The Daily Observer (Banjul)
11 April 2008
opinion
The facts of his life are well known. Haile Selassie's influence on the world is his most enduring legacy. Born Tafari Makonnen in 1891, Haile Selassie came to be identified inextricably with Ethiopia. Only rarely in the modern world does the story of a man become so closely linked to the story of a nation. It is said that great events beget great men, but they beget failures as well, and the boundary between the two is often defined by singular acts of courage. These the Ethiopian Emperor did not lack.
Not surprisingly, the fortitude of the man sometimes referred to as "The Lion" inspired Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King and even Malcom X, each of whom corresponded with Haile Selassie --who advocated civil disobedience when it was necessary to remedy fundamental social injustice or restore freedom to the oppressed. The Emperor's presence at President Kennedy's funeral is still remembered.
One speaks of leaders of men as though their public lives were completely divorced from their private ones. For a hereditary monarch, this should not be the case. What his children think of him is as important as what everybody else thinks. Haile Selassie was a devoted husband and father. His wife, Empress Menen, died in 1962. His sons, Sahle Selassie, Makonnen, and Asfa Wossen, had a great sense of duty to their father and to their people. Of his daughters, Princess Tenagne, in particular, excercised various official duties.
Haile Selassie ascended the throne in the era of polar exploration and slow communication. Africa's oldest nation was little more than a footnote to the great stories of the day --something that Americans and Brits read about in the pages of the National Geographic. Some people still called the country Abyssinia. In certain countries far beyond Ethiopia's borders, segregation and apartheid were long established and little questioned. Most other African "nations" were colonies. Even at home, slavery was technically still legal.
In such an era, words like "pan-Africanism" and "civil rights" were little more than esoteric philosophical notions entertained by an enlightened few.
That a country as backward as Italy, whose widespread poverty prompted the emigration of millions, would seek to devour a nation like Ethiopia, was an irony too subtle to raise eyebrows outside the most sophisticated intellectual circles. With British backing, Haile Selassie returned to defeat the Italian army which, in the event, the Allies never viewed as much more than a nuisance. The British themselves considered the Ethiopian campaign in its strategic context --as a way to free the Red Sea from possible Axis control-- as much as the liberation of a sovereign nation. To the Ethiopians, it was as much a moral victory as a military one.
The Emperor's speech to the League of Nations denouncing the Italian invasion is remembered more than the aggression itself. It prompted essentially ineffectual international trade sanctions against a European nation but, like the Battle of Adwa four decades earlier, represented in a tangible way one of the few occasions in the modern era that an African nation defied the arrogance of a European one.
There were very few world leaders of the post-war era who had actually led troops in combat. Haile Selassie and Dwight Eisenhower were exceptional in this respect, which partially accounts for their close friendship.
Even when the foe is truly formidable, courage has a psychological side that has little to do with combat or physical victory. One may seem defeated materially without being defeated morally. Perhaps it's a question of confidence, values or knowledge. Haile Selassie's greatest strength was as a builder of bridges --across rivers but also between cultures. His travels took him to many countries, and he became one of the most popular heads of state, and one of the most decorated men in the world.
It was during one such voyage, in 1960, that he had to rush home to confront an attempted overthrow of the existing order. This perhaps served as a reminder that the most dangerous revolutions are found in one's own house. The sovereign who was once known as a reformer now found himself resented by many members of the very social class his economic and educational policies had helped to create. Internationally, however, his prestige did not suffer. The Emperor established the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1963, with a headquarters in Addis Ababa.
The revolution of 1974 was supported by outside forces, and while its roots were domestic, its covert objectives cannot be said to have been supported by more than a small fraction of Ethiopians.
Truth be told, administrative practices which worked well in 1950 were terribly inefficient by the 1970s, and a series of problems were cited as a pretext for a full scale coup d'etat. Ethiopia's pre-industrial economy was no better prepared for Marxism than Russia's had been in 1917.
Communism's ultimate social and economic failure, in Ethiopia as well as in Russia, certainly indicates democracy's superiority, whether that democracy is embodied by a republic or a constitutional monarchy. The Derg's alliance with the Soviet Union made Ethiopia the instrument of a foreign power, precisely the thing Haile Selassie resisted.
He had a Solomonic pedigree, but Haile Selassie was a man of the people. Perhaps that's how he should be remembered.
DO
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What a pity that Haile Selassie, to this day, wasn't fullsy scrutinized. He was a ruthless dictator, on whose watch, Ethiopia was doomed to decades of stagnation despite its enormous potential.
Haile Selassie and his cronies are responsible for the dismal state of affair in one of the oldest Nations of the World. Numerous investors were discouraged frm investing in the Nation due to the policy of Haile selassie and his blood sucking circle of cronies. Who along with the Church owned more than half of the land in Ethiopia. The feudal system benefitted these rascals. I agree with the previous blogger. how about the billions he stole from Ethiopia. History will judge him as a dimunitive arrogant ruthless dictators who claimed divinity. I blame the British for putting him on the Throne after he cowardly left the Nation!
I think the article focusses on the positive aspects of Haile Selassie's legacy. As it does not go to details I do not blame the author. However, I differ with the two comments that insued. We in Africa always attempt to blame the past leaders for what is happening today. We should judge our past leaders in their own context. When Haile Silassie came to power he was one of the Japanizers/modernizers of Ethiopia. He was a reformer. Remember, be it Haile Silassie or Minilik, Yohannes or Tewodros, non of them were "educated" to be leaders. The only education was literacy in Amharic language, except that Haile Silassie is better as he speaks French. We are talking about a Feudal society. I am surprised when one of the comments referred to not allowing investment. For me the seeds of investment in Ethiopia started during Haile Silassie. As did his predecesors Haile Silassie might have not been enthusiastic to have the country overwhelmed by foreign investors. His dream was to Ethiopianize every aspect of the society. Do you know that Ethiopian Airlines, Ethiopian Electric Light and Power Authority, Ethiopian Telecommunication Authority etc were established and flourished during his time. If you go to this institutions today you may find out they are still where he has left them 34 years ago. This is the development our generation achieved since His downfall. Cheers!
It is a pity that there are folks who don't do any comparative assesment of Ethiopia's economic performance relative to those of the Allied forces soon after the Second World War. A Nation which was a founding member of the League of Nations and United Nations should have achieved a lot more. Gemany and much of Europe were in ruins after the War. Look what they have achieved due to a transparent market oriented policy. No govt owned enterprise( Ethiopian Airlines, ETC) would have accomplished the monumental task of rebuilding Germany. What made Germany was the fruit of hard work and market economy and US investments. Haile was approached by numerous investors to open up the economy. He adamantly refused to let foreign investors who looked up to Ethiopia positively. When the Germans asked for hundreds of thousands of workes to man their bustling industries, Haile refused to meet their demand. Today, millions of Turks are ripping the benefit. So much for his accomplishment.
I bet ya Menilik, despite his lack of formal education like that of Sellasie, would have achieved a lot more than that dimuinitive ( according to the Economist Magazine) Dictator, who imbezzled billions from his subjects.
WHAT SURPRISES ME IS WHEN I LISTEN BOB MARLEY SONG FOR HAILESELASSIE! AND NOW TEDROS KASSAHUN/TEDY AFRO IS DOING THE SAME...REALY BOTH OF THEM HAD NO ENOUGH INFORMATION ABOUT THAT DICTATOR ,FIRST AND FORMOST HAILESLASIE DIDN'T SATAND BY THE GRAET ETHIOPIAN PATRIOTC FIGHTERS. MANY OF THE PATRIOTS DIED IN THE BATTLES FOR THEIR COUNTRY WHERAS "MAJESTY" HIMSELF FLED TO GRAET BRITAIN WITH MEMBERS OF HIS FAMILY.
HOW CAN YOU THINK OF ELECTRICITY,AIRLINES,UNIVERSITY,.NOTHING IS MORE ..DURING TEWODROS,YOHANES...WAS THAT POSSIBLE?!?!?!? WHAT ABOUT MINILIKS CONTRBUTION ABOUT SUCH TECHNOLOGIES... HAILESLASIE DID NOTHING..WHAT WE CAN SAY IS HE WAS FORTUNE.LUCKY THAT HE WAS LIVING IN THE ESABLISHEMNT OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES THROUOUT THE WORLD....BUT ALL THES THINGS ARE MINOR WHEN COMPARED TO ETHIOPIAN SOUVERIGNTY ,ETHIOPIAN PEOPLE AND GOOD GOVERNANCE...HAILESLASIE DID NOTHING CONCERNNING THESE.THE PEOPLE OF ETHIOPIA WERE OBLIGED TO WORSHIP HAILESLASIE NEXT TO GOD!!!!!
It is a fact that is rarely acknoledged by many people who dont like Haile Silasie, that he took over a county that was extremely backward, basically stuck in stone age dispite the best effrorts of Menelik. The contry made great stride in developing on his clock. Air transportation, Universities/Education system, Parliament, etc etc. were established under his rule. Obviously, as the man aged and got older he started focusing more on international issues, and never made the kind of progress he achieved locally in the 40s and 50s. In all fairness he does not deserve to be named a "ruthless dictator". One important fact the other coments missed is that what ever land was given to "his cronis" was actually given my minelik and not Haile silasie. He actually did pretty well considering what kind of system he inherited. Under his clock slavery was baned and parliament was established moving the contry towards democracy. The biggest mistake he made was the fact that he never accepted constitutional monarchy like England and he hanged on too long to power. Also, he was not compasionate with the peoples suffering dute to famine, most likely be cause he was too old and detached from society unlike the person he was when he first assended to power. In all fairness we all must acknowledge the progress he made as slow as they were. On the other hand he obviously made huge mistakes and never lived up to a faction of his potential, leaving the country in the hands of blood thirsty murderers. Please let us be fair in judging this his legacy.
Haile Sellasie was a fake, a fraud and a phony. As for those who think Ethiopia, a Nation of 3000 years of history with its own script as being that in a stone age, I suggest check on your facts. All Human Beings are capable of achieving the level which the West has attained given transparent and good governance. Nations like Korea, where our boys shed their blood has proven that. The Koreans wernt any better than us but they were open to ideas and foreign investments. They copied their masters and look where they are now. Our despot who will be remmebered in infamy and his close knit buddies neither considered their subjects as human beings. They didn't allow any enlightment or substantial reform which made our country the laughing stock. In their narrow minds, all investors were blood sucker foreigners and were impeding efforts by them to invest in the economy of Ethiopia. There lies the fact, however one slices it.
Speaking about roads and other major infrastructure, most were built by Italians during the short lived occupation. Haile was busy building up Addis and vicinity at the expense of the rest of his Empire. And yes, he was transversing the World giving out gold nuggets to Germans and shiploads of cereal to Greece even as his subjects were suffering in abject poverty. He was claiming divinity and God gave him his wishes as Ras Tafrians are adhering to that. I am sure, the Despot is rotting in Hell, if there is one!
In reference to your article, Ethiopia: Reflection on Haile Selassie, I would like to give the following comments:
The article insensitively hypes and glorifies Hailesillassie. Hailesilassie may have been famous in the outside World. But, in his own country, he was a blood-sucking despot. He enslaved the majority of the people of Ethiopia by taking away their land and giving it to his cronies and blood relatives who became absentee landlords. The absenttee landlords thus enslaved the great majority of the rural people. The peasants were forced to till the land and give the fruit of their labor to the landlords. The landlords held wives and children of the peasants captives for housework.
During the war against the Italians, Hailesillassie did not stand by the brave Ethiopian patriotic fighters. Many of the patriots died in the battles for their country whereas Haileilassie himself fled to Great Britain with members of his family and cronies.
On the whole, most ills of today´s Ethiopia have their roots in Hailessilassie past tyrannical rules of about 50 years.
Hailesilassie was simply a criminal and ought to have stood before the International Court of Justice if he were alive today.