ETHIOPIAN STUDENTS: Heroic, But Unfortunate Class in History
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06/05/2001
EASTAFRICAN FORUM
http://www.eastafricanforum.com/Articles/EthioStudents.htm
ETHIOPIAN STUDENTS: Heroic, But Unfortunate Class in History
Dr. Ghelawdewos Araia (Associate Professor of African Studies)
(May 01, 2001) The sad encounter that befalls Ethiopian students like a recurring fever from time to time has probably now desentisized the Ethiopian larger society. I am speechless and torn apart by the police brutality directed against Ethiopian students at Addis Ababa University (AAU) campus on april 11, 2001. This campus was descecrated by police several times, and the one that I witnessed myself was the December 29, 1969 campus massacre at Sidist Kilo. For the sake of a better understanding of the Ethiopian Student Movement, I will first furnish a synopsis of the student unrest in the late 1960s and early 1970s and then galvanize my comments and sympathy to the present generation of Ethiopian students. To undertake such an analysis of students political culture is not necessarily daunting, but admittedly, it is at once nostalgic and painful. I have dedicated the second chapter of my book [Ethiopia: The Political Economy of Transition] to "Haile Selassie and The Ethiopian Student Movement," and I have also contributed an article entitled "The Ethiopian Student Movement: Retrospective" to 'Ethiopia Focus' on May 1995. The narrative analysis below is in effect a synthesis of my previous works. In 1967, a strong student organization, the University Students Union of Addis Ababa (USUAA), with its official paper 'Struggle' was founded. USUAA superceded the University College Union (UCU) in terms of structure and broader agenda, and became the foremost militant organization to challenge and shake the very foundations of Haile Selassie's Government. In an attempt to pre-empt student activities, the Government outlawed demonstrations, but to the contrary on April 1967 joint USUAA/NUEUS (National Union of Ethiopian University Students) was staged to protest the implementation of the law. In fact the whole of 1968 and 1969 witnessed student rallies and demonstrations. The student movement, steadly but surely created political crisis of national proportions and constantly confronted the Government. In the midst of all this, a group of students, Berhane Meskel Reda and Yohannes Sebhatu among them, hijacked two Ethiopian airlines planes from the same spot (Bahr Dar) to Sudan and Libya respectively. At this stage, student protest went beyond mere defiance to 'declaration of war' on the Government. 1969-70 academic year was perhaps the height of the student struggle symbolized with the presidency of Tilahun Gizaw. This was the time I entered the University as freshman. Like most of my generation, I witnessed the trial and tribulations and the glory and setbakcs of the Ethiopian Student Movement (ESM). I still have a clear picture of the inauguration of Tilahun Gizaw, when the X-mass Hall (Lideta Adarash) was completely packed, when the president-elect introduced Zeru Kihishen ( a veteran of the ESM) as 'an old man', and when he said, "if a mouse is cornered by a cat, it will react"--an analogy of students and the Government. For me and other freshmen who had just joined Haile Selassie University, campus politics was a turning point. We were actually "baptized with fire" as Gebru Gebrewold (another veteran of ESM) then aptly put it. At least for me, it was a fundamental transformation in my thinking after I was exposed to "Purge of Feudal Legacy," the editorial of the November 1969 (Vol. V, No. 2) issue of 'Struggle'. The latter had carried a number of important articles including the "Question of Nationalities in Ethiopia," by Walelign Mekonnen. Gezahegn Bekle condemned the "Green Berets" film by way of supporting the struggle of the Vietnamese people, and Terefe Belay showed his concern over the ever growing link between German espionage and the Ethiopian police; Abraham GebreEgziabiher wrote about the battle cry of Ho Chi Minh and Ernesto 'Che' Guvera. The editor-in-chief of 'Struggle' was Yohannes Kifle; the English editor was Nega Ayele and taught me Political Science in the Faculty of Arts; Amharic editor was Yohannes WoldeAregay. The editorial board included a body of bright and militant students: Gezahegn Bekele, Gezahegn Desalegn, Walelign Mekonnen, Mesfin Habtu, Berhane Ijigu, Solomon Mitiku, Girma Bekele, Abraham GebreEgziabiher, AynAlem Kebede, Tekalign WoldeAmanuel, Girma Seyoum, Semachew Desta, and Fikre Zergaw. The Government of Ethiopia, at this point, seriously considered the role of the ESM and its influence on the larger society. Especially after the publication of Walelign's "Question of Nationalities" and Abraham G/Egziabiher's "Hizb Weis Ahzab Be'Ethiopia" (People or Peoples in Ethiopia), the government-controlled media began campaigning against the "communist" and "unpatriotic" students "who wanted to divide up Ethiopia into several states and shatter the age-old territorial integrity and sovereignty of the country." The Government clearly saw the danger that the student movement could bring about to the challenge and downfall of the status quo. It was not even impressed by the relatively compromising articles on Ethiopian unity such as 'Ethiopia and Ethiopianism' by Abdul Mejid Hussien. The Government, for obvious reasons, was frightened by the Marxist jargon used in many of the student association papers and exposition of the ills of the political system by the latter. Government campaigns against students finally culminated in the assassination of Tilahun Gizaw. On December 28, 1969 Tilahun was shot by a sniper while walking with his brother and fiancee at the cross-like intersection of Afncho Ber near Sidist Kilo campus. The news was quickly disseminated through memos written by USUAA leaders and by word of mouth. To this day, I have a fresh memory of what happened on December 28 and the following day. Almost every evening the bars and tea rooms in the vicinity of the various campuses were packed by students watching TV at the Mekane Iyesus Amist Kilo Cafe. At about 9:30 p.m., we heard that Tilahun was shot and we immediately rushed to the the Haile Selassie Hospital where he was taken "for treatment". Contrary to medical ethics, Tilahun did not get the necessary treatment and finally died at about mid-night. Between 10 p.m. and 12 a.m. the number of students that gathered at the Hospital grew fast; it easily turned into a mob, broke into the Hospital and entered where Tilahun's body was laying on a stretcher. Two things that I encountered at the moment, and which I can never forget, are the socks that Tilahun was wearing [all his body was covered by a blanket except his feet] and Goit'om Berhe crying. Goit'om was one of the militant students from Law School who moderated the presidential debate at Arat Kilo Science Campus[this event was shot and recorded by a German TV crew] on November 4, 1969. On December 29, the Sidist Kilo campus was filled with thousands of high school and university students; Addis Ababans, faculty and staff members and student sympathaziers had come to bid final farewell to the beloved student leader. This incident coincided with the famous Kulibi Gebriel annual pilgrimage to Harrar and the Emperor was there for the festival, but the Imperial Body Guard [Ye'Kibir Ze'Begna] came "to pay homage to Tilahun!" and they demanded that the
funeral service be held in the Royal tradition [Tilahun was the brother of Sara Gizaw, the wife of the late Prince Mekonnen]. Students were adamant not to surrender to the demands of the Body Guards. But finally, an apparent compromise was reached to have a joint funeral procession, not knowing that all this was a trick, and indeed a strategem, on the part of the Imperial Guard. All of a sudden elements of the Guard began to shoot at students and all the souls that had assembled on campus. The bastards of the Imperial Guard continued to shoot and we started to disperse with a lot of stampede on our way. Imagine shooting on a crowd over twenty thousand! You do not need to aim! In fact, blind folded you can kill and wound hundreds. Thanks to adrenaline, however, a significant number of us managed to jump the tall campus walls facing Etege Mesk which we would never try under normal circumstances. A number of students, faculty and staff were trapped in the New Arts Building and were mercilessly stabbed and bayonetted by the invading Body guard monsters. A day after the massacre, the campus was completely deserted and officially closed. On new year 1970, we learned that three students died in campus and over twenty died of their wounds in various hospitals including the Police Hospital. The massacre was condemned by some courageous faculty members including L.X. Tarpey [Dean of Business College] but the latter was deported within 24 hours from Ethiopia. It required guts to condemn the Ethiopian Government for massacring students but it was not easy for Ethiopian faculty members to do so [I mean the militant ones] for they could risk their positions or even their lives. Opportunist faculty members were silent as usual. Student morale was low after the massacre, but the spirit of struggle was not easily extinguished as the Haile Selassie regime expected. On the contrary, by 1971 USUAA reorganized itself, 'Struggle' had began to publish again and student activism was rekindled. Between 1972 and 1974, student protestation assumed nation wide and many of department student papers also began to reappear. And not knowing we were about to witness a revolution in Ethiopia, we were conducting the traditional study circles and we were also preparing the last 'Struggle' (Vol. 6, No. 1, 1974) for public consumption. This student official paper was incidentally supported by the University Administration which financed for at least one thousand copies; the rest of the circulation was facilitated by USUAA's own budget. The editor-in-chief of the last issue of 'Struggle' was Meles Tecle; English editor was Amaha Tsehaye and Amharic editor was Girmachew Alemu. Members of the editorial board and their contributions were as follows: Ayed Ahmed (The Political Implication of Famine in Ethiopia), Nigatu Tsehaye (What Is To Be Done Now), Ghelawdewos Araia (New Democratic Revolution In Ethiopia), Said Yimer (Our Task); and Amharic contributing editors were Girmachew Alemu (The Necessity of Democratic Republic), Getachew Belhu (Change: Revolutionary and Reformist), AnduAlem Tefera (To Tilahun, Walelign & Marta), Reta Alemayehu (Ball Game -poem-; Gossip Mongers), Ayalew Yimam (The Eritrean People's Struggle: Which Way?), Abebe Asefa (The Necessity of Political Associations), Mulugeta Asfaw (Worker and Peasant Get Organized Before You Are Consumed By Unexpected Fire-poem-), Berhanu Chala (Law and Change), Belachew Tilahun (The Condition of the Ethiopian Economy), Girmachew Alemu (Raise Your Hand), Abdul Hafiz Yusuf (The Ethiopian Drought From Political Perspective). By comparison, student activism was in its heyday during the period discussed above, and relatively, and in retrospect, the Haile Selassie Government was by far tolerant to student's demands if one examines what Ethiopian youth and students experienced under the Derg regime. Instead of killings [except for Tilahun's assassination and the subsequent massacre] Haile Selassie, for the most part, incarcerated "troublesome" [us] students, and the usual detentions centers were Kolfe, Holeta, and Sendafa, and at times Boter and Chinagsen. But of all detention centers, Sendafa was the most infamous. in fact, one of the articles featured in 'The Balance and the Sword' [Law School Student Association paper] and which depicted the cruel imprisonment of students was entitled "Detention at Sendafa". Like all students of my generation, I have a vivid memory of the punishments perpetrated by the government, not knowing of course that the worst was yet to come under the Derg regime. Thousands upon thousands of Ethiopian students and youth, the cream of the cream, the heros and heroines of Ethiopia, and the future leaders of their country, perished under the murderous regime of Mengistu Haile-Mariam. The Derg regime virtually decimated Ethiopian youth and students by an official campaign of Red Terror. The latter, literally sealed off the hope of Ethiopia, at least in the context of contemporary Ethiopian politics. Now again, Ethiopian students have encountered police brutality in their campus, and like the generation of students three decades ago, they are detained in the same detention center: Sendafa. What makes the current student experience different from their predecessors is the fact that the latter were facing regimes that have apparently poles apart in their background, thinking, and class interest. The Meles regime should have been the least suspected government to attack students in campus. Meles was not there to witness the campus massacre of 1969 mentioned above, but a significant number of his associates are survivors of the massacre. it is therefore astounding that these same people have gone to the extent of wounding, injuring, and killing students. How is that possible that people who have had similar fate like the present victims of AAU in fact allow unarmed students to be shot? "It is the police; not the Government" rationale is a terribly cynical and foolhardy reasoning and a manifestation of an utterly depraved system. The Police are the final expression of the government, and its operation are are the deeds of the latter. Are the current leaders oblvious of their previous experience or could there be any psychological explanation attributed to the intriguing commodity known as 'power'? I believe there could be three possible social science explanation to the above question. A year before the EPRDF assumed power, sometime in 1990, I wrote a petrtinent analysis in one of my works, which I think, now adequately explains the Meles regime vis-a-vis the power nexus. And, in brief, this is what I argued: "According to [Robert] Michels, all hitherto popular movements which profess the good for the entire community inevitably contradict themselves. The question of power remains a problem and rather proceeds in a natural cycle. The leaders of the movements first seize power from the masses, but the power eventually raises above the people and is even directed against them. Moreover, Michels contends that in such relations between fellow travellers and idolators, megalomania is apt to develop, thereby suffocating the basic tenets of democaracy." It seems to me the above argument is more relevant to the present Ethiopian political landscape than when I wrote it over a decade ago. But, there could be two other explanations as indicated above, namely that the so-called struggle of liberation was pretentious, and that there is some hidden agenda or a mystique of relatively unfathomable undergound movement to emasculate the Ethiopian nation. I can't see any reason why the present Ethiopian government wants to attack defenseless students unless it is motivated by the above hypotheses. The April 18th incident were 39 to 41 students lost their lives, again, must not be justified by "the new phenomenon of gangsterism"; the Government is responsible to make distinction between the two, and we don't need any theory to explain the latter. In any event, let's set aside theory and let's all demand the safety of Ethiopian students to be guaranteed and that no violent assault be directed against the future leaders of Ethiopia. I personally suggest that the National [Federal] Ethiopian Parliament propose an act and legislate to the effect that no students be attacked by any armed government forces, and that no police or any other armed government troops violate the presmises of the university campus. ================== NOTE: Dr. Ghelawdewos Araia, a Tigrean himself, was one of the Editors of Ethiopian Commentator, a magazine which gave unequivocal support to TPLF when it came to power in 1991. Dr. Ghelawdewos Araia is a Tigrean nationalist who believes in the right of self-determination of the Tigray nation and other nations and nationalities in Ethiopia.