EXAMEN CONCEPTUAL DE LA REVOLUCIÓN EN LUXEMBURGO

The regional states’ constitutions that were also finalized at a similar period of the 1995 Ethiopian constitution are starkly similar in the wordings of the articles, and even the number of articles in such constitutions are mostly similar. Although I stated that the federal constitution gives more emphasis towards group rights, the regional states make good job of indicating that their respective constitutions protect the interest of those individuals who live in the regional states that do not align with their ethnic origins. The problem that is evident in regional state’s constitu- tion appears to be that such political entities in the federal setting lack the necessary enforcement mechanisms to protect such rights given they are effectively controlled through a centralist author- itarian party structure.

However, in terms of what I mentioned earlier about how such constitutions are designed, it is critical to explain that such constitutional attempts were crafted in a way to firstly remind

65 _{The interview with interviewee number four was conducted on march 24}th_{, 2017 in Silver Spring, Mary-}

everyone of that ‘awful past’ and to depict how the EPRDF controlled ruling regime should be considered the savior. The purpose here is that in the part one of the dissertation, I have extensively discussed that the ethnic question has already been central in Ethiopian politics starting from the last decade of emperor Haile Selassie I’s reign and the pivotal events such as the student move- ments and the emergence of armed rebellions that carried ethnic grievances at a forefront of their struggle. Moreover, within that discussion I also stated that the rationale for the country’s elites making ethnicity the epicenter of everything politics was the perception that the Amhara’s culture and language was so dominant that it served as a foundation for the grievances of other ethnic groups claims of historic oppression. Indeed, that had contributed to the legitimization of the then armed rebellion’ expanding support base. What I argue here is that the fact that such a history contributed to the evolution of ethnicity and the promotion of group rights as an agenda taking center stage in contemporary Ethiopian politics was clearly evident in the making of the constitu- tions of the regional states. For instance, let’s look at a couple of examples (out of the many) in how the preamble of such constitutions were presented:

Example one: The Preamble of the Constitution of the Oromia National Regional State, reads as:

“We, the people of the Oromo Nation: Cognizant of the fact that we have paid enormous sacrifices, with other oppressed peoples of the country, in our unflinching strug- gle to uproot the oppressive system which, for years, was imposed upon us and perpetuated conditions that relegated our history, neglected our culture, suppressed the growth of our language, violated our human and democratic rights, took away our land, looted our re- sources and hampered our economic development thereby threatening us as second class

citizens within our own land and exposing us to hunger, nakedness, illiteracy and destitu- tion;…….”66

Example two: The Preamble of the Constitution of the National Regional State of Tigray, reads as:

“The people of Tigray are one of the peoples and nationalities of Ethiopia who suffered a lot under the yoke of the feudal system which prevailed throughout Ethiopia. In the period between 1975 and 1991 protracted armed struggle of the people of Tigray to- gether with their oppressed Ethiopian brothers had been the most impressive feature of the Tigrayan people. In the course of this struggle for peace and democracy, the region made about 60 thousand live sacrifice and large material destruction. After such along and bloody war, our people have proved the abolishment of the undemocratic government and formed a Transitional Government. Thus, strongly committed in full and free exercise of their right to self-determination, to building a political community founded on the rule of law and capable of ensuring a lasting peace, guaranteeing a democratic order, the people of Tigray are on track record of advancing their economic and social development.”67

As we have seen from the above preambles of the constitutions of regional states, it is clear that such sub-national members of the federation provide an important credence to the formation of the federal state of Ethiopia, which ended decades of oppression. Such an assertion in fact raises questions as to who was the oppressor indeed and how that oppression had taken place. Historians

66 _{Oromia regional state constitution, October 1994, proclamation 46/1994.}

that closely study Ethiopia also concur with the existence of dominant cultures of the north and the oppression of the many others (Markakis 2003). However, it is also important to mention that those who ruled the country in the past, although considered were primarily of Amhara, the popu- lation in what is known the Amhara National Regional State of today, were also subject to the same oppression that fellow ethnic groups in the country suffered under. Regardless of such a fact, however, the political elites presiding over the political transition in post 1991 Ethiopia and beyond have made sure the newly regional states’ constitutions mention the awful past that they went through so they underline the fact that such a history is long gone thanks to the EPRDF. Interest- ingly, those same political elites have also made sure that the Amhara national regional state’s constitution also mention the oppression and injustice other ethnic groups suffered in the previous regimes. The Preamble of the Constitution of the Amhara National Regional State thus in part reads as:

“We, the peoples of the Amhara National Regional State: having been desirous to do away with the negative impact hindering our overall development which the age old oppressive system had for long imposed upon us by cruelly suppressing our human and democratic rights and thereby exposing us all to the scourge of poverty and backwardness as a result unjustified economic and social policies in place; being dully convinced of the fact that we had for long been victims of an unbearable harm caused to us directly or indi- rectly to an atrocious national oppression which had to be committed in the past on and

against the majority of our nations, nationalities and peoples, and henceforth needs to be

corrected and rectified hereafter;……”68

What is evident from the above preamble of the Amhara National Regional State’s consti- tution is that while it mentions the oppression of the peoples of Ethiopia, which in fact includes Amharas as well, in the first segment, in the second it explains that such oppression was indeed against the ‘majority’ of Ethiopia’s ethnic groups. According to the preamble’s implications, while the Amhara were among the victims of the oppressive systems in the past, such suffering was not to the level of what others had experienced at large and thus acknowledge that ‘their forefathers’ indeed are to blame.

Interviewee number-three, who had served as prosecutor in both the Amhara Regional State’s Supreme Court of Justice, located in the City of Bahir Dar as well as in federal courts in the City of Addis Ababa, extensively mentioned in the interview, although the wordings of the regional constitutions, in their English versions, do not quite resemble that of the stronger wording in their Amharic versions, it is understandable that the political elites in the current regime make sure that the Amhara know their historical dominance and thus need to own the oppressive history of the past regimes as their own faults. When I also pressed the individual about why constitutions that are the most important legal frameworks, would have even the slightest differences in other language versions, the individual mentioned that, “it is very common and not surprising to see differences in interpretation and at times, content of the many legal and other documents of the government. The government, purposefully writes and publishes the same press statement or pol- icy with confusing translations in their Amharic and English versions. They know that the majority of Ethiopians mainly look at the Amharic version and they consider the publication of the English

version just to satisfy the needs of foreign governments, aid organizations, diplomats, researchers and the international media’s consumption.”69

An individual (interviewee number-fifteen) with a wider social media following, who con- siders himself an Amhara activist also described, the current ethnic federal arrangement is anti- national unity and the day to day governance of the government at the federal and regional state levels take place mostly cognizant of the political elites’ efforts in making sure the various ethnic groups are always reminded of, whatever level of development they receive is because of the elites’ (formerly rebel leaders) success in toppling the oppressive military socialist regime. Therefore, by doing so, they mainly hit two targets. Firstly, the make sure whatever level of development and freedom such groups are enjoying are historical breakthroughs and the various ethnic groups there- fore must feel grateful for the new found blessings. And secondly, any questions or grievances in the political and economic grievances of the people are answered in a way that makes sure such groups become aware of the current regime’s best efforts to provide answers and remain patient until they receive such answers. Moreover, the political elites also mention that if the current gov- ernment will be replaced in any violent and unconstitutional means, whatever levels of historic improvements that they are counting on will be replaced by the old regime remnants’ (sympathiz- ers of the old domination of the Amhara) destructive and anti-democratic agenda, which will come against the majority of the ethnic groups that make up today’s federation.70

69 _{The interview with interviewee number-three was conducted in April, 3}rd _{of 2017 in Washington D.C.} 70 _{The interview with interviewee number-fifteen was conducted on a telephone conversation on February}

6.9 How the 1995 Federal Constitution Failed to Protect Rights of minorities and Individ-