The national struggle of the Eritrean people was a fight against
Ethiopian colonial regimes which were driven by empire building ambitions
and supported by international colonialist forces. The struggle continued
as long as the imperial dreams and the interests that underlie them
persist. The Dergue's regime, its policies and actions should be examined
from this perspective. And so has the Dergue's seizure of power brought
change in Ethiopia? A regime could be substituted by another and there
could be difference in form and style between one regime and another.
However, change in the system could only occur if there is a transformation
of its essence. A snake does not cease to be a snake because, it has molted.
The backward and autocratic regime of Haile Selassie with the support of
world colonialist forces, trampled on the fundamental human and democratic
rights and particularly the national rights of the people of Ethiopia so as
to ensure the dominance of one nationality, the Amhara. In addition, it
strove to colonialize the people of Horn of Africa and especially Eritrea
in order to realize its expansionist dreams. It also appropriated the
wealth and in the first place the land of the Ethiopian people turning into
the private property of the imperial family and the feudal aristocracy and
causing misery. It was therefore, natural that the struggles of the
Eritrean people and the peoples of Ethiopia should over throw the regime of
Haile Selassie. But did the fall of Haile Selassie achieve the objectives
of the struggles? This is a question that can only be answered by examining
the Dergue, its policies.
Briefly speaking, if there was anything the Dergue had attempted to
strengthen the efforts at empire-building which it inherited from Haile
Selassie. At first the Dergue found it expedient to condemning the misery
of the Ethiopian people. Not because it upheld the legitimate causes of the
two people but because it was not in a position to confront them head on as
it had not yet consolidate its power. Its initial move to institute a
hybrid constitutional monarchy by raising the meaning less slogan of
'Ethiopia Tikdem' (Ethiopia first) was thwarted by a broad popular
opposition. Toward the end of 1974 it raised another equally senseless
slogan, that of 'Ethiopian Socialism', feeling that this would echo the
demands of the people. As the politicalized student body was challenging
the regime and agitating against its empty and deceptive slogans, the
Dergue introduced in the guise of development and concurrently with its
proclamation of 'Ethiopian Socialism', the 'Zemetcha' (campaign) program
and dispersed throughout the country all university and high school
students and their teachers. This however, failed to achieve the Dergue's
objectives. On the contrary, it facilitated the spreading of the opposition
and strengthened the channeling of the regime. In the March 1975, the
Dergue issued a proclamation to nationalize rural lands. In the second half
of 1975 of July to be exact it proclaimed the expropriation of all urban
lands and buildings. It simultaneously initiated the establishment of urban
and rural 'Kebeles' to better control the popular opposition. As a finale
it issued its documentation of 'National Democratic Revolution' in the
second quarter April of 1976. Towards the end of 1976 (October), the regime
convertd the Kebeles into organs of 'Red Terror'. By then, what the Dergue
touted as a 'Bloodless Revolution' had turned to be bloody and terroristic.
Received on Fri Feb 01 2013 - 18:12:08 EST
