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1960: Lost Sons

<tt>And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do... [ Genesis 18 ]</tt>

That was the year when the star was born. "Aster" in Amharic, biblical Esther. But Ethiopian history remembers it for a different reason. It was the year when the future showed its face. No, we don't know how to read the messages on the night skies....

<h2 align="center"><tt>New Generation</tt></h2>

One of his favorite books was written long ago -- in 1515 by an Italian, Nicolo Macchiavelli. "And it ought to be remembered," wrote he, "that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things."[1] A new order of things H.I.M. tried to introduce using the old methods. He was born in another century; they, the children of his modernized Ethiopia, were born after the War. "Work and service to for the nation" -- he was preaching. Now they were ready to give their best to the country. "Progress and national unity" -- wasn't it his life long dedication? Didn't he asked them to be citizens?
How could he lose his best friends? He did. After the new Constitution of 1955 they didn't see emperor as a leader of reforms but an obstacle for the progress. They wanted him out of the way. They wanted to stand for themselves and for what was right...

Yes, the emperor continued to strengthen the central (national) government and a new generation of educated Ethiopians was introduced to new enlarged ministries with the bigger powers. One of them was Germame Neway with a master degree in political science from Columbia University. When Haile Sellassie established a national judiciary, he appointed its judges. In 1960 Zewde Gabre-Sellassie, a young doctor of philosophy from Oxford, will be a Justice minister. He never talks about this time...

When in 1955 he proclaimed a revised constitution; one third of the articles were about the laws of royal house. He wanted to spare the country from the painful transitions of past, when each new monarch has to force his way to the throne. No, Ethiopia didn't become a constitutional monarchy. The Emperor had absolute powers, he was Ethiopia. It was too late, too little. By December of 1960 there were no interest in this constitution which had even less impact on Ethiopia than the constitution of 1930. Of course, this constitution largly was prompted, like its predecessor, by a concern with international opinion. [Such opinion was particularly important at a time when the African states were rapidly advancing and Ethiopia was pressing its claims for the incorporation of Eritrea, where an elected parliament and more modern administration had existed since 1952].

The critics say that the bicameral Ethiopian parliament played no part in drawing up the constitution, a novelty by itself for the country without a tradition of elections. The second constitution, far from limiting the emperor's control, emphasized the religious origins of imperial power. The Senate remained appointive, but the Chamber of Deputies was, at least nominally, "elected." The absence of a census, the near total illiteracy of the population, and the domination of the countryside by the nobility meant that the majority of candidates were in effect chosen by the elite. The Chamber of Deputies was not altogether a rubber stamp, at times discussing bills and questioning state ministers. However, provisions in the constitution that guaranteed personal freedoms and liberties, including freedom of assembly, movement, and speech, and the due process of law, were so far removed from the realities of life that no group sought to act upon them.

 

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The young were frustrated over the "slow" pace and they saw the only reason for that -- the emperor; so, they became his adversaries. Of course, they, the younger leaders, were the sons of the traditional elite. Having been educated abroad, they were favorably disposed toward reform and at the same time alienated by the government's inability to initiate and implement it. The remnants of the small number of educated Ethiopians of an earlier generation had been appointed to high government positions, but whatever their previous concern with reform, they had little impact on traditional methods, and by the mid-1950s even this earlier reformist elite was considered conservative</center>