AFRICAN DIASPORA DEFENDING ETHIOPIA

Africans on the continent and in the diaspora have always worked together and fought alongside one another for common goals. When, on this day in 1935, Italy invaded Ethiopia for a second time, thousands of Africans at home and abroad mobilised to fight the colonialists. Black Harlemites in the United States, South Africans, Jamaicans and many others were clear on their mission: it was time to defend Ethiopia at all costs.

For the Italians, the war was not merely payback for that humiliating defeat 40 years earlier, but a chance to implement dictator Benito Mussolini’s plan to inflate Italy's standing on the world stage. However, for millions, the invasion imperiled Black freedom and dignity across the globe and awakened a strong sense of allegiance that transcended national boundaries.

Today, we see three countries in the Africa - Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger - defending African freedom and self-determination on the world stage and, like Ethiopia at the time, refusing to be colonised. Yet these three countries are under brutal attack. From terrorist paramilitaries to sanctions to coup attempts to Western media propaganda, the goal of Western powers is very clear: they want to destroy the Alliance of Sahel States.

What lessons can Africans across the world in 2024 learn from this story of the struggle to defend and protect Ethiopia?