os

Ethiopia:
confronting
famine and |
a feudal past |

Dr. Charles and Sally Davis of
St. John’s, Newfoundland spent a
full year in Ethiopia from Sep-
tember, 1986 to the fall of 1987
working on the ‘‘Addwater pro-
gram.” a CIDA exchange pro-
gram between the Universities of
Waterloo and Addis Ababa. The
Addwater program assists in the
training of graduate students in
the field of freshwater biology
and fisheries.

They were interviewed by
Miguel Figueroa, Atlantic corres-
pondent of the Canadian Tribune,
after their return. An abridged
version follows:

(Second of two parts.)

M.F.: The Ethiopian govern-
ment has recently gone through
an important stage in its devel-
opment, including the adoption of
a new constitution and the forma-
tion of the People’s Democratic
Republic of Ethiopia. Could you
comment on these developments?

S.D.: The revolution against
the Haile Selassie regime in 1974
was essentially an anti-feudal
struggle in a backward land.
Therefore a top priority during
the early years after the revolu-
tion was education and 4 very
successful campaign against illi-
teracy was put in place.

In 1986, people throughout
the country met in their kebeles,
unions, women’s and youth
organizations to discuss a draft
constitution prepared by a con-
stitutional committee. About
1,000 changes were suggested by
the people and then a second
draft was drawn up.

C.D.: This revised draft was
then put to a popular referen-
dum of the people. Eighty-two
per cent voted yes, 18 per cent
voted no and one per cent of
the ballots were spoiled. Under
the terms of the new constitu-
tion, people voted for a Shengo,
or national parliament. The
constituencies were based on the
number of people. In urban
areas, two or three kebeles
would join together to become
one constituency, from which
one person would be elected to
parliament. In rural areas a sim-
ilar procedure was followed
based on peasant associations.
In each constituency, people
were nominated by mass organ-
izations, unions, the kebeles and
by the Workers Party of Ethio-
pia.

M.F: What are the main char-
acteristics of the new constitution
in terms of the collective and
individual rights of citizens?

C.D.: The constitution gua-
rantees equality for all, regard-
less of religion, ethnic origin,
sex, occupation and so forth. It
has sections guaranteeing equal
rights for women and freedom
of religion. It guarantees that in
the family, men and women are
equal and that marriage must be
based on mutual voluntary con-
sent.

In terms of social rights, we
should remember that Ethiopia
is a poor country, and so the
constitution guarantees such
rights as employment and
decent housing only as far as it
is possible to provide them. It
will change later when objective
circumstances allow for the pro-
vision of these vital social rights
to the people. Education, how-
ever, is free, from kindergarten
through university.

M.F.: What about the role of
the Workers Party of Ethiopia?
The corporate press tends to
present the Ethiopian government
as a military junta, a dictatorship

C.D.: At the time of the revo-
lution, there was a spontaneous
uprising among the peasants,
working people, students and
sections of the middle class in
opposition to the rotten condi-
tions existing in the country.
The uprising was spontaneous
and without real leadership.
During the early stages of the
revolution there emerged a
group of junior army officers
who took over leadership of the
revolution and set up a Provi-
sional Military Advisory Coun-
cil (the PMAC or Dergue). The
Dergue became the ruling body
in the country. It was abolished
under the new constitution, hav-
ing been replaced by the elected
Shengo as the ruling body. The
transfer of power to the
democratically-elected govern-
ment took place Sept. 12, 1987.

M.F.: So, it is essentially a civ-
ilian government. What about the
Workers Party of Ethiopia. Is it
a mass party? What is its pro-
gram?

C.D.: The Workers Party
(WPE) plays an important role
in all government organizations.
A leadership role for the work-

ing classes “and their party, the
WPE” is written into the consti-
tution. However, I believe that a
large majority of government
bureaucrats are not WPE
members. Q

Under the much expanded
educational system, many more
young people from the working
classes are now receiving higher
education and are slowly assum-
ing more positions in govern-
ment bodies and other
responsible posts.

M.F.: What about mass atti-
tudes towards the government?

S.D.: This was very hard for

. us to determine among the

workers and peasants. Among
the middle class, there is a lot of
griping. For example, one of
our neighbours told us he had
owned 14 houses prior to the
revolution. The authorities
would only allow him to keep
one, so he is no longer a rich
man. Another was an architect
who apparently enjoyed great
wealth under the previous
regime. He is now on a salary.
These people are not favourable
to the government. However,
they don’t appear to actually be
organizing against it.

C.D.: In Addis Ababa there is
a large trade union centre which
is actively setting up new unions
in industry and the service fields.
Before the revolution there was
only a minuscule working class
and little organization at all.
Unions were prohibited. Now
the unions are playing an
important role. But the working
class is still numerically small.
Industry is developing, but at a
slow pace. Productivity is quite
low due to the inexperience of
both the workers and weakness
in management skills.

The main emphasis is on
agricultural development
because 85 per cent of the peo-
ple are directly or indirectly
involved in agriculture.

S.D.: In a country like Ethio-
pia, you can’t expect all the
people to suddenly understand
everything. The government is
making major efforts to explain
social policy and its socialist
orientation. In the schools,
unions and kebeles, people are
studying economics and philo-
sophy as well as general and
technical education. They are
studying Marxism and debating

social issues and the future
course of the country. On the
streets, you can see large bill-
boards, posters and banners
with such slogans as “Proletar-
ians of the world, unite!”’.

M.F.: Ethiopia has many prob-
lems. A backward country, it is
faced with famine, external pres-
sures and internal difficulties.
Change is not keeping pace with
‘the expectations of the people.
Given all these circumstances, is
the goal of building a socialist
Ethiopia realizable? Are they
making progress towards it, or
are they faltering?

C.D.: We have seen some of
the government’s long-term
planning objectives. They have
very extensive plans for the
improvement of the livelihood
of the people, the building of
industry, the improving and
modernizing of agriculture and
so on. Implementing these plans
is very difficult because the

* government has little money

with which to work. Some
reports indicate that they are
forced to spend up to 40 per

cent of that money to defend
themselves from potential inva-
sion from Somalia and to fight
the secessionists in Eritrea.

They depend a great deal on
external aid for food, materials
and know-how, although they
have a strong program the with
objective of becoming self-
sufficient in food production.
With the re-occurrence of the
famine threat, Ethiopia has
again called on the world com-
munity for urgent aid to prevent
mass hardship and starvation in
large parts of the country.

Still, it seems to us that com-
pared to the past, they have
improved a great many things.
Ethiopia needs a peaceful reso-
lution of disputes with its neigh-
bours, especially Somalia; a just
and lasting solution to the con-
flicts in Eritrea and Tigre; an
end to drought, and in the
longer-term the modernization
of farming methods. Combined,
these changes will allow Ethio-
pia and her people to take full
advantage of the benefits
opened up by the popular, anti-
feudal revolution.

8 e Pacific Tribune, March 30, 1988