Allow me to quote some lines from Prof. Alemayehus latest blog entry and add a small twist to make it palatable for some.Thank you Prof. Alemayehu! for expressing what I wanted to say so eloquently. ...crisis reaction is not a winning formula for the attainment of [dignity and liberty]. ..to transform ourselves from reactors to crisis to shapers of destiny. We need to devise strategies to keep the Awakened Giant permanently awake and eternally vigilant. [should be] sick & tired of muddling from one crisis to another. Diaspora Ethiopian communities must humanize, organize, revitalize and mobilize. “There is nothing wrong in being emotional. To be human and not be emotional is to become a robot. How could we not be angry and outraged when we see and hear our brothers and sisters in Saudi Arabia being subjected to subhuman treatment. Our anger must give way to rational, calculated and deliberative collective action. ...“After you’ve let off steam and the anger subsides, what is left over? Despair, anguish, sorrow? Do you fall into the iron grips of powerlessness, hopelessness and helplessness and apathy? Or do you tap into your creative energies to re-group and take decisive action?” I nod reflectively. “Indeed, anger often ends in paralysis and inaction. The energy we waste in venting our anger must be transmuted into constructive long-term and sustained advocacy and action.” Our anger must give way to rational, calculated and deliberative collective action. ....We must react massively not only to high profile crises but also the low profile ones. ... “No team can win without a strong offensive line.” We need to build strong Diaspora teams and play strong offensive games. “Y’all lack focus and hop from one issue to another. You react explosively to a crisis event followed by a long stretches of inaction bordering on apathy.” ... “Why is that so? Could it be that it is difficult to be focused without organization and leadership? Why is it that we don’t have a clear and intelligible advocacy and action agenda?” “We lack focus because we lack a clear vision; we lack vision because we lack the will; we lack the will because we lack faith in ourselves and confidence in our beliefs and convictions.” We should heed the old African saying, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.” Most of y’all would rather look from the sidelines; others would prefer to criticize from the sidelines.”..“The trick is to fire up the imagination of the spectators, to empower and give them hope, knowledge and the confidence to use both in the cause of human rights. Then they will be transformed from onlookers to activists.. Y’all can’t ad hoc, ad lib and ad hominem your way to victory. Y’all must educate, mobilize, organize and empower the Diaspora community for collective action. Y’all need to get in gear and get civic engagement campaigns going. Set up community committees for civic engagement, recruit volunteers, run leadership workshops, broadcast radio and television programs to empower and engage everyone from the bottom up. Civic engagement from the bottom up!... We just can’t do it alone. The sky is not the limit to what we can do together!.. Read the full text of Professor Alemayehus latest blog entry: open.salon/blog/almariam/2013/11/30/teachable_moments_for_the_ethiopian_diaspora
Posted on: Mon, 02 Dec 2013 18:59:52 +0000
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