Over the past 44 years, a most vicious and virulent strain of disinformation has been employed against the Ethiopian monarchy by Marxist propagandists followed up by a concerted campaign of lies by tribal politicians. A coup d’etat that was instigated by foreign agents to eradicate the Solomonic crown and erase our history in the process has poisoned the minds of significant portion of the Derg generation and transferred into the psyche of their children. A lie that is not challenged stands, so I write these seven misconceptions and a factual rebuttal to each to not only challenge the fabrications but to defend the honor of Ethiopia and her heritage.

Lie number one: the Ethiopian monarchy was feudalistic

Factual Rebuttal: the Ethiopian monarchy is not like the European model that was predicated on nobility dictating to the general population. To the contrary, the Ethiopian monarchy was always progressive in that the people’s voices were represented. Each area has a council and each council then had a seat within a regional council and so on and so forth until the people’s representative had a seat at the Crown Council.

Lie number two: Democracy is better than a Constitutional Monarchy

Factual Rebuttal: unlike the current form of tribal politics that has made all Ethiopians homeless in their own nations and given veto power to foreign interests, a constitutional monarchy would actually represent the interests of the people. A democracy that does not have a knowledgeable public and a leadership class that believes in service ahead of self-service is nothing more than despotism with the façade of a vote. Some of the most prosperous nations in the world—including the United Kingdom, Norway and Japan—have constitutional monarchies. We would be better off with leaders who can think long term instead of partisans who only care about political expediency and their own narrow self-interests.

Lie number three: the Ethiopian monarchs only cared about enriching themselves and impoverished the people

Factual Rebuttal: this is one of the biggest lies that the Derg used which has been co-opted by the current crop of leaders who spread these lies in order to protect their turf. While there have been periods of negligence during the Solomonic and Zagwe Dynasties that reached its apex during the Zemene Mesafint, to omit the fact that it was the Ethiopian monarchy that kept Ethiopia free from colonization and made our country a nation among nations is a lie befitting of the devil. While Mengistu Hailemariam killed 500,000 plus of our countrymen and women, Meles Zenawi introduced apartheid by way of Ethnic Federalism that is destroying Ethiopia from within and the current prime minister leads with photo ops and sloganeering, past kings and queens literally died for our nation. The history of the Ethiopian monarchy did not start during the 19th or 20th century, ours is the oldest in recorded history. The lion of Judah, the Solomonic lineage that traces its bloodline back to King David and the fact that Ethiopia is mentioned in the bible more than any other nation, these are all part and parcel of the Ethiopian monarchy. Denying these facts is to deny our own history and those who submit to these lies by omission are submitting to colonization.

Lie number four: the Ethiopian monarchy only represents the Orthodox religion

Factual Rebuttal: The Ethiopian monarchy, as I noted above, traces its roots back to the Old Testament. Ethiopia is called the tribe of Judah for a reason; in our bloodlines is the blood of King Judah. The first king of Ethiopia was Menelik I who was the son of Queen Sheba and King Solomon. These stories are not just Christian stories, these are the stories shared by Jews, Christians and Muslims. As Lij Teodrose Fikremariam—the chair of Ethiopians for Constitutional Monarchy and a direct descendant of one of Ethiopia’s greatest Solomonic emperor by the name of Atse Tewodros II (pictured above)—notes, the three major religions are not so much separate stories as they are trilogies. Christianity is a continuation of Judaism and Islam is linked to Christianity. At the core of all three faiths is Ethiopia. It bears repeating, Ethiopia is mentioned more than any other nation in the bible, it was in the Axum empire that Joseph and Mary sought refuge and it was in Ethiopia where the prophet Muhammad found relief from his persecutors after King Armah granted him asylum, a fact that led to the Prophet Muhammad decreeing that Ethiopia shall not be harmed by any Muslim. Ethiopia is a very spiritual land; we do not hide our faiths, we embrace it. However, the Ethiopian monarchy has always and continues to be responsive to all faiths without bias against any religion.

Lie number five: What we need in Ethiopia is more economic development not a return to past glory

Factual Rebuttal: a nation without an understanding and a respect for its past is one that shall perish. We have really let ourselves go as we embrace all things foreign and disrespect our own heritage. We call our Sendek Alama “bandira” and spit on the graves of our forefathers who fought and died at Adwa and during World War II against the bandira when we disrespect our national pride by calling it a word that is not ours. We call ourselves habesha which is an insulting word given to us by outsiders as we erase Ethiopia in the process. We brag about never being colonized yet we act the part each time we diminish and disparage our past. To add insult to injury upon injury, the very cadres who loosened Ebola level tribalism in Ethiopia put a Satanic star on our Sendek Alama and tarnished a blessed land with their demonic pentagram. What we need is to respect ourselves and to carry ourselves with dignity instead of acting with false pride and bravado. Moreover, economic development that enriches a few people while a vast majority of Ethiopians are indentured to a lifetime of slave wages and charity it not development at all but an economic lekso (funeral). We need leaders who can implement policies that puts the needs of the people first instead of being talk only and making grand pronouncements that are lacking in substance.

Lie number six: the Ethiopian monarchy only represented Amharas

Factual Rebuttal: this ugly face of tribalism that we are seeing manifest itself in Ethiopia and beyond is something that did not exist a generation ago. It was considered poor taste to talk about zerinet (tribalism) and Ethiopians of prior generations always put nation above tribe. There is no such thing as a “pure race” in Ethiopia; all of us are a mix of various tribes and communities. Past monarchs were likewise mixed with various tribes and ethnicities. There is not one king or queen in the history of Ethiopia who was “pure Amhara”. This is not to dismiss that certain tribes did in fact feel the heat of exclusion, but this was not a byproduct of one tribe punishing the rest—all Ethiopians have suffered at one point or another. However, what we have now is a form of institutional bigotry that divides Ethiopia the same way Germans once walled off Jews from the rest of society. The ghettos are called provinces and the prisons are tribal identities. If we keep this up, we will become Yugoslavia if we are lucky and Rwanda if the worst is to materialized. Let us think about these things and pray for enat Ethiopia instead of adding logs onto the fire and thinking about tribe above Ethiopiawinet.

Lie number seven: Ethiopia needs political and social modernization

Factual Rebuttal: chasing modernity while throwing away our heritage is exactly the reason we have become exporters of raw resources and importers of rubbish. There was a news article published a few days ago that cited that Ethiopia and Senegal are the top two nations when it comes to importing trash from America and Europe. For shame! We have morphed from a nation admired by billions to a beggar nation that openly brags about accepting AID and mortgaging our future in order to service exorbitant debt. If this be modernity, let us be antiquity. I believe in progress and that we need to be ahead of the curve when it comes to technology, inclusion and shared prosperity. But progress that advances the agendas of a few while regressing the rest into poverty is nothing more than colonization. We can do better than this! Ethiopia can become the Japan of Africa if only we have leadership that has a vision and understands our history.

In summation, I humbly submit that Ethiopia needs not false modifications at the margins but a transformational change of society. Past politicians and current leaders have proven that they are not able to truly unify Ethiopia as they prefer to keep intact ethnic federalism in order to enhance their clout while the people suffer. Perhaps our best and only hope is restoring the monarchy so that we can have a leader that speaks to our commonalities instead of ethnic ministers who preach to our differences. Now is the time to try what worked for us for more than 3,000 years and restore the Ethiopian monarchy.

Below is a video that Ethiopians for Constitutional Monarchy produced that at once gives respect to the rich history of the Ethiopian Monarchy while paying homage to the Ethiopian people who are the crown jewels of our nation. Like our page on Facebook by clicking HERE.



