At least three (revolutionary) attempts were made to save Ethiopia from itself. In all the three cases, the pressure came from the economic and social (ethno-national) underclasses aspiring for inclusion. All three attempts failed, and did so spectacularly.

Anyone who aspires to engage in this archaic business of saving the state may be suffering from some kind of Messianic complex. And the Ethiopian empire has never lacked in “leaders” with Messianic ambitions except that they all ended up in brutal dictatorship, repressive authoritarianism, and fascistic wars of genocide.

Jawar Mohammed’s quest “to save Ethiopia”, if genuine, is not going to be any different. It will only make him another dictatorial, or authoritarian or genocidal ruler to grace the annals of the empire’s history.

Both his efforts of “saving” and “reforming” an Ethiopian State that is constitutively violent and genocidal is only perpetuating (or even perfecting) the very mechanism of perpetrating violence and genocide.

Saving or reforming an empire has never yielded, and will never yield, a better (ie, a more free, a more just, or a more democratic) system.

Jawar’s (attempts to save and reform a genocidal empire) will not be an exception.