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Haile Selassie I - Testimonies More Speeches of Haile Selassie I

Drew Pearson – Intelligencer Journal (US) – June 11 1964

Intelligencer Journal (Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA), June 11 1964
Drew Pearson:

“HAILE SELASSIE LOOKS TO EDUCATION FOR SALVATION

After seeing various parts of Ethiopia as suggested by Emperor Haile Selassie, I came back to see him a second time.

His Imperial Majesty received Mrs. Pearson and me in the throne room of the Jubilee Palace, actually a circular office set off from the residential part of the palace. His Majesty wore a dark business suit with stiff collar and black polka-dot tie, rather than his usual military uniform. He sat behind a desk heaped with papers, and the long list of cabinet officers and ambassadors scheduled to see him indicated that he is very much a working, not a titular, monarch.

His Majesty expressed his pleasure at the fact that we had seen so much of Ethiopia. ‘I hope’, he said, ‘that the time will come when Ethiopia will be not merely a historic country but a well-developed country. Education,’ he said, ‘will be the salvation of Ethiopia. It must be expanded.’ #QHS

The conversation quickly got around to the strained relations between Ethiopia and its desert neighbor, Somalia, which has spearheaded an Arab-Communist drive to subvert its Christian neighbor.

‘Somalia is a football field for the players of the East and the West.’ said the Emperor. ‘The reason for the influx of foreign aid to Somalia is to try to carry out the ideologies of the United States on one hand, Russia on the other. The only sufferer, however, will be Ethiopia.’ #QHS

TO GIVE OR NOT TO GIVE

I told his Majesty that the United States had been giving Egypt $140,000,000 of wheat and grain annually despite the fact that Nasser had been undercutting American policy in Somalia, in Yemen, and in pressuring Libya to oust our Wheelus Air Force Base. I asked His Majesty whether he thought this food subsidy for Nasser was wise.

‘I am afraid I cannot advise the United States or the American Congress on their policy,’ the Emperor replied. ‘The policy of the United States is to keep a nation out of the hands of the Reds. At least that is the excuse that is always given. Maybe this will bring Egypt over to your side, maybe not.’ #QHS

‘Egypt’, he continued, ‘gave great publicity recently to the help it had received from Russia in building the Aswan dam, but gave the United States no credit for the food it received. When the dam is finished Egypt will be independent and able to grow enough wheat for the needs of its people.’ #QHS

‘Egypt pretends to be a friend of Ethiopia,’ said the Emperor, ‘but we know that all the time it has been helping Somalia; and also getting aid from the Communist countries.’ #QHS

I asked the Emperor what was behind Somalia’s campaign against Ethiopia: religion or territorial ambition ?

‘Both,’ he replied. ‘Religion can be a name for a political instrumental rather than for divine guidance. Somalia has a conception of creating a greater Somalia. Bevan, the former British Foreign Minister, conceived the idea of a greater Somaliland but never fixed the boundaries. Now Somalia is trying to expand its ideas.’ #QHS

‘However’, said the Emperor with quiet conviction in his voice, ‘I do not propose to budge an inch. If I did, what would have been the use of defending our territory in the war with Italy ?’ #QHS

‘Is Ethiopia getting its fair share of American aid?’ I asked, having in mind the huge outlay of Russian-Chinese-European aid poured into Somalia.

‘I do not like to belittle the aid given to Ethiopia by the United States,’ replied His Majesty. ‘It has been helping to a certain extent. But if, for instance, the United States had build the long-discussed dam at Lake Tana, it would have done for us what the Russians have done for Egypt at Aswan.’ ” #QHS

 

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Haile Selassie I - Anecdotes Italo-Ethiopian War

The Departure from Addis Abeba into Exile (1936)

“Suddenly everyone stiffened. One of the two doors in the pavilion opened. Palace servants, bare-footed and their shammas drawn over the sword-arm, ran out to clear the porch. The Emperor followed.

He was dressed in khaki as a general. His aspect froze my blood. Vigour had left the face, and as he walked forward he did not seem to know where he was putting his feet. His body was crumpled up, his shoulders drooped: the orders on his tunic concealed a hollow, not a chest.

I did not know it then, but later I learned that the chiefs whom he had ordered out, some of whose troops had cheered the very order, refused to go.

They pleaded inability to assemble their soldiers.

They appeared behind the Emperor now, completely satisfied wih their excuses. Gatatchu had even donned a new pair of grey trousers, with a military stripe down the side, immaculately creased. He smelt of fresh scent.

They did not realise, as the Emperor realised, that their reluctance had destroyed the last chance of organised military resistance in Ethiopia. They still believed themselves to be great leaders of men (…)

Gates of the courtyard opened… Nine hundred men followed, armed with new Mausers, marching well, carrying gas masks. As they passed the saluting base they eyes-righted the Emperor.

He did not respond, scarcely raised his hand. He recognised no one. His eyes focussed neither on objects nor on space. After the shock of the final disobedience, the parade which he was now forced to attend meant nothing, and he bitterly paid it no attention.

He went back into the pavilion. Buxton drew near with his box of Bibles, but he could not speak to he Emperor: none of us could speak to him, not even the young adviser Spencer. (…)

I stood between the doors and looked in. The Emperor lay back in the corder of a deep sofa, utterly exhausted, his high black hair showing like a halo over a face without feeling. The Empress sat erect at the other end, with her finger raised. Occasionally the white net on her head shook as she emphasised a point. When he said wearily that he would fight on, she insisted that he should fly. The sixteen-year-old boy stood by for orders, but they never came: he marched his soldiers of a day back to their homes, to the latest bugles of Ethiopia.

For hours the Empress lectured the Emperor. (…)

It must have been then that the Emperor at last decided to go. Reason, the appeal to the League, allied itself to the instinct of flight…”

(Taken from “Ceasar in Abyssinia”, G.L. Steer, 1936)

Categories
Meditations

I-Tal Education for I&I

“Man, after all, is also composed of intellect and soul. Therefore, education in general, and higher education in particular, must aim to provide, beyond the physical, food for the intellect and soul.” #QHS

“What we have seen wherever we went has convinced us that education is as vital as life itself.” #QHS

Education is I-tal like Food, Jah seh.

Similarly, teachers are like farmers or cooks or restaurateurs, producing and elaborating and distributing food.

This food could be pure and healthy, when it is wisely grown without pollution of human ignorance or stupidity, free from pesticides of carnal and personal passions, full of natural truth and without additives of lies;

it could be delicious and tasty, when it is creatively processed and combined with art and skill, spiced with grace and and presented with inspiring and encouraging sense of beauty;

it could be nutritious and energetic, when its mind-soil is fertile and rich of information, watered by living rock-streams of high meditation, warmed by the powerful sun of the African Christ.

Some of them teachers claim to be elder of age and experience and noble in deeds, but their teaching is toxic like fried garbage;

another is monotonous heavy and illegible like a dull inexpressive schlop;

another one is just repeating the same banal rigmarole and rethoric without any actual contribution of usefulness.

Surely, self-help in physical and well spiritual nutrition is the goal, but to reach that stage we generally need the help of our fathers and brethren.

Remember the example of the King: choose the best teachers as the best food for yourself.

(Artworks by Jah Zion)

Categories
Haile Selassie I - Anecdotes

The Feast of St. George (1934)

“At six o’clock one morning I was wakened by his interpreter, a French-speaking Abyssinian, with a message:

‘Blatta Teklu wants you to know that the Emperor is going to drive to the Feast of St. George to-day. Perhaps you would be interested to see this Abyssinian ecclesiastical celebration, and he has sent me to take you there.’

‘Thank you’, I aswered, still half sleep; ‘but why is it necessary to be called out of bed at six o’clock?’

‘Because the service has already begun and the Emperor is praying with his subjects’.

It was not difficult to find the way, for the street leading to the Coptic Church was crowded with people who wanted to see the Emperor. They had waited since midnight to see him for a split second as he drove past in his motor, and were now squatting there till noon, when he would return. When we arrived prayers were still being said in the church and we had to wait outside. (…) At the top of the church steps which continued right round the building hung a white curtain, and a costly carpet had been laid down for the Emperor when he came out. In the background the people were collecting in thick masses, and all the while the priests chanted on, scarcely audible above the din of the crowd. Now I was seeing the real Abyssinians, an ancient immutable race.

Suddenly a wave of movement swept across the crowd. The warriors stood up (…) The priests had appeared at the church door, dressed in blazing vestments of heavy brocade, the bishops wearing crowns of rich gold. (…) The high dignitaries of the land began to leave the church, bowing down before the Emperor’s box that was erected at the top of the steps outside the entrance. After some time the heavy white curtain swayed; people were moving behind it, although it was impossible to see who they were. My guide whispered to me that the Emperor had already arrived but he had to be shielded from the eyes of the Evil One. Then suddenly the curtain dropped. The people saw their Emperor in the flesh, and every man in the crowd collected in the square, from ministers and bishops to warriors and beggars, called out with one voice: ‘Habet, Habet!’ Little Father, Little Father! I bowed to the ground and the Emperor acknowledged my gesture with a friendly smile, for he knew already who I was and I learned later that I had been invitated to the festival at his special command.

Then the service in the square took place. The monks played sing-song psalms of the Coptic Church on their stringed instruments and others performed sacred dances. The music grew wilder, the drums beat louder and the dancing monks whirled in more extravagant ecstasy. Everyone was moving to the rhythm of the thundering drums, while the Emperor, majestically calm, stood quite unmoved by it all.

The dance over, the sacred procession started to go round the church three times. At the head walked the priests, followed by the Emperor, carrying his rifle over his shoulder, a special honour which he renders only to God, for on no other occasion does an Abyssinian nobleman carry arms. The Emperor’s numerous servants attend him and before God he is himself only a servant. His rifle is now not covered because the Devil is crushed out when God is present, but as soon as the procession leaves the vicinity of the church the costly weapon is wrapped up in silk, out of sight of the Evil One.

As the Emperor went past I noticed that he was strikingly pale, and the mayor’s interpreter confirmed my impression.

‘His Majesty is tired out’, he told me, ‘he rose at three o’clock this morning to finish some State business before the Church festival’. (…)

The powerful princes of the Church take the greatest pains to insure that the Emperor always arrives punctually, and woe betide him if he leaves before the end! In many respects he is the Church’s prisoner, for the Church is the real ruler of the country. (…)

The Emperor has often to give up radical reform plans for fear of straining his relations with the Church. The Church is now playing a particularly important part by trying to force the Empire to declare war, but Haile Selassie is standing firm and will remain a pacifist as long as he possibly can.”

(Taken from “Abyssinia On The Eve”, L.Farago, London, 1935 p. 56-62)

Categories
Meditations

Invest in Education Now

Nowadays, the scarce condition of I&I educational system is due to several different factors, and one of them is surely the disproportion of deal between entertainment and education.

We invested in music industry tons of money, attention and support, and we have thousands of artists, sound systems and bands. Myriads of events, festivals, frameworks, structures and superstructures to push and exalt them. To get what ? Nothing actually, for without Education – that is the Root Word – Sound cannot bear actual fruit in Power. Ironically, this is the Tree without Roots that they chant about, and we see that reggae-dub people very often is completely alienated from I&I faith and purposes.

People should learn to spend in their education, as much as they spend in their artistic fun. They should learn to support the educational workers and teachers, and give them space of working expression and economic subsistence. I remind that His Majesty devoted the higher percentage of national budget to financially sustain educational activities. We need books and teachers now to grow, as it was for Imperial Ethiopia, and create a minimum balance of responsibility.

Certain ones claim that teachers are delusional. How much delusional musicians are instead ? Sometimes it seems we have created a privileged caste of richmen that give no contribution to I&I and spread stupidity, indecence and moral confusion. Their environments, without educational basis, become like shameful sodomitic chilling areas with no consciousness at all, and all our resources are wasted in the final instance. We will stop to deceive ourselves with expectations when we will realize they are two essential human jobs and services, that someone has to perform, and earn a living from that, without excesses of esteem and through clear Ethiopian standards.

Let we stop to replace education with music. We need schools and academic workers, and it could never be a concert or a tune to give us that serious learning we need in life. They got another role, another function, another charisma and another talent, and only a handicapped people mix up the two realities without professional discernment.

So let the people start to buy books as they buy vinyls and albums, even at crazy prices; let the people start to pay and respect writers and teachers for their performances, while they worship and idolatrize musicians without reason; let them stop to give educational efforts for granted, like we manage something of second-class, that should be always freely given and got no sacrifice or toil behind.

Indeed, teaching is art and wisdom is worth more than silver and gold. Wake up and give us the Root of Roots.

Categories
Haile Selassie I - Life and Works

The 1935 Nobel Prize for Peace

DID YOU KNOW THAT Emperor Haile Selassie I had to receive the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1935 ? Yet, because of the Italian Invasion and the following international crisis, the committee decided to not assign the award and His Majesty didn’t get it.

As it is reported in Chicago Defender Newspaper, November 30 1935:

“PEACE PRIZE – SELASSIE WON’T GET IT

Emperor Haile Selassie, mentioned prominently a month or two ago for the Nobel Peace Prize, won’t get it. And no one else will get it this year because the committe decided, because of the war raging in Africa and strained tension existing in Anglo-Italian relations in the Mediterranean no one is entitled to it. They also took in consideration the new pupper state nearing establishment in the Far East. The awards were established in 1896 by Alfred Bernhard Nobel, inventor of dynamite and guncotton. It is awarded by a Norvegian assembly committee.”

 

 

Categories
Haile Selassie I - Prophecy

The Eagle the Fourth Beast

“Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. (…) And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.” (Daniel 7:23-28)

“And after this, the night after I saw in dream an eagle that was going up from the sea (…) ‘The eagle that you saw going up from the sea is the fourth kingdom that appeared in dream to Daniel your brother (…) Days come when will be on the earth a kingdom that is more terrible than all those that came before it. (…) The lion that you have seen waking up in the forest, roaring and speaking to the eagle, blaming it for its injustice, is the Messiah, that the Most High has kept for the last days, that came out from the seed of David.” (Apocalypse of Esdras, 11:1 / 12:10-13 / 12:31-32)

“Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed (…) And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.” (Luke 17:30-37)

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Haile Selassie I - Testimonies HIM Visits USA 1954

Daily Princetonian (US) – 1954

Daily Princetonian, 28th of May 1954:

“HAILE SELASSIE WILL VISIT PRINCETON THIS SATURDAY

Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia, arrives in Princeton for a short visit at 2:00 tomorrow afternoon. The Princeton tour is a part of a 50-day trip to the United States by the noted ruler, who is making his first appearance in this country.

While in Princeton, His Imperial Majesty will view the traditional landmarks on Campus and the Garrett Collection of manuscripts in the Library. At 3:30 a reception in his honor will be held in the Faculty Lounge of the Library.

Arriving in this country last Tuesday, the African ruler thanked President Eisenhower on Wednesday for economic aid to his country. Tomorrow Harlem will greet him, and on Tuesday, June 1, a parade will be held on lower Broadway.

During his stay, Haile Selassie will continue to publicize his country’s untapped resources in hope of getting more investors. American capital has been used extensively in Ethiopia in an effort to bring industry to the nation.

The 62-year-old emperor is well known for his appeal to the League of Nations for economic and military sanctions against Italian aggression before World War II.

In 1938 he said, ‘The League is digging its grave. Is it to end its own existence by tearing up the covenant, which is its sole reason for existence ?’

Following the war he invited Italian prisoners of war to stay in Ethiopia so that their technical talents might be utilized.

The Emperor’s official title since taking the throne in 1930 is: His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I, Elect of God, King of Kings, King of Zion, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, Branch of the Tree of Solomon, and Implement of the Holy Trinity.

The potentate’s party, 25 in number, will remain in Princeton for approximately two hours before motoring to New York. The American visit terminates on July 14.”

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Haile Selassie I - Testimonies

Okemah News Leader (US) – 1954

“HAILE SELASSIE I IS FROM THE LONGEST OF ROYALTY LINES

STILLWATER – His Imperial Majesty, Haile Selassie I, the Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, Elect of God, Emperor of Ethiopia, is at once a personification and a contradiction of his titles.

The emperor, who will spend part of two days at Oklahoma A&M college, his only stop on a flight from California to Mexico City, is a descendent of the oldest and longest line of royalty in recorded history.

And, as the reigning monarch of the oldest Christian nation in the world, his gentleness and culture, his consideration for his subjects and his passion for their progress make him appear as heir of all the wisdom and greatness of character, since his line was founded by the union of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba nearly 3,000 years ago.

His stature, delicate features and scholarly manner are a contradiction of the Conquering Lion phrase of the title of the 61-year-old emperor. But, when the occasion requires, he is every inch a king and vigorously asserts his authority or expresses his displeasure.

The Solomonic line was established about 1000 B.C. Haile Selassie is the 225th ruler of the line.”

Okemah News Leader, June 22 1954.

Categories
Ethiopian Orthodox Church

The True Date of the Birth of Christ

DID YOU KNOW THAT the year count in the Ethiopian calendar is 7 years lower than the western one (it’s 2016 in Ethiopia now), as it traditionally places Christ’s birth in 7 AD?

It is well-known that the European date of the birth of Christ, in the so-called year 0, is historically incorrect, in clear continuity with the project of general falsification of Christmas that we witness in the West. It’s interesting to note that even the late Catholic Pope Ratzinger, in his volume “The Childhood of Jesus”, literally admitted that:

“the beginning of our calculation of time – the determination of the birth of Jesus – dates back to the monk Dionysius Exiguus (died around 550), who in his calculations was evidently wrong by a few years… “. And this mistake, according to Pope Ratzinger, should be of “six or seven years“.

Regardless of all the possible speculations regarding the Gospel and its historical credibility, Scripture actually provides us with very precise historical references to locate evidence and witnesses of the told events. And in the case of Christ’s birth, the Gospel of Luke, chapter 2, says clearly that:

“And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria. And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.”

The presence of the Holy Family in Bethlehem is determined by the census of Cyrenius (also said Quirinius), which is historically well documented and indisputably placed in the 6 AD Western Calendar.