Darkness at Noon “በቀትር ጨለማ”

Yared Haile-Meskel

በዚህ አለም ላይ ሁለት ነገር ሳይጥሉ ወደ ፓለቲካ የሚገቡ ፓለቲከኞች በቀትር ጨለማ ይሆንባቸዋል። ያሰቡት የገነቡት ነገር ሁሉ ተገልብጦ እራሳቸውን ሲያጠምዳቸው ቀኑ ሲጨልምባቸው እናያለን። ይሄንን ጽሁፍ ያነሳሳኝ ፖለቲካ ውስጥ ያሉ ሰዎች ቢያነቡት እንዴት የቀትር ጨለማም ሳይሆንባቸው እራሳቸውን ለማንዳን እንዲሞክሩ ለመምከር ነው። በቀትር ጨለማ የሆነባቸውን ሰዎች ታሪክ ሰንዶ ያስነበበው አንድ የሀንጋሪው አርተር ኮእስትለር የተባለ ኮሚኒስት ነው። መጽሀፉ “Darkness at Noon” ይባላል። ይህ መጽሀፍ ብዙ ግዜ የመንግስት ባለስልጣናት እስር ቤት ሲገቡ ጓደኞቻቸው እንዲያነቡት የሚሰጥዋቸው ነው። እኔም ስለዚህ ጽሁፍ የሰማሁት እነ ሰዬ ወደ እስር ቤት ሲጣሉ ነው። ይሁንና ለታሰረ ሰው ይህንን መጽሀፉን መስጠት ጅብ ካለፈ ነው። ይልቁኑም ሲሾሙ ገዝቶ የሚሰጥ ከቀትር ጨላማ ወዳጁን ያድናል።

Yesterday, I heard about the abduction of Ato Taye Dendea in broad daylight in the center of Addis Ababa. The next day, he was released after many voices were raised in protest. Ato Taye was a minister, with bodyguards, an entourage, x-ray detectors, security checks before entering his office, a gatekeeper, and a secretary to tell visitors he was busy. He had a car with many plates and political clout that commanded respect and fear. However, his conscience began to trouble him, and he spoke out about what he felt was right. This act of speaking his mind put him in trouble within the tyrannical system.

When I heard the news and the circumstances of his abduction, it reminded me of a book I read a few years ago. The book is one of the top political novels of the 20th century, comparable to George Orwell’s “1984.” It is a book that everyone should read before joining a political party with a tendency to turn authoritarian.

For those who have not read the book, it tells the story of the tragic ends of revolutionaries who support authoritarian dictators, whether in Stalin’s Soviet Union, Mengistu’s, Meles’s, or Abiy’s Ethiopia. It could be the story of Lavrentiy Beria, the head of Stalin’s secret police, Bukharin, Stalin’s henchman, or the story of Atnafu Abate, Mengistu’s colleague, Gen Fanta Belay of Mengistu, the Memka movement of Eritrea, Tamrat Layne of Meles, or Taye Dendea of Dr. Abiy and the Oromuma syndicate. It could also be the last chapter of Dr. Birhanu Nega, Taye Askesilassie, and Ghedion Timotewos, whose stories have been written but not yet published.

The book “Darkness at Noon” was written by Arthur Koestler, a Hungarian Communist who experienced life under Stalin. Koestler witnessed the horrors of Stalin’s prisons and the psychological torment within. “Darkness at Noon” portrays the brutal reality of Stalin’s Great Purge and the Moscow Trials. It is also a story about us, Ethiopia, Gen Fanta, Tamrat Layne, Taye Dendea, and all revolutionary fronts.

The Book that Taye should have read: The Darkness at Noon

Though I lived my entire life under dictatorship, I never understood its mechanics. Reading “Darkness at Noon,” I had a eureka moment. Revolutionaries and dictators must abolish two things to assert their authority: individuality and consciousness.

If you want to be yourself, an individual with your own thoughts and actions, you will end up in the same position as Bukharin, Gen Fanta, Seye, or Taye Dendea. If you want to keep your consciousness and get
irritated by wrongdoing, genocide, ethnic cleansing, and arbitrary violations of citizens’ rights, you are in great danger, and your የቀትር ጭለማ is just around the corner. This is a rule as certain as gravity itself.

To serve a dictator, one has to liquidate their individual existence to become an atom in an imaginary group. Simply put, one has to stop being Taye, Fanta, Seye, Mohammed, Berhanu, Hailemariam, Hagos, or Tolosa. You abandon consciousness voluntarily like Berhanu and Daniel Keberet or are forced to abandon your individual identity like Jawar and Bekele Weya to become oppressed Oromos, Tigres, Sidama, and subservient to an imaginary and non-existent group.

Dictators aim to abolish individuality so that everything, including individual rights, power, and privileges, is transferred to an imaginary group. Taye Dendea is no longer Taye but a person who did not adhere to the will of the group, Oromuma, and the leader. Criticizing the leader is criticizing the group, so his friends do not hesitate to abduct him or beat him to death.

The most cunning deception is this: the imaginary group must be represented by a self-appointed individual. This individual or leader becomes the group. His desires become the people’s desires, his needs become the people’s needs, his critics and enemies become the enemies of his people. So one can easily be transferred from a minister to the enemy of the people the moment they disagree with the leader.

In the name of an imaginary class, ethnic group, or movement, this leader will have the monopoly of truth and power, and no one can question his authority. Taye Dendea was either brave or too naïve to criticize number one. Anyone who does not submit to the leader must suffer or even die.

Ivanov and Rubashov

The most impressive monologue in “Darkness at Noon” is between Ivanov, the party cadre and interrogator, and his former comrade, Rubashov, a prisoner. Like Ato Taye, Rubashov was once a central committee member and commander of the 2nd army. He is now arrested as an anti-revolutionary because his conscience begins to trouble him due to the growing dictatorship of the number one. I am sure there is someone, probably a friend of Taye Dendea, representing Ivanov, who abducted Taye Dendea to interrogate him because Taye is considered a traitor for not submitting to the number one.

The most tragic consequence is that autocrats use the group and themselves interchangeably, but in reality, the masses, ethnic groups, or classes of people are treated as experimental fodder to keep the fire burning. This is how Ivanov justifies killing the masses or the group:

“For a man with your past,” Ivanov went on, “this sudden revulsion against experimenting is rather naïve. Every year several million people are killed quite pointlessly by epidemics and other natural catastrophes. And we should shrink from sacrificing a few hundred for the most promising experiment in history? Not to mention the legions of those who die of undernourishment and tuberculosis in coal and quicksilver mines, rice-fields, and cotton plantations. No one takes any notice of them; nobody asks why or what for; but if we shoot a few thousand objectively harmful people, the humanitarians all over the world foam at the mouth. Yes, we liquidated the parasitic part of the peasantry and let it die of starvation. It was a surgical operation which had to be done once and for all… Why should mankind not have the right to experiment on itself?” (p. 131)

Ivanov further advises his old friend to abandon his conscience, which he describes as a cancer, and confess to the number one to save himself. Mockingly, Ivanov says:

“Comrade Rubashov prefers to become a martyr. The columnist of the liberal Press, who hated him during his lifetime, will sanctify him after his death. He has discovered a CONSCIENCE and a conscience renders one as unfit for the revolution as a double chin. Conscience eats through the brain like a cancer, until the whole of the grey matter is devoured. Satan is beaten and withdraws- but don’t imagine that he grinds his teeth and spits fire in this fury. He shrugs his shoulder; he is an ascetic; he has seen many weaken and creep out of his ranks with pompous pretexts…”

Ivanov continues to say:

“Weeping over humanity and bewailing oneself – you know our race’s pathological leaning to it…..The greatest criminals in history,” Ivanov went on, “are not of the type Nero and Fouché, but of the type Gandhi and Tolstoy. Gandhi’s inner voice has done more to prevent the liberation of India than the British guns. To sell oneself for thirty pieces of silver is an honest transaction; but to sell oneself to one’s own conscience is to abandon mankind. History is a priori amoral; it has no conscience.”

Ivanov, who interrogated his former comrade with intellectual monologues, was too honest in asking his friend to abandon his conscience and become a blind follower of the number one, which is a code word for Stalin, to save himself. He also advised him to abandon his individuality to be part of the blind followers of the group.

Well, at the end of the story you learn even Ivanov didn’t follow the party line. He was expected to torture his old friend and extract a confession and apology. Rather than resorting to physical brutality, he argued with his old friend Rubashov in Rubashov cell at midnight taking cigarette to an old comrade. As a result, he was accused of being too soft on Rubashov and was executed. Well, አብዮት ልጇን ትበላለች! ይሉ ነበር አብዮተኞች። የዛሬ ገራፊዎ የነገ ተገራፊ ይሆናል።

The Russian revolutionaries were by far intellectuals who discussed philosophy, but I do not expect the person in Addis Ababa to present such a philosophical argument to Taye or Dr. Berhanu when they face the interrogator in the near future. It has always been the crudest physical forms of argument.

Conclusion

Once again, I want to ask whether PP leaders are following their conscience. Are you ignoring it as your guiding inner voice? I am not talking about conscience after the fact, like Seye Abreha and Tamrat Layne, but having the foresight to recognize the problem. Some only wake up when they find themselves on the receiving end, realizing it is the system they put in place that made them victims. Tomorrow, most PP officials will end up like Taye, Rubashov, Lavrentiy Beria, Bukharin, Atnafu Abate, Gen Fanta Belay, etc. It is sad to see the likes of Taye Askeselassie and Birhanu Nega become so delusional to believe that they are more valuable than Taye Dendea, Lemma, Gedu, Demeke, Kefyalew, etc., The likes of Demeke Mekonnen and Dr. Yilekal Kefyale were advised but they too were delusional to believe they were important.

That is why I recommend all PP officials read “Darkness at Noon” before you face your own በቀትር ጨለማ.
At least try to hold on to your individuality and consciousness.

 

 

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