Mesfin Arega
mesfin.arega@gmail.com
A protectorate is a state that is controlled and protected by another state, and a country is surely in full control of another country if it orders that country how to draw its regional borders, who should govern what region, which regional force should be deployed where, and which regional force should not be deployed where. Such is the case of Ethiopia (one of the most, if not the most, ancient countries in the world) and the United States (the current superpower of the world, founded a mere two hundred years ago).
“We … urge the Government of Ethiopia to withdraw Amhara regional forces from the Tigray region and ensure that effective control of western Tigray is returned to the Transitional Government of Tigray.” (Press Statement, Anthony J. Blinken, May 15, 2021)
Ethiopia is now the de facto protectorate of the United States and, as such, the only one in Africa. Traditionally, a protectorate enjoys full autonomy over most of its internal affairs. However, in the case of Ethiopia, the United States is more focused on controlling the internal affairs of Ethiopia, supposedly to “protect Ethiopia” from its own “violent” AMHARA population. The only reason present day Ethiopia cannot be called a colony of the United States is white colonizers have not yet settled in the country. However, colonization of Ethiopia may very well be in the making, since (as if to make space for would be white settlers) the AMHARA of Ethiopia are being ethnically cleansed from several regions of Ethiopia by TIGRE and OROMO tribalists fully supported by the United States. After all, it was none other than a leader of the “51st state of the United States”, Boris Johnson, who openly advocated for the recolonization of Africa.
“The best fate for Africa would be if the old colonial powers, or their citizens, scrambled once again in her direction; on the understanding that this time they will not be asked to feel guilty. The continent may be a blot, but it is not a blot upon our conscience … The problem is not that we were once in charge, but that we are not in charge anymore.” (Boris Johnson, former prime minister of UK)
However, the west has never been able and will never be able to make Ethiopia its protectorate, let alone its colony, while Ethiopia is led by nationalist leaders, mostly of AMHARA origin. Hence the need to make the AMHARA irrelevant in Ethiopian politics, if not cleanse them altogether, by flaming anti-AMHARA tribalism through TIGRE and OROMO ethno-nationalists who are more than willing to be subservient to the west.
“The numerous tribes who inhabit the Ethiopian state are being forcibly kept from European colonialism by Abyssinian rulers whose aim is to act as champions of all black people so as to attack and destroy Western culture” (Roman Prochaska, Abyssinia: The Powder Barrel, Vienna, 1935)
The AMHARA are the most integrated of all Ethiopian nationalities. They are ethnic-blind to a fault which makes them vulnerable in a sea of Amhara-hating tribalist “liberation fronts” fostered, if not created, by the west. The nationalist social fabric of Ethiopia is woven by the AMHARA who (unlike other ethnicities of Ethiopia) identify themselves first and foremost as Ethiopians. Amhara nationalism (epitomized by Emperor Menelik) is another name for Ethiopian nationalism simply because the AMHARA are its largest, if not its most ardent, adherents. It is this nationalism which insured the very survival of Ethiopia by marshalling all of the country around it, enabled the country to crushingly defeat European colonialists at Adwa, paved the way for decolonization of the entire continent of Africa, initiated Pan-Africanism, and laid the very foundation of Black pride and Black nationalism for Blacks all over the world.
No wonder why white colonialists and neocolonialists who have never succeeded to subjugate Ethiopia from without, have forever been trying to weaken it from within by flaming anti-Amhara tribalism in accordance with the anti-Amhara prescription of Roman Prochaska, the Nazi Baron expelled from Ethiopia in 1934 for “activities incompatible with his diplomatic office”.
And no wonder why, in their attempt to belittle the anti-colonialist, Black nationalist Ethiopia the AMHARA are passionate about, TIGRE and OROMO tribalists as well as their western backers often refer to Ethiopia as “Amhara Ethiopia”, even though the AMHARA are, economically speaking, the least beneficiaries of this so called “Amhara Ethiopia”, and the so-called “Amhara region” is the most impoverished of all major regions in Ethiopia.
Because of its unique role in the decolonization of Africa, Ethiopia is so critical for Black Africa that one can safely say Black Africa goes as Ethiopia goes. If Ethiopia is strong and prosperous, it will spur the whole Black Africa to be strong and prosperous, posing a serious threat to neocolonialists of the west. On the other hand, if Ethiopia is synonymous with war and famine, it will be a humiliation for Black people all over the world. This explains why neocolonialists of the west (especially those of the US and UK) are laser focused on keeping Ethiopia extremely impoverished, chronically aid dependent, and in permanent state of civil war with no hope of coming out of its vicious circle of war and famine.
If the seat of the African Union (AU) is seen as hopeless, the entire continent can be easily depicted as hopeless, and “The Economist,” that quintessential mouthpiece of western neocolonialists, would be justified in calling Africa “The Hopeless Continent” – on the front page of its special issue dedicated to the “hopelessness” of Africa. The Boris Johnsons of the west will then use this “hopelessness” as an excuse to re-scramble Africa. In fact, all indications are the re-scramble for Africa will start in earnest if and when the west comes out victorious over Russia and China so that it does not have a serious challenger to its hegemony and the Aryan stoke reigns supreme all over the world, as Winston Churchill put it bluntly.
“I do not admit for instance, that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America or the black people of Australia. I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race, a more worldly wise race to put it that way, has come in and taken their place. The Aryan stock is bound to triumph.” (Winston Churchill)
Ethiopia has been a protectorate of the United States ever since the tribalist, white-worshipping TPLF (Tigre People’s Liberation Front) overthrew Ethiopia’s Black nationalist government in 1991, thanks to the full military, diplomatic, intelligence, and propaganda support of the Carter administration of the United States, President Carter himself acting essentially like the godfather of the leader of TPLF, the notorious Meles Zenawi who no sooner controlled Addis Ababa than started AMHARA ethnic cleansing.
By its own admission, the Meles Zenawi’s TPLF government could not account for the loss of 2.5 million AMHARA in its 2007 census. Since TPLF is well known for cooking data to fit its narrative, the actual loss in AMHARA population is believed to be at least double the loss admitted by TPLF, about five million. However, even the admitted loss of 2.5 million would make the genocide of AMHARA by TPLF the worst genocide the world has ever seen in centuries, next only to the holocaust, definitely worse than the Rwandan genocide. And yet, the US has never ever expressed concern, let alone condemn, this well-documented, irrefutable genocide of Amhara by TPLF, while it wails ad nauseam about “unconfirmed reports” of atrocities purportedly committed by the Amhara on Tigrayans.
“The United States is gravely concerned by unconfirmed new reports alleging mass detentions, killings, and forced expulsions of ethnic Tigrayans in western Tigray by Amhara security forces. The UN reports that 1.2 million people have been forcibly displaced from western Tigray since the beginning of the conflict in November 2020. We call on Amhara leaders to renounce violence against civilians.” (US Department of State, Press Statement, December 17, 2021)
“The United States is gravely concerned by reports of atrocities in Ethiopia’s Tigray region. We strongly condemn the killings, forced removals, sexual violence, and other violations of human rights. The international community must work together to prevent further atrocities” (@SecBlinken, Feb 27, 2021)
The big question is, why is the US concerned only about “unconfirmed reports” of atrocities in Ethiopia’s TIGRE region. Why is it completely unconcerned about well-documented, irrefutable reports of atrocities committed against the AMHARA in Ethiopia’s OROMO region. For instance, why was the US state department, which was quick to issue statement after statement for every “unconfirmed report” of atrocities in TIGRE region, deafeningly mum about the confirmed and video-supported report of the horrendous massacre in TOLE county of the OROMO region where more than two thousand (2000) AMHARA women and children were viciously slaughtered in a SINGLE DAY? The answer to these questions is self-evident.
When nationalist Ethiopians mostly of Amhara origin overthrew Meles Zenawi’s anti-AMHARA tribalist government in 2018, the United States nullified their immense sacrifice by intriguing with OROMO tribalists to install Abiy Ahmed whose hatred of the AMHARA turned out to be even worse than that of Meles Zenawi.
Abiy Ahmed joined “Oromo freedom” fighters at an early age when he would hardly know what Oromo oppression means. He grew up feeding on TPLF’s anti-Amhara narrative and was trusted by TPLF so much so that he became head of the all-important INSA (Information Network Security Agency) with the rank of a colonel.
For the west, Abiy Ahmed is the best possible tribalistic puppet who combines the anti-Amhara elements of both OLF and TPLF. It is this OLF/TPLF combo called Abiy Ahmed who, in coordination and collaboration with his anti-AMHARA western backers, increased the ethnic cleansing of AMHARA to such a rate that, should he be allowed to maintain the rate for few more years, the AMHARA will be totally irrelevant in Ethiopian politics, if not totally wiped out from Ethiopia. This is the ultimate goal of the west versus Ethiopia: to rid Ethiopia of the AMHARA who, as Prochaska put it, “imagine themselves to be infinitely superior to the white race”, and whose rulers “aim to act as champions of all Black people so as to attack and destroy western culture.”
In effect, the AMHARA are fighting for their and their dear country’s survival not against TIGRE and OROMO tribalists but against their western backers, principally the United States.
True, the United State is the current superpower of the world. However, a superpower is not a guaranteed victor, and history abounds with numerous examples of a David utterly defeating a Goliath. And no country should know this better than the United States itself, given its humiliating experience in Vietnam and Afghanistan.
When a new superpower like the USA relies on its might to subjugate an ancient country like Ethiopia, it is up against not only the people of Ethiopia but also their age-old historical spirit. However, the spirit cannot be conquered by the sword.
“There are only two forces in the world, the sword and the spirit. In the long run the sword will always be conquered by the spirit.” (Napoleon Bonaparte)
If the AMHARA stick to their forefathers anticolonial, black nationalist spirit of Ethiopia, and keep their hands stretched to the “God of Ethiopia” (Psalm 68:31), they will always be victorious against any adversary, no matter how mighty that adversary may be.
Mesfin Arega
