By Messay Kebede
We know that the genesis of ethnic conflicts and mobilization in Ethiopia sprung from HaileSelassie’s policy of nation-building. Not only did the policy mean centralization and authoritarianism, but also the integration of different ethnic groups through the imposition of the dominant Amhara culture. However, the lack of necessary reforms, notably, the maintenance of a system of land ownership reducing the southern peoples of Ethiopia to tenants, and the failure of the private sector, together with the proliferation of obstacles to economic progress, mostly due to corruption and nepotism, created an acute scarcity of resources. Access to these scarce resources depended on the control of state power, which was then used to include some groups and exclude others. The outcome was that the Amhara elite group, especially of Showan origin, by far benefited from the protection of the imperial state.
Though the sense of exclusion increasingly invited elites of excluded ethnic groups to mobilize around ethnic criteria, the prevailing tendency became the search for a solution through the revolutionary ideology of Marxism-Leninism. Leaders of the Ethiopian student movement and intellectuals felt that enough revolutionary force could be gathered through the mobilization of class solidarity rather than through ethnic alignment. The establishment of socialism would consequently lead to the dissolution of ethnic dominance and to the equal treatment of all ethnic groups. Because the struggle opposed an alliance of various classes to the imperial state and the nobility, the Ethiopian Revolution became a multiethnic uprising expressing class interest rather than ethnicity.
The intrusion of the Derg with its dictatorial and violent methods of ruling alienated many revolutionaries. Above all, far from decentralizing power, the Derg significantly increased the power of the center to the detriment of regional entities, thereby failing to bring down the dominance of Amhara elite and culture. What is more, the Derg’s socialist policy brought all resources, including land, under state ownership and control, while further intensifying scarcity by the application of a flawed economic policy. The result was enhanced ethnic mobilizations by all those who felt excluded or marginalized.
By stirring up dormant or suppressed identities involving ascriptive criteria, such as common ancestry and language, the ethnicization of politics mobilized the powerful sentiment of solidarity, thereby becoming an effective tool of political mobilization for all those who longed for access to state power as the only means of controlling the distribution of scarce resources. That was indeed one advantageously mobilizing force to fight against the Derg, given the fact that the Derg had appropriated the language of class struggle and had effectively leveled class disparity through a generalization of poverty.
Ethnic mobilization proved efficient by granting victory to the TPLF and EPLF over the Derg. It brought about the secession of Eritrea and the establishment of ethnic federalism under the control of the TPLF. The irony, however, is that this very victory of ethnic politics calls for multiethnic mobilization because of the inherent drawbacks of ethnicization flowing from its gregarious nature. This is what opposition parties and their leaders understood when they speak of the imperative need of unity.
The ethnic paradigm gave birth to ethnic parties that do not allow any competition. It created a situation of dependent parties controlling the various regions under the close supervision and assistance of the central state dominated by the TPLF. The defeat of the TPLF means the demise of these dependent parties and their regional control. A struggle confined to the regional political scene is thus unable to counter the alliance between the central state and the dependent parties: the struggle must go national.
Moreover, political mobilization over ethnic issues has come to an end with the acquired rights, such as the rights to use and develop local languages, to be administered by one’s kin, even to secede. Whether we like it or not, just as class struggle had ceased to be rallying under the Derg, so too ethnicity has lost much of its mobilizing power in Ethiopia, with the exception, of course, of those parties still targeting secession. This is so true that the only ideological defense of the EPRDF is to say that its removal would entail the cancelation of the acquired ethnic rights, and hence the danger of extended ethnic confrontations.
The crucial issue that remains, however, is the huge task of democratizing the ethnic state, as shown by the dictatorial outcome of the Eritrean secession and the hegemonic practice of the TPLF. To move toward democratization means to raise issues of individual freedom and liberty, of economic development and its equitable distribution; it also means the promotion of national sovereignty and unity on which depend the prosperity and safety of all ethnic groups. All these themes are associated with individual freedom, and so are essentially cross-ethnic. For instance, the right of individuals to elect representatives of their choice is not concerned with the fact of being Amhara, Tigrean, Oromo, Gurage, Christian or Muslim: any multiparty competition within the ethnic regions requires the liberation of freedom as an individual characteristic.
Such was the profound meaning of the rise of Kinijit: it was the return of individual freedom back to prominence, the resurgence of individual rights after the primacy given to group rights or solidarity. It springs to mind that the struggle for individual rights can intensify and unit opposition forces only if the acquired ethnic rights are not questioned. Any attempt to return to unitary state––as opposed to federal structure––will only bring back mobilizations around group rights.
(The writer, Prof. Messay Kebede, can be reached at [email protected])
23 thoughts on “Ethnicity and the tilting balance of Ethiopian politics”
…”It springs to mind that the struggle for individual rights can intensify and unit (unite) opposition forces only if the acquired ethnic rights are not questioned. Any attempt to return to unitary state––as opposed to federal structure––will only bring back mobilizations around group rights.
1. The acquired ethnic rights are not limited to federation. The constitution guarantees the rights of nations to self-determination ….up to secession that is including the right to form their own nation-state.
2. There is nothing like the right to ethnic federation. There is only the right of nations to self-determination – whatever they decide or vote for federation, unitary government….whatever..
3. Unitary state was not the alternative policy of Kinijit before and it is not the policy of any other opposition party today. Which party is standing for a unitary government you have to tell us?
4. Kinijit’s manifesto talks about regional federation which you did not include here. Why omit this topic? Is not regional federation a new kind of ethnic right?
5. Questioning the acquired ethnic rights is not the same as wanting a return to a unitary system. Why mix the too?
6. Why place unitary system and ethnic rights as opposites? Not all unitary systems reject ethnic rights – it can even be the best tool for the realization of ethnic rights.
7. The right to oppose the acquired ethnic rights (whatever they are) is a democratic right and can be practiced as individual right or ethnic right.
8. The acquired rights can be opposed or rejected if they are seen unequal, discriminatory or oppressive.
9. A party can give lip service to ethnic rights and do something else in power. Mere acceptance of the acquired right or not voicing opposition to it does not guarantee unity.
10. There can also be unity to promote factional interests, out of political expedience.
11. A durable unity of the opposition parties is possible if all have common democratic goals and all respect people’s decision. You have to openly tell us who and where the undemocratic forces are.
12. Anything is possible in Ethiopia today – unitary government/central government or confederation, regional federation and even secession. It is only a matter of determination.
Dr Messay
why don’t you call a spade a spade? Why don’t you tell us that things are OK as they are? Why disturb the status quo?
Professor Messay
Ethnic federalism (ethnic rights) is nothing more than institutionalised discrimination on the basis of ethnic affiliation. If we accept that what is the purpose of living together or crying for unity? Unity for what purpose??
This is a very good acadamic article. I can say it was not based on hatered or vengance. Just facts.
Dear prof.,the above article is worth reading .It is stating one of the most important issues on which every Ethiopian citizen should talk,debate,argue,…etc. in order to make our future more reliable .Prof. we can not simply skip the dehumanization acts of some groups against the majority for the past 100 years in the name of unity . The Amharas superiority-complex has created a widespread sense of hatred among the rest of ethnic groups . In some parts ,it has created identity crisis in which people were forced to practise orthodox christianity which was targeted to eradicate some wonderful indigenous beliefs and ways of life .Simply ,we can not come together without any kind of reconciliation . On the other hand “kinijit”is not the right political party because it is filled with people of special interest and hidden agendas and this will automatically disqualify it to bring the mass together .
Go on dreaming that everything will be ok the day after the present regime departs; again kinijit songs. Better recognize the reality and face the problem. Open a dialogue with the different stakeholders whether ethnic based or regionalist elements; take the cloak of multinationalism and stop empty preaching on cheap talk of so-called unionists.
Wake up, be serious and face the real issues; ethnic politics will not go away just by wishful thinking.
“It springs to mind that the struggle for individual rights can intensify and unit opposition forces only if the acquired ethnic rights are not questioned. Any attempt to return to unitary state––as opposed to federal structure––will only bring back mobilizations around group rights.”
If Dr. Mesay Kebede wanted to say indirectly: “keep Oromia and other nation-states intact and then let’s unite to fight for individual right with in these respected national rights”, it is a wonderfull idea. Only this vision can be the uniting common ground for all mono-national and multi-national parties in MEDREK and for those who want to forge the future TIBIBIR!! To put it shortly, let’s democratize the already achieved “ethnic” federalism!!!
Dear proffesor: Your current discourse is much different than the one you posed in late 2006 where you said “…As a remnant of the Marxist-Leninist discourse, ethnicization has the proper function of giving a redemptive and disinterested connotation to the drive to power of elitist groups. Our experience both of the Eritrean and the TPLF regimes fully confirms that the liberation from Amhara rule only gave way to elitist political systems whose main function is to exclude other competing elites. And as the totalitarian control of the state is necessary to suppress contending groups, an ethnicized political system does not easily lend itself to democratization.”
I trust your earlier stance, and please refer to you own own work “The Ethnicization of Ethiopian Politics: Origins and Significance”
http://www.ethiopianreview.com/news/2006/11/the-ethnicization-of-ethiopian-politics-origins-and-significance/
God Save Ethiopia! Amen
Bertu
The Amhara and the Tigray tribes have been the eyes and the protectors of the Ethiopian Kingdom.
Dr. Messay has missed the whole point when he blatantly blamed His Majesty, King Haile Selassie, as the originator of “ethnic conflicts” without, first, giving some credits to the most powerful, generous, outstanding, famous, and religious King that Ethiopia ever had in all its old history.
Like his predecessors before him, King Haile Selassie was the one who kept Ethiopia from being disintegrated, and he had never misused his power by forcing some of his people to be tenants to the other selected group of people, in this case, the Amhara people over the Oromo people. He never allowed the Amhara people to be the landlords and masters of the other tribes. It is true some of the Amhara people bought lands or got piece of lands from the King and hired tenants to cultivate their land, and there is nothing wrong to hire someone to look after the land of the land- owner.
King Haile Selassie should not be responsible for the ethnic conflicts in Ethiopia; there must be other sources for such conflicts, and Dr. Messy ought to find those sources somewhere else rather than in the Amhara or Tigre region. Ethnic conflicts are everywhere in the world, and as far as there are groups of people who speak in different languages but still under one government – Communism, or Democracy, Socialism, or Monarchism, Dictatorship, or Authoritarianism, Theocracy or Anarchy – there will be always ethnic conflicts.
In America, Canada, England, Australia, and in many other countries, the dominant language is English; therefore, if Amharic is the dominant language in Ethiopia, what is wrong with that, Dr. Messay? It seems that you are unhappy to see the Amharic language has been the source of effective communication between millions of Ethiopians, and the Amhara people through their refined culture has captured the attention of the whole world for many centuries. The Amhara people have been the source of Ethiopian civilization and the preservers of their unmatched and ancient culture and religion.
The Amhara people, by nature, are orderly, gentle, generous, religious, warriors, lovers of their country and their leaders as far as they think their leaders are good and effective. Hospitality has been one of the Amhara’s distinguishing marks from any other tribes in Ethiopia, and it is this kind of hospitality, culture, patriotism, ingenuity, determination, and faith in their creator that the Amhara people have become the dominant figures of the land of Ethiopia for centuries. If they are not, who will be that has the qualities of such proud and amazing people – the offspring of the Semitic race.
The Amhara culture has been imitated, copied, and practiced by most of the other Ethiopian people, for it is the culture of the most civilized people in the continent of Africa, and no wonder why thousands of westerners journey to Ethiopia every year to see, learn from, and wonder at the ancient civilization of the Amhara people.
By occupation, the Amhara people have been mostly farmers while some of them have been occupied with the political affairs of the country; of course, there is a scarcity of land, not in Oromia, but in the Amhara territories because those territories unlike the Oromo land, are very populated.
Most Ethiopians had benefited from their inherited lands, and no Ethiopian had ever been excluded from owning a land either by buying it or by inheriting it or by serving as a tenant and finally by possessing a piece of land through his service.
With or without a land, we Ethiopians cannot avoid ethnic conflicts whether we preach Monarchism, Communism, and Dictatorship in our country; we have to invent a new system of government that glues together all ethnic groups without excluding one’s ethnicity. If we simply blame the Amhara people for every catastrophe of the leadership of the present or the past regime, we are failing our country.
If centralization of power is better than decentralization of it for our country, then let us have it with the consent of the two most powerful tribes: the Amhara and the Tigray tribes. We know that it is only the two tribes that overthrew King Haile Selassie from power, and it is only these two tribes that defeated the Derg and Mengistu Haile Mariam and brought to power Meles Zenawi. In the same way, it is only the Amhara and The Tigray tribes who can topple down the Meles regime, and Meles knows who brought him to power and who will remove him from power.
So, if we want to democratize all Ethiopians, we must first start democratizing the Amhara and the Tigray tribes, and once these tow powerful tribes are in our hands, the political game is over. Therefore, we must spend most of our times and money on convincing these two tribes only, and the rest, like sheep, will follow. To accomplish our goal, we must give the Amhara and the Tigray tribes a baptism of fire – democracy, not the baptism of John just by water.
Dear Negash (#4),
Don’t try to be like Amhara; be yourself, and don’t kill yourself imitating them, and you will never be like one of them unless you are a born-Amhara person. Learn something though from the Amhara’s saying: “Dimet ende-anbsa ehtohalehu bla tesentika motech” a cat trying to roar like a lion burst out and killed itself.
As you complain, the Amhara people have never dehumanized any person rather than they have spent much of their times by humanizing, cultivating, educating, modernizing, and Christianizing some of the other Ethiopian pagan tribes. King Menelik II did just that, and the rest of the Amhara people followed his steps.
Why some of the other tribes hate the Amhara people is simply they have found out that the Amhara people are the most civilized and powerful people in Ethiopia, and there is nothing they can do about it.
The reconciliation between the Amhara people and some of the other tribes who hate the Amhara is only for the Amhara people to educate those who hate them until they have overcome their inferiorities and believed that the Amhara are just human beings and children of God, who created the Amhara and the rest of the other tribes.
Assta # 9. You are a kid and still live in tribal mentality of ehtiopia. You think one is bigger and smarten than other over there, just look how one European or American view Ethiopia or the difference between Ethiopia and kenya.
No one single catagary is civilized enough even to raise and prospere litle vilgaes in Ethiopia.
What do you think civilazation is? Which kilil/kiflew hager/region is more civilized than other in Ethiopia?
To move toward democratization means to raise issues of individual freedom and liberty, of economic development and its equitable distribution; it also means the promotion of national sovereignty and unity on which depend the prosperity and safety of all ethnic groups. All these themes are associated with individual freedom, and so are essentially cross-ethnic.
I can not understand why individual right is more appealing to those crying for unity. This simply not divid and rule but disintegrate and rule. Why is it wrong if group right are respected. Is more difficult to unify indivduals or groups? I think the target is alway not to hear words like Oromo, Somali, Sidama, etc. I advice not cut hope of forced unity. The word unity itself entails the the existence identitie/differences; and let us respect/ackowledge others identity Dr Messay.
Assta is not meaning, he is just joking the ” teret teret ye lam beret ” of old Amhara arrogant generations. In today’s modern Ethiopia there is no place for such a destructive element. Assta sounds as if he is in a critical identity ciris person who has been cut off from the Amharas and at the same time do not want to be associated with the indeginous people where he born and grown up. Such peoples are very dangerous for indigenous peoples as well as for Amharas too.
“Professor” Messay is, knowingly, serving the interests of neo-colonialist forces, by advancing pseudo-egalitarian and mediocre views about “peoples”. Neo-colonialists see in the Ethiopian (i.e. Amhara = the Free-People ) people the principal obstacle to their imperialist ambitions in Africa.
The historic, political and philosophical basis for the existence of the Amhara is far too profound for Messay Kebede’s intellect, or in fact many Western intellectuals. But the smarter ones have, long ago, well understood the challenges that the Amhara existence poses to their egotistical and anti-civilisation and anti-democracy aims : Neo-colonialism.
Amhara is the name of the whole of the Ethiopian citizens who are governed by the same law of the land, without discrimination. In fact the Amhara existence precedes by many centuries those Western people that claim to be the first to have constituted “democratic” systems of government.
Mediocres and pseudo-intellectuals with little understanding of what they are talking about, profer falsities and superficialities, believing them to be “progressist” ideas. They will be surprised, tomorrow, when they will see for themselves that they have been fools all along.
That teenagers (like the EPRP high school militants in the 1970s) hold such views, it is quite understandable, but retiring SHIMAGLE’s… that is rather embarrassing. However, Messay Kebede and his kinds will live materially comfortable lives in the West, as their views are very much appreciated by the powerfull, who will thank them in kind and graciously so.
Assta B. Gettu
I think you are swimming in an immaginery World of your self. If I call you an Amhara, I only insult this people. I realy luck words to characterize you!
“The Amhara and the Tigray tribes have been the eyes and the protectors of the Ethiopian Kingdom.” Were Oromos, Gurages, Walaytas and all other people of Ethiopia not involved in defending the country against inside and outside aggresion? Who gave away Djibuti to the French, Eriteria to Eriterians and today still giving Land to the Sudan while you are barking in USA? Oromos? Gurages?….
” ….the Amhara people through their refined culture has captured the attention of the whole world for many centuries.” For you, my dear, Ethiopia means Amahara and the whole world knows what ethiopia means… hunger, backwardness, disease, war, famine, what have you?
“we have to invent a new system of government that glues together all ethnic groups without excluding one’s ethnicity….” For what purpose? Is there any problem now? As long as Amahara and Tigree rule is there why include the other?
What have the Amaharas given the rest of Ethiopian people for which you call them the most genereous in the world? Land? Bread? Prostitution? Leprocy? HIV? famine? you know the answer.
All those who hate Ethiopia always accuse the Amharas because they never sold out their integrity, pride and Ethiopia. They have always defended themselves and other ehnic groups successfully. The Enemy knows the Amharas who believe in unity and integrity are the unshakeable founders as well as the future of Ethiopia. That is why they have been disseminating hatred and lies amongst the different brotherly ethic groups for centuries and reached at the verge of their evil mission. They do not help us to learn, build a nation and develop ourselves so that we can positively build justice, equality and development but they always tell us about our weaknesses and the domination of all other ethnic groups by the Amharas. Even sometimes they like to mention the Shoa Amhara to inoculate their venom deep into a particular Amhara Area.
Ketema
anti- Amhara = anti-Ethiopian and anti-African. If you do not believe this refer to the Fascists, reactionary Arab regimes,TPLF,EPLF, the vatican etc. More than words time has shown us all anti Amhara elements are anti-Ethiopians. What did they do to the Eritreans and all other Ethnic groups?
These jealousy and whri enemies of Ethipia have tools designed by fascists. The tool is called LINGUSTIC and CULTURAL DOMINATION BY THE AHARAS. They do not want to talk about the advantage of all ethnic groups who have tremendously benefited from their unity. They always direct us to focus on our differences. They do not also mention about historical situations of languages and culture and how they expand beyond countries across the globe. E,g. English, Arabic, Russian etc used to bring different people for mutual benefit. Remember also the battle of Adwa that mobilised all Ethiopians with great carriage and confidence. Amharas assimilation and love for Ethiopia saved us from being dehumanised by colonialism. We are lucky to protect our pride and confidence.
It is because the Amharas successfully mobilised and led Ethiopians that we existed as a nation with our distinctive history.
Thanks to their grate determination and love for freedom and Ethiopia that not only Ethiopia but also Africans and the broader Asia people considered as human beings
Assta Gettu,
You don’t come across as somebody who belongs to the fine heritage that you heaped on the Amhara and Tigray ethnic groups. And whether intentional or mere wishful thinking, you are no more than a poor student of Ethiopian history. The ouster from power of both Haile Selassie and Mingistu Haile Mariam and the Meles’s coming to power was contributed by a number of events and actors and your two ethnic groups had in fact very little to don with it especially the Amharas.
As for who is likely to eventually remove Meles from the seat of power, I can assure you that it will no Amhara or Tigray but an other group. You may not stomach it but since you will not be able to do anything about it, you will have to get used to it. After all no Ethiopian ruler ever sought the permission of the people to rule them, they just imposed their will on the people and we simply accepted them and got used to their rule and the future will not be different.
You seem to be angry at the author of the article and have little capacity to deal with your angry. I also believe that you are not doing any good to the Amhara and Tigray ethnic group in presenting them the way you did. I doubt if the fine and better educated Amharas and Tigrayans would agree with your posting.
As the saying goes “if you can’t take heat, get out of the kitchen”. Otherwise good luck with your ignorance induced arrogance and narrow-mindedness.
Assta Gettu yesterday you wrote article about attacking Tigrean people and today you say Tigray and Amhara are defender of Ethiopia.
Don’t fool around and write article when you are in depression.
All Ethiopiawi must be united. Oromo, Tigrean, Amhara, Afar, Somali and all religion as one.
And Ethiopia
Professor Messay’s unusually short article is thought-provoking and interesting as well.But it’s some flaws such as “acquired ethnic rights”,”ethnic federalism”.
Both ideas contained in the quotes deprive the rights of all newly settled citizens in political and economic ownership.They relegate them into secondary position.If a member of any nationality resides in any region for 3 or 5 years and has a good record he/she should be able to be elected for regional or national parliaments.
The other flaw is that the professor didn’t hammer well the road map that allows us to get out of the quagmire of ethnic politics,a remnant of old-fashioned ideas.
In the comments,the role of the Amharas has been stated.On this point it is better to read “Greater Ethiopia” by professor Donald Levin instead of haggling over the issue.
Last point:Why do we popularize separation re coined as self determination?It’s a Marxist-Leninist concept which was meant to appease separatist elites.It wasn’t put into practice except by the poor Ethiopian elites.
In Ethiopia which region is self-sufficient so much so to form a national government? It’s a mere fantasy.After Socialism and Ethnically-based federalism the only way that can salvage the country is Liberal Democracy where individual rights and freedoms can be guaranteed.
Short responses to the enemies of the most advanced race – the Amhara race:
Dear tilga (#12),
If Ethiopia were a modern country, we couldn’t have this type of oppressive leadership in our country.
I don’t think you know my birth place; you have just assumed I am an Amhara because I have commented about the good culture of the Amhara people and their invaluable contributions, not only to the rest of the Ethiopian people but also to the whole world. For example, the Geez Alphabet, the Yared Songs, the Tirgum (the interpretation of the Bible), the composition of Kine, the paintings, the constructions of the Lalibela Churches out of a single rock, the Axum Zion Church, the Gondar Palace, the Christos-Semra Church, the Kibran Gebriel Church, and many other historical sites – all these wonders of the world were engineered and built by the Amhara people, so we should give credits to these hard-working people – the Amhara people.
I’m good, not only for the superior Amhara people but also for the other inferior ones to lift them up from where they are now and help them help themselves, and one day, it is my hope, they will become real Ethiopians, which means real Amharas. I wish every Ethiopian tribe felt how an Amhara person feels – proud, confident, superior, gentle, free, and spiritual.
I’m not dangerous, as you said, but gracious, kind, considerate, and responsible for my country, especially for the Amhara people, the sources of ancient civilization.
The Amhara people have done so many good things for the rest of the Ethiopian people, and if someone tries to document all what the Amhara people have done, there will never be adequate rooms to hold the document.
Dear burqaa (#14),
Yes, Ethiopia is Amhara, and Amhara is Ethiopia, and without Amhara there is no Ethiopia; this fact has been demonstrated many times as the Amhara defended Ethiopia from various internal and external enemies by sacrificing themselves for their country.
In time of adversity, the Amhara people have never accepted any foreign donation; they always support themselves through their hard work.
When you picture Ethiopia, what your brains catches for the first time is disease, famine, conflict, ignorance, and many other bad things, because you were, perhaps, born in an area that produces such elements, and you always think that the Amhara people also have those elements. That is not always so true.
If you need some handouts from the Amhara people, they have been giving you something more important than food and drink. They have been giving you freedom, education, religion, culture, leadership, but you are blaming this unique race – the Amhara people – for all kinds of diseases you mentioned, diseases such as leprosy, HIV, and others. For Example: If one of your friends dies because of HIV, that means he died because the Amhara people have given him the HIV disease. That is the way you think, I imagine. Yes, you are free to blame the Amhara for anything that happened to you, and you die blaming them without achieving anything but blaming and blaming and blaming. I can see you are a cursed creature that puts blame on someone else but refuses to accept responsibilities.
Dear Yeg (#16),
Can you mention those events and factors that contributed to the fall of Emperor Haile Selassie, Derg, Mengistu Haile Mariam, and to the rise of Meles Seitanawi (Zenawi)?
Let me assure you again, my friend, that nothing can be accomplished in Ethiopia without the help, advice, and techniques of the Amhara people; the Amhara people are the ingredients for every activities, good or bad, in the Ethiopian old or modern politics.
Tell me who you think will topple down Meles Zenawi from his power but the Amhara people?
When you are short of using appropriate words, you pick up insulting words such as ignorance, arrogance and narrow-mindedness. I’m sure you can easily avoid using such stale words if you know how to use dictions. Go back to any grammar school and learn how to compose your comments, using acceptable words.
Dear mamo (#17),
I agree with you all Ethiopian ethnic groups must be united and live together in harmony and learn something useful from each other and there are so many good things to learn from these distinguished tribe – the Amhara tribe.
I never wrote any article attacking my people the Tigrean; what I said in my “That Day….” Article was to advice the other tribes to protect the Tegarues from being harmed by some outlandish Ethiopians when Meles leaves office, because some of the Tegarues do not support the opposing party.
Assta B. Gettu is out of controll like Varun Gandhi of Indus. Disappointment leads to frustration, frustration leads to aggressiveness, and aggressiveness leads to self destruction. This is what is happening to our poor brother Assta. Shamelessly, he is claiming that the Amharas have founded Axum, Yeha,Lallibela and etc. But history knows that Axum was founded by the people called Hymirite who has crossed to today’s Norther Ethiopia from Yemen and the Tigires are the kin of this people and they have right to say they are Axumites. But the Amharas have no any right to be the body of Axumites. The Amharas wherever they go they claim the property, the culture, the history even the words of other peoples. And simply Lallibella was curved out by king Lallibella of Agaw dynasty. But after the invasion of Ethiopia by Abyssinian king Menelik, the Amharas have started claiming other people’s civilization. The Amharas have chased out of today’s Yemen region because of their social characters with the ethnic groups in that region. The Yemenites used to say to the Amharas, ” KALLI AL-HANASH AKTUL AL-HABASH ” means in Arabic, leave the snake and kill the Habash( Habasha). So poor brother you don’t have to tell us your myth Amhara history, but the Ethiopians do not mind if you teach the people for whom you are crying. And at the end what i want to tell you is, don’t miss up with Tigires, today the Tigires are free of Amharas TRICKOLOGY and BILTABILT.
The burdens of the Amhara people are some of the Ethiopian inferior tribes such as dear Jano.
Dear Jano (#20),
If you are a Tigrigna speaker, you are a “hasawi”; if you are a Geez speaker, you are “alawi”; if you are an Arabic speaker, you are “kadhaab”; if you are an Amharic speaker, you are “washo” or “wishetam”; and if by chance you are an English speaker, you are a liar.
You are indeed a habitual liar when you say “…the Amharas have no any right to be the body of Aksumites.” You must understand that the Amhara are the Semitic people, and it was the Semitic people who built the ancient city of Axum. The Semitic tribe – the Agazyan – built the Kingdom of Axum, and the Amhara and the Tigryans inherited their religion and monarchism from Axum. By the way, the modern Zion Church at Axum was built by King Haile Selassie, Emperor of the Amhara people – the Ethiopian people, and when I was talking about the Zion Church at Axum, I was not talking about the ancient city of Axum. Read my comment very carefully before you criticize me, and you are the one who brought the old Axum city into this discussion. The Old Axum was built by King Ezana, but the modern Zion Church was built, as I said, by the generous King, King Haile Selassie.
You are indeed a “washo” when you assert that the Amhara people are the imitators, not inventors, of other people’s culture, civilization, religion, history property, and languages. Tell me whose language was Amharic, whose language was Geez, and whose language was Tigrigna? From whom did the Amhara people borrow the music of Yared, the Semina-Work kine, the art of painting and drawing, farming and trading, weaving and iron making? Whose property was Ethiopia before the Amhara came and took the land and domesticated its animals and trained its indigenous people?
You are absolutely a “kadhaab” when you say “Lalibela was curved out by king Lalibela of Agew dynasty.” You recall that the Amhara region then included Begemeder, Gojam, Quara, Shewa, and Lasta in Wollo, and Lalibela was in Lasta, an Amhara region. Therefore, it is easy to understand that the Amhara people built the following magnificent Christian Churches in Lasta, Wollo:
1. Bete-Denagle
2. Bete-Mariam
3. Bete-Medhanialem
4. Bete-Meskel
5. Bete-Golgota
6. Bete-Kidus Mikael
7. Bete-Gebriel
8. Bete-Aba Lebanos
9. Bete-Gebriel
10. Bete-Amanuel
11. Bete-Georgis
I invite you to visit these imposing Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Churches, one by one; then you would see the greatness, inventiveness, and superiority of the Amhara people, the light of the Ethiopian nations.
However, you are, without any doubt, “hasawi” when you claim: “The Amharas have chased [sic] out of today’s Yemen region because of their social characters with the ethnic groups in that region.” You have failed to tell me what the social behaviors of the Amhara people were then when they were driven out by the Yemenites. This much I know though that the Amhara people are the most pleasant, gracious, happy-face, friendly, and humorous people on this earth.
How pitiful and mendacious you are when you say that the Amhara history is a myth! Go and read Herodotus, Budge, The Ethiopian History, Nubia – Axum – Zagwai by Tekle-Thadik Mekuria and many others.
It is true the Tigreans are free because of the Amharas’ hard work and sacrifices; the Amhara people have helped the other Ethiopian tribes as a “melting pot” and the Amharic language has served as the main factor of this melting process. Every Ethiopian tribe wanted to be assimilated with the Amhara tribe, and most of these Ethiopian tribes have succeeded, and some of them are in the process of being melted and assimilated with this pure Semitic race – the Amhara people.
You always want to see the destruction of the Amhara people without comprehending that the destruction of the Amhara people is the destruction of all Ethiopians. I believe you have thought that the death of King Haile Selassie would end the supremacy of the Amhara people, but you are wrong because the Amhara people will never give up their God-given supremacy. Ethiopia is theirs, and they are Ethiopians; therefore, the Amhara people will be here in the present or different forms for many, many centuries to come.
You were born blind, deformed, and helpless, but the Amhara people have given you eyes that can see, ears that can hear, hands that can grasp, feet that can walk, mouth that can speak, nose that can smell, and brains that can think and distinguish between good and bad, between fiction and fact; even though some of you are still in your primitive form, the Amhara people have a lot of work to give you a shape, a form, a taste, and finally a full developed human being. You brought nothing to this world, but you are fortunate that you have a chance and time to assimilate with the civilized race – the Amhara people, and after the melting pot and the assimilation processes are completed, no one will recognize you that you were once upon a time a vicious and untamed animals in the Ethiopian wilderness, but thanks to the Amhara people’s hard work that you are now the most civilized human beings.
Assta, please wash up your mouth with a soap which has mentioned ” the Amharas are semitics and therefore they belong to Axumite “. Do you think that all Semitic groups belong to the Axumites ? Say it clearly if you want to put yourself/your kins at the level of Tigreans. And then we can get you a conrner where you can get your rest. Today Ethiopian peoples are enjoying their right of self adiministration and they will never give out their rights to the demonized people who are knocking their heads with walls day and night. I have seen your long story of APARTHEID/NAZISM on Ethiopian peoples. Please continue to write such articles and you will never change any thing into your advantage.
Dear Siraye (#22),
The history of the Amhara people is not a matter of mouthwash with or without Colgate or Scope. By the way, I have never seen people washing their mouths with soap; I always wash my mouth either with PLAX or with Alcohol Free Oral Health Rinse. Nowadays there are a variety of mouthwash agents, and any person can choose one of them and wash his/her mouth at least twice a day.
Of course, not all mouthwashes are the same as all Semitic people are different; in this case, not all Semitic groups belong to Axum; however, all Axumites are Amharas, and all Amharas are Semitics; therefore, all Axumites are Semitics.
I am not trying to put the Amhara people at the level of the Tigreans but the Tigreans at the level of the Amharas because the Amharas are already at the highest level of leadership, moral, self-confidence, culture and history. Today, because of the melting pot and the assimilating process, there is no one in Ethiopia that does not have the Amhara blood, and because of this peculiar blood, every Ethiopian has now the feeling of self-determination, self-governing, and self-sacrificing for one’s own country.
Those Ethiopians who have 90% of the Amhara blood think better, feel confident and superior, but those who have less than 90% of the Amhara blood are average people, and they take too much time to make their own decision in life. They are slaw learners, but they reach their goals since they still possess less or more of the Amhara blood.
A famous kine-Memhir Aleqa Invakom once advised some of his slaw-learner students: “Go to Gondar and drink the Kaha water, and you will be as wise as Solomon the Israelite ruler.”
Do you really know what you are talking about when you say: “Today [the] Ethiopian people are enjoying their right of self administration? Are not the Ogaden people the Ethiopian people? Do they have the right of self-determination or administration? They have been crying for their freedom for many years, but the Meles regime has failed them to achieve their self-rules. Do the Ethiopian coffee growers have the right to sell or not to sell their coffee productions at any price they want to? Do the Ethiopian citizens have the right to march in the streets of Addis Ababa, demanding for the resignation of Meles Seitanawi (Zenawi) from his oppressive power? The answer is that the Ethiopian people have no right what so ever to determine for their own destinies.
I wish you were very specific about those whom you called “demonized people” so that I could comment on the people of your demons. I hope you are not referring the word demons to the Ethiopian saints – the Amhara people.