Documenting the Ethiopian Student Movement: an Exercise in Oral History
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Documenting the Ethiopian Student Movement: An Exercise in Oral History ግማሽ ጋሬ እንጀራ እጐሰጉስና አንድ አቦሬ ውሀ እደሽ አደርግና ሣር እመደቤ ላይ እጐዘጉዝና ድሪቶ ደርቤ እፈነደስና ተመስገን እላለሁ ኑሮ ተገኘና፡፡ edited by Bahru Zewde Documenting the Ethiopian Student Movement: An Exercise in Oral History Documenting the Ethiopian Student Movement: An Exercise in Oral History edited by Bahru Zewde Forum for Social Studies © 2010 by the editor and Forum for Social Studies (FSS) Reprinted in 2010 All rights reserved Printed in Addis Ababa Typesetting & Layout: Konjit Belete ISBN: 978-99944-50-33-6 Forum for Social Studies (FSS) P.O.Box 25864 code 1000 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Email: [email protected] Web: www.fssethiopia.org.et Cover: an excerpt from the poem “Dehaw Yenageral” (“The Poor Man Speaks Out!”) recited by Tamiru Feyissa at the 1961 College Day FSS gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Department for International Development (DFID, UK), the Embassy of Denmark, the Embassy of Ireland, and Norwegian Church Aid - Ethiopia which has made this publication possible. Contents Page Acronyms ii Preface iii Introduction 1 I “Innocuous Days” 19 II The Radicalization Process 33 III Student Organizations 45 IV Demonstrations and Embassy Occupations 83 V The National Question 97 VI The Gender Question 117 VII The High School Factor 129 VIII From Student Union to Leftist Political Organization 141 Annexes Annex 1 Retreat Program 155 Annex 2 Participants’ Profile 159 Annex 3 Recommended Guidelines 161 Acronyms AAU Addis Ababa University AESM All Ethiopia Socialist Movement COSEC Coordinating Secretariat (of the International Students Council) EC Ethiopian Calendar ELF Eritrean Liberation Front ENLF Ethiopian National Liberation Front EPDM Ethiopian People’s Democratic Movement EPLF Eritrean Popular Liberation Forces EPRP Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party EPRYL Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Youth League (the youth wing of EPRP) ESANA Ethiopian Students Association in North America ESLCE Ethiopian School Leaving Certificate Examination ESM Ethiopian Student Movement ESUE Ethiopian Students Union in Europe ESUNA Ethiopian Students Union in North America GC Gregorian Calendar HSIU Haile Sellassie I University (later renamed Addis Ababa University) ILS Institute of Language Studies IUS International Union of Students MCSU Main Campus Student Union NUEUS National Union of Ethiopian University Students TPLF Tigray People’s Liberation Front UCAA University College of Addis Ababa (1950-1961) UCU University College Union USUAA University Students Union of Addis Ababa WSLF Western Somalia Liberation Front WWFES World-Wide Federation of Ethiopian Students WWUES World-Wide Union of Ethiopian Students ii Preface What is presented in the following pages is a unique experience in oral history. It is a selective record of four days of reflections by protagonists of the Ethiopian student movement in those heady days of the 1960s and 1970s. It comprises mostly of presentations by the resource persons. Unfortunately, it has not been possible to include all the reactions to these presentations. That would have caused even more delay of a project that is already behind schedule, as the original transcripts would have had to be translated. The full Amharic transcript, which is more than twice as long as what is presented here, has been deposited at the Institute of Ethiopian Studies Library. But what is presented here does, I think, give a sufficiently comprehensive picture of the ups and downs, the achievements and shortcomings, of that movement. It is with some sense of gratification that I note that almost all the questions that were posed at the inception of the project have been answered to varying degrees of exhaustiveness. Far be it from me to say that this constitutes the full story. That full story will have to be written not only on the basis of these reminiscences but also a careful examination of and correlation with the massive literature, both primary and secondary, that the subject has generated. That will be my next undertaking. What has been attempted here is as faithful and dispassionate a record of the activities of the protagonists as is humanly possible. Aside from the Introduction, which sets the context, and occasional interpolations and footnotes in the interest of clarity and factual accuracy, I have refrained from commenting on the reminiscences. But I made sure that participants had another chance to make any changes that they deemed necessary to their original submissions. Many took advantage of that, some even coming with new written versions. Some, however, did not have the time to make any revisions. In conclusion, I wish to express my gratitude to the participants of this fascinating experience. To consent to reflect on a period whose reverberations are still being felt was an act of courage in the first place. To devote four full days out of their generally busy schedule was a clear indication of the value that they attached to the undertaking. I am also indebted to Hailu Berhane for translating the Amharic transcript into English and to Heran Serekeberhan for copyediting the text. Needless to say, my deepest expression of gratitude goes to the Organisation for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa (OSSREA), without whose financial support this project would not have been realized, and to the Forum for Social Studies (FSS), which provided the logistical support for the retreat as well as the funds for the publication. Bahru Zewde December 2009 iii Introduction 1. Intellectuals and the State The place of intellectuals (in the broad sense of the educated elite) in society has varied in place and time. The higher the level of industrial development, the less influence they seem to exercise. Thus, while intellectuals may be sought as advisors and members of think tanks in the so-called First World, they are rarely seen exercising direct state power. The situation is different in the so-called Third World, notably Africa. The educated elite has historically seemed destined – by social ascription or self-arrogation – to play a central role in the exercise of state power. In Africa alone, the first generation of post-independence rulers – Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Léopold Sedar Senghor of Senegal, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania – provides us with ample evidence to appreciate this reality. In Ethiopia, too, intellectuals have played a role and exercised an influence disproportionate to their size. This can be divided broadly into two phases, with the Italian Occupation (1936-1941) forming an important watershed between them. The pre-war intellectuals were preoccupied with a whole gamut of concerns ranging from educational development to fiscal reform. They had an essentially reformist agenda. Driven by a concern to save the regime from the double threat of internal disintegration and external invasion, they urged what could be characterized as defensive modernization. They pinned their hopes on an enlightened despot (first Iyyasu, then Tafari) to bring about that modernization. Some of them rose to become ministers in Haile Sellassie's pre- war government. The Fascist Italian invasion and the subsequent occupation not only terminated their careers but also - through its merciless policy of liquidation of the educated elite - created a gap in intellectual activity in the immediate post- Liberation years. The second period of intellectual intervention could thus begin only in the late 1950s. It revolved mainly around Ethiopian students (mostly at the tertiary level at the initial stage), both at home and abroad. This eventually evolved into what came to be known as the Ethiopian Student Movement. The nucleus of this movement was the University College of Addis Ababa (founded in 1950), later Haile Sellassie I University. The movement could be said to have gone through three successive stages: self-awareness, reformism, revolutionary commitment. There is general agreement that the year 1965, when students came out onto the streets with the slogan of “Land to the Tiller”, marked the beginning of the third stage. Bahru Zewde It is this third stage that is the focal point of this study. For it constitutes the crucial period that forms both the backdrop and the essence of the changes that have come to affect fundamentally the Ethiopian state and society - changes that are yet far from over. To cite only the major components of this reality: • the militant student agitation, in both its internal and external dimensions, was the single most important factor behind the demise of the imperial regime; • the radicalization of the Darg, including its fateful adoption of Marxist-Leninist ideology, was induced by the ascendancy of the left before and during the revolution; • the leftist organizations, notably EPRP and Me’ison, were direct outgrowths of the student movement; • the TPLF, which is the dominant force behind the current political dispensation, had its genesis on the fringes of that movement; • its junior partner, ANDM (formerly EPDM), started as a movement that broke away from the EPRP; • the Eritrean liberation movement developed in constant interaction - at both the ideological and organizational levels - with the student movement and the leftist organizations that grew out of it; • some of the major ethno-nationalist organizations, notably the OLF, in part got not only their ideological inspiration but also their leadership from the movement. It is clear from the above that, if there is one single factor that explains the direction Ethiopian history has taken in the last four decades or so, it is the role of the intelligentsia. Without sounding too reductionist, one can trace to it many of the major developments of that period: the overthrow of one of the oldest monarchies in the world, the ultimately disastrous experiment in socialist construction, the equally problematical experiment in ethnic federalism, the ideologically couched movements for secession, the dogmatism and self- righteousness with which political positions have been advanced and pushed, and the attendant culture of exclusivism and intolerance.