EAS Proposal: A comment from the man in the street

[Tessema G.X.]

I met an Ethiopian man on the street who engaged me in a discussion
about "Hager". I informed him about the initiative to form an Academy
and the proposal to hold a workshop. It is with a deep sigh of relief,
that the man said "Finally this is exactly what we need. The learned
people are going to get together to find a solution for the famine and
the draught ...in the country".
This sparked the idea that in fact the major theme of the December
Workshop should be to bring together leading Ethiopian scholars to
give open lectures and engage in scholarly debate about the grand
challenges the country is facing. This would be the kickoff of a
protracted process to form the Academy which should start with the
election or nomination of the NOC. Perhaps bringing the intellectual
component upfront would break the deafening silence on this group.

Tess