It Is Painful, but Ethiopians Will Thrive

These are trying times for Ethiopia, with tragedies befallen on many Ethiopians over the past consecutive weeks, due to the inhumane brutality faced by fellow citizens in South Africa, Yemen and most recently Libya. It is as if grief has its own domino effect, which makes one painful event follow an even more gruesome one.

In what seems to be an unending tribal clash in Yemen, Ethiopians got stranded between the fires of the fighting tribes with little hope of getting away from the place. A worsening security situation in the country, considered strategic in some senses, means that the hopes of the Ethiopians there decline with each incident.

Of course, authorities tried to evacuate some that managed to communicate with them. But the number of those evacuated was far lower than the number of Ethiopians that live in the country or are staying there until they manage to emigrate to the Middle Eastern countries that are their intended destinations.

South Africa presented Ethiopians with an even worse scenario. Disadvantaged nationals of the country considered to be the beacon of Africa, took it up on themselves to attack migrants. The attackers seemed to believe that the economic immobility and inequality of opportunities they face in their country has largely to do with migrants coming in flocks. For them, each thriving migrant represents an economic opportunity that could have gone to one of their nationals.

The tragedies of Ethiopians seem not to end there, though. In Libya, a north African country under a conflict cycle since the overthrow of the long overdue dictatorship of Muammar Gaddaffi, an affiliate of the Islamic State of Iraq & the Levant (ISIL), a militant group that envisions to establish an Islamic Caliphate in Middle East and North Africa, heinously killed over two dozens of Ethiopian migrants.

The depraved and cowardly act of the group was distributed through a propaganda video, which, according to experts, involved advanced production and post-production techniques, including glitch, distortion and elliptical editing, and which became a hit in social media circles.

The act by the militants of the ISIL, sometimes called just Islamic State (IS), was indeed unbearable for Ethiopians at home and abroad. It represented a pattern of attacks against the very values they try to inculcate, including religious tolerance and the right to mobility. Surely, the inhumane way in which the Ethiopians in Libya were depicted to have been killed was shocking, in every sense of the word.

With a series of attacks against their fellow citizens in countries as varied as South Africa, Yemen and Libya, Ethiopians cried. They cried so much that hopelessness reigned. They found it painful to live in a situation where they could not actually extend a helping hand to their compatriots who found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Certainly, the situation is painful. It hurts so much. Words cannot express the feelings experienced at seeing the cruelty of misinformed South Africans or fanatic ISIL militants vindictively killing fellow citizens. Life feels empty, meaningless and fruitless.

It is disturbing to see such a level of cruelty. It is unbearably saddening to see human beings taking comfort in the painful death of their fellow human beings. No person deserves such pain, not less Ethiopians.

Regardless of the differences in causes, those who undertake these unspeakable atrocities seem to want to drain hope from the hearts of Ethiopians and make them surrender to their whims. In the case of the South Africans, the whole issue is about driving migrants out of the country, which, until 1994, was living under Apartheid with its citizens suffering from racial inequality.

For the militants of the ISIL, the whole issue boils down to spreading a certain way of interpreting the convictions of a given belief system. Under their notion, difference is treated with cruelty. By way of spreading their brutality through various media, the group looks to intimidate those who subscribe to a different conviction and even those with similar conviction but with a different understanding.

As shocking, painful and disturbing as these series of atrocities may be, though, Ethiopians stand taller than the challenges. Theirs is a history of a society that has managed to pass through many ups and downs to just stay united and strong.

Sure, Ethiopians have their differences. But they have never allowed their differences to overshadow their tolerance. Be it in times of foreign aggression, natural disaster, conflict or economic shock, Ethiopians always opt to stand by each other. They withstand the shocks with a sense of solidarity.

The values Ethiopians cherish, such as generosity, hospitality, modesty and tolerance, have been tried and tested through centuries of evolution involving different types of shocks. Massacres, bloody conflicts, dictatorships and famine have tested these values at different times. They have not made Ethiopians lose their values but have made them more determined to maintain them.

As a nation, Ethiopia is also sustained through the sacrifices made to maintain shared values. Millions have paid in blood and bones for these values to stay up and remain afloat during tides of economic, political, cultural and social subjugation. Even the harshest starvation, the bloodiest dictatorship and the mightiest aggressor have not managed to rob them of their dear values.

Hope has always been the typical trait of Ethiopians. Even under the most trying times, Ethiopians have always hoped for better days to come. No threat is powerful enough to disband Ethiopians from hoping. And no difference gets in the way of the Ethiopian hope.

It, therefore, is sure that neither the cruelty of South Africans nor the brutality of ISIL militants has the power to force Ethiopians lose hope in their collective destiny. They will endure the trying times with a sense of solidarity to stand stronger and even more empowered.

In their march towards collective prosperity, Ethiopians have taken courage from their compatriots who have paid with their lives. They will not allow their mourning to pull them backwards. Instead, they will join their hands and move forward. And this is not rhetoric. It, rather, is history repeating itself.

At the end of the day, what matters is not how far a collective destiny seems. What matters most is how determined a society is to reach it. With Ethiopians, it is sure that this determination is there. It cannot be taken away with brutality and intimidation.

Neither will hatred have a place in the hearts of Ethiopians. They will always be people who value hope and live it to the fullest.

It is through remembrance of their compatriots, with courage to withstand the national tragedy, and rekindled hope, that Ethiopians will reaffirm that the blood spilled in the towns of Durban, the deserts of Yemen and the soils of Libya, as well as the waters of the Red Sea, is not in vain.

Yes. Ethiopians will endure the pain the death of their loved ones has inflicted upon them. And undoubtedly, they will overcome the days of their sorrow. Let the souls of the dead rest in peace!


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