The Other Side Of The Revolution 

By: Beniam! 

The cruelty of Mengistu’s 17-year reign may indeed be remembered for the divisions it created along ethnic lines but it certainly etched it’s place in history more clearly with the ultimate sin of snuffing out the flowers of Ethiopia without so much as a pretense to justice. The Red Terror is but the exaggerated manifestations of the bloodthirsty regime, for no year went unmarked without the innocent blood of an Ethiopian man or women. In its drive to usurp power and dominate the totality of Ethiopian society, the Derge, did what most military regimes have done, terrorize the population into a fearful stupor.  

The irony of the reign of Mengistu is the sad fact that the military rulers of Ethiopia were initially embraced as heroes and liberators by a large segment of the society, thus given certain legitimacy, yet ended up devouring all who were deemed threatening. This period in Ethiopian history reminds one of the Latin American military regimes of the 1970’s and 80’s that indiscriminately spread the blood of American’s all over the Republics. The military men of Ethiopia and Latin America have in common the crime of subjugating their populations to the rule of terror and fear. Their ideological basis of legitimacy and the historical circumstances that brought them to power may diverge but the trajectory of these military men was to lead their respective societies to some promised land while pounding the same society with an iron fist.  

Mengistu is the focal point of condemnations because he was the central authority of the Derge regime and a symbol of its rule. The demand for justice in the form of his trial in an Ethiopian court of law is substantively similar to the demand of Chilean’s for the arrest and trial of General Pinochet. Yet, both remain immune and safe from being held accountable for the crimes committed under their respective regimes while the former leader of Yugoslavia is denied refugee and made to account for the blood spilled not by his hands but by his regime [a scenario that reveals well the interconnectivity of Third World dictators and those powerful groups in the ‘international community’, whom they serve, that protect them]. 

The psychological trauma inflicted on the Ethiopian people may never be fully understood but the physical dismemberment of Ethiopia’s flesh and Ethiopia’s land is a legacy of the Derge and of Mengistu.  

The reign of terror may, for some, be blissfully in the distant past while others relive the horrors they underwent. Nevertheless, the beginnings of healing start with retelling stories of what happened so as to come to terms with our past and live a less burdensome present.  

Past 
We have to discard the past
and, as one builds
floor by floor, window by window,
and the building rises,
so do we go on 
It has gone, but if they call, we relpy:
“I am here,” knowing we are not,
that what once was, was and is lost,
is lost in the past, and now we will not return. 
Pablo Neruda –Chile (1940-1973)

An elected senator in Chile 

The many who perished may never find justice today nor will those living at home or in exile but at least we can find comfort in each other’s stories for we are not alone in our agony. We are not alone in our efforts to bury the past and make do with what we have left. From places that are as far from us as East Timor, Afghanistan and Kashmir to the more proximate surroundings of Gaza-West Bank, Algeria, Liberia, Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, Angola and Eastern Congo the World is full of horror stories. We all want to live with dignity befitting our humanity and thus we strive to move beyond the past. Those who write and teach today of the horrors of yesterday are the lucky survivors and for that we must listen attentively to their stories so that we may hear a side of the revolution that rarely gets air time.

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