PCGUIA 10/PC Guia 10.iso/database/shared.dir/01269_Field_76.cap.txt

Text File | 1996-03-14 | 4KB | 234 lines

@
By the time he
became emperor
in 1930, Haile
Selassie had been
regent for 14
years, and a
provincial
governor since
his early teens.
Ethiopia, then
generally known
as Abyssinia, was
one of the few
independent
African states
and numerous
foreign
dignitaries paid
their respects at
the coronation
#
Haile Selassie was
a highly educated
and sophisticated
ruler, but his
coronation made
him the absolute
monarch of a
country which
was essentially
feudal. Tension
between ancient
tradition and
modernisation
was to mark his
entire reign
#
Abyssinia's
independence
was fragile,
achieved only a
few years earlier
by Haile Selassie's
predecessor
Menelek. Italy
was eager to re-
establish a
colonial base in
Africa; in 1935
Mussolini
launched an
all-out attack.
In spite of the
Italians' techno-
logical advantage,
the Ethiopians
fought back
bravely
#
Haile Selassie
displayed great
courage in the
fight against the
Italians,
personally
leading his troops
into battle. But by
1936 the
situation had
become hopeless
and Haile Selassie
fled into exile
#
One of the
vanquished
emperor's first
steps in 1936 was
to petition the
League of Nations
(which, at his
own behest,
Ethiopia had
joined in 1924)
to defend his
country from
Italian
aggression.
Though no action
was taken, his
dignified
performance won
him many
admirers
overseas
#
Haile Selassie
spent his years of
exile in England,
but in 1941 he
returned to
Ethiopia at the
head of a partisan
force. With
British backing,
he successfully
drove out the
Italian occupiers.
His restoration as
emperor was one
of the high points
of Haile Selassie's
life
@
After the war
Haile Selassie
built schools,
hospitals and
roads. But his
imperial style
was fast
becoming an
anachronism. He
realised this and
in 1957 oversaw
Ethiopia's first
parliamentary
elections.  But
power remained
in his own hands,
and popular
frustration
culminated in an
attempted coup
in 1960
#
The coup attempt
failed because the
army remained
loyal to the
emperor and
because he still
possessed
immense prestige
as the country's
spiritual and
temporal leader.
But it also
showed that
many Ethiopians
were impatient
with their
conservative
ruler and his
outmoded system
of government
#
Haile Selassie
came to a sad and
somewhat
mysterious end.
He remained the
titular head of
state, but was
virtually under
house arrest.
Allegations of
corruption had by
this time
undermined his
authority. The
Ethiopian
monarchy
effectively died
with him
#
For all the
reforming zeal of
his youth, the
emperor always
maintained that
change could only
be introduced
when the people
were ready for it.
Ethiopia
remained a
largely agrarian
and backward-
looking society
#
Haile Selassie's
titles included the
'Lion of Judah'
and the 'Elect of
God'.  He became
the inspiration
for a Caribbean
Christian sect, the
Rastafarians, who
regarded him as a
black Messiah
who would lead
them back to the
promised land in
Africa. They
adopted his first
given name, Ras
Tafari
#
The link between
an African
monarch and a
millenarian
Christian
movement in
Jamaica would
probably have
remained obscure
but for the
enormous
popularity of
reggae music.
Rastafarian
themes in reggae
music, such as the
emotive  idea of a
return to Africa,
spoke to black
people
everywhere
@