WHY MUST WE WORRY ABOUT GROWING INEQUALITY IN ETHIOPIA?
By Solomon G/S In 2012, I wrote an essay titled “The Growing Inequality in Ethiopia” that was posted on a few Ethiopian Diaspora websites such as Abugida and Abay Media. In that essay, while trying to explain the manifestations of growing inequality, I did not justify or even explain why we should worry about the injustice of growing inequality. I will try to do that here because it is important for a number of reasons. The 1960’s generation of Ethiopian youth was impressed and influenced by the egalitarian philosophy of Marxism. For the then Ethiopian society where class cleavages were apparent based on land holdings and other properties, the influence of an egalitarian philosophy could not be underestimated. Today’s generation has no overarching philosophy to anchor a belief in arresting the growing inequality in Ethiopia. While the time-tested religious influence plays an aspirational role for seeking equality, religion alone has been shown not to be sufficient. On to