Dismantling the Myth of Ancient Ethiopia

[XXPANTHAXX]

Power Philosophy Based on Feudal Perceptions


Although Ethiopia, like many other African countries, was established as a nation in the late 19th century, the history of its establishment is somewhat different. During the time when Europeans were fighting to occupy more territory in Africa, the feudal rulers of Shoa, Gojam, Tigray and the Mahdi were the most dominant powers in the region. And when the rulers of Gojam and Tigray became weakened due to the Italian and Mahdist invasions, the then Shoan Emperor Menelik took advantage of this scenario and that of the fight for territory among Italy, France and Britain, and broadened his empire to the north and south and consolidated rule at he center. The process of establishing Ethiopia as a nation took its final shape when Britain handed Ogaden to Ethiopia after World War II, and Ethiopia thus became the nation as we know today.

The history of Ethiopia's establishment, characterized by violence, subjugation, oppression and duplicity, was entirely dominated by the succession of Amhara Kings and emperors who set up a feudal system. They reserved all political and administrative power as well as land and other sources of wealth for the imperial families and their nobility. Moreover they oppressed the other Ethiopian nationalities and made them victims of servitude. Hence, it became quite impossible to create a modern nation with this kind of feudalistic governance, which inevitably compelled the Ethiopian people to mount opposition. And since feudalism by nature does not allow or tolerate equal political participation and recognize people's rights, any manifestation of popular opposition was ruthlessly suppressed.

Ethiopia's political turmoil and internal unrest reached its peak when the Haileselassie regime, in line with its ambition to expand the empire towards the sea, forcibly abolished the federation with Eritrea with the help of its western allies. Eventually, Haileselassie's imperial regime was overthrown in 1974 due to the impact of the Eritrean liberation struggle and the Ethiopian people's uprisings.

Despite the fall of the Haileselassie regime, however, a political party with the capacity and the will to secure the rights of all the Ethiopian people and set up a democratic government could not materialize. Taking advantage of this fact, the Derge military junta seized power. The Derg had initially declared new property ownership policies and equality of all Ethiopian nationals under the slogan "Ethiopia Tikdem, without bloodshed". However, the regime did not bring any real changes to the arrogant and feudalistic stance of its predecessors. The existing feudal perceptions, added to the Communist political system the Derg chose to follow, could not bring about democracy and justice to the Ethiopian people. Thus, the use of force to subdue the people's voices continued during the Derg regime in a more intensified and ghastly manner, as a result of which many innocent Ethiopians lost their lives.

The Derg's successor, the TPLF regime with its promises of "Democracy without limitations" did not bring any significant changes either. On the contrary, disguising its intentions of retribution under the mask of modern political philosophies, the TPLF regime had been following a racist and no less feudal system. And it has become painfully obvious that a modern democratic nation cannot be built on the basis of these primitive and outdated ideologies, which as we all know, had plunged Ethiopia in the worst political turmoil. Now, since the TPLF regime can no longer wear its pretentious mask of democracy, the regime has revealed its true nature and resorted to the customary way of armed suppression opposition.

Yet, there is one undeniable truth in the history of Ethiopia or other nations, i.e. whenever any group in political power increasingly resorts to the use of brutal force to muzzle the peoples' voices, it unwittingly hastens its own downfall. This philosophy of power may have served a limited purpose in feudal times. But in the era of modern notions of politics and time, it can only bring downfall.

[CreatorsCollege]

Great read! I appreciate the lesson. Keep it coming!


Peace!

[Kweku_Omowale]

informative! and very educational