AFRICAN DIASPORA DEFENDING ETHIOPIA

On this day, 84 years ago, Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie arrived in Addis Ababa from exile, marking the end of a five-year occupation and Benito Mussolini’s dream of colonial expansion. 5 May is now celebrated as Patriots’ Victory Day, an enduring reminder of Ethiopia’s history as the only African nation that successfully resisted colonisation despite fighting an overwhelming enemy with limited resources.

The Second Italo-Ethiopian War (1935-1937) saw thousands of Africans worldwide mobilise to fight the colonialists; this event reminded observers of what we witnessed in recent weeks by the support the global African community has shown Burkina Faso. Driven by indignation at US AFRICOM General Michael Langley’s attack on the country’s revolutionary president Ibrahim Traoré, tens of thousands have mobilised in protest with the clarion call, ‘Hands off Burkina Faso!’

Having witnessed the West’s destruction of Gaddafi’s Libya after years of demonisation in the West and the murders of Patrice Lumumba and Thomas Sankara before that, Africans are saying ‘enough is enough’ - much like they did against Italy as Rome tried to take Ethiopia.

Sources

https://dayhist.com/holidays-and-occasions/patriots-victory-day-ethiopia

https://ghana.dubawa.org/explainer-u-s-general-langleys-comments-on-burkina-fasos-traore-social-media-uproar/

https://issafrica.org/iss-today/did-nato-intervene-in-libya-just-to-get-rid-of-gaddafi

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/10/17/patrice-lumumba-congo-washington-00121755

https://www.rt.com/africa/589422-africa-burkina-faso-france/

https://warwingsdaily.com/wars/the-second-italo-ethiopian-war-1935-1936/

https://press.et/herald/?p=34256