Ethiopia Pt.3: The Shadow of the Derg

13 snips

Jan 29, 2025

Explore Ethiopia’s turbulent history from the fall of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974 to the rise of the brutal Derg regime. Discover the horrifying Red Terror and its violent suppression of opposition, intertwined with Cold War politics and international intrigue. Learn about the catastrophic famine of the 1980s, driven by both natural disasters and authoritarian policies. The discussion also highlights the Ongoing Tigray War, setting the stage for a deeper understanding of Ethiopia's complex political landscape.

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ANECDOTE

Revolutions and Dictatorships

Ethiopians who cheered the 1974 revolution later regretted it, as the monarchy was replaced by a totalitarian regime.
This mirrors the 1979 Iranian Revolution and even the English Civil War, where dictatorships followed regicide.

INSIGHT

Mengistu's Rise

Mengistu Haile Mariam's resentment over racial injustice fueled his political ambition.
His rise to power involved consolidating control through violence and political maneuvering.

ANECDOTE

Eliminating Rivals

Mengistu's execution of 60 political figures echoes Saddam Hussein's Eternity Hall massacre.
Both leaders consolidated power by eliminating rivals within their own ranks.

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Conflicted comes to the end of our Ethiopia series with an episode beginning at the fall of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974, and charting the country's tumultuous course through the late 20th century. This was a time characterised by a brutality the country had not witnessed before, as the Communist military dictatorship, known as the Derg, wreaked havoc on the country.

Ethiopia in the 70s and 80s was one dominated by horrifying episodes of mass death – from the Red Terror which engulfed the country in 1977 to 1978, to the terrible famine in the 1980s which caught the world’s attention, birthing Live Aid and songs from Western Musicians to raise money, which would come to be so common (if later criticised) in the decades to come. It was also an era of Cold War intrigue, with Ethiopia thrust into wider geopolitical games involving the US and the USSR – even Cuba! – as well as warring with its neighbours and, eventually, with its own dictatorship.

Thomas and Aimen bring our discussion of the fascinating and fraught land of Ethiopia to a close with a tour de force, as they discuss all this and more, also setting up the context for the Tigray war which took place in Ethiopia in 2020 - 2022, with devastating consequences. And if you want to find out more about the Tigray War, we recently completed an episode for our Conflicted Community with journalist Martin Plaut, to explain the specifics of the conflict.

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