Thread by @TsedaleLemma

Sunday thread: an acclaim & critique on my friend, @goitom_gebrelue's, intellectually thought-provoking article 👇
"Should Ethiopia stick with ethnic federalism? "aje.io/59une
Thank you for publishing this article at this particular period... 1/13

..when many of us have detached ourselves from intellectually sound debates & settled instead to explain away - often with excerpts of one minute videos or one paragraph texts -the "demon" that "ethnic-federalism" befell our country; i.e: for everything under the sky. 2/13

Hence, my acclaim. But also for the whole argument: for e.g, for stating, aptly, that "many of these arguments take for granted that Ethiopia has never been anything more than a de jure federation and overlook other more significant sources of ethnic tensions and conflicts." 3/13

That said, here is my critique. Like almost all critiques of Ethiopia's federalism, Goitom, too, used the word "ethnic" to describe it.

Ethiopia's federalism is not "ethnic federalism", as I once said during a session on AJ Stream. I didn't explain why then. I will now. 4/13

Unlike the excessive use of the term "ethnic", linguistically speaking, there is no equivalent of the term in Amharic. Some interchangeably use "Ye Gosa" (tribe), "Ye Zer" (race), "Ye Zewg" (I don't know the equivalent of "Zewg." etc. But none of these describe "ethnic"...5/13

Going by the constitution itself, there is no single place where it's referred to as "ethnic federalism", rather "hibre biherawi' federalism, the English equivalent of "multinational."
In addition there are 2 more reasons why we should refrain calling it by what it's not. 6/13

1-Ethiopia is home to 9 'Nation states’, referred as "regional states", & 2 chartered cities which are the constituent unites of the federation. While the formation is argued as based on "settlement patterns & language", as can be seen from Oromia, Amhara Somali, Tigray...7/13

...none of these states are "ethnically" homogeneous. They are not only homogeneous in terms of diversity from other nations, but also diverse in & of themselves. Take Amhara, for eg. Going by the name of "ethnic federalism", the Amhara region is "ethnic" region by default. 8/13

But we know that the Amhara community are, in & of themselves,as diverse culturally as they are religiously & many more social characteristics than can be defined by the simplistic "ethnic" term. Means the Amhara regional state itself is a mini multinational state by nature. 9/13

This is in addition to being home to people of (despite in minority) almost all nations: be it Tegarus, Oromos, Somalis, Afaris, Gambellas etc. whose rights are articulated in the region's constitution. The same is true for
other regions; they are mini-multinational states. 10/13

My 2nd point is by way of agreeing with a powerful article on why @NiemanReports recently "Banned the Word “Ethnic”", in which the editors explained the problematic nature of tossing the word "ethnic" to describe a more complex nature a society. 11/13
niemanreports.org/articles/why-w…

Aside from the above article, another one written by @NativeLandgrab provided a more grounded & well articulated argument in defense of not just Ethiopia's multinational federalism, but the problematic euro-centric narrative of the "ethnic" Africa. theeastafricanreview.info/op-eds/2019/01…
12/13

With this, I end my outrageously lengthy Sunday thread, with a promise to continue the rest when we meet for a coffee, your treat, Goitom! Again, thank you for provoking me to read, reread and reflect on your article. 13/13 😃Have a good Sunday!