A call for unity among all groups working toward the central aim of Save Ethiopia, based on the following project

By  Kinfu

Starting point and logical string 

Based on a piece of advice from two hundred years ago – still widely discussed today: 
In a cruel world, (like in cruel Ethiopia today), we should talk less and act more. Instead of hiding behind rigid ideologies (like ethnic federalism) we should work where our actions have visible effects on real suffering. Politics should be judged not by promises or doctrines, but by its capacity to reduce suffering here and now. “Cultivate our garden” (Candide). 

From the diaspora, Distance has created a dangerous illusion That 

• Outrage and demonstrations alone is action, 
• Analyses and statements substitute for strategy, and  
• If we wait long enough, history will correct itself without our participation.  

Three Realities about Ethiopians (and probably others too): 

• Those who sit in power, and those who hold the gun, do not relinquish power willingly. History is unambiguous on this point. 
• Those who speak most often of peace usually wish for it to arrive without their involvement, their risk, or their cost, and 
• The majority, those who suffer, pay, flee, and endure, remain unorganized, unheard, are politically irrelevant. 

This is not only numbers. It is a failure of organization, will, and responsibility. 

Realities can change only if: 

• Those who sit in power, the armed are forced to stop war (- Complicated) 
• The passive, those who speak without involvement engage actively with division of labor –(Feasible) 
• The majority, the powerless organize – (Feasible) 

Power does not respond to sympathy; it responds to pressure. And pressure does not emerge spontaneously – it is built, organized. This is feasible. 

Through diverse mechanisms, the diaspora can shape all three of these realities. 

We begin from this reality, not from hope detached from action, not from wishful thinking.  

Diaspora Role for Peace & Prosperity – requirement 

• Commitment to collective purpose, such as peace and development 
• Commitment to cooperation, grounded in shared responsibility for that purpose 
• Commitment to deliberative engagement, including listening, dialogue, and joint decision-making on strategy
  
  In short: more actionable thinking, less emotion. 

Core Strategic Shift through Ideation: Revisiting Foundational Assumptions 

We must collectively pivot from failed paradigms: 

• From the False Absolutes of: “Unity or Death” vs. “Ethnic Autonomy or Death” 
• To: “Civic Guarantees and Shared Prosperity for All” 
• From: Focusing on activists/spokesmen & strong leaders 
• To: Engaging the silent majority & championing holistic ideas 
• From: Defending partisan positions and privilege 
• To: Prioritizing national peace and stability 
• From: Consuming polarized media 
• To: Creating new platforms for solution-based dialogue. 

Focus: The Mobilizable Middle 

Target: those whose voices are currently drowned by noise: 

• Younger Second Generation: Who do not inherit their parents’ ethnic political loyalties. 
• Disengaged Professionals: Exhausted by toxic polarization but who hold significant social and financial capital. 
• Respected Elders & Faith Leaders: With moral authority and experience in coexistence. 
• All who love the idea of Ethiopia and develop their ethnicity outside politics. (After all, most of us are multi-ethnic Ethiopians.) 

Tactics: From Talk to Action 

1. Build Community & Narrative (Listening First) 

• Organize private, facilitated Zoom Listening Tours on pressing questions: “What do we tell our children?”  “We swim together or we sink together.” 
• Create and publish a Diaspora Peace Statistics with data-driven insights: “Over XX% of diaspora Ethiopians prioritize economic development and stability over ethnic political goals but feel voiceless.” 

2. Launch a Unifying Symbolic Project 

• Establish a Diaspora-Funded National Trauma and Burn Center in Ethiopia. Its founding charter must commit to treating all victims of violence, regardless of region or ethnicity. This creates a shared humanitarian project and a powerful symbol of common purpose. 

3. Reframe the Choice with Compelling Media (counter sensational and commercial YouTube flood) 

• Produce a viral videos contrasting two futures:
  • Scenario A (Current Path): Graphs of GDP collapse, remittances funding conflict, a balkanized map. Tagline: “Your birthplace becomes a permanent conflict and death zone.” 
  • Scenario B (Civic Investment Path): “Your birthplace becomes an African success story. Your identity becomes a source of pride.” 

4. Promote the “Civic Nutcracker” Framework 

• The Conflict Equation:
  Oromo Grievance + Amhara Grievance + Survival Politics = Permanent War & Poverty (=0, Zero-sum) 
• The Solution Equation:
  Oromo Security + Amhara Security + Civic Guarantees for All = Positive-Sum Future ( > 0, positive) 
• Core Principle: You cannot change the variables if you only fight for one of them. 

5. Empower Professional & Institutional Networks 

• Form a multi-ethnic Professional Core Solution Group (lawyers, judges, engineers, MDs, MBAs, PhDs, experts) to draft transition designs. 
• Launch a solution-focused review paper with a strict editorial policy: “We publish only analysis addressing the interests of at least two conflicting parties simultaneously.” 
• Partner with Churches, Mosques, Professional Associations, and University Unions to host dialogues. 

Projected Result: The Diaspora Civic Council 

Objective: To form a Diaspora Civic Council (DCC) of 12-15 highly respected, non-partisan figures (e.g., retired judge, prominent surgeon, celebrated artist, tech CEO, revered elder). 

Launch Action: The DCC will issue a “Diaspora Neutrality Pact” Manifesto: 

“We, the undersigned, representing no party but the conscience of the diaspora, declare a Diaspora Neutrality Pact. We withdraw financial and rhetorical support from any entity that propagates hate speech or refuses civic dialogue. We collectively endorse and will fund only projects that build the civic, shared future.” 

First Strategic Move: The Council publicly challenges all diaspora media to host a simultaneous “Framework Debate,” offering to fund the production. This seizes the agenda and forces engagement with the civic solutionist framework. 

A New Diaspora Consensus 

The goal is to make supporting this civic framework the socially dominant, intellectually respectable, and morally compelling position within the diaspora. This drains oxygen and resources from conflict entrepreneurs. 

Final, Critical Note:  

This initiative requires credible and courageous first movers. These individuals may emerge from existing Save Ethiopia groups or from other constituencies that recognize the urgency of the moment and choose to respond, reorganize in a wider form. Past experience demonstrates that many such efforts have surfaced only to dissipate. Frequently, they have taken the form of spontaneity-driven mobilizations, characterized by high emotional intensity but insufficient strategic grounding, leading ultimately to fragmentation and public disillusionment. 

To avoid this pattern, a small group of widely respected individuals must step forward to form the initial nucleus of the Council, guided from the outset by strategic intent rather than emotive impulse, personal connections, etc. A project succeeds when vision informs strategy, strategy guides goals, creativity enables problem-solving, and sustainability ensures continuity beyond initial implementation – and all this must be clear at the start!  

Such an undertaking must proceed with full awareness that early action will likely attract hostile reactions from ethnicized and well-organized extremes. Emotional mobilization often overtakes reasoned deliberation, particularly in highly polarized environments. 

Accordingly, those who step forward must be prepared. Their principal sources of resilience will be impeccable personal credibility, a demonstrable commitment to civic principles, and the latent fatigue of a broad public seeking measured, principled leadership – many of whom will recognize this effort as a long-awaited articulation of their own concerns. 

Editor’s Note : Views in the article do not necessarily reflect the views of borkena.com  

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