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Haile Selassie I - Teachings Haile Selassie I - Video

From “The Lion and the Cross” – 1963 US Documentary

INTERVIEWER: “Your Majesty, what in your opinion are Ethiopia’s greatest needs?”
HIM: “We have already begun the program most essential for Ethiopia, that is to raise the standard of living of her people through education and better health. These would be the primary objectives. The remaining needs will not be forgotten and will also be taken care of.”
INTERVIEWER: “Your Majesty has taken a personal interest and a personal hand almost in every phase of life in Ethiopia, but does Your Majesty not sometimes grow weary, and perhaps feel that this all too much work for one man”.
HIM: “This is really not significant. One individual naturally cannot shoulder the responsibility of a whole nation. We have already told this to our ministers and government officials. Our main objective in the administration of the affairs of 22 million people is that all should cooperate and share responsibility. This has always been our program and will continue to be our program. Our wish is to serve our country as an Ethiopian. It is our conviction that the administration of the country should not depend on one person, but is rather the concern of all, each in his own way must help his country.”
INTERVIEWER: “What does Your Majesty learn from the attempted coup d’etat?”
HIM: “You can say that they have learned from us, those who attempted the coup d’etat. There is nothing that we have learned from them. If you examine their demands you will find we have already started these reforms. We would have been delighted to learn something new from them.”
INTERVIEWER: “Does Your Majesty see Ethiopia emerging as a leader or perhaps even the leader of Africa ?”
HIM: “Ethiopia does not have any intention of being the leader of Africa as such. It hopes to live harmoniously with all its African sister countries. How long did the american confederation take to become united ? I believe you even fought a war about it.”
INTERVIEWER: “Would Your Majesty care to say a few words in english” ?
HIM: “My English is very poor. The most critical issue that has felt (?) the world in recent times was the Cuba-US conflict. The statemanship and wisdom of Prime Minister Khrushchev has greatly helped to ease the situation. We’d like to take the opportunity to congratulate both President Kennedy and President Premier Khrushchev as well as Secretary General U Thant.”
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Haile Selassie I - Teachings Italo-Ethiopian War

Ethiopia the Last Citadel of Collective Security – 1936

“Do the peoples of the world not yet realize that by fighting on until the bitter end I am not only performing my sacred duty to my people but standing guard in the last citadel of collective security ? Are they too blind to see that I have responsibilities to the whole of humanity to face ? I must still hold on until my tardy allies appear. And if they never come, then I say prophetically and without bitterness the west will perish.” #QHS
April 1936
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Haile Selassie I - Testimonies

A.Morrison, “Ebony” Magazine, Chicago USA – 1963

Ebony, U.S. Magazine
Chicago, December 1963
“Emperor Haile, standing in New York hotel suit where he granted exclusive interview, is also called King of Kings, Conquering Lion of Judah, Elect of God and Defender of the Faith. A newsman who met the Emperor in Africa once observed: ‘When he turns those eyes on you, you get a funny feeling like you were going to melt’.”
(…)
“If there is such a thing as a ‘kingly air’, the Emperor has it”, observed an important U.S. State Department official who accompanied the five-foot-four monarch on his eight-day U.S. visit”
(…)
“On a cool October morning, Emperor Haile Selassie fulfilled in part the biblical prophecy that Ethiopia shall one day ‘stretch forth its hand…’. On that occasion, the little man who for one dramatic hour in 1936 became the conscience of the world, extended the hand of brotherhood to 20 million Americans of African descent, urging them to have faith in their future as free men and to press on with their current struggle for freedom until it is won. He also urged American Negroes to recognize their stake in Africa’s fight against colonialism.
The Emperor’s eight-day state visit (his second) to the United States stirred images that still lingered after 27 years, images of a bewhiskered monarch astride a white stallion leading barefooted Ethiopians against the invading Italian army. Ethiopian spears dueling Italian machine guns. Rocks challenging aerial bombs. Flaming patriotism versus poison gas. And Emperor Haile Selassie pleading to the League of Nations for aid and accurately predicting that Ethiopia’s fall would be a bell tolling the death of the League.
The events of 1935-36 haunted Emperor Selassie during his visit to Philadelphia, Washington and New York, flitting in and out of his talks with President Kennedy and other Americans. (…)
This was my second meeting with the legendary King of Kings. The first confrontation had taken place in 1961 in the richly-ornamented study of his gilded palace in Addis Ababa. (…)
My second meeting was more brief. Emperor Selassie displayed a remarkable composure under rapid-fire questioning and was prepared to continue the interview indefinitely if his schedule had permitted. He apologized for closing the interview, explaining that New York City had arranged a ticker tape welcoming for him and he ought to be there for it. (…)
“Emperor Selassie is the 225th head of the world’s oldest independent state, a 3000-year-old nation that, as one observer put it, ’emerged when England and France were unconceived and the United States inconceivable’. But while contemplating his nation’s extended past, the 72-year-old monarch does not lost sight of the present.”
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Haile Selassie I - Teachings

His Majesty’s Message to the American “Negro”

“We can never forget the help Ethiopia received from Negro Americans during the terrible crisis of 1935.
American Negroes showed great sympathy for our cause and extended the hand of brotherhood to us. This was our great hour of need. It moved me to know that Americans of African descent did not abandon their embattled brothers, but stood by us. The ties that bind Ethiopians to Negro Americans are historic and strong. I hope that these ties will persist and will be strengthened to our mutual advantage.
We follow with the greatest interest the struggle of the colored people of the United States to achieve equal rights and human dignity and we continue to follow the progress of that struggle with intense pain and pleasure.
Pain because colored people in America experience inequality and persecution, pleasure because of the efforts now being made in the United States by Negroes themselves and by the government to restore the freedom, rights and privileges to the colored people which have so long been denied them. We hope for and will continue to work for the speedy and satisfactory solution of the racial problem in the United States. We want our colored brothers in America to know that we are with them in their great struggle for justice.
We in Africa desire success in this struggle. I personally reaffirm our basic unity of purpose. What we Africans and colored Americans seek is identical. We both desire dignity and freedom and an end to oppression and discrimination based on color.
Discrimination violates fundamental human rights, it violates the laws of God and also the laws of man. I cannot emphasize too strongly the importance this problem of racial discrimination has in my mind. I believe both the Eastern countries and the Western countries will have to collaborate to remove this problem which is the scourge of mankind.
I am pleased to note that President Kennedy and his government are making great efforts to solve the racial problem.
We would like to see more colored Americans come to Ethiopia to work and help our people develop our country and improve the standards of living of our population. They can render valuable assistance. Our doors are open. Unfortunately, few Negroes have come so far, but they will be warmly welcomed.” #QHS
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Ge'ez ግእዝ Mysteries

Study Orthodox Faith through the Holy Language

“From those times to this, various books both of spiritual and material profit have periodically been compiled and written in Ge’ez. We remember with deep gratitude those fathers of old who, as time and opportunity allowed, worked with much care and labour and have left us books for the preservation of the Faith and for the increase of learning and knowledge.” #QHS
Ge’ez Books are to preserve the Faith. You nurtured yourself with enough english theology, now it’s time for all those seriously engaged in such studies to get the Original Source.
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Haile Selassie I - Teachings

1st of March 1896 – Adwa Victory

“Just seventy years ago, Ethiopian armies formed almost as if by magic and hurled themselves upon a grasping invader to gain the immortal triumph of Adowa.
The victory of Adowa has long been hailed as one of the major events of the nineteenth century in Africa. Its effects upon Ethiopia and her relations with the colonial powers were far-reaching. Certainly it preserved the nation’s age-old independence from the greedy incursions then being made elsewhere against our brethren on this continent.”
H.I.M. Haile Selassie I
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Haile Selassie I - Teachings

The Importance of Ethiopian Dams

“Almighty God in His infinite wisdom and bounty has blessed our Empire with various incomparable riches, not the least of which is the wealth of our country’s water resources. The development of these resources has been our constant preoccupation and we are today taking the first step in our programme for the fullest utilization of this God-given gift for the benefit of our people, marking thereby the high place which we have ascribed to the matter of water resources in our overall planning. Unlike so many lands around her, Ethiopia has been especially blessed with an abundance of natural resources, and the prolific amount of her annual rainfall makes her fitly to be called: ‘The Water Tower of the Horn of Africa’. Millions of square miles of territory, together with millions of human beings and their livestock depend on the water that flows from Ethiopia’s mountains, and from her comes more than two-thirds of the waters of the Nile.
It is the duty and privilege of this generation and of posterity to conserve and develop these precious resources. To fail to do so will be to fail in our God-given responsibility. In building dams for impounding these waters and utilising the hydro-electric power to be secured from them, we are giving a powerful impetus to all the programmes we have laid out for the economic development of our country. We are thereby protecting from erosion the rich and precious soil of our Empire, and are storing up waters for the irrigation of lands not as yet under cultivation, for increasing our agricultural and plantation potential. We are thus providing the sinews of industry through the generation of electric power, and finally, we are aiding the development of transportation in securing the means for its eventual electrification.” (…)
“Today is a day of deep historic significance, for in laying this foundation stone, we are establishing for our beloved people a source of wealth. This project constitutes the initial step both in the development and utilisation of the water resources of our Empire, and in the programme designed by us for enhancing the progress and expansion of all fields of economic endeavour of our country – agriculture, industry, transportation and communications. And we shall never cease to strive, as we have done in the case of the resources of these Awash waters, to exploit to the maximum each individual source of wealth which God Almighty in His mercy has bestowed upon us. It is our duty to see that yet other barrages are build in order to ensure that this bounty of Providence does not go to waste and is utilised to the greater glory of His handiwork.
This project is but the first step in a similar programme we have in mind for the other water courses of our Empire, such as the Nile with its volume and potentialities so vastly greater, as well as the Baro, the Atbara, the Sobot, the Akobo and the Webi Shebeli.”
H.I.M. Haile Selassie I
Laying the Foundation of the Koka Dam, 1958
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Haile Selassie I - Teachings

Don’t Listen The Propaganda News Media

“We remind you, finally, that all of you are by race, colour, blood, and custom, members of the great Ethiopian family. Although there may be local dialects, we must always strive to preserve our unity and our freedom. We can achieve this only by close co-operation and unified effort, and by struggling firmly against all propaganda trying to break Ethiopian unity and violate her freedom. It is inimical but easy to spread irresponsible news, trying to induce people to betray their country and step outside the path of truth and love of their country. It is to assume a great responsibility to give useful and sound advice and guidance to any intelligent observer who is willing to listen and profit. Such advice and guidance constitute a real source of life, because they reveal the path of truth and preserve the hearer on earth and in heaven. Even as every individual has the duty to sacrifice his life for his country, so also he must defend himself against subversive news and propaganda. You must not believe those who, being unable to think clearly or to achieve their ambitions, try to break the unity of the country with malicious news, in order to obtain temporary personal benefits.”
H.I.M. Haile Selassie I – Ogaden Speech, August 25 1956
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Haile Selassie I - Teachings

Learn Languages

“Difference in language often creates misunderstanding, and can seriously affect the responsibilities that are being bestowed on you. Lack of knowledge of the national language will be a barrier for the education we have in mind for you. In addition to your national language, it is necessary for you to acquire knowledge of a foreign language, for in this way you will not only acquire the basic education, but also will be able to attain the University standard. It is imperative that you encourage your children in the acquisition of education. It is exceedingly difficult for you to fulfill your duties as members of Parliament through interpreters. We have opened the door to education, and it is your duty to use that education. If, through idleness, you do not avail yourselves of this opportunity, you will have condemned yourselves to ignorance.”

–  H.I.M. Haile Selassie I – Ogaden Speech, August 25 1956

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Haile Selassie I - Teachings

Fear Egziabhier only

“ETHIOPIA DEFIANT AS ITALY PLANS TO GRAB AFRICA
‘Ethiopia is not afraid of Italy. We are not looking for war, but if Italy invades our country, we are willing to die to the last man’.
Thus did Emperor Haile Selassie, ruler of the only absolute monarchy in the world today, and a descendant of King Solomon, answer Mussolini’s ultimatum.
Following this declaration, the Emperor instructed his envoy at Rome, Negradas Yesus, to say that Ethiopia would not pay one cent of the $44.900 indemnity demanded by Italy for the death of Italian colonials, nor meet the harsh demands of Italy.”