Yohannes Woldemariam trawls through the history books to betrayal the truths of Haile Selassie'south 44-year reign over Ethiopia.

Emperor Haile Selassie, who ruled Federal democratic republic of ethiopia from 1930 to 1974, died in 1975, but he lives on through the romantic lyrics of the late Jamaican reggae star Bob Marley and Ethiopian pop star, Tewedros Kassahun, better known equally Teddy Afro.

However there is a wide range of views of the man whose full official championship was: "His Royal Majesty Haile Selassie I, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, Male monarch of Kings and Elect of God." Some remember him as a benevolent ruler who resisted Italian colonisation. For others, he is a god, yet others view him equally a tyrant.

Marley's portrayal of Selassie is strongly influenced by the Rastafarian belief that he is God incarnate, equally allegedly "prophesied" by Marcus Garvey. On the other hand, Teddy Afro, an Ethiopian, is promoting his version of Ethiopianism (Ethiopiawinet).

The Kebra Nagast (also known as the Glory of Kings) is the ancient text from which Selassie'southward mythology stems. It narrates the relationship between King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba and their son Menelik I, who allegedly hid the Ark of the Covenant in Ethiopia. Like Menelik Two (1889-1913), Haile Selassie, a distant relation, claimed descent from the Solomonic dynasty. Inspired by this ideology, Ethiopian kings and emperors have conquered lands and enslaved indigenous groups. In this sense, the Kebra Nagast tin fairly be compared to the 19th century expansionist white American ideology of the Manifest Destiny.

Haile Selassie circa 1923

Those who have solely learned well-nigh Selassie through the music of reggae stars and Teddy Afro may well have developed the impression that Selassie was a fatherly benevolent ruler and a champion of blacks. However, this portrayal of Selassie and his predecessor, Emperor Menelik II, is grossly distorted. Clearly, even though the last Ethiopian monarch was overthrown in 1974, undercurrents of the Kebra Negast nevertheless reverberate in the soapbox of Ethiopian nationalism. While the bulk of the Ethiopian people do not subscribe to this belief system, some Ethiopians expect for aspects of the Kebra Nagast narrative for Ethiopiawinet. Yet this mythology, or elements of information technology, creates huge divisions through its implicit expectation that Ethiopians accept this version of identity politics.

Rastafarian representation of Selassie

For Rastafarians, Ethiopia is Zion and the Promised Country and in 1948 Selassie granted them land in the Rift Valley for a settlement in Shashemane. The settlement has never been big, with no more than a 1000 Rastas at its peak and now about 400. There was never a mass exodus of Rastas to Ethiopia, and they never assimilated. They live in isolation much like the Amish in the United States.

The Rastafarian connection with Selassie is fabricated with a tenuous understanding of Jamaican Pan Africanist Marcus Garvey'due south famous prophecy: "Expect to Africa, when a black king shall be crowned for the twenty-four hours of deliverance is near!" This reference to "Africa" was reinterpreted to mean Ethiopia and the link to "a black male monarch" was the coronation of Selassie in 1930. The travel writer Bill Wiatrak claims that the Rasta movement originated in Ethiopia simply it actually began in Jamaica through the misinterpretation of Garvey's message.

Garvey exhibited no admiration for Selassie. He condemned him as a "great coward" for fleeing Mussolini's troops in 1935, when Italy invaded Ethiopia. He also criticised Selassie'southward practise of slavery, which was non abolished in Ethiopia until 1942. In Garvey's ain words:

Information technology is preferable for the Abyssinian Negroes and the Negroes of the globe to work for the restoration and freedom of the country without the assistance of Selassie, because at best he is but a slave main. The Negroes of the Western World whose forefathers suffered for three hundred years under the terrors of slavery ought to exist able to capeesh what freedom ways. Surely they cannot feel justified in supporting any system that would concur their brothers in slavery in another country whilst they are enjoying the benefits of freedom elsewhere. The Africans who are free tin besides capeesh the position of slaves in Abyssinia [Ethiopia]. What right has the Emperor to keep slaves when all the democratic sections of the world were free, when men had the correct to live, to develop, to expand, to enjoy all the benefits of human being liberty?  (1937, p.741)

While few reggae aficionados realise the wide gulf betwixt Selassie's mythological representations in pop culture and the reality of his tyrannical reign, the perception that Selassie was a proud African and a champion for black people is not supported by the facts. He only reluctantly later embraced the Rastafarians because he understood their public relations value for his cult of personality. Some of his dedicated followers would exist dismayed to learn that Selassie revered not his "own people" but the Ferenjochu (Europeans) and Americans, who were routinely invited to his lavish parties in his palace.

His overthrow in 1974 and subsequent death caused "a crisis of faith" in Jamaica amongst the followers of the Rastafarian faith. The religion does not accept the former emperor'southward decease and instead depicts it as a "disappearance" like to the conventionalities held by the Shiite branch of Islam when "the Hidden" Imam Hussayn was martyred in the seventh century. Bob Marley's 1975 song called Jah Live seeks to abnegate the fact of Selassie's expiry past insisting that a deity could non have died.

Teddy Afro and his reverence for Ethiopian monarchs

Teddy Afro stylistically mimics Bob Marley when singing the praises of Selassie and even of Menelik Ii who claimed to be a descendent of Menelik I. In his songs, Teddy Afro proclaims unity and love for all Ethiopians. It is worth request how Ethiopian unity is served by his praise for these monarchs. If his objective is to promote a unified pan-Ethiopian nationalism, information technology seems to have backfired past provoking indigenous nationalism among the Oromo who do non share similar conceptions of these rulers ­– and rather view them every bit the reason for their oppression and suffering. A selective reading of history does piddling to build a strong national foundation. Rather, a new social contract is desperately needed which respects the pluralism and diverseness of the country.

Historical accounts of the reign of Menelik II evidence him equally contemptuous of blackness, an expansionist, an enslaver and vicious. Equally a case in point, Eritreans made important, though fiddling-acknowledged contributions to the Ethiopian victory over the Italian colonisers in Adwa in 1896 past gathering crucial intelligence on Italian war strategy. Emperor Menelik II returned the favour by savagely amputating the artillery and legs of Eritrean war prisoners. Never heed that these poor Eritrean peasants were violently forced to fight under Italian republic, but as other European colonialists used Africans, Indians and other colonial subjects equally cannon fodder for their wars of conquest everywhere. Still, Menelik 2, the so-called "champion of a black victory," decided to set up free his Italian and Libyan war prisoners while mutilating the Eritreans.

In fact, Menelik II'due south reconstructed image as a historical amanuensis of blackness liberation does not fit recorded events. For instance, his state of mind was revealed through a comment to a Haitian dignitary that he did non consider himself to be a black homo. Therefore, Teddy Afro's celebration of Menelik every bit the "Tikur Sew together" ("Black Homo") lacks historical basis. Invoking Selassie or Menelik 2 as Teddy Afro does polarises communities because it insults those who practice not share this interpretation of history and the terrible legacy of these monarchs.

Haile Selassie as an international statesman

It should be noted that Haile Selassie'south global prominence was due to his position as a very loyal customer of the West – much similar the Shah of Iran and Mobutu of Zaire. These clients maintained power through repression and the murder and silencing of true patriots. Unlike Selassie however, history accurately remembers Shah Reza Pahlavi and Mobutu Sese Seko as tyrants. Yet, efforts are underway to depict Selassie as a pan-Africanist and a visionary. Some accept campaigned vigorously for his statue to be erected in front end of the African Marriage building in Addis Ababa. Sadly, the African Union has acceded to the request.

Selassie often took undeserved credit for others' contributions. One example was Lorenzo Taezaz, an Eritrean, who enhanced Selassie's image during the Italian invasion of Ethiopia. While the emperor was in exile in Bathroom, England, Taezaz secretly slipped into Ethiopia and organised the Arbeghoch (patriots). He recruited two,000 or so Eritreans who had fled Italian colonial rule to fight for Ethiopia from their refugee settlements in Republic of kenya. He also smuggled weapons for the Arbegnoch. A famous spoken communication delivered past Selassie, famed for developing his aura as statesman and defender of his people, at the League of Nations in 1936, is widely believed to have been written by Taezaz. The emperor eventually repaid Taezaz past demoting him from his position as Foreign Government minister. He died presently after in 1947 in suspicious circumstances.

Selassie "demonised as a dictator"

Does Selassie deserve to exist depicted as a dictator? The historical tape provides a decisive answer.

First, it is well-established that he spent $35 million for jubilant his lxxxth birthday during the Wollo famine. He travelled widely, visiting the United States many times, just stopping once in Jamaica in 1966.

Perhaps less well-known are Selassie'southward crimes and his assembly, such as Asserate Kassa in Eritrea. These are too numerous and ghastly for the scope of this piece. For further reading on this, I recommend Michela Wrong's book titled I Didn't Practise it For You. How the World Betrayed a Small African Nation.

Similarly, the autocrat is remembered in Tigray for inviting the British Royal Air Forcefulness to bomb the region in 1943 to quell what came to be known as the kickoff Woyane Rebellion. He consolidated his power by weakening the provinces afterward Italy's defeat past the British in 1941.

He was also harsh towards those Ethiopian patriots who fought confronting the Italians while he fled to Uk. For example, Belay Zeleke, a national war hero was hung on his orders. Unfathomably, Teddy Afro recently praised both Selassie and Belay Zeleke during an advent at the Millennium Hall in Addis with the Eritrea President Isaias and Federal democratic republic of ethiopia PM Abiy in the audience. It seems unconscionable to praise a murderous traitor and his victim, too. The parable of Polish writer Ryszard Kapuscinski: The Emperor, Downfall of an Autocrat is an accurate depiction of the real Selassie.

Why bother with Selassie at this time?

The romantic rewriting of Selassie'southward legacy, and the distorted history of other Ethiopian monarchs have significant relevance for electric current Ethiopian politics. Selassie's legacy needs to exist exposed in light of attempts by musicians, historical revisionists in the diaspora, foreign beneficiaries and politicians to command the narrative through false representations.

This cannot be dismissed as benign and harmless because of the role music plays in creating what the theorist of nationalism, Benedict Anderson, calls 'imagined communities' and its crucial office in political organising. Music heightens and releases endorphins creating a sense of belonging among people with shared sentiments which tin can lead to collective action. The misplaced course of blackness nationalism created by Rastafarians, in giving reverence to a man who never deserved it, is therefore harmful.

Even so, I gloat the add-on of reggae to UNESCO's 'Intangible Cultural Heritage' list while taking exception to the claim: "its contribution to international discourse on issues of injustice, resistance, love and humanity underscores the dynamics of the element every bit being at once cognitive, socio-political, sensual and spiritual." The tape of reggae is rather more nuanced and mixed, particularly in reference to the place given to Selassie.

Information technology is often said that the victors or the powerful are the ones who write history. History is ill served when popular celebrities and musicians motivated by religion or some kind of hyper-nationalism misrepresent the past. This is offensive to the victims and divisive for communities who need genuine solidarity.

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Dr Yohannes Woldemariam is an academic who attended high school in Ethiopia. He tin exist reached at: yohannes99@hotmail.com.

The views expressed in this post are those of the writer and in no way reflect those of the Africa at LSE blog, the Firoz Lalji Centre for Africa or the London Schoolhouse of Economic science and Political Science.