By Teshome Berhanu Kemal

History teaches us with brutal clarity that nations do not collapse from wars alone, but from the slow poisoning of truth, the calculated erosion of trust between brothers, and the cold exploitation of youthful passion by those who would rather see Ethiopia fall than lose their grip on power. We stand today at the precipice of such destruction, where invisible forces – political manipulators, ethnic entrepreneurs, and foreign interests – are weaving a web of chaos that threatens to consume another generation.

The patterns are unmistakable to those who dare to look. The Arab Spring promised liberation but delivered only broken nations where Libya now trades slaves in open markets, Syria burns in endless proxy wars, and Egypt exchanged one tyranny for another. Rwanda’s hills ran red with the blood of neighbors slaughtering neighbors, all while the architects of genocide watched safely from abroad. Yugoslavia, once a beacon of coexistence, was torn apart by cynical leaders who discovered that hatred wins votes faster than unity ever could.

Ethiopia is walking this same deadly path, and only the blind cannot see it.

History’s Blood-Stained Lessons

The Derg’s Reign of Paranoia (1974-1991) emerged from genuine grievances but became a monstrous lesson in how revolutions devour their children. The so-called “Red Terror” was not justice but mechanized murder, where half a million souls – students, teachers, dreamers – were exterminated for the crime of wanting something better. The famine that followed was not simply an act of nature but of criminal negligence, where ideology mattered more than Ethiopian lives. Today we see the same dangerous signs – the branding of dissenters as traitors, the economic policies that punish the many while enriching the few, the deliberate stoking of divisions that should have died with the last century.

The EPRP-Derg conflict stands as eternal proof that when ideologies clash, it is never the ideologues who pay the price. The streets of Addis became hunting grounds where Ethiopia’s brightest minds were gunned down for wearing the wrong politics. Those who survived fled, creating a brain drain from which we still have not recovered. Now history whispers its warning as we watch new generations being mobilized for new ideological wars, with the same empty promises and the same certain outcome – more graves, more exiles, more lost potential.

The 2016-2018 protests revealed the modern blueprint for destruction. What began as legitimate grievances were hijacked by ethnic entrepreneurs and foreign interests. Western NGOs funded division under the banner of human rights, and social media became weaponized to turn brother against brother. The aftermath? Not reform but civil war, not unity but fractures deeper than ever before. Tigray, Amhara, Oromia – all burning while the architects of this chaos watch safely from their mansions and foreign capitals.

The Digital Battlefield

Social media has become the new killing field where wars are incited with hashtags instead of machetes. In Myanmar, Facebook posts turned ordinary Buddhists into genocidal killers of Rohingya neighbors. In Ethiopia today, YouTube preachers of hate amass followers while living comfortably in Minnesota, urging violence they will never have to face. Deepfake technology now allows the creation of perfect lies – videos of politicians saying words they never spoke, audio of ethnic leaders calling for wars they never wanted. The youth are being manipulated with psychological precision, their anger harvested like a crop to be used by others.

A Message to the Youth From One Who Has Seen the Cycle

Open your eyes to the machinery of destruction at work. When protests turn violent, ask who truly benefits – certainly not the students shot in the streets, but the arms dealers and politicians who need perpetual crisis. When ethnic hatred spreads like wildfire, recognize that those fanning the flames are often the same people dining together in luxury hotels while you kill each other in the villages.

Beware the false martyrs and keyboard revolutionaries who provoke destruction from behind screens. They will not be there when the bullets fly or when your family mourns. They will not rebuild the schools they urge you to burn or create the jobs they promise through destruction. Real change comes from building, not burning; from unity, not division; from clear-eyed wisdom, not manipulated rage.

The Path Forward: Rejecting the Death Spiral

Demand accountability through institutions, not anarchy in the streets. The corrupt fear courts more than mobs, because mobs can be controlled while justice cannot. Arm yourselves with knowledge rather than slogans – read history not to repeat it, study economics to recognize manipulation, seek truth beyond the algorithm’s cage.

Most crucially, reject those who would turn Ethiopia’s beautiful diversity into a weapon of self-destruction. Our strength has always been in our many peoples, languages, and faiths living as one. The politicians who preach division are the true enemies of all Ethiopians, regardless of ethnicity or region.

Conclusion: The Fire Next Time

There is a storm coming, darker than any in living memory. But storms do not have to destroy – they can cleanse, they can renew. The choice before Ethiopia’s youth is stark: will you be the generation that finally breaks this cycle of destruction, or just another link in the chain of sorrow?

The tree that survives the storm is not the strongest, but the most adaptable. Be patient when others rush to violence. Be wise when others succumb to hatred. Be builders when others only know how to destroy.

Ethiopia’s soul hangs in the balance. Choose wisely.

For the night is long, but the dawn is ours to make.