Magn Nyang _ A Challenge to All Ethiopians

A Challenge to All Ethiopians

22 March, 2010 | By Magn Nyang

Emperor Yohannis IV, my hero, was

killed at the Battle of Mettema, on

March 11, 1889 fighting the Mahdists

who had invaded Gojam and Beg

mdir

(Gonder). Emperor Yohannis never gave

up piece of land. He fought the Italians

and Egyptians, even died for it. After his

death, on May 2, 1889, the so-called

the Treaty of Wichale was signed by

Menilek II. The negotiator of this Treaty

was an Italian by the name of Count Pietro Antonelli who had
imperialistic ambitions for Italy. Article 17 of the Treaty of Wuchale
bound the Emperor of Ethiopia to use the Italian government as his
contact for Ethiopia’s foreign relations in the Italian version. In
Amharic version, however, contained no obligation but permitted
the possibility of requesting assistance. Unaware of this old trick
used in other African countries before by the colonial powers,
Menilek signed it. And based on his signing of Article 17, Italy
claimed a protectorate over Ethiopia. Depending on the Italian
version of Article 17, Queen Victoria of England sent a letter to
Menilek advising him to send all subsequent messages to England
through the king of Italy because he had consented to use the
government of Italy for his contact with the powers of Europe.
Because of this revelation, a great furor resulted in Menilek’s
Palace. Count Augusto Salimbeni, who had replaced Count
Antonelli, was called in and shown the Amharic version of the
treaty and the obvious mistranslation of Article 17 in the Italian
version. With now reveled Italian assumption of a Protectorate over
Ethiopia, relations with Italy soured further. On March 1, 1889,
Ethiopia and Italy got into a battle that ended in Italy’s defeat in
Adowa.

Our forefathers were brave and warriors. They exhibited heroism in
the face of much superior army of colonizers and in doing so;
Ethiopia became the only African country that was never colonized.
They protected and kept Ethiopia’s sovereignty and passed it down
to us. However, their success had become a curse for us. We,
Ethiopian today, are cowards and weak. We walk around with
empty pride. A pride that is not substantiated by anything. Day and
night we say to ourselves “Ethiopia is the land of free, the never
colonized pride of Black Africans, the land of the braves and
warriors, the mother of history for 3000 years, and so on--“. Land
of the free? Free from what? We are being ruled and subjugated by
rulers we did not elect. We are not braves either. Our forefathers
were. Moreover, what is this empty pride in being the land of 3000
years-old history? What did we do in 3000 years? In 3000 years,
the Chinese did something and their pride is well deserved. In 250
year, the North Americans did something and they deserve to be
proud. We, on the other hand, did not do anything and we do not
even deserve to walk around with our heads up, let alone walking
around with pride. If our forefathers were alive today, they would
be very disappointed at the way we are being subjugated and
exploited by these undeserving rulers. Moreover, they would be
angry with us for not being brave enough to liberate ourselves. Our
leaders today, are nothing but, black colonialists.

Our forefathers successfully saved us from being ruled and
exploited for imperialism by White expatriate colonialists. What
they did not know was that the next generation of Ethiopians would
be ruled and exploited by Ethiopian black colonialists. In more than
80 years, these Black colonialists (Haile Sellassie, Mengistu, and
Meles) not only failed to liberate us from backwardness, they also
manage to effectively reduce us to nothing but recipient of foreign
donations for decades. For the past 80 plus years, they did not only
block us from realizing our dreams of freedom, equal rights and self-
determination for all, they also subject us to decades of subjugation
and backwardness.

What surprise me is that some Ethiopians with low expectations
keep saying that Ethiopians are doing better economically under
Meles’ rule. Doing better? Compared to whom? Compared to
Ethiopians who lived under Haile Sellassie’s rule? I do not want my
life standard to be compared with people who lived under the rule
of Haile Sellassie. When Dergue formally and finally deposed Haile
Sellassie from power on September 12, 1974, I was barely 2 year-
old. Therefore, I will not allow any Ethiopian with low expectations
to compare my life standard with people from the past rulers. I am
a 21st century child and I would appreciate it if you compare my
life standard with that of the 21st century citizens of Europe or
North Americans.

One has to only look at Addis Ababa, our rulers’ self-proclaimed
“capital of the Black Africans, home of the African Union and
diplomats” to see the failure of the government. Garbage all over its
pot-holed streets; so much smell; so much visible unemployment; so
much work crying to be done to make it clean and livable.
Nevertheless, Meles’ government cannot gather the teeming idle
hands roaming the streets and organize them to do the work that is
crying to be done to keep clean their “capital of Black Africans”.
Unfortunately, our brave forefathers are not here to fight for our
liberation from being ruled and exploited by Ethiopian black
colonialists. We, today’s Ethiopians, are incompetent of analysis,
principles, discipline, foresight, and vigilance. We are not mentally
tough. We are not brave and warriors like our forefathers. After
more than 80 years of colonialism by black colonialists, we have
totally degenerated in character and competence from our
forefathers. Similarly, whatever fighting spirit our forefathers had
has been squeezed out of us. Our forefathers had codes of death
rather than dishonor. These codes led them to dispel the would be
White Colonialists from Ethiopia. We, on the other hand, are
possessed by the “never-say-die” sprit. We are cowards and weak
and too busy being fearful of our black colonialists to spare a
moment to organize ourselves to fight our Black colonialists
effectively like our forefathers did to White colonialists.

The Solution

Our forefather new the humiliation that comes with being colonized
and they stood out to prevent it. They knew that a free man
innovates, and innovation leads to a breakaway from
backwardness.

What we need to do now to fulfill our forefathers’ wishes, is to get
rid of these undeserving black rulers and reinvent and restructure
Ethiopia completely. When given an interview in 2007 in Logas,
Nigeria, on how to reinvent a country completely, Dr. Chinweizu
gave an example of a country that had reinvented itself to become
fully independent from imperialism and from their own colonists.
The following is what he said:
In the 19th century, the European powers tried to conquer and
partition China into colonies just like they did to Africa. But look at
China and Africa today! What made the big difference? Faced with
the same White Peril as the Africans, the Chinese, from 1840
onwards, went into a political and social convulsion and into an
intellectual ferment. The Chinese people staged reform and
revolutionary movements, which aimed to extricate China from the
colonizers. Peasant uprisings and other rebellions flared up
repeatedly against the Chinese government for being ineffective in
defending China from foreign invaders. Then, in 1911, the Qing
dynasty was overthrown, and a republic was proclaimed by Dr Sun
Yet-sen. The republic of Dr Sun Yet-sen was incompetent to lead
Chinese out of centuries backwardness. Then, in 1949, the Maoists
finally threw out Chinese incompetent leaders. The Maoists
founded a completely new state—the People’s Republic of China—
and then made sure that no foreign power could control any aspect
of production or culture in China. They reconstructed China
completely, changed its internal and external economic relations,
industrialized it and built up its power. With relentless and clear-
minded leaders, China, in only 30 years, achieved its complete
independence. The proof was that when China eventually joined the
UN in 1971 and WTO in 2001, it was not on terms dictated by the
imperialists (Dr. Chinweizu speaking to Paul Odili in Lagos, 2007).
Can we, Ethiopians, not be like Chinese? Are we not capable of
founding a completely different state? Can we not build our own
power to achieve our complete independence? After all, we claim
to have 3000 years-old history just like Chinese. Our forefathers
had successfully fought and kicked out the would be colonizers, just
like the Chinese did in 1911. In 1974, we threw out emperor Haile
Sellassie, just like the Chinese did in 1949. Going around and
talking about Ethiopia being the land of 3000 years history and
being the land of the free is not enough by itself. We need to do
something to show for. I know that no other African country has
reinvented itself before. However, other African countries are not
our problem. Our problem is our country, Ethiopia. Moreover, our
own forefathers were the only African blacks who fought and
kicked out the colonizers. Therefore, we need to set an example to
the rest of Africans by completely reinventing Ethiopia and build its
own power. We need to change Ethiopia’s internal and external
economic relations.

The Chinese achieved their complete independence in just 30
years. And by doing so, they are now able to provide opportunities
for productive employment for all, produce most of the food they
need; manufacture the things they need daily, provide enough
electricity, water and adequate health care etc. They made sure that
no foreign power would control any aspect of their production or
their culture. They run their economy, politics, and society and
culture entirely in their national interest; accordingly, they regard
foreign help as proof of national weakness. I am challenging all
Ethiopians to tell me a good reason why we cannot have a massive
uprising to get rid of our incompetent leaders who had been unable
to liberate us from centuries of backwardness. Tell me a good
reason why we cannot do what the Maoists of China did in 1949.

Magn Nyang can be reached at magnnyang@yahoo.com