Like many other African countries, before attaining its independence Ethiopia also suffered a great deal of aggression from the hands of its colonial masters, the Italians. But its former colonial masters aren't the cause of today's famine in Ethiopia.
According to the history of famine in Ethiopia, the country started experiencing its worst famine after the overthrow and death of Emperor Haile Sellassie. This poses a few questions like: Was it a wrongful thing done by the communist regime known as the "Derg" or is God simply angry with Ethiopians for what they did to this man, whom history reveals as one of the descendants of King David? No one can answer this.
Haile Sellassie was born in Ethiopia in 1892. Before becoming emperor his actual name was Ras Tafari-Makonnen. Ethiopians and Africans generally respected him much, as they thought he was blessed by God. His work as head of state in Ethiopia can be read in his book called "My Life and Ethiopian Progress," obtainable from Amazon below.
In August 1975, under house arrest, Haile Sellassie -The Lion of Judah - died under mysterious circumstances and was buried secretely. From there on Ethiopia has seen unending calamities. From 1982 to 1984, Ethiopia had no rain. The severe drought claimed hundreds of lives as a result of starvation.
The question is how long will the country depend on aid relief funds? The fund could help, but only for a short term. Instead of the entire country depending on rainfall for farming, which has been the main cause of problems and diseases in the country, the Ethiopian government must embark on irrigational projects to feed the nation.
Article comments
1 - Ras Tzedakah
Great post. Trenchant and imformative. Also makes several great references to books for finding more information. thank you for your informative post it gave me just what i was looking for. Spread the word. One love.
2 - HW Saxton
King Menelik I was the first Emperor of
Ethiopia during the Solomnic Dynasty and
was the first born son of King Solomon &
The Queen Of Sheba.
The Emperor Haile Selassie is the 225th
successor in the lineage of Menelik I.
This means Haile Selassie's Royal family
is descended directly from King David &
Bathsheba.Haile Selassie became *King in
1928 though he wasn't officially to be
declared Emperor until 1930. I thought
I would just fill in a little background
on Haile Sellasies history. If you read
this Joel,it was an interesting post.
*His full title was:His Imperial Majesty
Emperor Haile Selassie I
3 - joel savage
Hello Saxton, thanks for this historic piece of information. I do appreciate your comments a lot since each of them benefits me in many ways. Thank you once again.
4 - HW Saxton
Joel,How good it is to hear from you my
friend. I was wondering where you have
been. You ALWAYS have very interesting
posts whether it's about music,culture
or life in general. I'm still waiting
for you to post about Manu Dibango.LOL.
Alafia,
Harold
5 - joel savage
Hello Mr/Mrs Saxton, my eyes were completely filled with tears to hear such sweet comments from you. Unfortunately I decided to give up the post to "Blogcritics.org". My last post was in January 2005.
I don't need fame. I just love writing, because it's my profession. But when one is doing something voluntarily and yet others don't appreciate his or her efforts, then the person have to stop.
As a married man having two children, I have never been degraded in my entire career till the time I started writing or posting articles to "Blogcritics.org" Just imagine posting an article and an editor writes "Joel your English is improving tremendously"
Am I the worst writer in the whole world? What is the work of an editor? And even if an editor want to make such a comment is that the right place to post this, when he has my E-mail? It is the same editor who wrote "For clarification Joel is an African living in Belgium not American. Is it a sin to be African? I'm proud to be African.
My dear Saxton, I met Mano Dibango personally last year at Mano-Mundo Festival in Boom-Belgium. I will post his article to my site at http://juskosave.blogspot.com very soon. Thank you.
6 - HW Saxton
Dear Joel, It's Mr. and thank you for
writing me back. I always enjoy your
writing and find it entertaining and to
the point. Plus you always post on many
subjects that are near and dear to my
heart.I find the fact that you are multi
lingual shows what great intelligence
you have.This also shows in your writing
and varied tastes in great music. Being
an African is something to be proud of
I would think. I'm an anglo but I find
that almost all of the music,art and the
culture from Africa is fascinating and
complex and beautiful.I would stand tall
knowing my culture has given so much to
the world.Your writing is very good and
I have missed your articles very much.
I was so happy you wrote back and I do
appreciate this very much. If you want
to write me I can send my e mail address
and you can keep in touch.I would be
honored to have your acquaintance.I am
very interested in African culture and
the influence it has had on the world.
It can be felt from Jamaica to Japan,
from Brazil to Brooklyn,New York and all
points between. To answer your question,
yes I think that Eric should have maybe
talked about your English off line or in
another forum although I do not know
why this is necessary as you communicate
fine.Again,it's so nice to hear from you
and please keep in touch.I would like
to meet Manu. He is a favorite musician
of mine along with Fela,James Brown,John
Coltrane, Orlando Julius and a few more.
I will be seeing Femi Kuti this summer
when he tours the US.I'm very excited.
Take care and god bless.
Harold
7 - joel savage
Thanks Mr Saxton. I just don't know what to say than thank you. It's a great pleasure asking me to communicate with you if I want. I can't reject this, since your comments benefit me. I think I have your e-mail. You will hear from me soon.
8 - Victor Plenty
Whatever the cause of Ethiopia's rainfall shortages, there is no denying its government would be able to respond more effectively to the resulting human needs if its society were not burdened with so much internal conflict. Civil wars, separatist movements, and similar conflicts will always weaken any nation's ability to cope with natural disasters.
Let us all hope and pray this great nation will soon resume honoring its ancient heritage, and unite to restore the prosperity of all its people.
9 - joel savage
Thank you Victor, I wish African leaders would learn something from your remarkable comments. It's a fact that tribal wars and civil conflicts have brought Africa down its knees than natural disasters. The question is when would it end? Thank you
10 - Ray Herr
Thanks for the Information,but I think contrary to what your site tells us ,Ethopia was never colonized,not even by Italy as stated,thank you
11 - joel savage
Hello Mr Harrold Saxton, surprise, surprise. You asked for it and you've got it. Guess what? Manu Dibango plays at pole-pole festival on 21 July 2005
in Gent-Belgium. I will interview him again and send the excerpts to Mr Eric Olsen. Happy Weekend.
12 - HW Saxton
Joel, Nice to hear from you. I hope the
show is great I'm sure it will be though
as I've never heard Manu DiBango music
that I did not like. He must still be
very popular in Europe then? I wish he
would tour in the US. Maybe you can try
& find out why he does not.Visa problems
perhaps or are the logistics of moving
a large band and entourage around on a
tour too difficult?
Are you familiar with an AfroBeat singer
and performer Peter King? He had a large
hit with a song called "Shango". I was
only wondering as I recently bought an
LP of his. Very heavy and funky.Again it
is so nice to hear from you my friend.
Please stay in touch.
Harold
13 - joel savage
Hello Harrold, thanks for your immediate response to my mail. I will try to get an answer for your question from Dibango.In regard to Peter King, I'm aware of his name but do not know much about his background. However, most of the Afro Beat musicians today, played or were somehow asociated with the late Fela Anikulapo Kuti, the originator of Afro Beat. Femi Kuti, Tony Allen etc, all played for Fela. Try to listen to the remarkable song called "Unknown Soldier" by the late Fela, it tells how soldiers beat him up, burn down his house and thrown his mother out of the window. It's a very sad song but it's worth to listen. Thanks.
14 - HW Saxton
Hello Again Joel, I have the record by
Fela: "Unknown Soldier".I am a huge fan
of Fela & Africa 70 and Tony Allen too.
One of his other songs about the corrupt
Govt.soldiers is "Zombie" I'm sure you
know this tune as well it's very famous.
I tried to write you via your blogsite
but could not get my message posted. Is
there another site you have I might try
to communicate with you by?
Harold
15 - joel savage
Hello Harrold, thanks for your response. In fact it doesn't matter if we communicate at "Blogcritics org" or not. I never hate Eric Olsen. I know by now he has realised the petty mistakes that he used to do. This is an editor always solliciting and ecouraging people to join "blogcritics" to increase the traffic, at the same time attack them verbally and giving them disrespect. I once told him that "Eric, many want to join the "blogcritics" but because of racial comments and other things which do not give good credit to the site, they may not like to join". He quickly started working on that. I even congratulated him on this issue. Yet he can't correct himself on the wrong things he used to do. Respect is and important thing everyone has to know.
Now on Fela. It's nice you have all the songs of Fela. "Zombie" is one of his best tunes.I like also "Coffin for Head of State" and "Suffering and Smiling" To me late Fela Anikulapo Kuti was one of the best musicians the world has ever produced.
16 - Mrs Larson
Dear Mr Joel Savage,
I'm sorry to hear you are not posting toBlogcritics.org any longer. I've just finished reading some of your postings. They are insightful and interesting. When posting to a large audience, one must develop the hide of an elephant and ingnore the critics if what you say has great meaning to your heart. Keep your hide tough and your heart tender to the suffering of others. Keep on writing.
Mrs Larson of Minnesota, USA
17 - HW Saxton
Joel,Did you get to make it to the Manu Dibango festival? I sure hope so as I'm
looking very forward to your interview with him. I'm sure it will be quite interesting as all of your articles are my friend.
PS:I have found an online radio station called www.radiopalmwine.com. It is an extremely good radio station and it's also broadcast in yoruban and another Nigerian dialect as well as english. They play all manner of current and older styles of african music from Juju to hip hop to tribal trance and drumming to highlife and beyond. It's an incredibly good station. I am a member and you can leave messages for me there. i go under the name CoolH. I'd like to think you would enjoy this station greatly and I hope to hear from you in the future Joel.
Alafia,
Harold
18 - joel savage
Hello Mrs Larson, thanks for your interesting mail to me. Actually I need to be very tough as a writer, if I want to write. I have tought of coming back soon because I believe that my friend ERIC might have learnt his mistakes now. Thanks and God bless you.
19 - joel savage
Hello Mr Harrold Saxton, hope you are doing well. Thanks for the post. I'm now on holidays in Africa. I have already visited Ghana and Sierra Leone. I'm now in Conakry, Guinea and would be leaving to Abidjan, Cote D'ivoire tomorrow. I Will be back to Belgium before 12 of July for the interview of Manu Dibango. Thanks.
20 - Daniel
Hi people
i just want to inform you of this website i found on the net is very cool
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The station will be launched next month and will serve as the most comprehensive African Entertainment station in the World providing the best music, news, interviews, and reviews on everything from African Hip Hop, R&B and Competition for artist.
Still want to know more then check out the site
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21 - joel savage
Hello Daniel, thanks for the information.
22 - Edet Etta
Hello everybody.I am a curious Nigerian & a die hard Fela fan.I REALLY appreciate this site & will definitely visit frequently.Joel,you shouldn't dignify a foolish remark with a response.Leave Mr. Harold to his ignorant ways & keep doing things to improve yourself.Salamalekum.