The Ghion Journal
Want to know how a few can enslave millions? It’s as simple as it is wicked; you have to incite tribalism into the populace and convince fellow strugglers that their plight is different than their neighbors. This is how the continent that was once called Ethiopia and subsequently rebranded to Africa by colonizers was subdued; soulless slave traders and godless mercenaries created borders where none existed and fostered ethnic animosity among the citizenry. They divided us; we conquered ourselves.
The only nation that escaped the clutches of colonization was my native land Ethiopia. My forefathers refused to succumb to tribalism and united in order to smash would-be occupiers at the Battle of Adwa in 1896. Where capital oppressors could not defeat us on the battlefield, they turned to subterfuge and fractured Ethiopia by loosening a more subtle form of separatism called ethnic federalism. They convinced Ethiopians that the way to freedom was through tribal politics and democracy laced with the toxins of animosity and indifference. Within 27 years, Ethiopia went from being the crown jewel of “Africa” to a country on the brink of civil war.