Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Published: Friday, January 22nd, 2016

Design by Liya Kebede’s Lemlem Featured in Historic Super Bowl 50 Collection

New York (TADIAS) — Ethiopian supermodel Liya Kebede is one of 50 notable fashion designers who has created a one-of-a-kind bespoke football in celebration of the upcoming 50th anniversary of Super Bowl, which is scheduled to take place in San Francisco Bay Area on February 7th, 2016. The designer footballs were developed through a collaboration between the National Football League (NFL) and the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA).

Time magazine reports: “The two organizations have collaborated on 50 bespoke designer footballs that will be up for auction from Jan. 20 through Feb. 14 on the NFL Auction site” with proceeds going to the NFL Foundation.

Other featured Super Bowl 50 fashion designers include Kenneth Cole, Tadashi Shoji, Prabal Gurung, Clare Vivier, and Rachel Roy.

The Lemlem brand, founded by Liya Kebede, produces Ethiopian hand-woven cotton scarves, women’s clothing and children’s dresses made by traditional artisans in Ethiopia.

Liya Kebede. (Photo: Lemlem)

“We are pleased to partner with the NFL once again on this creative endeavor, which highlights CFDA Members unique talents and passion for creativity while giving back to youth and important fundraising initiatives,” said Adam Roth, the CFDA’s Director of Strategic Partnerships. “With our collaboration, the NFL offers a unique take on the iconic football, particularly for women who care about fashion and also love the game.”

Read more at Time.com »

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Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Published: Friday, January 22nd, 2016

New York (TADIAS) — Ethiopian Airlines announced Thursday that it will offer new service between Addis Ababa and New York City’s JFK airport starting in June.

“Flights from Addis Ababa to JFK will depart Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday mornings, and will return from JFK to Addis Ababa the same evening,” Ethiopian Airlines said in a press release. “Flights will make an intermediate stop in Lomé, home base for Ethiopian Airline’s partner ASKY Airlines, in both directions.”

The airline said it “will be deploying the most modern aircraft in the world on this flight, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which not only offers unparalleled onboard comfort to passengers, but is also the world’s most environmentally friendly aircraft with its lower fuel usage and noise emissions.”

Read more at ethiopianairlines.com »

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Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Published: Tuesday, January 19th, 2016

New York (TADIAS) — Ere Gobez is the title of Debo Band’s newest album, which is scheduled to be released this Spring on FPE Records.

“Thrilled to announce the release of our sophomore album, Ere Gobez, coming out May 20, 2016,” Debo Band announced. The Boston-based Ethiopian American band was in New York City this past weekend “doing some pre-release promo and setting up tours for Summer and Fall.”

The label describes Debo Band’s new album as “the bold, grooving follow-up to their acclaimed debut. The large ensemble is known for its fun, danceable dives into Ethiopia’s rich musical worlds — from Orthodox Christian liturgy to hot-and-sweaty club sounds.”

“Debo Band raises the roof on the Ethiopian musical past,” the record company adds. “They imagine what Duke Ellington, while on his famed African tour, might have played with the Addis Ababa Police Orchestra (“Blue Awaze”)..They invent the jams of the Ethiopians who served in the Korean War and brought back influences from East Asia (the catchy Okinawan song Hiyamikachi Bushi).”

The cover for Debo Band’s new album ‘Ere Gobez.’ (Courtesy photo)

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Pre-orders can be made through @pledgemusic at the Debo Band website. Pledgers get a download of the album in a couple weeks.

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Tadias Magazine

By Tadias Staff

Published: Monday, January 18th, 2016

New York (TADIAS) — A few months before he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, Martin Luther King Jr received a letter from the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington, D.C. on July 13th, 1964 inviting him to attend the 73rd birthday anniversary of Emperor Haile Selassie.

(invitation to Martin & Coretta King from Emperor Haile Selassie. Photo courtesy: The King Center).

Coincidentally that same year both MLK and Haile Selassie had made the shortlist for the Nobel Peace Prize; for the Ethiopian King it followed the establishment of the Organization of African Unity (African Union’s predecessor) the previous year in May 1963.

“The first nomination for Martin Luther King Jr. arrived to the Norwegian Nobel Committee in 1963. The Norwegian Nobel Committee..received this nomination from an earlier Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, American Friends Service Committee, (The Quakers) in Philadelphia,” states the website for the Nobel Prize. The nomination, signed by the AFSC Board of Directors, stated:

African leaders, who are perhaps most aware of racial tensions, are in several striking cases seeking to create a spirit of reconciliation and to use methods that will not increase the likelihood of violence. These leaders have been influenced and are being encouraged by the example of MARTIN LUTHER KING, Jr., whose work to resolve serious conflicts without violence is also helping to reduce in the United States the indiscriminate bitterness that condemns international organization, and in particular the United Nations, because of the participation of people of non-white races and of the concern to promote “the dignity and worth of the human person” regardless of race.

A second request from AFSC subsequently asked for the nomination to be transferred to 1964, which the Nobel Prize Committee agreed to do as they received a second nomination for MLK from the Swedish Parliament. Both MLK and Haile Selassie were two of the 13 individuals on the shortlist out of 43 candidate submissions in 1964.

Martin Luther King, Jr was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, becoming the youngest African American to receive the honor. Diplomat and political scientist Ralph Bunche was the first African American to win a Nobel Prize in 1950 while Albert John Luthuli, President of the African National Congress in South Africa, was the first African to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1960.

In his acceptance speech recognizing the civil rights struggle in the United States MLK said: “After contemplation, I conclude that this award which I receive on behalf of that movement is a profound recognition that nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral question of our time…I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history..I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits..When our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds and our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, we will know that we are living in the creative turmoil of a genuine civilization struggling to be born.”

MLK met an untimely death, assassinated in 1968. A year later — and just five years after sending his invitation to Martin Luther and Coretta Scott King — the Washington Afro-American newspaper reported that Haile Selassie went to MLK’s tomb following a State visit and “stood silent for a moment at the grave of the slain civil rights leader and then left for a speech and honor presentation at Morehouse College, Dr. King’s alma mater.”

(Source: Washington Afro-American Newspaper, July 15th, 1969)

Today we celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr Day and the 30th anniversary of the federal holiday honoring his life and civil rights legacy.

Watch MLK’s full Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech:

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Tadias Magazine

By Tadias Staff

Published: Saturday, January 16th, 2016

New York (TADIAS) — A coptic cross from Ethiopia is among President Obama’s gifts that were given to him as keepsakes from ordinary people that he met around the world. In an interview with YouTube personality Ingrid Nilsen on Friday at the White House, Obama — who is the first sitting U.S. President to visit Ethiopia — revealed what he carried in his pocket to remind himself of the stories of individuals he met and the encouragement they gave him. In addition to the Ethiopian cross he carried he also shared additional items including rosary beads from Pope Francis and a lucky poker chip from a biker in Iowa given to him in 2007.

“Ever since I started running for office people started handing me things when I.. speak to a crowd,” President Obama explained in a video posted on the White House website. “Now I have a habit that I always carry around — and I have a whole bowl full of them and I can’t carry all of them around — but I will pick out a few things that I just stick in my pocket to remind me of all the people that I have met along the way and the stories they told me.”

Regarding the rosary beads that Pope Francis gave him Obama said it means a lot to him “because I so admire him and it makes me think about peace and promoting understanding and ethical behavior.”

“If I feel tired or I feel discouraged sometimes I can kind of reach into my pocket and I say yeah that’s something that I can overcome because somebody gave me this privilege to work on these issues that’s going to affect them, I better get back to work,” Obama said.

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Related:
Obama Aide Yohannes Abraham Gives Keynote Address at YEP’s 5th Anniversary Gala

In Ethiopia, Obama Praises Contributions of Ethiopian Americans

President Obama Becomes First Sitting U.S. President to Visit Ethiopia

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Rap-Up

The Weeknd can add Oscar nominee to his résumé. The singer-songwriter scored a nomination at the 88th annual Academy Awards, it was announced today.

His chart-topping hit “Earned It” off the Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack is up in the Original Song category. His fellow nominees include Lady Gaga and Diane Warren (“Til It Happens to You” from The Hunting Ground), Sam Smith and Jimmy Napes (“Writing’s On the Wall” from Spectre), David Lang (“Simple Song #3” from Youth), and J. Ralph and Antony Hegarty (“Manta Ray” from Racing Extinction).

A humbled Weeknd took to Twitter to react to the honor. “It can’t get more surreal than this. thank you for the recognition @TheAcademy . truly a proud moment,” he tweeted.

Read more at Rap-Up.com »

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Can the Weeknd Turn Himself Into the Biggest Pop Star in the World? (NY Times)
Inspired by Michael Jackson, The Weeknd Goes from Rebellious Songwriter to Chorus Lover
The reclusive artist talks ‘Beauty Behind the Madness’ (Radio.com)
With dark tales of sex and drugs, is the Weeknd the next face of R&B? (The Guardian)

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Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Published: Thursday, January 14th, 2016

New York (TADIAS) — With its spectacular cinematography and solid storytelling the award-winning Ethiopian film, Lamb, continues to generate international buzz while making its U.S. debut at the 2016 Palm Springs International Film Festival in California earlier this month as well as at Lincoln Center’s New York Jewish Film Festival on Wednesday evening.

Brooklyn-based company, KimStim, has likewise recently announced that they have acquired distribution rights to the film in the U.S. and plan a theatrical release in Spring 2016.

Variety named the Director, Yared Zeleke, as one of its “10 Screenwriters to Watch” as Lamb became the first Ethiopian film to be screened at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival and won ‘Best Feature Film’ later that same year at the Milan Film Festival.

The Los Angeles Times notes that Lamb “is a vision of Ethiopia that the average American might not expect: craggy emerald peaks, picturesque villages, a priest blessing a family for a festive religious celebration.”

Describing his decision to shoot the film in his native land Yared told the LA Times: “I wanted to do it in Ethiopia because it was my home. Despite the dictatorship and war and famine and poverty — I had even grown up in a slum — I still feel I had a fairy-tale childhood. There was a lot of love and good food and colorful characters and incredible Christian festivities that I’d grown up with. In Ethiopia, there is no colonial legacy. The culture is untouched. It’s a dream for a filmmaker and storyteller. Beauty and heartache, it’s there.”

The soundtrack to the film includes music by Krar Collective and Debo Band.

At the screening of ‘Lamb’ in New York City on Wednesday, January 13th, 2016. (Photo: Tadias Magazine)

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Related:
Tadias Q&A with Yared Zeleke – Director of Ethiopian Film ‘Lamb’
Lamb Review: Sheer Brilliance Knits Together First Ethiopian Film at Cannes (The Guardian)

Watch: Lamb Official Trailer

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Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Published: Wednesday, January 13th, 2016

New York (TADIAS) — Howard University has sent a delegation to Ethiopia’s Debre Libanos Monastery to return a sacred, 14th-15th century manuscript that belonged to the Christian holy site. The university announced that the ancient document was part of one of the largest collections of Ethiopian sacred artifacts housed in the United States.

“The 240-piece collection was originally gifted to Howard University School of Divinity (HUSD) in 1993 by the late Dr. André Tweed, a prominent psychiatrist and alumnus of the University,” stated Howard University’s press release. “The manuscript is a rare text that provides historical insights into early Christianity and the connection between African and Judaic cultures and traditions.”

“The manuscript, known as Tweed MS150, contains two different texts: the Acts of Paul and the Acts of Serabamon,” the press release added.

The announcement highlighted the university’s “long-standing commitment..to honor the rich heritage and cultural artifacts throughout Africa, in particular Ethiopia.” By deciding to return the manuscript to its original source, Dr. Gay L. Byron, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, says that they “wanted to set an example for other schools, museums and institutions around this county and even throughout the world for what it means to have rare manuscripts actually in their rightful home of origin.”

Echoing similar sentiments, student Lawrence Rodgers, who is traveling to Ethiopia as part of the delegation, shares: “being able to travel to this ancient country and to be able to visit some of the oldest Christian churches in the world, seeing this rich Christian heritage on the continent of my ancestors is something that is very meaningful to me.”

Howard University alumni Memhir Dr. Zebene Lemma, Head Priest at Debre Genet Medhane Alem Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church in Virginia, is also joining the delegation and adds that “this manuscript was written by Ethiopians. So returning the manuscript is a huge impact for Ethiopian church history, and it establishes a strong relationship with Howard University.”

Howard University, which was established in 1867, is a historically African American, private university located in Washington, D.C.

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BBC

Communities from Europe, Africa and the Middle East marked the event – each with their own unique traditions – on Thursday, in line with the Julian calendar.

Wacth the video at BBC.com »

Thousands of Orthodox Christians in Ethiopia made their way to city of Lalibela. (Getty Images)

Click here to see more photos of Christmas celebrations from around the world »

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Tadias Magazine
BY Tadias Staff

Published: Wednesday, January 6th, 2016

New York (TADIAS) — The Red Moon Letters is a new photojournalism book project on Ethiopia by documentary filmmaker Kristin Fellows. The book, which is currently being released via weekly online installments, is based on a collection of letters that the author’s grandmother, Gladys Fellows, wrote when she resided in Ethiopia between 1947-1954.

Gladys’ husband, Perry Fellows, had been appointed to serve as Economic and Industrial Advisor to Emperor Haile Selassie following the end of World War II and Italy’s defeat in Ethiopia. Perry and Gladys Fellows relocated from Washington, D.C. to Addis Ababa in 1947 at the request of Ethiopian Economist Yilma Deressa — who was then Ethiopia’s Vice Finance Minister and later Minister of Foreign Affairs and Ambassador to the United States.

Prior to becoming Emperor Haile Selassie’s advisor Perry Fellows was Chief Engineer for public works administration in the United States during a time when the nation was just coming out of the depression era in the 1930s. “He was in charge of a national system that built roads and bridges to help develop the country’s infrastructure and give people jobs at the same time,” Kristin told Tadias. “He oversaw more than 5,000 projects. It was a jobs program for the public interest. A lot of our infrastructure dates back to that time.”

In the introduction to The Red Moon Letters Ethiopian historian Dr. Bahru Zewde notes that the first official contacts between Ethiopia and the United States during this period were made in 1943 during Yilma Deressa’s visit to the United States. “The U.S. response,” Zewde writes, “came in the form of an extension of their Lend-Lease to Ethiopia and the sending of a technical mission in May 1944. The latter, known as the Fellows Mission, could be said to have laid the groundwork for the subsequent American involvement in Ethiopia.”

“The Fellows Mission was named for Perry (my grandfather) who headed up the project.” Kristin states. “Pleased with the Technical Mission’s evaluation of his country’s industrial and economic prospects, Haile Selassie directed his Minister of Foreign Affairs & Ambassador to the United States, Yilma Deressa, to court Perry, and offer him a position as the Emperor’s Director of Industry and Economic Planning in April 1947.” The report prepared by Mr. Fellows was subsequently published by the Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce. While in Ethiopia Mr. Fellows also served as Chairman of the Board at Ethiopian Airlines in its early years. The Fellows also sponsored the education of over 30 children during their 7 year stay.

Kristin first visited Ethiopia when she was 11 years old. She returned in 2008 when preparing to write about her grandmother’s letters. More than sixty years after her grandparent’s trip Kristin now shares the insights gleaned from their experience in Addis Ababa during this post WWII era of renewal and reconstruction. Through weekly letters diligently written every week to her eldest son — Kristen’s father — Gladys captured both palace life as well as everyday adventures as residents of Addis Ababa.

“It’s been 12 years since I first started working on this book,” Kristin tells Tadias. “And instead of waiting to publish after completion, I have decided to post installations on my blog on a weekly basis and look forward to receiving feedback from readers in the process.” Kristin plans to publish the entire content as a book in the near future. In the process of conducting research for the book Kristin has also shared the work with historians Dr. Bahru Zewde and Dr. Richard Pankhurst.

As for the title of the book, Kristin named it The Red Moon Letters after reading about an incident described in one of Gladys’ letters. One evening in 1953 her grandparents had been woken up in the middle of the night with the house staff banging on their windows and motioning for them to come outside. Quite startled the couple did not know why the house staff was upset. The staff pointed to the night sky and the presence of a red moon, demanding why it was red. Gladys tried to muster up a scientific explanation in the limited Amharic she had learned, but the staff would have none of the explanation. Instead they told Gladys and Perry that the last time there was a red moon in the sky was the night before the Italian invasion, and they wanted to know if this was a bad omen and if they should head to church to pray the entire next day. “It was a significant story,” said Kristin, because it made her realize why her grandparents traveled all the way to Ethiopia in the first place: to assist in uplifting the country following the Italian invasion during World War II.

“My grandfather loved Ethiopia, and he was very meticulous about his work,” Kristin says. And as a result her family now has a deep connection to the country, people and cultures. The Red Moon Letters is a personal attempt to share the Fellows’ everyday experience in Ethiopia during this unique time, and to provide an alternate view of the era.

Below is a chapter from The Red Moon Letters posted on January 5th, which provides a backstory of how Perry Fellows came to serve as one of the Emperor’s advisors.

http://theredmoonletters.com/2016/01/05/3/

and here is an excerpt of one of Gladys’ letters that the book is based upon:

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
16 February 1953

When Adamaso came to work, he too was very unhappy, as he is one of the older ones here. The guards wanted to know if they should go to church and pray all day.

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Related:
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Foreign Policy

BY JOHN HUDSON, SIOBHÁN O’GRADY

Although State Department officials maintained that the move had nothing to do with bilateral differences between the U.S. and Ethiopia, some experts speculated that Addis Ababa may have had reservations about hosting the U.S. drones.

Terrence Lyons, a regional expert and associate professor at George Mason University, told FP that the base’s closure could signal “the U.S. is having difficulties with its relationship with Ethiopia.”

Ethiopia’s authoritarian ruling government won nearly 100 percent of the national vote in May and has come under fire from human rights organizations that claim it has unfairly cracked down on journalists and activists. Domestically, the ruling party has also had to face some unrest in the Muslim community, where many believe the government has overstepped its boundaries and interfered with the country’s official Islamic authority.

“It could be that from the Ethiopian government side, being seen as one of the countries supporting drone bases killing Muslims in the region might have been problematic,” Lyons said.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria O’Connell denied that bilateral tensions were involved in the decision and said it was “based on Africom’s assessment of the situation and the usefulness” of the base.

Read the full article at foreignpolicy.com »
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Related:
US Stops Flying Drones From Ethiopia
White House Confirms Existence of U.S. Military Drones in Ethiopia

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Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Published: Friday, January 1st, 2016

New York (TADIAS) — The new documentary film on Ethiopia, If Only I Were That Warrior, will be screened at the Best of African Diaspora International Film Festival on January 9th, 2016 in New York City.

“We are proud to present this year, in the context of the Best of the 23rd Annual African Diaspora International Film Festival, the screening of ‘If Only I Were That Warrior,’ organizers announced. The film will be showing at Teachers College, Columbia University as part of the festival’s three-day program from January 8th to January 10th and will be followed by a Q&A with the filmmaker.

If Only I Were That Warrior, which was shot in Ethiopia, Italy and the United States, narrates personal stories from the Italian occupation of Ethiopia. It was inspired after the director Valerio Ciriaci and producer Isaak Liptzin attended a 2013 panel discussion held at New York University concerning the recent unveiling of a statue in Italy honoring the fascist war criminal Rodolfo Graziani — Mussolini’s top enforcer in Ethiopia during the occupation in the late 1930s. Strangely enough, more than seven decades later, “Graziani was honored with a mausoleum and memorial park, built at taxpayers’ expense, in a village south of Rome,” BBC reported in 2012. “He was notorious as Benito Mussolini’s military commander in colonial wars in Ethiopia and Libya where he carried out massacres and used chemical weapons.”

In Ethiopia, among Graziani’s numerous crimes against humanity, is the brutal Yekatit 12 massacre following a failed assassination attempt against him in February 1937. Graziani unleashed a war of retribution and terror in Addis Ababa and across the country indiscriminately slaughtering as many as 30,000 Ethiopians and imprisoning many more. According to BBC Graziani who was denounced by the League of Nations and brought in front of the United Nations War Crimes Commission “was sentenced to 19 years imprisonment for war crimes in 1948 but was released from jail after serving only two years, and died in 1955.”

The NYU panel “prompted the two young filmmakers to research the Italian occupation of Ethiopia and understand why it was remembered so little and with such radical divergences,” Centro Primo Levim (CPL) — which also hosted a screening of the documentary last Spring — stated in a press release. “Their quest became a film project on the 1935 Italian invasion of Ethiopia and its unresolved legacy exposing it both from an Italian and an Ethiopian perspective.”

CPL adds: “The film moves from contemporary debate into the history of the invasion through the work of major historians of colonialism like Angelo Del Boca and Richard Pankhurst. Historian of fascist Italy Mauro Canali and cultural historian Ian Campbell accompany the public through the history of the occupation as documented in the Italian and Ethiopian national archives. In recent years, scholars have placed Italian war crimes in Greece, Yugoslavia and Africa under the spotlight allowing, among other things, a new approach to the study of fascist racism and a debate on international intervention, post-war justice as well as the effect of lingering prejudice and an unspoken past.”

The Massacre of Debre Libanos – If Only I Were That Warrior CLIP from Awen Films on Vimeo.

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If You Go
Best of African Diaspora International Film Festival (ADIFF)
Screenings of ‘If Only I Were That Warrior
When: Saturday, January 9, 2016 at 2pm
Where: Teachers College, Columbia University
The Chapel
525 W. 120TH ST
New York, NY 10027
Tickets at www.brownpapertickets.com
More info & schedule at: www.nyadiff.org

Related:
Tadias Book Review: Jeff Pearce’s ‘Prevail’: Personal Stories From Mussolini’s Invasion of Ethiopia

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Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Published: Thursday, December 31st, 2015

New York (TADIAS) – In our end-of-the-year spotlight Tadias features five Ethiopian-led grassroots Diaspora initiatives that focus on leadership & service, education, environment & social entrepreneurship, philanthropy and the arts.

Leadership & Service: Ethiopian Diaspora Fellowship

(The first class of Ethiopian Diaspora Fellows. Image: Deseta Design).

When two Ethiopian Americans, Rediate Tekeste and Meseret Hailu, sent out a survey via social media in early 2015 to assess their millennial peer’s views and interests regarding their sense of cultural heritage and connection to Ethiopia they were surprised with the 400 enthusiastic responses they received to their queries. They took the feedback and launched the first Ethiopian Diaspora Fellowship, which provides youth with leadership, service and creative storytelling skills while participating in a 6-month program in collaboration with local-led partner organizations in Ethiopia. The first class of Fellows just completed their service and recently shared their experiences with Tadias. Fellow Tewodros Ayele worked with the International Leadership Academy of Ethiopia focusing on the intersection of education and leadership. “Ethiopia welcomed me with open arms from the day I arrived, and for the past six months has shown me how much a part of her I am” he shares. As Tewodros plans to pursue a PhD in Education in the coming year he says “I look forward to what the future holds for me and I know whatever comes into my life will be led by the desire I have to give back to Ethiopia.” Fellow Liat Desta adds “I have learned that as an Ethiopian Diaspora member, I have a duty to help this country, that I call home, grow.” Fellow Ebanezere Tadele likewise was captivated by the unique experience to lead and serve in Ethiopia. “Being in Ethiopia has been such a blessing,” he states. “The beautiful country always makes me reconsider and re-prioritize my beliefs and perspective. It forces me to open up my eyes, mind, and heart to what I hold dear. This experience has truly changed my life, directed me and pushed me to grow in ways I couldn’t have expected.” For Naome Seifu her trip as a Fellow was the first she ever took to Ethiopia. “Not only have I taken a step into my future, but I’ve learned more about myself” she says. Having completed the fellowship Naome has decided to stay for two more years with a full-time job as a Creatives Coordinator for a new channel launched in Addis. The fellowship experience is equally “one of the best decisions of my life” says Eden Mesfin. “Watching my deep connection to Ethiopia, how I have invested myself in the people and groups I spent time with each day has been the most enriching experience.” Eden has also received job offers and plans to stay for another year. “It’s an honor to dedicate your work and life to seeing change in Ethiopia. Ethiopia is my heart, and I am proud to continue my life here” she tells Tadias. We congratulate the first class of 2015, and look forward to many more young leaders participating in programs developed by the Ethiopian Diaspora Fellowship. Learn more at Ethiopian Diaspora Fellowship.

Environment & Social Entrepreneurship: Dir Biyabir

(Bee Keeping program, Sebeta Nunnery, Ethiopia. Photo: Dir Biyabir).

Dir Biyabir Anbessa Yasir (when spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion) is a popular Ethiopian proverb that captures the significance of collaboration for success. Haeran Fisseha, a graduate of Stanford and Michigan State University with degrees in Industrial and Electrical Engineering, founded the non-profit Dir Biyabir and developed a network to mobilize resources for the reduction of extreme poverty by investing in people and building their capacity to help themselves. While most NGOs spend a certain percentage of their capital on overhead, the leadership team of Dir Biyabir covers their own expenses so that 100% of the proceeds go directly to fund local initiatives in Ethiopia. Dir Biyabir focuses on impact, accountability, efficiency, transparency, and the empowerment of individuals through various programs including environmental rehabilitation, academic sponsorship of students, building of infrastructure, and the provision of vocational training and social entrepreneurship training for women in various communities such as: bee keeping and dairy farming skills for Ethiopian orthodox nuns at Sebeta; handicraft made from doum palm leaves to generate income for Afar women; poultry farming business training for rural school girls; and support of a hand-made cotton textile enterprise for survivors of leprosy in Addis Ababa. Dir Biyabir’s non-existent overhead as well as comprehensive social entrepreneurship and environmental rehabilitation programs offer a unique, local-driven and effective way to promote long-term, positive change in rural communities across Ethiopia. Learn more at Dir Biyabir.

Education: Seeds of Africa Foundation

(School children in Nazret/Adama, Ethiopia. Photo: Seeds of Africa Foundation).

This past August Former Miss Ethiopia, Atti Worku, received the 2015 Diaspora Youth Excellence Award in recognition of her work with Seeds of Africa — a non-profit focused on providing Pre-K to 12th grade education for youth in Nazret/Adama while incorporating a holistic community development program including adult literacy, health education and small business funding to their families. An Adama native, Atti Worku, created Seeds of Africa in 2006 launching educational programs in her mother’s backyard. Following her studies in sustainable development, education and social movements at Columbia University Atti launched the Dream School Initiative in 2014 to fundraise for a state-of-the-art education facility and has already raised $1.3 million of its $2.2 million goal. “It will meet the most rigorous international academic standards and prepare its students to succeed in high school, college and beyond” Atti says. “Our goal is to move beyond traditional aid models, providing more than just short-term relief efforts by giving our community the skills they need to support themselves and rise above poverty.” Learn more at Seeds of Africa.

Arts: Kenna’s One-for-One Artist Platform

(Musician Kenna Zemedkun. Image: Songs for Flight Campaign Video).

Shortly following his Grammy nomination Ethiopian-born musician and social activist Kenna (Née Kenna Zemedkun) set off with friends on a mission to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak, in an initiative called “Summit on the Summit” — an effort to raise awareness about the global clean water crisis. Born in Addis and raised in the United States, the issue of access to clean water was a personal one for the artist whose father had suffered from waterborne diseases as a child in Ethiopia. “If he hadn’t survived, I wouldn’t be here” Kenna told Tadias. “That is what resonates with me.” His climb not only raised awareness but also helped prevent cuts in congressional funding for clean water initiatives. In 2015, Kenna has taken his social activism to another level as he independently produces his new LP entitled Songs for Flight, which he launched on the world’s first One-For-One Artist platform. Seeking a sustainable, social entrepreneurship slant that includes donating 50% of the profits to international causes that the artist and his fans care about Kenna states “My inheritance is my driver for the causes I have chosen. Water (human right) for my father and his struggle as a child and the continued struggle of so many to have access to clean, safe drinking water. Women’s rights because of my mother and sister. And the Arts because it has been the vehicle for me to be able to focus on the causes my family and I care about.” Watch Kenna’s video on One-for-One Artist platform and learn more at Kenna.com.

Grassroots Organizations & Philanthropy: Africans in the Diaspora

(Siiqqee Women’s Development Association in Ethiopia. Photo: Africans in the Diaspora).

While working in the non-profit world with multilateral organizations such as UNDP and Human Rights Watch, and managing the Africa portfolio in more than 20 countries through the Global Fund for Children, Solome Lemma says she “saw first hand the ways that African were moving, shaking and transforming their communities — from Egypt to Zambia to Senegal to Ethiopia.” It got her thinking about how “African ideas, innovations, skills and resources exist, and yet we continue to be painted as a continent of need and dependency. This needed to change,” she said. After meeting a like-minded colleague from Zimbabwe, Zanele Sibanda, Solome co-founded and launched Africans in the Diaspora (AiD) to “consolidate the financial, intellectual, and social capital of Diaspora Africans and advance change on the continent.” Her organization follows a three-pronged approach to development that includes: a funding platform that Diaspora Africans can utilize to support local, grassroots organizations in African countries; development of an expertise network to facilitate collaborations between Diaspora and Continental Africans; and amplifying the voices of people committed to contributing to the continent’s progress. “The idea of giving back is something I have carried for a while,” Solome says. “As someone who has dedicated all of my studies and work to Africa, I often asked myself, what’s the best role for me as an African? How do I give back responsibly? How do I use the access and privilege that I have had and transfer it back home?” To date AiD has collaborated with 13 organizations on the ground in 7 African nations. AiD has partnered with International Development Exchange (IDEX) and plans to work with four women’s organizations in Ethiopia, Senegal, Zimbabwe and Kenya in the coming year. Learn more at Africans in the Diaspora.

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Related:
Tadias Year in Review: 2015 in Pictures
Ten Arts & Culture Stories of 2015

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Tadias Magazine

By Alpha Abebe

Published: Tuesday, December 29th, 2015

Toronto — The Bikila Award organization in Toronto, Canada has launched a campaign to raise funds and support for a future Ethiopic Studies Program at the University of Toronto.

The initiative began when Dr. Michael Gervers, Professor of History at the University of Toronto, made an impassioned speech at the 2015 Bikila Awards about the importance of documenting, preserving, and teaching ancient Ethiopic history. Professor Gervers currently teaches a course entitled ‘Cultural History of Ethiopia,’ and has helped to digitize the contents of over 100,000 ancient Ethiopic manuscripts and books through an initiative called Mäzgäbä Se’elat—treasury of Ethiopian images.

Professor Gervers proposed that an endowment be established to fund a Chair and Program in Ethiopic Studies. He also made a generous offer to personally match donations made to the endowment up to $50,000. “The endowment will support courses in Ethiopic Studies for undergraduate and graduate students, with a particular focus on Ge’ez language and the rich cultural and intellectual history of Ethiopia,” states the University of Toronto campaign page. A group of Bikila Award organizers and past recipients began to mobilize the Ethiopian community to take up Professor Gervers’ challenge.

Both the Centre for Medieval Studies and Department in Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations at the University of Toronto quickly threw their support behind the initiative and facilitated a $50,000 match contribution from the university. They will also help to design and implement the prospective program.

With the initial endowment established, the Bikila Award organized a community forum to launch an awareness and fundraising campaign within the Ethiopian community. The forum was held on December 19th, 2015 at the University of Toronto and was attended by over 200 people from across the province.

The event was held at the University of Toronto on Saturday December 19, 2015. (Courtesy photo)

Guest speakers at the forum included: Dr. Gelila Tilahun, who worked with Professor Gervers and others to develop statistical dating methods for historical documents; Professor Suzanne Akbari, Director of the Center for Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto; Alpha Abebe, Doctoral Candidate at the University of Oxford; Dr. Fikre Germa, Family Physician at Brantford General Hospital; and Ato Tessema Mulugeta, President of Bikila Award, Inc. The foremost scholar of the Ge’ez language alive today, Professor Getatchew Haile, also joined the panel discussion via Skype.

Several people from the audience shared their enthusiasm and support for the initiative during the discussion period. There was a jubilant mood in the room, and a wide consensus that this was an exciting opportunity that the community wanted to support.

Over $20,000 was raised by the Ethiopian community at the forum and through online donations made by people from as far as France. While fundraising efforts will continue in order to achieve the larger vision of a full Ethiopic Studies Program, the university has announced that it will begin by offering a course in Ge’ez this coming academic year.

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To learn more about the initiative and/or make a donation please visit: https://slate.adobe.com/cp/ODPLq/

About the Author:
Alpha Abebe is a doctoral candidate in International Development at Oxford University. Her research interests include African diasporas, diaspora engagement in development, the sociology of migration, and the politics of race and ethnicity.

Related:
2015 Bikila Award Ceremony in Toronto

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Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Published: Friday, December 25th, 2015

New York (TADIAS) — Ethiopian opposition leader and former political prisoner Professor Bekele Gerba — who visited Washington, D.C. this past summer to raise human rights concerns with U.S. officials — has been arrested again, this time in connection with the massive student-led protests rocking Ethiopia’s Oromia region.

OFC chairman Merera Gudina told Reuters that police arrested Bekele on Thursday, December 24th along with the OFC’s Assistant Secretary Dejene Tafa. “They suspect that our party and some of our members are part of the protest movement, that we have been inciting the demonstrations,” Merera told Reuters. “We do not know when Bekele and Dejene will be released or be charged for anything.”

In 2011, after his meeting with researchers from Amnesty International, he was arrested on what Gerba believed were “trumped-up terrorism charges, often used in Ethiopia against political dissidents.” NPR states. “In court he made remarks that have been widely circulated in Ethiopia and beyond: “I am honored to learn that my non-violent struggles and humble sacrifices for the democratic and human rights of the Oromo people, to whom I was born without a wish on my part but due to the will of the Almighty, have been considered a crime and to be unjustly convicted.”

“Bekele Gerba was languishing in a high security Ethiopian jail, hearing the cries of fellow prisoners being beaten and tortured,” NPR noted in a recent profile of Bekele Gerba.

Addis Standard published a bio of Bekele Gerba in May 2015 highlighting that the father of four “graduated with a BA degree in foreign language and literature from the Addis Abeba University (AAU) and taught in Dembi Dolo and Nejo high schools in western Ethiopia..and went to Adama Teachers’ College, 98kms south of Addis Abeba, where he taught English and Afaan Oromo. Suspected of allegedly supporting students’ riot that took place a year before, Bekele was dismissed in 2005 by the college. He then came to Addis Abeba where he taught in two private universities for two years until he was employed in 2007 as a full time lecturer by the AUU where he continued teaching English. Bekele’s political career began in 2009 when he joined the opposition party, Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM), as a member of the executive committee and head of the public relations department. Bekele participated and lost in the 2010 parliamentary elections in which the ruling EPRDF claimed more than 99% of the seats in parliament.”
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Related:
Ethiopian opposition figures arrested over land protests (Reuters)
Ethiopia Opposition: 80 Killed in Protests Against Land Plan (AP)

U.S. State Department, Human Rights Organizations Address Crackdown on Protestors in Ethiopia
Crackdown Turns Deadly In Ethiopia As Government Turns Against Protesters (NPR)
US Concerned About Protester Deaths in Ethiopia (VOA)
At least 75 killed in Ethiopia protests: HRW (AFP)
‘Unprecedented’ Protests in Ethiopia Against Capital Expansion Plan (VOA News)
Ethiopians on Edge as Infrastructure Plan Stirs Protests (The New York Times)
Opposition: More Than 40 Killed in Ethiopia Protests (VOA News)
Violent clashes in Ethiopia over ‘master plan’ to expand Addis (The Guardian)
Protests in Ethiopia leave at least five dead, possibly many more (Reuters)
Why Are Students in Ethiopia Protesting Against a Capital City Expansion Plan? (Global Voices)
Yet Again, a Bloody Crackdown on Protesters in Ethiopia (Human Rights Watch)
Anger Over ‘Violent Crackdown’ at Protest in Oromia, Ethiopia (BBC Video)
Ethiopian mother’s anger at murdered son in student protests (BBC News)
Minnesota Senate Condemns Recent Violence in Ethiopia’s Oromia State
The Brutal Crackdown on Ethiopia Protesters (Human Rights Watch)
Deadly Ethiopia Protest: At Least 17 Ambo Students Killed in Oromia State (VOA)
Ethiopia protest: Ambo students killed in Oromia state (BBC)
Students killed in violent confrontations with police in Ethiopia’s largest state (AP)
Ethiopia: Oromia State Clashes Leave At Least 11 Students Dead (International Business Times)
Ethiopia: Discussing Ethnic Politics in Social Media (TADIAS)

Join the conversation on Twitter and Facebook.

Guernica Magazine

By Dinaw Mengestu

Growing up, we had strange bedtime rituals. In Peoria, Illinois, when my sister and I were very young, my father would sit between our beds and tell us stories of animals who fought, lied, and cheated their way through the jungle world he invented for us. There were dense forests, green hills, and rivers. There were lions, crocodiles, zebras, giraffes, and laughing hyenas, which my father, in his raspy scarred voice, would imitate. The heroes of the stories were always two mischievous monkeys who could cheat all the other animals who, while taller, stronger, and more ferocious than them, lacked their wit. In the end the monkeys always found refuge at the top of the tallest trees—a vantage point from which, in retrospect, they would have had a clear view of all the havoc they had caused.

As a child, I didn’t think of the stories as being particularly related to Ethiopia, or, on a broader scale, Africa. I didn’t think about where this landscape, with trees that, according to my father, were larger than anything I could imagine, came from, or what these animals, whom my father spoke of as if real intimates, were doing in the crowded and deeply divided bedroom my sister and I shared. They were ordinary fictions, bedtime tales invented wholesale each night, sprung effortlessly from my father’s mind like a long, deep breath. And so there he is, in both memory and imagination, straddling the narrow space between our beds with these stories that my sister and I were both desperate to hear, clueless as to how far they had traveled to wash up, as if by accident, in Middle America.

My father, of course, eventually stopped with the stories. He might have done so because we no longer asked him to tell us them, or because we were old enough to read on our own, or because it was the mid-1980s, and Caterpillar, where my father worked, was going through a round of layoffs that would bankrupt my parents’ plans of buying their first home. Or perhaps he stopped because suddenly, everywhere we turned, Ethiopia, or one tragic version of it, was staring back at us. There it was on the evening news, dying of hunger, and there it was in the well-intentioned questions of strangers who must have been baffled to hear my father declare that he was a political exile, one who had fled a civil war, the same one that was helping cause the famine. I became conscious around then of my father’s politics and that growing consciousness meant eschewing childish things. I saw how he read and watched the news with an almost religious devotion. I remember him voting for Reagan as a newly minted US citizen, because Reagan, like my father, hated the communists, both in Russia and the ones who had taken over Ethiopia. I remember staying up past my bedtime to watch the news of the US bombing of Libya. It was a strangely celebratory mood in our apartment—my father applauding the president as he spoke from the Oval Office, and then, later, calling the White House to share his overwhelming, wholehearted support. The Libyans weren’t communists, but Gaddafi was a tyrant, just like Ethiopia’s Mengistu Haile Mariam. On the scale of things, Tripoli wasn’t that far from Addis Ababa, and now, after that evening, who knew where in Africa America’s bombs might land next.

Read more at Guernicamag.com »

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Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Updated: Saturday, December 19th, 2015

New York (TADIAS) — As protests in Ethiopia continue to grow over land administration and urban expansion issues in Oromia region, so are the procession of mourners at the burial services for those killed by Federal police in the last three weeks.

Human Rights Watch said on Friday that “Ethiopian security forces have killed dozens of protesters since November 12, 2015 in Oromia regional state, according to reports from the region. The security forces should stop using excessive lethal force against protesters.”

At least 75 killed

HRW added: “Police and military forces have fired on demonstrations, killing at least 75 protesters and wounding many others, according to activists. Government officials have acknowledged only five deaths and said that an undisclosed number of security force members have also been killed. On December 15, the government announced that protesters had a “direct connection with forces that have taken missions from foreign terrorist groups” and that Ethiopia’s Anti-Terrorism Task Force will lead the response.”

Samantha Power, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, took to social media to weigh in. She tweeted “Ethiopian Prime Minister’s concerning rhetoric could portend violent crackdown against #OromoProtests.” Ambassador Power pointed her followers to an Amnesty International warning that “Anti-terror rhetoric by Ethiopia’s government could escalate into a brutal crackdown on protesters.”

US Concerned

The U.S. State department also released a statement on Friday, December 18th noting that “The United States is deeply concerned by the recent clashes in the Oromia region of Ethiopia that reportedly have resulted in the deaths of numerous protestors. We greatly regret the deaths that have occurred and express our condolences to the families of those who have lost their lives. We urge the government of Ethiopia to permit peaceful protest and commit to a constructive dialogue to address legitimate grievances. We also urge those protesting to refrain from violence and to be open to dialogue. The government of Ethiopia has stated publicly that the disputed development plans will not be implemented without further public consultation. We support the government of Ethiopia’s stated commitment to those consultations and urge it to convene stakeholders to engage in dialogue as soon as possible.”

“Protests by students began in Ginchi, a small town 80 kilometers southwest of Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, when authorities sought to clear a forest for an investment project,” HRW said: “Protests quickly spread throughout the Oromia region, home of Ethiopia’s estimated 35 million Oromo, the country’s largest ethnic group. The report added: “They evolved into larger demonstrations against the proposed expansion of the Addis Ababa municipal boundary, known as the “Addis Ababa Integrated Development Master Plan. Approximately 2 million people live in the area of the proposed boundary expansion and many protesters fear the plan could displace Oromo farmers and residents living near the city.”

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Related:
Crackdown Turns Deadly In Ethiopia As Government Turns Against Protesters (NPR)

US Concerned About Protester Deaths in Ethiopia (VOA)
At least 75 killed in Ethiopia protests: HRW (AFP)
‘Unprecedented’ Protests in Ethiopia Against Capital Expansion Plan (VOA News)
Ethiopians on Edge as Infrastructure Plan Stirs Protests (The New York Times)
Opposition: More Than 40 Killed in Ethiopia Protests (VOA News)
Violent clashes in Ethiopia over ‘master plan’ to expand Addis (The Guardian)
Protests in Ethiopia leave at least five dead, possibly many more (Reuters)
Why Are Students in Ethiopia Protesting Against a Capital City Expansion Plan? (Global Voices)
Yet Again, a Bloody Crackdown on Protesters in Ethiopia (Human Rights Watch)
Anger Over ‘Violent Crackdown’ at Protest in Oromia, Ethiopia (BBC Video)
Ethiopian mother’s anger at murdered son in student protests (BBC News)
Minnesota Senate Condemns Recent Violence in Ethiopia’s Oromia State
The Brutal Crackdown on Ethiopia Protesters (Human Rights Watch)
Deadly Ethiopia Protest: At Least 17 Ambo Students Killed in Oromia State (VOA)
Ethiopia protest: Ambo students killed in Oromia state (BBC)
Students killed in violent confrontations with police in Ethiopia’s largest state (AP)
Ethiopia: Oromia State Clashes Leave At Least 11 Students Dead (International Business Times)
Ethiopia: Discussing Ethnic Politics in Social Media (TADIAS)

Join the conversation on Twitter and Facebook.

Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Published: Friday, December 18th, 2015

New York (TADIAS) — Last week Seeds of Africa Foundation held another successful fundraiser in New York continuing Miss Ethiopia Atti Worku’s campaign to build a state-of-the-art education facility in her hometown of Adama/Nazret in Ethiopia.

To date the non-profit has raised over $1.3 million of its total $2.2 million goal to fund the creation of the educational institution. “It will meet the most rigorous international academic standards and prepare its students to succeed in high school, college and beyond,” Atti says.

Questlove and Atti Worku. (Photo credit: Sunny Norton)

“The event celebrated the organization’s mission to educate and nurture children and their families by providing quality education and community development programs in Adama, Ethiopia with The Dream School Campaign,” Seeds of Africa Foundation says in a statement. “Featured in WABC, NBC, Huffington Post, the Wall Street Journal, D Magazine and more, Seeds of Africa is a leading organization offering a successful business model for assisting communities in Africa with the tools to accomplish educational and entrepreneurial development.”

“The Founder Atti Worku, Miss Ethiopia 2005 and a former fashion model, created the organization in 2006 after seeing a gap in access to quality education and community development programs for children, young adults and other communities in her home country of Ethiopia.”

During the NYC event, which was held on Tuesday, December 8th, entertainment was provided by Questlove — founding member of musical group The Roots and Musical Director for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon — who performed a curated DJ set list including Prince, Michael Jackson, and Blondie.

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You can learn more about Seeds of Africa at www.seedsofafrica.org.

Related:
Miss Ethiopia Atti Worku Receives Diaspora 2015 Youth Excellence Award
Atti Worku Raises $1.3 Million for School Initiative in Nazret
Former Miss Ethiopia Atti Worku’s Dream School Initiative in Nazret, Ethiopia
Interview with Atti Worku: Founder of Seeds of Africa Foundation

Join the conversation on Twitter and Facebook.

VOA News

By Marthe van der Wolf

December 17, 2015

ADDIS ABABA — Students from the Oromo ethnic group in Ethiopia have been protesting for three weeks against an urban expansion plan around the capital that they fear will lead to land grabs without proper compensation. Security forces have clashed with demonstrators, killing at least five people this week.

The student protests have spread quickly through the Oromo region that surrounds the capital. Farmers and other citizens have been joining the demonstrations.

The government accuses some of the protesters of trying to destabilize the country.

Restricted access

One resident, who wished to remain anonymous out of concern for his safety, said security forces deployed to the region are controlling many access points to stop more people from joining the movement.

“Most of the protesters are farmers,” said one resident. “They came from the rural village into the town. The defense forces, already some of them left to the local areas, to the rural village. The police is also arresting some of those participants.”

The Ethiopian government says it can confirm five deaths from clashes with security forces, while opposition groups say 60 people have been killed so far.

Amnesty International said Wednesday the protests are being “violently suppressed.”

Protests against the “Addis Ababa Integrated Regional Development Plan” also erupted in April 2014, resulting in mass arrests and several dozen deaths during clashes with security forces.

Expansion plan

The master plan is an expansion blueprint for the capital. Citizens in the surrounding Oromia federal regional state say they are concerned the proposed infrastructure will gobble up their land and endanger their cultural heritage. Oromos are the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia, making up about a third of the population.

The government promised to hold inclusive consultations on the master plan after the 2014 protests. Opposition leader Merera Gudina of the Oromo People’s Congress said those discussions were never held.

“We try several times, they refused. Then we tried to organize open public meetings, again they refused, they blocked us,” said Gudina. “Then what we got is this. People are really fed up of this government, their life, especially the young people are fed up of everything.”

Merera is calling for the scrapping of the master plan and transformation of the regional government. The government says the master plan has not been implemented yet, though opposition groups allege that farmers already are being evicted.

Stress points

Protests in Ethiopia are rare. The ruling party has been in power since 1991 and won all seats in parliament during the last national elections in May.

Tensions are there, however, said Hallelujah Lulie of the Institute of Security Studies.

“I think what we are witnessing is an unprecedented level of protests. And I don’t think the security forces and the government was prepared for such level of movement,” said Lulie. “And also I believe, it showed us the ill-preparedness of the state to handle such kind of demands.”

Ethiopia is one of Africa’s fastest growing economies. Still, almost a third of its population lives below the poverty line, and millions of people are being affected by an ongoing drought this year.

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Related:
Ethiopians on Edge as Infrastructure Plan Stirs Protests (The New York Times)
Opposition: More Than 40 Killed in Ethiopia Protests (VOA News)
Violent clashes in Ethiopia over ‘master plan’ to expand Addis (The Guardian)
Protests in Ethiopia leave at least five dead, possibly many more (Reuters)
Why Are Students in Ethiopia Protesting Against a Capital City Expansion Plan? (Global Voices)
Yet Again, a Bloody Crackdown on Protesters in Ethiopia (Human Rights Watch)
Anger Over ‘Violent Crackdown’ at Protest in Oromia, Ethiopia (BBC Video)
Ethiopian mother’s anger at murdered son in student protests (BBC News)
Minnesota Senate Condemns Recent Violence in Ethiopia’s Oromia State
The Brutal Crackdown on Ethiopia Protesters (Human Rights Watch)
Deadly Ethiopia Protest: At Least 17 Ambo Students Killed in Oromia State (VOA)
Ethiopia protest: Ambo students killed in Oromia state (BBC)
Students killed in violent confrontations with police in Ethiopia’s largest state (AP)
Ethiopia: Oromia State Clashes Leave At Least 11 Students Dead (International Business Times)
Ethiopia: Discussing Ethnic Politics in Social Media (TADIAS)

Join the conversation on Twitter and Facebook.

The New York Times

By JACEY FORTIN

BURAYU, Ethiopia — There are creeping signs of tension in this small town on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, the capital. Small groups of federal police officers prowl the streets, eyeing taxi stands and coffee shops. On a side road near the town center, a rectangle of black soot and a single burst tire mark the site where a bus recently went up in flames.

One resident, who asked that his identity not be revealed because he feared persecution for speaking openly, said this whole town had been on edge, especially after the security forces quickly quelled a protest this week.

“There are rumors that two students died, but we don’t know their names because the government uses different ways to keep its actions secret,” he said.

Since late November, dozens of violent confrontations have erupted in towns across Ethiopia’s central Oromia Region, home to the country’s largest ethnic group, the Oromo. Merera Gudina, chairman of the Oromo Federalist Congress opposition party, estimates that at least 50 people have been killed in clashes with security personnel over the past few weeks, affecting dozens of towns across Oromia.

This protest movement is “far, far bigger” than anything the country has experienced since the governing party came to power in 1991, Mr. Merera contended. In towns outside the capital, witnesses have reported fatalities, ransacked buildings, and gunfire.

Protesters and opposition party members say they are fighting against an urban plan — commonly referred to as the master plan — that would link infrastructure development in Addis Ababa with that of surrounding towns in Oromia, including Burayu. Critics say the plan threatens the sovereignty of Oromo communities.

Read more at NY Times »
—
Related:
Opposition: More Than 40 Killed in Ethiopia Protests (VOA News)
Violent clashes in Ethiopia over ‘master plan’ to expand Addis (The Guardian)
Protests in Ethiopia leave at least five dead, possibly many more (Reuters)
Why Are Students in Ethiopia Protesting Against a Capital City Expansion Plan? (Global Voices)
Yet Again, a Bloody Crackdown on Protesters in Ethiopia (Human Rights Watch)
Anger Over ‘Violent Crackdown’ at Protest in Oromia, Ethiopia (BBC Video)
Ethiopian mother’s anger at murdered son in student protests (BBC News)
Minnesota Senate Condemns Recent Violence in Ethiopia’s Oromia State
The Brutal Crackdown on Ethiopia Protesters (Human Rights Watch)
Deadly Ethiopia Protest: At Least 17 Ambo Students Killed in Oromia State (VOA)
Ethiopia protest: Ambo students killed in Oromia state (BBC)
Students killed in violent confrontations with police in Ethiopia’s largest state (AP)
Ethiopia: Oromia State Clashes Leave At Least 11 Students Dead (International Business Times)
Ethiopia: Discussing Ethnic Politics in Social Media (TADIAS)

Join the conversation on Twitter and Facebook.

Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Published: Monday, December 14th, 2015

New York (TADIAS) — Yared Zeleke’s film Lamb will premiere in the United States next month on opening night at the 2016 New York Jewish Film Festival. Lamb is the first Ethiopian film to be an official selection at the Cannes Film Festival and the country’s entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar this year.

“Yared Zeleke’s remarkable feature debut tells the story of young Ephraim, who is sent by his father to live among distant relatives after his mother’s death. Ephraim uses his cooking skills to carve out a place among his cousins, but when his uncle decides that Ephraim’s beloved sheep must be sacrificed for the next religious feast, the boy will do anything to save the animal and return home” the announcement states.

Read more »

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Related:
Tadias Q&A with Yared Zeleke – Director of Ethiopian Film ‘Lamb’
Lamb Review: Sheer Brilliance Knits Together First Ethiopian Film at Cannes (The Guardian)
Watch: Ethiopia’s First-Ever Cannes “Official Selection” Drama ‘Lamb’ (Indiewire)
Lamb: Yared Zeleke’s Film at Cannes 2015 (TADIAS)
Cannes 2015: the complete festival line-up (The Telegraph)
Home work: Filmmaker Yared Zeleke’s Origin Stories (Manhattan Digest)

Join the conversation on Twitter and Facebook.

The Guardian

By Endalk Chala

Updated: Friday 11 December 2015

At least 10 students are said to have been killed and hundreds injured during protests against the Ethiopian government’s plans to expand the capital city into surrounding farmland.

According to Human Rights Watch, the students were killed this week when security forces used excessive force and live ammunition to disperse the crowds.

The students were protesting against a controversial proposal, known as “the master plan”, to expand Addis Ababa into surrounding Oromia state, which they say will threaten local farmers with mass evictions.

According to the Ethiopian constitution, Oromia is one of the nine politically autonomous regional states in the country, and the region’s Oromo people make up the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia.

(Photograph: STR New/Reuters)

Read more at The Guardian »

—
Related:
Protests in Ethiopia leave at least five dead, possibly many more (Reuters)
Why Are Students in Ethiopia Protesting Against a Capital City Expansion Plan? (Global Voices)
Yet Again, a Bloody Crackdown on Protesters in Ethiopia (Human Rights Watch)
Anger Over ‘Violent Crackdown’ at Protest in Oromia, Ethiopia (BBC Video)
Ethiopian mother’s anger at murdered son in student protests (BBC News)
Minnesota Senate Condemns Recent Violence in Ethiopia’s Oromia State
The Brutal Crackdown on Ethiopia Protesters (Human Rights Watch)
Deadly Ethiopia Protest: At Least 17 Ambo Students Killed in Oromia State (VOA)
Ethiopia protest: Ambo students killed in Oromia state (BBC)
Students killed in violent confrontations with police in Ethiopia’s largest state (AP)
Ethiopia: Oromia State Clashes Leave At Least 11 Students Dead (International Business Times)
Ethiopia: Discussing Ethnic Politics in Social Media (TADIAS)

Join the conversation on Twitter and Facebook.

Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Published: Tuesday, December 8th, 2015

New York (TADIAS) — The latest project by NYC-based DJ Mengie and Massinko label is an upcoming album called Reggaetopia, produced in partnership with Tesfaye Tekelu, featuring remixes of traditional Ethiopian sounds with world-music and dancehall beats and an emphasis on Ethiopian musical instruments.

DJ Mengie says the album, which is scheduled for release in 2016, presents ten contemporary musicians both from Ethiopia and the Diaspora. The artists include Aster Aweke, Gigi, Abby Lakew, Edel Abbity, Betty Melaku, Tokichaw, Tigist Afework, Sara Abate, Nesanet Sultan, Bini Dana, Asne Abete, Haileye Tadesse, Sammigo, Yeshi Demelash and Micaya Behailu.

Massinko released a single from the album this month entitled, Bati, featuring the talented vocalists Gigi (Ejigayehu Shibbaw) and Yeshi Demelash, which is available on iTunes.

In the following audio conversation with Tadias DJ Mengie talks about the new album:

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The New York Times

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD

All decent people feel sorrow and righteous fury about the latest slaughter of innocents, in California. Law enforcement and intelligence agencies are searching for motivations, including the vital question of how the murderers might have been connected to international terrorism. That is right and proper.

But motives do not matter to the dead in California, nor did they in Colorado, Oregon, South Carolina, Virginia, Connecticut and far too many other places. The attention and anger of Americans should also be directed at the elected leaders whose job is to keep us safe but who place a higher premium on the money and political power of an industry dedicated to profiting from the unfettered spread of ever more powerful firearms.

It is a moral outrage and a national disgrace that civilians can legally purchase weapons designed specifically to kill people with brutal speed and efficiency. These are weapons of war, barely modified and deliberately marketed as tools of macho vigilantism and even insurrection. America’s elected leaders offer prayers for gun victims and then, callously and without fear of consequence, reject the most basic restrictions on weapons of mass killing, as they did on Thursday. They distract us with arguments about the word terrorism. Let’s be clear: These spree killings are all, in their own ways, acts of terrorism.

Read more at NYTimes.com »

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Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Published: Thursday, December 3rd, 2015

New York (TADIAS) — Last week Yohannes Abraham, special assistant to the President, was in Chicago where he delivered the Keynote address and a message from First Lady Michelle Obama to attendees of a fundraising dinner in support of a girls’ education program run by the Sonia Shah Organization.

The non-profit is named after the late Sonia Shah, the youngest intern in President Obama’s 2012 Campaign.

“Sonia Shah, an exceptionally bright 17 year old young girl, born and raised in the US and Europe, went to build a state-of-the-art girls’ school in order to offer free education to poor girls in the village of Kangra Pakhtoonkwa Pakistan, where only 3 out of 10 girls ever go to school,” according to the Chicago Tribune. “However, when Sonia’s young life was tragically cut short at the age of 18, her mother, Iram Shah, decided to establish and run the Sonia Shah Memorial School.”

Yohannes, who is also Chief of Staff for the Office of Public Engagement and the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, said: “As a star in our campaign, she did a wonderful job.”

“Abraham read out the message of Michelle Obama, the First Lady of the US, who conveyed her greetings to those gathered to celebrate the Sonia Shah Organization and encouraged young people to take charge of their futures through education,” the Chicago Tribune reported.

“With your continued commitment to expanding opportunities for learning, you are truly honoring Sonia’s legacy of compassion and dedication,” added Michelle in her message.

“We were incredibly honored to have Yohannes Abraham, special assistant to the President, as the keynote speaker at our fundraising event last week,” the Sonia Shah Organization said in a Facebook post. “He brought a letter from First Lady Michelle Obama with him lauding Sonia Shah Organization for focusing on one of her passions: girls’ education.”

Yohannes was also the keynote speaker at the Young Ethiopian Professionals (YEP) organization’s 5th anniversary gala last month in Alexandria, Virginia.

Read more at the Chicago Tribune »

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Related:
Video: Yohannes Abraham’s keynote at YEP 5- Year Anniversary Gala — November 7th, 2015

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Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Published: Wednesday, December 2nd, 2015

New York (TADIAS) — Ethiopia’s first annual Design Week launches in Addis Ababa this month with a line-up of local talents from a range of fields including technology, fashion, food, architecture, industrial and interiors design.

“Founded by Creative Director Metasebia Yoseph, Design Week Addis Ababa (DWAA) was established in an effort to provide an international platform both emerging and established artists, artisans and designers of all kinds, while promoting Addis Ababa as a global design capital,” organizers said in a press release. “It also advocates for the implementation of projects that incorporate a design-centered approach to Ethiopia’s development challenges, which Yoseph describes as, “development by design.”

“Made possible by cooperative partnerships with both local and international organizations, DWAA aims to develop programs that strengthen local innovation and creative economies through lectures, workshops, trainings, and events that enhance the true potential of East African ingenuity.”

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If You Go:
Public Exhibition
Saturday, December 12th
Sunday, December 13th
11am to 6pm
Location: Mosaic Hotel, Bole Medhanealem
Tel. (+251) 913-742-847
www.designweekaa.org

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Related:
Contemporary Design Africa Book Features Jomo Tariku’s Ethiopia Furniture

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VOA News

Circus groups from seven African countries showcased their skills over the weekend at the first African Circus Arts Festival in Ethiopia.

Juggling, balancing, gymnastics and other circus tricks were on display.

The circus is an up-and-coming art form in Africa.

Most of the performers are young people who come from difficult backgrounds.

Sabrina Pezzei organized the event. She said it helps young people gain confidence in themselves.

“It gives them also the opportunity to be socialized. It gives the opportunity to perform on stage and to be proud of themselves. It gives them self-esteem, self confidence.”

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Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Published: Monday, November 30th, 2015

New York (TADIAS) — British-born Ethiopian poet Lemn Sissay will present selected readings from his celebrated body of work this coming weekend in Takoma Park, Maryland.

The event that is hosted by Tayitu Cultural Center in collaboration with Takoma Radio, Blessed Coffee and Carpe Diem Arts — will feature an Ethiopian coffee ceremony by Blessed Coffee.

Per the author’s website: “Sissay was the first poet commissioned to write for London Olympics. His Landmark Poem, Guilt of Cain, was unveiled by Bishop Desmond Tutu in Fen Court near Fenchurch St Station.”

In addition to writing several poetry books, articles, and plays “a BBC TV documentary, Internal Flight, as well as a radio documentary entitled Child of the State were both broadcast about his life. His Ted Talk has close to a million views.” Lemn Sissay was 21 years old when he wrote his first book Tender Fingers In A Clenched Fist.

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If You Go:
Friday, December 4, 2015
6:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Historic Takoma building
7328 Carroll Avenue
Takoma Park, Maryland
Limited seating
Click here to RSVP
For more info call 301-802-2812

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Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Published: Saturday, November 28th, 2015

New York (TADIAS) — Ethiopia’s Genzebe Dibaba and USA’s Ashton Eaton have been named the 2015 World Athletes of the Year.

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) made the announcement on Thursday “after outstanding and memorable seasons which saw both athletes break world records and strike gold at the IAAF World Championships Beijing 2015,” IAAF News reports.

“Both athletes set world records during 2015, Eaton in the decathlon and Dibaba in the 1500m, and won gold medals in these events at the IAAF World Championships Beijing 2015.”

“I am humbled and honoured to receive this award from the IAAF,” said Genzebe via Twitter. “It feels so good to be the World Athlete of the Year.”

Ashton Eaton of the United States and Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia in 2013. (Photo credit: IAAF)

Read more at IAAF.org »

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Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Published: Tuesday, November 24th, 2015

New York (TADIAS) — Ethiopia’s Zone 9 bloggers were honored with the 2015 International Press Freedom Awards on Tuesday in New York City.

The Ethiopian blogging collective shared the prestigious CPJ award with other journalists from Malaysia, Paraguay and Syria.

The ceremony, which took place at the Waldorf Astoria hotel on November 24th, was hosted by ABC World News Anchor David Muir and chaired by Hearst CEO Steven R. Swartz.

Members of Zone9 include: Abel Wabella, Atnaf Berhane, Mahlet Fantahun, Natnail Feleke, Zelalem Kibret, Befekadu Hailu, Soleyana S. Gebremichael, Endalk Chala, and Jomanex Kasaye. At the NYC event on Tuesday, however, only Soleyana and Endalk were present to accept the awards.

The New York Times called the Zone 9 case “one of the world’s most widely followed press-freedom cases,” that began with their arrest in April 2014 under Ethiopia’s controversial anti-terrorism legislation.

Four of the bloggers were cleared of terrorism charges last month while the remaining were freed over the Summer just prior to President Obama’s historic visit to Ethiopia in July.

Ethiopia has released several journalists from prison this year including the Zone 9 bloggers and Reeyot Alemu, but CPJ says the country is still “holding around a dozen journalists in jail in relation to their work.”

Below are photos from the 2015 International Press Freedom Awards honoring Ethiopia’s Zone 9 bloggers:

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Related:
Audio: Interview With Zone 9 Bloggers Soleyana S. Gebremichael & Endalk Chala

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Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Published: Monday, November 23rd, 2015

New York (TADIAS) — Ethiopian-Canadian music star The Weeknd (Abel Tesfaye) was one of the early winners, for favorite album in Soul and R&B, at the 2015 American Music Awards on Sunday.

The Weeknd received the award for his newest album, Beauty Behind the Madness.

“Prince, who earned a rousing applause, presented the first award of the night to the Weeknd for favorite album,” AP reports. The ceremony, which was hosted by Jennifer Lopez. was held at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles, California.

Prince, right, presents The Weeknd with the award for favorite album – soul/R&B for “Beauty Behind the Madness” at the American Music Awards, Sunday, November 22nd, 2015. (Photo: AP)

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Related:
The Unstoppable Abel Tesfaye (The Weeknd): Rebel with Harmony
The Weeknd Interview: Abel Says Grew Up Listening to Aster Aweke & Mulatu Astatke
The Weeknd (Abel Tesfaye) to Guest Star in TV’s Hottest Hip-Hop Drama ‘Empire’
Can the Weeknd Turn Himself Into the Biggest Pop Star in the World? (NY Times)
Inspired by Michael Jackson, The Weeknd Goes from Rebellious Songwriter to Chorus Lover
The reclusive artist talks ‘Beauty Behind the Madness’ (Radio.com)
With dark tales of sex and drugs, is the Weeknd the next face of R&B? (The Guardian)

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Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Published: Friday, November 20th, 2015

New York (TADIAS) — Five artists from Ethiopia will be featured for the first time at this year’s Miami Art Basel, one of the largest art events in the United States.

The Ethiopian artists include Desta Hagos, Daniel Taye and Merid Tafesse, as well as works by the late Ermias Mazengia and Mathias Lulu (who both passed away in 2013).

The 2015 Miami Art Basel takes place from December 3rd – 6th in Miami Beach, Florida.

“It is the first in the 13-year history of Miami Art Basel that Ethiopian art or African art in this context will be presented,” said the curator Dr. Desta Meghoo J.D, who was formerly Managing Director of the Bob Marley Foundation, during a press conference held on Thursday morning at the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington DC.

“It is important to note that Miami gets over half a million visitors just for this particular event,” Dr. Desta said. “That’s a lot of eyes, ears, curiosity for art and a major opportunity for us to expose Ethiopia through contemporary fine art.” She added: “We are very happy to get the support that we’ve received especially from luminaries like the iconic painter Desta Hagos who is arriving here next Monday.

During the press conference Dr. Desta was joined by one of the featured artists Merid Tafesse who also spoke to reporters.

Below is an audio and photos from the press conference:

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You can learn more at www.tizitaproject.com.

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The Culture Trip

By Joacim Nielsen

Tackling the difficult task of portraying concepts such as globalisation, inequality and the past into works of painting, sculpture and installation, Ethiopian-Belgian artist, Ermias Kifleyesus, is certainly not afraid of tackling tricky subjects. He creates works that are multifaceted – using materials he stumbles across in everyday life. We take a look at Kifleyesus’ latest works of art, creating art in standard phone booths.

Being a native of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and now based in Brussels, his art reflects the different cultures and the parted and fragmented world he knows: billboard commercials, retro film posters and old kitsch oil canvases melt together to show a globalised world with little coherence.

Gallery owner and Kifleyesus’ exhibitor Paul Kusseneers explains that the artist works in multifaceted ways. A rather odd method takes place in international telephone booths: ‘Kifleyesus curled some posters together and placed them in phone booths where people are calling family and friends across the globe…he placed a pen and people started drawing on it’. As he was explaining this, Kusseneers pulled out a poster cut in several pieces, brown-edged and full of all kinds of different alphabets, squiggles and drawings.

Ermias Kifleyesus | © Paul Kusseneers and the artist

The idea behind this project was to demonstrate that these phone booths in immigrant neighbourhoods across different cities in Europe were a link to the rest of the world. They create a gateway to greater understanding, where all manner of people can communicate and many languages can be spoken.

Kifleyesus calls it ‘an open source’, alluding to the collaborative nature of the project. The final result even involved the removal of the wooden shelves on which callers would lean, encrusted with dirt they made interesting additions to Kifleyesus’ later installation. For Ermias Kifleyesus, it is not necessarily essential to create an artwork from scratch, but rather to carefully gather together objects that represent moments in time, unique pieces of forgotten history to be unified by him into a single art-form.

An ideal recent example of this is Kifleyesus’ collection of several old canvases by unknown artists, purchased from a flea market in Amsterdam. When he had gathered a suitable selection, Kifleyesus duplicated, cut and drew on the canvases to create a piece portraying fractured and unique works of art.

Read more »

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Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Published: Monday, November 16th, 2015

New York (TADIAS) – Seeds of Africa Foundation has announced that it will host its annual New Yorkers for Seeds fundraiser event on Tuesday, December 8th in Manhattan. The non-profit, which was founded by Atti Worku (Miss Ethiopia 2005), shares that “the event will celebrate the organization’s mission to provide quality education and community development programs in Adama, Ethiopia through the Dream School Initiative.”

Launched in October 2014, the Dream School Initiative aims to raise $2.2 million in two years to fund “the creation of an Ethiopian academy and community center to serve up to 600 students, their families and the Adama community at large.”

“It will meet the most rigorous international academic standards and prepare its students to succeed in high school, college and beyond,” the press release said. “Featured in WABC, NBC, Huffington Post, the Wall Street Journal, D Magazine and more, Seeds of Africa is a leading organization offering a successful business model for assisting communities in Africa with the tools to accomplish educational and entrepreneurial development.”

Earlier this year Atti Worku was honored with the 2015 African Youth Excellence Award. The prize, which is given annually by the U.S.-based research and youth advocacy organization AYE, celebrates “the achievements of a dynamic young African leader in the Diaspora.” The former Miss Ethiopia, who graduated from Columbia University in 2014 focusing her studies on sustainable development, education and social movements, has raised over 1.3 million dollars so far to build a state-of-the-art education facility in her hometown of Nazret/Adama in Ethiopia.

Tadias Magazine is a media partner for the December 8th fundraiser, which features a DJ performance by Questlove; Actor & Producer Gbenga Akinnagbe (The Wire, The Following, 24, The Good Wife); Musician Cakes da Killa; and Alexander Soros, Founder of the Alexander Soros Foundation.

Cocktails will be served courtesy of Owl’s Brewery.

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If you go:
New Yorkers for Seeds Annual Fundraiser
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
6PM – 7PM: VIP Reception with Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony
7pm – 10PM: Evening Program
Studio 450
450 West 31st Street, NY, NY

You may purchase tickets for the Dec. 8th event here:

www.seedsofafrica.org

Related:
Miss Ethiopia Atti Worku Receives Diaspora 2015 Youth Excellence Award
Atti Worku Raises $1.3 Million for School Initiative in Nazret
Former Miss Ethiopia Atti Worku’s Dream School Initiative in Nazret, Ethiopia
Interview with Atti Worku: Founder of Seeds of Africa Foundation

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Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Published: Friday, November 13th, 2015

New York (TADIAS) — This year’s African Diaspora International Film Festival, which kicks off on November 27th in New York City, features three recent Ethiopian films including Rachel Samuel’s Asni: Courage & Glamour in Ethiopia, Kinfe Banbu’s Bilatena, and the U.S. premier of Valerio Ciriaci’s If Only I Were That Warrior, a documentary about the Italian occupation of Ethiopia.

The Ethiopian films are scheduled to be screened on Saturday, December 12th at Teachers College, Columbia University.

Organizers said the filmmakers will be present for a Q&A following the screenings of their films.

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If You Go:
ADIFF 2015: ETHIOPIA- PAST & PRESENT

Below is the schedule and trailers:

Asni: Courage & Glamour in Ethiopia
December 12th at 4pm
Buy tickets

Asni Documentary from Samuel Overton Photography on Vimeo.

“It was a privilege for me to direct a documentary on this extraordinary artist who is as much a cultural icon to Ethiopians as Billie Holiday is to Americans and Edith Piaf to the French. Asnaketch lived her life on the edge of her artistry, over the edge of her passions. But to separate Asnaketch from the social and political climate of conservative Ethiopia, particularly in 50’s and 60’s was impossible. Artists in that time were looked down upon, called derogatorily, “Azmari.” which the church deemed as, “…those not going to heaven.” So this doc is as much about my country, my music, my culture as it is about this original being, Asnaketch, who is a substantive part of the fabric of Ethiopia, past and present.” – Rachel Samuel, Director. Directed by Rachel Samuel, Ethiopia, 2013, 80 min., documentary in Amharic with English subtitles

Bilatena
NY PREMIERE
December 12th at 6pm
Buy tickets

Abi, a dynamic and resourceful twelve year old boy, lives with his mother Degua and his 26 years old university graduate unemployed brother Zelalem (Zele). Abi, who is a hard working boy with two jobs, supports his poor mother and his older unemployed brother through their day to day lives. But when their mother dies of Hepatitus B and Abi is also infected by the virus, Zele must face the big challenge of supporting his own life and keeping his younger brother alive by earning the 20,000 Ethiopian birr per month needed for his brother’s medication. Directed by Kinfe Banbu, 2014, Ethiopia, Drama, 105 min, Amharic w/ English subtitles.

If Only I Were That Warrior
US PREMIERE
December 12th at 8:30pm
Buy tickets

The stories of three characters, filmed in present day Ethiopia, Italy and the United States, take the audience on a journey through the living memories and the tangible remains of the Italian occupation of Ethiopia — a journey that crosses generations and continents to today, where this often overlooked legacy still ties the fates of two nations and their people. Directed by Valerio Ciriaci, 2015, 72min, USA | Italy | Ethiopia, documentary in English, Italian and Amharic with English subtitles.

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Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Published: Wednesday, November 11th, 2015

New York (TADIAS) — A video-art exhibition entitled “Curvature of Events” curated by Ethiopian anthropologist Meskerem Assegued, Founder & Director of Zoma Contemporary Art Center, opens this week at the Ethiopian National Museum in Addis Ababa.

Meskerem initiated the video art exhibition based on pieces “she selected from the permanent collections at the Old Masters Gallery, the New Masters Gallery and the Sculpture Collection [in Dresden, Germany] dating from the mid-1500s to the early 1900s, but excluding the last 100 years from 1914 – 2014.” The works were initially exhibited last year at Germany’s Dresden State Art Collections (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden) — one of the oldest museums and cultural institutions in the world.

Curvature of Events is brought to Addis Ababa by the Goethe-Institut Addis Ababa in collaboration with the Ethiopian National Museum and Zoma Contemporary Art Center.

The featured video artists include Abel Tilahun (Ethiopian) who teaches at American University in Washington D.C., as well as Gunter Deller (German) and Barbara Lubich (Italian). The press release noted: “A dance video choreographed by Christian Canciani from Palucca Hochschule Fuer Tanz Dresden for the opening will be incorporated as part of the exhibition.”

“The exhibition is a window into the way Renaissance, Baroque and Romantic artists depicted their society and how artists of our time interpret that perception relating it to the present,” the press release says.

Meskerem, who is also behind the recent successful exhibit at James Cohan Gallery in New York by Ethiopian artist Elias Sime, has worked with several prestigious art festivals including Venice Biennale (2007), Dak-Art Biennale (2004), as well as organizations in the United States such as the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art and Santa Monica Museum of Art.

“Meskerem Assegued’s curatorial career goes back over twenty years,” adds the press release. “During the last sixteen years she has curated several exhibitions in Europe, Africa and North America. She is interested in contemporary artistic expressions that deal with historical and socio-cultural contexts. She believes all social issues are relevant everywhere regardless of socio-political, socio-economic and geographical differences.”

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If You Go:
Video Art Exhibition at the Ethiopian National Museum
CURVATURE of EVENTS
BAROQUE. ROMANTICISM. VIDEO
Curator: Meskerem Assegued
Nov. 13 Dec. 4, 2015

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Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Updated: Saturday, November 7th, 2015

New York (TADIAS) — The grandson of Ethiopia’s former Emperor Haile Selassie and his extended family are calling for the indefinite postponement of an imminent Christie’s auction in Geneva involving a wristwatch that was their grandfather’s personal possession, and one that they believe was illegally confiscated from him.

In a letter addressed to Mr. Thomas Perazzi, Head of Christie’s Geneva Watch Department, Prince Ermias S. Haile Selassie requested that the auction of the watch — presently scheduled for November 9th, 2015 — be “postponed indefinitely in order to allow time for a proper adjudication of the actual ownership of the watch.”

According to Christie’s the watch, an 18k gold perpetual calendar Patek Philippe 2497, was commissioned in 1954 “as a gift for Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, and presented during his official visit to Switzerland in November that year.”

Christie’s claims that years later the Emperor gave the vintage, personal timepiece as a gift to “an eminent personality, whose descendant is now disclosing it to the world.” Today the watch is estimated to be worth between five hundred thousand and one million dollars.

In response to another family member’s request to halt the auction Christie’s insisted they will not disclose the name for “confidential reasons” maintaining that the auction is legitimate.

“Our specialists have run all the checks on the piece (authenticity, provenance and history of the watch),” wrote Stephane Von Bueren, the International Business Director of Christie’s in Switzerland. “We own visual proof that the watch was given by his Highness to someone he knew very well at the time.”

But the grandson, Ermias S. Haile Selassie, says he wants to know who that “eminent personality” might be?

“As it is well-known in Ethiopia’s sad history, my grandfather was treated with unspeakable indignities and his property confiscated without benefit of law,” Prince Ermias wrote. “Included in the properties stolen was belongings and personal property.” He added: “Nothing was left.”

“I recognize that Christie’s-Geneva is a reputable auction house,” Ermias continued. “I can only assume that Christie’s is unaware of the history of provenance of this watch, and that it is probably illegally taken property.” He warned the European art business institution stating: “I believe that Christie’s would not want to be a party to any furtherance of these illegal transactions.”

The family, we are told, has also retained attorneys in Geneva and are weighing several legal options. They have also contacted the Swiss Police as well as INTERPOL seeking assistance in launching an investigation.

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Related:
Made for an Emperor — A one of a kind Patek Philippe Watch (Christie’s Geneva)
New Book on Triumph & Tragedy of Ethiopia’s Last Emperor Haile Selassie (TADIAS)

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Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Published: Friday, November 6th, 2015

New York (TADIAS) — The fourth edition of Hub of Africa Addis Fashion Week was held on October 22nd at the Millennium Hall in Addis Ababa.

The annual runway event, which this year showcased the work of 17 African designers, was followed with a special private presentation at the Italian Embassy Ambassador’s residence on October 24th.

“This year’s event was extra special as we had Sara Maino, Senior Fashion Editor & Head of Talent at Vogue Italia, attending the event” organizers said in a statement.

Hub of Africa Addis Fashion Week also arranged a panel discussion on promoting African fashion and designers to the international market. Panelists included Sara Maino (Vogue Italia); Marian Spadafora (Italian Designer); Anna Getaneh (Founder of African Mosaique); and Aurelia Calabro (UNIDO).

Below are photos from the 2015 Hub of Africa Addis Fashion Week:

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Related:
In Pictures: Hub of Africa Fashion Week 2014

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Tadias Magazine
By Tadias staff

Published: Friday, November 6th, 2015

New York (TADIAS) — Opening tonight the National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C. is hosting week-long screenings of Ethiopian independent filmmaker Haile Gerima’s most critically acclaimed films including Adwa: An African Victory, Bush Mama, Sankofa, and Teza .

“Each screening will be followed by a panel discussion with activists, actors, journalists, and scholars,” the museum announced.

The program, entitled Streams of a River African and African-American History and Identity in Haile Gerima’s Films, is presented in partnership with Positive Productions Inc., Minab Arts, Humanities D.C., and the Diverse City Fund.

In Adwa, which screens today, “Gerima uses paintings, rare historical photographs, music, recreations, and interviews with elders to tell the story of the 1896 battle in which the Ethiopian peoples united to defeat the Italian army.” Panelists include Kwasi Bonsou; Attorney Gabriel J. Christian and Associates, LLC & Founder of In-iversial Development of Ras Tafari; Greg Carr Professor of African Studies, Howard University, and Adjunct Faculty at Howard University School of Law; and Dagmawi Woubshet, Associate Professor of African American literature at Cornell University.

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If you Go:
November 6
6–10 p.m.
Adwa: An African Victory
USA, Germany, 1997, 97 min., Amharic with English subtitles
Full information and RSVP

November 7
2–6 p.m.
Bush Mama
USA, 1979, 97 min., English
Full information and RSVP

November 11
6–10 p.m.
Sankofa
USA, Ghana, 1993, 125 min., English
Full information and RSVP

November 14
6–10 p.m.
Teza
Ethiopia, Germany, 2008, 140 min., Amharic and German with English subtitles
Full information and RSVP

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