TPLF AGAME MANIFESTO 1967 - ZeHabesha
Posted: 01 Sep 2020, 07:12
In 1967, TPLF incorporated its core belief that „Amharas are arch enemies of Tigrian people‟ into its program and that stand was enshrined in its documents as one of the vanguard policies the organization should fight against. Let us see the following anti-Amhara mantra stated in the political progrm of TPLF.
The Amhara [regime] has impoverished Tigray and its people to the extent of exposing Tigrians to economic exploitation, absolute poverty, starvation, migration and displacement, and finally as a result of these and other oppressive measures by the Amharas the entire people of Tigray were subjected to have a contemptible social status to which people were ashamed of their being Tigrian. This suppression and segregation upon Tigrians was purposely enhanced by the Amhara [regime]. As a result, Tigrians were forced to lead an atrocious life everywhere; they were obligated to suffer low standard of living, unemployment, beggary, immigration, and prostitution. In addition, Tigrians were influenced by the Amharas to go off their own history, forget their own language, and detach from their culture. The Amharas snatched the 3000 years rich history of Tigrians and used it to glitter theirs in front of the rest of the world. Today‟s history of Ethiopia [which may not include Tigray] is a kind of hodge-podge created within the last 100 years since the coming into power of [the so called] Menelik II. Therefore, the general lifespan of Ethiopia is not that much longer than the Amhara‟s expansion during the reign of their King, Menelik the II, in the past 100 years. Before that historical coincidence, there has never been a country known as Ethiopia.
The Amhara nationality subjected Tigrians to pay high taxes and tributes to the central government led by the Amharas and thereby impoverished the region to the extent of changing the social and economic life of its people into a nonentity. The people of Tigray have been considered by the Amhara regime as speaking animals and have been immersed in an untold oppression characterized by inhuman handling and boundless cruelty. In addition, the people of Tigray have been discriminated against and none of its human and political rights have been respected by the regime. The oppressive Amhara ruling class [TPLF uses the „she‟ pronoun to address the „Amhara ruling class‟] has employed suppression and subjugation to elongate her system of exploitation upon Tigrians.
The anti-Amhara statements of TPLF which I have randomly expressed here above are explicitly indicated in the political program of the organization from pages 8 – 14, 15 – 16, and 18. Generally speaking, this document of TPLF incriminates the Amharas from the beginning to the end. ... TPLF staunchly claims that the Amharas would never get any peace and stability until the time their doom eventually comes to effect. (cf. page 16 of the document)
As all Ethiopians know, there is no such a thing as “Amhara Regime”; there has never been as well up until this period of history. In Ethiopia, there have been so many kings reigned over the entire nation or in some part of it. As a matter of historical fact, all those kings used to assume their kingship based on their regional not necessarily of their ethnic background. ... In light of this, after the seat of the Ethiopian kingdom was transferred from the north to the hinterland, Shoa, during the reign of Emperor Menelik the II, Ethiopia was said to have been joining the rest of the modern world in terms of introducing modern way of administration. This process of modernizing the state apparatus and the nation by and large was begun by Menelik II at the newly built capital, Addis Ababa, and continued by Emperor Haile Silasie I until the time he was deposed by a military coup accompanied by popular uprising.
The seat of Emperor Haile Silasie I was Addis Ababa. After Menelik‟s reign, the mobility of the Ethiopian kingdom, which had been subject to a relay system for centuries, along with its palace from one region of the country to another was outdated for once and for all. Before Addis Ababa was selected by Menelik‟s wife, Empress Taitu, to serve as capital city, historical towns and cities like Axum, Lasta-Lalibela, and Gonder have served the same purpose in the past. In those past relays of power, the people of Ethiopia had never seen such anti-unity and anti-people group as TPLF.
Like the previous ones, the government of Emperor Haile Silasie I as well was composed of all able Ethiopians irrespective of their religion and ethnic background. In light of this, that government had Cabinet Ministers from the Oromo, Tigray, Eritrea, Amhara, Afar, Guraghe, and etc. The governments of Haile Silasie and [Dergue] had no room for discrimination one against the other in terms of empowerment; in the first place, the heads of state in those eras were themselves multi-ethnic by birth [the Emperor and the chairman of the Dergue, Mengistu, were mixed ethnics.]. Therefore, the governments used to facilitate the presence of an equal opportunity to all the children of the country based on their merit, not on their ethnic background. To this end, there were many Tigrian higher state officials in both regimes who, along with their colleagues, used to exercise their real political power in deciding the fate of their country. [Now? It is absolutely unthinkable to see a non-Tigrian exercising such a luxurious right of deciding even the dogs‟ budget of the palace a little bit more than being a guard at the gate of some idle offices; leave aside the theatrics!]
On the other hand, we can say that Tigray province has been one among the beneficiaries of the national pie; the reality was not like the TPLF talks to fool citizens and get poorly calculated blind support. The health and education sectors were budgeted in not less a degree than the others in the nation. There was no budget discrepancy from region to region. Nothing special has been seen in Tigray other than the plight or the delight that has been observed in others. There was no national or ethnic based discrimination then like what we see now vividly. To speak the truth, especially the government of Haile Silasie I had a motto known as “The best of things to Tigray!” Due to this, the people of Tigray used to love Haile Silasie I as he was also fond of Tigray and its people.
When the people of Tigray knew that Dergue had killed him during the [hijacked and failed] revolution, the new military junta was severely condemned in Tigray among the youth and the elders. After the fall of Haile Silasie I, it was eminent that Tigrians became exposed to harsh economic life and social problems. But that was the fate of not only Tigray but also that of other regions as well. Tigray didn‟t face any particular problem different from other regions; truth be told, Tigray had never been treated differently in both past regimes. On the contrary, the Dergue regime was not that much cruel and harsh to Tigray when compared to others. For example, it did not implement the declaration proclaimed on arable land, considering that the arable land Tigray had was and still is comparatively very little. Dergue never mistreated Tigray or Tigrians. Even in the time of the red terror, it was not Tigray which was much suffered; relatively, it was rather the Amharas who lost many lives and encountered much suffering. It doesn‟t mean Tigray was safe with this specific point of discussion; it is to mean that, comparatively speaking, the Amharas were victimized in a degree more atrociously than Tigray or maybe some other provinces. Therefore, it is not the Amharas who have brought the suffering mentioned in the political program of TPLF upon Tigray and her people; it is rather TPLF that has produced untold suffering and historical wound upon the people and the soil of Tigray.
Let us see some points as to how TPLF has implemented its program.