The Ethiopian Campaign and French Political Thought

Chapter Seven: Ethiopia’s Internal Situation

41 Ev eryon e k nows that the vast ter ritories subjected to the suzerainty of the Negus contain immense natural riches that have been little developed. A better use would assure that these riches would contribute to the common good of humanity. It would also add to the prosperity of the Italian nation, so disagreeably lacking in raw materials . These are the things that appear completely desirable. It has to be recalled once more—regrettably, we are obliged to do so—that wars over oil, phosphates, diamonds, or opium have never passed, in the eyes of Christian conscience and natural law, for just wars. A more difficult question concerns Chapter Seven E t h iopi a’s I n t e r na l Sit uation 42 | The Ethiopian Campaign and French Political Thought the possibilities of European inhabitation of Ethiopia: it indeed seems that these possibilities are very small, especially since the habitable regions desired by Europeans are already densely populated. On Ethiopia’s political and social condition, the essentials, insofar as they involve the moral problem posed by the Italian enterprise, seem to have already been discussed at length. Do the Italian memoirs and the reports in our pro-Fascist press contain exaggerations? That appears to be the case, but is hard to verify. What is certain is that Ethiopia’s internal situation presents a very somber picture to the eyes of the most sympathetic observers. The central power is weak, intrigues and civil wars are frequent; security of persons, especially travelers, is only mildly bothered about; mores recalling the most frightful barbarism persist in certain regions; the justice system is cruel, education barely developed; the rude state of technologies, ignorance, and poverty contribute to very poor sanitary conditions; slavery, in various forms, has spread everywhere; slave raiders continue despite energetic attempts to eliminate them. None of this is in doubt, and there is enough here for us to put the question of the legitimacy of a foreign intervention; we reject in effect the liberal principle of non-intervention: theology and common sense agree in recognizing the possibility of internal situations so inhuman that they justify intervention by foreign powers, potentially through force of arms. Such situations represent few cases, doubtless quite rare ones, but their existence must be admitted. Is Ethiopia one of these limited cases? We note first that it is always easy to move people by describing, even in strictly non-exaggerated terms, what is most unhappy about a country, without saying anything about the favorable sides of the situation. The story of Ethiopian atrocities, accompanied by photographic documenta- Ethiopia’s Internal Situation | 43 tion, was able to convince many that the Italian enterprise, all questions of oil aside, represented a magnificent humanitarian crusade: the image of a tank shooting out death is easier to bear than that of a mutilated child. Everyone lives daily in forgetfulness that the human condition—though in differing degrees—involves frightening things. Our souls are too weak to bear the image of horror: that is why we remain ignorant of the horror present in our midst, and content ourselves with satisfying our sense of virtue by decrying the horror that rages among distant tribes, demanding that it end. Just imagine what the picture of contemporary France might be if we only kept aspects of such dark visions, even without exaggeration! Though the Negus is often helpless in the face of his large feudal subordinates, isn’t the government of the French Republic at every moment held in check by less open, but no less undisciplined powers? These powers occasionally commit acts of civil war; but what is even more serious is that they contribute to increasing the chances of an international war that would kill more French in a month than the feudal disputes in Ethiopia would kill Ethiopians in a century. Destitution and pathological death rates? Just think about our numberless unemployed, about unhealthy living conditions where so large a proportion of our urban population live in moral and physical decay. Leprosy may rage in Ethiopia, but tuberculosis kills 100,000 French each year, of whom a great number could be saved if public funds were used to build healthy dwellings and sanatoriums: rather than being used to produce war materiel. (I do not wish to say that our military expenditures, in the current state of international relations, are not necessary. I only want to...