Awra Amba RJ 300612 EN - Contacter un comité local d'Attac

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Conclusion
limits strongly the arrival of new members in agreement with its values, and its culture widely
opposed to the values of neighbouring communities, what prevents or limits strongly the arrival of
new members little convinced by the approach. A solution would be to expand somewhere else, but
the success is not guaranteed.
Withdrawal, lack of openness to the world
In our opinion, the connection of Awra Amba with other societies is problematic. The community
was built around a true spiritual leader in conflict with the traditional Amhara society. It found most
of its cultural and ideological corpus from within – and firstly from its leader. Its immersion in a
nearby environment at the other end of the spectrum of values and very aggressive, at least at its
beginning, has the consequence it inherits a situation of violent conflict with its nearby neighbours; it
is therefore nor open to these communities, neither inclined to influence them.
The situation is different with the rest of the Amhara region, Awra Amba attempts to influence by
advertising as far as possible its experiment, with the help of many authorities. However, the
connection seems one-to-one: it appears nowhere in the studies on Awra Amba that this community
tries to learn from Ethiopian experiments. The lack of interest for the knowledge in the human and
social sciences as for the Ethiopian literature strengthens this impression. It seems even clearer as
regards foreign countries: if Zumra wishes to spread his message all over the world, he is apparently
not waiting for anything from foreign experiments, except for technological inputs and material
supports.
The initial antagonistic situation and the wealth of its creativity could convince the community that
there is nothing positive to be gained from the outside world in the social or human field.
Relationships with the neighbours are understandable, but the lack of interest in the possible inputs
from more distant societies indicates a poor intellectual openness and a withdrawal. It prevents the
community from benefiting of the knowledge accumulated elsewhere and potentially useful for it.
But Awra Amba is part of Ethiopia and belongs to today's world, and is therefore submitted to its
ideological influences. It succeeded till now in resisting these influences through its own strengths.
Will it be the same tomorrow? In our opinion, Awra Amba would benefit from getting closer to
social and political movements, which share the same ideals and the same values worldwide, and
from being aware of their analyses. It should make their culture stronger in order to resist to the
adverse influences. If the community founders have been able to analyse the traditional Amhara
society, they know perfectly, we don't see how, alone, they can understand the world dominant
consumerist and neoliberal culture, which crushed many a priori sound cultures in the world. We
doubt the Awra Amba community can acquire by its own, spontaneously, all the tools needed to
understand and then fight opponents they do not know, or its culture is strong enough to oppose
them.
The emphasis given to education and the high number of young people with a high-quality training,
including through university, should further this intellectual openness to the world.
Heterogeneity
The Awra Amba community is very united through the geographical proximity of its members, a
common past, and shared values. Moreover, over time, the two first elements – proximity and past –
will loosen: on the one hand, the number increase will transform a small community of around a
hundred adults, where everyone knows everyone, into a larger group more widely dispersed
geographically; on the other hand, the consciousness of having shared great hardships – in the last
quarter of the 20 th century – will fade slowly with the renewal of generations. Some elements
important for the cohesion of the group will therefore disappear, at least partially, leading to the
group weakening.
In addition, most of the today's Awra Amba members have chosen to live here, because they agree