Why I accuse the Amhara & Tigray Monophysitic Abyssinians of Racism – Part II

In a previous article entitled ‘Why I accuse the Amhara & Tigray Monophysitic Abyssinians of Racism – Answer to Berhan Tsehai’
(http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/73697), I published a brief mail of protestation sent to me by Mr. Berhan Tsehai, who denied for himself my earlier characterization of the political morons of ´Ethiopianism’ as ‘Africa´s most repugnant racists’.

As the term applied to an entire list of publicly known, fervent ‘Ethiopianists’, in my preliminary answer, I reminded Mr. Tsehai that Nazi Germans, Stalinist Communists and many other followers and members of the world’s most repugnant tyrannies and totalitarian ideologies customarily denied the autocratic and dictatorial nature of the systems they fervently believed in and devotedly served.

I stated that ´Ethiopianism´ is a racist ideology promoted by Kinijit and Ginbot-7, two terrorist organizations that fallaciously portray themselves as democratic alternative to Meles Zenawi’s autocratic rule, without truly being so. As Mr. Tsehai’s texts fully demonstrate sympathies to one or both of the aforementioned ‘parties’, I declared that I would immediately publish a correction statement, if he only stated that he rejects the original fact that made me define him as racist, namely his adherence into the racist ideology of ´Ethiopianism´ and his alleged sympathies to either Kinijit or Ginbot-7.

As I have already published an analytical refutation of Kinijit´s fundamental texts, accusing this organization of racism, I added links to my earlier published articles.

As my characterization concerned an entire list of publicly known, fervent ‘Ethiopianists’, I found useful to add links to further literature I have already published against two notorious ‘Ethiopianist’ racists, notably Messrs. Abebe Gelaw and Mamo Muchie, in which I unveiled their racist ideology. I then stated that, if Mr. Tsehai (whose ‘ideas’ are the same as those of the aforementioned two enemies of the tyrannized peoples of Abyssinia) admits in public that Kinijit and Ginbot-7 are racist organizations, and denounces Messrs. Abebe Gelaw and Mamo Muchie and their racist ideology, I will be most jubilant in presenting my public excuses to him, and I will withdraw his name from the aforementioned list.

Before I proceed through an analysis of Mr. Berhan Tsehai’s texts and of the vision and mission statements of Ginbot-7, I find it necessary to set basic rules and focus on the criteria that enable us to understand the racist nature of an idea and ideology, before we come to notice it as part of a text, statement and article, and as personal ideological choice of uneducated and inhuman people. It is through the aforementioned clear that I do reject the possibility of a racist individual being possibly educated, cultured and civilized.

In fact, there can be racist individuals who may have obtained a Ph. D. in Medicine, Law, Engineering or various other disciplines; in this case, it is necessary to bear in mind that mere technical knowledge, even the accumulation of over-specialized scientific data in one person’s mind, does not consist in proper culture, correct education, civility or enlightenment.

At times, we may encounter racists, who studied Humanities and even became scholars in one of the disciplines of the Humanities; in this case, we deal with an unambiguous case of mistaken education, fake culture, and distorted enlightenment; in fact, there cannot be culture, education, civility and enlightenment without Humanism. And racism opposes Humanism frontally and bluntly.

To specify the criteria of a judgment that helps identify a racist person, we need to first define racism itself. I will quote basic definitions from the wikipedia and several reputable dictionaries.

Racism - Definition

"Racism, by its simplest definition, is the belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. People with racist beliefs might hate certain groups of people according to their racial groups. In the case of institutional racism, certain racial groups may be denied rights or benefits, or get preferential treatment. Racial discrimination typically points out taxonomic differences between different groups of people, even though anybody can be racialised, independently of their somatic differences. According to the United Nations conventions, there is no distinction between the term racial discrimination and ethnic discrimination".

Definition

While the term racism usually denotes race-based prejudice, violence, discrimination, or oppression, the term can also have varying and hotly contested definitions. Racialism is a related term, sometimes intended to avoid these negative meanings. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, racism is a belief or ideology that all members of each racial group possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially to distinguish it as being either superior or inferior to another racial group or racial groups. The Merriam-Webster's Dictionary defines racism as a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular racial group, and that it is also the prejudice based on such a belief. The Macquarie Dictionary defines racism as: "the belief that human races have distinctive characteristics which determine their respective cultures, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule or dominate others."

Legal

The UN does not define "racism", however it does define "racial discrimination": according to the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the term "racial discrimination" shall mean any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, religion,descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life.

This definition does not make any difference between prosecutions based on ethnicity and race, in part because the distinction between the two remains debatable among anthropologists. According to British law, racial group means "any group of people who are defined by reference to their race, colour, nationality (including citizenship) or ethnic or national origin"".
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism)

Possible Reactions of ‘Ethiopianists’ to the Definition of Racism

Having gone through the aforementioned, one may be astounded to see ‘Ethiopianists’, like Mr. Berhan Tsehai, accept the definition, but deny that it applies to them and their ideas!

They would for instance pretend that they

1. do not think that "race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities",

2. do not believe that "racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race" (and notably an inherent superiority of the Amhara and Tigray Abyssinians – with respect to Eastern Africa), and

3. do not "hate certain groups of people according to their racial groups" (and notably the Oromos, the Ogadenis, the Afars, the Sidamas, the Kaffas, the Shekachos, the Kambaatas, the Gedeos, the Hadiyas, the Wolayitas, the Anuak, the Agaws, the Shinashas, the Bertas and the Gumuz – with respect to Abyssinia).

Of course, all these pretensions are false, and I will demonstrate this further on, but here I want to go on, anticipating further false claims of the ‘Ethiopianists’, this time not concerning their own ideas and beliefs (as the above three points) but historical facts.

‘Ethiopianists’, like Mr. Berhan Tsehai, may easily accept the aforementioned definition, but still deny that "certain racial groups may" have been "denied rights or benefits, or" got "preferential treatment" in Abyssinia (fallaciously re-baptized ‘Ethiopia’).

Here is the real hiatus.

Understanding the Essence of Racism

Racism has two aspects: it is a thought, a belief, an idea; and it is also an action, a deed, an act. The latter is the consequence of the former. The gap between the deeds and the words is called hypocrisy, mendacity or duplicity, and it has always been attested in human societies.

Therefore, as everybody can disclaim an injurious idea and denounce sharing a deleterious belief, all we have to take into consideration is an act, a deed, an action, and their visible, attestable objectives. Proper analysis of an act and the objectives involved leads to revelation of hidden intentions and unconfessed purposes.

We will therefore demonstrate herewith how the undeniably perpetrated acts of the Amhara and Tigray Monophysitic Abyssinian rulers, elites and masses are relevant to racist beliefs and ideas. In fact, targets achieved reveal hidden intentions, and this leads to proper understanding of the Abyssinian racism or, to put it correctly, the Abyssinian systemic, institutional racism.

As act, racism means racial discrimination; this means preferential treatment. What is the essence of this preferential treatment?

Preferential treatment means denial (expressed to a race, people or nation) of fundamental (also called natural) rights that have been considered as inalienable to all. The natural rights involve life, liberty, and property.

In fact, every act that denies to an individual or, even worse, a nation the aforementioned natural rights consists in preferential treatment. When the denial of liberty concerns an entire nation, a distinct race, and - in contrast - liberty is accorded as right to another nation, another distinct race, and – even worse – the latter is granted right of hegemony over the former, we certainly have a grave case of institutional racism.

Abyssinian Institutional Racism

Institutional racism is the gravest form of racism. Wikipedia (as above) describes institutional racism as follows:

"Institutional racism (also known as structural racism, state racism or systemic racism) is racial discrimination by governments, corporations, educational institutions or other large organizations with the power to influence the lives of many individuals. Stokely Carmichael is credited for coining the phrase institutional racism in the late 1960s. He defined the term as "the collective failure of an organization to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture or ethnic origin".

Maulana Karenga argued that racism constituted the destruction of culture, language, religion and human possibility, and that the effects of racism were "the morally monstrous destruction of human possibility involved redefining African humanity to the world, poisoning past, present and future relations with others who only know us through this stereotyping and thus damaging the truly human relations among peoples.""

In the case of Abyssinia, preferential treatment, i. e. racial discrimination, is the consequence of successive Abyssinian invasions of the national territories of the Oromos, the Ogadenis, the Afars, the Sidamas, the Kaffas, the Shekachos, the Kambaatas, the Gedeos, the Hadiyas, the Wolayitas, the Anuak, the Agaws, the Shinashas, the Bertas and the Gumuz.

These currently subjugated nations were independent before 150 years; in the span of almost a century (ca. 1860 – 1950), the Abyssinian invasions led to illegal annexation of the invaded lands, and then started Africa’s most repugnant racism, involving precisely denial of liberty and national independence to all the subjugated nations, and in addition grant of hegemony right to the (racially unrelated to the aforementioned subjugated nations) Amhara and Tigray Monophysitic Abyssinians.

Of course, it would be a dramatic mistake to limit the Abyssinian institutional racism to just the aforementioned type of preferential treatment, namely the denial of liberty and national independence. In a forthcoming article, I will expand on all aspects and practices of Africa´s most repugnant racism.

Note
Picture: Customary result of the Abyssinian institutional racism