In the course of the Revolution and in its wake and over the last two decades of ethnic feudalism, being an Ethiopian patriot and a progressive at the same time has been difficult. True, many of our revolutionaries were patriots, and identity politics may not always be unpatriotic. But our political culture of progressivism as a whole has been marked, be it in effect or in intent, by indifference, hostility even, toward Ethiopian nationalism. As teramajoch, we have often embraced modern political ideas like democracy, self-determination, and equality in a way that is incongruent with old-fashioned love of country, seeing political modernity as the simple reverse or negation of the Ethiopian national tradition. We have generally not carried patriotism with us in our revolutionary consciousness.
I have personally felt a tension between critical, forward-looking conceptual thought on the Ethiopian tradition and on its transformation and development, on the one hand, and the lived experience and joy of simply being Ethiopiawi, on the other. Ever since the Student Movement, I have been troubled by the mutual exclusions and oppositions of politics based on progressive theory and Ethiopian national sentiments and values rooted in history.
I believe this incongruity between sensuous Ethiopian nationality and progressive intellectual and political socialization to restraint of patriotism is not merely an issue that I personally have grappled with. I am convinced that it is a problem many Ethiopians of the revolutionary generation have had to wrestle with as well, although many others of that generation have simply and unaccountably walked away from the problem. More importantly, I see the tension between a firm patriotic heart and an equally firm progressive mind as a dialectic which will figure centrally in the realization of Ethiopia’s resurgence.
Imperative of Patriotic-Progressive Ties
Connections between historically rooted national allegiance and pride and contemporary articulate ideas and goals of teramaj politics are crucial in the Ethiopian struggle against TPLF partisan-tribal dictatorship and for a more just and democratic political order in the post-Woyane era. The meeting between real, experienced Ethiopiawinnet – manifested in meaningful sentiments, values, images, symbols, and cultural practices – and forward-looking political conceptualization, agenda, and action is a vital encounter which has great promise for Ethiopia’s comeback.
Now, whatever its past achievements or present potential, teramaj politica has created a lot of disenchantment among Ethiopians. We are hesitant today to identify ourselves as “teramajoch” because the label has had such troubled and troubling association with hostility toward Ethiopian nationalism. We now know painfully well how far over the top the old model of progressive politics has gone in criticizing and opposing the Ethiopian national tradition. A follower of the model in its own narrow ethnonationalist way, the TPLF party-state machine is the last and uniquely most anti-Ethiopian link in the chain of “radical” teramaj political forces that stretches back to ultra-left dogmatic factions within the Student Movement. This chain of political forces has kept Ethiopia in shackles for decades now.
To note the deep flaws of the supposedly radical form of our progressive experience as I do here, to be fully aware of its excesses and limitations, is not to discount entirely the ideas and goals which inspired the experience. The ideas and goals as such still have wide appeal in the country today – among opposition parties and coalitions, intellectual strata, activists, civic organizations, and media groups. So any political force that seeks to galvanize the Ethiopian people and lead the country’s resurgence must develop a broad national consensus that blends patriotic and progressive movements. But, as a condition of possibility of their dynamic, mutually energizing integration, patriotism and the progressive way must be understood and approached anew, distinctly and in their ties and relations.
Patriotism
Love of country is an ideal or emotion that makes progressives and liberals anywhere uneasy. They generally associate it with jingoistic nationalism, xenophobia, and unthinking loyalty to the nation-state. Separatist ethnic fronts in Ethiopia have imagined and portrayed Ethiopian nationalism simply as Amhara chauvinism and oppression of other ethnic groups. Some of the most repulsive actual features of nationalism include colonialism, fascism, racism, and certain forms of tribalism.
However, we cannot equate patriotism as such with its abhorrent variants or features. We cannot say it is the sum of its flaws and problems, nothing more. The fact is that patriotism, as a set of attitudes, values, sentiments, and dispositions makes itself felt in different
