Page 24 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 19

Re-Education
Leadership

The Tyranny of Abel Merawi

Western Media is from Addis Ababa. He is an English litera-

ture teacher, freelance writer/reporter for Ezega.
com and an Amharic-English translator and
editor. He also writes for www.msingiafrikamag-
azine.com. You can reach him via: abelmera-
wish to relate the tyranny of gatherers had to trust the bravery
Western media, which operate of fellow hunters to survive in the wi4@gmail.com
as the propaganda machine wilderness, and the wisdom of
of
I neocolonialists. Essentially, fellow gatherers in picking the edible
mendacity of the media threatens to and avoiding the poisonous. Their
tear apart the very fabric of social children had to trust the survival of Ubuntu. Human civilization has
trust. Above all, I am forced to ex- skills learned from elders, accepting now reached a point where our fate
pose the tyranny of Western media they would not deceive and, there- is inseparable, and we see this in the
in Ethiopia for the very reason that by, place them in harm’s way. Such global effects of climate change.
it imperils a symbolic nation of reliance on one another resided in Currently, even the most sagacious
African independence and unity. But clans and tribes, and its effectiveness and heroic individuals are ill-
first, I will take a brief historical de- engendered expansive civilizations equipped to survive without trusting
tour to show the value of trust, and as manifested in social and national division of labor and relying on the
the global dangers Western media identities. wisdom of others. I embrace exis-
and neocolonialism have hitherto tence by accepting life is too short
imposed upon the rest of the world. When we fast forward, we find our and cognition too limited for me to
generation placing trust in social and master the skills and knowledge our
Trust is the hallmark of civilization religious institutions, and ultimately social and natural world necessitates.
and social cohesion. Hunters and trusting the entire world in the spirit

24 | we tell the true afrikan story