Desecuritising quest for regional self-administration in Sidama-land

BY Mulugeta Daye
8 hours ago · (ከማህበራዊ መረብ ላይ የተገኘ ጽሁፍ)

I am learning form the reports from the Sidama-land the reason Iyasu Ragaasa, Dukk’ale Lamiso, Boshla Gabiso, Abate Kimmo, et al jailed, they are alleged to mobilise people against government. If the allegations are correct, and even if those jailed people involved in mobilization of the Sidama-for regional self- administration. The commitment of late Prime-Minster Meles Zenawi to give constitutional guarantee to the Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples, to opt out from the Union which they are uncomfortable with as it is enshrined in article 39 of Ethiopian constitution, has become invalid while this visionary is in hospital bed. In the movement of 2005-2006 he legitimised the Sidama’s quest for regional autonomy. However he come down to the Sidama-land, capital and politely advised the nation to choose regional autonomy or development. For the Sidama both Regional autonomy and Development are the same thing. Because without relative freedom and good governance, achieving stipulated development is very difficult if it is not impossible. However the sincerity of the late Prime-Minster calmed down the pace for regional autonomy although it has never deter or stopped the quest for Sidama public.The discovery of secret document authored by SEPDM, on the fate of Hawassa Administration by the Sidama nationals rekindled the struggle for regional autonomy.
In the light of this development, it is imperative to raise the extent to which securitising the legitimate quest for regional self-administration and jailing its promoter. I would like humble myself to ask those who are in the power in the SNNPRS and the federal level, If people are imprisoned for legitimate question what is the difference between EPRDF and The ultra-right wing and reactionaries position of Imperial, Dergue, CUD, and Ginbot 7 ? 
As to me the move is contra- democracy and constitutional guarantees. Because when we examine how national questions/identity politics are treated in democracies, national questions are entirely ‘desecuritized’. 

Identity politics is a normal day-to-day politics. It’s taken out of the ‘security box’ and put into the box of democratic politics. There are several western countries that have active movements seeking national self-determination: Quebec, Flanders, Scotland, Puerto Rico and Catalonia. In all these cases, there are functioning vocal political parties that contest dominance by hegemonic groups; and even question the legitimacy of the existing state. In some cases, such parties have even seized power at a regional level. In almost all, politicians demanding independence speak on television; sit in on parliamentary committees and openly campaign in the streets. Yet, in all cases, political actors in democratic multi-national states have never securitized demands for self-determination. 
However, these democratic exercises, successive Ethiopian governments including up to EPRDF, even EPRDF in the context of SNNPRs, cry for moribund model of assimilation, homogenization, and centralization and for sustaining predatory establishment of unitary state in the Southern Ethiopia ,unlike the rest of the country who are relatively enjoying the fruits of relative federal structure. In doing so, they chose to condemn victims and praise perpetrators; they chose to promote the interests of the hegemonic groups and label the demands of the oppressed as dangerous. They zealously admire war of expansion/conquest and chronic evils that have historically turned the largest of the Sidama Nation to ‘minoritized majority’ that exposed them to a century old repression. They attempt to securitize even the most democratic demands such as: Regional self- Administration This suggests the similarities between the remnants of reactionaries such as Ginbot 7 and SEPDM in charge of SNNPRs is working to bulldoze everything Sidama, Contra-constitutional guarantee and commitment of the late Prime-Minster Meles Zenawi, Therefore I humble my-self to urge Post-Meles Administration in Ethiopia to desecuritize, the quest for regional self- Administration, as it is originally meant and march against poverty and worries for next meal, and the Sidama regional self-administration promoters, to carry on your peaceful, non-violent, struggle without violating the right of others, as you have been doing so far.

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