Revolutionary Democracy

Revolutionary Democracy: A Fitting Worldview for Economic &Political Development of Ethiopia Adal Isaw [email protected] May 15, 2010 Almost all Ethiopian political parties except EPRDF adopt liberalism as their political ideology. And these political parties are looking forward to put liberalism at work, if and when they’re endowed with the political power to do so. Liberalism, they argue, is the ideology in need to build a middle-income democratic Ethiopia. In contrast, EPRDF contends, that the arduous work to build a middle-income democratic Ethiopia will be nearly impossible; one, if and when it is based on a liberal worldview that favors the unfair and controlling economic and political interest of the Western world; and two, if and when it is based on economic and political philosophy that exaggerates the inalienable rights of a self-seeking individual. The movement by the Western world to make liberalism appear more desirable than any other conceivable economic and political worldview has succeeded by default. In other words, if ideological success is merely measured by the prevalence of a political and economic worldview, then liberalism has become the most successful modern ideology of our interconnected world. With the collapse of the so called communist blocks of Eastern European countries, the dominance of liberalism has even become all the more thoroughgoing—so much so, a renowned American political scientist daringly claimed that ideological struggles, as we know them in the past, have come to an end. Liberalism, Fukiyama affirmed, has triumphed.[1] Disproving Fukiyama, the struggle between ideologies lives and in fact has become vibrant to a degree, even in Ethiopia—a country that barely entered the global ideological market—where used and a sort of newly formulated ideologies are spoken for sale. As you’re reading this article, the Ethiopian people are still shopping from political parties eager to sell their ideologies in exchange for political power. EPRDF is on one side selling its own sort of brand-new Ethiopian-born revolutionary democratic worldview, while the rest of the political parties are on the other side, selling a Eurocentric worldview of liberalism. What is liberalism or liberal outlook anyways? And what makes revolutionary democracy a fitting worldview for economic and political development of Ethiopia? Liberalism, according to Britannica Concise Encyclopedia is a “political and economic doctrine that emphasizes the rights and freedoms of the individual and the need to limit the powers of government.” For over three hundred years, liberalism has been the most fundamental experience of Western political civilization. And its fundamental credo is comprised of individualism, civil rights, private ownership, and pluralism. Liberalism is inseparable from capitalism—an economic system that is known for having defined the Western and non-Western countries’ economic and political relations for centuries. Strictly speaking, liberalism is also more than a Euro-centric political-economy; it is a way of life that the Western world wants to export to as many countries as it can—with or without the consent of a people at the receiving end. The underlying ideas of liberalism were given formal articulation by Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. Locke gave the most “eloquent” articulation of liberalism in his Second Treaties on Civil Government, published in 1690 but written earlier. For Locke, the individual is at the center of an economic and political universe. He is free, equal, and self-governing. He has the right to his body and to his life. And these rights to his body and to his life constitute the most inalienable form of property.[2] Locke’s emphasis on individual rights goes even further asserting that property rights of the individual predate the state and that they’re absolutely immune from state interference. In other words, according to Locke, any legitimate government is limited by individual rights of those it has been created to serve. An important consequence of this very bold argument is that rights are always individual rights, and that the community, or society as a whole, has no rights what so ever. Apart from the individual that comprise it, according to Locke, the community is simply an abstracted personification with no life, moral and political standing.[3] This is the ideological underpin of liberalism that almost all Ethiopian political parties except EPRDF adhere to and it is very troubling. A country that badly needs a collective effort for its political and economic development should not subscribe to impractical and hypothetical worldview of liberalism that demeans and rejects the collective rights of a people. For Ethiopia—a country of diverse nations and nationalities, this type of unmitigated individualism is a recipe for disaster. Ethiopia will not arduously work itself to become a democratic middle-income country, built on a society of self-seeking individuals, each pursuing disparate objectives of the mind, lacking a commonly desirable master plan of an Ethiopian purpose. A society of self-seeking individuals, each pursuing disparate objectives of the mind, lacking a commonly held desirable plan, according to liberals is also the basis for the “undesigned” nature of a capitalist economic system. For example, the Scottish liberal Adam Smith in his Wealth of Nations argued that, the spontaneous actions of innumerable separate individuals each pursuing their personal benefit accreted to astonishingly efficient, prosperous and free forms of human association.[4] Smith’s aforementioned assertion is beyond paradoxical. How is it possible for a selfish private vice of separate individuals transcend into a public virtue of kindly free forms of human association? Had Smith’s assertions were true about the spontaneous actions of separate individuals, would America have 400 of its citizens spontaneously controlling 1.8 trillion dollars of its wealth? Or, would America have six of its major banks spontaneously controlling 60% of its GNP? These are the few from the many problems that liberalism continues to create unabated in our interconnected world.[5] Indeed; liberalism comes with many daunting problems and it has been revised to a degree so that the problems that it keeps creating are ameliorated now and then through major policy implementations. Wounded by the Great Depression, Keynesian economics and the New Deal, classical liberalism may not recover from its wounds, but it has surely given ways to variety of revisionist liberalism—welfare liberalism, utilitarianism and etc. Nevertheless, revisionist liberalism does not stand to discredit property rights and individualism that classical liberalism argues for with passion, since individualism and property rights are principles that unify liberals of all varieties. It is therefore up to the revolutionary democrats including this writer, to eloquently refute a liberal worldview that overemphasizes the rights of an individual and demeans the collective rights of a people, especially as it relates to property and ownership rights, for example of land. The Ethiopian revolutionary democrats principled argument about land goes pretty much as follows: By virtue of being naturally immune from becoming a social product that one invests or works to create, land in Ethiopia is in its own singular class of an absolute social property. Land is also a natural given to all those who happen to reside on it, and from which the complete necessities of what life demands can be produced to benefit the great many of them. Succinctly put, Ethiopia’s land is not a social product and cannot be claimed as an absolute property by any individual anywhere anytime. In fact, even a given social product with a clear rightful owner cannot for that matter be claimed as an absolute property, by who ever happens to invest and work on it, and here is the reason why, revolutionary democrats argue.[6] Consider a hermit inventor working alone in his garage without any assistance, on a project to invent a highly sophisticated braking system for a fast car. Can you imagine this inventor to be unaware of the vast quantity of social knowledge on a brakesystem for fast cars? Of course not; this said hermit inventor would have no clue about creating a new braking system, had it not for all the accumulated social knowledge that he had received in the first place. Even what this hermit inventor discovers is, therefore, not a private creation. It is, in a fundamental sense a social product, and any absolute claim of ownership on the new braking system by the hermit inventor is thus groundless, making the idea of self-seeking, self-contained, atomized and hermit individuals creating property out of themselves, unconnected and unindebted to the greater society, quite absurd.[7] As it has been the case for almost two decades, the creation of property and the kind of ownership right that should be ascribed to it is one of the issues that starkly differentiate the revolutionary democrats of Ethiopia from their liberal counterparts. The EPRDF led government has been leasing land in manners that incorporates its agro-led economic development plan and the plan is working marvelously. Ethiopia has registered double digit development figures year after year and it is now the fifth fastest growing economy in the entire world.[8] This very fact should refute the liberal claim about how selling Ethiopia’s land creates incentive for business and leasing it curtails economic growth. Leasing it for suitable years instead of buying land has not curtailed the interest of a prospective investor in Ethiopia and the evidence attests to this fact. Billion dollars the alternative worldview being expressed by revolutionary democrats is not at all against most of the tenets that liberal democracy and its market system have to offer. This is just a simple proposition as far as revolutionary democrats are concerned. And for this reason. The contrast between Ethiopian liberals and the revolutionary democrats on how to develop Ethiopia into a middle income democratic country is substantive. Nonetheless. the Ethiopian liberals see the temple of political and economic development in the ideological spirit of the exaggerated individual. by the people. is the source of economic and political development. much like John Locke and Adam Smith. society. democratization under Ethiopian context is therefore the summation of a political and an economic act to empower the nations and nationalities of Ethiopia. it is the revolutionary democrats that have given in practice the real. or second-guess the collective rights of a community. with the focus to strengthen the collective democratic and economic rights of the Ethiopian people. for the people. political and social realities.worth of investment is taking hold on leased land in Ethiopia and it is the uncontested fact. and the advent of the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange proves that it the case. revolutionary democrats believe in democracy—“government of the people. Seen from this angle. nationalities or the Ethiopian people at large. Revolutionary democracy rejects the philosophy of aggrandizing the individual as if he or she. The Ethiopian liberals have merely adopted Locke’s and Smith’s argument on property. and the coming to life of more than 90 disparate Ethiopian political parties attests to this fact that it is so. Revolutionary democrats believe in the free association of individuals. Ethiopia is a country of many nations and nationalities. Ethiopian liberals who advocate for scrapping the present land policy consider land much like any other property that an individual is entitled to own in absolute terms. superfluous and exaggerated individual rights. Most importantly. reject. Democracy is the ultimate means to empower people more than it is the means to empower the individual to reign supreme over the collective shoulders of a people. by uncoordinated design. For all these . Political and economic development is the result of a planned collective effort. and by virtue of this very fact. They believe in free but reasonably restrained.” convinced in the ability of nations and nationalities of Ethiopia to self-govern themselves as they see it fit. And for this reason they stand to demean. true and essential meaning of what democracy is. nations. and it’s less of an act to bring God or Goddess out of a self-seeking Ethiopian soul. The rights of an individual should not at all tramp the collective rights of a people. Their rationale mimics the rationale of John Locke and Adam Smith—the two renowned classical European liberals. not the result of a spontaneous interaction of self-seeking individuals. the revolutionary democrat’s worldview of Ethiopia incorporates only those tenets suitable to Ethiopia’s economic. revolutionized and modern efficient market system. the rights of nations and nationalities should reign supreme in contrast to any unreasonable. In fact. ownership and the role that an exaggerated individual has on creating wealth and prosperity. In so doing. revolutionary democrats are cognizant of the fact that the arduous work to build a middle income democratic Ethiopia will be nearly impossible.aforementioned reasons then. especially when it seriously concerns our beloved country—Ethiopia. the Republican Party’s reaction to Hillary Clinton “It takes a village to raise a child” was also based on denigrating the role of a community in raising a child. “The End of History?” The Public Interest. one. 1992). [3] Margaret Thatcher of England is known for arguing tirelessly on behalf of this argument. see Ethiopia’s Land is not a Saleable Social Product. Bruce Mazlish (New York: Bobbs-Merrill.. [4] Wealth of Nations. Revolutionary Democracy Vs. mind and interest of a well-informed citizenry in turn becomes the dependable bastion of a country that the well-informed citizenry calls home. see Ethiopia’s Land is not a Saleable Social Product by Adal Isaw February 20.ucsc. Francis Fukiyama. Also see his The End of History and the Last Man (New York: Free Press. 2008. See also Megabanks: The Banking Oligarchy That Controls Assets Equivalent To 60% Of America’s GDP by PrizonPlanet. 1960). and two. 1961) Book 4.com June 13. debates of the various kinds benefit a country such us ours to have a well-informed citizenry. UCSB. ed. ed. 2010 It’s heartwarming to have a trickle down version of an ideological debate on Aiga Forum. Civilly done. check archives of Aiga Forum or Ethio Hebre Zema [7] For detailed explanation. Library of Liberal Arts. Williams Domhoff. And this kind . The party that wins the heart. check archives of Aiga Forum or Ethio Hebre Zema. 2008. Two Treaties of Government (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [2] See Peter Laslett. Well-informed citizenry in turn facilitates for a knowledge-based vote to adjudicate a democratic contest between acutely differing political parties. [5] See Who Rules America: Wealth. [6] For detailed explanation. if and when it is based on economic and political philosophy that exaggerates the inalienable rights of a self-seeking individual. For quick reference check out http://sociology. Income.edu/whorulesamerica/ and play with numbers to see how frightening the divide in income has become. Summer 1989 and responses in Winter 1989 issue. Liberal Democracy: A Belated Reply to Yosyas Kifleyesus’s Article Adal Isaw adalisaw@yahoo. by Adal Isaw February 20. and Power by G. if and when it is based on a liberal worldview that favors the unfair and controlling economic and political interest of the Western world. [1] [8] See the new global economic forecast released by The Economist magazine for the year 2010. if not all. and there are even some more with many more defining characteristics. Some ideological debates may tend to employ ad hominem— the kind that attack the person or the political party that’s making the argument. resentment and a complete doubt in the sincerity of those who hold views other than ours inevitably kill the spirit of great debates even before its inception. Great ideological debates are born to be raised by those debaters or political parties who have done their homework thoroughly. I find it imperative to quote Kifleyesus’s introductory statement and his core argument. but for the purpose of this piece. the usually witty and gifted orator. “Bashing Liberalism: Can “Revolutionary Democracy” Be Democratic Without Espousing Liberalism?” For the purpose of clarity. listeners. Hate. It is sad to observe that most. truthfully tolerating viewpoints other than ours brings sanity to our thinking and civility to the way how we argue against ideas that we think are utterly flawed. Some debates go off on a tangent guided by conspiracy theory. Their inability was most visible when Lidetu Ayalew. Tolerating viewpoints other than ours induces in us the positive capacity contrary to that which induces hate and resentment. I welcome Kifleyesus’s scribbled debate on Aiga Forum. political and social life. opposition politicians seem to be unable to defend “liberalism” from the ideological attacks of EPRDF politicians. and those who tolerate ideological viewpoints completely contrary to theirs. Not all ideological debates are premised on substantive points of contentions. titled. Many more qualities may be afforded to debaters. What is even more saddening is that the EPRDF and its acolytes including one Adal Isaw attack liberalism as a recipe for disaster in the Ethiopian context” . And some debates on political ideology are simply out of touch. to question the opponent’s motive instead of focusing on the argument being made. In other words. for all the time to come and for the good of Ethiopia’s economic. With this in mind. could not respond well to Bereket Simon’s characterization of the EDP’s (and other opposition parties’) views on liberalism as an invitation to western domination. great debaters are made from great readers.of democratic and knowledge nourishing process should be encouraged. His introductory paragraph goes as follows: “I have been following the recent debates in the run up to the 2010 elections in Ethiopia. after his sad-riddled narrative of a paragraph or two. his defense of liberalism might have benefited a bit more or less.” Kifleyesus’s piece shows that he failed to do his homework thoroughly. how saddening it was to hear and read EPRDF. since he never made the concerted effort to refute the major points that a revolutionary democrat raises to criticize liberalism. But the mere fact is. first and foremost.com clearly shows that he is aware of the historical and philosophical roots of liberalism as his references to Hobbes and Locke testify. as I have mentioned earlier.Now let’s read Kifleyesus’s core argument. and. Lidetu Ayalew and “opposition politicians for their inability to defend liberalism” is tacitly telling a smile-inducing story about Kifleyesus himself. What are the main points in his core argument that Kifleyesus raises in hope to deflect legitimate and very strong criticisms of liberalism? One of his . Kifleyesus didn’t even spare “…the usually witty and gifted orator…” Ato. what Kifleyesus did in his piece is to let his readers know. which is being espoused by Ethiopian liberals in relation to the greater issue of economic and political development of Ethiopia. Adal Isaw’s piece on Aigaforum. The simple explanation of the confusion is thus that there is a deliberate attempt to befuddle the debate and push an agenda that the EPRDF is not comfortable to pursue publicly. had he read my article thoroughly between the lines. and after he gave his readers the allusion that he would have been best suited to refute EPRDF. He didn’t defend the excessive and superfluous individualism. Lidetu Ayalew. bearing in mind the content of his introductory paragraph.” Kifleyesus completely failed. Bereket Simon and this writer criticized. I do not think that the EPRDF or its supporters [are] unaware of the distinction between these two terms. In addition. his core argument goes as follows: “The attack on liberalism is based on confusing two terms: liberalism and neoliberalism. Bereket Simon and the “acolyte” Adal Isaw bashing and attacking liberalism. to even touch let alone address the specific credos of liberalism that EPRDF. “…for his inability [to] respond well to Bereket Simon’s characterization of…liberalism…” The fact that Kifleyesus is lashing out on Ato. Kifleyesus is spelling to his readers that he would have done a better job of defending liberalism had he been the one in attendance during the debate back home in Ethiopia. Bereket Simon and Adal Isaw’s “attack on liberalism. Instead. core points of argument asserts that “…the attack on liberalism is based on confusing two terms: liberalism and neo-liberalism.” Neo-liberalism is a major policy implementation and depending on the countries it is taking hold. and dwindling the number of people employed by government agencies. and in between. downsizing of the public sector. In fact. letting the market determine the price of goods and services including essential utilities. neo-liberalism is a well-known tool of our modern times. Kifleyesus should have read my article thoroughly before making semantics part of the gist of his defense of liberalism. the two words finally end up confusing Kifleyesus and here is how. “to guarantee the rights and freedoms of the individual by limiting the powers of government. he completely overlooks that the difference if any is not ideological. Privatization of the economy. And its ideology is liberalism of the kind that John Locke and Adam Smith espoused. and he’s absolutely wrong. Neo-liberalism is mainly a re-invented or rehashed grandiose economic movement of liberalism. it is either thoroughly an economic movement as in Britain under Margret Thatcher. But most importantly. In my piece.” I have stated clearly that “…liberalism comes with many daunting problems and it has been revised to a degree so that the problems that it keeps creating are ameliorated now and then through major policy implementations.” Kifleyesus is assuming that all these economic and political courses of action of neo-liberalism are done in an ideological vacuum. used by the Western powers to swindle a great deal of resources from their own people and also from people in “under developed” and “developing” countries. surnamed liberalization. . or an economic and social movement as in America under Ronald Regan.” Kifleyesus goes in detail to inform his readers the difference between liberalism and neo-liberalism. “Revolutionary Democracy: A Fitting Worldview for Economic & Political development of Ethiopia. selling state owned enterprise. Irrespective of its huge reach. How do they do it? By simply prescribing a major set of unfair and controlling micro-economic policy changes. reducing government spending on social services and shrinking the size of government agencies. neo-liberalism is nonetheless one of the inborn varieties that liberalism has given birth under its own self-induced economic and political labor. are major policy prescription in the name of liberalizing the economic sector of a country. deregulation of the market. are courses of actions tantamount to letting “The Invisible Hand” run the economy (Adam Smith). This part of Kifleyesus argument is not at all intended to intelligently refute the argument that EPRDF and or this writer are making. Kifleyesus knows this to be the case. Metaphorically speaking. Therefore. Deregulating the market. Individualism and the absolute right to property. It simply is an argument that goes tangent guided by conspiracy theory. letting the market determine the price of goods and services including essential utilities. for example. the late Ronald Regan and Margaret Thatcher of England. Meanwhile. And this specific wing has helped liberalism to crash-land in many places of our world. and Thatcher. two of liberalism’s credos that we revolutionary democrats criticize with cogency. neo-liberalism in general comes as a measurable quantity of major policy undertaking. privatizing the economy.Neo-liberalism uses the ideological arguments of both Locke and Smith to restructure the political and economic fabric of a society into what classical liberal worldview espouses. to claim disparateness between liberalism and neo-liberalism is to attempt to sell a real bird with no wings.” This line of argument is what I called earlier the kind that attacks the assumed characteristic of the person or the political party that’s making the argument. Tightly coupled with individualism and the absolute right to property. downsizing the public sector and shrinking the size of government agencies are actions born out of the womb of a liberal ideology. but he would anyway like to theorize that the apparent “confusion” of these two words came from “…a deliberate attempt to befuddle the debate and push an agenda that the EPRDF is not comfortable to pursue publicly. In fact. neo-liberalism is one wing among variety of wings of the bird that I call liberalism. Neo-liberalism is sometimes called Thatcherism.” . following the ideological footstep of her countryman—John Locke. to limit the power of government in favor of the individual rights of those it has been created to serve (John Locke). to bring to light an utterly unfounded intent of EPRDF and its “acolytes. allowing us to observe meticulously what to buy and what not to buy in the open market of ideologies. are adhered with similar passion and authenticity by modern day neo-liberals. selling state owned enterprise. is a known opponent of anything social and communal. and two. manufacture. Revolutionary democracy propagates for free but reasonably restrained. The wealth that our beloved Ethiopia accrues is produced through social interdependence and common efforts. a concerned and well-informed Ethiopian will recognize. And this ideology has an overreaching contemporary tool called neo-liberalism—with a pinpointed goal to remove all “barriers” to commerce and to privatize all available services and resources including water. if and when it is based on a liberal worldview that favors the unfair and controlling economic and political interest of the Western world. by the people. Revolutionary democracy believes in the free association of individuals. that the arduous work to build a middle-income democratic Ethiopia will be nearly impossible. it is revolutionary democracy that has given in practice the real. revolutionized and modern efficient market system. Now that we have established the hand in glove nature of neoliberalism and liberalism. revolutionary democracy believes in democracy—“government of the people.Revolutionary Democracy [can] Be Democratic Without Espousing Liberalism?” As I have pointed in my article. even the way how we .” convinced in the ability of nations and nationalities of Ethiopia to selfgovern themselves as they see it fit. sell and consume. For this reason. and the coming to life of more than 90 disparate Ethiopian political parties attests to this fact that it is so. the alternative worldview being expressed by revolutionary democrats is not at all against most of the tenets that liberal democracy and its market system have to offer. Most importantly. buy. The major argument in my piece in part is based against a liberal ideology that favors the unfair and controlling economic and political interest of the Western world. This grandiose plan of economic globalization is welcomed by Ethiopian liberals who seem to know less that the whole scheme unfairly benefits the developed Western powers more so than any other country including ours. for the people.Furthermore. it can be cogently argued. own. and the advent of the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange proves that it the case.. Let alone how we Ethiopians farm. a careful reading of my piece would have answered Kifleyesus primary question that whether “. true and essential meaning of what democracy is. one. if and when it is based on economic and political philosophy that exaggerates the inalienable rights of a selfseeking individual to wealth.. I think that every economy that is structured and function contrary to the Washington Consensus cannot necessarily be described as developmental in nature. . The miraculous economic growth achieved by East Asian economies is also due to their adoption of heterodox economic policies that were contrary to the Washington Consensus. implementation of policies and the design the outcomes. from Che Guevara’s “die for liberty” to vanguardism or in defence of the “Leviathan”. “Why the Neoliberals Go Wrong on the EPRDF” (Volume 14. “Kicking Away the Ladder”. And such a path for sure will encourage contemporary and future Ethiopian entrepreneurs to consider their property as their own absolute wealth.ideologically agree and disagree with each other are part of our social existence. argues that virtually all of today’s developed countries including the champions of free trade and free markets. March 9. in the 1980s and 1990s cried out for or to simply “bring the state back in”. became rich on the basis of policies that are contradictory to the neoliberal orthodoxy espoused under the Washington Consensus. This is precisely part of the liberal credo that we revolutionary democrats criticize. So I found it necessary to reiterate the fundamental premise to him.the state has a key role to play in the allocation of resources. such as Britain and the United States. to isolate property and the ownership right that is ascribed to it in a fashion that stresses. The debate should not be ‘rolling back the state’ as neoliberals led by Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. The well-known Korean economist Ha-Joon Chang in hisbook. Therefore. Because the “I” and “mine” culture and ideology will make some among us to view ownership rights as unrelated to social life. His lamentation for democracy in the previous piece obscured the notion of revolutionary democracy. to build a middle-income democratic society premised on a cohesive communal ethos. I hope that he will not continue down this route by labelling as neoliberal anyone with a different perspective or philosophy. Acts Faulty In his view point piece headlined. Number 723. exaggerates. This would take us back to the other classical debate over the market-state nexus. Revolutionary Democracy Assumes Wrong. To denounce it and calling to shy away or ‘downsize’ it as a regulatory “night watchman state” or ‘enabling’ agent is to misread how the world’s great economies were built and prospered. produced and acquired in some fictional private space they have created behind the Ethiopian society. weak private sector and poor infrastructure. Merkeb reminds me of Sam Walter Foss’s poem called “the calf path”that tells the story of a calf and his allegation of my neoliberalism means that he is following the well-trodden “calf-path”. and dramatizes the right of a single individual will be a wildly improbable faulty doctrine to follow. No doubt that in a poor economy with a fragile market. 2014) Merkeb Negash accused me of being neoliberal as if I was trying to diagnose the EPRDF through the neoliberal lab. The problem of some ardent developmental state theorists and proponents is that they tend to see the state as omnipotent.and right-wing policies and how the new consensus has quickly replaced the old one and their combination of big government and individualism may seem odd to some. most would conclude that he is strongly statist in thought. by political processes with interaction between social. Reading Merkeb’s piece. promoting social mobility. His letter also focused on making the state more repressively coercive and able to opt the various political and economic actors and entities that make it effective and capable. and encourage investments in new technologies and skills. He mentioned the influential Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci in his theory of hegemony. Central to their theory is the link between political institutions and prosperity. In fact. the scholar who first coined the term. The Nordic model or Nordic capitalism involves combining a free market economy with a welfare state. political and economic interests and groups along a tradition of strong central authority.misses the logic of economic development and the way that policies evolve as states integrate themselves into the global economic order. by ‘top down institutional mono-cropping’. and are conducive to economic growth than extractive economic institutions that are structured to extract resources from the many by the few. The other most important difference between Merkeb and myselfis the treatment of Nordic and Brazilgrowth models as developmental states. “The French Developmental State as a Myth and Moral Ambition” argues that France has a striking resemblance to Japan when it comes to the basic building blocks of developmental states. Michael Loriaux in his article.Some also include Finland and Austria. refers to as the developmental state. These countries offer a very good lesson to those who have blind faith in the market and who argue the virtues of a ‘small state’ and the work of the ‘invisible hand’. Norway and Sweden). Prosperity and Poverty”conclude that nations fail due to their inability to build inclusive political institutions. It is this “statist” nature of the proponents hindering a viable and critical diagnosis of the political economy of the states. “Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power. Even though there are strong differences between Nordic countries (Denmark. Pragmatism better explains why Nordic countries can often seem to be amalgams of left. It is the efficiency. Finland. a train of thought that is both misleading and erroneous. omnipresent and omniscient with none of the limitations or failings exhibited by the market itself. create a level playing field. In the case of . This is why Merkeb thinks that every economy deviating from the neoliberal paradigm is developmental. there are debates as to the point at which a developmental state comes into being and intellectuals like Thadika Mkandwire contend that the developmental state runs the risk of being tautological since it presumes developmentalism through economic delivery and policy success. Inclusive institutions are those that enforce property rights. Iceland. they all have common features supporting a universalist welfare state which aims at enhancing individual autonomy. but from below. They also give food for thought to those who are “statist” and arguing for ineffective big governments. The economist Daron Acemoglu and the political scientist James Robinson in their book. But conventional wisdom and history teaches us that modern states are not built from above. The Nordic growth model is very different from what Chalmers Johnson. This.from the outset. capacity and functional ability of the state that matters more than its size. They elucidate the reasons for the disparity of economic wealth among nations over the last two hundred years or so. ensuring the universal provision of human rights and stabilizing the economy together with the commitment to free trade. Some argue that post-war Europe has shown examples of developmental states. its democracy is being challenged for having a dominant party system. Peter Evans. “Taiwan’s Foreign Economic Policy: The Liberalization Plus Approach of an Evolving Developmental State” argues two main forces undermined the hegemony of the developmental state: democratisation and globalisation. Francis Fukuyama. He further explained this through the ‘gravedigger’ hypothesis that the state’s nurturing of the business sector created and empowered it to seek greater political power and liberal agenda. also in his book. facilitating national economic strategy. Another point of departure with Merkeb is his view on the developmental state that he presents as static. Ethiopia has the advantage of having been a centralized state for a long time. Thus. Acemoglu and Robinson also contend that economic growth requires innovation. one of the leading political scientists of our time. The late 1980s onwards saw the onset of democratisation together with political influence on policy formation. Evans provides the same line of thought in the case of the developmental state. is what produces gravediggers. and hence produce further challenges. in his book. This is reminiscent of Michael Mann’s. in his book. had no choice other than to create its own enemies whose interests and agendas conflicted with its own. which replaces the old with the new in the economic realm and also destabilizes established power relations in politics. As the two scholars rightly explain. therefore. the extent of creative destruction is heavily curtailed and this will remain so until there is radical reform in political institutions. Their experience serves to question long-held notions that market-based economies require functioning and capable states in order to operate and grow. It is an established fact that both too weak and too strong states can stifle investment. When we come to Botswana. “Embedded Autonomy” affirms in the case of South Korea that “successful transformation. authority. what the success of East Asia’s ‘Four Tigers’ economies and their emulators has shown us is what can be accomplished with this new thinking. in his “Stateness First” asserts that state building should be given primacy to order political economic changes. I fully understand that there are no easy recipes for achieving inclusive institutions via ‘institutional drift’ to transition towards economically strong state. That is why I intentionally skipped mentioning it and the country has not yet been adequately tested with regard to its history of democratic power transition. Viewed this way. “The Sources of Social . Often their very industrial success produces new interests and organizations. However it is still one of the freest countries in Africa regardless of the deeply rooted economic inequalities across its population. He elucidates that “stateness” is required before having democracy or economic growth. But because of the incumbent’s control over economic institutions. which then could challenge the power.Brazil. Adrian Leftwich. the South Korean state’s role in producing militant workers brings to mind Marx’s vision of the bourgeoisie as “calling forth its own gravedigger” in the form of the proletariat. It. a political economist. not failure. This is a very different scenario. As democratization deepened in East Asia. something that cannot be decoupled from creative destruction. it is the transition to democracy from military authoritarianism and the successful economic reforms in the 1990s carried out during the reigns of Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Lula da Silva that consolidated the political system. “The Primacy of Politics” explains that developmental states are not ‘static’ entities. and that the success of developed countries rests on the development of a combination of politically soft and economically strong environments. and autonomy of the state. the renowned scholar on developmental politics. another intellectual. so has the emergence of a more pluralistic society and polycentric distribution of power that has challenged the authoritarian basis of the developmental state. Christopher Dent. a British-born sociologist. the internal contradiction comes again here. Merkebaccused me of misquoting ThadikaMkandwire. For Mkandwire. The most ambiguous thesis of Merkeb is his theory of power. in terms of their policies. to show his Marxist notion of ‘class struggle’. civil societies and the Diaspora as ‘counter-hegemonic’ to the developmental state. But to think of him balancing consent and coercion is to make a simplistic and wrong political analysis. this ‘war of attack’ could only succeed with a prior ‘war of position’ in the form of a struggle over ideas and beliefs. However. the urban mass. He quoted the influential neo-Marxist philosopher. There is no prescription in economics as to what type of policy to follow and above all the quintessential strength of developmental states as late industrializers is their readiness to learn from others and from their own experience coupled with the commitment to catch up with the industrialized neighbours and the West. I respect that his opinion is his own but it is questionable as to what kind of “social contract” he is trying to foresee in democratizing the revolutionary democracy and the consent-coercion equilibrium of the late prime minister. Gramsci accepts that elite theory is anti-democratic. The political and practical implications of Gramsci’s ideas were far-reaching because he warned of the limited possibilities for direct revolutionary struggle for control of the means of production. the first generation of African leaders in the 1960s and 1970s were developmental but authoritarian. The problem in this argument is that it presents the forces as appearing against the very essence of the state rather than trying to understand why the incumbent’s Marxist class analysis is responsible for this sort of continual marginalization of the actors from the political and economic arena. calibre and astuteness to his party and administration and it is these qualities that no doubt caught the eye of Merkeb here. it was Niccolo Machiavelli who greatly influenced his theory of state. Merkeb used evidence of the late Prime Ministers tenure. Merkeb tries to adopt this Marxian class analysis to the Ethiopian context viewing the intellectual. Contrary to Marxist hegemony. to create a new hegemony. I understand that Meles Zenawi was a leader with a magical shrewdness. Alas. He also contends that. And I was referring this argument. Mkandwire sees the possibility of replicating the East Asian model in Africa. As he said. I hope the debate is much more than quotation and misquotation. to scholars of democracy there is no hegemony without democracy and hegemony is a rational intellectual and moral leadership and it is inconceivable without pluralism and deliberation. Despotic powers refer the ability to use force whereas infrastructural power refers the ‘capacity of the state to actually penetrate civil society and to implement logistically political decisions throughout the realm’. . he is learned enough to highlight the various deficiencies of African states that limit their abilities to follow this path exactly. To support his thesis. This is why Gramsci’s view is contrary to democratic principles and values.it does discourage the suppression of politics. This idea of a ‘counter-hegemonic’ struggle – advancing alternatives to dominant ideas of what is normal and legitimate – is what Merkeb calls for to succeed apriori ‘war of position’ and reveals his hidden Marxist view.Power” differentiation between despotic and infrastructural powers. It stands in opposition to pluralism in suggesting democracy is a utopian ideal and it is also against the theory of state autonomy. However. developmental states are ideological and structural. His ‘third face of power’ or ‘invisible power’ has its roots partly in Marxist thinking of pervasive power of ideology. Antonio Gramsci. Of course. To this end. repressive or coercive but can also be a necessary. For him power is everywhere. The developmental state of Chalmers Johnson dictates a state where the politicians reign and the state bureaucrats rule. . and that the historical circumstances which were associated with the emergence of these more or less effective states are not easily replicated.build a democratic developmental state in Ethiopia? The two are irreconcilable theoretically. who do not give space to pluralism of ideas and values. the influential French philosopher. The philosopher Edmond Burke succinctly states a system entirely with no adoptability or means of reform has no means of preservation of the very its own existence and essence. The late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi also once reiterated that the peasant is the bedrock of a stable developmental coalition for the incumbent. the quest for inclusive growth. I would rather look to Michel Foucault.The political scientist Merrera Gudina (PhD) argues that the EPRDF is trying to implement the Marxist ideology of controlling forces of production. Strengthening state capacity to devise and implement policy.Trying to develop democratic developmentalism where the institutions of rule. cultural contexts and social structure that various development experiences have evolved from make direct comparisons and borrowing of models problematic. So far he has not come up with a plausible argument about how a democratic developmental state can be constructed in a revolutionary democratic context of Ethiopia right at this time. denying the rarity of the birds of the democratic developmental states is simplistic. the state reigns and rules. however. governance and the state are insecure is democratising backwards. whose theory of power is radical in its socialized focus.‘cannot had to order’.a ‘regime of truth’ that pervades society. Merkeb has said nothing on how institutions are crucial and the ‘synergetic’ effects on the development endeavour. But here. inferring that it is not how much state intervention should take place. productive and positive force in society and I believe the state should act in such fashion. As Evans argues ‘the art of leapfrogging is not yet dead’ and I have no Afro-pessimism with this conception. And one must be ready to abandon the tired orthodoxies of the left and right and forage for good ideas across the political spectrum. The elusive quest for economic development should be a shared vision and what has to be hegemonized is the principle that economic development should improve the lives of the majority while also guaranteeing everyone’s fundamental rights. Christopher Clapham. seems the rule. but rather what shape it should take. contends the very different historical. to be replaced by a social democratic or liberal democratic coalition’. But Merkeb did not say one word about the role of opposition parties.a crucial segment to linger on power for long period of time. Development is inescapably political and it is the politics that is unintelligent here. and democratisation in Ethiopia right at this moment. Even Meles whom Merkeb and other proponents of developmental state took as the ‘architect’ of the system also reiterated that ‘when [the developmental state] has done its job it will undermine its own social base. This tell us that the role of politics in the complex development process is fundamental and decisive. and which is in constant flux and negotiation. The question is how can the revolutionary democrats with their monist view of society.given that the peasant remains the dominant demographic in Ethiopia’s population. Power is not only negative. Obviously. and this before learning from the lessons of the last two decades. as the reputed scholar on Ethiopian politics. ... Mantras are usually associated with Hinduism. was that she was a classic communist cadre in the spirit of Meles / Mengistu. Meles Zenawi mantra A mantra is a sacred verbal formula repeated in prayer. Neither shied away from creating states defined by brutality within and without..... Ethiopia's revolutionary mantras and their associated spiritual beliefs are now in their third decade as the central element of Ethiopian governance . Both make people suffer for the . However. HE CAN BE CONTACTED AT ZERIHUN... What is the practical difference between those labels? One of the distinctions between a Fascist and Communist state is supposed to be who owns the means of production [email protected] ZERIHUN ADDISU HE A GRADUATE IN POLITICAL SCIENCE WHO IS NOW WORKING AS A FOREIGN TRADE RELATION AND NEGOTIATION EXPERT. Revolutionary Democracy Ethiopia will have to be ruled through Revolutionary Democracy. such as an invocation of a god.. Both attempted to take over the world and both committed genocide for similiar class / ethnic / religious motives...... Both states are murderous and any private interests in a Fascist state are totally creatures of the Totalitarian state that defines both anyway so the distinction is of little importance in real terms.. Another distinction between Communist and Fascist states is supposed to be how they justify themselves..COM.. Again.the state or private interests. Fascism of the Left or Communism of the Right are two sides of a Totalitarian coin that when tossed means bad luck for humanity however it may land.their effect has not had the spiritual uplift of any great religion. Otherwise because of the extraordinary circumstance relating to nationalities.... a magic spell. or incantation.. Indeed Communists never refer to German Fascists as Nazis instead preferring the term Hitlerites because Nazi is short for National Socialist.. and that of a few other Ethiopian-Americans. or a syllable or portion of scripture containing mystical potentialities. meditation.. Several American friends and commentators referred to her as a fascist while our first thought. We noted a few curious reactions to the new Harry Potter movie featuring the villainous Dolores Umbridge...... this difference can not withstand scrutiny because what it really means is that one directs violence based on class hatred while the other does so based on ethnic / religious hatred. . Communist states are imagined to have an internationalist perspective and Fascist states a national one. it will face disintegration in no time. It was supposed to be the key to understanding Ethiopian governance and the completion of the transormation from decades of disastrous Marxist theories and practice towards a market capitalistic economy..... suspicion and an utter lack of transparency had become vital elements of government. 2001 Indian Ocean Newsletter (registration required) the book was "not to be taken literally because it is mainly for internal use.private interest that are themselves owned by the Party Politburo in question... threats. It not only extinguishes prosperity and freedom in Ethiopia but reaches out its hands abroad through its interchangeable diplomatic / party offices to control thoughts and deeds through an apparatus of lies. eternal intrigue. unforgiving often vicious reactions to criticism. According to the report from the July 28...interests of a few in the end and the ruling party of Ethiopia has recently seen the creation of a perverse new fusion of the two... Gibee-ology... should recognize self justifying thugs when they see them.. manipulation.. As we shall see. ... figuring out what revolutionary democracy could possible mean is ultimately as rewarding as the arcane studies done by Kremlinologists who filled thousands of volumes on detailed studies of which end of Lenin's tomb one commissar or another politburo member . Those characteristics were vital for a guerilla struggle but inappropriate for enterprising civilian rule. Sort of like a rapping Mao. Whatever their stripe or claims what they say amounts to no more than old barbarism in not so new bottles. It is a Totalitarian Party with roots in Albanian Communism that governs by tribal / religious / regional divide and rule while pretending to be a fount of Liberal Democracy and Free Enterprise.. then became a cousin of the Kremlinology that generations of Western analysts assiduously practiced to study the equally inscrutable Soviet government. intro to revolutionary democracy In 2001 several Western Embassies pooled resources to translate a nearly 700 page volume titled 'Revolutionary Democracy' from Amharic to English.. intimidation. character assassination. blackmail and bribery. Much of the confusion was purposeful because secrecy. The embassies desperately needed the translation becauses just asking questions or observing policy as is routine in most other countries simply was not an option.. it is an idealogical weapon against the dissidents of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF)". that volume was all anyone had to grab onto in an attempt to understand what was going on in the Gibee....... 'Gibee' is the familiar name for the compound in central Addis Ababa that has been the seat of all executive power for well over a century... The TPLF is the core of the ruling party the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front EPRDF..... At the same time it actually owns the economy of an entire country through a corrupt web of state and pseudo. indeed all those interested in the causes of freedom and prosperity. No mantra can make any of that vile business acceptable. Whatever it purpose. Friends of Ethiopia. democracy is a simple concept and one easily separated from other.businessmen who through legal or illegal means suck the wealth created by others as well as the country's natural resource".] The document identifies Ethiopia's businesspersons in two categories . far less pleasant. but guessing cannot replace the intention of the authors of the document." [. From India to Botswana to Nicaragua many countries have democratic systems that are clearly recognizable as such by any rational observer. That is usually not the case . No one was actually meant to understand it at all beyond its value as a holy text.just a thin tissue of made up theories and statements that mantra like repetition somehow solidifies in the unquestioning mind. People often have the mistaken assumption that there is inherent value in something that is difficult to understand. "People familiar with Marxism-Leninism may guess. It is based on no objective reality . The comparison offered from the Gibee conveniently sets standards that are both geographically distant and temporally decades or generations away for fulfilment. which is regarded as an alternative to the "liberal democracy" practised by western industrialized states. it is not supposed to make sense.the first class comprising "those who create value" and the second ones who are classified as "rent collectors .. forms of government . Translating the manifesto of Ethiopian revolutionary democracy or reading it in its original Amharic did little to dispel confusion about policy . Serving up the leftover mantras of Marxist-Leninism makes as little sense today as it did a century ago when Russians became the first unfortunates with this type of talk forced on them. The appraisal of a political system is very much like telling the difference between a nude and a dirty picture . It then further corrupts the concept of democracy with the escape clause of the term revolutionary. Basically. Liberal democracy is a human achievement that has spread far beyond the West and does not require industrialization to achieve.one Ethiopian critic from banking circles in Fortune (via Ethioguide) noted a lack of definition of the very concept of the term revolutionary democracy in the new volume and wondered whether it could be a new concept or some rendition of Marxist-Leninist thinking..folks just plain know it when they see it. for which the country is supposedly not yet ready. Marxist Jeopardy. The reader should also take this quiz.. so .nothing is more valuable than basic human common sense especially in the face of an all encompassing theory with messianic qualities that always brings suffering in its wake. The word democracy may be abused but few are fooled by its imitations.people do not have to live in Switzerland. New Zealand or Japan to benefit from it. what is revolutionary democracy? The Ethiopian government's view of revolutionary democracy is translated here by the German Federal Foreign Office the official doctrine remains the vague concept of "revolutionary democracy". The Holocausts of . Actually. The reader may want to try a few questions from this quiz.stood on May Day as opposed to the celebration of the October Revolution.. about the basics of Marxism. So that's their problem." The New Democracy involved a graduated series of congresses from the local to the national level. what is revolutionary democracy? An Ethiopian academic. seriously . I'm sure there are some because after all the people who set up the TPLF were students who thought Marxism is a good idea. but its cornerstone was centralization. the TPLF is using that type of ideology for building what is called white capitalism. Marxist-Leninist jargon provides a form of faux intellectualism and a thin veneer of supposed good intentions that protects the speaker. It's an interesting term. you may find a few people left in the world now who think that Marxism is a good idea.. Politics and economic activity are thus not only denied the people in practice but language itself puts democracy even beyond the understanding of mere mortals. rule of law and market economy. problems you can settle them without going to extremes. Both are divorced from any actual real world experience beyond their utility in justifying the continuing rule of the priestly class. Political debate becomes a theological activity requiring a class of high priests to understand it. And democracy means respect for human rights." Democratic centralism is an essence a dictatorship—"a dictatorship of all revolutionary classes. flexible economy. what do you think about Revolutionary Democracy? What about other policies and strategies? Well. makes an attempt to address that question Yeah. The essentials of democracy anywhere are open society. and understand the real reality underlying those confusing words. by a magic I could not understand. Nobody has really explained it to me. Well. as most of us. Well. In the case of Marxism and its descendant. Central to Mao's theory of the state was what he called "New Democracy. come on." in Mao's words—power would be concentrated in the hands of a few in . so that when you have disagreements. The ideology is its own self sustaining echo chamber whose ultimate purpose is power for a few. was a political project for building socialism. used to understand. They are using an ideology created to build socialism. especially to build a bridge for a socialist revolution .. it is reality and humanity that must be changed to fit ideology. I don't think anybody with much intelligence in the EPRDF would be much interested in being a Marxist now. This latter.Communism Test. As the reader may guess by now no one knows what revolutionary democracy is but the hints available are not reassuring that it is not a one way trip into a ditch. I'm not quite sure what Revolutionary Democracy is. listener and the policies that follow from ever coming to terms with reality and humanity. also in the Reporter.the so-called transition from pre-capitalist society to a socialist society. there is obfuscation and confusion to serve a political end. but it's like a lot of other terms like that. Mao himself referred to "New Democracy" as "democratic centralism. In this Reporter interview a foreign observer of Ethiopia responds to this question: So you feel at ease with the Marxist side of EPRDF like Revolutionary Democracy. Now. twisted it and are trying to build with it what is called crude capitalism. Ethiopian revolutionary democracy. Rather. Revolutionary democracy is a sort of borrowed ideology from Mao Tse Tung's New Democracy. including the leaders of the TPLF. In other words. dictatorship. from cadre to cadre and from opportunist to opportunist. Let us substitute the words 'liberal democracy' for 'bourgeois democracy' and follow this logic along its natural path. For a more comprehensive listing of the many undemocratic perversions of the term democracy here are relevant excerpts from the relevant holy texts. At the conclusion of a five day discussion held under the title. he renamed New Democracy to the People's Democratic Dictatorship. The democratic aspect of this methodology describes the freedom of members of the political party to discuss and debate matters of policy and direction. It should come as no shock that a few at the top of the revoutionary food chain stand to benefit the most from their role of interpreters of the holy texts. which is the case in a "bourgeois" democracy. Nothing else but that. . The centralization of authority. New Democracy involved the nationalization of banks and industry as well as the redistribution of land from wealthy landowners to the poor peasants. strengthening unity and tackling threats posed to the well being of the nation. This sounds like the sales job previously attempted on the German government on the varieties of democracy to excuse the continuing disenfranchisemnt of Ethiopians. As Lenin described it. the centralization of authority was meant to guarantee that all levels of society are represented rather than the interests of the majority. When Mao came to power over mainland China in 1949. not limited by anything. the ultimate form of revolutionary democracy his form of democracy The scientific concept. Economically.Here is a description of Lenin's dictatorship of the proletariat. all members were expected to follow that decision unquestioningly. The reader is not alone for thinking all of it seems just plain silly. not restrained by any laws or any absolute rules. As ugly as the revolutionary democratic path of vicious logic and policy has been historically it does have its absurd moments of tragi-comedy: at the time the revolutionary tome was being translated one of the government parties had this to say about it Upholding the principles of revolutionary democracy could be significant in ensuring the independence of the judiciary. as outlined above. The principle behind the People's Democratic Dictatorship was to guarantee that reactionary or counter-revolutionary voices would not have a say in government or have the ability to sway the opinions of the people.order to guarantee that all class interests are represented. would guarantee that the will of the people would be carried out by the government. Marxist-Leninism was designed to serve that few as the native inhumanity and logic of power enshrined in its holy texts have been handed down through the generations from dictator to dictator. cadres and members of the Harari national league said. means neither more nor less than unlimited power resting directly on force. This latter aspect represented the centralism. The reader should suspect that a majority vote within a revolutionary party might have vanishingly little to do with the people's will and their interests and far more to do with the interests of the party and its leaders with total power. democratic centralism consisted of "freedom of discussion and criticism. unity of action". but once the decision by the party was made (by majority vote). What matters most is that an increasingly small revolutionary vanguard gets to decide and describe what the will of the people is and what democracy is. "the question of democracy in Ethiopia" the participants said on Monday that revolutionary democracy was the only development strategy that could fit for the objective reality in the country. They also vowed to fight narrow nationalism. The Cultural Revolution with all of its nonsensical slogans and millions of victims was Mao's revenge against the 'reactionaries'. twelve years after the collapse of the Iron Curtain. Nothing short of paradise on earth is being promised! Such statements certainly read like a parody of a revolutionary movement or an equally amusing and absurd post-modern analysis of any subject. When this ersatz political program was defined it was ten years after the fall of Mengistu's Marxism. It is all meant to be taken quite seriously and can not herald a transformation to any recognizable form of democracy or market economy. nepotism and abuse of power. to end global warming and to master the space-time continuum. Imagine an impassioned group of Red Guard cadres during the Cultural Revolution posessed by the spirit of Mao through his Little Red Bookand you will have a clear idea of the dearth of imagination and the lack of engagement with reality that such 'revolutionary' language represents.but given the time or place using them wrongly could represent a death sentence for the unwary. Mao's power and status were reduced within the Chinese Communist Party. the members said. It was used to create a 'permanent revolution' of ongoing orchestrated tumult directed against all potential and even imaginary enemies. The principles of revolutionary democracy could effectively address the basic needs of the Ethiopian people by stumping out the bane of corruption. like the formula for Coca Cola. they said. the secret formula for revolutionary democratic miracles can not be revealed so one just have to believe and repeat mantras like those above. This glossary of ideologically-correct insults for enemies of the people is also in the same comic vein . In societies where mantras define government it does not matter what is being said or what anything means. All that is missing from the above description of revolutionary democracy is its ability to remove stubborn grass stains from clothes. After the utter failure of his Great Leap Forward at the cost of tens of millions of lives.In the absence of accumulated capital. The chants and slogans take on a life of . the members indicated. which they described as the major threat to the whole of the country. advanced technology and skilled manpower it would be difficult to adopt the principles of liberal democracy. no one really knows what revolutionary democracy is right? Silly as all this may seem it can not be amusing to the 70 million Ethiopians whose lives are determined by it . Upholding the principles of equality based on diversity and establishing harmonious relationships among the peoples of Ethiopia were the corner stones to speed up economic development. From one season to the next. any changes or essentially illogical policies and meaningless slogans and mantras only mattered because anyone valuing their life or position had to keep up very closely with the party line. ten years after the dissolution of the USSR and almost a quarter of a century after the abandonment of Maoism in China. They said revolutionary democracy could also encourage the direct participation of the people in the nation building process. chauvinism and corruption.right now. Of course. political democracy. as modern day serfs of the state. task forces. meant that the Sandinistas supported a republican form of government. Below we will take a short tour of such times and places. In Ethiopia the results of these 21st century mantras will ultimately be as continuingly harmful in terms of lives and time wasted. based on elections with universal suffrage. economic equality. meant active citizen participation in government organizations. The first. The attendant loss of any economic viability and of basic human rights that such a system guarantees is obvious to everyone concerned. while making all other methods of thought impossible. this new revolution is also meant to be permanent. or English Socialism. When Oldspeak has become obsolete. etc.their own and indeed by simple mind dulling repetition and the jealous exclusion of other thoughts a government can manage to obliterate all rational thought. The vocabulary of Newspeak has been built by inventing new words.it is not a novel concept. All of this serves only the purpose of knowingly retarding the development of any possible advanced political or economic system and civil society that could threaten the interests of the ruling class. Unfortunately. The blather will be sadly familiar The Sandinista cause was supported by three major beliefs. meant a . Finally the third. who constitutes by far the largest population. the official language has as its sole purpose the specific needs of Ingsoc. Remember that the second the Sandanistas were forced to have a real democratic election they were thrown out of power. In response to abundant criticism on the obvious ideological underpinnings of revolutionary democracy in Ethiopia a government official described as 'inappropriate and grave mistake' the attempt by some groups to liken revolutionary democracy with communism" and "defended Ethiopia's policy of public ownership of land. Recently the term was also mutated to the advantage of the Nicaraguan Marxist dictatorship and joined the litany of formulaic Marxist mantras that heralded the usual disastrous results of absent human rights and economic failure. saying that the system was in the best interest of the Ethiopian peasantry. revolutionary democracy across time and space Versions of revolutionary democracy have appeared worldwide . The Ethiopian Constitution today states just as the Constitution of Mengistu's dicatorship did that there can be no private ownership of land." This obligatory and hopeless defense was mounted not mounted just in response to criticism of revolutionary rhetoric but rather the whole array of laws and policies that are central to governance since 1974. where 'Newspeak'. “the three legs of the stool of Nicaraguan revolutionary democracy” . The national land tenure system continues to see peasants in particular. all of the countries past and present where the term has gained currency in any of its forms have been the unwilling hosts of a rather unpleasant set of ideologies and governments that were necessarily accompanied by the lack of human and democratic rights and of course by stunningly poor economic performance. and stripping existing words of their finer shades of meaning. 1984. especially those who will gain the most from it. participatory democracy. the last link with the past will have been destroyed. The ultimate result of the divorce of language from reality is familiar to readers of the novel of a bleak totalitarian future by George Orwell. eliminating old words. The second. Make no mistake. This is directly at odds with the individualistic and self-centred outlook the Australian education system inculcates into young people. Lenin approvingly cites this in State and revolution. The Congress declared that the "first and most important task of revolutionary democracy" was the speedy ending of war. In their day Marx and Engels not only chided their followers in Germany for not taking up the fight for a democratic republic against the kaiser state. Whereas in Russia Lenin and Stalin had focused primarily on economic equality. so long must Russian revolutionary democracy demand with all its strength that the Red Army shall be prepared to fight whether defensive or offensive. and some others that remain forever holy Marx. But Cuba doesn't have a dictatorship . Thus. Trotsky.it's a revolutionary democracy. But all these assumptions are only directed towards a single end : so long as the international efforts of democracy have failed to make an end of war. Wonder which country is really more democratic? Wonder how many Australian refugees want to escape to Cuba? Don't bother to ask such questions that have to do with actual non-delusional or halucinatory reality. at the same time confidently understanding the role they have to play as individuals in a revolutionary democracy. The article quotes Caudillo Chavez on the subject of democracy: People have asked me how I can support Fidel if he's a dictator . .. but also on the characteristics of an imperialistic war.. These three ideals together form a very interesting combination. the Sandinistas held a much better potential of representation of "Applied Marxism". Last but far from least is the newest adherent of Revolutionary Democracy giving the eldest one this dubious blessing in this Pravda piece "Cuba and Venezuela to unit[e] Latin American states to confront the growing imperial aggression of the USA. is founded not only on the common pacifist prejudices concerning war. Again the usual silly language is used in the service of tyranny Our own Menshevik. despite the difference in outward conditions." Yes. Ethiopian revolutionary democracy is firmly rooted in a nearly century old living tradition of dictatorship and engineeered poverty that is dressed up in the increasingly absurd catechism of Marxist jibberish. and “forgotten” Marx’s rule by the workers. but raised the perspective in the monarchist British Isles of a federal republic. According to the Australian left revolutionary democracy is working wonders in Cuban education. every act of bureaucratic arbitrariness. Here is some more useless verbiage on that fallen saint of Marxism. just recognize more of the same Cuban school students demonstrate an ability to generalise and to place themselves in the “big picture”. During the end of the First World War and in the midst of the Russian Civil War Trotsky pulled revolutionary democracy out of his bag of tricks to justify whatever could keep the Bolsheviks in power. The resolution on war. incorporating both Marxist and socialist ideas. played in its own way exactly the same part. Engels and Lenin (and to a considerable degree Trotsky) were revolutionary democrats who fully grasped the necessity of the working class taking the lead against every instance of oppression.communistic economy and complete equalization of wealth. that headline really was written in 2005 so Ethiopia is not the only country stuck in a time warp of dated radicalism although its people do suffer more. That is certainly welcome news to Cubans who were under the impression that forty six years of Castro's one man rule (one of the richest men on planet earth) was against their will. which was adopted by a majority of the All-Russian Congress of Workers' and Soldiers' Councils. every democratic deficit. social-revolutionary pacifism. to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed. hunger and plenty even happiness and despair are universal bits of reality that capitalism and liberal democracy have always balanced far better than any permutation of the left. Marx said that The bourgeoisie. Why shouldn't Ethiopia finally have a chance at the same good old fashioned Capitalist exploitation that made its Western aid donors so rich to begin with. has created more massive and more colossal productive forces than have all preceding generations together. birr and centimes. dollars and cents. to forget any fact that has become inconvenient. . Wealth and poverty. respectively) .after Deng abandoned Maoism. It did so with sound agricultural and land policies . Even in using the word doublethink it is necessary to exercise doublethink.it just exists as a product of human nature and existing productive.success seldom needs cheerleaders. the savior would certainly disapprove of using revolutionary democracy to travel back in time. Ethiopia should not skip the capitalist stage of history between feudalism and even hybrid socialism. by a fresh act of doublethink one erases this knowledge.. and accepting both of them. Capitalism needs no awaj or gimgemas to function (Amharic for proclamation and self confession / criticism sessions. For example.Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously. with the lie always one leap ahead of the truth. Marx. While it may be described in holy texts of its own. not promised social and economic evolution. during its rule of scarce one hundred years. This sacrifice would be worth it if only so the mass of wealth thus produced would eventually benefit revolutionary democracy when it showed up to nationalize it all and renew its zealous commitment to poverty and suffering. how many foreign companies will ever invest in a country that prattles on about revolutionary democracy and that doesn’t respect the most basic economic rights such as ownership of private property? What imaginable virtue is there in following a policy whose history guarantees failure and ruin when capitalism has worked so well? In the Manifesto of the Communist Party. After all. why not abandon revolution once and for all? The problem with political mantras is that they are only needed to defend failure . those texts came after the fact and are firmly in touch with reality. For by using the word one admits that one is tampering with reality. If modern history has shown us anything it is that the revolutionary solutions for the problems of development or indeed of human life have never worked and do not have prospects of ever working anywhere. and so on indefinitely. Accepting the logic of current governance would have all believe that 'love is hate. China was crippled by revolution and after World War II did not recover and regain the level of international trade it had enjoyed in the 1920s until almost seventy years later .Ethiopian 'Newspeak' is certainly Orwellian in intent and result.not just with prettified words and bold proclamations of intent. and 'peace is war' because no revolution will ever be allowed to challenge the current one and there certainly is no real democracy in store for Ethiopia. when it becomes necessary again. and then. to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies—all this is indispensably necessary. According to George Orwell's dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them.. . that is the central lesson of Gibee-ology. These days it seems as though the government is willing all to forget that Revolutionary Democracy ever existed or it seems like there is shame associated with the memory.It seems that the greatest virtue and value of any opposition to this government and its revolutionary policies is precisely that it does not have a mantra. sure ... facets and definitions of revolutionary democracy. a Marxist on the inside." says one analyst. Soviet International Socialism and German National Socialism were bitter enemies until Stalin and Hitler agreed to divide Poland. All the while the actual practice of Revolutionary Democracy remains intact but it has simply been realized that it is no longer a public relations plus when cash bearing donor nations might actually try to figure out what it means. its roots in Leninist-Maoist 'Democratic Centralism' and the unforgiving discipline of this vanguard permanent revolutionary party. By the next day every Socialist / Communist on . regardless of the popular will. "I never understood it myself. which is why they are in a state of disarray. is less than zero. All the nonsensical mantras and slogans serve the purpose of control .. Picture. Former TPLF members concur. for everyone .but to any observer using English it would seem that the whole business had been shed like a snake sheds its skin. The actual mechanism of state control and stage management of elections for the benefit of foreign observers will be the subject of Politburo Knows Best IV. For now simply not being a revolutionary democratic government that stubbornly redirects the country toward every ditch and pothole that the rest of humanity adroitly avoids should be enough to get the opposition elected in any fair system." says one. Don't be surprised if the coming year offers several more wonderful and tailored to the moment. the Baltic states and the Balkans between them.. The party is still the Ethiopian Revolutionary Democratic Front and part of the partys' press machine is still called Revolutionary Democracy. This is all in the spirit of the Nazi-Soviet Pact. Unfortunately. ideology or a set of delusions that has long been proven wrong by a history of millions of human lives ruined and decades lost not only in the world but right here in Ethiopia. the chances that the current government will let itself be voted out of power. In the end all anyone really needs to know about revolutionary democracy and the current prospects for democracy and human rights in Ethiopia is simply that Politburo Knows Best . An evaluation had this to say Meles is a capitalist on the outside. Since about the time this post was published there has (to our count anyway) been only one mention of Revolutionary Democracy (in English at least) by the government. dear reader. The politburo and their herd of cadres may have abandoned their raison d'etre verbally but not in spirit. even though I was in the party. forever and ever. Verbally forsaking Revolutionary Democracy in exigent circumstances thus becomes a noteworthy victory for Revolutionary Democratic discipline. Revolutionary Democracy remains the basis of politburo rule after 'election' 2005 and the series of massacres against protesting students and other citizens. When Mr Meles promoted his idea of revolutionary democracy. the twisted logic of the ruling ideology. and examined the economic aspects of the party program.. (1) Revolutionary Democracy discusses the Marxist .. Not mentioning ideology to explain an ideological dictatorship is not helpful.." in Ethiopian Register Magazine. Chapter 7 of Dr.. notes the political strategies of the party for ensuring permanent hegemony and the rules various actors in society will play or be forced to play in forcing eternal rule.. The second part of Chapter 7 was (3)Revolutionary Democracy Recycled . meditation. Ethiopia's revolutionary mantras and their associated spiritual beliefs are now in their third decade as .. Theodore Vestal's remarkable book Ethiopia: A Post-Cold War African State.. Mantras are usually associated with Hinduism.... # posted by ethiopundit : 8/10/2007 mantra A mantra is a sacred verbal formula repeated in prayer.. That chapter dealt with the the ruling party's 'Revolutionary Democratic Goals' based on internal documents of the party that were published as "TPLF/EPRDF's Strategies for Establishing its Hegemony & Perpetuating its Rule. The first part of Chapter 7 was (2) Revolutionary Democracy Redux and it looked at the overall strategy of the ruling EPRDF.opting instead to an 'in your face' brutality towards Ethiopians and foreign donors.. a magic spell.... The final entry (5) Revolutionary Democracy Reloaded is the end of Chapter 7 and concludes with the strategies for hegemony of this revealing and stunningly frank blueprint of a revolutionary vanguard party to reach its aim of permanent dictatorship while convincing the whole world otherwise.Leninist Maoist roots of the ideology and finds it to be essentially a grab bag of silly but deadly mantras justifying the dictatorship of a few.. With very kind permission we have also serialized over a number of posts. such as an invocation of a god. or a syllable or portion of scripture containing mystical potentialities. The third part of Chapter 7 was (4) Revolutionary Democracy Returns. .. or incantation. This attempt to make sense of it..depending on geography this was under punishment of death. the regime has stopped pretending to be democratic . However. Revolutionary Democracy is the guiding ideology of the Ethiopian ruling party and will always remain so.. The tragic experiences that humanity has had with rulers and their justifications was noted long ago by Voltaire a long time ago when he said Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.earth became an unyielding opponent of world capitalism against the suddenly blameless German Reich . Actually at this point compared to when this post was originally written in 2004. its own view of Revolutionary Democracy and the overall political goals that the program was to achieve. The embassies desperately needed the translation becauses just asking questions or observing policy as is routine in most other countries simply was not an option. As we shall see. so . Basically. intro to revolutionary democracy In 2001 several Western Embassies pooled resources to translate a nearly 700 page volume titled 'Revolutionary Democracy' from Amharic to English. 2001 Indian Ocean Newsletter (registration required) the book was "not to be taken literally because it is mainly for internal use. The comparison offered from the Gibee conveniently sets standards that are both geographically distant and temporally decades or generations away for fulfilment. that volume was all anyone had to grab onto in an attempt to understand what was going on in the Gibee. It was supposed to be the key to understanding Ethiopian governance and the completion of the transormation from decades of disastrous Marxist theories and practice towards a market capitalistic economy. then became a cousin of the Kremlinology that generations of Western analysts assiduously practiced to study the equally inscrutable Soviet government. which is regarded as an alternative to the "liberal democracy" practised by western industrialized states. It then further corrupts the concept of democracy with the escape clause of the term revolutionary. figuring out what revolutionary democracy could possible mean is ultimately as rewarding as the arcane studies done by Kremlinologists who filled thousands of volumes on detailed studies of which end of Lenin's tomb one commissar or another politburo member stood on May Day as opposed to the celebration of the October Revolution. Those characteristics were vital for a guerilla struggle but inappropriate for enterprising civilian rule.. According to the report from the July 28. Much of the confusion was purposeful because secrecy. The TPLF is the core of the ruling party the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front EPRDF. Whatever it purpose. unforgiving often vicious reactions to criticism. democracy is a simple concept and one easily separated from other. Liberal democracy is a human achievement that has spread far beyond the West and does not require industrialization to achieve..the central element of Ethiopian governance . manipulation. what is revolutionary democracy? The Ethiopian government's view of revolutionary democracy is translated here by the German Federal Foreign Office the official doctrine remains the vague concept of "revolutionary democracy". eternal intrigue. 'Gibee' is the familiar name for the compound in central Addis Ababa that has been the seat of all executive power for well over a century. Gibee-ology.their effect has not had the spiritual uplift of any great religion. for which the country is supposedly not yet ready. far less . it is an idealogical weapon against the dissidents of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF)". suspicion and an utter lack of transparency had become vital elements of government. From India to Botswana to Nicaragua many countries have democratic systems that are clearly recognizable as such by any rational observer. No one was actually meant to understand it at all beyond its value as a holy text.one Ethiopian critic from banking circles in Fortune (via Ethioguide) noted a lack of definition of the very concept of the term revolutionary democracy in the new volume and wondered whether it could be a new concept or some rendition of Marxist-Leninist thinking. listener and the policies that follow from ever coming to terms with reality and humanity. The appraisal of a political system is very much like telling the difference between a nude and a dirty picture . It is based on no objective reality . In the case of Marxism and its descendant. That is usually not the case . The word democracy may be abused but few are fooled by its imitations. Ethiopian revolutionary democracy. Rather. but guessing cannot replace the intention of the authors of the document. Both are divorced from any actual real world experience beyond their utility in justifying the continuing rule of the priestly class.. Marxist-Leninist jargon provides a form of faux intellectualism and a thin veneer of supposed good intentions that protects the speaker.. Actually. . Marxist Jeopardy.the first class comprising "those who create value" and the second ones who are classified as "rent collectors .people do not have to live in Switzerland. there is obfuscation and confusion to serve a political end. about the basics of Marxism. Politics and economic activity are thus not only denied the people in practice but language itself puts democracy even beyond the understanding of mere mortals.] The document identifies Ethiopia's businesspersons in two categories . In this Reporter interview a foreign observer of Ethiopia responds to this question: So you feel at ease with the Marxist side of EPRDF like Revolutionary Democracy.nothing is more valuable than basic human common sense especially in the face of an all encompassing theory with messianic qualities that always brings suffering in its wake. "People familiar with Marxism-Leninism may guess. The ideology is its own self sustaining echo chamber whose ultimate purpose is power for a few. New Zealand or Japan to benefit from it.businessmen who through legal or illegal means suck the wealth created by others as well as the country's natural resource". it is reality and humanity that must be changed to fit ideology. Serving up the leftover mantras of Marxist-Leninism makes as little sense today as it did a century ago when Russians became the first unfortunates with this type of talk forced on them. Translating the manifesto of Ethiopian revolutionary democracy or reading it in its original Amharic did little to dispel confusion about policy . and understand the real reality underlying those confusing words. The Holocausts of Communism Test.just a thin tissue of made up theories and statements that mantra like repetition somehow solidifies in the unquestioning mind. The reader should also take this quiz. forms of government . Political debate becomes a theological activity requiring a class of high priests to understand it.folks just plain know it when they see it. The reader may want to try a few questions from this quiz." [.pleasant. it is not supposed to make sense. People often have the mistaken assumption that there is inherent value in something that is difficult to understand. The essentials of democracy anywhere are open society. which is the case in a "bourgeois" democracy. So that's their problem. used to understand. as outlined above. would guarantee that the will of the people would be carried out by the government. by a magic I could not understand. Well. including the leaders of the TPLF. Central to Mao's theory of the state was what he called "New Democracy. In other words. Economically. unity of action". The principle behind the People's Democratic Dictatorship was to guarantee that reactionary or counter-revolutionary voices would not have a say in government or have the ability to sway the opinions of the people. Revolutionary democracy is a sort of borrowed ideology from Mao Tse Tung's New Democracy. Nobody has really explained it to me. Now." The New Democracy involved a graduated series of congresses from the local to the national level. rule of law and market economy. the centralization of authority was meant to guarantee that all levels of society are represented rather than the interests of the majority." Democratic centralism is an essence a dictatorship—"a dictatorship of all revolutionary classes. Let us substitute the words 'liberal democracy' for 'bourgeois democracy' and follow this logic along its natural path. Mao himself referred to "New Democracy" as "democratic centralism.I'm sure there are some because after all the people who set up the TPLF were students who thought Marxism is a good idea. As Lenin described it. problems you can settle them without going to extremes. come on. It's an interesting term. you may find a few people left in the world now who think that Marxism is a good idea. Well. flexible economy. New Democracy involved the nationalization of banks and industry as well as the redistribution of land from wealthy landowners to the poor peasants. what is revolutionary democracy? An Ethiopian academic. democratic centralism consisted of "freedom of discussion and criticism.. When Mao came to power over mainland China in 1949. I don't think anybody with much intelligence in the EPRDF would be much interested in being a Marxist now. As the reader may guess by now no one knows what revolutionary democracy is but the hints available are not reassuring that it is not a one way trip into a ditch. makes an attempt to address that question Yeah. but it's like a lot of other terms like that. They are using an ideology created to build socialism. especially to build a bridge for a socialist revolution .the so-called transition from pre-capitalist society to a socialist society. The centralization of authority. as most of us. what do you think about Revolutionary Democracy? What about other policies and strategies? Well. the TPLF is using that type of ideology for building what is called white capitalism. was a political project for building socialism. I'm not quite sure what Revolutionary Democracy is. but . This sounds like the sales job previously attempted on the German government on the varieties of democracy to excuse the continuing disenfranchisemnt of Ethiopians.. seriously . twisted it and are trying to build with it what is called crude capitalism. This latter. but its cornerstone was centralization. he renamed New Democracy to the People's Democratic Dictatorship. also in the Reporter." in Mao's words—power would be concentrated in the hands of a few in order to guarantee that all class interests are represented. The democratic aspect of this methodology describes the freedom of members of the political party to discuss and debate matters of policy and direction. And democracy means respect for human rights. so that when you have disagreements. All that is missing from the above description of revolutionary democracy is its ability to remove stubborn grass stains from clothes. dictatorship. In the absence of accumulated capital. strengthening unity and tackling threats posed to the well being of the nation. They also vowed to fight narrow nationalism. from cadre to cadre and from opportunist to opportunist. the members indicated. cadres and members of the Harari national league said. nepotism and abuse of power. which they described as the major threat to the whole of the country. not limited by anything. not restrained by any laws or any absolute rules. Nothing else but that. to end global warming and to master the . Marxist-Leninism was designed to serve that few as the native inhumanity and logic of power enshrined in its holy texts have been handed down through the generations from dictator to dictator. the members said. Upholding the principles of equality based on diversity and establishing harmonious relationships among the peoples of Ethiopia were the corner stones to speed up economic development. The principles of revolutionary democracy could effectively address the basic needs of the Ethiopian people by stumping out the bane of corruption.Here is a description of Lenin's dictatorship of the proletariat. chauvinism and corruption. they said. all members were expected to follow that decision unquestioningly. At the conclusion of a five day discussion held under the title. It should come as no shock that a few at the top of the revoutionary food chain stand to benefit the most from their role of interpreters of the holy texts.once the decision by the party was made (by majority vote). This latter aspect represented the centralism. As ugly as the revolutionary democratic path of vicious logic and policy has been historically it does have its absurd moments of tragi-comedy: at the time the revolutionary tome was being translated one of the government parties had this to say about it Upholding the principles of revolutionary democracy could be significant in ensuring the independence of the judiciary. means neither more nor less than unlimited power resting directly on force. the ultimate form of revolutionary democracy his form of democracy The scientific concept. advanced technology and skilled manpower it would be difficult to adopt the principles of liberal democracy. The reader is not alone for thinking all of it seems just plain silly. They said revolutionary democracy could also encourage the direct participation of the people in the nation building process. The reader should suspect that a majority vote within a revolutionary party might have vanishingly little to do with the people's will and their interests and far more to do with the interests of the party and its leaders with total power. "the question of democracy in Ethiopia" the participants said on Monday that revolutionary democracy was the only development strategy that could fit for the objective reality in the country. For a more comprehensive listing of the many undemocratic perversions of the term democracy here are relevant excerpts from the relevant holy texts. What matters most is that an increasingly small revolutionary vanguard gets to decide and describe what the will of the people is and what democracy is. The ultimate result of the divorce of language from reality is familiar to readers of the novel of a bleak totalitarian future by George Orwell. Make no mistake. When this ersatz political program was defined it was ten years after the fall of Mengistu's Marxism. Of course. the secret formula for revolutionary democratic miracles can not be revealed so one just have to believe and repeat mantras like those above. no one really knows what revolutionary democracy is right? Silly as all this may seem it can not be amusing to the 70 million Ethiopians whose lives are determined by it . Imagine an impassioned group of Red Guard cadres during the Cultural Revolution posessed by the spirit of Mao through his Little Red Bookand you will have a clear idea of the dearth of imagination and the lack of engagement with reality that such 'revolutionary' language represents. the last link with the past will have been destroyed. In response to abundant criticism on the obvious ideological underpinnings of revolutionary democracy in Ethiopia a government official described as 'inappropriate and grave mistake' the attempt by some groups to liken revolutionary democracy with communism" and "defended Ethiopia's policy of public . and stripping existing words of their finer shades of meaning. the official language has as its sole purpose the specific needs of Ingsoc. After the utter failure of his Great Leap Forward at the cost of tens of millions of lives. twelve years after the collapse of the Iron Curtain. like the formula for Coca Cola.but given the time or place using them wrongly could represent a death sentence for the unwary. The Cultural Revolution with all of its nonsensical slogans and millions of victims was Mao's revenge against the 'reactionaries'.space-time continuum. The chants and slogans take on a life of their own and indeed by simple mind dulling repetition and the jealous exclusion of other thoughts a government can manage to obliterate all rational thought. This glossary of ideologically-correct insults for enemies of the people is also in the same comic vein . this new revolution is also meant to be permanent. Nothing short of paradise on earth is being promised! Such statements certainly read like a parody of a revolutionary movement or an equally amusing and absurd post-modern analysis of any subject. any changes or essentially illogical policies and meaningless slogans and mantras only mattered because anyone valuing their life or position had to keep up very closely with the party line. eliminating old words. It is all meant to be taken quite seriously and can not herald a transformation to any recognizable form of democracy or market economy. while making all other methods of thought impossible. ten years after the dissolution of the USSR and almost a quarter of a century after the abandonment of Maoism in China. When Oldspeak has become obsolete. where 'Newspeak'. The vocabulary of Newspeak has been built by inventing new words. In Ethiopia the results of these 21st century mantras will ultimately be as continuingly harmful in terms of lives and time wasted. 1984. It was used to create a 'permanent revolution' of ongoing orchestrated tumult directed against all potential and even imaginary enemies.right now. From one season to the next. In societies where mantras define government it does not matter what is being said or what anything means. All of this serves only the purpose of knowingly retarding the development of any possible advanced political or economic system and civil society that could threaten the interests of the ruling class. or English Socialism. Mao's power and status were reduced within the Chinese Communist Party. . Recently the term was also mutated to the advantage of the Nicaraguan Marxist dictatorship and joined the litany of formulaic Marxist mantras that heralded the usual disastrous results of absent human rights and economic failure. Below we will take a short tour of such times and places. The Ethiopian Constitution today states just as the Constitution of Mengistu's dicatorship did that there can be no private ownership of land. Unfortunately. During the end of the First World War and in the midst of the Russian Civil War Trotsky pulled revolutionary democracy out of his bag of tricks to justify whatever could keep the Bolsheviks in power. meant that the Sandinistas supported a republican form of government. economic equality. so long must Russian revolutionary democracy demand with all its strength that the Red Army shall be prepared to fight whether defensive or offensive.ownership of land. participatory democracy. The second. The resolution on war. Remember that the second the Sandanistas were forced to have a real democratic election they were thrown out of power. but also on the characteristics of an imperialistic war. based on elections with universal suffrage. But all these assumptions are only directed towards a single end : so long as the international efforts of democracy have failed to make an end of war. “the three legs of the stool of Nicaraguan revolutionary democracy” . saying that the system was in the best interest of the Ethiopian peasantry. etc. The attendant loss of any economic viability and of basic human rights that such a system guarantees is obvious to everyone concerned. meant active citizen participation in government organizations." This obligatory and hopeless defense was mounted not mounted just in response to criticism of revolutionary rhetoric but rather the whole array of laws and policies that are central to governance since 1974. The Congress declared that the "first and most important task of revolutionary democracy" was the speedy ending of war. as modern day serfs of the state. Whereas in Russia Lenin and Stalin had focused primarily on economic equality. all of the countries past and present where the term has gained currency in any of its forms have been the unwilling hosts of a rather unpleasant set of ideologies and governments that were necessarily accompanied by the lack of human and democratic rights and of course by stunningly poor economic performance. despite the difference in outward conditions. The national land tenure system continues to see peasants in particular. political democracy. Again the usual silly language is used in the service of tyranny Our own Menshevik. These three ideals together form a very interesting combination. The blather will be sadly familiar The Sandinista cause was supported by three major beliefs. is founded not only on the common pacifist prejudices concerning war. and “forgotten” Marx’s rule by the workers. The first. meant a communistic economy and complete equalization of wealth. who constitutes by far the largest population. especially those who will gain the most from it.it is not a novel concept. the Sandinistas held a much better potential of representation of "Applied Marxism". which was adopted by a majority of the All-Russian Congress of Workers' and Soldiers' Councils. played in its own way exactly the same part. Finally the third. task forces. incorporating both Marxist and socialist ideas. revolutionary democracy across time and space Versions of revolutionary democracy have appeared worldwide . social-revolutionary pacifism. Even in using the word doublethink it is necessary to exercise doublethink. every act of bureaucratic arbitrariness. at the same time confidently understanding the role they have to play as individuals in a revolutionary democracy. with the lie always one leap ahead of the truth. Accepting the logic of current governance would have all believe that 'love is hate. when it becomes necessary again. by a fresh act of doublethink one erases this knowledge. According to the Australian left revolutionary democracy is working wonders in Cuban education. and so on indefinitely. Thus. and accepting both of them.Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously. every democratic deficit. just recognize more of the same Cuban school students demonstrate an ability to generalise and to place themselves in the “big picture”. that headline really was written in 2005 so Ethiopia is not the only country stuck in a time warp of dated radicalism although its people do suffer more.Here is some more useless verbiage on that fallen saint of Marxism. to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed. This is directly at odds with the individualistic and self-centred outlook the Australian education system inculcates into young people.success . and some others that remain forever holy Marx. to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies—all this is indispensably necessary. That is certainly welcome news to Cubans who were under the impression that forty six years of Castro's one man rule (one of the richest men on planet earth) was against their will. In their day Marx and Engels not only chided their followers in Germany for not taking up the fight for a democratic republic against the kaiser state. According to George Orwell's dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. Ethiopian 'Newspeak' is certainly Orwellian in intent and result.. Last but far from least is the newest adherent of Revolutionary Democracy giving the eldest one this dubious blessing in this Pravda piece "Cuba and Venezuela to unit[e] Latin American states to confront the growing imperial aggression of the USA.. but raised the perspective in the monarchist British Isles of a federal republic." Yes. Engels and Lenin (and to a considerable degree Trotsky) were revolutionary democrats who fully grasped the necessity of the working class taking the lead against every instance of oppression. Ethiopian revolutionary democracy is firmly rooted in a nearly century old living tradition of dictatorship and engineeered poverty that is dressed up in the increasingly absurd catechism of Marxist jibberish. Trotsky. The article quotes Caudillo Chavez on the subject of democracy: People have asked me how I can support Fidel if he's a dictator . For by using the word one admits that one is tampering with reality. to forget any fact that has become inconvenient.. But Cuba doesn't have a dictatorship . Wonder which country is really more democratic? Wonder how many Australian refugees want to escape to Cuba? Don't bother to ask such questions that have to do with actual non-delusional or halucinatory reality. and then.it's a revolutionary democracy. Lenin approvingly cites this in State and revolution. .. why not abandon revolution once and for all? The problem with political mantras is that they are only needed to defend failure . To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them. and 'peace is war' because no revolution will ever be allowed to challenge the current one and there certainly is no real democracy in store for Ethiopia. . those texts came after the fact and are firmly in touch with reality. This sacrifice would be worth it if only so the mass of wealth thus produced would eventually benefit revolutionary democracy when it showed up to nationalize it all and renew its zealous commitment to poverty and suffering. has created more massive and more colossal productive forces than have all preceding generations together. Ethiopia should not skip the capitalist stage of history between feudalism and even hybrid socialism. For now simply not being a revolutionary democratic government that stubbornly redirects the country toward every ditch and pothole that the rest of humanity adroitly avoids should be enough to get the opposition elected in any fair system. It did so with sound agricultural and land policies . All the nonsensical mantras and slogans serve the purpose of control . respectively) . Marx said that The bourgeoisie. .. how many foreign companies will ever invest in a country that prattles on about revolutionary democracy and that doesn’t respect the most basic economic rights such as ownership of private property? What imaginable virtue is there in following a policy whose history guarantees failure and ruin when capitalism has worked so well? In the Manifesto of the Communist Party. Capitalism needs no awaj or gimgemas to function (Amharic for proclamation and self confession / criticism sessions. facets and definitions of revolutionary democracy. While it may be described in holy texts of its own. For example. Marx. Why shouldn't Ethiopia finally have a chance at the same good old fashioned Capitalist exploitation that made its Western aid donors so rich to begin with.it just exists as a product of human nature and existing productive. In the end all anyone really needs to know about revolutionary democracy and the current prospects for democracy and human rights in Ethiopia is simply that Politburo Knows Best . Wealth and poverty.that is the central lesson of Gibee-ology. hunger and plenty even happiness and despair are universal bits of reality that capitalism and liberal democracy have always balanced far better than any permutation of the left. birr and centimes. If modern history has shown us anything it is that the revolutionary solutions for the problems of development or indeed of human life have never worked and do not have prospects of ever working anywhere. the savior would certainly disapprove of using revolutionary democracy to travel back in time..not just with prettified words and bold proclamations of intent.seldom needs cheerleaders. is less than zero. forever and ever.. ideology or a set of delusions that has long been proven wrong by a history of millions of human lives ruined and decades lost not only in the world but right here in Ethiopia. China was crippled by revolution and after World War II did not recover and regain the level of international trade it had enjoyed in the 1920s until almost seventy years later .after Deng abandoned Maoism. Unfortunately. the chances that the current government will let itself be voted out of power. After all. The actual mechanism of state control and stage management of elections for the benefit of foreign observers will be the subject of Politburo Knows Best IV. not promised social and economic evolution. regardless of the popular will. It seems that the greatest virtue and value of any opposition to this government and its revolutionary policies is precisely that it does not have a mantra. Don't be surprised if the coming year offers several more wonderful and tailored to the moment. dollars and cents. for everyone . during its rule of scarce one hundred years. its roots in Leninist-Maoist 'Democratic Centralism' and the unforgiving discipline of this vanguard permanent revolutionary party. Verbally forsaking Revolutionary Democracy in exigent circumstances thus becomes a noteworthy victory for Revolutionary Democratic discipline. The party is still the Ethiopian Revolutionary Democratic Front and part of the partys' press machine is still called Revolutionary Democracy." says one analyst. An evaluation had this to say Meles is a capitalist on the outside. By the next day every Socialist / Communist on earth became an unyielding opponent of world capitalism against the suddenly blameless German Reich . the Baltic states and the Balkans between them. Picture.Revolutionary Democracy remains the basis of politburo rule after 'election' 2005 and the series of massacres against protesting students and other citizens. When Mr Meles promoted his idea of revolutionary democracy." says one. This is all in the spirit of the Nazi-Soviet Pact. the twisted logic of the ruling ideology.but to any observer using English it would seem that the whole business had been shed like a snake sheds its skin. The politburo and their herd of cadres may have abandoned their raison d'etre verbally but not in spirit. The tragic experiences that humanity has had with rulers and their justifications was noted long ago by Voltaire a long time ago when he said Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. Former TPLF members concur. even though I was in the party.depending on geography this was under punishment of death. which is why they are in a state of disarray. These days it seems as though the government is willing all to forget that Revolutionary Democracy ever existed or it seems like there is shame associated with the memory. Soviet International Socialism and German National Socialism were bitter enemies until Stalin and Hitler agreed to divide Poland. sure . Since about the time this post was published there has (to our count anyway) been only one mention of Revolutionary Democracy (in English at least) by the government. dear reader. . "I never understood it myself. All the while the actual practice of Revolutionary Democracy remains intact but it has simply been realized that it is no longer a public relations plus when cash bearing donor nations might actually try to figure out what it means. a Marxist on the inside.