Ethiopia Insight published on 2 August 2025 a commentary titled "Time's Hostage: How Ethiopia's Past Is Strangling Its Present and Future" by Daniel Hailu, a multidisciplinary researcher.
The author argues that Ethiopians don't simply live through time, they "politicize it, weaponize it, and often drown in it." He adds, "The past isn't settled, it aches" and "The burden of the past bleeds into the present." Ethiopia's crisis cannot be explained by ethnic divisions or weak institutions alone. To move forward, Ethiopia must step outside the grip of its temporal paralysis.
