the argument serves to transport a type of development-minded populism, arguing for
'empowering people' and 'peoples participation'
(ENA: 5).
Certainly, not all pre-colonial units in Africa were ethnically homogeneous. The fact that ethnic conflicts in Africa
'range from benign political schisms to armed struggle'
(ENA: 98) is not merely a matter of quantity, but also related to the quality of a long durée of social formations. Social formations that are strongly marked by a pre-colonial ethnic division of
labour, with complete interdependence of the units, as for instance in the valley of the Niger, escape from Hameso's observation.
Ethiopia: Conquest and the quest for freedom and democracy
edited by
Seyoum Hameso, Trevor Trueman and Temesgen Erena
To discuss fairly the virtues and the vices of Hameso's hymn in support of 'positive ethnicity' as a political tool, one has to relate the book to its immediate context —the politics of empire and the central state in Ethiopia. A second book, Ethiopia: Conquest and the quest for freedom and democracy (henceforth
ECQFD), edited by Hameso and two co-editors (Trevor Trueman and Temesgen M.
Erena), relates more to the contemporary context of the argument. The other two editors are activists in support of human rights among the Oromo of Ethiopia. The second book is a collection of articles of different lengths and standards. The context is post-communist Ethiopia, and anti-centralist opposition against the Tigrean-based EPRDF government that has ruled the country since 1991. The books complement each other. The former presents the academic argument for
'ethnicity' as 'Africa's enduring nationalism'
(ENA: 13), the latter offers political guidance to 'struggle for national pride, and self-rule'
(ECQFD: 7). Theory meets activism.
The fear of 'belittlement' of what seems to be normal, ethnic representation relates Hameso's argument in support of
'positive ethnicity' to its Ethiopian 'other', the imperial central State. A decade ago, hardly anyone engaged in the struggle against Mengistu Haile Mariam's military socialism and the related version of Ethiopian unity, would have used the term
'ethnicity' for a self-description of political activities (the reviewer recalls personal experience). The issue was
'national liberation'. Hameso is well aware that 'national liberation' was the catchword for a generation of
'leftist' activists
(ECQFD: 184), now partly in power (if they are Tigrean), partly again in exile or in prison (if they are Oromo and other
'Southerners'). As a catchword, 'African socialism' is obviously out. 'National liberation' is associated with an older generation of activists.
'Democratic nationalism' and the 'rural masses' (i.e. in the EPRDF Context, 'ethnicity' minus the local ruling class) are the particular catchwords of the EPRDF, to build the very
'new Ethiopia'. To give guidance and sense to a politics that is going on anyhow in Ethiopia,
'ethnicity' might indeed become a functional tool for a new generation of activists.
'The imperial "big" and "Great" with its prestige orientation and brutality'
(ENA: 49) found in the Ethiopian case a specific example for a 'self-aggrandising state'
(ENA: 11). Hameso proposes an alternative: the replacement of the 'big' and the
'Great' by 'humane, orderly and more manageable size and format'
(ENA: 49), i.e. 'ethnicity'. However, the approach towards 'positive ethnicity' includes an aggrandising element in its own right that reflects likewise the Ethiopian situation. This time from a subaltern perspective. The author puts ethnic merit on a scale that was hitherto completely outweighed by the
'cultural capital' of 'empire'. A stereotype which equates 'nation' with 'literacy, progress and development', and
'ethnicity' with 'parochialism, backwardness, primitiveness'
(ENA: 8) still haunts the Ethiopian situation in a very particular way. On the top side of a sca1e of merits are
'Christian', book-possessing 'Semitic' Northerners (Amhara,
Tigray) on the low side of the scale are 'Muslim' or 'pagan, 'Cushitic' Southerners (including the Sidama and the Oromo). And any attempt to overcome this imbalance be it as peaceful as one can imagine is either skilfully or brutally counterweighted. No illusion about that! I agree that the ethnic federalism nowadays established in Ethiopia is partly a
'token' and a 'temporary relief measure' of the 'central state', ENA: 135). However, a similar argument was used in the mid-seventies when the military government announced the land reform to
'satisfy the rural masses'. Individual motivations and middle- to long-term results of their actions are varied. The same might be true for the issue of ethnic federalism in Ethiopia.
Hameso et al's book betrays many traits of the contradictions and the poverty of the oppositional discourse against the present Ethiopian government. Formally all the contributors subscribe to the notion of self-determination for the ethnic nations of Ethiopia. However, between the lines different messages appear which reflect the game of alliances and negotiations going on between former hard-core centralists, the
'token' federalists of today and some formal proponents of self-determination. For instance, Hameso complains that former
'Amhara colonial establishment' is paralysed' but still 'intact'
(ECQFD: 167). Human right activist Sue Pollock, on the other hand, stresses that the Amhara elite is
'harassed, intimidated, imprisoned'
(ECQFD: 98). What do the authors want? A change or no change? If there is a change, how can individual rights be protected? The overall poverty of this discourse is related to a fact that is not discussed at all. There is no discussion about the legal framing and infrastructure of ethnic autonomy or self-determination. Temesgen complains that the
'state' in Ethiopia is nothing but a battlefield between Amhara and Tigreans
(ECQFD: 116). The avoidance of legal issues indicates how the notion of politics as a battlefield haunts also the oppositional discourse.
Hameso briefly mentions the 'moral code' of 'mutuality, generosity, fairness, and truth'
(ENA: 87) that still characterises the rural life of the Sidama. The catch-all-term
'ethnicity' veils the complexity of the religious, legal, political and economic agencies and institutions that upheld such a moral code'. Rural societies in Southern Ethiopia, as elsewhere, still have legal experts and public-good seeking intellectuals in their own right. The
'national iconography' (music, folklore, legend, history) that 'nationalist intellectuals' are commanded to create
(ECQFD: 192) functions on a different level. If things go badly, as in 'ethnically' quite homogenous Somalia, the creators of too much
'national iconography' and of insufficient legal checks and balances between state agencies, collective and individual rights might soon regret their inventions.[]
THOMAS ZITELMANN
Freie Universität, Berlin
Go
to top
Sidama Music
|
Sidama Times |
Sidama Coffee