It was very dry and they needed rain. Unfortunately, when this king arrived in Jamaica, the rain came. The Rastafarians believe in once upon a time when Haile Selassie visited Jamaica, the country was suffering from drought. And right after his arrival, the rain fall. They consider him a god, because they associate him with what happened. I could recount many more of the same narrative, but they all generally amount to the same thing.
There was a drought in Jamaica, and when Haile Selassie arrived in the country the rains started and the people of Jamaica were thankful. Most importantly, however, no storyteller could provide any specific source for the story.
I tried to track down some semblance of source material, but to no avail. The essence of the tale, however, is significant: the miracle of rain directly relates to the consideration of the emperor as divine.
Each of these stories underlines the importance of rain in Ethiopia, given the high numbers of subsistence farmers and the historic prevalence of famine-causing drought. Drought is perhaps mentioned because it makes sense to Ethiopians. In addition, acknowledging a perception of Haile Selassie performing a miracle can justify belief that the emperor is divine by linking him to the Orthodox Christian tradition of reading the miracles of Mary as part of the church service.
When he left for the United States, many of his followers still gathered together, but had no leader to follow. In , when Haile Selassie was crowned Emperor of Ethiopia, many Garveyites had forgotten the message Garvey had told them when he left, but when Selassie was crowned it was remembered by many Rastas Parmett, Leonard Howell, the founder of the Rastafari Movement, was a Garveyite. Howell has been considered as the first Rasta and his book, The Promised Key , launched the propagation of his message of Rastafarianism.
He declared:. His body is the fullness of him that fillet all in all. Now my dear people, let this be our goal: Forward to the King of Kings must be the cry of our social hope.
Forward to the King of Kings to purify our social standards and our way of living, and rebuild and inspire our character. Forward to the King of Kings to learn the worth of manhood and womanhood. Forward to the King of Kings to learn His Laws and social order, so that virtue will eventually gain the victory over body and soul and that truth will drive away falsehood and fraud.
The Psalmist prophesied that princes would come out of Egypt and Ethiopia would stretch forth her hands unto God. We have no doubt that the time is now come. Ethiopia is now really stretching forth her hands. Power is indisputable. Ababa Jahnoy, Aba Kedusa Jah live. Am a Christian but am being carried by this Rasta movement.. We can reflect that war often produces stakes that are untenable and sometimes decisions must be made with the understanding that not all of them will agree with every perspective all of the time.
Haile Selassie I knew full well the zero sum game that He often faced throughout his rule, when the stakes were very high and forthright remedy was required. We cannot overstate the importance of keeping in mind that all of these history judgements have abeen made in the vacuum of materialistic presumption. The weaponry Italy possessed was the most advanced of the time This was the first battle in history to employ aerial bombardment and other killing technology including aerial sprayers that would blanket the Ethiopian people with deadly burning mustard rain — a chemical which had been outlawed by the Geneva Convention , and the swift, stormtrooper manner in which the invasion was advancing meant that there was absolutely no time for such a greater organizing for battle.
They knew full well that if His Majesty were to be killed or captured, that would be curtains for Ethiopia. The Emperor embodied much more than the kingship of a small developing African nation-state. In that paradigm, had history gone the way of the demise of the Emperor and the Fascist colonization of Ethiopia, the entire portrait of the 20th century and beyond would have ushered forth a very different world, a barbarism which certainly would lead to mass genocide and overall extinction on the planet.
Like it is in the game of Chess, the ability to access and determine the future and to calculate appropriate series of preemptive moves that will accommodate and assure that future is a component of this historical unfolding that surely justifies the actions of His Majesty. Jesus Christ is king of Kings and Lord of Lord. He alone was the revelation of God. He alone died on the cross for our sins. His second coming will be to destroy evil once and for all.
Jesus Christ is the only way, truth and the life. Rastafarianism will only send you to hell, he cannot give you eternal life. I believe that Empror Haillie Salessie has a mission on this planet. Everyone God made had different assignment. Why would Marcus Garvey disbelieve his prophecy,that Sallesie ran away from Mussolini attack does not reduce his influence. Some have campaigned vigorously for his statue to be erected in front of the African Union building in Addis Ababa. Sadly, the African Union has acceded to the request.
While the emperor was in exile in Bath, England, Taezaz secretly slipped into Ethiopia and organised the Arbeghoch patriots. He recruited 2, or so Eritreans who had fled Italian colonial rule to fight for Ethiopia from their refugee settlements in Kenya. He also smuggled weapons for the Arbegnoch. A famous speech delivered by Selassie, famed for developing his aura as statesman and defender of his people, at the League of Nations in , is widely believed to have been written by Taezaz.
The emperor eventually repaid Taezaz by demoting him from his position as Foreign Minister. He died soon after in in suspicious circumstances. Does Selassie deserve to be depicted as a dictator? The historical record provides a decisive answer. He travelled widely, visiting the United States many times, only stopping once in Jamaica in These are too numerous and ghastly for the scope of this piece. Similarly, the autocrat is remembered in Tigray for inviting the British Royal Air Force to bomb the region in to quell what came to be known as the first Woyane Rebellion.
He was also harsh towards those Ethiopian patriots who fought against the Italians while he fled to Britain. For example, Belay Zeleke, a national war hero was hung on his orders. It seems unconscionable to praise a murderous traitor and his victim, too. Music heightens and releases endorphins creating a sense of belonging among people with shared sentiments which can lead to collective action. The misplaced form of black nationalism created by Rastafarians, in giving reverence to a man who never deserved it, is therefore harmful.
It is often said that the victors or the powerful are the ones who write history. History is ill served when popular celebrities and musicians motivated by religion or some kind of hyper-nationalism misrepresent the past. This is offensive to the victims and divisive for communities who need genuine solidarity.
Like this post? Follow us on Twitter and Facebook. Dr Yohannes Woldemariam is an academic who attended high school in Ethiopia. He can be reached at: yohannes99 hotmail. Because God is the the final judge, we should consider abandoning our own opinions, as that is the only way Truth can be seen. Furthermore, had it not been for the monarchy, Ethiopia not Eritrea would have their Orthodox Christian Faith. A carefully hidden secret!
Do we have Muslims in the country? Only 2. What are you? Nope you are the one lying here. Official sources stated that Ethiopian Muslim population in Haile Selassie came to power by staging a coup and accusing the legitimate heir of the throne Iyasu of apostasy. He was assisted in this by the Orthodox Showan nobility.
His life was characterized by intrigue and betrayal. Even his own son Asfa Wossen was a victim of his own father. If we wait for God to give us the verdict, I fear we may have to wait for eternity.
Humans right history. He spent millions of dollars to celebrate his 80th birthday while the Wollo famine was killing millions. Your observation is brilliant dear Getachew and your desire for facts admirable. But I feel you missed the message that the author was trying to communicate.
I got the impression that he would agree with you that the world was and is full of devilish politicians and very short on angels and democrats. That is, not to misrepresent historical memory in order to construct revisionist narrative with the sinister intention of continuing the oppression. The fact is Germans and Italians are ashamed of this legacy to the most part except for some lunatics.
To my knowledge very few want to remember them much less construct statues for them. The message is to relegate these tyrants including the despicable Haile Selassie to the dust bin of history and not make fabricated history out of their legacies. Dear Getachew, while your passion and engagement is appreciated, please read what is written and not respond to what was not written.
Facts and truth should not be adulterated to serve a fantastical political or religious agenda. Otherwise we will lose the baby with the bath water. Thank you for your input. BUT this is where I differ with this current narration of nations and nationalities or to that matter, related ideas. Haile Selassie, Minilik are not saints they are leaders who lead Ethiopia in the past, and tried their best.
What we as Ethiopians need to realize is our country, just like others, had its own ups and downs. Our history books are filled with war stories. Wars are bad, people die. The Oromos died the Amharas died and so forth.
During the civil war in America the Unionist destroyed towns and killed a lot of Americans, but history takes the good that came out of it. Great Britain saw several blood baths before it emerged as a nation, again they take the good that came out of the carnage. In Ethiopia, in more recent times, Tewodros massacred left and right, Yohannes II did the same, Minilik had his share. Do you get the gist…. Let us focus on the positive aspect, the bad side of our history can be revealed later when we are in a more stable situation.
And even then, let the professionals historians deal with it. On a final not, let us not forget that there are close to 80 ethnic groups in Ethiopia. Not just Oromos, Amharas and Tigrians. Your propaganda is widespread, your words are as smooth as silk, but your agenda is obvious to those of us who are truly vigilant as His Majesty instructed us to stay.
The Socialist collapse of Ethiopia was orchestrated by the same insidious group of apostates that engineered the collapse of Russia, the collapse of the World Trade Center, and is presently hard at work to collapse the World Economy and yes, even our biosphere.
But your plan shall fail. Your works of evil shall doom you to your final judgment. One thing that we Ethiopians need to understand with regards to our history is that history is not perfect, it has its ups and downs.
As mentioned, past world leaders like Hitler, Mussolini, Colonial Britain…etc were bad actors because they were venturing out to conquer other countries and destroy other cultures. Past Ethiopian leaders were defending their way of life and culture. It would have been ideally nice if the whole expansion was carried out using persuasive means like Minilik did with Abba Jiffar, but unfortunately, life is not always as simple.
In short, our leaders had faults we should not ignore, however, the bigger picture is, it is part of the long history of Ethiopia that is unparalleled..
There is no nation on earth that has a clean slate. By comparison, ours, as a country, is way better. In retrospect, and with calm contemplation, we will realize that the bad aspect in our history is actually the price we paid for being an independent nation.
When we say, we are the only country in Africa that was never colonized, there was a price that was paid by our leaders and common Ethiopians.
Never forget that the most costly price we paid though, was the internal fighting amongst ourselves that continues even today. The root cause of these internal conflicts where to a large extent is the poison that was placed by external historical enemies of Ethiopia.
Oromos, the overwhelming majority nation in Ethiopia, whose cultural norms, language rights his Imperial reign destroyed had a politically democratic self-governance called Gada System. He actually destroyed that and converted it into a Feudal exploitation with Amharanization forced Amhara identity and language imposition if one is to survive in Ethiopi policy to suppress and thwart their socio-cultural proliferation.
And yes, even the Western autocratic systems of his time were better. Haile Selassie, long after Europe and the Americans outlawed it, kept the horrible practice of black Slavery in Ethiopia. He was threatened with an invasion by European powers and expulsion from the League of Nations unless he ended Slavery in his own empire which enslaved non-Amhara groups like Oromos, Gumus, Anyuak, etc.
Only then, and even that gradually did he move to stop the practice in Ethiopia. Just imagine, the irony of a black leader being forced by European and White powers to end slavery of blacks. What a Shame! Thank you for that enlightening comment. Yes, Haile Selassie was the ultimate crook par excellence.
To describe such a self hating and corrupt ruler as a pan Africanist is misrepresent history and tell the young generation a cruel fiction. He was ashamed of being identified as an African. In Eritrea, he massacred women, children, farmers and peasants. And as you eloquently put it, he destroyed an advanced Oromo indigenous democracy the Gadda system to replace it with his archaic feudal order.
Very sad indeed! His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I had a Constitution written within the first decade of His reign, enshrining into modern Ethiopian law the illegitimacy of slavery in the Kingdom.
The author clearly does not know that His Imperial Majesty was aware of the interaction between African Americans and Ethiopians and the affinity of those in the West for the African kingdom and the moral theocratic reign of His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I.
I sense an entitled Ethiopian who is forgetting how much money the Imperial family contributed to the education of Ethiopians. I sense a frustration with localized tribal warring that continues through this day for lack of wisdom. I am gathering that in essence the people who were not in position to see the complexity of the swiftly modernizing world around them being frustrated by the pace of change, or an elite who feels his family did not gain of the spoils of victory post-Italian invasion.
The irony even of going to reside and study in one Kingdom to utilize the post to throw shots at the elders of old to be for the usage of disparaging African royalty is not missed. Was it not His Imperial Majesty who moved throughout the Earth as one who left an irrevocable imprint in the minds of the leaders He met around the world by the way He carried himself and the principles for which He stood?
This article is pure folly and only one thing I will put forth what Emperor Haile. When we finished praying, we opened our eyes, the White man had our land and we were left with the Bible. Bishop Desmond Tutu said something to that effect. Now Sandra wants to play similar trick here. She uses Haile Selassie to sound and concerned about Africa.
We know! Please spare us your shenanigans Sandy! Slavery existed in Ethiopia and Eritrea before he was born, and Haile Sellassie finally got rid of it. Compared to many third world rulers, he was not corrupt. He did not destroy the Gadda system, the Gadda system was being abandoned by Oromos as they settled down, and became either Christians or Moslems. He was a modernizer, but with limitations. He did not modernize the political space…this makes him in line with many third world rulers-nothing unique here.
He was not ashamed of being identified as African, and in fact the introduced Pan Africanism to Ethiopia, and he is a founding member of the OAU. One does not bribe western academics, dont be silly. Some admired him, some did not. He did not practice extreme tyranny. Extreme tyranny is Isias Afeworki, or Stalin.
He was an absolute monarch but he was not brutal and mostly forgave his opponents. The civil war with Eritrea was tragic and many died on both sides. Not excusing it at all. For the most part, he was very popular and loved by the older generation of Eritreans middle class.
He gave them key posts in the govt, and Eritrea thrived under Haile Sellassie. Look at Eritrea now. In other words, Haile Sellassie has a mixed record, but for the most part, he was a good person who was king at the wrong time in history.
Christ and Haile Selassie coming from the same lineage of David. Proof to the world that the king is dead, you forget to inform your readers that from up until this day no man not even a family member see the body of the king. Then it is a shame you were not one of the many people he murdered. It sounds like you would have enjoyed and thanked him for that. This is something that the Romanized Jesus Hebrews people could not do.
Now, today you and most of the world are Romanized and going down. I think if anything was misrepresented in this was your interpretation of highly suggest first whether he might have plenty of downfalls in his life he is human just like men are like the second and everyone before him.
Why did the Head of the Catholic Church in Rome approve the invasion of another Christian Kingdom or country in Africa who start this blackness issue when African are brown or dark brown skin.??? I would appreciate your reply. Menelik the 2nd was nowhere near Adwa when the war was going on.
It was the poor Oromo patriots who defeated the Italians. But as usual, George is in denial about Oromo heroism. Actually Chaltu, it was the Tegaru who did the lions share of the fighting in Adowa. The misinformation is so strong, few people gave them credit.
To be fair, the Oromo contributed but Menelik was such a con man who was able to take the credit. He was hiding miles away from Adwa. Just like Trump, Menelik was a loud mouth too.
It was not Tegaru who stopped the Italians. It was not Oromo who stopped the Italians. It was not Amhara who stopped the Italians. It was a nationality called Ethiopia which you all managed to destroy! But neither he nor Haile Selassie were good chemists. After over a hundred years of war, brutality and resistance, we now have an Ethiopia which exists only in a map. Ethiopia is a figment of your imagination. Your fabricated version of history is incorrect.
You need to read more books and stop watching less of Jawar and those radicals. No doubt Menelik massacred Oromos. It is inexcusable. But those who deny history and make light of past sufferings must take at least partial blame. Denying history only fuels the hatred. There is no doubt that Menelik was an imperialist and cruel. Haile Selassie was a backstabbing slimy tyrant who killed heroes and Arbegnoch.
He massacred Eritreans to annex and violate an international agreement and to deny fundamental rights of the Eritrean people. No amount of sugar coating will erase that history. The people taken by Mossad to Israel were the Bete Israel.
It began to happen after Haile Selassie was overthrown during the rule of the brutal Mengistu Hailemariam and after. They live a miserable life in Israel as victims of discrimination and treated as the lowest caste.
There was a debate in Israel as to whether they were Jews. Eventually, it was decided that they were the lost tribe. This is a whole separate story unto itself. There were some schools, medical centers and churches but were far from influential in my view.
The Orthodox Church was vigilant against the Catholic Church and probably the only right thing it ever did in my view. The only thing worse than the Orthodox Church is Catholicism. If you know what I mean. Let me tell you something my friend. Be careful when you read comments by narrow minded ethno-nationalists. For instance, notice what chaltu says to discredit a black man half Oromo that saved her from European subjugation.
Meneliks mother was Oromo.
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