NoMore Movement Turning Point in History of Int'l Relations: Scholar

Addis Ababa December 24/2021/ENA/ The #No More movement is a turning point in history of international relations and a benchmark to start a new world order that would bring together all who reject neocolonialism into one camp, a scholar said.

In an exclusive interview with ENA, Addis Ababa University Institute for Peace and Security Studies (IPSS) Director Yonas Adaye said the recent No More movement started by Ethiopians has been thriving all over the world.

“To my understanding, that was a turning point in history of international relations,” he added.

According to him, the NoMore movement seems to be a bench mark to start a new history and a new world order that brings together the whole world who reject  neo-colonialism into one camp.

The oppression goes back to the times of slave trade, Yonas stated, adding that the case of George Floyd in the US is the best example of the evil deed even in the 21st century.

These days the whole world is saying 'no more' to such ways of treating humanity and demanding respect for human dignity. People are saying “No More to exploitation and No More to ignorance,” the director noted.

Summing up the sentiment of the people, he pointed out that they are demanding change and  new world order.

“Africa needs a seat or two, three seats in the UN Security Council. No one should decide about Africa in the absence of Africa. The No More movement is thus growing and is in the making of history,” Yonas elaborated.

On the contrary, the position of most Western countries is one-size- fits- all policy. Rather than understanding the context of respective countries, the Western position is ‘if you want to develop, we will give you one-size-fits- all policy.’

The scholar notes that the one-size-fits- all approach has definitely resulted in chaos.

“The chaos as we see in Afghanistan and human dignity as you have seen in the media went downhill and we saw what happened in Libya, Syria and Iraq,” he explained.

According to  Yonas, one size-fits-all stance always ignores the culture and social fabric of nations and also undermines the approach of countries to develop in their own ways.

However, “you should leave them (the countries) alone. You should engage them based on equality, justice and respect,” he pointed out.

The director stresses that the skewed international relation has always been contributing to conflict and violence around the world, that was of course pursued by the West.