This book is concerned with societal experience in Ethiopia following the 1974 revolution that had lost its target because of military intervention in Ethiopian politics. It analyzes developments during the military regime, often known as the Darg, among the Macca Oromo of Wallagga (1974-1991). Although it emphasizes only one of the many provinces of what is today Oromia, it clearly exhibited the policy preferred, regarding the Oromo, to be followed by the military regime. The work places its analyses in the context of the wider Ethiopian scene. It is mainly an attempt to contribute to the Oromo study under "e;suppression."e;
This book is a comprehensive account of the Ethiopian revolution, dealing with the entire span of the revolutionary government's life. Particular emphasis is placed on effectively isolating and articulating the causes and outcomes of the revolution. The author traces the revolution's roots in the weaknesses of the autocratic regime of Haile Selassie, examines the formative years of the revolution in the mid-seventies, when the ideology of scientific socialism was espoused by the ruling military council, and finally charts the consolidation of Mengistu Haile Miriam's power from 1977 to the adoption of a new constitution in 1987. In examining these events, Dr Tiruneh makes extensive use of primary sources written in the national official language. He was also the first Ethiopian nation to write a book on this subject. This book is thus a unique account of a fascinating period, capturing the mood of the revolution as never before, yet firmly grounded in scholarship.
Revolution, civil wars, and guerilla warfare wracked Ethiopia during three turbulent decades at the end of the 20th century. Here, Tareke brings to life the leading personalities in the domestic political struggles, strategies of the warring parties international actors, and key battles.
Today, the Oromo, 'a silenced majority' in Ethiopia for over a century, is not only submerged politically but also academically neglected in the studies at home. Most of the serious scholars who have been academically engaged to promote Oromo studies were exiled in the 1992 TPLF/EPRDF attempt to destroy Oromo nationalism in its endeavor to monopolize state power. In the last two decades, this group of Oromo Diaspora has made significant contribution in Oromo studies. This book is concerned with societal experience in Ethiopia following the 1974 revolution that had lost its target because of military intervention in Ethiopian politics. It analyzes developments during the military regime, often known as the Darg, among the Macca Oromo of Wallagga (1974-1991). Although it emphasizes only one of the many provinces of what is today Oromia, it clearly exhibited the policy preferred, regarding the Oromo, to be followed by the military regime. The work places its analyses in the context of the wider Ethiopian scene. It is mainly an attempt to contribute to the Oromo study under 'suppression.'
In the second half of the 1960s and the early 1970s, the Ethiopian student movement emerged from rather innocuous beginnings to become the major opposition force against the imperial regime in Ethiopia, contributing perhaps more than any other factor to the eruption of the 1974 revolution, a revolution that brought about not only the end of the long reign of Emperor Haile Sellassie, but also a dynasty of exceptional longevity. The student movement would be of fundamental importance in the shaping of the future Ethiopia, instrumental in both its political and social development. Bahru Zewde, himself one of the students involved in the uprising, draws on interviews with former student leaders and activists, as well as documentary sources, to describe the steady radicalisation of the movement, characterised particularly after 1965 by annual demonstrations against the regime and culminating in the ascendancy of Marxism-Leninism by the early 1970s. Almost in tandem with the global student movement, the year 1969 marked the climax of student opposition to the imperial regime, both at home and abroad. It was also in that year that students broached what came to be famously known as the "national question", ultimately resulting in the adoption in 1971of the Leninist/Stalinist principle of self-determination up to and including secession. On the eve of the revolution, the student movement abroad split into two rival factions; a split that was ultimately to lead to the liquidation of both and the consolidation of military dictatorship as well as the emergence of the ethno-nationalist agenda as the only viable alternative to the military regime. Bahru Zewde is Emeritus Professor of History at Addis Ababa University and Vice President of the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences. He has authored many books and articles, notably A History of Modern Ethiopia, 1855-1974 and Pioneers of Change in Ethiopia: The Reformist Intellectuals of the Early Twentieth Century. Finalist for the Bethwell A. Ogot Book Prize to the author of the best book on East African Studies, 2015. Ethiopia: Addis Ababa University Press (paperback)
