u/Miserable-Market-866

So, there has been outrage from Tigray as Abiy referenced Emperor Yohannes IV's invasion, massacre and pillage of Gojjam in a recent speech he made at the inauguration ceremony of the Debre Markos Airport. The Tigray Tourism Bureau has released a communiqué, also relayed by the Tigray President's Office, condemning the speech.

Don't get me wrong, no one is missing what Abiy is trying to do. He's a graduate at the EPRDF school of political science subversion after all.

HOWEVER, the TPLF, and the wider Tigrayan political body, has no moral grounding in 1) calling out the malignancy of invoking past injustices affecting people to people relations 2) superimposing its own historical reading of a past ruler (a monarch while we're at it) as the true interpretation of events. You don't get to dictate what anyone says about the Emperor that came from your region after wailing and bitching in unison with other nations/nationalities about the the feudal Amhara terror-lord that only succeeded his throne.

I don't even necessarily disagree with the substance of their defense of Emperor Yohannes, but it's not us that utilized the telling of past atrocities to mobilize and craft our national body in our desired image. The anolee statue was erected under their watch, but that's a whole another topic.

I'll never defend Menelik or the pre-1991 Ethiopian state to a Tigrayan or an Oromo. I've read these people's constitution (I doubt that they have).

> The people of Tigray are one of the peoples and nationalities of Ethiopia who suffered a lot under the yoke of the feudal system which prevailed throughout Ethiopia.

> The peoples of Tigray has an unconditional right to self-determination, including the right to secession.

These people rejected a nation-state, and rightfully so, but demand the natural benefits that comes with it, a consensus on history in this case.

The worst part of this, by the way, is the number of Amharas that have come to defend TPLF's peak hypocritical take on this. There's really no cure for some of us.

Quote at 1:50.

I'm posting this here as former PM Tamirat Layine was one of the key figures in ANDM during the transition period. It's already common knowledge, but I think it's important to actively highlight the non-existence of Amhara representation during the transition period.

The transition period between 1991 and the Ethio-Eritrea war (1998-2000) saw many of the Tigrayan-induced injustices and indifference that latter built the momentum needed for Amhara nationalism. Unfortunately, much of its contemporary corpus lacks material written through an Amhara lens. Assefa Negash's Pillage of Ethiopia by Eritreans and their Tigrean Surrogates is an exception. The book, while being tiny with 147 pages, reads part as a radicalizing pamphlet and part newspaper. The author begins the text with an on-point diagnosis of Tigrayan ethno-nationalism that we could just base as our understanding of their national body.

Negash's Thesis:

Tigrayan nationalism derives from its ecologically degraded and barren environment, which cannot maintain its population from the proceeds of its declining agarian economy The land nationalization degree ended labor migration out of Tigray, creating surplus of peasants desperate for survival, which pulled many to TPLF's armed strugge. The long bitter war Derg fought led many Tigres to the conclusion that so-called Amhara national oppression in Tigray and Eritrea was the cause of the conflict. The historical characteristics of Tigrayans who tend to be more parochial and ethnic-conscious that the Tigrayan constituency threw in their lot with the then EPRDF/EPLF duo. This had of course fueled growing anti-Tigrayan sentiment.(see this as a further read)

Facts and Figures

Many Tigrayan activists and political figures today, many former TPLF insiders, point to the post Tigray war ethnic discrimination of Tigrayans from public and private institutions. I don't want to get into their lack of self-reflection, but ethnic-based discrimination and alienation was inculcated into the state apparatus and by extension public and private institutions by the TPLF.

The Army

• The entire standing army (est. 300,000 - 500,000) dissolved; Tigrayan officers (eg. Gen. Solomon Beyene, made head of the new Air Force) absorbed into EPRDF forces, while non Tigrayans were discharged.

Addis Ababa University

• Following January 4 1993 student demonstration, 42 lecturers dismissed in March 1993, 78% of them Amhara. The institution had been branded a "den of chauvinists," which was the TPLF's one of many codes for Amharas. The senior head of Gynecology/Obstetrics sacked and replaced by a Tigrayan; of 60 applicants for specialization in that department, 15 admitted, of whom 11 were Tigrayan.

Ethiopian Orthodox Church

• The sitting Patriarch deposed and replaced by Abba Paulos (a native of Adwa); 16 church leaders (all Amhara) replaced by 16 Tigrayans in 1993; a further 23 (Amhara and Oromo) replaced by 23 Tigrayans.

The Massacres

• Per EHRCO's Third Report, ~60,000 Amhara Muslims displaced from the Dibate and Mandura woredas in Metekel after attacks by Beni Shangul forces; ~270 shot and killed, men reportedly were burnt alive or casterated, 6,833 houses and 185 mosques/schools burnt.
• Arse Negele: non-Oromo (mainly non-Amhara) residents attacked by Arsi Oromo. 60 dead, 60 wounded, thousands of houses and barns burnt, large-scale looting.
• Limu and Didessa: ~3,000 Gurage displaced.
• Arba Gugu (Arsi/Hararge, 1991-92): attributed to OLF, IFLO, and OPDO forces. 320,000 Amhara Christians were displaced; Asrat/AAPO figures of 474 killed, mass rape, and 248 abducted minors. (Human Rights Watch 1993 Report)
• Bedeno (April 1992): 150 civilians killed, many forced off cliffs; a commussion of inquiry blamed the OLF, which admitted its supporters were responsible but denied "institutional responsibility. (I made a post about this massacre almost a year ago).

There are many parts that I left out, mainly about the situation under the transitional government and the author's own fears about future ethnic conflict etc. Since the former is common knowledge and the latter is our present day, there isn't really a reason to dwell on that. More than this book summary, however, I recommend you to read with the aim of nourishing your political and ethno-national faculty. That's what our book list, which directly links to the PDFs of the books, is for.

ደህና ሰንብቱ

It's important to document the cascading events and where the Amhara position was prior to 2023.