By T, Staffer of De Birhan Media
10 March 2012
What a national shame is it?
A national dishonour (wey wey wey werdet).
A video shows an Ethiopian domestic worker kidnapped and dragged by couple of Lebanese men in front of Ethiopian consulate in Lebanon. I was gobsmacked and unable to sleep last night. This anecdote is one of the causations for this article, although I started the piece sometime ago. A group of Ethiopians from here in Europe phoned and cooperated in Lebanon to apprehend the perpetrators. Until this second no word or help was garnered from the Ethiopian consulate, Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the government itself. Should we ordinary Ethiopians fight for each and every one of our compatriots arrested, stranded or kidnapped everywhere? When will the Meles Zenawi regime like the U.S.A., European countries and many African countries be alarmed at the persecution of its citizens? At least they could have made a statement. Balebetu yakelelewen Amole… In fact the silence of the Ethiopian Consulate and government on this poor girl is tantamount to cooperation (accomplice) with the gangs… they are same gangs after all.
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Ethiopia awaits a revolution. Aside with the political revolutions that I have been talking about, this time am talking about the revolution that the young generation is supposed to make. Ethiopia needs a socio-cultural revolution too. We ought to do away with the bad traditional practices, social injustices, gender and racial bias, prejudice, discrimination and persecution. Sure, they have a political connotation but some of the injustices and socio-cultural problems have been embedded within us since centuries ago.
I don’t want my esteemed readers to confuse the Cultural Revolution I am talking about with Mao Zendong’s. Cultural Revolution in China was a socio-political movement led by Mao Zedong, the Chairman of the Communist Party of China, aimed to enforce socialism in the country by removing capitalist, traditionaland culturalelements from Chinese society, and to impose Maoist orthodoxy within the Party. The revolution marked the return of Mao Zedong to a position of absolute power after the failed Great Leap Forward. The movement politically paralyzed the country and significantly affected the country economically and socially.
This is not my kind. My kind of Cultural Revolution is a revolution that focuses on the bad, inhuman, backward thoughts, customs and traditions mainly centred in social justice that we as a society must uproot. It starts from inside. If we clean our house (both from the social and political injustices), then we would not have Ethiopian sisters who would be exported for abuse.
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1. Revolution on how we treat Ye bet Serategnoch ( servants ) Domestic Workers
Servant is perhaps a pejorative word now but this is one major social injustice, persecution and inhumanity that we must improve our approach on or do away totally. Less noticed, less campaigned and traditional abuse, discrimination and persecution of our own sisters should stop. It starts from the naming “Gered” – (servant). This terminology has long been unused in most parts of the world- we need to remove it from our vocabularies. How can we be transformational, revolutionary, fair minded, positive thinkers when we grew up within an educated, well-to-do family that has brought us up exploiting, abusing, discriminating and sub humanising its domestic workers? Maids in Ethiopia are mostly women who come to Addis Abeba from the rural to work in urban houses. They live with the people sheltered and fed, and paid a meagre monthly salary for their services. They often do the cooking, cleaning, washing, all houses chores; guard the house at times and also as nannies. Although there exists a symbiotic relationship between the employer and the maid; the intricacies of it shows that it is more of feudalistic and elitist. Some could argue that Ethiopian maids who export themselves to Arab countries face even the worst type of abuse there, so better that they be anyway here. No “Injustice anywhere, is injustice everywhere”, in most middle eastern countries and Ethiopia maids work long hours, seven days a week and month, no or sporadic vacations, no legal recourse in the case of disagreement with their employer. Maids most often maids eat leftovers or she cooks special food poor in quality and content from the rest of the household members for herself, sleeps in a separate building and room from the family (service bet). In most cases teenage maids that come from rural areas to help themselves and poor families are made to go to evening class (if ever allowed). They are forced to sex or raped by the men in the household (husband, son or relatives).
I recall how a domestic worker in our neighbour’s house in Addis Abeba, was assaulted by the house lady for sitting on her special seat in the sitting room. I recollect myself when I was about to fight as a kid of 7 or 8 years old with my uncles who were to beat a painter who worked for them. Injustice and falsehood is infuriating. Education, conscience and humanity are all about standing for justice and truth. The mistreatment of domestic workers within the household is also immeasurably dishonourable. They are made to wait in the kitchen or outside when families dine and wine in the sitting room, only expected to join when called or to serve. They are made to feel low, guilty and unable of talking and answering as equals. All these appear to have come from the feudalistic culture practiced up until today. Getting a society of equal disparity, wealth, urbanisation and development would not solve the problem, only democracy and behavioural change would . These domestic workers are our own sisters who only happen to be poorer than us and aiming to help themselves and families, how can we then be this much authoritarian, inhuman, abusive, exploitative on our own people?
Let’s say some of these girls finally succeed through hard work and study but one sure thing they do lack. Confidence. The hierarchical, feudalistic, elitist tradition that transcended since centuries (typically exhibited in our politics today) has resulted in a generation of no confidence.
2. Kechene
In this section I am gonna dwell on one of the Masters Degree thesis that I came across to give a historical and academic substantive evidentiary to explain my annoyances. The thesis is titled “Pottery Production an Asset for Women Livelihood Case Study on KECHENE Women Potters in Addis Abeba by Mulu Yeneabat, 2007, Addis Abeba University. This is one of the very rare and a few research works that I was able to get regarding artisan of Kechene.
According to Mulu’s research, the area popularly known as Kechene, is presently referred as Kebele 08/16 and Kebele 07/17. According to Gulele Sub City Administration, there were 3,000 potters and 60,000 weavers out of the 346,023 residents in 2007. The majority of the potters (2,852 of the 3,000) were residing in the Kechene (Kebeles 08/16 and 07/17) among the population of 77,766. There are also 18,400 weavers in these two kebeles(Kechene neighbourhood,). Ethiopians with skills of tanning, potting, blacksmithing and weaving have contributed a lot to the development and civilisation of the country. These skilful people located in various areas of Amhara region and Addis Abeba have had tasted the bitter and sourly.
Mulu says almost all the agricultural and pastoral communities are dependent on the traditional handicrafts for generations, and the handicraft producers still use their skills as a primary source of income. Religious artefacts such as processional and hand crosses play vital roles for Orthodox Christian celebrations and daily activities, but blacksmiths (that produced these and my other household materials) have been highly stigmatized and despised. The traditional handicrafts producers (potters, blacksmiths, weavers and tanners) used to be marginalized groups and were not allowed to own land. They were forced to live in separate villages without intermarrying with other community members (Quirin, 1977, cited in P.M. McNutt 2001).
Most of these artifacts were produced by highly artistic and creative people called Fellasha, who are said to be Ethiopian Israelites. There were also Ethiopians who practiced the profession like the Felashas and they were all marginalised, persecuted and dehumanized by former regimes and the society. The discrimination, stigma and mistreatment still exists on these professionals in Ethiopia. Quirin argues that the segregation and the out-casting of the Beta Israelis had a religious motivation. Since they refused to convert from their Judaic religion to Christianity, Emperor Yeshaq who ruled Ethiopia between 1413 and 1430 proclaimed, “May he who is baptized in the Christian baptism inherit the land of his father; otherwise let him be uprooted from his father’s land and be a stranger (falaa si)’. Since then the [Beta] Israel were called Falashas (falaa shoch)” (Quirin, 1998, p. 201). Other sources state the meaning of the word Fellasha meant refugees to signify their migration from Israel to Ethiopia.
The general population also used to fear the Beta Israel (Fellasha) and avoid them except for the necessary exchange of goods in the market place. Much of the fear exhibited by non- Beta Israel groups was reinforced by the belief that the Beta Israelis possessed by “evil eye” which can cause illness or death (Quirin, 1979, p. 251, cited in McNutt, 2001).
Prof. R. Pankhurst reaffirmed this by citing historical records as far as the 17th and 18th century explorers such as Almeida, Barradas and Ludolf. The handicrafts producers faced serious offensive punishments up to deathfor the crimes they did not commit. “It was ‘quite usual’ to ‘suspect nearly all illness as coming from sorcerers’ and to ‘attribute them to the blacksmiths’. ‘Many’ of the later paid for their assumed guilt with lives” (Pankhrust, R., 1993, Dieci and Viezzoli).
It was recorded that most of the people with skills of handicraft had relocated themselves from one place to another for fear of persecution. Nevertheless, wherever their went his persecution followed them. The Ethiopian nobilities and rulers further enforced the segregation and persecution of the traditional handicrafts producers. Traditional handicraft producers were in most parts of Ethiopia but the most famous and largest producers were found in the Amhara regions. The persecution against these people was beyond telling from what this writer has ever read in the history of Ethiopia’s negative histories.
Emperor Yohannes 1st declared a proclamation in 1668 A.D. for “the separation of Muslims and Falashas, or Beta Esra’el, popularly known as Ethiopian Jews.” The decree stated that, “The Falashas called Kayla, who is of the Jewish religion, must not live with Christians, but must separate themselves from them, and live apart, forming a village” (Pankhurst, 2001, www.addistribune.com/Archives/2001/01/19-01- 01/Praise.htm).
Emperor Yohannes issued a second decree in 1678, ordering strict segregation of both Muslims and Falashas. Accordingly, they settled in the outskirts of Gondar city. Their settlement area is still, popularly called Kayla Meda, or Falasha Field. The persecution of the traditional handicrafts producers (the Beta Israelis) in Northern Ethiopia (present day Amhara region) was severe. They were segregated and most of the times fled away in search of refugee of the warlords who need their arts. According to one of the 19thcentury Ethiopian popular chroniclers, Asma Giyorgis, the traditional handicrafts producers fled to Shoa from Gondar. The warlord (the then ruler of Shoa) Abbeyye “treated them ‘respectfully’. They made him axes and chisels with which the people of Sawa [Shoa] cleared the forest of Yefat, as well as sickles, hoes and ploughshares which enabled them to cultivate the province more efficiently” (Bairu Tafla.1987:513.cited in Pankhurst, 1993:261). This shows their major role in the agrarian transformation of the country. Even when they were exiled to Shoa and were described as living ‘respectfully’, they settled forming their own isolated villages in “Morat and Zalla, in the vicinity of Fecce” (Pankhurst, 1993, p. 264).
Other materials I have read state that the new Fellasha resettles thought the local population the handicraft. However, those who adopted the practice soon got the same kind of persecution that the older ones have gone through other parts of Ethiopia.
In order to stop the persecution of the traditional handicrafts producers and recognizing their vital role in the livelihoods of the community, Emperor Menelik II proclaimed a decree on January 25, 1908:
[D]o not insult the artisan for the trade he practices … All human creatures take their root from Adam and Eve… God said to Adam, ‘You will earn your bread by the sweat of your brow.’ If this no longer holds and everyone indulges in sloth, then there is no government, there is no country. And you who proffer insults, you empty my country and bring ruin upon it by depriving it of those who sharpen the ploughshare. From now on, for he who thus proffers these insults, it is I he is insulting, not the other one (Cassiers, A. 1975, p. 103).
Did we ever listen to Meles or our recent past leaders ever speak out about social injustice? Or did they ever make any statement similar to the above? Does he even know that there are still Ethiopians who are heavily persecuted both by the mainstream society and the status quo? Compare it yourself, who was the most progressive and enlightened one?
This is a tyranny on our people, culture and history. In addition to the proclamation, Emperor Menelik II encouraged the traditional handicrafts producers to settle around the newly established capital city, Addis Ababa. Gold smiths and other decoration and embroidery workers settled near to the palace named Serategna Sefer, while the women potters with their husbands (weavers and blacksmiths) from present day Northern Shoa (Morat) settled in the present day Kechene neighbourhood for its proxy to the clay soil. Even though the segregation and discrimination of the handicrafts producers did not decrease, persecution as the cause of illness and death started to decrease.
Just few years ago, this writer recalls, being advised by his mother to be very careful when walking in Kechene area. This shows that the discrimination, stigma and ignorance have not gone away.
When writing this piece I had the privilege of attending to an interview of a brilliant man who hails from Jeru, Northern Area and lived all his life in Kechene area in one of Ethiopia’s Diaspora based chat rooms. I was able to learn from him that there are many stories of persecution, abuse, and historical scars yet untold. The sacrifices paid and still being paid by Ethiopians specialised in handicraft is our national scar that has to be told, discussed, enlightened and healed. However, there are improvements in that other Ethiopians have begun intermarrying with specialists of handicraft and there is an average assimilation. There is still a high rate of endogamy, though. No it still exists. The dogma, persecution, stigma, prejudice and dehumanisation of our compatriots in Kechene, Moret, Jeru and Gonder have not been studied. Who is the boldest ethnographer willing with the initiative and vision to go out there and study the abuse, discrimination and persecution of these people? A short telephone discussion I had with a lady from Kechene is a witness for my claims. The woman says that there have been endless persecution and discrimination that moved down from nobilities of the past up to todays. The present government or local administration has not at all attempted to tackle or deal with this pressing social and political problem, she says. “We are still called names (buda), discriminated and you would still find people who say that we ride hyena in the evening” the lady speaks with an infuriated tone. These people of skill that had or would have contributed to Ethiopia’s real industrial revolution have been marginalised, killed and dehumanised due to religious and political reasons. This is not a language or skin colour based oppression but a caste, religion, power, control and political oppression. They were denied a place in councils, assemblies and religious rites and were also not allowed to act as legal witnesses. They were also offered different seats at weddings, buried in different cemeteries and are barred from entering a farmer’s compound, these norm still exists although done in a covert manner. None of us have spoken about this. I would advise researchers and investigative journalists to go, live with these people and write an in-depth article. My attempt was more of based on secondary materials.
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In this piece, I dealt on two main social injustices that exist in today’s Ethiopia. The tanners of the southern Ethiopian people are the other lot. One of the overarching reasons that pushed me out of my country in addition to the clear and present dangers I had on my life was the abuse on café waitresses. Do you recall how we mistreated our sisters who worked as waitresses in Cafes? If there was no sugar in the Cappuccino, the burger was late; she did not hear us call her and so on? How evil and savages we were? Including you. We mistreated, abused, slapped, insulted and disrespected our own sisters who worked in Cafeterias, hotels, restaurants who work tirelessly for a meagre income. Hotel and cafeteria waitresses in Ethiopia bear the highest brunt of abuse both from employers and customers. Many a times that I had quarrelled with my own friends when they abused waitresses and mistreated them. The culture of blaming and making those “below” us feel guilty are some of the other injustices. My brothers and sisters from Oromia, Ogaden, and other regions that lament the abuse and persecution that happened during our late emperors are missing a great point here. I tell you if you say you were the only ones persecuted you were dead wrong. If you thought some people laughed and mocked at you only, you were dead wrong. There are people that have been and still are being persecuted, abused and dehumanized up until today in the middle of Addis Abeba. Unlike some who have been twirled by missionaries, these people still align themselves to a united Ethiopia, die and live in Ethiopia for Ethiopia forever.
Let’s stop deconstructing the past and rise up to construct our all inclusive, multicultural, multidenominational, equal and democratic Ethiopia that has uprooted its age-old prejudices and social injustices!
References
Cassiers, Anne (1975) “Handicrafts and Technical Innovation in Ethiopia,” Cultures [Paris], 2, No. 3, 103-18
C. Viezzoli (Eds.), Resettlement and rural development in Ethiopia. Social and economic research training and technical assistance in Beles Valley (pp.251-286);Franco Angeli.
Mulu Yeneabat (2007), “Pottery Production an Asset for Women Livelihood Case Study on KECHENE Women Potters in Addis Abeba , Addis Abeba University
Pankhurst, R. (1993). History of Ethiopian handicrafts and handicraft workers. In P. Dicei & C. Viezzoli (Eds.), Resettlement and rural development in Ethiopia. Social and economic research training and technical assistance in Beles Valley (pp.251-286); Franco Angeli.
Pankhurst, R. (2001). In praise of Ethiopian craftsmen, 5. The Craftsmen of Old-time Gondar.
Retrieved May 10, 2007 from: http:/www.addistribune.com/Archives/2001/01/19-01-
01/Praise
Quirin, J. (1979). The process of caste formation in Ethiopia: A study of the Beta Israel (Felasha),1270-1868. The International Journal of African Historical Studies, 12(2), 1270-1868
Quirin, J. (1998). Caste and class in historical north-west Ethiopia: The Beta Israel (Falasha) and Kemant, 1300-1900. Journal of African History, 39(2) 195-220.
Wede T, betam teru yehone issue new yanesakew…seleziku guday pal lay siewra semhen neber. teru new yehe angebgabi gudaye new.
Ande teberer betargelegne emsehsaw min meslek…wede amaragena tergumew…kkk yemir angdegne englizengnaw anat yazoral…bezatu demo ager new…selzik tetergumo yekerb pls
ጠሩ ፀሁፍ ነው፣ ሰለ አፀ ምንሊክ አንደዚህ ያሉ የዑነት ፀሁፎቼን መፃህፉ መላክም ነው። ታሪካቺነን ለ ጠብ መንጃ የሚጠቀሙ የወቺ ሃየሎች አና በ አነሱ የሚታለሉ ተክቶች ከዚህ የማሩ። ከዚያ ወድያ ሰለ ቡዳ አና የአጅ ሙያተኞች የሚባለው አንዴ አንዴ አውነት ሰለሆነ ዝምበሎ መጠቀለሉ መልካም አየምሰለኘም።
Ps: of course, when talking of ‘domestic workers’ in Ethiopia, you can’t forget that not long along, there were no servants, but mostly slaves… seen in this light, it is really not surprising that servants are still today used as slaves in Ethiopia. Laws change quicker than mores.
Carefully thought out piece. It is an amazing piece of information that escapes our attention.
Few posts make me actually think about Africa and how we seem to keep burying ourselves in nonsense, rather than rise above such frivolous stuff. We have so much potential and yet, we fail to realise this.
Thanks for the post.
Dear Yves Stranger,
I have attempted to do a bit of reading before I began writing this article. I have not found anything that says “long along, there were no servants, but mostly slaves” would love to read some evidences. Slave trade was prohibited/outlawed during emperor Menelik’s era- both locally and internationally.
I used to read your articles on local press years ago, I found your “I find the culture hostile Ethiopian and Ethiopians deeply xenophobic.” a bit strange too on your profile.
Thanks Yves
I fully agree with auhtor of this article. Can you imagine what it means, when we say “we have 3000 years of history, but never ever had a single elected government?” We mean, we were/are slaves for 3000 years. We mean, Ethiopia is a warehouse of very deep-rooted socio-political culture of injustices for thousands of years. Meles is nothing but a product of such socio-political culture. Unless, we all liberate ourselves from such mind set, the word “Democracy” shall continue to remain an empty trademark for tynants (just like under wayane rule) – for many generations to come.
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