Ethiopia and the Future - Ethiopia: A voice for the voiceless

Ethiopia and the Future: Constitutional Monarchy,
The New and Young Leadership
Tecola W. Hagos
July 5, 2011
“If you are planning for a year, sow rice [read teff]; if you are planning for a
decade, plant trees; if you are planning for a lifetime, educate people.”
Chinese Proverb
PART ONE
I. Ethiopia the State and the Ethiopians
It is appropriate to think about independence and human freedoms in all their
ramifications during the celebration of the 4 th of July of the Independence Day of the
United States of America. The United States has given us the Members of the Ethiopian
Diaspora the most precious of all gifts that even surpasses our stuffing ourselves with
abundant food: our freedom to think, our freedom to speak our minds, and our freedom to
be left alone unmolested for our political views. I do not have enough words to say thank
you to the Government of the United States and the People of the United States for their
humane and honorable treatment of all of us who were at some point in the past refugees
running away from the brutal and violent treatment we suffered in the hands of our
Ethiopian Government leaders.
Americans acted like the Good Samaritan for the rest of the World, living the very
parable the Christ taught us in his short life on Earth. Such greatness of a the people of
the United States was not achieved by dictators or demagogues, but by people who have
the humility to know that that they did not have all the right answers at any given time
but were willing to listen, to learn, and to work to help each other and bring about the
great material and spiritual prosperity that we all see now as a beacon light to all the
darkness surrounding us. America remolded us all into gold nuggets of humanity. What
more can you ask of a nation and its people?
Every moment in a life of a nation is a crucial moment. There is no such situation that
“time” would heal, I suppose a role independent of human agents, and tame and turn
unusual events into mainstream. I do not want to state that it is our last chance either to
reverse all the damages that have been perpetrated by Meles Zenawi and his associates,
for fear of sounding like the old prophets of doom and gloom. On the other hand, there is
our reality staring at us and screaming silently for resolution. We have never discussed
intelligently the advantages or disadvantages of our tradition of monarchical and
sovereign government structure. Even at the institution of “higher learning” and as
members of the student body, we glossed over such an important issue. Either it was peer
pressure or the euphoric realization that almost all of us were no longer under the thumps
of our parents or the constant silent elbowing of society that might have totally blinded us
from seeing the folly we were committing by silently acceding to the half-backed ideas
and demagoguery of our student leaders of the student movement from 1960 to 1973.

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In fact, in my reflection of my own life-process, it has become abundantly clear to me
how ill informed and maladjusted most of us students and all of our student leaders were
during that period. Contrary to few writers who try to convince us about the towering
intelligence of our student leaders, the realty of our student-life of the period would
reveal the mediocrity and utterly maladjusted life-style most students including the
student leaders were living during that era. Whether it is in the record of the writings of
students in essays and articles of the time or even much later recantations and apologist
polemics and rhetorical essays written by fully grown irresponsible adults, Ethiopian
student leaders were no scholars, or even good readers of available material. They were
essentially charlatans in a dream world of their own figment of imagination. One good
example of such maladjustment was the deep trench of semi urbanized student body that
created unbridgeable barrier of least understood process of modernity distinct between
the ordinary people of Ethiopia and their student children.
It was totally absurd to discount a system that prevailed thousands of years and remained
in sovereign power in a neighborhood that was extremely hostile, just because some
ersatz students quoting alien literature have admonished us in the most vulgar and
abominable manner to discard what was our best feature, for something that brought
about the worst bloodshed in the history of Ethiopia. We must ask and find answers why
we failed in our effort to modernize our country and to bring about a democratic
government. From the time of the dissolution of the Ethiopian Monarchy in 1975, what
have we achieved in the thirty five years period since? What can be empirically shown is
the fact that we have succeeded in bringing into power the worst human beings into
power, such as Mengistu Haile Mariam, Meles Zenawi.
Mengistu Hailemariam and the Derg members in totality were the very scum of society
that brutalized, tortured, murdered tens of thousands of innocent Ethiopian youngsters,
men and women, and not even sparing religious leaders. Mengistu skipped out of town in
cowardly manner abandoning his supporters when he lost his violent grip on Ethiopia due
to the “liberation” guerilla insurrection by ethnic based narrow-minded Ethiopia-haters.
Contrary to the lies and convoluted excuses offered by the leadership of the TPLF
including those who were either purged or left of their own accord, the fight against
Mengistu was not a fight to just remove a brutal dictator but a fight aimed to destroy
Ethiopia itself. Meles seems tenacious in hanging to his power, but he will end up his life
of brutality like all dictators in utter humiliation and defeat.
Have we liberated Ethiopia now since 1991? Far from any kind of healing or recovery,
what we have now in Ethiopia is even worse especially when we consider our future
prospects as a viable nation. It is true that the current Government of Meles Zenaw has
not murdered or tortured, in absolute numbers as many Ethiopians as Mengistu and his
government had done in the seventeen years of violent and murderous rule. However, the
looting of the wealth of Ethiopia (over eight billion dollars according to UN estimate),
the destructive sectarian division of Ethiopia on the basis of ethnicity, the sale of huge
tract of land to foreign governments and individuals, the continuation of the denial of
basic human rights, and the total disfranchisement of Ethiopian farmers from owning
their land, et cetera makes the Government of Meles Zenawi and his supporters the worst

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government in our long history. Many individuals who were persecuted by Mengistu and
the Derg were disillusioned in supporting the TPLF and the leaders of the EPRDF;
however, many have realized their errors and have become ardent supporters of the
Opposition.
I will quote here once again my favorite great strategist, from thousands of years ago and
from a different culture, whose wisdom still rings true: Sun Tzu because his words
encapsulate our state of affairs in Ethiopia. In the words of Sun-Tzu, “Thus it is said that
one who knows the enemy and knows himself will not be endangered in a hundred
engagements. One who does not know the enemy but knows himself will sometimes be
victories, sometimes meet with defeat. One who knows neither the enemy nor himself
will invariably be defeated in every engagement.” [Sun-Tzu, The Art of War, Trans.
Ralph D. Sawyer, (1994), 179]
II. The attractive features of Constitutional Monarchy
Since this article is a continuation of a discourse started by Prof Messay Kebede a few
weeks back, I believe that I must make my self clearly understood on the substance of
Messay’s article. My previous response was more on the issue of processes than the
content of his article per se. I do not support Messay on the issue or the idea of
establishing “broad coalition” that would include the Government of Meles Zenawi and
the EPRDF each on its own (double dipping syndrome), if he goes beyond the
hypothetical. I need to point out here that what I wrote a few weeks back supporting
Messay Kebede was simply a support of his right to speak his mind and write freely, and
it was not a blank endorsement of all of his views. He had offered a series of ideas worth
considering seriously, but it does not mean that I agree to a “coalition” or even informal
dialogue with Meles Zenawi. I do not believe such coalition will work, its fate will be
similar to the one attempted by Engineer Hailu Shawel prior to the 2005 Election. I did
point that distinction at that time too. Especially, I was very critical of those individuals
who attacked Messay in a personal manner outside of what I would expect to be
acceptable discourse or dialogue.
However, my dissatisfaction with the “coalition” route is not for the same reason given
by Abiye and later Eskinder, for both commentators seem to have based their arguments
on definitions. Moreover, Messay had continued to discuss the issue of engaging the
current Ethiopian Government in a form that is not clear to me. Ideally one must talk with
one’s adversaries as long as there is even a slim possibility of changing the course of our
narration. Messay has offered other than that one point of “broad coalition” that brought
about almost universal disagreement on the question of the democratic process. He also
referred to Marx in a very important issue of the role of people and the power structure in
society. In furthering and promoting our discourse, at a later date, I will show Marx
irrelevance to our discourse and the sooner we drop referring to his work the better for us
saving us sever confusion.
A) The Ethiopian Monarchy as a Symbol and Source of Morality and Ethics:
We find in the earliest recorded history of mankind, in the writings of none other than
the father of history Herodotus that Greek Gods would travel to remote Ethiopia because

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they preferred the company of Ethiopians than anyone else because of the high ethical
standards of the "blameless Ethiopians." There is no other country in the history of the
world except Ethiopia that had about ten of its emperors or kings recognized as "Saints"
or "Tsadikans" by a conservative religious organization or a Church or a people. In fact,
in the case of Emperor Caleb (Ella Asbaha) (AD 514-540) what we have is a declared
bona fide “Saint” for all three Christian Churches, including the Roman Catholic Church,
a unique situation in the history of Christianity. It speaks to the great moral and ethical
standard that Ethiopian Monarchs adhered to through out our long history.
1 - Emperor Ezana, reigned 319 -360 (who made Christianity the Official religion
of Axum (Ethiopia)) (Saint)
2 - Emperor Caleb (Ella Asbaha), reigned 528-540 (Saint)
3 - Emperor Gebre Mesqel (sponsored St.Yared), reigned 541? Saint?
4 - Emperor Yemrehana Christos, reigned 1039 – 1079 (Saint)
5 - Emperor Harbe, reigned 1079 - 1119 (Saint)
6 - Emperor Lalibela, reigned 1119 - 1159 (Saint)
7 - Emperor Na’akuto Leab, reigned 1159 - 1207 (Saint)
8 - Emperor Yitbarek, reigned 1207 - 1247 (Saint)
9 - Emperor Ghelawdewos, reigned 1540-1559 (Saint) ?
10 - Emperor Yohannes I, reigned 1667- 1682 (Tsdik/Saint)
11 - Emperor Eyasu the Great, reigned 1682 – 1706 (Saint)
I find it exhilarating to have such profoundly ethical leaders in our past where even
hostile denominations found our leaders as great moral agents. This should not come as a
surprise to us, for Ethiopian Monarchs are chosen from the very best well trained
scholarly aristocrats. If I had the time to research the history of Ethiopian Moslem
scholars and leaders, I probably would have found some such pious leaders comparable
to our Christian “Saints.” A community of Ethiopians of what ever religious orientation
would have that unique Ethiopianness no matter how vehemently they might try to reject
the historic Ethiopia. It is beyond the scope of this essay to dwell on the contribution of
Moslem Ethiopians, but in time I will find some pious religious leaders also in the
Moslem communities of Ethiopia.
By contrast, my contemporary Ethiopian leaders through whose administrations I lived
through (Haile Selassie, Mengistu, and Meles Zenawi), despite their years of
Governance, did not edify any degree of ethical standards that would have helped us
maintain a society committed to human rights and democratic principles. Especially my
generation seems to be the most ambitious and also the generation that screwed up
Ethiopia the most. I have read recently some self congratulatory essays of self
aggrandizement in chats and blogs. But those seem to be views based on feelings of guilt
or frustrations of inadequacy. To applaud Endrias Eshete in any form at this crucial
moment during the life and death struggle of a people is the most callous disregard of the
record of his wasted talent and debauchery. Endrias is one of the main influences on the
leadership of the TPLF who legitimized ethnic federalism that continued to devastate
Ethiopia to this day.

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By mistake, I used to blame Prof Samuel P. Huntington of Harvard for the destructive
implementation of ethnic federalism in Ethiopia, when the real culprits were Endrias and
his fellow graduates from Yale, such as Fasil Nahum who silenced other voices from
being heard and gave Meles Zenawi the type boost that totally dominated the other TPLF
Leaders. All kinds of horrendous crimes have been committed by Meles Zenawi and his
group. And Endrias Eshete is still part and parcel of the criminal gang surrounding Meles
Zenawi whose crimes from murder to money laundering, steeling the national wealth
directly or through surrogates like Mohamed Al Amoudi and others is an open secret. To
some extent, I feel some relief for I did apologize for my errors to Huntington the great
political scientist before he died in 2008.
B) The Ethiopian Monarchy as the Source and Symbol of Justice
Do we understand the significance of the depth of moral and ethical nuances that go into
the making of a “saint”? I searched the history of religion, and in particular that of the
many Christian Churches, and there was nothing that I could compare with the Ethiopian
Monarchs. Closer to our own contemporary history in the Eighteenth Century Emperor
Yohannes I AD 1667-1682, is reported to have condemned his own son to death for
murdering a poor widow’s only son, in what the great Emperor considered a callous
disregard of the respect due to a human life. Justice is what Ethiopians want from their
Emperor, and the Ethiopian Emperors were ever mindful of their public acts as well as
their private lives, whereby the Ethiopian Church, their Lords and their own family
members had great sway in the way they conducted themselves.
For Example an early traveler, a physician from France, wrote his impression of Eyasu
the Great thus: “The Emperor has great qualities—a quick and piercing wit [i.e.
intelligence], a sweet and affable humor, and the stature of a hero. He is the handsomest
man I have seen in Aethiopia. He is a lover of curious arts and sciences; but his chief
passion is for war. He is brave and undaunted in battles, and always at the head of his
troops. He has an extraordinary love for justice, which he administers to his subjects with
great exactness; but whereas he is averse to blood, 'tis not without reluctance that he
condemns a criminal [to death]. Such eminent qualities make him equally feared and
beloved by his subjects, who respect him even to adoration.” Charles Jacques Poncet, The
Red Sea and Adjacent Countries, William Foster, editor (London: Hakluyt Society,
1949), pp. 130f.
The comment of Cardinal Paulos Tzedue, the highly learned and superbly gifted
Ethiopian Catholic Church Father, translator of the Fetha Negest into English, makes it
clear how Ethiopia was connected to the outside world not only in trade but in the flow of
ideas, “The [Fetha Negest] (‘The Law of the Kings’) is a book of law that has been in use
in Christian Ethiopia since at least the l6th Century. In spite of its being an object of
considerable pride and veneration by Ethiopians, it is not an original Ethiopian
composition, for it is rather derived from an Arabic work known as Magˇmu¯ alqawa¯nı¯n,
(‘Collection of Canons’), written in the year 1238 by the Christian Egyptian
Jurist Abu¯ l-Fad.a¯’il Ibn al‘Assa¯l as-S. afı¯, a contemporary of Patriarch Cyril III of
Alexandria (1235–43).” The Fetha Negest is part record of cases decided by generations
of Emperors and Kings and also part codification of principles of law both Penal and

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Civil. In the later case it is held that it was a translation of an Egyptian original legal
codification in the 16 th Century.
In contrast to the pious Ethiopian leaders, the debauchery of the Sultans, the Caliphs, the
Roman Emperors or those of the Emperors and Kings of the Far East and China, is a clear
reminder to all of us about the ethical strength of Ethiopian leaders. Especially when we
consider the tens of thousands of young ladies kept in the harems, the tens of thousand
who perished in the dungeons and torture chambers, the millions in concentration camps
compared to the minuscule misdeeds of Ethiopian Monarchs. Ethiopian Monarchs
without exception were all highly trained, very literate individuals; in fact, a great many
of them were destined to live out their lives as priests, church scholars and teachers
before they were chosen to be Kings and Emperors.
C) The Ethiopian Monarchy as a Symbol of Unity and as a Unifying Force
At this juncture of our ever complicated modern history, what Ethiopia needs most is
unity and reinforcement of its sovereignty and territorial integrity. Meles Zenawi in the
last twenty years has succeeded in fracturing and weakening the State structure of
Ethiopia. He is now poised to deliver the coup d’grace by the declaration of the
independence of Tigray and leaving total civil war in the rest of Ethiopia. I am making
this accusation after serious consideration of the policy followed by the Government of
Meles Zenawi, his official pronouncements and speeches in the House of
Representatives, and the extensive interviews he has been giving since over a period of
ten years. I am not one iota interested in Meles Zenawi as an individual in his private life.
My interest is all about his devastation of my/our godly Country: Ethiopia and the
Ethiopian people in all their variation and linguistics.
In other words, most Ethiopian Emperors were not involved in debauchery, over
indulgence, sadistic deviant behavior like those of their contemporaries in the Arab
world, Asia, Europe, or the Americas. Consider the degree of abuse of women in Palaces
of the Ottoman Sultans, in the palaces of the Caliphs in Damascus, Baghdad et cetera; in
the Courts of the English Kings where even queens were not spared barbaric
punishments. Consider the period of religious persecutions all over Europe, the Spanish
inquisitions and other Papal sanctioned barbarity where hundreds of thousands were
burned at the stake. And millions of Africans and indigenous people were victims of
harrowing brutal slavery practiced by European settler population in the Americas for
over four hundred years. By comparison most of our Church leaders and Emperors were
exceptionally ethical and principled people. They were not greedy materialist despots
either. Their great Imperial and religious power was tempered because of their genuine
religious devotion and their Christian upbringing. They had great virtues that we need to
remember and base our communal life on. [Tecola W. Hagos, “Paradigm of Poverty and
Humanism: Undoing Ethiopia’s Modernity,” www.tecolahagos.com, July 25, 2003.]
It would be utter madness to see our modern leaders including Mengistu Hailemariam
and Meles Zenawi in the same light as our illustrious Monarchs who ruled Ethiopia for
thousands of years. Who would in his right mind compare Amede Tsion or Eyasu the
Great with minions like Meles and Mengistu? It is to be recalled from our early history

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that some marauding Bejas coming out of the area now in the Sudan, and some Somali
tribal invaders were defeated repeatedly a couple of centuries before Gragn’s destructive
war against Ethiopia, in devastating battles by Amde Tsion, the greatest warrior Emperor
of Ethiopia who spent almost all of his thirty years of reign (1307-1336) on horse-back
on battle fields and campaign routes. His campaign was against destructive forces,
marauders and scavengers of settled civilizations, and slavers of human beings, who
destroyed families and devastated the hinterlands of Sub Saharan Africa and the coastal
hinterland of present day Kenya, parts of Southern Ethiopia, the present day Uganda,
Tanzania, Mozambique et cetera and have continued their raids and looting into the
Modern era. They are the same people who later cooperated with the Egyptians, the
Turks, and even the British and Italians in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries and
were instrumental as beachheads for African colonialism. Ethiopian Emperors mainly
fought in defense of the Christian settled subjects and against marauders and slavers in
both northern and southern Ethiopia. The earliest record is that of Emperor Ezana in AD
340 on a stone monument to his victory and resettlement of over five thousand Bejas in
the Begameder.
There is no doubt that Ethiopian Emperors were true scholars and warrior leaders. They
were also symbols of Unity and of a Sovereign People. Their bravery in battles and their
magnanimity in their treatment of their subjects were truly note worthy. Unlike Mengistu
and Meles, they were not armchair commanders, but actually led military expeditions and
fought in real battles risking their lives and a few of them died in battle fields with great
courage. In addition, almost all of Ethiopia’s Emperors were great scholars and
intellectuals trained from their childhood in the history of their people and their faith. It is
a fact that some of the great books of philosophy and theology were either written or
sponsored by Ethiopian Emperors. As stated above, Ethiopian Emperors were highly
learned warrior leaders. No comparison can be made with our current whimsical leaders
who will not even venture out for a stroll unless the entire community is forced into a
standstill with a security bubble created to contain them that surpasses that of the security
arrangement of the President of the United States..
D) The Ethiopian Monarchy as Defender of the Faith and Symbol of God’s Grace
Emperor Gebre Meskel was the patron of Yared the greatest Church music composer.
The last of the Great Zagwe Dynasty, Emperor Harbe’I (?) gave up his sovereignty on his
own peacefully to Yukuno Amlake (1263-1277) the “rightful” Heir to the Ethiopian
Throne in 1263 on the advice of Abuna Teklehaimanot, a revered religious leader.
Emperors Dawit I (1374-1406) and Yeshaq (1406-1421) were patrons of Aba Giorgis
ZeGascha, author of over ten great theological books; Emperor Zer’a Yacob (1426-1460)
was a prolific author of numerous theological and philosophical books; Emperor Skunder
(1471-1487) wrote Melkae Mariam. Some Emperors were independent thinkers even
going against the grain, such as Emperor ZeDengil (1596-97) a philosopher and great
scholar who converted to Catholicism that coasted him his life, and Emperor Susenyous
(1600-1625) who was forced to abdicate in favor of his conservative son, Fasiladas,
because Susenyous converted to Catholicism.

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Gragn Mohammed devastated Ethiopia; regrettably, destroying in a mere twelve years
[1523-1535] most of the great Churches and Cathedrals (Debers) and their great libraries
depository of knowledge that took over a thousand year to accumulate. [It was during that
time that most of the forced conversion of Christian Ethiopians to Islam took place. It
was also during that period and soon after that Oromos from the South near the present
day Kenyan border moved to most of the present day areas designated as Oromo region
by the current government of Ethiopia. In most of these areas we can find earlier
Christian settlements of remnants of Churches and villages.] I could say the number of
books destroyed was no less in importance than the burning of the great Library of
Alexandria in 48 BC or the systematic destruction of all the great libraries and centers of
learning in Alexandria by Arab Moslem religious fanatics in AD 642.
The wanton destruction of Ethiopia’s great Churches, centers of learning, and libraries by
Gragn is characteristic of Arabs’ religion based destructive campaign throughout the ages
in Asia and Africa. Of course, at the time of Gragn, the Ottoman turks were in control of
the Arab World, and Gragn was their spearhead aimed at the heart of Christian Ethiopia.
Ethiopia has not yet recovered fully from that destruction. By contrast Ethiopian leaders
were considerate of their actions as evidenced by the inscription on a stone monument
left by Ezana about the conquest of Beja tribes. And all the way to the time of the rein of
Emperor Menilik in the 19th Century, Ethiopian leaders were some of the most well
informed and well trained leaders that ever walked this Earth.
As stated above some Ethiopian Emperors were genuinely religious people who would go
to the extent of giving up their Empire or their lives for the salvation of their souls and for
the glory of God. Emperor Galawdewos (1533-1551) on the eve of his last battle was
informed by a “holy-man” that if he fought the next day he will die and will attain
martyrdom and Heaven, but if he runs away, he will live to be an old man but would not
enter Heaven. He chose to fight the next day, and died in battle believing he will save his
soul from damnation. Another example of the religious fervor of Ethiopian leaders is best
illustrated by Emperor Eyasu (1674-1698) who voluntarily gave up his Reign and became
a monk. Emperor Yohannes IV became a monk on the same day he was crowned
Emperor. Even our last Emperor, Haile Selassie I, whom I have at times overly maligned
in articles, which I regret, was a “holy-man” compared to his contemporaries in the rest
of the world; he had great self discipline, spiritual strength, and moral principles.
One must not forget the fact that Ethiopia is because of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church,
not because of the singular efforts of its warriors or its emperors—not that they did not
contribute greatly to our long history of independence and freedom, but without the
Church they would have been lost sheep. No other religious institution in the world has
withstood the ravages of colonialism, racism, ethnicism, fanaticism as did the Ethiopian
Orthodox Church, and saved its members as well as all who came under its
responsibilities since its establishment in AD 340. It has served us all more than any
institution that ever graced our nation by preserving our humanity, our sense of freedom
and justice, our concept of individual responsibility as opposed to guilt by association.
The fact of the matter is that if it were not for this great Church we would have shrouded
our females in garments of oppression, unleashed some of the most barbaric forms of

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punishment on our people, and would have turned our nation into a land of blood shed
and fanaticism. With any other ethical, moral, or spiritual center, there would have been
no Ethiopia—we all would have been marginalized, banished to some fractured tiny
enclaves of colonial fragments of communities of slaves and house attendants licking the
boots of European or Arab masters.
Conclusion
I am not offering the above examples of the courage, ethics, and scholarship of Ethiopian
Emperors with the hope of restoring Ethiopia’s monarchy or aristocracy as a political
power. I wrote thus some eight years ago about that fact. The Ethiopian aristocracy [as
apolitical power] has limited credibility or future in the present day Ethiopia. It has
become the ash after a great bonfire. It is gone, and we are venturing out into a new era.
The sooner the few die-hard monarchists realize that the better for all of us. However,
that is not the end of the story for the Ethiopian Monarchy. I see a great role that they will
be called upon to play to hold Ethiopia together through their symbolic reality. We need
our past in order to build our future. Thus, the members of the aristocracy and their
supporters have a new role to play in the new Ethiopia, for the resurrection of the spirit of
our glorious past and the building of our self-confidence is in their hands. Their role that I
am advocating for is not for political power, but a unifying symbolic power to be
enshrined in a Constitution. I am calling for the establishment of a constitutional
monarchy. The detail of the structure of such institution will be worked out after an open
discourse. As part of that discourse I have offered my views in this article and earlier
articles that were also incorporated here.
Most importantly, one may say that it is in the Nineteenth Century that the need for close
contact with Europeans was forced on Ethiopia due to the scramble for Africa by
European powers. The French, the British, and the Italians to a different degree were all
involved in the occupation of Ethiopian territory. The most blatant was the Italian
occupation of the seat of the Ethiopian government in 1935-41. For Ethiopian Emperors
it became very clear that a new military armament was necessary to defend and preserve
the integrity of Ethiopia. The old weapons of sword, spear, and shield, no matter how
courageously welded, were no match to guns and cannons. In such noble act of self
defense Ethiopia fought back a well armed Italian military in 1886 totally annihilating it.
There were several other efforts by Egypt to annex Ethiopian territory in order to acquire
a beachhead close to the source of the Blue Nile. One may say that the moving factor for
modernization in Ethiopia was the search for guns and cannons.
It is possible and appropriate to make some distinctions between concepts of civilization,
modernization, and westernization. It might even be desirable to make that distinction for
a country such as Ethiopia with thousands of years of civilization. This distinction can be
observed and properly appreciated the way some Far Eastern countries like Singapore,
Malaysia, Hong Kong, even Japan are modernized without becoming westernized. In fact
one can say that where Westernization is successfully applied to a community with strong
and ancient civilization, the result is modernization, a kind of a synthesis. Whereas, when
westernization is forced on a community with rudimentary “modern” institutions or on a
community at primitive economic depraved developmental stage, the effect is

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devastating. Such form of whole-sale westernization may result in a hayride that will not
bear fruit. A case in point is our inept and toothless intelligentsia that had totally
recounted its Ethiopian cultural heritage except in a very superficial manner, mainly its
affinity for Kitfo and the like. Ω
Tecola Worq Hagos
Washington DC
July 4, 2011
NB: Some of the ideas in this article are incorporated from my earlier writing dating back
to 2003. TH
To be continued
PART TWO
The Destructive Forces: 1) Marxism and Leninism and the Ethiopian Student
Movement, 2) The Military Derg, and the TPLF (EPRDF) and EPLF
PART THREE
The New Leadership and Constitutional Monarchy of Ethiopia