Ethiopian Public Square

26/06/2024

While modern constitutional history of Ethiopia officially begins with the promulgation of the Imperial Constitution in 1931, the Kibre Negest undoubtedly served as a constitution for about 700 years since its final redaction in 1320 by Nebure Id Yishaq of Aksum. The Kibre Negest held significant influence. This "national script," which Donald Levine rightly compares to the Aeneid, is part of the uniquely "Tigrean Legacy."

Extolling its Tigrean legacy and “constitutive symbolism,” Levine writes, “If the principal beneficiaries of this covenant were the kings of Amhara, the fact remains that those who drafted its terms were Tigreans. If the story of the Kibre Negest has long dominated the fastnesses of Christian Ethiopia, it must also be noted that only in the northern part of Tigrinya-speaking territory does one find a cluster of places celebrated in local lore for having been associated with the legend of Makeda and Solomon.”

Upon learning about the loot at Maqdala by the British, Emperor Yohannes IV sent a letter to Lord Granville, the British Foreign Secretary, requesting the return of the Kibre Negest. This came after the British defeated Ethiopian forces in 1868, leading to the su***de of Emperor Tewodros II. During this conflict, the British took two copies of the Kibre Negest from the royal palace to Britain. Upon learning about the missing copies, Emperor Yohannes wrote: “There is a book called ‘Kivera Negust’ which contains the Law of the whole of Ethiopia, and the names of the Shums, and Churches, and Provinces are in this book. I pray you find out who has got this book, and send it to me, for in my country my people will not obey my orders without it” (Budge 2004, xxvii). Consequently, one of the two books was returned to Ethiopia in 1872.

26/06/2024

“On 10 Aug., 1872, Prince Kasa, who was subsequently crowned as King John IV, wrote to Earl Granville thus: "And now again I have another thing to explain to you: that there was a Picture called Qurata Rezoo, which is a Picture of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and was found with many books at Magdala by the English.

This Picture King Theodore took from Gondar to Magdala, and it is now in England; all round the Picture is gold, and the midst of it coloured.
"Again there is a book called Kivera Negust (i.e. Kēbra Nagast), which contains the Law of the whole of Ethiopia, and the names of the Shums (i.e. Chiefs), Churches, and Provinces are in this book. I pray you will find out who has got this book, and send it to me, for in my Country my people will not obey my orders without it."

When a copy of this letter was sent to the British Museum the Trustees decided to grant King John's request, and the manuscript was restored to him on 14 December, 1872. King John's letter proves that very great importance was attached to the Kebra Nagast by the Ethiopian peoples, even in the second half of the nineteenth century. M. Hugues Le Roux, a French envoy from the President of the French Republic to Menyelek Il, King of Ethiopia, went to Addis Alem where the king was staying, in order to see this manuscript and to obtain his permission to translate it into French. Having made his request to Menyelek II personally the king made a reply, which M. Le Roux translates thus: "Je suis d'avis qu'un peuple ne se défend pas seulement avec ses armes, mais avec ses livres. Celui dont vous parlez est la fierté de ce Royaume. Depuis moi, l'Empereur, jusqu'au plus pauvre soldat qui marche dans les chemins, tous les Ethiopiens seront heureux que ce livre soit traduit dans la langue française et porté à la connaissance des amis que nous avons dans le monde. Ainsi l'on verra clairement quels liens nous unissent avec le peuple de Dieu, quels trésors ont été confiés à notre garde. On comprendra mieux pourquoi le secours de Dieu ne nous a jamais manqué contre les ennemis qui nous attaquaient." The king then gave orders that the manuscript was to be fetched from Addis Abeba, where the monks tried to keep it on the pretext of copying the text, and in less than a week it was placed in the hands of M. Le Roux, who could hardly believe his eyes.

Having described the manuscript and noted on the last folio the words, "This volume was returned to the King of Ethiopia by order of the Trustees of the British Museum, Dec. 14th, 1872. J. Winter Jones, Principal Librarian." M. Le Roux says: "Il n'y avait plus de doute possible: le livre que je tenais dans mes mains était bien cette version de l'histoire de la Reine de Saba et de Salomon, que Négus et Prêtres d'Éthiopie considèrent comme le plus authentique de toutes celles qui circulent dans les bibliothèques européennes et dans les monastètes abyssins.

C'était le livre que Théodoros avait caché sous son oreiller, la nuit où il se suicida, celui que les soldats anglais avaient emporté à Londres, qu'un ambassadeur rendit à l'Empereur Jean, que ce même Jean feuilleta dans sa tente, le matin du jour où il tomba sous les cimeterres des Mahdistes, celui que les moines avaient dérobé."With the help of a friend M. Le Roux translated several of the Chapters of the Kebra Nagast, and in due course published his translation.”

Sir E. A. Wallis Budge, transl., Kibra Nagast
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English translation of the French text in the above excerpt:

"I am of the opinion that a people defends itself not only with its weapons but with its books. The one you speak of is the pride of this Kingdom. From me, the Emperor, to the poorest soldier walking the roads, all Ethiopians will be glad that this book is translated into French and brought to the attention of our friends around the world. Thus, we will clearly see the links that unite us with the people of God and the treasures entrusted to our care. We will better understand why God's help has never failed us against our enemies.

There is no longer any possible doubt: the book I held in my hands is indeed the version of the story of the Queen of Sheba and Solomon, which the Negus and Priests of Ethiopia consider the most authentic among all those circulating in European libraries and Abyssinian monasteries. It was the book that Theodoros hid under his pillow the night he committed su***de, the one the English soldiers took to London, which an ambassador returned to Emperor John, and that the same John leafed through in his tent the morning he fell under the scimitars of the Mahdists. It is the book the monks had stolen."

13/01/2024

Here’s my latest piece in the Conversation US: Ethiopia's deal with Somaliland upends regional dynamics, risking strife across the Horn of Africa https://theconversation.com/ethiopias-deal-with-somaliland-upends-regional-dynamics-risking-strife-across-the-horn-of-africa-220617?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=bylinetwitterbutton via

Somalia has demanded that a memorandum of understanding – which would see Ethiopia gain access to the Red Sea via a Somaliland port – be ripped up.

04/01/2024

Joined VOA Amharic on 2 January 2024 to dissect the groundbreaking Ethiopia-Somaliland MOU, unraveling the latest diplomatic shifts in the Horn of Africa. Delving into the intricacies that upended regional dynamics and nearly destabilized the entire region.

21/12/2022

20/12/2022

06/12/2022

Ethiopia’s ethnic federalism was meant to be a political experiment at accommodating ethnic diversity and managing ethnic conflicts. The experience so far shows that the system has failed. The system’s reliance on ethnicity as its singular organizational principle, asymmetrical constituent units, absence of an independent constitutional court, and one party hegemony resulted in the disastrous failure.

Ethiopia is at a moment of great constitutional crisis. Nothing short of a comprehensive constitutional reform can resolve the conflicts and halt the ongoing ethnic pogroms. Ethiopia should take lessons from Nigeria which at its founding had only 3 or 4 regions as its federation’s constituent units that have grown over time to a three tier architecture comprised of a federal government, 36 states, the federal capital city of Abuja and 774 constitutionally designated and entrenched local government areas.

Nigeria survived the 1967–70 civil war. Rwanda survived a genocide. There’s no reason why Ethiopia can’t survive if the political imagination that created a system with a single point of failure can learn from its mistake and remedy the defects in the architectural design.

22/10/2022

ተሰብሰቡና ተማማሉ ማላ
አሉላ ተትግሬ ጐበና ተሽዋ
ጐበና ሴት ልጁን ያስተምር ፈረስ
አሉላ ሴት ልጁን ጥይት ሊያስተኩስ
አገሬ ተባብራ ካልረገጠች እርካብ
ነገራችን ሁሉ የእንቧይ ካብ ካብ።

ቀኝ ጌታ ዮፍታሄ ንጉሤ

22/10/2022

The rest of the world will do well to recognize what’s happening in Tigray. Get the warring parties to agree to a truce immediately and a cessation of hostilities with a Troika before it’s too late. AU has to be called out for leading an ineffectual, if not a sham, peace process.

Eritrea’s invasion of Tigray by Ethiopian invitation has not only complicated the nature and character of the domestic conflict, but also raised the stakes of human rights violations to unprecedented levels.

Ethiopia must be pressed to cease its joint military operations with Eritrea with international assurance of cessation of further provocations. Put in place a more credible peace process by a mutually agreed mediators and procedures.

11/09/2022

መበልጸጉ ይቆይልንና ("ፅድቁ ቀርቶ በቅጡ በኮነነኝ" እንዲሉ)፣ አዲሱ ዓመት የሰላም፣ የጤና እና የጥጋብ (በልክ) ያድርግልን።

ርሑስ ሓዲሽ ዓመት፤ ሰላም የውርደልና፣ ኣባያና ይገበረልና።

Happy new year to everyone, near and far. May it be a year of peace and good health (prosperity can await) for all of us.

09/09/2022

Gorbachev died last week. His death gave me a moment to reflect on his legacy. Despite the dissolution of the USSR, which fortunately was bloodless and warmly welcomed even by the staunchest Russian nationalists, he ended the Cold War. The death of Queen Elizabeth reminded me of what Ethiopia could have been had the regicide communist military junta not taken the helm of power. A constitutional monarchy. The so-called Marxist-Leninists (Stalinists, Maoists, & Hoxhaists) and ethnofascists took us down a bloody race to the abyss and the blood-letting has continued unabated. The path to consolidating democracy and national unity in Ethiopia post April 2018 was to implement a comprehensive program of constitutional reform gradually and thereby expand the political space. The path to peace post November 2020 is start to recognize there’s no military solution to the political conflict inasmuch as what is in dispute is the basic structure and institutions of the constitution. The war has made it abundantly clear that if Ethiopia can be saved from itself Ethiopians need to settle the fundamental constitutional disputes once and for all. Questions of constitutional review, private ownership of land, secession, and asymmetrical relations among regions to influence national decision-making need to be addressed. The warring parties need to agree to a cessation of hostilities, allow unfettered access to humanitarian aid, a return to a status quo ante, and commit to a comprehensive political dialogue.

May Her Majesty’s Soul Rest In Peace. May God Save the King. May God Save Ethiopia.

27/04/2022

“A king who is indifferent to whether the Tigrayans prosper or perish is bound to pay for it. . . . [Tigre] is the foundation of Ethiopia. And of all the peoples of Ethiopia, it is the Tigrayans who should wish the Ethiopian state a long life.”

Gabre Hiwet Baykedagn

04/02/2022

01/12/2021

Taboo Thread on Peace:

If I had designed a defective system that would run perfectly well when I’m in charge, despite early warnings, but would make s**t hit fan when I’m not, I’d rethink & retool, rather than dismantle it.

War is evil, but civil war, far from being civil, brings out the radical evil in mankind. What makes it all the more evil is because as Solon said “whoever does not take sides in it is struck with infamy, and loses all right to politics.”

As Agamben put it succinctly, “Amnesty with respect to civil war is thus the comportment most appropriate to politics.”

“From the juridical point of view, stasis thus seems to be defined by two prohibitions, which perfectly cohere with one another: on the one hand, not participating in it is politically culpable; on the other, forgetting it once it has finished is a political duty.”

That’s why pacifism also comes at a price. Peace is possible.

Realizing that sooner, the better, as it saves more lives, gives more time for the much-needed healing and reconciliation that should follow at war’s end, and allows us to move on as a polity.

17/09/2021

Via Teleconference(September 16, 2021) 12:02 P.M. EDT MODERATOR:  Thanks, and greetings to everyone.  I would like to welcome you all to an

17/09/2021

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the International Emergency

06/09/2021

17/08/2021

The conflict, which began last year, in the Ethiopian province of Tigray is spreading into other parts of Africa's second-most populous country.

10/08/2021

https://www.clubhouse.com/event/MOJjEY04

Saturday, August 14 at 10:00am EDT with Alemayehu Weldemariam.

07/08/2021

https://www.clubhouse.com/event/m7yV757o

Saturday, August 7 at 11:00am EDT with Alemayehu Weldemariam.

06/08/2021

I still get asked whether the Ethiopia-Tigray war could have been avoided. No war is unavoidable, but it calls for responsible statecraft to avoid wars. That war came to be was largely due to the absence of responsible statecraft in Ethiopia.

People on the side of Ethiopia claim that the war could have been avoided had Tigray abided by the decision of the House of Federation. What this group overlook is the fact that there’s more to the conflict than mere constitutional dispute. The conflict at its core is a clash of visions: between a universalist, statist vision of a unified Ethiopia on the one hand and a particularist, pluralist vision of a multi-ethnic Ethiopia on the other hand. Even if TPLF was to abide by HoF’s decision, there would be another pretext to wage the war on Tigray. Abiy Ahmed’s mind was set on eliminating TPLF, the arch-enemy of his vision and champion of the right of self-determination. The war was a continuation of politics through another means. In that sense, this war was inevitable.

HoF erred in deciding outside of its remit to extend Tigray’s regional elections and that struck at the very heart of Tigray’s right to self-determination, thereby opening up the Pandora’s box of insecurity. It offered a gratuitous causus belli.

However, what the entire constitutional interpretation exercise broached was a major defect in the constitutional design, namely that the FDRE Constitution, in a drastic failure of imagination, created permanent minorities and permanent majorities (relative, not absolute). And that fundamental constitutional disputes cannot be resolved through constitutional mechanisms. Unless the defects in the constitutional design are remedied at war’s end, another war will still be lurking in the background.

The war has also exposed the imperfections of the constitutional right of secession. What good is a right that can’t be invoked or exercised without waging a war? War negates the ratio legis of such a right which was supposed to make exit out of the federation peaceful.

The era of imperial Ethiopia, or Greater Ethiopia is long gone. Multi-ethnic Ethiopia stands or falls by its attitude to the organizing principle of the state: the right of national self-determination.

06/08/2021

The Unbearable Lightness of Being Ethiopian
Alemayehu Weldemariam

Hey everybody, welcome to the room. My name is Alemayehu Weldemariam. I’m the founder and host of the Ethiopian Public Square(EPS), a platform on Clubhouse and TwitterSpaces that features intelligent conversation on Ethiopian politics and public affairs. EPS features a town-hall styled conversation where members of a community get to share their opinions, which will be moderated, to provide a common ground, but occasionally it also features experts to share their views and analyses on a topic of interest.

EPS is prompted by the silence of most Ethiopians throughout the course of the war in Tigray to speak about the sufferings and plights of millions innocent Tegaru, children and women. I found that indifference so unsettling. It was easy for them to dismiss it as though TPLF put the people in harm’s way or the people brought it upon themselves in their support for TPLF.

As Ellie Wiesel aptly put it, “The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.” As the poet W. H. Auden says:

Looking up at the stars, I know quite well
That, for all they care, I can go to hell,
But on earth indifference is the least
We have to dread from man or beast.

The purpose of today’s session is to engage in some sort of collective soul-searching exercise, as we’ll be interrogating the very notion of being Ethiopian or Ethiopianness. What does it mean to be Ethiopian? What constitutes Ethiopian national identity? What does it take for one to become Ethiopian and be treated as equal? What are the ways of being and becoming Ethiopian? What are its attributes? What are the sources of our national pride?

As Richard Rorty aptly put it in his book titled “Achieving Our Country”, “NATIONAL PRIDE is to countries what self-respect is to individuals: a necessary condition for self-improvement.

Too much national pride can produce bellicosity and imperialism, just as excessive self-respect can produce arrogance.

But just as too little self-respect makes it difficult for a person to display moral courage so insufficient national pride makes energetic and effective debate about national policy unlikely. Emotional involvement with one's country- feelings of intense shame or of glowing pride aroused by various parts of its history, and by various present-day national policies-is necessary if political deliberation is to be imaginative and productive. Such deliberation will probably not occur unless pride outweighs shame.”

The Ethiopian Empire was built by conquest. The modern state of Ethiopia is an outcome of wars of conquest and liberation. While some that weren’t part of the Ethiopian Empire were made part by wars of conquest, others had fought or are still fighting wars of liberation for independent political existence. People we never called Ethiopians at some point in time, we now call Ethiopians and people we used to call Ethiopians, now call themselves Eritreans after their colonial masters to which we have also adapted.

Do we agree on the significance of historical events? What are milestones or the high marks of our history? If our national shame outweighs our national pride, is this entity that we still call Ethiopia something worth fighting or even dying for?

In 21st century Ethiopia, few inspiring images and stories are being proffered. The only version of national pride encouraged by Ethiopian popular culture is a simpleminded militaristic chauvinism. Pick one, say, Adwa. What’s its significance if we can’t keep Tigray a part of Ethiopia?

Adwa became and remains the most outstanding symbols of what, a half-century later, a British colonel would describe as the “mysterious magnetism” that holds Ethiopia together.” Commenting on the patriotic solidarity Ras Mengasha Yohannes, the governor of Tigray, displayed in the run-up to the Battle of Adwa, Harold Marcus writes:

Isolated in Tigray, Ras Mengesha also concluded that a sovereign Ethiopia was better than a colonial state. He was frustrated by Asmera's professions of support while Rome continued to arm the emperor. Swallowing his pride, Mengesha decided to make his peace with Menilek and arrived in Addis Abeba on 2 June 1894, ready to submit. Within the Grand Palace's newly constructed reception hall, the emperor awaited, seated on his throne, a large crown on his head. Mengesha and his three major lieutenants, including Ras Alula, approached, each man carrying a rock of submission on his shoulder, then prostrated themselves, and asked for forgiveness. Menilek simply declared them pardoned, thus bringing Tigray back into the empire.

What good is Abiy Ahmed’s philosophy of MEDEMER if it, rather than uniting us, divides us further? What’s there to be proud of a Manchurian Candidate who leads a government that’s only a false front for Eritrea?

What bonds of solidarity are left to speak of if Ethiopians are indifferent to mass atrocity crimes being committed in Tigray?

I’d have loved to recite Gebrekirstos Desta’s Hagerie or Tsegaye Gebremedhin’s Adwa, I don’t want to take much of your time. Thank you for listening.