Ethiopian Journals Online (EJOL)
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Book Review: Hadiyya People: History and Culture
No full textTitle of the Book: Hadiyya People: History and Culture
Authors: Alebachew Kemiso and Samuel Handamo
Publisher: Sefir Printing, Addis Ababa
Year of Publication: 201
Political Violence in Ethiopia: Some Reflections on the Red Terror and its Legacies
No full textThis paper attempts to explain the political violence and the violation of human rights in Ethiopia in the post-Imperial period. The interest of the article is to understand the contexts of the red terror resulting in the wanton human rights abuses in Ethiopia during the Derg regime by examining the different but interrelated factors. The task of the paper is threefold. First, it tries to identify the institutional and political underpinnings of the transfer of state power from the ancien regime to the military in Ethiopia in 1974. Second, it identifies and discusses the multi-dimensional forces and factors that led to the escalation of political violence/terror and human rights violation in the country under the military regime. Finally, by evaluating the socio-political impacts of the red terror, the paper tries to bring the discussion to its current relevance
Factors Contributing to Human Trafficking, Contexts of Vulnerability and Patterns of Victimization: The case of stranded victims in Metema, Ethiopia
No full textHuman trafficking has recently emerged as an exceedingly intricate international crime. Sub-Saharan Africa is the most vulnerable region from which a substantial amount of victims has been recruited for both continental and intercontinental transaction. This also holds true for Ethiopian men, women and children who have been immensely draining out via various channels within assorted trafficking networks. This study assesses factors contributing to human trafficking and victimization and the contexts of vulnerability with reference to stranded victims in Metema, Ethiopia. Employing a cross-sectional qualitative research, primary data were gathered from various groups of purposely selected subjects: stranded victims, traffickers, law enforcing agents and social service providers. In-depth interviews, key-informant interviews, focus group discussions and non-participant observation were used as methods of acquiring information which was, finally, analyzed thematically to provide a qualitative account on the problem under study. The study found that victims highly pressured by various social structural factors (for instance, poverty, excessive social stress on economic success, the submission of non-economic institutions to the drives of economic calculations, the targets’ bounded economic rationality, the expansion of migration/employment agencies and the effect of migration networks) towards migration which ultimately made them motivated targets of trafficking. Once recruited, they are subjected to abusive and exploitative relationship with the traffickers which exposed them to various difficult situations
Book Review: Addis Ababa: the Evolution of an Urban African Cultural Landscape
No full textTitle of the Book: Addis Ababa: the Evolution of an Urban African Cultural Landscape
Author: Reminick, Ronald A.
Publisher: The Edwin Mellen Press
Year of Publication: 201
Claude Sumner’s “Oromo Wisdom Literature:” An Attempt at Understanding their Philosophical Content
No full textIn his lifelong work at the Department of Philosophy of Addis Ababa University, Sumner initially worked on the written sources of Ethiopian philosophy. It is after the production of multiple volumes on the written sources that he turned to the oral sources. The major ones are contained in three volumes titled, “Oromo Wisdom Literature.” By developing an approach that looked at philosophy in the broader and strict senses Sumner studied the different oral sources of Oromo philosophy. His approach to philosophy was that, while writing is a very important aspect of doing philosophy, this does not, however, mean that oral sources cannot have philosophical content. This is what has been demonstrated by H. Odera Oruka’s sage philosophy. Sumner used proverbs, songs, folktales, riddles and similar oral materials to distill philosophical content out of some of them. The paper will try to show how oral sources could be considered as philosophy in the broad sense, while there is also a possibility that such material could be changed into philosophy in the strict sense by philosophers. By briefly analyzing Sumner’s position on this, I will try to show the significance of oral wisdom/literature not only for philosophy but also other types of intellectual activity
Exploring Possibilities of an Undergirding Umunthu Philosophy in Malawi’s Social Studies Curriculum
No full textThe article explores possibilities of integrating Umunthu values into the social studies in Malawi with the purpose of reforming the curriculum into one that is relatable and relevant to the local needs of the society. To achieve this, it examines the relationship that exists between various aspects of education and the society, requiring the need for reliance on local knowledge production through Umunthu as an undergirding philosophy. Data for the study was collected through semi-structured interviews with Social Studies teachers, students, parents and university lecturers. It also involved analysis of other available secondary sources on Umunthu, Social Studies and education. The findings of the study were analysed within the framework of two main theories: the Reconstructionist Theory and the Southern Theory. In relation to the findings, the paper concludes that a successful deployment of Umunthu as a guiding philosophy for Social Studies would require incorporation of its core principles into the curriculum, tailoring it to focus on forging a national identity and to necessitate education for Malawians. The paper then argues that implementation of a reformed curriculum reflecting the discussed propositions requires concerted efforts from various stakeholders in curriculum development and implementation
Diasporas as Agents of Political Change: The Role of the Oromo Diaspora in the 2015 Oromo Protest in Ethiopia
Get PDFDiasporas are significant actors in the international political arena. By leveraging the human and financial capital in their possession, operating in a more openpolitical space, and enabling access to information and communication technologies, the diasporas are well-positioned to contribute to socio-politicalchange in their respective places of origin and settlement. This article aims to understand the role and influence of the African diaspora in the political affairs of their homeland, taking the case of the transnational political practice of the Oromo diaspora and their involvement during the 2015 Oromo protest thatpropelled political change in Ethiopia. It does so by examining how the new identity of the educated Oromo youth developed and contributed to the emergence of a vibrant diaspora community committed to bringing about democratic change in their homeland. The article further discusses how the expansion of transnationalism and the Internet interacted with the politicized ethnic identity of the new generation of the Oromo diaspora to reframe and organize the popular protest against repression in their homeland. The article is based on primary and secondary data collected through interviews, focus group discussions, and social media analysis. This article shows that the diaspora's involvement in homeland politics contributed to the diffusion and scale shift of the 2015 Oromo protest, transforming it into a transnational human rights agenda. It further explicates that the Oromo protest brought about harmony and political solidarity among multiple ethnic identities and political views of the Ethiopian diaspora to challenge the regime in their homeland
The Red Book: The Political Foundation of the Ethiopian National Defence Forces under the EPRDF
Get PDFBased on a thorough review and analysis of a document that has hitherto been kept secret, this article elucidates the political foundation of the Ethiopian National Defence Forces (ENDF) the Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) aimed to build. In doing so, the article demonstrates how the EPRDF, contrary to the country's legal framework and socio-political context, attempted to create a partisan national army. The document outlines three things: firstly, the ultimate objective of the ENDF is to be the bastion of 'revolutionary democracy'—EPRDF's ideology. Secondly, in the absence of revolutionary democracy's hegemony within Ethiopian society, ENDF's loyalty to it should be attained through the political indoctrination of its members. Thirdly, since indoctrination alone may not be sufficient, there must be a systematic and integrated implementation scheme. This was expected to ensure the building of a revolutionary democratic army. The effect of these was that, despite the ENDF's image as a force of regional peace and stability outside the country, it dwarfed the possibility of it becoming a politically neutral and professional national army. In the context of a divided society where major political contestations are far from settled, building a partisan national defence force was a recipe for disaster, as attested by the ongoing politico-military crisis in Ethiopia (2020-2022)
Tax Treaty Shopping in Ethiopia: The Need to Integrate Anti-Treaty Shopping Rule into Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements and domestic income tax law.
Get PDFMany countries of the world have signed bilateral tax treaties to avoid or mitigate double taxation and control tax evasion and planning in cross-border economic activities. However, such networks of bilateral tax treaties have in effect opened room for tax treaty shopping. As of September 2020, Ethiopia has signed more than 32 bilateral tax treaties. Yet, no study has been made on the issues of tax treaty shopping. Hence, this study examines whether the existing treaty provisions are sufficient to prevent the abuse of double taxation agreements by treaty shopping, and identifies its shortcomings. To this end, doctrinal legal research methodology is employed to investigate Ethiopia's pertinent income tax law and double taxation avoidance agreements. Accordingly, the findings show that tax treaty shopping is not sufficiently regulated under the Ethiopian bilateral tax treaties and domestic income tax system. Most of the Ethiopian bilateral tax treaties are devoid of anti-treaty shopping rules. Save for few bilateral tax treaties, most of the bilateral tax treaties have no anti-treaty shopping rules. Although the Federal Income Tax Proclamation has provided seemingly anti-avoidance rule, it may not serve its purposes since it cannot override treaties which may otherwise constitute a breach of the treaty under international law. In other words, the general anti-avoidance rule provided under the Federal Income Tax Proclamation may not extend to tackling treaty shopping as its scope is limited to domestic matters. Accordingly, Ethiopia should revisit its domestic anti-avoidance rules and incorporate anti-treaty shopping rules into bilateral tax treaties either by renegotiation or termination
Public Participation Provisions in Environmental Impact Assessment process in Ethiopia: A Comparative Analysis
Get PDFThe Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and relevant subsidiary laws grant people the right to full consultation and to the expression of views in the planning and implementation of environmental policies. However, the impact of these general principles on the desired outcome is limited, suggesting the need for formulation of further detailed rules. Particularly, an effective realization of such constitutional stipulations require detailed rules that clearly set out identification of legitimate stakeholders, mechanisms of information accessibility, information dissemination, grievances handling processes, timeline to review and make comments, incorporation of public comments into final Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) decisions. The objective of this article is to comparatively assess and explain the sufficiency and lacunas of the existing Public Participation Provisions (PPPs) of Ethiopia against countries having detailed rules required for the realization of effective public participation. To this end, a doctrinal research method is used to assess the content, principles and gaps in the existing legal documents. It is argued in the article that the existing environmental laws of Ethiopia are short of providing the required PPPs rules ranging from identification of stakeholders to grievance handling mechanisms. This in fact would render public participation to be a mere procedural requirement than creating an avenue for the public to influence environmental decision making processes. The assessments conducted thus uncover the dire need for the enactment of detailed PPPs and the possible ways to achieve this