WHY IS TPLF STRUGGLING?Events in Tigray have moved fast and furiously in the first half of this year. Internationalattention has focused primarily on military engagements and relief aid, largely ignoring theoverall background and implications for Ethiopia as a whole. At such times it is too easy,especially for those not directly involved in the struggle, to lose sight of the root causes andbasic issues involved. Given the confusing and contradictory claims of the Derg, in its franticattempt to mobilise the Ethiopian people against the TPLF and other opposition movements,it is particularly important at this time to clearly identify the causes of the present conflict andto reiterate the basic principles for which TPLF is fighting.

In his speech to the 8th Ethiopian WorkersParty Congress, Mengistu Hailemariamproclaimed "let us destroy them, or letthem destroy us. The present struggle is adecisive one indeed." In identifying thepresent struggle as decisive, he is right.But in all their exhortations to the people,the Derg consistently distorts and misrep-resents the root causes of the conflict andthe real purpose behind its declaration ofwar.

The Derg insists that this conflict has noth-ing to do with fundamental changes in thepresent system, the democratic rights ofthe people or equality of the nationalities.

It claims to be defending Ethiopia's na-tional pride, independence and unityagainst 'secessionist bandits' in the north.

Fundamental ChangeContrary to the Derg's claims, the presentstruggle is very much about fundamentalchanges in the system. The peasantry rosein 1974with the slogan "land to the tiller" .The land was subsequently nationalised,under the Derg's Land Reform Pro-gramme, but this brought little or ~o bene-fit to the farmers. Through exorbitanttaxes, and levies, and strict pricing andmarketing controls, any agricultural sur-

plus isexpropriated to maintain the Derg'sarmy and bureaucracy, and to export forforeign exchange. What the Derg callscooperative farms are little more than stateenterprises maintained by slave labour.Meanwhile the people go hungry, and aredependent on food aid. ~

Despite the nationalisation of the means ofproduction and distribution, the industrialworkers are no better off than before therevolution. Low wages and high inflationdeny them access to what they themselves vproduce, and Derg control of the tradeunions makes it impossible for them toorganise and fight for their rights.

The people must be the beneficiaries of their production

TPLFbelieves that the peasants should bethe beneficiaries ofwhat they produce, andextortion through excessive taxation andlevies must cease. Cooperation betweenthe peasants is in itself a beneficial concept,but not as the Derg interprets it, as a meansto further exploit and impoverish them.

The nationalised industries must comeunder the control of the workers, and in-dustry must be developed specifically tomeet the needs of the people, who mustfreely and democratically organise and beinvolved in the overall decision makingprocess.

These changes are not possible under thecurrent system, which Serves only theinterests of the Derg and Soviet Imperial-ism, at the expense of the people. The Dergis fighting to maintain this exploitativesystem, while the TPLF is fighting to dis-mantle it completely.

.-femocratic Rights

The main aim of the 1974 EthiopianPeople's Revolution was to secure demo-cratic rights. Although the revolutionfailed to establish a democratic govern-ment, the .ruling classes were weakened,and the people managed to gain somedemocratic rights after February '74. Buteven these limited rights were revokedafter the Derg came to power in September'74.

Since then, the people have been strug-gling for their rights, to be answered onlywith bullets and torture. Thousands ofpeople have been slaughtered just forspeaking out against the regime and fordemonstrating peacefully. The proclama-tion of the so-called Ethiopian People'sDemocratic Republic (EPDR) declares the

~ight to free speech, but in practise this-'lright is non-existent under the currentregime.

TPLFbelieves that where it proves impos-sible to achieve democratic rights bypeaceful means, then armed struggle is theonly option. The Derg is battling to retainpower through continuing and intensify-ing suppression of the people and denial oftheir rights. TPLFstands for the establish-ment of a genuine democratic systemwithin which the people can freely andpeacefully determine their future.

Ethiopia's National Pride andIndependence

Under Haile Selassie, Ethiopia's inde-pendence and pride had been sold to

American Imperialism. Opposition to thiswas one of the platforms of the 1974Revo-lution, and TPLF has always supportedthis line. TPLF fought and defeated theEDUwhich was trying to restore AmericanImperialism in Ethiopia.

The Derg however, initially dealt withAmerican Imperialism and then trans-ferred its allegiance to Soviet Imperialism.The Derg claims to be fighting to safeguardEthiopia's independence and honour. Yetit has allowed the economic, military andpolitical infrastructure of the country tocome under the control of the Soviets.Ethiopia's policies are determined inMoscow, and Ethiopia owes the SovietUnion over four billion dollars for militaryequipment alone. This debt in itself repre-sents a long term burden on Ethiopia'seconomic viability and independence.

So while Mengistu proclaims his passion-ate concern for Ethiopia's national honour,the Derg has already completely sold outthe country's independence to SovietImperialism. TPLFon the other hand, hasalways totally opposed the interference ofany foreign power in Ethiopian affairs.TPLFis fighting to end Soviet interventionand restore Ethiopia's independence.

Ethiopian Unity

This is a key issue in the struggle betweenTPLFand the Derg, Withthe Dergclaimingto be fighting in defence of Ethiopianunity, and that TPLF is a secessionistmovement.

But TPLF has repeatedly made it clear,both in its programme and activities, that itis not a secessionist organisation. TPLF'saim is a genuine unity, based on the equal-ity of all the nations/nationalities in Ethio-pia and the free will of the people. This canonly come about when a democratic sys-tem has been established, and the peoplecan freely exercise their right to self-deter-mination.

But the Derg's 'unity' is based on nationaloppression and injustice, which are builtinto the current system which the Derg isstruggling to. perpetuate, as it follows apolicy of confuse, divide and rule to main-tain it's hold on power.

Real and Lasting Peace

Another false accusation continually lev-elled against TPLFbythe Derg is that TPLFis an organisation bent only on destruc-tion, and has rejected the Derg's attemptsto solve the problem peacefully.

But if the Derg was serious about usingpeaceful means, it would not have mowndown unarmed demonstrators with ma-chine guns and tanks, it would not system-atically eliminate its opponents, and labelall those who stand against it as terroristsand war-mongers. It is the Derg which haspursued an unrelenting policy of terrorismthroughout its existence. Its hypocriticalcalls for peace amount to no more thandemands that the people accept whateverlevel of oppression and denial of rights theDerg chooses to impose, without question"or opposition.

TPLF stands for a true and lasting peace,but recognises that a system based on ter-rorism and repression can only. be re-moved by armed struggle. TPLF is there-fore, struggling to destroy the Derg andSoviet Imperialism in Ethiopia. Only thenwill the people be free to establish an alter-native democratic system, and a genuine,secure peace.

People's Power

The Derg denies that the struggle betweenthe TPLF and itself has to do with power, .but the genuine transfer of power to thepeople is the most fundamental issue atstake in the present decisive struggle.When the military officers first took powerthey claimed the soldiers would be return-ing to their barracks when the revolutionwas consolidated. Instead, an unprece-dented period of repression of the peoplefollowed. Any opposition, any question-ing even of the regime has been labelled ascounter-revolutionary, secessionist, ban-ditry, etc and brutally suppressed.

The recently established EthiopianPeople's Democratic Republic perpetuatesthe military regime of the Derg, with thesame officers simply swapping their uni-forms for civilian clothing. Essentially,nothing has changed. At no stage has anyreal attempt been made to transfer powerinto the hands of the people.

The TPLF on the other hand stands forgenuine people's power. It stands for thedefeat of the Derg and Soviet intervention.in Ethiopia, to clear the way for a truepeople's democratic republic, establishedonthebasis of the full equality and demo-cratic participation of all the oppressedpeoples of Ethiopia.