I made Sellassie webpages without a thought about the book "H.I.M" -- right now the purpose of the pages is to support the web-book. Including this very page: references, culture, Ethiopia, tradition and so on -- consider everything on HIM site as an apparatus or notes to the manuscript.
Questions
When the book will be published? I don't know. It has to be finished first, but this writing project is not on top of my list. I'm so behind with my textbooks (see Virtual Theatre and Film-North websites. Also, the other five nonfiction books, which are following HIM...
I don't think I can't keep updates on this page; the subject is too broad. Even "Ethiopia" is a big area to cover. The pages should stay on Haile Sellassie and related issues. AA
I still don't know how to mark pages of personal and human interest. There are pages related to Ethiopia and culture, including Religion and Art, and they belong to Third Land. Perhaps, FOOD is a part of it. Rastafarian philosophy and Reggae is another story. We have already three places -- R&R, abstracts & papers on Academic Page and Rasta Reading Room on RRRHaile Sellassie Foundation is more an idea, less an organization.
ON THE BEGINNINGS OF AFRICAN UNITY TO THE A.C.C.R.A. CONFERENCE (Conference of Independent African States)
The convening of the Conference of Independent African States in Ghana, where responsible statesmen representing a free government are gathering to consider common problems, is a great and momentous event.
As an integral part of the African Continent, Ethiopia looks back with pride to the role which she has played in the history of the development of Africa, and looks forward with confidence to the future of this great continent.
In her long and glorious history, Ethiopia, has time and again, had to struggle against overwhelming odds to preserve intact her traditional freedom and independence and to guarantee from generation to generation the right of free men to work out their own destiny without interference or hindrance. The world is only now coming to realize what Ethiopia and Africa have long recognized, that peace, independence and the prosperity of mankind can be achieved and assured only by the collective and united efforts of free men who are prepared to maintain eternal vigilance and labour unceasingly to protect these most precious of God's gifts. The sympathy and support which Ethiopia received from other African peoples when she was invaded twenty-three years ago is ample testimony of the strong sentiments which unite all free African countries.
In our own lifetime the world has undergone changes more sweeping and striking than those seen during any similar period in history. Technical and scientific advances have combined to raise mankind to a level of material achievement never before realized. It is the duty and responsibility of the Independent African States to further this developmed and to bring the benefits of modern civilization to increasingly large numbers of people in Africa.
However, as man's capacity to improve his own lot has grown, so has his power to spread havoc and destruction correspondingly increased. The Independent African States must assure that the growing weight of Africa is enlisted on the side of peace and justice to the end of avoiding a third holocaust which could well engulf the entire world and result in the total destruction of mankind.
But dwarfing even man's material achievements in the twentieth century has been< the emergence of peoples all over the world into freedom and independence. Today, for the first time, men everywhere to whom freedom and independence were, but a short time ago, only words, and for whom economic and political self-determination were no more than far-distant goals, have achieved the status of free men and are directing their efforts and energies to their own advancement. We are particularly gratified and proud that this development has been so marked and widespread on the great continent of Africa. Africa will no longer be the "unknown continent", for its human and material resources are beyond measure, and this great continent now stands on the verge of an economic, political and cultural development which, when realized, will be without parallel in history.
In this development, Ethiopia will have its own particular, and we feel, important role to play. It is for this reason that we have charged Our beloved Son Prince Sahle Selassie with the high mission to be Our personal representative and the head of the Ethiopian Delegation to the Conference of Independent African States. Ethiopia knows how hard-won is independence and how vital it is that men be jealous of their freedom and be ever prepared to defend it. Ethiopia knows, as her history has taught her, that the world is small, and that co-operation among all nations of the world, East and West alike, is not only possible and desirable, but indispensible for the welfare of mankind. Ethiopia knows that the willingness of the Independent States of Africa to co-operate and work together in solving their common problems and achieving their common goals is essential to the continued progress of the African peoples.
It is a propitious omen for the future that at this very moment the free nations of Africa are giving tangible evidence of their determination to work together not only for their own good but for the good of Africa and the entire world. The task is great. It demands wise judgment and statesmanship of the highest order. It requires unceasing labour, a dedication to fundamental principles and objectives and a determination to overcome all obstacles, however large. He who suffers conquers, and in the final resort, wins the crown of victory. We pray that Almighty God will bless the Conference with strength and wisdom and crown its efforts with success.
The King of Kings, Elect of God, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah and 255th reigning monarch of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie I, is a lonely man. At 74, he has outlived his wife, who died in 1962, and four of his six children. His son, Crown Prince Asfa Wossen, disappointed his father by cooperating in a 1960 coup attempt and, though since forgiven, enjoys little rapport with the Emperor. Indeed, there are few even in the palace circle who can remember when the Emperor was Tafari Makonnen, the young regent to his empress aunt, who took the throne in 1916 when Nicholas II still reigned as Czar of Russia and Lyndon Johnson Was in the fourth grade. He went on to win the world's admiration with his grave defiance of Mussolini's legions in the `30s (he was TIME's Man of the Year in 1936), and has remained a durable symbol of courage ever since.
Haile Selassie combats his mounting loneliness with travel and personal diplomacy, and his slight (5 ft. 4 in., 100 lbs.) figure, topped by a face like a Byzantine icon, has become familiar to millions around the world. Last week he came to the U.S. to tell Lyndon Johnson about the problems of Ethiopia, a Christian country flanked by Moslems. The Somali Republic, a new (1960) Moslem nation on his eastern border, has laid claim to much of his land, and has backed up the claim with Russian arms and terrorist raids. One of Haile Selassie's principal aims in Washington was to ask President Johnson for more U.S. military aid to protect his borders. The Emperor, however, has not survived for 50 years by leaving his bets unhedged. From the U.S., he flew to Majorca for a day's rest, and thence to Moscow, where this week he hopes to talk the Kremlin into restraining further military aid to the aggressive Somalians.
Close to Absolute. Haile Selassie's beard may be flecked with grey, but his back is still straight and his command over Ethiopia as firm as ever. He has put down three coup attempts in the past six years (for one of which four army officers are now on trial in Addis Ababa). He is, in fact, as close to an absolute ruler as the century will allow. Although he has permitted a Parliament to function for the past twelve years, he alone has the power to choose his Prime Minister. He regularly plays shumshir-the Ethiopian equivalent of musical chairs-to prevent his top ministers from gaining too much power, and he still serves as his nation's highest court: any subject in the land can appeal his grievances to the Emperor and get a personal hearing. To maintain his authority, he employs a 35,000-man army, a 29,000 strong police force, an elite palace guard and three separate intelligence services.
Ethiopia is still a backward nation, but Haile Selassie has tried hard to change it with the times. In 1926, only 291 students were enrolled in all of Ethiopia's schools; today there are more than 300,000. When he came to power, Ethiopia produced little more than subsistence crops and jaded kaffa (coffee); today it has an industrial base that turns out more than 300 products ranging from acids to textiles. Haile Selassie has successfully courted more than a billion dollars worth of foreign investment, receives foreign aid totaling $150 million a year from such diverse countries as the U.S., Russia, Yugoslavia and India. He has also converted Addis Ababa into a center of black African nationalism by establishing there the Organization of African Unity.
Nothing Unworthy. Even when he is in Addis, Ethiopia's radio and newspapers give top attention to the Emperor's schedule of the previous day before they get around to other news; when he is away, the whole nation follows his progress. The only trouble with the Emperor's trips is that in his absence the entire machinery of government perceptibly slows down. Nothing is unworthy of the Emperor's attention, and he likes to make decisions about almost everything. Officers of the Imperial Golf Club, which is situated on land owned by Selassie, recently had to have the Emperor personally set a date for mowing the grass after the rains.
(c)2004 HIM contents (summary of the HS web-biography) *
Liberty is always unfinished business. --anonymous
