Publication date: 1978 | First published in Freedomways
Note: The 1974 revolution in Ethiopia — the second largest African nation — was a massive event on the African continent, despite the attempts by secessionist and ultraleft elements to destroy it, and its ultimate downfall with the collapse of the USSR in 1991. The excerpted essay is an eyewitness account of the Ethiopian revolution’s anti-imperialist, anti-neocolonial, and democratic gains, and an example of Dr. Monteiro’s solidarity work as the Executive Secretary of the National Anti-Imperialist Movement for Solidarity with African Liberation (NAIMSAL).
The Ethiopian Revolution is a momentous event for Africa and the entire world. It has launched this ancient nation into the front ranks of the contemporary struggle for national liberation, peace and social progress. Four years ago throughout the breadth and length of the country the broad masses revolted against the tyrannical and oppressive weight of the monarchy. The vast majority who had been fettered by the shackles of hunger, disease and deprivation were galvanized into a common front of opposition to the feudal and capitalist system. At an accelerating pace and at each stage gathering momentum, various spontaneous uprisings spread like brush fires. The concrete basis and historical justification for the uprising, and the popular revolution to which it gave birth, were the intolerable suppression, exploitation and degradation that covered the entire nation. The revolution erupted at a moment in Ethiopian history when the ancient regime of oppression was taking on its most hideous forms. At the same time the ruling classes of Ethiopia, who had not one iota of concern for the suffering of the people, were, alas, incapable of preventing the storm. Therefore, guided by historical necessity and conscious of their duty to liberate their nation, the working people of Ethiopia—the bearers of the most abject suffering—took the future into their hands. The February uprising propelled a genuinely popular revolution which in September of 1974 deposed the tyrant Haile Selassie and in dramatic fashion replaced the regime of ruthless exploitation with a government of the people.
With the liquidation of the feudal regime a new era of democracy was launched in Ethiopia. The landlord system, whereby 80 percent of the land was in the hands of a few families and the higher clergy of the Coptic Church, was ended and land has been given to the tillers. All of the major industrial, commercial and banking enterprises were nationalized. The peasants have organized throughout the nation into 27,000 peasants’ associations and have formed the All-Ethiopian Peasants Association. The workers, some 350,000 strong, have established the All Ethiopian Trade Union, with nine industrial and service unions affiliated to it. The state has been secularized and all religions have been declared equal, thereby ending the privileged position of the Christian faith as the official state religion. The national oppression of over eighty nations and nationalities has ended and the right to self-determination has been declared for all the formerly oppressed of Ethiopia. The aim is to construct a federated peoples republic, which elevates the equality of nations and nationalities as an indispensable characteristic of the Ethiopian state. Moreover, the urban dwellers have formed Urban Dwellers Associations—Kebeles—people’s courts have been established, and freedom of the press, radio and television prevails. Finally, and as a lasting testament to the popular nature of the revolution, the people have been armed. Arising from the bowels of the formerly exploited workers and peasants, a new army of workers and peasants has been born. All of these measures lay the foundation for the development of the new society, for the society of peoples’ power and socialism. At this moment Ethiopia is experiencing a period of radical alteration of the internal socio-economic structure. The nationalization of land and all key industries, the restriction upon private capital and the guidance of economic and social development in a manner which lays the technical, economic and ideological base for the emergence of socialism are at the heart of the revolutionary process within Ethiopia.
However, the remarkable achievements of the Ethiopian revolution have meaning beyond the context of Ethiopian society. This is so because the oppressive system that prevailed in Ethiopia was not solely the product of local landlords and capitalists. The feudo-capitalist system of Ethiopia was bound to international imperialism; hence, the democratic aspirations of the masses necessarily took on an anti-imperialist character. The international significance of the Ethiopian revolution is witnessed in its struggle against imperialism. In particular, the example of world socialism has undeniably shaped the character of the Ethiopian revolution. At the same time, the accelerating forces of the African liberation struggle and their increasing assault upon neo-colonialism have left their mark upon the Ethiopian revolution.
Ethiopia’s Complex History
Ethiopia has a very complex history. Its origins go back 3,000 years to the Red Sea area now called Eritrea. Here was to be found a mixture of Nilotic, Hamitic and Semitic peoples. About the fourth century B.C. the Axumite kingdom was established. It was a trading and commercial empire located in the northern part of Tigre. This kingdom was an off-shoot of the earlier civilization in northern Ethiopia and reached its high point about the second century A.D. Axum established the roots of the feudal system that dominated Ethiopia until 1974. There existed a feudal state structure, a form of monotheism and a developed agricultural economy. With the rise of Islam and the Moslem invasion of the seventh century, Axum was eclipsed and Ethiopian civilization came under Arab domination. This lasted until the sixteenth century when Arab rule collapsed in the Middle East, North Africa and Southern Europe. At this time Ethiopia became a center of contention between Turkey and Portugal, both of whom coveted the maritime regions on the Red Sea. After fifty years of controlling this region the Turks were forced to retreat in 1576.
With the opening of the imperialist era in history and particularly with the “scramble for Africa,” a new page in Ethiopian history was begun. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1896 highlighted the importance of the Red Sea. Control of the sea-way also insured control of the entire area. In the last quarter of the nineteenth century the Red Sea became a scene of contention between the British, Italian and French colonialists. The efforts of the colonialists to amputate the maritime regions of Ethiopia from the rest of the nation were assisted by the internal rivalries of the feudal landlords and warlords. In 1882 Italy laid claim to the Red Sea ports of Massawa and Assab. Using this base, Italy gradually snatched land in the regions of Wollo, Tigre and Gondar and artificially created the territory it named Eritrea in 1890. Utilizing this conquered area in 1895-96, Italy unsuccessfully attempted to conquer all of Ethiopia. Again in 1935, attacking from colonial bases in Somalia and Eritrea, Italy successfully occupied all of Ethiopia. It was not until 1941 that Ethiopia, including Eritrea, was liberated from Italian occupation. This was a magnificent result of the armed resistance of the Ethiopian people and is an important aspect of the world-wide anti-fascist struggle. That period of anti-colonial and anti-fascist resistance has played a pivotal role in the development of the contemporary revolutionary process in Ethiopia.
Ethiopia’s Economic Development
Ethiopian feudalism has from the time of the Axumite kingdom been in the process of extending itself. From the seventh century onward this feudal expansion was coupled with the struggle against foreign invaders. The present territorial configuration of the nation was completed by the middle of the nineteenth century. Also by this time feudalism had established firm roots in Ethiopia. However, feudalism was fortified by the existence of slavery and the remnants of an earlier communal system. By the twentieth century this intricate network of old social relations was being supplemented by the rudiments of capitalism—of course imposed from outside. By the time of the revolution most of the land was owned either by the royal family, the landed nobility, or the upper clergy and 80 percent of the peasants were landless. The peasants had to work three to four months a year for the landlords, deliver a considerable part of their crop or livestock to the landlord and perform other duties. These included the dergo—the obligation of the peasants to feed traveling noblemen, government officials and soldiers—and the gabar—the tax upon the peasants to support the local garrison. Grafied to the feudal system was slavery, which was primarily used in the feudal household. Slavery was not abolished in Ethiopia until 1951. By 1974 the landless peasants had to render up to 75 percent of their produce to the landlords; they had to perform involuntary personal services and pay taxes and fees in order to prolong their tenancy. In addition they had to pay income taxes and school taxes to the nobles and their retinue. Ethiopia’s economy was primarily for consumption. In fact, the great bulk of production was so bound up with the feudal economy that it never reached the market. Thus in 1973, with the drought and famine in Wollo province, some 200,000 people died within a matter of months.
After World War II foreign capital increased its penetration of Ethiopia. United States and West German firms gained concessions to prospect for and extract oil for fifty years in the Ogaden area. Other U.S. firms received concessions to mine gold, platinum and other minerals. The sugar producing and refining industries went to Dutch monopolies; textiles went to Britain and Belgium. The chemical and paper industries went to Japan, and the power and railroads went to French capital. Therefore, after World War II this feudal nation, with embryonic capitalist development, became neo-colonized.
The consequence of this triple oppression—feudalism, side by side with local capitalism and foreign capital penetration—was to be seen in the fact that by the time of the revolution, in a nation of thirty million 150,000 people had leprosy, 450,000 had tuberculosis, six to seven millions had malaria and fourteen million people suffered from eye infections of one type or another. There was over 90 percent illiteracy, widespread malnutrition, and one of the highest rates of infant mortality in the world.
Internal Political Struggle
Hardly had the first decade of the twentieth century ended when a keen political struggle in the top echelons of feudal power was underway. In 1916 a palace coup overthrew the child emperor Lidj Iyasu (grandson of Menelik II). A dual power was then established between Queen Zauditu, daughter of Menelik II, and the regent Tafari Makonen, son of Ras Makonen, an outstanding general in the Ethiopian-Italian war of 1896. The Ethiopian landlords, whose estates gradually began to produce for the market and who were interested in the development of the home and foreign market, wanted a strong central government. The numerically small trading bourgeoisie and the emerging intellectuals sided with this group which took the name “Young Ethiopians.” Tafari Makonen was their leader. On the other side the more reactionary elements of the feudal hierarchy sided with the empress. The reactionary elements wishing to preserve the subsistence economy, including the high clergy and local warlords, sided with the empress and supported the formal state unity established by Menelik II. However, between 1917 and 1928 vast changes occurred in the economy reflected mainly in a twentyfold increase in foreign trade. This expansion tended to weaken the subsistence economy and had the effect of introducing commodity-money relations and propelled the growth of the social forces that were the backbone of the Young Ethiopians. During this period a fierce political and armed struggle between the contending forces occurred. Finally in 1930 Empress Zauditu died and Tafari Makonen assumed the throne, taking the title Emperor Haile Selassie I. In the early period of the Selassie regime minor reforms were carried out—particularly placing limitations upon slavery and decreeing “in principle” the end of the gabar and dergo. Yet the most important changes were in the structure and administration of the central government. In 1931 the first constitution in Ethiopian history was introduced. Its progressive feature was the principle of unity of the state and its striving to end feudal separatist tendencies. Its overriding reactionary character was seen in its consolidation of imperial power as divine and absolute. The constitution established two parliamentary houses—a Senate and Chamber of Deputies. Senators were appointed by the emperor and the Deputies elected by the nobles and army officers. Both acted to rubber stamp decisions of the emperor.
Italo-Ethiopian War 1935-1941
On October 2, 1935, Italian troops stationed in the Italian colonies of Eritrea and Somalia invaded Ethiopia. By May 1936 the invading forces entered Addis Ababa. Italy’s seizure of Ethiopia was recognized by Germany, Albania and Hungary by the end of 1936, by Japan in 1937 and by Britain, France, and Turkey and some other nations in 1938. The United States maintained a policy of “neutrality.” The war and occupation inflicted immeasurable suffering upon the Ethiopian people; 400,000 people were killed, up to 300,000 died from starvation and 35,000 perished in concentration camps.
The anti-fascist resistance of the Ethiopian people, assisted by the North African campaign of the Allies (particularly Britain and the U.S.), defeated the Italian occupation in 1941. On April 6, 1941, 2,000 Ethiopian partisans entered Addis Ababa as the spearhead of the forces that liberated the capital city.
This victory animated a new stage in the peoples’ opposition to feudalism and the monarchy. In 1950 peasants in Gojam province rose up and in 1959 peasants in southern Ethiopia rose. By the 1960’s the anti-feudal resistance had sharpened. In 1960 there was a revolt of the palace guard. The struggle against national, religious and lingual oppression and prejudice increased. The student movement, raising the slogan “land to the tillers,” gathered strength. In the ’60s peasants revolted in Bale, Sidam, Gojjar, Arussie and Wollo provinces. Time and again the peasant revolts were put down by the government armed forces. The government also held investigations of the situation and certain land reform bills were passed in 1964 and 1965, but no real changes were actually registered.
After the war there was an increase in industry and foreign trade. Several large manufacturing enterprises were built and a big hydro-electric station on the Awash River near Addis Ababa was commissioned in 1960. The country’s foreign trade increased eight-fold between 1945 and 1966. However, the share of industry in the national economy remained three percent.
The growth of industry and the greater employment of hired labor increased the number of industrial and agricultural workers. It also increased the organizational strength of the working class. In 1947 the railroad workers organized and in 1947, 1949 and 1954 staged large strikes. In 1961 workers of the Wonji sugar refinery organized a union. In 1962 workers in the Darmar shoe factory declared a strike. The monarchy responded to the increasing class struggle by making certain concessions to the workers and endorsing the establishment of the National Trade Union Confederation, which supported the government.
There was in 1955 a new constitution established which established that the Chamber of Deputies would be elected by universal suffrage. However, the Senate and the Emperor would still have ultimate veto power.
1974 Revolution
The 1974 revolution was begun on February 13, sparked by the angered cries of a taxi driver at the continual rise in the price of gas. He was eventually joined by several thousand people shouting “Down with the gas increase.” By February 16, students and workers from other parts of Addis Ababa held a demonstration of 100,000, followed on February 18 by a strike of teachers. On February 23 the government was forced to retreat and suspend the price increases. The mass pressure mounted and on February 27 the Prime Minister Akiliou Habte Wolde resigned. A new government headed by Eddalkatchew Makonen was appointed; its aim was to appeal to the masses to renew confidence in the government, promising that changes were on the way.
It was established in the early period of the revolution that the police and army would not fire upon the demonstrators. In the course of the uprising a genuinely progressive wing emerged from the armed forces. Made up of sons of the working masses and consisting of soldiers mainly below the rank of colonel, the progressive men in uniform began to play an increasingly more decisive role in the revolution. Lacking a party or other organized vehicles to lead the mass upsurge, it fell to the military to fill the vacuum of leadership. The organized expression of this leadership was formalized in the Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, Police and Territorial Army formed on July 3, 1974. This was a crucial step in the development of the revolution. It was the progressive military’s position as the most organized section of the democratic masses that demanded their playing this key role. The Coordinating Committee consisted mainly of anti-monarchist and democratic officers and enlisted men. It was not yet a totally revolutionary body. In fact, as the revolution advanced, the struggle within the military leadership would become a clear manifestation of the struggle within the country as a whole. At the same time, the establishment of the Coordinating Committee was an essential step in limiting the power of Haile Selassie. It effectively established a dual power within the country, the Coordinating Committee representing the people and the reactionary government representing the reactionary classes. More and more the demands of the Coordinating Committee clashed with the government and on July 22 a new prime minister had to be appointed. The struggle with the monarchy and the government began to take the form of exposing the deep roots of the corruption and criminal accumulation of wealth by the king and his ministers. In exposing to the entire nation that Haile Selassie was in fact not above corruption but a major part of it and that he had accumulated hundreds of millions of dollars outside the nation, the military leadership helped to accelerate the opposition to the monarchy. On September 11 the Coordinating Committee invited the king and the entire nation to watch on television a British-made film on the Wollo famine. Its showing shocked the nation. This film had previously been suppressed in Ethiopia and Haile Selassie had attempted to deny the vast human destruction that occurred during the famine. Moreover, the king had refused to ask for any international aid; in fact dying people were thrown into concentration camps to remove them from the view of foreign guests.
Finally on September 12 at 7:30 A.M. a Volkswagen drove up to the palace and three young officers, led by Lt. Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam, arrested the monarch. Haile Selassie was taken to the headquarters of the Coordinating Committee where he remained until his death, never confessing or recanting his crimes, never retreating from the arrogance that had characterized him. Although he was appraised of the situation he never accepted that he was deposed, contending until the end that the people remained with him.
In the wake of the arrest of Haile Selassie and the destruction of the monarchy vast changes took place. On September 13, the Provisional Military Administrative Council (PMAC) was established as the center of state and governmental power. The PMAC (or Dergue as it is popularly called, which is Amharic for council) stripped the king’s entourage of all of its privileges, such as cars, houses, extraordinary salaries, and began court martial proceedings against key figures of the government for breach of official duty in regard to the Wollo famine. In October the PMAC announced the beginning of Zemetcha—National Work Campaign for Development through Cooperation—which eventually mobilized some 60,000 students, youth and soldiers to go to the countryside to participate in a literacy and work campaign.
By December the PMAC had established the policy guidelines for the nationalization of crucial industries and banks, had declared the equality of nations, nationalities, religious and language groups and had declared socialism as the aim of the revolution.
In the first three months of 1975 all the main banks and industrial and commercial enterprises were nationalized. On March 4 the historic rural land nationalization was declared, beginning the process of the most radical land reform ever to occur in Africa. This land reform totally broke the back of the landlord class and established the power of working farmers in their place. Also vast changes occurred in the entire socio-economic structure of the country, from education, to health care, to labor legislation. Finally on April 20, 1976, the Program of the National Democratic Revolution was announced to the people. In summarizing the achievements and defining the objectives of the revolution it states in its opening pages:
“In the short span of time since February 1974 the revolutionary movement of the Ethiopian people has attained several major victories. On the economic front, all rural land has been nationalized, urban land and extra houses have been put under government control, banks, industries and insurance companies have become public property through various proclamations. These measures have shaken the feudo-capitalist system at its base. On the political front, the major victory is not only the removal of the emperor from power, but the dealing of death blows to the feudal lackeys and thereby the heralding of the complete abolition of the archaic autocratic monarchical rule which had remained the mainstay of feudal Ethiopia. This has also resulted in the awakening of the masses. Socialism has also been declared as the guiding principle of the revolution. And this has opened the way for the public propagation of the socialist world outlook.
“In order to consolidate and give these victories a lasting premise and increase popular participation in the overall revolutionary process, it is imperative that the broad masses be politicized, organized and armed [my emphasis]. The Provisional Military Government of Ethiopia, on various occasions, has declared its clear intention to transfer state power to the broad masses. Therefore in order to enable all anti-feudal and anti-imperialist forces to organize freely, and in order to establish a united front under the leadership of the working class party which can establish a peoples’ democratic state, the following programme has been issued.”
Struggles Within the PMAC
The implementation of a program of revolutionary transformations of Ethiopian society sharpened the class struggle within the country. The domestic class struggle was reflected in the battles that took place in the PMAC. The political struggles at the summit of state power were also influenced by the machinations of imperialism and its subversive agencies such as the CIA. The first attempt to hold back the revolutionary process took place in November 1974, when a group headed by General A. Mickael Andom, the first chairman of the PMAC, attempted a coup from within the government. His group favored capitalist development and was against drastic changes in the system of land tenure in the rural areas. Its defeat cleared the way for the declaration in December that socialism is the aim of the revolution. It permitted the process of land nationalization and the conversion of key industries and banks to public property. The next major crisis in the PMAC occurred at the moment when the Western nations, assisted by reactionary African and Arab states, were preparing to invade Ethiopia. In 1976 the capitalist nations had imposed an economic and military blockade of Ethiopia, internal counter-revolutionaries and secessionists had been encouraged and the Somali government had been encouraged by the Carter Administration to invade Ethiopia. Tafari, Bante, then chairman of the PMAC, under pressure of the attacks, began to seek to impose a position of compromise upon the PMAC. This would necessarily require either limiting or liquidating the power of the revolutionary elements headed by Lt. Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam. Also the group headed by Bante desired to emasculate the program of the National Democratic Revolution, to move away from the demand for socialism, to relinquish parts of the national territory to the Somalis and the Eritrean secessionists and to move closer to the capitalist nations. In February 1977, Bante’s group was defeated in its attempted coup and Mengistu Haile Mariam became chairman of the PMAC.
The revolution from that point came under severe pressure. Counter-revolutionaries of the Ethiopian Democratic Union and the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Party attacked the emerging institution of people’s power. They instituted a campaign of sabotage, terror and assassinations directed at the grassroots support of the revolution. It is reported that in one year they killed some 400 leaders of trade unions, peasants associations and kebeles. Firm measures had to be taken against this terror. It was decided that this “white terror” had to be met with the armed response of the people. Hence in each shop, in each community, and in the countryside the people were armed to defend the revolution. The attempts of these counter-revolutionaries to deal a death blow to the revolution were defeated by the people.
At the same time there was an intensification of the secessionist movement in the north headed by the Eritrean Peoples Liberation Front and the Eritrean Liberation Front. And in the east under the cover of the Western Somali Liberation Front the regime in Mogadishu was preparing to invade Ethiopia.
Under these circumstances, on April 12 Mengistu Haile Mariam addressed the “Call of the Motherland” to the nation, calling for unity of the entire nation against the counter-revolutionaries, secessionists and Somali aggressors. He called also for the formation of a Peoples’ Militia. Within three months 350,000 workers and peasants had been armed and trained.
Concomitantly, the intensified imperialist assault upon the revolution demanded that the revolutionary leadership seek to enhance its international support. Hence, in the spring of 1977 Mengistu made an official visit to the Soviet Union. On behalf of the Ethiopian nation he entered into a fraternal alliance that committed the Soviet Union to aid Ethiopia in its battle to defend its territory and national sovereignty. This agreement had its historical precedent in the fact that in 1935 when Italy invaded Ethiopia the Soviet Union, at that time the only socialist state, was the only nation to consistently stand by the embattled nation. In fact the Soviet Union was the only nation to effectively impose a boycott against the Italian invaders. Mengistu’s trip to the Soviet Union came only a little over two months after Fidel Castro had visited Ethiopia and pledged the full support of the Cuban people to Ethiopia. These events signaled the termination of over twenty-five years of a privileged place in Ethiopian politics for the United States. The so-called friendship treaty between Ethiopia and the U.S. signed in 1951 was effectively abrogated. The status of inequality inherent in this treaty was renounced and an era of equality and true friendship was being established between Ethiopia, the Soviet Union, Cuba and other socialist nations (excluding China). No longer would Ethiopia be a base for U.S. armed forces, CIA operatives and other enemies of the Arab and African liberation movements. The growing unity with the socialist countries and progressive nations such as Southern Yemen, Algeria and Angola was launching Ethiopia into a new era of international relations. It was now being transformed into a base of progressive and anti-imperialist forces.
The Somali Invasion
The turn of a significant section of the Somali leadership from the side of the struggle against imperialism to enemies of the Ethiopian revolution greatly facilitated the efforts of imperialism and Arab reaction against the Ethiopian revolution. It was well coordinated with efforts to destroy the PMAC, to strengthen the position of the secessionist forces and to dismember the revolution and undermine peoples’ power. Beginning in July 1977, the Somali armed forces swept deep into Ethiopia capturing several major cities. The Somali government contended that the Ogaden rightfully belonged to Somalia because there are ethnic Somalis living in this area of Ethiopia. This wild claim was counter to the OAU charter and all aspects of international law pertaining to the question of established international frontiers. In this adventure Somalia was financially, diplomatically and militarily supported by the United States, France, West Germany and other NATO nations. Also, Iran, Egypt and Saudi Arabia played major roles by supplying money, military equipment and personnel. Moreover, while this occupation of Ethiopia was underway, NATO naval forces carried out maneuvers in the Red Sea.
What was not openly admitted in the main capitals of the West was frankly stated by their clients. Prince Fadh, second ranking official of the Saudi government, had openly stated, “Ethiopia should be carved up and its revolution drowned in blood.” In further attempting to rationalize the criminal invasion of Ethiopia, Prince Saud, Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia, contended that the Ethiopian revolution “is in principle a threat to the independence and security of our region and directly a threat to the independence and security of our country.” (Washington Post, May 15, 1978, p. 7.) Further using arguments that hold that the Red Sea, for centuries a vital international waterway, is somehow now to become an “Arab Lake,” they contended that the Ethiopian Revolution and the support it received from the socialist countries were threatening to transform Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa into a new Vietnam. In March, Radio Riyadh urged the West “to take up a resolute position to prevent the Horn of Africa from becoming a new Vietnam and starting point for communists and communism in the entire African continent.” In his five-nation tour at the beginning of February, 1978, which ended in Washington, Anwar Sadat openly called upon the U.S., France, Britain, Sudan and Morocco to take firm action against Ethiopia in support of the Somalis. The Shah of Iran had, furthermore, suggested that he might send armed forces to the Horn to assist the Somalis. Siad Barre, the President of Somalia, admitted that his country invaded Ethiopia because of the direct encouragement and support of the White House.
Reactionary governments in the Middle East are now openly concerned with the progress of the revolutionary forces in Africa and fear the impact they will have upon the Middle East. The London-based mouthpiece of conservative Arab opinion, Events, openly speaks of two tripartite alliances of local states to surround progressive governments in Africa and the Middle East. It states, “In Africa these are Egypt, Morocco and South Africa: and in the Middle East the triangle should be formed by Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Iran” (March 24, 1978, p. 14).
In many ways the Ogaden invasion was to be a repeat of the Zaire invasion into Shaba province in March 1977 and again this May. The difference was that in Ethiopia the aggressors confronted a truly revolutionary people. The invasion was crushed. In its wake Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, President Siad Barre of Somalia and the Shah of Iran are now accusing Ethiopia of preparing to invade Somalia. This is but a clear provocation geared to maintain tension in the area and to threaten the Ethiopian revolution.
Eritrea
With the victory in the Ogaden the attention of the Ethiopian revolution has turned to Eritrea. Two secessionist movements are unable to reach a peaceful agreement in spite of numerous conciliatory efforts made by the government. The Eritrean Liberation Front and the Eritrean Peoples Liberation Front hold on to the reactionary position that secession, thus dismemberment of Ethiopia, will serve the cause of the Ethiopian people including those in Eritrea. They fail to realize that Eritrea is a creation of Italian colonialism—in fact its existence is the result of an act of colonial amputation. There are no less than seven main nationalities and several linguistic groups that inhabit Eritrea. Some of them, in particular the Tigre, Afars, Sahos, Baryas and Kunamas, extend to other regions of Ethiopia. N. Trevaskis underlines the meaning of this situation when stating, “Italy created Eritrea by an act of surgery. By severing its different peoples from those to whom their past had been linked and by grafting the amputated remnants to each other under the title of Eritrea.” (The Ethiopian Revolution and the Eritrean Problem.)
Contrary to what much of the world is being led to believe, the essence of the Eritrean question is the Red Sea. Apart from its economic significance, the Red Sea commands an important strategic position. Reactionary Arab states persist in the notion that the Red Sea is an Arab Lake. The Eritrean Liberation Front has, as well, held that the “Red Sea means an Arab sea.” Salah Sabbe, a leader of the ELF in 1971, stated “Eritreans are Arabs, and we are determined to struggle for Arab Eritrea.” Thus we find a concurrence of the views of the ELF secessionists and the most right wing, chauvinist elements in the Arab world. Though adopting a radical posture, the EPLF has united with the ELF and pursues similar objectives. The support now flowing to the secessionists from imperialist and conservative Arab quarters is testimony to whose interest is being served by these movements. In fact, the same forces which supported the Somali invasions are behind the Eritrean secessionists. These forces have emboldened them and are responsible for their rejecting all peaceful resolutions. It is this encouragement that causes the secessionists to persist in their objective to destroy the revolutionary government in Addis Ababa.
At this point the momentum is in favor of the success of the government. The government’s far superior military forces, as well as a gradual shift of mass sentiment away from the secessionists, and growing international and African support to the Ethiopian government, have at this point created a situation where the revolution is only a few short steps away from fully consolidating the territory of the nation and ending the secessionist drive.
Carter’s Dangerous Africa Policy
The terribly dangerous course now being pursued by the Carter Administration in its Africa policy has its most tangible origins in the developments in the Horn of Africa, and particularly in its reaction to the developments in Ethiopia. Carter has now outlined a course, in alliance with France, West Germany and other major NATO powers, which would seek the military involvement of U.S. and NATO forces in Africa against the progressive forces. This defense of neo-colonialism would seek the sanction of certain pro-Western governments. The justification takes place under the guise of protecting Africa from the Cuban and Soviet “threat.” The internationalist solidarity of the socialist countries is now being termed by the U.S. and French governments as “destabilizing external forces.” Carter’s national security adviser and former executive director of the Trilateral Commission Zbigniew Brzezinski termed this solidarity a violation of the “code of detente.”
There is no doubt that these purposeful distortions of detente and aid to nations fighting for national liberation fly in the face of the facts and are designed to justify imperialist military aggression in Africa. President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia among other African leaders has however taken sharp differences with the Carter Administration on this point. In May while on an official visit to the White House he stated frankly that there were no Cubans or Soviets in Africa that had not been invited by an African government. Hence it must be concluded that the charges made by the Carter Administration are not only an attack upon the right to exercise solidarity with the liberation movements and new nations, but are a direct challenge to the sovereignty of those nations. It in effect denies them the right to seek fraternal aid from those sources it sees as friendly to their national aspirations.
Carter, while in Nigeria in the spring of 1978, had attempted to pressure the Nigerian government into taking an anti-Soviet and anti-Cuban position. Failing in this effort, the U.S. government, along with the French, has turned to a number of French colonies to operate as military gendarmes. This new round of imperialist military build-up is designed to throw back the revolutionary forces in Africa and to secure its neo-colonialist positions. However, a defense of neo-colonialism is as well a defense of the racist Vorster regime in South Africa. This defense of neo-colonialism is finally a serious threat to peace.
Carter, speaking in Washington at a NATO conference attended by heads of state of fourteen European nations, gave a speech which is nothing short of a reanimation of the Cold War. He, as with Brzezinski three days earlier, threatened to scuttle detente, in particular SALT II, to move away from normalizing relations with Cuba, and to confront the revolutionary forces on the African continent.
Peace demands a new level of solidarity with Africa’s liberation. It is now the most crucial component of the fight against the most aggressive circles of U.S. imperialism.
Avant-Garde: A Journal of Peace, Democracy, and Science 
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