Monthly Archives: February 2019

The Psychology of Traitors (XIINSAMMUU GANTOOTAA)

By Bedassa Tadesse

Humberto Nagera (2002) presents an interesting description of the psychology of treason. He argues that the subject of treason has received very scanty treatment in the psychoanalytic literature, perhaps for one simple reason: that there is in each one of us, at the very least, a “minor traitor”, a fact that we cannot but contemplate with some horror, fear and shame.

It was this argument ― that there is in each one of us, at the very least, a “minor traitor” ― that attracted my attention to the article. I could find a number of examples in my country of origin-Ethiopia, particularly among those who hold political office.

If you wondered about it like me, I suggest that you take your time and read Nagera’s (2002) extended article. Below I present a brief summary of his extensive discussion of the subject: what makes the psychology of traitors (individuals who commit a treacherous act or whose behavior constitute a significant departure from expected behavior in a given situation; causing significant distress, damage, etc., to one or more individuals, and their society and nations):

1. They are those who retain vivid memories of the seamier side of childhood, family and school life. They have little difficulty in recognizing some of the predisposing causes of Quisling… the simple case of the younger son who ‘gives away’ an older brother…; the child with a grievance against his parents (typically the father) and idealizes the head of the house next door…

2. Those with “a fissure-like defect in their superego (including the conscience and formation of ideals); who suffer from the invasion of emotional relationships by the excessive need for possession and power growing out of unusually strong and unresolved infantile jealousy; distortion of the sense of identity sometimes with secondary disturbances in reality testing.

3. Individuals with certain specific constellations of conflicts, or if you will, specific (and quite complex) forms of psychopathology with very idiosyncratic developmental characteristics, dynamics, defense activities and personality traits.

4. Individuals with significant narcissistic problem (those who have difficulties seen regarding their self-esteem regulation, self-regard and feeling of self-worth and problems with their identities.

5. (READ THIS CAREFULLY): Typical, and specific for a traitor, is an enormous unsatisfied wish for the father’s love, attention and admiration, that for various reasons and frequently through no fault of their own, they do not seem able to obtain. Thus, traitors have a tormenting and ambivalent attitude toward the father “who does not think much of them”, or “has not paid them enough attention” or simply and truly did not care for them. When they reach their adulthood, traitors think poorly of the father or see him as weak or worthless, a man of little accomplishment or value. (Oromiffaatiin qabxiin kuni –nama abbaa isaaf kabaja hin qabne jechaadha).

Yaa sabakoo, ani ogeessa fayyaa mitti. Garuu waan barreefame dubbisee waa hedduun irra baradha. Isiniis dubbistanii, namootni tokko tokko maaliif akka GANTUU ta’an ni hubbattu jedheen abdadha. Kunimmoo namootni keenyi maaliif akka nu ganan nu barsiisa. Saba offi ganuun dhukuba dhukuba caaludha.

Horaa Bulaa!

Protecting Oromummaa is every Oromo’s responsibility

By Falmataa

Yesterday, when Prime Minister Abiy delivered a speech to the ‘members of the European Parliament’, he attacked the idea of freedom/liberty and liberation organizations called #Netsanet and #Netsaawuchi in Amharic. Why?
A big question is, why is he really interested in this and who is the target he wants to attack, who is on his head when he attacks this idea?
The OLF, OFC (with some exception), ONLF or TPLF (he attacks it only sometimes for political affairs indirectly)? As we all know, the main liberation organizations in the country are these, and the rest are mostly fake organizations.
But if his government does not allow ( based on his speech, but didn’t disclose it)these organizations to participate in the upcoming #2020election, with their manifestation to liberate their nation from what they think, whether there was colonization or oppression, what democracy have they proposed?
If they deny this idea of ​​being openly entertained and determined by the people, what will be the fate of politics in Ethiopia?
If people do not have the menus on the table to choose or reject by secret ballot, what does it mean to open the political arena? Why is Abiy afraid of this idea? Who should decide, the EPRDF or the people?
As we have seen, Abiy has been attacking the core values ​​of Oromo and #oromumma the day after his appointment as prime minister.
We listened to him during his visit to Bahirdar and he even added: ” Do not see/ consider me like the other Oromo. I am not like them; the Oromo nationalism diminished the Oromo people to the village level… ” the translation is made by me and not word by word, I made it. what does this message convey?
One of the objections that modern thinkers have raised against the utilitarianism is that
John Rawl argues that: whenever a society sets out to maximize the sum of intrinsic value or the net balance of the satisfaction of interests, it is liable to find that the denial of #liberty for some is justified in the name of this single end.
Broadly speaking, liberty (Latin: Libertas) is the ability to do as one pleases. In politics, liberty consists of the social, political, and economic freedoms to which all community members are entitled. In philosophy, liberty involves free will as contrasted with determinism(Wikipedia).
A central feature of liberal- democratic politics is the stress placed on notions of tolerance and the related idea that individuals should have the opportunity to frame and pursue their own goals, provided this does not impinge on other people’s formulation and pursuit goals. To the extent that this position is agnostic about the routes individuals may take to moral perfection, it has a general affinity with the position advanced by John Stuart Mill in his essay on #Liberty.
It rests upon a largely secular conception of human well-being and entails the rejection of ‘moral objectivism’, or of the idea that is is possible to identify standards of conduct that correspond to human nature and provide the basis for conceptions of human perfectibility.
Bottom line: whether Abiy likes it or not, whether he supports the #Oromoumma or Ethiopianism (the idea dreams of breaking the values ​​of #oromummaa and Oromo), nobody will stop the Oromos now-onward to determine their destiny! The Oromo struggles based on the following main pillars: #Oromumma (identity, language, culture and #abbaabiyuumma aka fighting for the father land) and this shall be realized very soon!