Harvard Professor Defending Menelik's Legacy and Bravery

Thanks Harvard for making my day for hitting the canon after all these slander and blunder of Ethiopian history by those haters who tried unsuccessfully to assassinate the character of one of Ethiopia's progressive and anti-colonialist leader of his time; Menelik II. Hmm, let me guess these disillusioned group who are riding on TPLF's bandwagon, may try also try to boycott Harvard university for 'glorifying' this evil leader haha. Jawarian & co please rest your case and direct your fight against your master at Arat kilo palace who are incarcerating millions of Ethiopians including the Oromos you allege to represent instead of being a laughing stock.      

In March 1896 a well-disciplined and massive Ethiopian army did the unthinkable—it routed an invading Italian force and brought Italy’s war of conquest in Africa to an end. In an age of relentless European expansion, Ethiopia had successfully defended its independence and cast doubt upon an unshakable certainty of the age—that sooner or later all Africans would fall under the rule of Europeans. This event opened a breach that would lead, in the aftermath of world war fifty years later, to the continent’s painful struggle for freedom from colonial rule.

Raymond Jonas offers the first comprehensive account of this singular episode in modern world history. The narrative is peopled by the ambitious and vain, the creative and the coarse, across Africa, Europe, and the Americas—personalities like Menelik, a biblically inspired provincial monarch who consolidated Ethiopia’s throne; Taytu, his quick-witted and aggressive wife; and the Swiss engineer Alfred Ilg, the emperor’s close advisor. The Ethiopians’ brilliant gamesmanship and savvy public relations campaign helped roll back the Europeanization of Africa.

Figures throughout the African diaspora immediately grasped the significance of Adwa, Menelik, and an independent Ethiopia. Writing deftly from a transnational perspective, Jonas puts Adwa in the context of manifest destiny and Jim Crow, signaling a challenge to the very concept of white dominance. By reopening seemingly settled questions of race and empire, the Battle of Adwa was thus a harbinger of the global, unsettled century about to unfold. 

Source: Harvard University Press 

Ethiopia: Dark side of Oromo Expansions and Menelik II's Conquests

Abera Tola penned the following piece on January 3rd 2014 following the infamous and deceptive boycott campaign by TPLF (Tigray People's Liberation Front) cadres in Ethiopia and their hate-mongering  foot-soldiers from abroad who bullied Bedle/Heineken breweries to cancel sponsoring of Teddy Afro's aka Tewodros Kassahun nationwide concert in Ethiopia alleging the Ethiopian Pop star glorified Menelik II's expansion as a holy war. These bullies and their gullible victims campaigned for weeks on social-medias despite the fact that the "leaked" fake story was refuted by the singer and the publisher. Ironically, TPLF,  the mastermind behind this "boycott" is incarcerating over forty thousand of our Oromo brothers and sisters in various prisons of the country; the emotionally charged campaigners from abroad never succeed to free their compatriots who're languishing in jails set-up by the TPLF mafia since 1991. All these mambo jumbo was to  meant discreet Menelik II,

Watchdog confirms Abuse targeted against Ethnic Amharas in Ethiopia

Ethnic Apartheid in the making 

The Ethiopian Satellite Television ESAT  reported that Ethiopia's independent Watchdog The Human

Rights Congress (HRC) of Ethiopia has confirmed that human rights and physical abuses have been

committed against thousands of Ethiopians who have been evicted from different zones of the Benishangul-Gumuz region for belonging to the “Amhara ethnic origin”.

HRC also stated that around 10, 000 citizens residing in the region have been told that they were not “natives of the region” and were forcefully evicted from the region as of April 23, 2013.

The Congress has also stated that it has confirmed from the complaints and testimonies of the representatives of the evictees that children and women, females and the helpless have been going through enormous predicament due to lack of adequate food and drink.

It also stated that it had been able to investigate the scale of the problem and the general situation of the evictees. The report states that the evictees are currently in a difficult situation and for example in some areas such as the Kamashe Zone; the properties of the returnees have been confiscated making it impossible for the returnees to restart their life.

Criminalization of Amharic Speakers 

HRC’s investigators have been able to confirm from the words of the victims that their ethnic origin has been mentioned as a reason and they have been refused and discriminated access to credits, seeds and fertilizers.

The number of evictees from the Baruda Kebele and its environs of the Bulen Woreda in Metekel Zone were around 5000 that were later spread out in Chagni town of the Amhara region. During their

investigation, HRC’s researchers have found that there were over 500 people who were dispersed in different areas of the town.

The victims also told the Human Rights organization that they have been harassed, threatened and arrested for telling the abuses and hardships they have sustained during the eviction.

An application letter signed by over 140 evictees and other documents sent to the Congress reveal that they have went through a lot of suffering, abuse and discrimination at the hands of regional officials and local populace.

Evictees from Baruda Kebele have told the Congress that their properties have not yet been returned to them, they are being attacked, have got no support, are denied access to agricultural inputs for originating from “that ethnic group”.

ESAT’s reporter has also confirmed that although Ethiopians of the Amhara ethnic origin that have been evicted from the Benishangul-Gumuz region have been returned back to the region last year, they still have not received any form of help from the government and are even facing different forms of administrative abuses.