BY SOLOMON WASSIHUN
Probably, it could be the most-watched live event of this month broadcast around the world.-the second impeachment trial of the former US President. One of the impeachment managers making an eloquent and passionate speech at the US Senate floor has an Ethiopian surname. What is more, his appearance has unmistakably Ethiopian features.
Having noticed that, I began to follow him with full focus and enthusiasm. He was taking multi-directional lines of argument to convince the senators. Suddenly, he began talking about his family roots.
Now I expected the word ‘Ethiopia’ to be voiced aloud in the US Senate Chamber. To my disappointment, the man said something to this effect: “…my family came from East Africa.”
My immediate reaction was anger, but then I began to feel pity for him. He might have little opportunity and time to understand and appreciate his roots. He could be one of those
Ethiopian descents who are ignorant of what Ethiopia is. As a rule of thumb, it is those who have little and skewed understanding of Ethiopia that dare to deliberately ignore, or even choose to dissociate themselves from Ethiopia.
This point reminds me of one of the respected and world-class business executives and a former outspoken parliamentarian, Bulcha Demeksa who, in a recent interview, coined an interesting sound bite that should have been echoed by pro-Ethiopian media: “Being an Ethiopian is an honor!”
Sadly, the interviewing journalist did not care to inquire Bulcha to elaborate on his catchy statement. Had Bulcha been asked, the first thing he would have mentioned to explain the honor of being Ethiopian is the spectacular history Ethiopians made 125 years ago in Adwa.-the event that decisively changed 20th century Africa.
The American historian, Prof. Raymond Jonas, who wrote a book titled, The Battle of Adwa: African Victory in the Age of Empire, argues the impact of Adwa is even deeper than that. In his book, he described Adwa as an event that turned the world on its head.
Prof Jonas says: “Adwa victory is a story of an exception. It opened another possible future for Africa. Adwa Victory gave the lie to the very commonplace idea in the 19th century that Africa is going to be Europeanized in the fullness of the time.
The press in America and Europe at that time was declaring it was only a matter of time before Africa will give way to European conquest and settlements.
But Adwa’s Victory shattered that illusion and hold out possible alternative future. Adwa also forced Europeans to rectify their misconception about Africa and Africa’s future.”
Apart from the final decisive victory, the preparations for the war by itself showcase Ethiopian leaders’ extraordinary feat of maneuvering capabilities during those times where mechanization and communication technologies were in their primitive stages.
One of the contributing factors of the Italians defeat is their misconception and underestimation of the capability of Ethiopians. The Italians were under the wrong impression that Ethiopians were too diversified and divided to come together under one unified force resisting their military offensive. Ethiopians proved them wrong by establishing a well-structured huge army of peasants.
The Ethiopians of the Adwa days have amazed the world by mobilizing to the warfront on such a colossal scale from almost every corner of the nation. History has recorded it as one the biggest and longest military maneuvering in the 19th century that could not even be matched by the military expeditions of Napoleon I of France.
The Adwa victory did not happen by a stroke of chance. It is the outcome of Ethiopian leaders’ ingenuity and the patriotic sacrifice of about 20 thousand patriots who paid the ultimate price and several thousand others that shed their blood and wounded for the honor of their country.
The political scientist Theodore M. Vestal wrote: “The battle of Adwa was the greatest military operation between Africans and Europeans since the time of Hannibal. For the winners, it was decisive and for the vanquished, it was catastrophic.
The Italian’s defeat was extraordinary in scale and it was estimated that the casualty of the Italians was 70 percent; their artillery pieces were totally captured; one out of four of their generals were taken as captive and nearly half of their staff officers [along with two generals] were killed .
Thus, the Battle of Adwa was a historic victory of Ethiopia against European imperialism. It qualifies as a miraculous historic event of the 19th century.-An unprecedented event since the beginning of the European colonial expansion where black people defeated the civilized and well equipped European nation.”
The Adwa Victory has become an eternal fountain of inspiration for the oppressed, for fighters against injustice and aggression in general, and for the causes of the continued struggle of the black race, in particular.
The strengthening of Ethiopianism religious movement, the rise of Marcus Garvey, the inception of the Rastafarian faith may be traced to the Adwa Victory. For black nations around the world, the word Ethiopia evoked the “promised land’ where blacks live as a free and independent citizen. After all, it was not a coincidence that the national flag of several African nations has a striking similarity with that of Ethiopia.
Ethiopians have employed their phenomenal Adwa Victory in strengthening and adding luster to the Ethiopian nationalism and cement the unity of the Ethiopian peoples. In his recent highly politicized study paper strangely titled as The Battle For The Battle of Adwa: Collective Identity and Nation Building, Joseph A. Steward stated: “The Battle of Adwa has served the Ethiopian state as an essential tool in establishing and maintaining a collective identity among the multi-ethnic population….It has become a piece of living history, the collective psyche of the nation. Above all else though, the Battle of Adwa has provided a source of cohesion to the state, an integral component of being ‘Ethiopian’ which has rested above ethnicity for the most part.”
As Steward put it, Adwa, being a basis for the collective psyche and value of Ethiopians such as freedom, dignity, and perseverance, has surely inspired Ethiopians in the subsequent generations to stand in unison against external adversaries and defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of their country.
Inspired by Adwa, Ethiopians have made another spectacular history by relentlessly resisting thesecond invasion of Italy in 1936, until they march triumphantly into the capital city after 5 years of bitter struggle. Similarly, the Ethiopian peasant army, Hezbawi Serawit, has shown their endurance and perseverance to the world in the early 70s by annihilating the Somalia aggressors led by Siad Barre that advanced 700km deep into the country’s territory taking advantage of the instability and chaos Ethiopia embroiled in at the time.
Barre, armed to the teeth and backed by allies like Egypt and some Gulf states, invaded Ethiopia with aim of disintegrating it and taking a good portion into its domain. Ironically, when the war ends, it was Somalia, the aggressor, that was torn into pieces.
Just like the Adwa Victory that brought humiliation and dissolution of the Italian government, the Ogden victory had led to the crumbling of the Somali government. That was when the misery of Somalia commenced- the sparking of civil war rendering Somalia stateless for so long, and the creation of an ideal playing field for terrorist groups. I guess the military junta currently at the helm of Sudan’s government has a serious lesson to draw from this piece of a recent history of East Africa.
East Africa! The term returns me right back to the impeachment manager at the US Senate floor. I wish I could send him the book about Adwa by Prof Jonas, so he would be emboldened and proud to say, Ethiopia.
The Ethiopian Herald March 4/2021
