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Chapter Six
Ethiopianism and Its Socio-Cultural Influence on the African Society
6.1 Geography, Culture, and Political Background of Ethiopia
Ethiopia is a land locked country located in the Horn of Africa and shares borders with Djibouti,
Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan. The country covers around area of 1.12
million square Kilometers, and is located at 4 and 14 degree north, 33 and 48 degrees east.
Ethiopia has high central plateau that varies from 1800 to 3000 meters above sea level with some
mountains reaching 4620 meters. Agriculture is the backbone of the country economy and the
principal exports from the sector are coffee, oil seeds, pulses flowers, vegetables, sugar and
foodstuffs for animals.
Ethiopia is divided topographically into three major zones: daga (the cool highlands where the
annual average temperature is about 16 degrees centigrade), wayna daga (the intermediate zone
where most of the settled population lives), and qolla (the hot valleys and plains, which are
dependent on the desert conditions of the northeastern end of the Rift Valley for their hotness or
coolness). The climatic designations have over time assumed broader significance for their
impact on the distinctive ways of life, culture, means of existence, and social temperaments. The
topographical climate variation has strong impact on our cultural composition.
Ethiopia is accredited as being the origin of mankind. Archaeological evidence shows that
Ethiopia is home to one of the most ancient settlements of the human race, dating back to over 3
million years. Ethiopia like many other African countries is also a multi-ethnic state with a great
variety of languages spoken, of which there are more than 83 with 200 dialects. Ethiopia hosts
more than 80 different ethnic groups, most of them, with their own unique culture, custom, belief
and peculiar ways of doing things. This is why Anthropology scholars like Carlo Conti- Rossini,
termed the country as a “museum of peoples.” The variations in its geophysical conditions are
equally matched by ethnic diversity, made up of 80 groups, referred to in the Proclamation No
7/1992 by the TGE as nations, nationalities and peoples.
Politically, Ethiopia is one of the few African countries with a long and uninterrupted tradition of
centralized state dating back to the ancient period (pre-Christian times). Ethiopian maintained its
unity and continuity throughout the second millennium. Ethiopia was a country which remained
free from any colonial power and retains its sovereignty from pre-Christian era till today.
Ethiopia uses the Julian calendar. The public holidays are celebrated according to the Julian
calendar which consists of twelve months of thirty days and a thirteenth month of five days (six
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days in a leap year). The calendar is seven years behind the western or Gregorian calendar, with
New Year falling on the month of September. (E.g. September 11 is Ethiopian New Year).
6.2 Civilization Efforts of Ethiopian Rulers (From Tewodros II – Haile Sillassie-II)
This section explores how modern government in Ethiopia took place since the mid 1850s.
Modern Ethiopian state, similar to other experiences mainly in European case, was created
through war and conquest. This episode gave the state exceptional scenario in African state
formation process where most states are legacies of colonial scramble. Meanwhile, like most
African states war and conquest resulted in multicultural, multilingual, and multi-religious
Ethiopia towards the end of 19th century. So, Ethiopia, as a multinational state, came into
existence towards the end of the 19th century.
The building of the modern Ethiopia is believed to be started in the mid 19th century by emperor
Tewodros-II that attempted to establish a centralized administration after re-unification. When
the process of the creation of a modern multi-ethnic empire-state started by Tewodros II around
the 1850s, historic Ethiopia had been under feudal anarchy for over eighty years and central
authority existed only in name. It was divided into a number of smaller regional kingdoms. In
Ethiopian history, this period known as “The Era of Princes” or “The Zemene Mesafint”. The
Zemene Mesafint is a period started with the death of Iyoas in 1769 and lasted in 1855. It is a
period characterized by the collapse of the central authority of monarchy. The condition that led
to the Zemene Mesafint was the erosion of the traditional Christian highland kingdom as a result
of the war of Imam Ahmed Ibrahim.
The Christian high land kingdoms dominate the politics of Ethiopia for more than a millennium.
But after the war, they could not survive long on the throne. Then after, Oromos (Yejju Dynasty)
dominate the political center of the kingdom that was Gonder which constituted the last center of
the kingdom. Then, oppositions rose against the Oromo elites from different parts of the
kingdom, especially, from Gojjam, Quara, and Tigran provinces. This was the event that marked
the era of the Zemene Mesafint in Etiopia.
Emperor Tewodros in 1855 and brought the Era of Princes to a close by bringing the divided
territories of the north under one rule. Tewodros initiated the erstwhile twin imperial policies of
modernization and centralization. Tewodros instituted centralization policy as a measures
designed to strengthen his imperial authority. He attempted to bring the Church under his control
and reduce the power of regional leaders by establishing local administrations responsible to

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him. He fragmented traditional administrative divisions and thus deprived many local princes
and kings of their bases of power. Administrators for the reconstructed administrative units were
chosen except in rare circumstances-by the emperor himself. Most were trusted officers in his
military or members of the royal family. They were responsible for collecting tithes and taxes on
behalf of the sovereign and were instrumental in Tewodros's efforts to break the power of
patrimonial, feudal lords. He also jailed most of his potential enemies. This was aimed for the
maintenance of law and order in the countryside, and to buttress the emperor's centralizing
efforts despite its negative consequences.
Tewodros also attempted some modernization elements at that time. For instance; he began to
create a disciplined, professional state army for the first time. He often employed Europeans and
Turks who had military expertise to train his forces, and he also provided his soldiers with
regular salaries, clothes, and equipment. This did much to strengthen both his empire's military
and the administrative capacity of the government. However, Tewodros had been unsuccessful in
securing diplomatic recognition from European powers. The dream of Tewodros was to unite
historic Ethiopia by ending the feudal anarchy was not achieved. Then the core of the power
emerged in the north from Tigrian king under the control of Yoannes-IV.
Yoannes-IV pursued his predecessor’s policy of unification, although in a different fashion,
which means, though Yohannes pursued the goal of unity initiated by Tewodros, his means were
decidedly different. In contrast to Tewodros, he was less centralist and satisfied insofar as the
regional nobility were ready to recognize his authority and pay their tribute regularly. Because,
for him unity was not to be achieved by overthrowing regional opponents, eliminating Islam, or
taming the Church, but instead by accepting a measure of cultural diversity and the existence of
other centers of power, something which has been called 'controlled regionalism'. During the
reign of Yohannes, centralization in fact began to break down and some powerful provincial
aristocrats began to regain their strength and semi autonomy. Most of the emperor's efforts were
directed toward territorial expansion. He pushed the periphery of his domain to the west from his
capital in the region of Tigray, leaving hegemony over the south to his most powerful vassal.
Thus, the regional rivalry between the Tigrayan and Shoan monarchs was contained by the
latter's public renunciation of any claims to be emperor and Yohannes's corresponding
recognition of Menelik as King of Shoa.

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Yohannes also followed the course of patient diplomacy, buttressing his authority and legitimacy
with a relatively strong, modernizing army that deterred reckless incursions into Abyssinia by
any real or potential enemies. For instance, he entered into a peace treaty with Egypt and trade
agreements with Britain. He also purchased arms from both public and private European agents.
Yohannes’s diplomatic and military moves provided him with a measure of security, but he was
still threatened on his western border by Sudanese Mahdists (Muslims). In 1889, Yohannes was
killed in a western campaign against these antagonists. After a brief period of Yohannes’s rule
from 1872 - 1879, a new power centre emerged in Shewa under the leadership of Menelik.
Emperor Menelik (1889-1913) who managed to control the imperial throne after Yohannes’s
death at the battle of Metema in 1889 followed the twin imperial policies of modernization and
centralization. He in particular undertook a series of military conquests expanding the frontiers
of the country to the south, west and east. As a King of Shoa, Menelik had already begun to
expand and consolidate the territory under his control. Between 1890 and 1906, through
conquest by force (assimilation/Amharization) and through diplomacy, he succeeded in
stretching the boundaries of Ethiopia to its present configuration. Thus, contemporary Ethiopia
takes its shape and includes diverse and independent communities during the reign of Menlik Π.
The southern march of imperial Ethiopia had been preceded by centuries of Oromo penetration
into ‘historic Ethiopia’. To be sure, ample historical records demonstrate the northern march of
Oromo, at least, as of the second half of the 16 th century. And, by the turn of the 18 th century
Oromo penetration into the highland was clearly visible and the elite produced by this group of
Oromo were playing a dominant role by making the ruling houses of Gonder, Wollo, Gojjam and
Shewa. In what appeared to be the culmination of the ascendancy of the Oromo elite, it was able
to dominate ‘historic Ethiopia’ during much of the ‘Era of the Princes’. The Yejju princes who
dominated the imperial politics at Gonder and later produced political wizards like Taitu, king
Michael (Mohammed Ali) who fathered Iyassu who destined to briefly controlled the empire
created by Menilek and king Takle-Haymanot of Gojjam were all products of Oromos penetrated
‘historic’ Ethiopia centuries before the onset of the reverse expansion to the south in the second
half of the 19th century. Consequently, during the time of expansion the Oromo elite stood both
sides of the fence – part of the conquerors and the conquered, which makes the Oromo history -
a dual history.

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Menilek also attempts to modernize the central government by introducing ministerial system in
1906 and appointment of ministers. In doing so he attempted to give traditional system of palace
government a modern façade. The institution of the ministerial system was arguably intended to
avoid power gap because of the crisis of succession following the emperor’s incapacitation and
an attempt to transfer authority from personal to institutional level. He appointed his palace
officials as ministers who were notable figures among the nobilities and the arch figures of
traditional forces. So it is simply a change in the titles of powerful courtiers. As a result ministers
were rootless institutions. In such a situation it was very difficult to stabilize the state and absorb
the shock of transition.
Though Menelik began the process of consolidating and modernizing imperial dominance in
Abyssinia, he was unable to complete the modernization project due to his death in 1913. The
task of completing the wedding between modernity and tradition was left to Emperor Haile
Selassie I, who assumed the throne in 1930.
This meant the further development of a secularized, professional bureaucracy, a professional
army, and an indigenous middle class, all of which were committed to modernization. Moreover,
he cultivated foreign alliances that provided his regime with capital for economic development
and arms for his police and military. The latter not only aided in the consolidation of national
borders but also in maintaining domestic order.
Like his predecessors, Haile Selassie concentrated on the centralization of the empire and this
allowed little scope for any policy of integration of the nationalities beyond the selective
incorporation of ethnic elites through Amharanization. Instead, through personal patronage, land
tenure, and land tax reforms the emperor sought to modernize his regime by undermining the
traditional power of the northern autocrats. To the extent that these measures were effective they
reformed the administrative links between centre and periphery, and hence increased the power
of the emperor, without, however, fundamentally altering the character of Shoan rule.
Generally, the Ethiopia’s modern state formation and civilization effort was initiated by Emperor
Tewodros (1855-1868), consolidated by Yohannes IV (1872-1889) and consummated by
Menilik II (1889-1913) and further strengthened and centralized by Emperor Haile Selassie I
(1930- 1974). Therefore, despite the change of rulers and regimes there are some elements of
continuity in the practice of power beginning from emperor Tewodros (1855-1868), who is

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believed to be the beginner of the formation of modern Ethiopian state up to the present
government.
6.3 Approaches and challenges to deal with diversity by regimes in Ethiopia
6.3.1 Multiculturalism and Ethiopia’s history of Imperial multi-nation state
Since the restoration of the monarchy in the mid 1850s the trust of Ethiopia’s ruling power has
been directed towards the accomplishment of three distinct but closely interrelated goals,
namely- centralization, modernization and integration. But these affect the multicultural aspects
of the historic Ethiopia.
Menelik's campaign successfully tripled the size of the empire and brought in not less than
several dozens of ethnic groups of diverse languages and cultures. He successfully incorporated
and assimilated the Oromo élite of Shewa with its three-pronged ideology of Orthodox
Christianity, Amhara cultural ethos and Ethiopian unity with Shewa as its centre. Once the task
of incorporating the Oromo élite of Shewa into the emerging politico-military structure was
accomplished, the conquest of the other regions became far easier and the whole expansion took
less than a quarter of a century, as access of the Shewan army to European firearms dramatically
changed the balance of force. The role played by firearms appeared decisive, especially from the
Oromo nationalists' perspective.
Outside of Shewa, Menelik and his generals extended the war of conquest to the west, east and
south. Menelik won a decisive victory in 1882 at the battle of Embabo, in today’s Western
Oromia. This opened western Oromo lands whose rulers submitted one after another with little
or no resistance. Four years later (1886), Arsi fell despite tenacious resistance by its population.
The fall of Arsi allowed Menelik's army to march southeast to capture the eastern city-state of
Harar at the battle of Chelenquo in 1887. The conquest of these regions gave Menelik access to
real wealth - coffee and gold among other things – which significantly enhanced his political
position and military might in the then emerging modern empire state of Ethiopia.
And, for a century to come the Shewan Amhara elite, the embodiment of Orthodox Christianity,
Amharic language and the Shewan cultural ethos, dominated multi-ethnic Ethiopia in a manner
hitherto unprecedented in the country's long recorded history. The approaches used by Emperor
Menelik II did not bring the desired unity because of a number of reasons:
 Opposition of the people to be assimilated
 Rebellion

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 Ethnic inequality and economic exploitation

As emperor, Haile Selassie was dedicated to continuing the centralization and modernization
policies begun by Menelik. A year after his coronation as “neguse-negast”, in 1931 Emperor
Haile Selassie declared a new constitution which ‘set up the juridical framework of emergent
absolutism’. This constitution gave the emperor
 absolute powers to appoint and dismiss the nobility,
 to administer justice, and
 Grant land and other honors.
The nobility meanwhile, lost their independent authority also in foreign relations, the acquisition
of arms, and warfare. Imperial determination to curb the power of the regional elites continued
in the post-war period.
As to the nature of Local Government structure in the regime, a new regional administration was
established after 1941 which provided us with 14 provinces (Teklai-gezat), around 100 counties
(Awraja), and 600 districts (wereda). Yet, Haile Selassie still kept a firm rein on the power of
the regional aristocracy, regularly shuffling them from place to place, and gradually
bureaucratizing the central government.
The following consecutive historical policy moves by the regime which then one way or another
affected the multiculturalism doctrine in Ethiopian history.
A. Bureaucratization of the state and the emergence of new elite (intellectual class)
The Emperor was certainly the hub of the government, but he was far from being the whole of it;
for to further his policy of centralization, and to carry out the new and complex tasks involved by
modernization and administrative expansion, he had to recruit a ruling class of administrators
and politicians – aptly termed ‘the new nobility’.
The educated elite, however, had not scaled the ‘commanding heights’ of the political system,
which were still held by a man, who, whatever his claims to be a modernizer, is very far from
them in outlook; and they have not so far provided that driving force which is what the
government most obviously lacks. All appointments and decision-making continued to centre
upon the person of the emperor.
Whilst using the aristocracy to ‘maintain connections between the central government and the
more traditional sectors of the state’ , the emperor conferred increasingly few senior titles and
allocated positions of greatest influence to those whom he had himself raised to high office,

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rather than to members of the nobility. By doing so, for the first time in Ethiopia’s history, Haile
Selassie had succeeded in curtailing the power of Ethiopia’s regional elites, and with it the
autonomy of their regions. A professionalized national bureaucracy and army performed the
functions traditionally carried out under shifting alliances of decentralized fiefdoms nominally
subservient to the ‘king of kings’. The process strongly affects the multicultural aspects of the
country.
B. Modern education as a means of modernization process
Though it needs further investigation if modern education was first introduced at his period,
Menelik II blessed with the presence of European powers in the Horn of Africa, has opened
modern school around the capital city. And modern education of the time was mainly introduced
to facilitate the pursued assimilationist nation building process (Merera, 2003). In fact, it was
Hailesilasse, effective successor of Menelik, who heavily implemented education as a means of
force assimilation to create Amharanazed Ethiopianness.
After the Battle of Adwa, Ethiopians had begun to go abroad for education, or benefit from
mission schools or educational facilities in neighboring Sudan and Eritrea. In 1908, towards the
end of the reign of Menelik II, the first modern school in Ethiopia was opened in Addis Ababa,
followed in 1912 by the Alliance Françoise schools in Dire Dawa and Addis Ababa. During the
decade after the establishment of the Teferi Mekonnen School in Addis Ababa (1925), schools
began to be opened in different parts of the country. A further increase in the numbers of
Ethiopians sent abroad during the 1920s produced a class of educated Ethiopians prominent in
state administration in the post-Italian period.
The development of education not only trained personnel to staff the growing state apparatus, but
also disseminated “ideas of change”. It established a class of young people sufficiently educated
and experienced to begin to understand the unjust basis on which the imperial state was
established. Where these individuals also happened to be assimilated members of the ethnic
groups most disadvantaged by the arrangement (as increasingly), they began not only to
understand it, but resent it.
The dramatic expansion of education in Ethiopia, in what was perhaps the single most important
socio-political transformation of the period, is pursued as assimilationist nation building process.
Non Amharic language users have been not beneficial. Only Amharic language, from Ethiopian
languages, preferred as language of instruction. English and Amharic language were compulsory

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for school leaving certificate and entry of university.

C. Haileselassie’s Language homogenization policy
According to the memorandum of Ministry of Pen of Haileselassie quoted by Bahru Zewde
2002), the strength of a country lies in its unity, and unity is born of common language, customs,
and religion. Thus, to safeguard the ancient sovereignty of Ethiopia and to reinforce its unity, our
language and our religion should be proclaimed over the whole of Ethiopia. Otherwise, unity will
never be attained; Amharic and Ge’ez should be decreed official languages for secular as well as
religious affairs and all others languages should be banned. When the first of Ethiopia’s schools
opened in 1908, teaching was in French, since no materials existed in Ethiopian languages. After
the liberation Amharic was made the language of instruction in the first two school grades, and a
decade later, as materials was produced, was used throughout primary education. Competence in
Amharic and English were compulsory requirements for the school leaving certificate, and for
entry to Addis Ababa University College, which had been established in 1950. This gave
Amhara children a distinct advantage over the rest.
The result was grossly uneven ethnic representation among university students. Meanwhile,
missionaries were required by law to learn Amharic and to use it as the language of instruction in
mission schools. Although they were allowed to translate the bible into local languages, they
were required to use the Ge’ez alphabet, with contradictory effects: at once ‘spreading familiarity
with the alphabet of the dominant language’ and, by disseminating local languages in written
form, providing ‘a significant catalyst in raising the consciousness of ethnic identity and
solidarity’.
In a nutshell, Haile Sellasie, who emerged as a real successor to Menelik, despite his Oromo
blood, continued the 'nation-building' process on a much more naked and narrow ethnocratic
basis, which further deepened national inequality among the varied ethnic groupings of Ethiopia,
which in turn later led to the rise of ethnic-based liberation movements, hence the rise of
Nationalism and the Struggle for the Right to Self-determination in almost all parts of
Ethiopia. At the other side of the history, however, there were trajectories of counter imperial
absolutism and cultural ethnocentrism struggles challenging the regime in almost all corners
of Ethiopia ranging from rural to urban and also peasant to educated elite social classes. Such
moves were manifested themselves in the following forms.

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I. Peasant Rebellions and Regionalism: Regime challenged from rural Ethiopia

Issues related to land, as to any other form of property, have always and everywhere been both
political and economic in any society. The patterns and rights of ownership or possession of
land, the various forms of access to and control over it, the organization of agriculture,
distribution of its products are decided both by political exigency and economic interests –both
in the narrow sense of individual and class interests and in the broader sense of a selection of the
most productive pattern of institutions under the given constraints. Access to and control over
land are issues of major competing interests, representing diverse social forces, individuals and
institutions, such as landlords, peasants, commercial farmers, pastoralists, the state, and
multinational corporations. This politics becomes more complex in a multi-ethnic and multi-
nation state where nationality, culture are intimately tied to place and thus questions of land
ownership become an issue of rivaling political and economic interests. This is the case of
Ethiopia where the challenge to transform the agricultural sector and make it an engine of growth
must take into account at every turn the very political nature of land ownership in the country.
Opposition to the feudal regime assumed a broader dimension with the outbreak of peasant
rebellions in a number of provinces. Their incidence and their intensity were much severe the
earlier periods and attests to the increasingly heavy pressures being exerted on the peasantry.
These rebellions differed in their duration (from a few days to several days), their ideological
articulation, the external factors in their outbreak or suppression, and the manner in which the
government reacted to them.
(A) The Wayane Rebellion (Movement)
In 1943, shortly after the political reform, there was a major ‘revolt’ against the central
government in Tigray. This ‘revolt’, called the Wayyane, was organized by peasants whose aim
was to take over the military camp and provincial government. Then, open resistance broke out
in all over eastern Tigray under the slogan, “there is no government; let’s organize and govern
ourselves”. The leadership of the eastern Tigrean rebellion quickly crystallized around Haile
Mariam Reda, a young man of peasant origin who had become an outlaw (shifta) after the Italian
occupation. Generally, the Woyane rebellion which as the first of those rebellions belongs to the
immediate aftermath of the liberation occurred in Tigray province. There were many elements
(unequal treatment) contribute to its outbreak. These were:
- Administrative inefficiency and corruption;

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- Inability of local people to administer and govern themselves

- A section of the nobility tried to take advantage of situation to try to re-assert
their hereditary privileges and their region’s former political centrality.
(B) The Balle Rebellion
There was a resistance and rebellion to the feudal regime which erupted in the Southeastern
province of Balle, and it lasted from 1963 to 1970. The major propelling elements to its outbreak
were the following.
 The institution of land in 1951 had the effect of reducing many peasants to the
status of tenants.
 The peasant’s ability to pay the increased taxes accompanying new land
measurements in 1963 had led to large scale alienation and penalty by government
officials.
 The imposition of Christian settlers over a predominately Muslim population also
engendered religions antagonism.
 Settler arrogance, as well as political and economic domination.
(C) Elkere, Wabi and Dello Uprising
This uprising began in the nationalist Somali – inhabited frontier district of Elkere in 1965. The
strategy was to attack the police stations and other governmental institutions which they thought
are run by people from the central region. The feudal regime at first adopted a fairly pacific
approach, promising the turn of confiscated land in cases where it had not already granted to
other individuals. The influence of the Elkere Uprising was felt in Wabi area and a group of
people by the name Wabi group started an attack on the feudal government in 1964. The major
triggering canvases were: the tax policy of the government, absence of infrastructure, and
absence of social services like school, health centers, water, etc.
The wabi uprising also commenced Dello Uprising that lasted between 1964 and 1970. The
leader was Waqo Gutu. The Dello Uprising was a politically mature resistance and called itself a
liberation movement. The uprising was unique in that it was able to create a unified and
centralize leadership. The government put the area under military administration in order to
weaken and destroy the movement.
(D) The Gojjam Rebellion
While the government was engrossed in crushing the Balle uprising, another rebellion was

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breakout in the north, namely in Gojjam, due to discontent over taxation and land measurement.
That was a province which had successfully resisted pressures from the political center. The tax
system that was being practiced in Gojjam was lived on counters varieties of properties such as
land, cattle, hand crafts and others. The taxes were irrational, exploitative and arbitrarily
determined. The taxes assessment was often done arbitrary and its precise amount and value was
not determined. Besides, almost 2/3 of the income paid tax went to the coffers of local officials
and their private armies while 1/3 of the tax went to the church. Consequently, peasants who
failed to pay were forcefully made to pay their dues in kind and labour such as: building and
requiring of the house and fences of governors, cultivating the land of the officials and nobilities,
collecting firewood and cutting grasses, and undertaking military services and other domestic
chores. Moreover, peasants could arbitrarily be imprisoned, their property was confiscated, and
even their wives and children were taken. Lastly, all the aforementioned repressions triggered a
serious peasant revolt which was to be known as the Gojjam Resistance.
II. The Ethiopian Student Movement
Resistance to the land policies of the Central government was not only waged in the countryside
by peasant dominated movements but also in the cities by the university student movement. The
introduction of modern education, in Ethiopia was intended primarily to train young Ethiopians
to serve the monarchy and to prolong its existence. It produced, however, two contradictory
social forces. On the one hand, it gave rise to the emergence of the bureaucratic bourgeoisie
which formed a class alliance with the aristocracy; on the other, it created a social force
(students, young intellectuals, etc.) that gradually eroded and finally destroyed the basis of feudal
system.
The expansion of education which resulted in the student expansion gave momentum to the
struggle against the feudal monarchy. In this respect, the 1960s was a turning point. It was a
period where many African states got their independence after many years of colonial rule.
These new emergent African states were far advanced in political and economic spheres than
Ethiopia, which claimed to have self-rule for thousand years. The elites of Ethiopia attributed the
country’s backwardness to the misrule of the monarchy of Emperor Haile Silassie whose
legitimacy had been compromised.
Impatient with the rate or form of social, economic and political changes some political groups
conspired to launch a coup de’etat on December 13, 1960. The attempted coup d’etat was

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organized by the two brothers; namely, Mengstu and Germame Neway. This attempted coup
de’etat epitomized the military and intellectual components of that opposition before as well as
after 1960. However, the embryo coup was characterized by confused articulation and inept
(acting or done with no skill) organization. Despite the coup’s failure, it succeeded in the
stripping of its claim of universal acceptance and enrolled its image in the eyes of the common
people. It sparked a more outspoken and radical opposition to the regime. For instance, it gives a
lesson for student movement, i.e. the Ethiopian student movement and its repercussions on the
struggle for democracy, equality and Justice.
Hence, the most implacable opposition to the Monarchical regime came from the student
population, particularly the Haile Silassie I University students. Their resilience and their
strategic location in the towns, particularly in the capital had a profound effect on the regime.
Rural protest, however, sustained and well organized, had a natural tendency to be peripheral,
and could scarcely capture as much attention as urban movements, more particularly as it often
failed to gain reportage. For something like a decade form 1964 on, the students came out in to
the streets in almost ritual annual demonstrations, daring to defy a political order that had
managed to secure the solved submission of a large part of the population.
In the first stage the political consciousness of the students was virtually low and they were
unable to coordinate their struggle. The early years of the student movement were characterized
by the struggle for free and free union. In the 1950s, student views had found forums in The UC
Calls, a university college paper with a decidedly didactic and a political map. News and views,
initiated in 1959, represented a step towards radicalization, although the heavy hand of authority
ensured that it would not assume a more radical line. The earliest form of student organization
was the Student council, which goes back to the establishment of the university college. 1960s
was a turning point in the students’ expression of views and idea. Before that time, student
activities tended to be geared more towards their own intellectual growth and the enrichment of
campus life.
The really militant phase of the student movement started in the mid 1960’s. The emergence in
1964 a radical core known as the “crocodiles” was a crucial in this respect. The crocodiles
proved true to their name, often straying under cover, rarely occupying posts in the union
leadership, but instead preferring to advance their ideas and programmes through front figures.
The students’ uncompromising opposition to the regime as well as the beginning of acceptance

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of Marxist ideas is traceable to this period. The first manifestation of radical opposition came in
February 1965 while parliamentarians debated the regulation of tenancy; students came out on
the streets chanting the revolutionary slogan of “Land to the Tiller”. In 1967, students came out
indifference of civil liberties as a parliamentary bill threatened to make demonstrations virtual
impossible. In 1969, the cause of educational reform brought students all over the country into
the streets.
The final phase of the struggle of the student movements began when the government unleashed
open armed repression against the students, which lasted until 1974. The beginning of the
academic year 1969-1970 saw university students addressing themselves to perhaps the most
sensitive issue, the question of nationalities. Student support of the right of nationalities to self-
determination alarmed the government into launching its most determined offensive to date. An
arranged press campaign against the students was followed by the assassination of the student
Union president and the killing of a number of students as they gathered to honor their slain
leader.
In examining the structural factors influencing the students for their political changes, Balsvik
(1994) listed out the following; First, the impact of modern western education was clearly key,
as was the way student opposition was affected by ‘the anti-colonial, nationalist emancipation
process in Africa’, influenced by: the proximity in Addis Ababa of the OAU; Second, the
presence of several hundred scholarship students from other parts of Africa from the end of the
1950s; and the revelation at the Addis Ababa UNESCO conference on education in 1961 of
Ethiopia’s poor record vis-à-vis other African countries. A third factor was the global ‘flowering
of political activism in the student environments of the 1960s’ along lines that were ‘anti-
imperialist, anti-American, anti-authoritarian, and inspired by Marxist theory’. Here the
influence of left wing publications, radical Peace Corps volunteers, and an extremely active
Diaspora were important. Finally, the repressive response of the government ‘did more to gather
the students behind the protests than any ideological or factual arguing could ever have done’
(ibid).
Generally, by 1960 the imperial regime began to show visible signs of decay, which had created
a better condition for the forces of change to emerge. As Bahru (1991: 209) summed up the
events of the day: ‘Opposition to the regime had many facets. Peasants rebelled against
increasing demands on their produce. Nationalities rose in arms for self-determination.

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Intellectuals struggled for their vision of a just and equitable order.’ In the post-1960 period the
new challenges against the regime increasingly began to take the form of either class or national
struggles.
To put more specifically, the Ethiopian Student Movement (ESM) began championing the
common class struggles against the imperial regime while the Eritrean and Oromo movements
became the bearers of the national and/or regional struggles. Then Ethnic nationalism in the
Ethiopian context was engendered, as indicated earlier, in a century of political, economic and
socio-cultural domination of the Amhara élite over others. It was shaped by the collective action
of the marginalized ethnic groups against political domination, land alienation and cultural
suppression in 1960s and early 1970s.
As the Ethiopian student movement (ESM) also recognized the multi-faceted injustice
perpetrated against the marginalized ethnic groups, the national and class struggles against the
imperial regime reinforced each other. In fact, political mobilization along class and national
lines, which were to become the dominant forms of struggle in the post-1960 period, were
largely the logical outcome of national and class oppression - the bedrock of most injustices
under the imperial regime.
On the other side, the response of the imperial regime to the emerging nationalisms was both
quick and brutal. The leaders of self determination movements/struggles were herded to prison,
where some died and others served long years of prison terms while the guerrilla fighters of were
forced to be disbanded and their leaders negotiated for minor posts. But, despite the ability of the
imperial regime to suppress the movements, the seeds of modern nationalism had already been
sown, and a more radical demand for the right to self-determination was soon to galvanize the
intelligentsia and youth in 1970s, which partly contributed to the popular revolution of 1974 that
ended an out of date autocracy. The revolution, in turn, culminated with the end of the imperial
regime in Ethiopia and it was replaced by the military junta- Dergue.
6.3.2 The Class (Land) and Nationality questions under the Military regime and the quest
for Multicultural accommodation
Although the Dergue took over power from June 1974 with the set-up of a military committee,
12 September 1974 marks the official taking over of power. The military government/the Dergue
that overthrew the monarchy in 1974 also remained as centralized as its predecessor. In an
attempt to reduce social unrest and the problem of nationalities, the military government

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implemented a radical land redistribution program. However, the land redistribution program
proved to be insufficient to overcome the problem. The program was undermined by a number of
factors, including the government's failure to create access to other essential resources for the
peasantry. Its attempts to collectivize peasant agriculture and absence of a serious political
reform to decentralize decision making were also additional predicament.
Except for the land reform (in 1975), the other parts of the regime’s plans were a total failure.
The regime’s policy to solve the question of nationality was to use brute force to make the
multinational/multiethnic organizations and nationalist/peasant movements bend to its will. The
faulty policy of the regime drove the country into internecine civil war and hastened the end of
the Derg. On the land question, the regime’s policy was quite radical: with a single stroke in
1975. The land reform:
 Nationalized all lands,
 Eliminated the politico-economic basis of the ancient régime.
 Abolished all private ownership of land by individuals or organizations and declared
that ‘all rural lands shall be the collective property of the Ethiopian people.’
More specifically, it stated that ‘without differentiation of the sexes, any person who is willing to
personally cultivate land shall be allotted rural land sufficient for his/her maintenance and that of
their family.’ The use of hired labor was prohibited (PMAC, 1975).
Large-scale mechanized farms were expropriated without compensation except for movable
property and permanent works on such farms. These farms were to be converted into state farms
or co-operatives, or broken into smaller plots and distributed to peasants (ibid.). The 1975 land
reform transformed Ethiopian agriculture in a number of major ways.
 First and foremost it gave land to the tiller as had been demanded by the students and
other sections of Ethiopian society since the 1960’s; in so doing it also destroyed the
basis of the feudal regime.
 Second it provided the peasants some sense of security over then land and reduced the
need for devotion of resources to protecting individual access to land.
 Third and probably most importantly for rural consumption, it released the peasants
from the obligations to the landlords. This meant that the peasants now had more to
consume and invest.
 Fourth it introduced new institutions into the countryside, such as peasant associations,
state farms and producer and service cooperatives.

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Some of the changes particularly the first three mentioned positively impacted the lives of the
rural population. In the initial period and up to 1982 there was a small increase in total
agricultural output as peasants took advantage of their new freedoms to plan and control their
farming activities and an expansion of the area cultivated. This initial increase was, however,
soon lost due to a number of factors that can be directly tied to state policy on agriculture.
Initially, the Derg undertook the land reform due to popular pressure. Given this it was
unenthusiastic about placing any demands on the peasantry. However it soon realized that as the
peasantry accounted for the majority of the population and production, and it would have to tax
the peasantry in order to raise government revenues. Within a short period of time the former
obligations that the peasantry had to landlords was replaced by obligations to the central
government, which were collected via pricing and tax schemes that were biased against peasant
agriculture.
Furthermore, during the time of 'Garrison Socialism' (Dergue), the Ethiopian military wanted
to transform the country without making a major break with the country's imperial past regarding
the national question, which had been the major source of crisis of the Ethiopian State. The
incoming military regime was quick to denounce the Shewa chauvinism of its predecessors, and
proclaim the equality of all nationalities and cultures in Ethiopia. The Dergue promised the
abolition of traditional customs which ‘hamper the unity and progress of Ethiopia’, and removed
the official status (and much of the property) of the Orthodox Church. Yet, in the Dergue’s
perception ‘national contradictions’ were limited to the realm of culture. The overthrow of the
feudal regime, it claimed, had ended national and class oppression, and guaranteed the equality
of all peoples and cultures in Ethiopia. Consequently national contradictions no longer existed,
only the legacy of cultural oppression remained. Accordingly, the orientation of the new regime
to the ‘indivisibility of Ethiopian unity’ was never in question. The clearest demonstration that
this was the case came with its abrupt confrontation of the nationalist campaign in Eritrea.
Given its socialist credentials, and the long-running ideological debates within the Ethiopian Left
over the issue of self-determination of nationalities, the Dergue had, nevertheless, to be seen to
recognize these rights, and respect for them was enshrined in its 1976 Programme for the
National Democratic Revolution. Not surprisingly, however, when they assumed state power in
September 1974, Ethiopia's military élite had no well-thought-out political programme of any
kind, except the vague motto of 'Ethiopia Tikdam’ (Ethiopia First).

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But they moved fast with the winds of the day and immediately adopted socialism as the official
ideology both to capture the imagination of the revolutionary youth, who were to be sent to the
countryside to organize the peasantry for the support of the unfolding revolution and to compete
with the civilian left for revolutionary leadership.
With all these, a more programmatic and direct response of the regime to the rising demands of
ethnic nationalisms came with the declaration of the National Democratic Revolution (NDR) in
which the regional autonomy formula was included as part of the response and strategy of
building socialism in Ethiopia. The program reads in part:
The right to self-determination of all nationalities will be recognized and fully
respected. No nationality will dominate another one since the history, culture,
language and religion of each nationality will have equal recognition in accordance
with the spirit of socialism. The unity of Ethiopia's nationalities will be based on
their common struggle against feudalism, imperialism, bureaucratic capitalism and
reactionary forces. This united struggle is based on the desire to construct new life
and a new society based on equality, brotherhood and mutual respect.... Given
Ethiopia's existing situation, the problem of nationalities can be resolved if each
nationality is accorded full right to self-government. This means that each
nationality will have regional autonomy to decide on matters concerning its internal
affairs. Within its environs, it has the right to determine the contents of its political,
economic and social life, use its own language and elect its own leaders and
administration to head its own organs.
This right of self-government of nationalities will be implemented in accordance with all
democratic procedures and principles of the Provisional Military Administrative Council
(PMAC, April 1976). On paper the NDR Programme was a radical proposal. However,
practically ethnic nationalism began to be portrayed as the most serious threat to the
revolution. Hence, ethnic and regional movements began to be castigated as counter-
revolutionary forces and the government's propaganda machine moved against them to
complement the war of annihilation unleashed by the regime to destroy them altogether.
The Eritrean movements, the Tigrayan, Oromo and Western Somalia Liberation Front
had to face the military regime's much enhanced war machine, lavishly supplied by the
Soviet Union military hardware. As a response to extended struggles, the regional

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autonomy programme was resurrected in the National Constitution of 1987, which

provided a regional autonomy status, albeit, on paper, to some regions. Based on the new
Constitution, the country's administrative structure was subdivided into 29 regions. Only
a few of these, i.e. Eritrea, Tigray, Asab and Dire-Dewa were accorded the
autonomous status, and even for them it was a regional autonomy of a very severely
restricted sort. Constitutionally, the country continued to be a unitary state and the
Workers’ Party of Ethiopia (WPE) was the only legally recognized political party in the
country.
During the late part of the Derg’s regime it used a fair amount of its resources to retain its power
via military means. From the beginning the Derg was confronted with the problem of how to
deal with popular demands without losing control. Unable to balance the demands against
individual members desire to remain in power it turned early on to assassination –including of its
own members – and repression of all forms of opposition. The effect of this was the creation of
new, and the revitalization of old ethno-nationalist organizations such as the Tigrian Peoples
Liberation Front (TPLF), the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF)
and Eritrean People’s Liberation Forces (EPLF). From day one Ethiopia's inept military élite
applied what can be termed a military method to solve all the country's societal problems,
including the demand for national equality and self-rule. Yet, finally forced to fight on many
fronts the Derg finally collapsed and was replaced by the Ethiopian People Revolutionary
Democratic Front (EPRDF) in 1991.
6.1 Post-1991 Political Reforms and Multicultural policy Under EPRDF Government
Many studies in the field indicate that one of the characteristics of federalism is its aspiration
and purpose to generate and maintain both unity and diversity simultaneously (Fasil, 1997,
Merera, 2004, Wondwosen, 2008, Berhanu, 2009). Seen from this angle, the FDRE constitution,
which came in to effect in 1995, also stands for the same sprit as it states that maintaining
“unity in diversity” is the core value that ties the country (Ibid).
The constitution officially declares that sovereign power should reside with the ‘nations,
nationalities and people of Ethiopia (The Preamble, Articles 1, 8, and 47 of the 1994
Ethiopian Constitution). It also formally recognizes ethnic diversity in the country and equal
treatment of all ethnic groups as manifested in its Article 5 (equality of languages) and Article
27 (equality of religions). More uniquely, the constitution grants the nations, nationalities and

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people of Ethiopia an “unconditional right to self-determination, including up to secession”

(Article 39).
Aspects (Dimensions) and Status of Equality in the FDRE Constitution
i) The Equality of Nations, Nationalities and People of Ethiopia
Under the constitutional democracy, the diversity of the Ethiopian people are respected for their
identities. They are respected for what they are in terms of their respective ethnicity, language,
religion, culture and history. The respect for the identity of the Ethiopian people’s diversity aims
at the promotion of the dignity, self-respect and equality of all nations, nationalities and peoples
of Ethiopia. They are equal before the law and should share the benefits and resources of their
country fairly. The question of recognition to the identity, equality, and diversity of the Ethiopian
people has been a fundamental issue of political crises in the modern Ethiopian history. Since the
half of the 19th century, the political agenda of the rulers of Ethiopia was the assimilation of the
diverse Ethiopian people in to a monolithic culture and identity. It can be said that it was a
practice of eliminating ethnic, linguistic or cultural diversities in a fatuous of a single and solid
national character of identity. In fact, Ethiopians do have common identity and character, they all
share common fate for socio-economic and political prosperity and better life, they are all
Ethiopians. Ethiopians also share common history and they lived in common and similar pattern
of life and level of technology.
However, Ethiopians are diverse in many ways and their diversity can hardly be denied.
Furthermore, the prevalence of diversity of nations, nationalities, and people of Ethiopia is not,
and should not be, understood as a source of division, discord, and weakness. On the contrary,
the FDRE Constitution calculates the diversity as a source of strength. It all depends on how
national consensus on national unity is developed. For centuries, the ruling classes inculcated a
doctrine of homogeneity and uniformity, to identify oneself as Oromo, Tigray, Amhara,
Gambella etc was a taboo. Instead, everyone had to declare to be only Ethiopian. It is, therefore,
self-evident that the new Ethiopian unity is democratic in the sense that the political, economic,
social, and cultural rights of nations and nationalities are fully respected not only by law but also
through institution such as the House of Nationalities (Federation), the state councils of member
(federation) states, the federal armed forces, and the independent judiciary.

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ii) The Right to Equality of Self-governance and self-determination

The right to equality of nations, nationalities and peoples of Ethiopia to self-government is

essentially guaranteed fully in the current Ethiopia. By the virtue of Article 39 (3) of the FDRE
constitution, “Every Nation, Nationality and People in Ethiopia has the right to a full measure of
self-government which includes the right to establish institutions of government in the territory
that it inhabits and to equitable representation in state and Federal government.”
This means that every Nation, Nationality and people in Ethiopia should be allowed to be
governed by those whom its members have democratically elected. If the people’s equal right to
administer their own region by themselves in a democratic manner is guaranteed, one possible
source of conflict is avoided. It also creates conducive atmosphere for strong unity. Over and
above the right to administer themselves, Nations, Nationalities and people do also have a
common right to be involved in the administration at Regional and Federal Levels. This is
secured through the equitable representation of Nations, Nationalist, and people in state council,
the House of Peoples’ Representatives and the House of Federation.
The right to self-governance of Nations, Nationalists and People extends to the right to self-
determination. Self-determination is the practice whereby Ethiopians determine upon the socio-
economic and political matters of their own. That is, Ethiopian societies directly or indirectly
decide upon matters of their own. Under the constitutional democracy, Ethiopians elect their
representatives to the positions in the councils at Kebelle, Wereda and Regional Levels. At the
Federal level, members of the House of Peoples’ Representative and House of the Federation are
also elected representatives having the power to make decisions on behalf of the Ethiopian
people. This is the exercise of self-determination in Ethiopia.
Equity of nations and nationalities has the right to participate in the decision making process
both at the Federal and sub-federal levels. The Federal parliament (HPRs) and the House of
Federation (HF) were carefully crafted to reflect the multinational nature of the country.
Ministers, ambassadors, and there dignitaries are assigned on the basis of fair composition of
nationalities.
Besides, and more importantly, the right to self-government and self-determination has been
established through the nine member (federating) states, dozens of zonal enormous regions,
hundreds of local (district) government. The languages of more than 22 ethnic groups are now in

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use at primary schools enabling more than 85% of children to learn in their mother tongued. In
association with self-determination, the ultimate guarantee of the voluntary unity based on
diversity is enshrined in the FDRE constitution. Article 39 of the FDRE constitution guarantees
that any Nation, Nationality or People can secede and form its own state, separate from Ethiopia,
if so wishes. The right to secession has been exercised, for example, in southern Sudan, and in
former Czechoslovakia.
N.B: What makes the FDRE Constitution special and which has come to be a
subject of controversy among the academia, politicians and ordinary people is that it
explicitly declares this right of secession, if necessary, as an ultimate extension and
expression of the right to self-determination by enumerating a set of procedures that
should be fulfilled before any claim for secession is realized.
In our case, however, the right to self-determination, including the right to secession [the right to
form an independent state] has been included in the FDRE constitution for two reasons. These
are:
 First and foremost, this is an open door policy that creates confidence, so guards the unity
and fosters the fraternity of the nations and nationalities.
 For the purpose of exercising full democracy. Any democracy that does not allow full
freedom, including divorce when necessary, is at least incomplete and at worst non-
transparent.
The right to Session is essentially a political decentralization to the extent of forming or having
an independent state. This can be seen in relation or analogous to marriage, i.e. people get
marriage not anticipating divorce but divorce or the need for divorce may exist because of many
reasons. Similarly, predicaments can make a given nation, nationality or people no longer to
continue with the bigger political entity. Given to this, Article 39(4) of the FDRE constitution
accredited that the right to self-determination, including secession, of every Nation, Nationality
and People shall come in to effect if the following preconditions are satisfied. These are:
a) When a demand for secession has been approved by a 2/3 majority of the members of
the Legislative Council of the Nation, Nationality or People Concerned;
b) When the Federal Government has organized; a referendum which must take place
within three years from the time it received the concerned council’s decision for
secession;

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c) When the demand for secession is supported by majority vote in the referendum;
d) When the Federal Government will have transferred its powers to the Council of the
Nation, Nationality or People who has voted to secede; and
e) When the division of assets is effected in a manner prescribed by law.
iii) Right to Equality of Language, Culture, Religion and History
a)Equality of Language
Language is one of the identities by which Nations, Nationalities and people are distinguished.
Article 5 of the FDRE constitution provides that “All Ethiopian languages shall enjoy equal
state recognition.” The respect for equality of Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples and their
language is important to bring about unity based on consent. In situations where the equality to
language is not respected, it may be used as a point of departure or conflict. If a certain language
is imposed, under the guise of creation of common means of understanding, the people whose
right to use their language is not respected may make it as a means of suppression. Therefore,
respect for equality of languages is one of the basic rights of people.
Considering the progressive growth of international economic relations, it is becoming necessary
for the people to share/use the language of one another. This is why the FDRE constitution, after
declaring that all nations, nationalities and peoples have equal right to use their own languages,
accepts Amharic as an official (working language of the Federal Government). This does not
mean that Amharic language is above other languages. It is rather because; a matter of history
Amharic has reached a state where it can be a common medium of communication. Besides, this
is detained by the free will of the nations, nationalities and peoples of Ethiopia. It is not imposed.
There are situations where regions use Amharic as an official (working) language. This can be
exemplified by the southern Nations, Nationalities and peoples have decided to learn in Amharic.
b) Cultural Equality
Under constitutional democracy, cultural equality is constitutionally introduced and guaranteed
and even excise practically by the principle of realism. Cultural equality, among other aspects,
capitalized on preservation and promotion of culture and respect for cultural identities of the
peoples of a given country. In line with this, our country Ethiopia has recognized the equality of
all cultures of the Nations, Nationalities and People and to fully practice and develop their own
culture freely. That is, the constitution assures the right to develop and disseminate these
cultures. In addition, the Ethiopian government has also the responsibility to guard the culture of

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the Nations, Nationalities and People of Ethiopia. By the virtue of Article 91(1) of the FDRE
constitution, “Government shall have the duty to support, on the basic of equality, the growth
and enrichment of cultures and traditions that are compatible with fundamental rights, human
dignity, democratic norms and ideals and the provisions of the constitution.”
Because of the long history of political and economic relations, the cultural heritage among the
various nations, nationalities and peoples in Ethiopia is inevitable. This obviously has
contributed to the development of common cultural values. This will smoothly take place where
nations, nationalist and peoples are provided with the right to freely develop and disseminate
their culture.
c) Equality of History
The history of Ethiopia is the aggregate history of the different nations, nationalist and people
and their relationship. Where each nation, nationality and people is granted equal right to know
and preserve its history, the interest of the whole people is respected. The people should be
allowed to know their genuine, independent and relative history. The respect for the people’s
equality of history in accordance with the constitution will serve as the basis for strong national
unity. However, past histories did not take this basic constitutional principle in to account.
d) Religious Equality
The right to the freedom of religion may be treated as an individual as well as a group right. The
FDRE constitution lays down provisions to the effect that all persons have equal right to follow a
religion of their choice. In connection with this, Article 27(1) of the FDRE constitution asserts
that:
Everybody has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right shall include
the freedom to hold or to adopt a religion or belief of his/her choice, and the freedom, either
individually or in community with others, and in public or private, to manifest his/her religion or
belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching.
By virtue of the above provision, citizens of Ethiopia are provided with equal right of following
as well as accepting a religion of their choice no one can be prevented from holding a belief of
his/her preference or forced to accept a religion that is not his/her choice. Citizens of Ethiopia
can also manifest their beliefs in the way they like being consistent with the laws of the country.
Means, the right to manifest one’s own religion may be limited when it affects public safety,
people, and freedoms of others. Believers shall also have the right to establish separate

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institutions of religious education and administration in order to propagate and organize their
religion. Formal education, however, is secular.
Furthermore, Article 11 of the FDRE constitution states the separation of State and religion in
this way: “State and religion are separate and there shall be no state religion; and the state
shall not interfere in state affairs.” This means that there will not be such things as state –backed
religion secularism exists, and the state is not to intervene in the affairs of religion and religion
shall not intervene in state affairs. However, the state can respect the laws of the country, and if
any religion’s belief or action is found to be contradictory with the constitution and other laws of
the country. And, hence, the state has to discharge its task, among other things, to respect the
laws of the country as well as preserving place and order.
e) Gender Issue and Equality
Gender refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes that a given
society consider appropriate for men and women. For examples, in Saudi Arabia men are
allowed to derive cars while women are not. In most of the world, women do more housework
than men. In Ethiopia, the position of secretariat is reserved for females. Such distributions of
roles and/or jobs are, generally, based on socially constructed values, called gender.
Gender Inequality: refers to discrimination against women or men because of their sex under
socially created or manmade aspects. The afflicted world in which we live is characterized by
deeply unequal sharing of the burden of adversaries between women and men. Gender inequality
exists in most parts of the world and can take very many forms as Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen
explained. He seriously observed the forms of inequality that has immense effect on the status
and life of women like, Natality inequality (given a preference for boys over girls that many
male-oriented societies have, i.e. parents wanting the newborn to be a boy rather than a girl is the
reflection of gender inequality), ownership inequality, basic facility inequality, professional
inequality, household inequality and mortality inequality.
In Ethiopia like in so many other countries of the world, women are one of the major groups who
were subjected to sever forms of discrimination and victimization, politically and/or culturally,
on the basis of their sex. Politically, women’s were disfavored than men. For instance, Article 5
of the 1955 Ethiopian constitution had acknowledged the male succession of power/throne.
Word by word the article states that: “The order of succession shall be lineal and only male, born
in lawful wedlock …” For very long time, women were not allowed to pass their citizenship to

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their children. Their property rights were also not trisected. Moreover, politics was considered as
an exclusively masculine space where only men can fit it. For long they were not a focus of
government policies and strategies. They were not encouraged to form opinions and provide
inputs for decision –making process at different levels.
In addition, Ethiopian women’s have been culturally discriminated. Child marriage has been a
major cause for an early termination of their education. Early pregnancies and delivery is also
one of the major causes for maternal death in Ethiopia. Different forms of violence including
rape, abduction, female genital mutilation, and sexual harassment are some of the facets that
challenge women’s fate here in our country. Such structural vulnerability has been exposed
women to health perils including HIV/AIDS. Women have been victims of laborious, domestic
works and even they spend quite significant amount of their time and energy on farmlands. Their
right to equality during and up on the termination of their marriage is often violated.
Gender Equality: The principle of gender equality emphasizes that men and women are born
equal and that they must be treated in the same way. Gender equality can also be scrutinized as
full equality between men and women, to the condition where there is/was no discrimination
against anyone based on his or sex. It is the equality of men and women. Hence, gender equality
emphasizes the avoidance of discrimination based on sex because women in all parts of the
world have been discriminated and victimized for centuries. To this extent, the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) declares that “all humans are born free and equal”. In
line with this, the FDRE constitution in its article, Article 35(1) states that: “women shall, in the
enjoyment of rights and protections provided for”, by the FDRE constitution, “have equal right
with men.”
In a democracy, it is a common practice for countries that had history of gender inequality to
come up with certain compensatory policies to address the past injustices, discrimination and
victimization of women on sex. Affirmative action is a positive discrimination, which has an
expressed policy of helping formerly disadvantaged groups to catch-up with other. It is designed
to essentially address the problem faced by individuals, principally women, or people who are
victims of discriminatory state policies and laws, and societal practices. In its turn, Article 35(3)
of the FDRE constitution accredited affirmative measures towards women in order to remedy the
historical legacy of inequality and discrimination suffered by women in Ethiopia. This sub-
article states that: “The purpose of such measures shall be to provide special attention to women

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so as to enable them to compete and participate on the basis of equality with men in political,
social and economic life as well as in public and private institutions.”
However, the gap between women’s and men’s access to and control of resources and the
benefits of development is still out of reach for most women’s of the world in general and
Ethiopian women’s in particular. For this reason, to achieve full equality in a meaningful and
real sense, equality under the law/constitution is simply not sufficient, though vitally necessary.
The historically inferior position of women, the all-too-often unfavorable cultural and traditional
context and the social roles must be taken into account. Realizing women’s substantive or de
facto equality involves addressing the institutionalized nature of women’s disadvantage and
changing the cultural, traditional and religious beliefs that stereotyped and prejudices women as
inferior.
Generally, In the historical continuum that informs the ‘making and remaking’ of modern
Ethiopia, while the second half of the 19 th century had been shaped by the wars of
incorporation and state formation on unequal terms, in many major ways, the second half of
the 20th century has been shaped by class and national struggles intended to end the existing
asymmetrical relations. In the other words, while the wars of the 19th century were for the
‘making’ of modern Ethiopia, the struggles of the 20th century have been for the reversal of the
same historical process that created the multi-ethnic polity of Ethiopia. To put more specifically,
the class and national/ethnic struggles of 1960s and 1970s that precipitated the revolutionary
upheaval of 1974, the various struggles that led to the change of regime in 1991 and the ongoing
struggles for self-rule and democracy are all part of the ‘remarking’ of Ethiopia on equal terms.
In general, as noted earlier, up until 1991 successive regimes in Ethiopia tried to suppress the
unique cultural identities of more than eighty distinct ethno-linguistic groups and, at the same
time, to assimilate them into the dominant Amhara culture”. The Ethiopian government avoids
any reference to ethnic, linguistic, and religious diversity, and also actively discourages non-
official inquiry in this field. The combined results of which were the imperial dissemination of
the Amharic language, the assimilation of non-Amhara populations to Amhara culture and
religion throughout the twentieth century, and university admissions policy became in favor of
students fluent in Amharic.
This was best summarized in the words of Merera (2004) when he argues that the Ethiopian
central government’s cultural policy of assimilation, “Amharanization” and “Christianization”

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 Diversity and Multiculturalism (CESt-3035)

policies as he calls them led to the emergence of ethnic based armed political parties in the
1970s. Consequently, he argues, that the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF ) latter became the
Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF ) in Eritrea, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front
(TPLF ) in Tigray, Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) in Oromia and others were established to
militarily struggle for the autonomy/socio-cultural equality or even right of self- determination to
their respective national groups.

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