Robert JOUMARD Awra Amba, a current experiment of utopian socialism June 2012 Robert Joumard is emeritus senior scientist (Ifsttar), in Bron, France. Contact: [email protected] Summary This is a review of the available literature on the Ethiopian utopian community of Awra Amba, i.e. mainly of four master reports and secondly of news reports and accounts. It allows us to show the troubled historic evolution of this community founded in 1972 by a small group of illiterate peasants around one of them. Then, we present the values – honesty, equality, solidarity, rationalism – which are founding the community and are at the heart of its pattern of living. Next we present the social organization of this village of 400 inhabitants, through its institutions, economic activities, gender equality, especially at work, marriage, solidarity between members and especially with the elders, children activities, funeral and management of internal conflicts. Finally, we look in depth at education, which is a priority for the community, and at the relationships with neighbouring communities, authorities and generally Ethiopians, as well as foreigners. In conclusion, we focus on some dangers for the future development of this experiment full of lessons. አጭር መግለጫ አውራ አምባ፡ ወቅታዊው ኅብረተ ሰብአዊ አንዋንዋር፡፡ ይህ ጥናት ኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ የሚገኘው ምኞታዊው አውራ አምባ ኅብርተ ሰብን በሚመለከት ተጽፈው የሚገኙትን ልዩ ልዩ ጽሁፎች ፥ ማለትም በተለይ አራት የማስተሬት ምርምሮችንና በተጨማሪም የተለያዩ ዘገባዎችንና ምስክሮችን ያቀነባበረ ነው ። ይህም በ1972 ዓ/ም በጥቂት አርሶ አደሮች የተጠነሰሰውን የአውራ አምባ ኅብርተ ሰብን ታሪካዊ ሂደት ለማብራራት ይረዳል ። በመቀጠል የአውራ አምባን ባህልና ዋና መሠረት የሆኑትን ፡ ማለትም ሀቀኝነት እኩልነት ትብብርና አስተዋይነትን እናቀርባለን ። ከዚያም በኋላ ይህ 400 ነዋሪ ያለው መንደር ኅብርተ ሰቡን በምን አይነት መልኩ እንዳቀናጀ የምናሳየው ፥ ተቋማቱን፡ የኢኮኖሚ እንቅስቃሴውን፡ ሴቶችና ወንዶች በተለይ በሥራ መስክ ላይ የሚያሳዩትን እኩልነት፡ የጋብቻ ስርአቱን፡ የኅብርተ ሰቡን ትብብርና ለአዛውንቶች የሚሰጠውን ልዩ እንክብካቤ፡ የልጆችን ሥራና ግዴታ፡ የቀብር ሥርአቱንና በኅብረ ሰቡ ውስጥ የሚከሰተውን ችግር አፈታት እየገለጽን ይሆናል ። በመጨረሻም ለኅብርተ ሰቡ አንጋፋ ለሆነው ለትምህርትና ፡ እንዲሁም አካባቢያቸው ከሚገኙት ብኄረ ሰቦች ከባለሥልጣናትም ሆነ ባጠቃላይ ከኢትዮጵያን ጋርና ከውጭ ሀገር ዜጎች ጋር ላላቸው ግንኙነት ልዩ የሆነ ትኩረት እንሰጠዋለን ። በመደምደሚያም ይህ ከፍተኛ ትምህርት የሚሰጥ አኗኗር ፡ በሂደቱ ላይ ሊደርስበት የሚችለውን አንድ አንድ ችግር እንጠቁማለን ። Résumé Awra Amba, une expérience actuelle de socialisme utopique. Cette étude est une synthèse de la littérature disponible sur la communauté idéale éthiopienne d'Awra Amba, c'est-à-dire essentiellement de quatre rapports de master et secondairement de reportages et témoignages. Cela permet de rapporter l'évolution historique tourmentée de cette communauté créée en 1972 par un petit groupe de paysans analphabètes autour de l'un des leurs. Nous présentons ensuite les valeurs – honnêteté, égalité, solidarité, rationalisme – qui fondent la communauté et sont au cœur de son mode de vie. Puis nous présentons l'organisation sociale de ce village de 400 habitants, à travers ses institutions, ses activités économiques, l'égalité des sexes notamment dans le travail, le mariage, la solidarité entre membres et notamment envers les plus vieux, les activités des enfants, les funérailles et la gestion des conflits internes. Enfin nous portons une attention particulière à l'éducation qui est une priorité pour la communauté, ainsi qu'aux relations avec les communautés voisines, les autorités et les Éthiopiens en général, ainsi qu'avec les étrangers. Nous pointons en conclusion quelques risques pour le développement futur de cette expérience riche d'enseignements. Acknowledgements We thank Senait Degife for her help in Ethiopia, Ayalew Gebre, from Addis Ababa University, for his help in the literature research, Hayat Omar for the translation into Amharic, and Menouèr Boughedaoui and Claudine Crespo for their specific help. 2 /85 Content Executive summary.............................................................................................................. 5 መግለጫ ................................................................................................................................... 8 Synthèse ............................................................................................................................ 10 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 13 1. Method........................................................................................................................... 15 1.1. Sources ...............................................................................................................................15 1.2. Source criticism...................................................................................................................16 1.3. Work method.......................................................................................................................17 2. Background history and geographical situation ............................................................. 19 2.1. A visionary and difficult start ...............................................................................................19 2.2. Community population ........................................................................................................23 2.3. Geographical situation ........................................................................................................25 3. Values and principles..................................................................................................... 33 3.1. Honesty ...............................................................................................................................35 3.2. Equality ...............................................................................................................................35 3.2.1. Gender equality........................................................................................................................... 35 3.2.2. Equality between children and adults ......................................................................................... 36 3.2.3. Equality of humans ..................................................................................................................... 37 3.3. Solidarity .............................................................................................................................37 3.4. Rationalism .........................................................................................................................38 3.4.1. God is everywhere... and nowhere ............................................................................................. 38 3.4.2. Work............................................................................................................................................ 39 3.4.3. Rigorism?.................................................................................................................................... 40 4. Social organisation ........................................................................................................ 41 4.1. Institutions ...........................................................................................................................41 4.2. Economic activities..............................................................................................................44 4.3. Equality between men and women at work.........................................................................49 4.4. Family..................................................................................................................................52 4.4.1. Marriage...................................................................................................................................... 52 4.4.2. Divorce........................................................................................................................................ 55 4.4.3. Homestead.................................................................................................................................. 55 4.5. Mutual respect and solidarity ..............................................................................................57 4.5.1. Children in Awra Amba ............................................................................................................... 57 4.5.2. Fortnightly family meeting ........................................................................................................... 58 4.5.3. Solidarity between generations................................................................................................... 58 4.6. Funeral ceremonies ............................................................................................................59 4.7. Management of conflicts internal to the community ............................................................60 5. Education....................................................................................................................... 63 5.1. Self-help education .............................................................................................................63 5.2. Public school .......................................................................................................................65 5.3. Educational level .................................................................................................................67 6. External relations ........................................................................................................... 71 6.1. Relations with neighbouring communities...........................................................................71 6.2. Relations with