Meles the Good + Meles Bad = Meles the Controversial – Part Three: Bitter Meles

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The musings of a nosey layman on the late Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia-enigmatic leader of some and stern ruler over many others.

In many respects, the young Meles (late 1960s-1991, see Part 1-Idealist Meles), was an innocent. Along with a couple of dozen of his closest comrades, he exhibited many of the characteristics typical of the revolutionaries of the era.

Among these traits are a genuine altruism fueled by a conscientious spirit, the courage to stand up for one’s principles- even against forces boasting overwhelming superiority and an unshakeable belief that the nascent struggle will conclude victoriously.

Somewhat anecdotally, Meles and Latin-American revolutionary Che Guevara had a few things in common. They came from middle-class families. Physically, both firebrands were slight in stature and sported bushy beards, often seen speckled with bits of ash from chain-smoked cigarettes in Meles’ case and Cuban cigars for the iconic Che.

They read and wrote obsessively, went to medical school (Che finished, Meles dropped out) and both abandoned relatively bright future prospects in pursuit of their respective callings. And oh, one other thing; their names are actually pseudonyms. Che’s real first name was plain, old Ernesto.

Meles, on the other hand, cast away ‘Legesse’- his rather bland sounding name, and took up the more harmonic ’Meles’ to honor a fallen comrade-in-arms (so says EPRDF lore).

But for all the similarities however, Che and Meles had significant-even critical-differences of personality. Up to his final hours, as the Bolivian police- soon to kill him and chop off both of his hands as proof of death- were closing in, Che remained the idealist that he was.

After having fought successfully with Cuba’s Fidel Castro, Che was accorded Cuban citizenship and had even given the economy portfolio in the politburo of the Communist Party. So then, having already accomplished much, he really didn’t need to have been in right-wing Bolivia- to be hunted down and butchered like a wild animal.

Not to sound overly presumptuous, but I am of the belief that there are two classes of revolutionary. I have named the most common type, ‘malignant’. And of course, I must term the second and much rarer type of revolutionary as, ‘benign’.

The ‘malignant’ revolutionary conducts his insurgency on behalf (and on the shoulders) of the oppressed masses. He marches into the freshly ousted dictator’s palace, promising to be everything the departed despot wasn’t- democratic and pluralistic, fair, humane and above all, not intent on hogging political power.

Yet, and all too soon, the ‘malignant’ revolutionary begins to show his true colors. He quickly becomes as bad as (if not worse) the autocrat he toppled. A long suffering people’s hopes are dashed- scarcely before they could begin to hope for a new dawn. Disappointment, frustration and then finally, desperation, drag the nation to enter into yet another, even bloodier round of strife and revolution.

Che was not a malignant revolutionary. He took no stock in self-aggrandizement, detested cults of personality, lived sparingly and had no interest for the trappings of power. In fact, Che was not only a ‘benign’ agent of change. He was rather a ‘benign serial revolutionary’ who believed passionately that his work was not over until freedom came to all oppressed peoples everywhere.

With that said, Meles Zenawi was clearly a Machiavelli to Che Guevara’s Robin Hood. Although he will long remain difficult to peg down, Meles can be described as an over-achiever whose intellectual brilliance was limited by an inherent narrow minded world view. Granted, Meles was a revolutionary.

Indeed, I may even dare to describe the man himself as having been ‘a revolution’ in the history of Ethiopian statesmanship. But still, Meles Zenawi Asres was about as far as one could be from the sort of ‘benign’ revolutionary exemplified by Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara.

Some illuminating contrasts:
Che                                                                        Meles
United and democratic world                                       Fragmented, dominant ruling (single) parties

Focused on similarities                                                    Focused on differences

Shunned political power                                                  Devoted much energy to retain power

Despised opportunistic hangers-on                               Tolerated corruption as long it didn’t pose
a threat to TPLF/EPRDF’s continued
hegemony
Abhorred liberators turned dictators                             Managed to be seen as one of Africa’s
classic examples of this malignancy

We have observed in the preceding two parts of this article that, Idealist Meles (late 1960s-1991) was a distant and somewhat obscure character. More is known and will doubtless be remembered (appreciatively, perhaps) of the Mellow Meles (1991-2005) who cautiously but skillfully steered the nation towards the first free, fair and verifiable elections in its 3000 plus years of existence.

I would have liked to believe that, Meles Zenawi’s mellow phase registered a quantum leap forward in the political evolution of Ethiopia, its sub-region and indeed, that of greater Africa.

But, there remains stuck in my windpipe, the man’s lifelong obsession with an inherently unstable cocktail- a blend of neo-Stalinism, ethnicity and national fragmentation. This perversion of political science was baptized with the choice oxymoron, Revolutionary Democracy.

In any case, and to give the devil his due, I am sure that the all too brief period-between the latter- months of 2004 and June 2005-can justly be recorded as the high-water mark of modern Ethiopian political history. I like to call it the Abyssinia Spring…

Meles demonstrated political maturity, confidence and a great deal of courage in holding those historic elections. So then, what exactly was it that cut short this flowering of democracy? In short, it was crushed by the same things (or the lack thereof) that had brought it about in the first place.

As the opposition rode a tidal wave of support, it swept the polls-even in areas where the regime had stakeholders. Meles & Co entered a state of shock from which they are yet to fully recover (even though nearly a decade has passed since spring turned into an interminable winter).

Following this historic defeat, the much lauded political maturity gave way to intellectual degeneration, confidence turned into insecurity and courage succumbed to institutional paranoia.

This was the psychological profile of an embittered Meles who now all but officially denounced democracy. To pave the ground for the machinery of oppression he even trampled all over his beloved constitution as he issued a series of repressive laws.

At the moment Meles died, he left a dazed and rudderless party which every day rededicates itself to continuing his legacy. Personally, I wish they could bring back only the hope filled times of the Mellow Meles and cast away the dark years of Bitter Meles. That is a legacy we can do without. THE END

By Tesfu Telahoun, newbusinessethiopia.com