Ethiopia: Understanding Our Past Socio-Political Atrocities

In any society, political atrocities are violations against the values of social structures, moral/ethical, cultural, linguistic, traditional, and religious integrity of a given society. During the past political systems, in Ethiopia the majority of the ethnic communities have been negatively affected and impacted by socio-political, religious, and economic dictatorship of the self-proclaimed political elites claiming to represent one culture; one religion; one language; one nation under one flag, yet suppressing, silencing, oppressing, and destroying values of diversity. Today, the need and demand of the majority of Ethiopian people is loudly pronounced and represented. However, such atrocities against the Ethiopian people cannot or/and will not or would not be buried or eliminated unless the existence of such atrocities are acknowledged without any pre-condition.Denying or/and trying to rationalize or even trying to justify these atrocities will not bring or/and resolve the problem. The wounds caused by these atrocities have been exercised, inflicted upon, and applied in Ethiopia cannot be easily healed unless the aggressor recognizes and accepts the responsibility. Atrocities of this nature, went to the extent of destroying and dismantling human lives; exploiting local economies and socio-cultural/religious values. The motives, intentions, and actions of the aggressor were inhuman and antisocial, thus intolerable and unacceptable.

Today the stories of the past atrocities are being told and pronounced not around the coffee table but in action, by reshaping the course Ethiopia's history where all peoples enjoy the rights of life, respect, and human dignity,by managing their affairs based on their needs and demands of their respective settings. However, the challenging part of the story-telling is that the aggressor is on the run, not on the level of change-mode instead continued resisting and have shown no remorse and willingness to take the responsibility, thus attempting to bury the past or to silence it or trying to be indifferent. The key for establishing the healing process is confessing those atrocities as they occurred/happened and why they happened. We cannot kill and bury atrocities by denying to tell them.

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