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Hayla-Sellase: From Progressive to Reactionary Bahru Zewde Addis Ababa University Perhaps all major historical figures are controversial, capable of arousing blind admiration or unremitting hatred. If that be the case, Ethiopia does have its fair share of such historical personalities. Tewodros was depicted by some foreign writers as a "mad dog let loose."1 Even in Ethiopia, the Gondar clergy are not overly fond of him.2 And yet, few Ethiopian rulers have captivated posterity as had Tewodros. He has been practically canonized. He inspired playwrights (Germachaw Takla-Hawaryat and Tsagaye Gabra-Madhen) and novelists (Abbe Gubagna). His horse-name Tataq was adopted by the Ethiopian Student Union in Europe (for its journal) and by the Darg (for its military training camp). And the EPRDF baptized its most decisive campaign Zamacha Tewodros. Iyyasu is another controversial figure of the modern age. Unfortunately for him, he was succeeded by a ruler of extraordinary political longevity who found it in his interest to have him portrayed in the darkest of colors. As a result, he has retained the charges of apostasy and frivolous conduct that cost him his throne in 1916. Yet, popular culture was prepared to view the teenage ruler with indulgence. And he was adored by peripheral nationalities like the Somali and Arsi Oromo, to whom he embodied a more humane relationship with the center. It is also this residual attraction of Iyyasu that explains the dramatic surfacing of his progeny onto the national stage in times of crisis: his sons in 1936-41 and his grandsons in 1974 and in 1991.® Northeast African Studies (ISSN 0740-9133) Vol. 2, No. 2 (New Series) 1995, pp. 99-114 99 100 Bahru Zewde No less than Tewodros or Iyyasu, Hayla-Sellase has also been capable of arousing violently contradictory emotions and sentiments. Foreigners in particular have been practically mesmerized by him. His League of Nations speech in 1936 continued to win international admiration. But Ethiopians, who would have preferred to see him die fighting, were not particularly impressed by his performance at Geneva. Nonetheless, it is a fact that he was regarded with awe and reverence by most of his subjects. It is equally true that the younger generation could only view him with a degree of resentment and ridicule almost unprecedented in Ethiopian history. The Darg inherited that resentment and practically wrote him off from the history of Ethiopia, more or less as he himself denied Iyyasu any place in Ethiopian history. By the same token, it will take quite a while before Mangestu will cease to be viewed as a monstrous aberration in Ethiopian history. All this raises a fundamental question. Will we ever see the day when Ethiopian rulers will be viewed as human beings who operated within the context of their times rather than as demi-gods or monsters? Or is the present going to be the perennial millstone of the past? While it is an inescapable fact that history can be written only from the perspective of the present, it need not be the case that it be completely subservient to the needs and requirements of the present. Ethiopia is indeed one of the places where an argument for the de-politicization and de-ideologization of history is very much in order. Fortunately for Hayla-Sellase, the years of his historical quarantine are now over, and historians can engage in a sober and dispassionate assessment of his reign. This is not to deny the value of the studies of Hayla-Sellase and his government made so far.3 But for a person who dominated the life of a country for the better part of a century (and we are still living through the after-effects of his era), much more still remains to be done to understand the full import of his reign. What is being attempted here is a contribution toward defining the general contours of that reign. Definition of Terms The terms "progressive" and "reactionary" are obviously loaded ones. The wisdom of using them might thus indeed seem questionable. But I Hayla-Sellase: From Progressive to Reactionary 101 think that, with due clarification, they can help us understand the ambivalent position that Hayla...

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