Emperor Tewodros II., Husband of Ethiopia, fiancé of Jerusalem

n the early 1800, a man by the name of Hailu Kaas was born in a poor province of Ethiopian. During that time Ethiopia was ruled by many kings, having kingship in their own perspective provinces; because of that the time was named zemene mesafenet. Because of various reasons he came to power with the help of his wife, the daughter of one of the kings.
After he came to power, he began his brutal raid, to once again unite Ethiopia and put her under one king as it was for the previous 3,000 years. After fighting several battles in 1855 he united Ethiopia and became Emperor Tewdros, King of kings of Ethiopia. His main vision was not just to unify this Christian empire but it was also to industrialize her.
Throughout his emperorship he began to fight the Ethiopian Orthodox Church because of their continuous obstacle to industrialize Ethiopia. However he was also a devoted orthodox Christian. His hatred and suspicion was also on foreign missionaries of catholic whom he despised the most and Protestants whom he allowed in very few numbers. Once when a group of German missionaries arrived at his court to pay their respect he asked them if they know how to make firearms. They replied they don’t, and they were there because they were “men of God to preach the gospel”. He angrily replied that Ethiopia already have more than enough priests to preach the gospel. He ended up forcing the missionaries to make him a firearm by holding them as hostages. Luckily, they built him a canon, which they called it “Sebastopol” but he was not satisfied so he decided to imprison them for more time. Even though he does all that wrongdoings he was still a very religious person and his great dream and goal for a long time was “to drive the Turks out of Jerusalem”; which is why today he is called husband of Ethiopian, fiancé of Jerusalem.

The emperor deep resentment towards the church and his angry attitude to his people in addition to rebellion through his far flung kingdom began to weaken him. But, most of all it was his stubborn attitude and miscommunication with the English which ended his trembling empire. He wrote a letter to queen Victoria requesting for firearms and military personnel, to assist his growing army. But his letter never reached the queen because of the lower officers disregard and their though of him as a barbaric African monarch, which they letter regretted when he imprisoned and held hostage every missionary and every letter man they sent. When the situation got worst his letter was searched and found. Soon Queen Victoria replied. But her reply didn’t satisfy him. The British parliament decided to send 32,000 British and Indian armies to set free over dozen of missionaries, captains, and letter men.

The battle started on April 10 1868. Even though his few loyal Ethiopian armies fought devotedly they were outnumbered by the sophisticated British army which won the war after two days. After seeing his defeat from mountain top emperor Tewodros II felt sad because his own fellow citizens betrayed him, but it is said that he felt very sorry that he could no longer drive out the Turks from Jerusalem. Finally when he heard the British army has got to the top of mountain, he shot himself with a pistol queen Victoria had sent him. In Ethiopia his suicide was told to generations as pride and dignity for not giving up himself for captivity of a foreign force.

Strategic engagement

The male dominated colonial history Europeans have brought to Africa has done so much to put women out of the colonial picture, this especially applies to African women. It is difficult to find a piece of writing concerning African women resistance to colonialism and their “strategic engagement” to it. Strategic engagement as most African historian experts defined it is that, African women ability to strategically use the opportunity brought to them by the Europeans for their advantage (Aden, Lecture). For instance, “African women of all ages drank, danced, visited, and negotiated sexual unions and fictive kinship with valungu (non-African) men from every conceivable sector of colonial society ( Gengenbach 129). This clearly shows that women weren’t docile or as collaborators of the west rather, it shows their unique ways of resistance which is different from African men ways of resistance. African women resisted by “playing fire with fire” rather than using water to extinguish it as their male counter parts tried.

In the writing entitled, What My Heart Wanted by Heidi Gengenbach, discuses about the resistance and strategic engagement Mozambique women had with the Swiss missionaries. Throughout Swiss’s presence, Mozambique women “confronted the Swiss with open “mockery”, “hardened” resistance to schooling, and stubborn opposition to efforts to eliminate drinking, belief in witchcraft, and so called “pagan” rituals concerned with ancestor spirits and death (Gengenbach 23). This tells us that even though at times women and in general Africans were collaborates of the system it was more or less for their benefit rather than to give up and ‘give in’. In addition women were active participant during the time of colonization. In one occasion the Swiss stay in Mozambique the missionaries wrote, “We were besieged and annoyed by women, who came down to our camp after the men had retired for the night” (Gengenbach 22). From this we can see that women were always looking for their and their family benefit and trying to gain the most out of the European presence.

In the writing of the Colonial Midwifes and Modernizing Childbirth by Jane Turrittin, discuses about French and British belief that “training African women could further their project of social domination by facilitating access to African families” (71). It indeed helped them but in the process it has strengthen African women communities because they had a place to get together and speak freely out of the range of men (Turrittin 81). In addition because of their access to a ‘higher education’ , “Colonial midwifes were the most highly educated women in the AOF until 1938” (Turrittin 72).For instance, Aoua Keita had been a threat for the French in west Africa because she had opposed both French colonialism and patriarchy. In addition to being a colonial midwife, she was active in the health workers union, major strikes in the period leading up to Mali’s independence, and had made a significant contribution to Mali’s 1962 constitution by promoting marriage legislation which enhanced women’s rights (Turrittin 72)

At the beginning, the French thought African women would welcome the superior child birthing technique, yet the opposite occurred. Regarding this situation Turrittin wrote, “African women welcomed colonial midwives ability to save mother and infant in times of crisis, but otherwise strongly resisted the birthing practices the French promoted” (78).This clearly shows African women use of European techniques when they needed them the most and rejecting them and using their own traditional techniques when they need them the least.

In conclusion, as both the writing of the Colonial Midwifes and What My Heart Wanted sources reveal, African women were active participant during colonialism and they have used “strategic engagement” to counterattack the European cultural and territorial invasion. African women have integrated themselves in to the European system by dancing, visiting and negotiating sexual affairs with the Europeans. However they have also strongly resisted European influences. For instance they have rejected French birthing techniques, schooling, and some of the converted Christians have resisted giving up their pre-colonial beliefs which are sometime called “witchcraft” by the west (Gengenbach 23).

Direct And Indirect Rule in Africa

Both indirect rule and assimilation were applied on the continent of Africa during colonization for economical and psychological benefits of the colonizers. These two forms of colonization had a profound effect on Africans during the time of colonization and even now more than half a century later after African countries had acquired their independence.

Assimilation was the French way of administering their colonies. Through assimilation “the French for their part sought initially to integrate the administrations and incorporate the peoples of their new territories with France as an attempt to forge enormous francophone empire” (Lugard 1965: 101). Clearly, the French were in support of integrating the states of Africa by applying the same kind of political structure as their mother land. Through out their colonies, “the administrative procedures and subdivisions that exist in the metropolis are duplicated exactly the colonies” (Lewis 1962: 142). One other major thing the French did was that, they “tried to create one uniform, rational administrative policy for their entire African empire with out taking to account the differences in size, social organization, religious patterns, etc”( Lewis 1962: 102).This clearly shows that French administrators cared little about the indigenous culture and traditions they were ruling over. Most importantly the French even though were reluctant about the traditions of Africans they “believed in universal equality of all men” (Lewis 1962: 152). They believed that all men are equal and “men were different but these differences were the result of varying environments, principally education and rational change” (Lugard 1965: 103).

Indirect rule as much as assimilation has its own ideologies in which British officials enforced through out their colonies. In indirect rule the “British used the indigenous institutions and were expected to improve them by educating the chiefs with out destroying the authority of the traditional rulers” (Lugrad 1965: 102). By doing so they predicted that “indirect rule would assist the African people adjust to the traumatic impact of contact with the west without losing their identity” (Lugrad 1965: 102).
Some of the basic and clear differences between the assimilation and indirect rule are that in most part indirect rule used the advisory role of the British officials to advice the chiefs and if possible enhance the chiefs’ power through the traditional institutions. Where as the French regarded the chief officials as merely a symbol to retain piece and stability in the region and they didn’t let them exercise that much power (Lugrad 1965:104). In addition one of the major differences between the two systems is that “the French acceptance of racial equality as contested with the ‘color bar’ drawn by the British” (Lewis 1962: 141)

Even though these two systems were different in many aspects, including their administrative structure, their main goal was to amass their exploitation in the colonies in the most lucrative and less expenditure way possible (Aden Lecture). The British indirect rule has greater respect and value for the African customs and traditions. Where as, in the French assimilation, the French officials were indifferent and sometimes contempt for the indigenous language and traditions in favor of French language and customs” (Lewis 1962: 141). One another difference we can draw can be that in the French assimilation system the educated Africans who learned French language and adapted the French culture were allowed to exercise power, for instance, in the case of Leopold Senghor he was elected and reelected in the French National Assembly representing Senegal (Aden, Lecture). However in indirect rule of the British, officials were not willing to let educated Africans take any part in the political system of their own country let alone in the political administration of England.

Adwa and 1935

The loss of the battle of Adwa has caused a great grieve and humiliation on Italians from the four corners the world. For almost a half a century, from 1896 until 1936, Italians were humiliated because of their defeat against the ‘uncivilized’ and ‘barbaric’ people of Ethiopia, Africa.

In the 1930’s Mussolini, fascist Italian leader, took over Italia. After seeing the country's humiliated history of Adwa he feels it is important to lift up the countries nationalism in order to be once again equal to the super powers of Europe. And to fulfill his dream he waged war on Ethiopia.

The Ethio-Italia war started in 1935. Soon, this news was heard around the world and it resulted in emergence of black movements. For instance, “in Harlem, blacks signed petitions to be allowed to enlist in Ethiopia's armed services, as did blacks in Kingston, Jamaica, in Cuba's sugar provinces, on the plantations of Central America, and on the tiny island of Grenada”( Yelvington).

During the war, Italia deployed 100,000 well trained and well equipped soldier lead by air planes which sprayed mustard gas not only on the soldier but also on the rivers and villages and civilians to break any kind of Ethiopian resistance. Italian soldiers were about to face an ill-prepared and poorly equipped Ethiopian soldiers with limited number of guns and ammunitions. And an airplane was most likely the work of the devil rather than technology advancement to the agricultural and rural Ethiopian society.
When the emperor saw this unfair kind of war and when he realized that Ethiopia was not going to win the war he fled to the League of Nation to protest this inhumane action. At last, Halile selasse got the chance to protest the Italian invasion in front of the League of Nation but as seen from the result, it seems like his cry and agony has fallen on deaf ears.
I think this was the time Ethiopians began to lose confidence in their emperor. All the previous emperors including Haile Selassie were treated with respect and dignity when the country is in peace. And when the country is under attack the emperor is suppose to fight in front of his soldiers and not run. This has put a doubt in most Ethiopians mind; because if he was a divinity and was crowned with the will of God he wouldn’t have run leaving his sheep’s in the jungle. Emperor Haile Selassie’s fled to London had made most Ethiopians to rethink the status of the emperor which later in 1967 has resulted in his over throw and killing during revolution.

Most importantly, this invasion of Ethiopia has reached the four globes and descendents of Africans all over the world and they have protested against this invasion. Africans in America, in the carnelians, Africans in Europe and African’s in Africa protested against the invasion but again their protest had fallen on deaf ears. However, this didn’t stop them from taking a consequent action. For instance “When Harlem blacks were denied the opportunity to fight Italians in the Ethiopian highlands, they clashed with their Italian neighbors on the streets of New York and New Jersey (Yelvington).

Even though Ethiopia has lost the war, this protest has brought Africans around the world together and has created a sense of Pan Africanism. During the same time or before this time Rastafarianism was also born and was rumbling the British rule in Jamaica. So after all even though this invasion was a defeat for Ethiopian for they have lost many lives and dignity it’s was a success because its impact on the black nation was far bigger. After the invasion of Ethiopia many movements came in to existence and began questioning and resisting the European colonization in a more centralized and coordinated way than ever before.

In conclusion this war “had heightened “race consciousness and solidarity in the whole colored world.”( Schoenherr). Because of Adwa, Ethiopians and Africans all over the globe felt proud and realized that Europeans were not unbeatable. However the defeat of Ethiopia in 1935 was more important than the battle of Adwa, for it has brought black people together and made them realize that if they are not going to fight for their freedom and independence Europeans will always oppress and use them as they needed. Also the fact that Ethiopia being a Biblical and Christian country which has been independent for more than 3,000 years and its invasion caused blacks whom mostly think of Ethiopia as ‘earthly heaven’ to have one more common issue to revolt against the white domination, in addition to their being oppressed and exploited. For instance Jamaicans and more specifically Rastafarians thought the invasion of Ethiopia as directly connected to the Bible, because they thought of the crowning of Haile Selassie just five years ago as a fulfillment of the prophesy of deliverance. After seeing his coronation some Jamaicans believed that he was a black messiah and others thought of him as a God of Abraham and Isaac and he has come to save them from the hands of the devil, from the hands of the white man.

* I used the name "Italia" refering to Italy. Italy is usually pronounced as Italia in Amharic, one of the many Ethiopia languages.

Ethiopianism And The Ongoing War On My Kirr

n my own life I had never been very religious. My mom rarely went to church so I never had anybody to learn from. This all changed when I went to Addis Ababa to further my education. My aunt Bethlehem wasn’t like my mom, she was Pentecostal at the time; and she believed I should become one too. I began going to Pentecostal church and my mom even though she was Orthodox (Ethiopian Coptic), didn’t even care about which church I attended.

Soon my older aunt Genet transferred to Addis Ababa the capital city, from a remote part of Ethiopia, where she was assigned to work as a lawyer. When she transferred to Addis Ababa she was very upset and angry at my aunt, and even more upset at my mother because she let me be Protestant. Eventually Genet and Bethlehem began competing on Sunday to take me to their church. I went to an Ethiopian Orthodox Church with my aunt Genet at 7:00 in the morning. As soon as I got back, Bethlehem, my younger aunt would dress me the way she wanted, since she didn’t like the way Genet dressed me. At 10:00am she would take me to the Protestant church.

Then, one day my aunt, Genet, put a thread which is called kirr in Amharic, Ethiopian common language, on my neck and explained me its meaning and told me never to let anybody take it off my neck. The following was what she told me after putting the kirr on my neck.

In the fifteen century the once 99% Christian Ethiopia was invaded by Muslims from the Arab nations particularly, by Saudi Arabia, whose aim for a long time was to convert the whole of Ethiopia to Islam. Most of the countries bordering Ethiopia had already been converted to Islam. The Ethiopian emperor, Menilik once said, “Ethiopia is like an island of Christianity in a sea of pagans and Muslims”, referring to all the neighboring countries which have been mostly converted to Islam or were pagan. The war between the Arabs and Ethiopian started in the 1350’s and went on for about 200 years, until the 1550’s. During the war the Arabs succeeded in converting some Ethiopians to Islam, but as soon as Ethiopia won the war most of those converted people began to change back to Christianity.

After the war was over the leaders of the Ethiopian Orthodox religion decreed a law to differentiate the few Ethiopian Muslims from Christians, by making the Christians wear the black threads. In Amharic, Ethiopia’s widely spoken language, the first sound of the word CHR-stian means thread. And the word Christian literarily means “follower of Jesus”. So the Orthodox Church combined those two meanings and came up with the tradition that every Ethiopian Orthodox Christian has to wear a black thread on his/her neck. For us this sign says that our predecessors have died for our religion and so shall we whenever it seems necessary. The kirr is also to tell the descendants of the Christians who were converted to Muslim that they are “traitors” and even though we are the same under one nation we will always be different in some ways. One good example that depicts this difference is that it’s very rare for a Christian person to marry a Muslim person. Also it’s also prohibited by Ethiopian Orthodox religion to eat any animal products which have been slayed by a Muslim person. Which resulted in having different meat shops one for Christians and another one for Muslims.

After Genet put the kirr on my neck I began to understand that religion should be a vital part of my life. And as my family is Orthodox so I became one too, to carry the old tradition and pass it along. Unless I become aware of another religion which I truly believe is the right way to heaven I shall be Orthodox, both by birth since my parents are Orthodox, and because I have a responsibility to carry my family and country’s tradition.

When I was about to come to the U.S. about three and half years ago, a big feast was thrown in my honor to wish me good luck before my departure. During that time my father’s family came to say goodbye too. One of my father’s sisters who is protestant, tried to cut off the kirr, saying “it’s very uncivilized to put something like that on your neck and go to a civilized county like America.” However, she didn’t know how much I loved my “backward culture” and tradition and how much I was willing to risk for it. It wasn’t because I was adamant or arrogant, but it was because I had grown to like who I am and those things which define my identity, even if they are “backward”. This small kirr on my neck represents resistance to the Arab invasion and obstacle to the western advance to erode Ethiopian culture and tradition; no wonder “they” call it “backward”!

After I came to the U.S. I got in to a fight with a guy and we started boxing and wrestling with each other. As soon as the fighting was over I realized that my Kirr was missing from my neck. I had been also wearing a gold necklace, yet I didn’t even care if it was broken. But as soon as I saw my kirr was broken I got so mad I wanted to beat the hell out of the guy again. Until that day I never realized that this is the only thing I have had with me for about 10 years. Because of that it has become part of me and I feel empty when I don’t have it on.

Ultimately, it is surprising that it’s not about the size of the ‘thing’ which we are emotionally attached to but it’s about how long and how we got it and its meaning to us which really matters. This kirr I am wearing might seem a very small, insignificant and cheap and sometimes “backward” thing to wear to some people, but the meaning which lies behind it exceeds anything else in my life because it holds a great part of my identity and my culture as Ethiopian. If the kirr I am wearing could speak, it might know a lot more about me than any person could it might even know me more that I know myself.

The Free Man Party

I am clearly open for criticism and disagreement on the issues

I will be discussing, however please appreciate the openness.

Dedicated to those Ethiopian Comrades who Had Fallen 

Fighting for the Fatherland and the Motherland: Lee Andee 

Ethiopia:

This site is dedicated to those Men and Women who had fought 

and had fallen To the Homeland we call home. Their integrity 

and determination reverberates throughout history and calls 

us "the sons" of Ethiopia to once again fight for justice 

and Unity, afterall this simple-looking words are only 

attainable by love if not by shading ones blood with those 

who fail to comprehend that with out them we are a pray to 

the lurching enemies both inside and outside the Fatherland. 

Let it be known heroes or gegnoche are still amongst us, as 

we have seen it during Keye shibere and recently for the 

slayed Addis Abeba university students, doubt not Justice 

can only be delayed by our enemies but to only re-emerge 

Stronger and more dangerous. This is not a call for new 

goverment: because governments have come and passed in 

ethiopia and all of them have fallen practically, for they 

are not the government ruled by the people. This is a call 

for Gegnoche Ethiopians to change the tactics of the 

fighting to a more subtle underground movement by educating 

the mass and helping and learning from the mistakes of the 

paralyzed "old generation" fighters and finding the soft 

spots of the enemy. After all if we fail to learn from our 

mistakes Justice will be delayed and more costly. We have to 

by any means necessary avoid "reactionary and violent" ways 

as Martin Luther king said until we are stronger, mighty 

majority and fully informed about the enemies of Ande 

Ethiopia both inside and outside. Once we reach that 

stage "fighting" will lose its meaning because our 

mere "will" and capacity to unleash power will be heard and 

psychologically paralyze the enemy.

 Until then Let us seem "powerless" when we have a power, 

Uninformed when we know every movement they are making, poor 

when we have the money to buy the latest fashion clothe or 

rims for our cars: That is the Ethiopian way, let that be 

the price we pay Until the time comes, believe me you will 

know the time to attack because it is merely a human 

instinct.

Eske Geeza drass Ya-bathe Bareya Yegezahe.