“Borkena.com” is created mainly with the intention to share news and informed opinion – Ethiopian news and beyond. Unless clearly indicated, posts, opinions and views posted on “borkena.com” do not necessarily reflect views and opinion of borkena.com or the editor.
What is borkena?
“Borkena” is a famous river in the part of Ethiopia where I grew up. The term is believed to be broken Oromigna language, one of the languages with greater number of speakers in Ethiopia. Borkena was my small world of exploration,socialization and community service. Just like famous river banks gave rise to civilizations,borkena,in its own right, gave rise to a warm social relation. As a major attraction for children almost from all corners the small town of Dessie, in North Central Ethiopia, borkena in its own way,and more fundamentally as a play ground of children, shaped social consciousness, obedience(resentment when necessary),sense of belongingness and sense of responsibility as well.
Initially, I thought the coming into being of this page, which existed first in a form of blog, was more a work of nostalgia. As it turns out, I learned that it is rather the work of what could be described as in part instinctive and in part rational resistance to individualism and attack on collective social values. Borkena, then, is not merely a very small world where I cherished my childhood. It is also an idea that emphasize on collective values and society. Political analysts may put, it seems to me, the idea -Borkena- on the “left” side of the political spectrum.
One of the best thing that “modernity” (it’s capitalism actually) offered to mankind is the cyber world. And yes, the cyber world does give convenience in communication and has transformed the way we communicate. At the same time, through information made available it provided a means with which to construct or deconstruct values and thoughts. Left unchecked and not selectively adopted, thoughts and ideas that are being propagated in the cyberworld through the use of different “social media” forum could simply demolish the values we used to cherish. In fact, they are demolishing.
Borkena capitalizes on common good and seeks to promote social values and moral values. The news shared here need/should not be taken as an absolute truth. In consideration of the apparent effort of mainstream media to manufacture consent and subtly conquer potential sources of resistance to the status quo, due caution and critical approach is important when analyzing news shared in this page.
I tend to think that “doubt” is a virtue while credulity outside the realm of religion (faith) seems like naivety and vice at the same time. Thoughts, where explicitly indicated as that of the editor’s or borkena’s, are shared either to benefit from the thoughts of readers by way of giving the editor’s thoughts exposure to critical and thoughtful readers, or it is to challenge thoughts,practices and so on which the editor think are unacceptable or wrong.
Politics and culture are of special importance to borkena.com. Huge investment in those realms in the form of time,energy, money and media monopoly is alarming. The goodness or the badness of a culture has nothing to do with the material value it generates. Rather, the editor believes that an important measure of goodness of a culture is the degree to which it promotes human value and the essence of being human.
“All that glitters is not precious.” In the event that it is precious, its preciousness does not represent the ultimate measure of goodness.There is something even more precious the value of which does not fluctuate with the market.
To say that life is short does not imply the goodness of indulgence in sordid gain or something selfish.
What is the essence of ‘freedom’ if it promotes selfishness and deconstruction of social values and cherished culture? Does this form of ‘freedom’ really empowers society? The editor thinks that “freedom” is not supposed to be a moral excuse for selfishness. Hedonism does not necessarily represent freedom. Hedonistic pursuit could rather emanate from systemic torture. Society matters at least as much as the individual. Conceivably, values that emphasize on collective and social values as opposed to “individual freedom” may sound ‘traditional,’ naive or even Utopian for many. No matter what, these are the values borkena.com stands for and would like to promote them as best possible.
Thank you for visiting borkena.com!