Eighty-seven years ago, on February 19, a few Ethiopian patriots attempted to kill the colonial leaders of the Fascist forces stationed in Addis in open defiance of their occupation of their country. There was a ceremony being held at the Sidist Kilo Imperial Palace of the Emperor Haile Selassie, now part of the Addis Ababa University, where the Fascist leadership had called poor residents of Addis to celebrate the birth of one of the children of a prince in Italy and use the occasion to give them gifts and thus create a good image of their ‘mission’ in Ethiopia.
It was a propaganda event staged to gather support from the large masses of Ethiopians and present themselves as generous and kind. Thousands of Addis residents were present at the premises of the palace grounds, but for Ethiopian patriots, this was seen as a good occasion to eliminate the top leadership of the fascist regime stationed in Ethiopia. There was hence a plot to kill Marshal Graziani when he was speaking to the public, along with other hierarchies of the regime. The key individuals were two by the names of Abraha Deboch and Moges Asgedom, who threw several hand grenades towards the podium when the fascist leader was speaking.
Immediately mayhem followed. The guards began to shoot on the public indiscriminately in utter panic. There was a lot of confusion and people were trying to save their lives by running away from the premises but many were immediately killed by the bullets of the Fascist armed groups. The reports from neutral eyewitnesses said that there was no coordination nor plans but continuous shooting on the public in attendance. The leader of the fascists was immediately taken away for treatment as he was injured by the shrapnel’s of the bombs. Only one of the people on the podium was reportedly killed while several others were injured.
The reaction to the attempt was one of immediate and uncontrolled ferocious revenge by taking as targets everyone in the city taken as part of the conspiracy to kill the leaders. What followed was an atrocious and ruthless massacre of Addis residents for three days in a row, and the city was full of dreadful scenes of piles of corpses and blood staining the streets. Reports say that as many as thirty thousand residents were massacred by not only bullets but also other sharp weapons such as machetes. There was no mercy for anyone. Their houses were burned down even with people in them, and there was no distinction between men and women, nor old and young.
It was just a blind revenge full of rage. Only an order from the highest authorities in Rome after several days of reported ferocities was the massacre stopped. The world reacted by condemning the atrocities that this was not the way to deliver justice expected from a ‘civilized’ nation. The Fascists however inquired in to who could be behind such bold attempt and they concluded that it was the educated and well informed that could organize such an attempt and all those who were suspected of opposing the regime such as the clergy who preached their faithful followers not to submit to the invading forces at any cost. Hence the Fascists began their campaign to look for the educated youths and the clergy and went even to the monastery of Debre Libanos where many members of the church live and pray some hundred kilometers outside Addis. They went there to perpetrate more massacres of the clergy and the faithful waiting for a religious holiday when thousands would gather to pray and worship. They knew that the clergy of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church were capable of influencing well the mentality of their followers by ordering them not to abide by the rules of the occupiers and the reaction of the Fascists was to wait for the gathering of as many of them as possible and physically eliminate them.
February 19, 1937 has gone into the annals of Ethiopian history as an extremely tragic day when thousands of innocent Addis residents were summarily massacred without any distinction between their age and gender. It was the ultimate sacrifice that Ethiopians paid for the conservation of their dignity, pride and sovereignty.
The history of Ethiopia shows that there has never been compromise with invading forces that humiliate citizens degrading them as if they were not humans with sacred rights. Ethiopians never accepted succumbing to foreign invaders and when this happened they put aside their internal differences and disagreements to stand united to fight the alien invader head on together. The invading forces of Fascist Italy came to Ethiopia to take their revenge for the humiliating defeat they had suffered at Adwa forty years earlier.
In fact the Fascist leader Mussolini had always bragged about restoring the dignity and pride of his nation to the level of the Roman Empire times and the beginning of this plan was to colonize Ethiopia and expand what they called the Italian East Africa. That was basically why the Fascists invaded Ethiopia in 1935. However, even if it had succeeded to conquer the capital city and occupied it by its forces and try to expand to certain areas of the rural Ethiopia, Ethiopians never accepted the legitimacy of the imposed regime. There was widespread patriotic resistance movement in multiple areas across the country.
The Fascists tried to present themselves as emancipators of the oppressed citizens of the country by the monarchy and aristocrats and restore their rights propagating that they would be treated well by the Fascist regime. They tried to lure them to submission and by promising that all of the citizens from all ethnic groups would be treated equally and not as it used to happen under the feudal system. They also tried to sow differences and enmity among the Ethiopian diverse population and exploit it for their political agenda. However, Ethiopians did not trust the Fascists and did not give in to their propaganda. The attempt to divide them under religious and ethnic lines hence did not succeed.
One of the landmarks of the resistance movement to the Fascist regime was the incident that took place at the Grand Palace on Yekatit 12, 1929 Eth Calendar, or February 19, 1937. Ethiopians were even more motivated to oppose and fight the Fascist rule having witnessed the atrocities the regime committed on that fatal day. The resistance movement spread throughout the country like wild fire and the key word was liberation from the occupation using every tactic possible.
The immense sacrifice of Yekatit 12 is a testimony to the resilience of Ethiopians in resisting against any form of foreign domination. It is often stated that this attitude is in fact part of the DNA of every Ethiopian. That is why it is often said Ethiopia has never settled to be ruled by alien forces and the current generation of Ethiopians must cherish such heritage and tradition and conserve it to pass it to the coming generation. It is a huge value to be preserved and maintained come what may.
Hence, Ethiopians observe this day with pride and dignity because it reminds them how expensive the fight for liberation and resistance from any form of subjugation can be. Historians have noted that the sacrifice of this day remains one of the most atrocious ones recorded in African history.
As we observe this day every year we must never forget that the current free country we have today has been handed to us with tremendous sacrifice and toil as well as sufferance. Hence the current generation of youths must be inspired by this event and put aside the superficial disagreements we have and unite to keep the country not only free and strong but also prosperous enough to be able to resist the negative influences of alien forces that try to dominate us and eventually subject us to an indirect form of colonialism and dependence on their generosity.
There is a lot to learn from our brave forefathers and foremothers. Freedom and dignity are not cheap merchandizes to be acquired for free but involve huge, protracted struggle and tremendous sacrifice in blood and toil. That was what our history has taught us and the events of Yekatit 12 are just one tragic chapter of those sacrifices for freedom.
BY FITSUM GETACHEW
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SUNDAY EDITION 25 FEBRUARY 2024
