TDF—Legends of Every Season!

Paulos Irgau. 01-15-22

Attila the Hun, a product of a typical chauvinist world should be excused when he said, “Sacrifice is the passion of all great men” when it is equally true that it is the passion of all great women as well. Before getting ahead of ourselves though, I like the reader to consider this:

Enter “Inclusive Fitness” and “Reciprocal Altruism” —-We all share fifty percent of our genetic makeup with our siblings when we inherit half from each of our parents and it is logical that we share equally what had passed on to us from our parents with our siblings [sounds a bit cluttered and convoluted? I agree, it does, but later on, it will be clearer.] We can also deduce that; we share twenty five percent of our genetic makeup with our first cousins and half of that~~twelve and half percent with our second cousins and so on. The fitness becomes weaker and weaker when the pedigree is distances away from us till the relationship becomes between strangers. And that is precisely the reason we care more of our siblings as opposed to our first cousins and we care more about our first cousins than our second cousins…..and more about our distant cousins than total strangers. If the determining factor is the fitness of our genetics, then why do we bother to care about total strangers, one may ask? That’s where Reciprocal Altruism comes in.

Certainly, one can make the argument that morally incentivized altruism is not based on solely strategic planning where the good old Samaritan parable comes to mind. I agree but that would take us far off afield. What I have in mind is reciprocated altruism where motive or ulterior motive is at play. For instance, cells do sacrifice themselves for the good of other cells where it is called “Apoptosis” in a clinical jargon, but they are programmed to do so where the objective is preservation of the entity—the human body. Can one or would one sacrifice oneself for nothing in return? The question becomes more acute when one is a Soldier where the profession itself straddles between two commitments—Family and the State. In fact, classical Greece through its thinkers suggested Philosopher-Kings to commit to the State alone lest the lifetime attention is asunder. The “ingenuity” to solve the contradiction was however, found centuries later with in the Ottoman Empire. Perhaps it may seem tactless and barbaric [in fact it is] but one cannot emphasize enough the “sagacity” behind it.

At the apogee of the Empire, when it raided the Balkans and Eastern Europe through successive military campaigns in the 14th Century, the Ottomans would take young males between the age of 12 and 18—from the conquered and subjugated nations and ship them to Anatolia—present day Turkey away from their families and train them to be worriers. They would come of age knowing only the Empire and committed to serve the Empire only. They were later known as Janissaries. It certainly served its purpose, but it was inhumane and barbaric to say the least.

But there is another kind of selflessness beyond the veil of mouthful and impressive scientific jargons and historical threads. Tigray Defense Forces—TDF! Who are they and what are they really? In short, they are extraordinary young men and women who chose preservation of Tigray at any cost in a time when the world of 21st century is excessively indulged in celebrating life and the perks of life as well—humanity has never had it any better in its collective history. The motivating factor or the impetus if you will is not booties or material gains but seeking justice and to bring those who have killed their parents, gang raped their younger sisters, burned their farms, destroyed their scant and burgeoning factories and religious and civic institutions to justice.

TDF could have reciprocated in kind what was done to them and their loved ones in Tigray when they seized North Shoa including Kombolcha and Dessie all the way to Debre-Birhan but chose to exude moral and social authority to set an example not only to those once—citizens turned savages but to the world at large as well when the latter is cooped up in a “Both-Sidism” political expediency. Moreover, when the IC implored for peace to be given a chance, TDF obliged when it vacated the seized territories and could have employed scorched earth strategy instead but again, true to their nature, left everything intact and went back to Tigray with class and style. What is even beyond this world is that TDF fight and must they fight without external succor when their enemies are supported by paid mercenaries, and smart technologies but as the brilliant General Tsadkan Gebretinsae tersely put it, Abiy got weapons when Tigray got words instead. Tigray shall prevail!