Ethiopia was the only African nation to not give in to colonialism. So it was natural to look to them for leadership, even if their style was not what was intended for Africa’s future. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
When viewing this stamp, it must be remembered how hopeful the 1960s were for Africa. Country after country was achieving independence, and with that came the hope of a better future. With that in mind, look at the vast sugar refinery on todays stamp. Not constructed by a colonizer, with the output going to Europe, but African, with the dignified Emperor Haile Selassie looking on where other countries would have Queen Elizabeth. This was heady stuff then, even if the factory was constructed by a Dutch firm with aid.
Todays stamp is issue A81 a 10 cent stamp issued by the Kingdom of Ethiopia on July 19th, 1965. It was part of a 7 stamp issue in various denominations that displayed industrial progress in Ethiopia. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.
In the late fifties, many states in Africa were achieving independence. Their new leaders were for the most part western educated Africans chosen by the colonies and indoctrinated by the then fashionable socialism. Emporer Haile Selassie was from a different tradition as his Royal house had grown in power from the indigenous tribal system. Ethiopia tried to offer leadership to Africa and hosted/lead the newly formed Organization of African Unity in Abbes Ababa. The goal was African political unity but beyond help for remaining anti white rule forces in Southern Africa, it was mainly a debating society. The new nations could not agree on forming a joint military force and how to replace aid and influence from outside Africa. So a pan African union became an elusive goal.
The sugar refinery on the stamp showed promise. Prior to this plant and one other, all sugar in Ethiopia had to be imported. The factories provided much employment and freed up valueable foreign currency that otherwise went abroad. The sugar refineries eventually closed around 2010 after years of low output after the Selassie regime was deposed. There is currently a program to build 6 new sugar refineries that if everything went well would employ 300,000 workers and see Ethiopia become an exporter of sugar. The project is late, over budget, and is beset with claims of corruption.
The Emperor had a long rule but by the 70s he was quite old and perhaps less vigorous. A British ITV documentary “The Unknown Famine” showed graphically a famine in 1974. This discredited the government which responded by elevating more left wing political figures. The documentary was hoped to attract foreign aid. Newly empowered, the left began showing the documentary over and over on Ethiopian TV interspersed with video of the Emperor’s grand lifestyle and finery. Soon the whole country was in rebellion with riots and strikes in the capital and an army mutiny lead by Marxist young officers. 60 former officials including a Prince, several ex Prime Ministers, and the General staff were summarily executed in September 1974. The Emperor was confined to the Jubilee Palace where he died under mysterious circumstances in 1975. His remains were put beneath a latrine on the palace grounds. The country was run terribly by a Marxist junta for the next 16 years. Much aid flowed to the country, most famously Live Aid, but it was squandered.
The Organization of African Unity was succeeded by the African Union that grew out of the work of former Libyan head of state Muammar Gaddafi. It is still based in Abbes Ababa and has a fancy new headquarters built by Africans themselves. I kid of course, it was built as a gift of China.
Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast self reliance. The Emperor was not a perfect exemplar of that but his efforts toward it give a dignity so lacking among his successors. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.