Ethiopians CD/SD

"Quite popular with Rastafarians": As of the middle of the twentieth century, if you were in the western hemisphere but wanted to sort of look back to Africa and be proud of something, Ethiopia was the easy bet. Had resisted colonization, was doing fairly well culturally, had a cool emperor (Ras Tafari, aka Haile Selassie). Makes a bit of sense, I suppose.

War with Eritrea wasn't completely "over nothing" -- explanation of this depends on how much of a history lesson you want. Essentially the country's various ethnic groups were brought together under the same umbrella by the central ethnic group (Amharas); the overthrow of the Emperor in the early 70s was in part a reaction to that, and the 90s coup that got rid of the last ruler (Mengistu Haile Mariam) was largely an attempt to throw Amharas out of the ruling elite and shift power to other ethnic groups. Unfortunately, the new (and U.S.-brokered) constitution divides the country into home areas for each ethnic group (Eritrea formerly being one of them), each of which have enough autonomy to potentially break away from the country as a whole. Hence Eritrea, the furthest-out, going first ... except they made the mistake of trying to claim even more land outside of their boundaries. While the war looked ridiculous -- governments who could really use the money to develop wasting it over a useless bit of land instead -- I must say I was pretty convinced by the Ethiopian explanation: "We're a sovereign nation. When another nation tries to take our land, we defend ourselves. Period."

Next up: watch for another breakaway. The new government is mainly comprised of the Tigre ethnic group, and -- surprise, surprise -- pretty much all development in the country is being centered in their home area. The consensus is that after enough capital has been diverted to the region, it too will break away.

Amazing surprise: none of my relations were killed during the conflict with Eritrea. Although one of my cousins deserted and was scheduled for execution until someone pulled the right strings.

There's actually a fellow here at the library who is Eritrean by background -- quite proud of it too, though he doesn't bring it up every chance he gets or anything. He had his own perspective on the simmering war, though I'd be doing him a disservice trying to paraphrase his own thoughts. His biggest concern was actual the death of his father a couple of years back, since the conflict made it impossible for him to return at the time.

On a lighter (?) note -- hell yes to the resistance against the colonizing mongs, such a good deal. And, of course, the food. THE FOOD. Ladies and gentlemen, Ethiopian cuisine is a gift unto the nations, and LA thankfully is blessed with a large enough community to support a whole section of restaurants on Fairfax.

Rating: Classic.

Search: Really, really interesting Christian tradition; Lalibela, three-story churches carved straight down into big mountain; beautiful highland area; pretty funny people with different sense of humor; cab drivers in Addis, who try to scam you but get really embarrassed if you call them on it; beauty pageants at Addis Hilton; great food, particularly kitfo and minchet abish; complete absence of crime apart from prostitution and pickpockets (who are also incredibly shamed if you catch them); Harer beer; omnipresent Fanta; great clothes and blankets; omnipresence of Asian 2-D mannequins in Addis clothes market despite widespread fear and disturbance re: Asian features; good roads and hotels built with Communist money; little kids standing donkeys opposite one another to use as goalposts.

Destroy: underdevelopment and poverty; longstanding class and ethnic biases; fact that post-imperial governments have imprisoned or otherwise marginalized the best-educated and most competent officials of the imperial government; electricity rationing; ridiculous and intrustive body searches at all airports; fat German businessmen picking up prostitutes in the bar of the Addis Hilton; money that's been in circulation so long that it looks and smells as if it's been used for toilet paper (and may well have actually been); beat-up Rickenbacker in Addis music shop selling for the equivalent of $4000.

An interesting book I read about the final days of Haile Selassie's government is The Emperor : downfall of an autocrat by Ryszard Kapuscinski, but if you have any other suggestions of resources and discussions of recent history I'd be happy to hear them.

The book in question runs up through the mid-seventies, just after the revolution -- but it's in a second edition now, with added material to bring it up to date.

Oh, regarding Eritrean/Ethiopian animosity: a good parallel would be Scotland, I think, only without things turning out quite so well. I.e., small-scale colonization and empire-building, but with cultural splits and lingering tension. Thus, you've always been able to ask someone "Are you Ethiopian?" and get a sneering, "I'm Tigre, or "I'm Eritrean" in reply, even when the nation was consolidated. A lot of that feeling is completely legitimate. It's just unfortunate, since we're talking about a nation that would be much, much better off united, and sort of "can't afford" such diversions.

Help me settle a debate: who are the top five most famous Ethiopians?

1. Haile Selassie
2. [.] Bikila
3. Zahara Jolie-Pitt

^^ this seems like the right start (?), but then I dunno: [.] Mekonnen? Mengistu Haile Mariam? Shabba-Doo from "Breakin'"?

[.] seems to be a common name over there

getatchew mekurya? he's no zahara jolie-pitt but at least he's an adult

music-wise I feel like the winner would be Aster Aweke or something

mulatu astatke? outside of music nerd circles i have no idea if he's well known tho

Answers.com includes "Lucy - homonid" in their list of famous Ethiopians. Don't know how much that helps.

haile gebrselassie

^^ ah, yes -- and Marcus Samuelson!

haha i was going to name him too but i didn't know people knew about him

[.] seems to be a common name over there

how do you pronounce [.]?

yeah, Shabba-Doo is probably way more world-famous

I'm almost tempted to count Lucy. (But definitely not counting mythical/legendary/Biblical stuff like Cassiopeia, Andromeda, Queen of Sheba, etc.)

Oh, don't count Lucy. (I have a thing against hominids tho)

I think Mahmoud Ahmed is probably most famous among the musicians.

meseret defar? liya kebede? those were the two that came to mind apart from those listed

After Haile Selassie, I really think it's got to be the runners:

Haile Gebrselassie
Tirunesh Dibaba
Kenenisa Bekele

^^ ah, yes -- and Marcus Samuelson!

I was most intrigued and had to google - turned out I was thinking of Magnus Samuelsson instead. Quite an interesting fellow nevertheless.

i want to go to ethiopia!

I had forgotten Liya Kebede -- definitely a contender here

Search: Kaldi the Ethiopian goatherder, who reportedly discovered the coffee bean in the 7th century.

Destroy: the ONLF, I guess.

^^ somehow I doubt you'll feel very good if the people who'd like to accomplish that are successful!

search: the guy I talked to in Gonder Airport.

destroy: Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

congrats real dirty vicar http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/21/us-ethiopia-meles-idUSBRE87K04K20120821

I was just about to revive a thread. This seems like pretty fraught news for the region.

There have been wrong stories and satirical ones circulating through email lists for months re his death, but now it is finally real.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/21/ethiopia-meles-zenawi-dies-illneses?newsfeed=true

During the G8 summit in Chicago last May, Meles was interrupted soon after he started to speak: "You are a dictator! You have committed crimes against humanity!" a member of the audience shouted.

The bald, bespectacled politician, visibly shocked at first, tried to continue talking before staring down, stony-faced.

The bald, bespectacled politician

Is this a requirement for the office? Nabisco for prime minister!