Editor's note: This article is a mix edit of articles,
THE JEWEL OF AFRICA
By Owen 'Alik Shahadah
In the cool African morning, the Adhan spills out from hundreds of mosques piercing the morning silence. From every corner of the land, the sound summons the new day. And high on the heels of this Islamic declaration is the clanging of church bells; a reminder that this land belongs to two ancient religions. Thought out the rising hours the religious chants of the Orthodox Church fill the rising din, until one gives way to the other.
Of all Africa’s treasures Ethiopia (ኢትዮጵያ) is one of the brightest. From its rich history to its rich culture, Ethiopia is truly beyond argument one of Africa’s most precious gems. The only words that describe Ethiopia accurately is to say Ethiopia is very “Ethiopian” because comparisons fall away—as there are none. We can approach this land from culture, language, script, oral history, sociology and come up with a gem. Every part of Africa offers something but all thing precious seem wrapped in this land. The first unique aspect of Ethiopia is from antiquity to now Ethiopia has belonged to Ethiopians, this has never been broken, though often challenged, by all the major powers of the time; from the Turks to the Egyptians, from the British to the Italians, all have cast their covetous eye on this jewel. The businesses from small to large are Ethiopian; the banks the hotels are Ethiopian owned. The pain and the glory is Ethiopian; for better or for worst. Ethiopia is the symbol of African interdependence and self-determination, no other country in this magnificent continent can boast the boast that Ethiopia can.
The Unbroken Legacy
We remember the Egyptians as one of the most significant African civilization (and world). We remember Timbuktu; we remember Ancient Ghana and Sokoto. Egypt or Kemet left a legacy which forged the modern world, its advances where the birth of all that we marvel in when we walk the streets of New York or Rome. The legacy to humanity is inarguable, but Ethiopia too left a legacy with the rise of the mighty Axsumite empires which cast their reign as far as Arabia. But all that remains of Ancient Egypt, stone tombs which sleep out the centuries, lips sealed of those who forged their mighty walls. But for Ethiopia those Axsumite people who cast the stones and carved Lalibela are still in control of their land, the language and the culture is not confined to the history books but is lived everyday on the streets of Addis Ababa and Asmara (Eritrea). The script of the Ancient Egyptians has lost its use in the world of today but Ge’ez (ግዕዝ)is a living script which is used across modern Ethiopia. This is the legacy which makes this land unique in the world, especially for Africa which has been the victim of the largest carving up in the history of humanity.
HISTORY IN PERSPECTIVE
The records on Ethiopian history begin with the pre-Axsumite (አክሱም) empire, which started around 1500 B.C. This civilization shows signs of a marriage between Southern Arabia and Eastern Africa. And it is at the beginning of Ethiopian history that the most fundamental mistake is made by European scholars. European academia has become so locked in a boundary driven mentality that they view these ancient times in the context of an “Africa” and a “Arabia.” However, there was no Africa and Arabia 3500 years ago. And to see these two nations as racially separate is baseless and a projection of a modern world view of race and geography. The people who originally populated Southern Arabia arrived there from East Africa. East Africa is a mere 22 km from Arabia, and traveling by a sea vessel would have made this trip a regular breeze. Today the “out of Africa” theory proves that “modern” humans migrated via the Southern Arabian route, up into Central Asia. Since this migration was, a continuous human undertaking highlights the facts that native African people were freely traveling, at least, back and forth between modern-day Arabia and perhaps the rest of the world. The Sabian culture is thus an African civilization, and historical artifacts located in Southern Arabia do not implicate a non-African origin in anyway shape or form. Later migrating Arabs moved southward into Southern Arabia and changed the racial profile of this area. The argument here is that the forebears of the Afro-Asiatic Ethiopian culture is uniquely African and not; influenced, a child of Arabia, or a “half Arab” society. Clearly, the legacy of Europeans downsizing and obscuring African history is not lost here. And just as the Ancient Egyptians have been labeled as a Mediterranean people who came out-of-the-blue and settled in Africa. There is a similar attempt here to diminish Ethiopian African history.
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Three ethnic catagories as depicted by Ethiopian artist. Asiatic, Abasha and Nilotic people. The later two groups are both 100% African. |
The textbooks claim that the origins of Ge’ez (ግዕዝ) script are the product of some mysterious Arabs who visited East Africa: Disconnecting the forging of an indigenous script and civilization from African hands, and once again removing all forms of agency from Africa. The genetic trail shows that Arabs are descendants of Africans who left Africa some 45,000 years ago. Only Arab and African people share the M89 and M172 genetic markers. It is clear that populations would have existed and re-entered Africa up until and including the modern era. To believe that these people immediately after entering a place now know, as the Middle East became Arabs is absolutely un-academic. From the perspective of the people living in this land they wouldn't have viewed themselves in these rigid terms. And to articulate history on a limited racial premises is political and distorted.
GOVERNMENT (current event)
By Mixed authors
With all the famine and starvation, deforestation and poverty in one of the world poorest countries, we find the government has the funds to wage a pointless war on both of its borders (Eritrea and Somalia). Just what Africa needs--another war. We can blame the West, who clearly are at the root of it, but we have a brain of our own. Ethiopia has supported every single war campaign from Afghanistan to Iraq II. It begs the question, what deal does Ethiopia have with the West that it worth killing its own people. Destroying lives as opposed to spending money on roads, diversifying crops, housing the Borque, curbing unemployment, housing the countless mothers that sleep on the streets with their infants. Instead this money is spent on a war against another poor nation. Sympathy for Ethiopia slips, but we must remember something, it is not the Ethiopian people fighting the war, it is the US backed dictatorship under the mask of a democratic government that is doing that. First came the denial, that it had aggressive intentions on Somalia, the world was left to believe Somali's Islamic government was "paranoid"--then came the attack! Warmongers always have excuses; offensive war gets a coat of paint and becomes "protecting sovereignty." The war on Islam has to be seen for what it is. If America can't get political support to drop bombs on Somalia; then they send in Ethiopia. We need to remember without bias the reforms that the Islamic courts have brought to Somalia, but reforms and Peace have never been part of the solution for Africa. Even the British Media has commented on the progress and peace these Islamic courts have brought to Somalia, yet they continue to label them as "Islamicist" a term used to drive fear and associations with terror. But again it has never been about a brighter Africa. Islamic courts do not secure profits for Western designs on Africa, but illusions of democracy do.
To understand the "real" problem look at some of the Islamic Courts reforms:
- On August 23, 2006, the Islamic courts issued a directive banning the sale of charcoal, rare birds and rare animals. The ICU asserted that indiscriminate tree cutting was causing major destruction of the ecosystem, soil erosion and water scarcity, and that most of the charcoal was going to the Gulf States and Saudi Arabia, where a bag would fetch about US $15. However, the ban on charcoal was lifted after a month.
- On September 21, 2006, the Islamic Courts issued a decree forbidding the sale of khat (a narcotic drug) in the daylight during the holy month of Ramadan. The ICU asserted that khat was destructive of families and led to loss of income, waste of productivity, banditry and drug addiction. On October 2, from Kismayo, the Islamic Courts burnt in public seven bags of Khat imported from Kenya, which led to a riot among Khat traders. The ICU banned the use, sale and transportation of khat altogether, and the Islamic Court of Kismayo banned the sale of cigarettes.
To defend or support and Islamic government is by default to become a terrorist. However to support America or its capitalist agenda is to be a liberator. The Ethiopian government has a long history of oppressing non-Amhara people and Muslims. It was only Haile Selassie that actually tried to restore balance, although he was accused of being for the wealthy (a historical fallacy with all leaders).
Serious human right violations in Ethiopia get the classic blind eye, and extreme media control is left out of the discussion. The wealth of technology at Ethiopian security points is testimony to which side of "them or us" Ethiopia has chosen to be on. This data collected by these high tech passport scanning devices is practically the property of the USA, very few countries in the world have this technology, yet poor Ethiopia has this technology-- before the UK. Africa is not for Africans and we need to be clear on this point and wash away all the illusions of "a brighter Africa is in Western interest." in the cold war and now Africa is the backyard for the wars of the west.
Where is the UN? The UN in concept is the best idea since sliced bread and the traffic lights, but if it's power and plurality are subjects of Western whims then it is mute and useless. The "new rule" of the world is simple, anyone can have WMD except our enemies, every nation has a right to sovereignty except people we don't like.
"Gedi said foreign Muslim fighters had recently poured into Somalia, which he said confirmed the government's accusations that the Islamic courts movement was led by terrorists." he then said Gedi said: "The presence of international terrorists makes this a global issue. These people only want power through bloodshed."
The contradictions of our time is there is no shame in the above statement, the unilateral attack, by Ali Mohamed Gedi Ethiopian friends is supported by a statement claiming "power through bloodshed", The presence of Muslims of non-Somali origin means they are terrorist, we have to believe Muslims are not allowed to defend other Muslims, as this is terrorism. How long must the world stay blind to the corruption of our world by an agency of terror, which has no moral religion, and has no geopolitical boundary?
Call for Release of Retired Geography Professor Mesfin Woldemariam in Ethiopia
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Prisoner of conscience Professor Mesfin Woldemariam, aged 76, collapsed in his prison cell on August 18. Woldemariam is reportedly suffering with pneumonia, which is likely to have been caused by the harsh conditions in which he has been held. After receiving treatment in Addis Ababa's Police Hospital Woldemariam was returned to Kaliti Prison where Amnesty International fears he may not receive all the medical treatment that he needs.
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Retired geography professor Mesfin Woldemariam, Ethiopia's most prominent human rights defender, has been detained since November 1, 2005, and is among 76 opposition party leaders, journalists and human rights defenders on trial on charges of "outrage against the Constitution", "obstruction of the exercise of constitutional powers", "inciting, organizing or leading armed rebellion" and "attempted genocide," in connection to the demonstrations against alleged fraud in the May 2005 elections in Ethiopia. He is said to have "responded well to treatment" for pneumonia while in a hospital, but his condition still remains serious and potentially life-threatening. He has been in poor health for some time and prior to his arrest had been confined to bed for two months with back and leg problems, for which he has reportedly received no medical treatment at Kaliti Prison. He carried out two hunger strikes in December 2005 and January 2006 in protest at his detention and trial.
Also See Letter from Kaliti Prison
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Starbucks and Ethiopian Coffee Farmers
Selome Araya
Every day in the early hours of the morning, the farmers of the Oromia region head out to the coffee plantations in the Ethiopian highlands for a day’s work. Often walking barefoot for miles to arrive, the farmers use their bare hands to pick the coffee beans off of steep mountains in high altitudes and the blazing sun. For these farmers and their families, coffee farming is the only means to earn a living in one of the poorest countries in the world. They earn less than a dollar a day.
Halfway across the world, sleepy office workers line up at the Starbucks on 14th St. in New York City, ready to pay three dollars for their first jolt of caffeine. Starbucks, with over 11,000 stores worldwide and annual earnings of over $7 billion, receives much of its coffees from countries like Ethiopia. Since its founding in 1985, the company has promoted fair trade as part of its corporate image. Starbucks has courted its politically correct customers with “Fair Trade” Ethiopian coffee in lovely cut out packaging. But the relationship between the corporation and the farmers is more complicated than it appears.
Recently, there has been a growing controversy over whether or not Ethiopian farmers and the Ethiopian economy are receiving fair treatment from the multinational corporation. This debate has sparked a fervent campaign by fair trade organizations, workers’ unions, and the Ethiopian government, who are publicly challenging the ethics of the company.
Conducting Business Responsibly
Starbucks maintains that it enjoys a positive relationship with coffee farmers. With their “commitment to social responsibility”, Starbucks developed an integrated approach to coffee sourcing with C.A.F.E. (Coffee and Farmer Equity Practices), a set of socially responsible coffee-buying guidelines. This sustainable strategy is said to improve working conditions for farmers, helping them earn more while protecting the environment.
Starbuck commits itself to paying premium prices for all of its coffee and attempts to purchase coffee that is certified as Fair Trade Coffee. “Starbucks global purchases of Fair Trade Certified coffee totaled 11.5 million pounds in fiscal 2005, making it the largest purchaser of Fair Trade Certified coffee in North America” the company stated in a brochure. “In addition to paying premium prices for all of our coffees, our investment in social development projects and providing access to affordable loans in coffee growing regions has been recognized for its leadership within the industry,” Starbucks said in a press release statement in October 2006.
Trademark Blocking
However, Ethiopian farmers believe they are receiving the short end of the stick in this relationship. While Starbucks continues to generate billions of dollars each year, Ethiopian farmers and their supporters believe that Starbucks does not wish to see them or their country, reap comparable profits.
Oxfam International, a British human rights organization, claims that Starbucks tried to block the Ethiopian governments’ attempt to trademark the names of coffees grown in its Harar, Yirgacheffe, and Sidamo regions, denying the impoverished country possible revenues of up to $80 million. The U.S. National Coffee Association (NCA) attempted to block trademark efforts, and Oxfam accused Starbucks of being behind these efforts. Although Starbucks denies this claim, Oxfam spokeswoman Jo Leadbetter says there is validity in their claim. “We have heard from a number of sources that actually Starbucks was involved in alerting the U.S. coffee association to block these applications and that it ‘stinks of corporate bullying,’” Leadbetter said.
According to Oxfam, for every cup of coffee sold at Starbucks, farmers in Ethiopia only early about $.03, receiving a very small portion of the profits that their coffee generates from consumers. “Ethiopian coffee farmers often collect about 10 percent of the profits from these coffees. The rest goes to the coffee industry players that can control the retail price, the international importers, distributors— and roasters like Starbucks,” Oxfam stated on its Make Trade Fair website. In response, OXFAM has launched a fair trade campaign to support farmers like the ones in the Ethiopian highlands. “Starbucks has engaged in some positive initial steps in helping coffee farmers living in poverty. I don’t understand why they won’t take the next step and come to the table to discuss Ethiopia’s proposal in good faith,” stated Seth Petchers, Oxfam America’s coffee program manager.
Ethiopia coffee industry
Ethiopia, known as the birthplace of Arabica coffee from its Kaffe region, depends on the production of coffee for its economy. Coffee production is so important to the agriculture-based Ethiopian economy that 50-60% of its export trade comes from coffee income. The industry employs one out of every four people. An estimated 15 million coffee farmers and their families depend on coffee for their survival.
Coffee is also a central element of Ethiopian culture, with traditions that date back to the 10th century, when the first tree was domesticated in the south-western highlands of the country. Coffee is so important to the daily routine of life in Ethiopia that “coffee ceremonies” happen daily throughout the country. A third of the national production is consumed domestically.
Starbucks’ potential impact on the Ethiopian market
Should Ethiopia be successful in trade marking its beans, it will enable the country to control the use of its beans in the market, giving its farmers a larger portion of the retail price. "Securing the trademark for its Sidamo, Harar and Yirgacheffe coffee beans could have allowed the country to increase its negotiation leverage through control of the names and ultimately (derive) a greater share of the retail price in the global market," Ethiopia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The potential benefits for the Ethiopian market are enormous, according to Hailu Fitsum, the Second Secretary of Trade Investment at the Ethiopian Embassy. “When producers can grow and prosper by not only improving production and quality but also by building up the value of their intellectual property portfolios, then everybody in the coffee industry – including partners in retail and distribution as well as consumers – reap benefits.” Fitsum adds that in a case like Ethiopia’s, “Stronger negotiating power would enable millions of coffee farmers and traders to prosper and invest in the future of these fine coffees.”
Ethiopia’s Position
Tadesse Meskela, the representative for the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union in Ethiopia, agrees with Fitsum. According to Meskela, Starbucks sells the coffee for $14.00 per pound, but only pays $1.20 per pound, which does not even cover the cost of production.
However, Mr. Meskela explained that the coffee farmers’ issue is also with the World Trade Organization, not only with Starbucks. In a telephone interview, he said, “The WTO controls a huge amount of the profit trade and a change needs to be made in international trade laws. The price we [farmers] receive is very low and it’s lower because of unfair trade laws.”Meskela is working hard to save his 74,000 impoverished coffee farmers, and he is on a mission to find buyers who are willing to pay a fair price for their coffee. Meskela is also the main character in Black Gold, a documentary that juxtaposes the experiences of the coffee farmers with that of the consumers who purchase the product on the other side of the world.
“This film highlights the vulnerability of coffee farmers and the disconnect that exists between poor farmers and huge profits. Oxfam seeks to correct the imbalances of power at the root of unfair trade,” stated Petchers.
Starbucks’ Position
In response to Oxfam’s campaign, Starbucks has launched a counter-attack. “We have never filed an opposition to the Ethiopian government’s trademark application, nor claimed ownership to any regional names used to describe the origin of our coffees,” the company said. Dub Hay, Starbucks Senior Vice President of Coffee and Global Procurement told BBC radio, "We have not been involved in trying to block Ethiopia's attempts. We did not get the NCA involved; in fact it was the other way around. They were the ones who contacted us on this.”
While Starbucks denies being behind the trademark-blocking process, the company doesn’t think that trade marking is in the best interest of the farmers and the Ethiopian economy. “Were trademarks to be implemented -- roasters might shy away from buying the coffees for fear of becoming embroiled in complicated legal disputes. Or worse, they may buy the coffees and just market them without the trademarked names. Letting the high quality beans go to market without a geographic identification would completely undermine the value of the brand,” Starbucks said in a statement.
The Ethiopian government also asked Starbucks to sign an agreement that would enable Ethiopia to have ownership of its coffees. However, Starbucks refused to sign such an agreement, as the company believes that if Ethiopia were to trademark its products it would be excluding itself from the market. According to Hailu, this is grossly offensive. “The only way this statement could be accurate is if Ethiopia completely mismanages the trademarks once they have been acquired, and I would hope that Starbucks is not assuming that Ethiopia is not capable of managing the Intellectual Property assets related to one of its most important exports,” Hailu says.
As an alternative to trademarking products, Starbucks suggests the development of geographic certification programs. Through the certification programs, a country can be identified as the origin of a product. Starbucks says these systems are more effective than registering trademarks for geographically specific names, such as the regional names the Ethiopian government is trying to trademark. The trademark signifies the manufacturer of a good or product while certification identifies that the product meets quality product standards. Alain Poncelet, Starbucks’ head of Green Coffee Purchasing told Spiegel Online, the German online newspaper, that his company “is all for Ethiopia ‘protecting its regional names,’ just not through trademark.”
This position is not receiving much press, however. The company received over 70,000 phone calls and faxes from concerned consumers showing support for the farmers. But does such negative publicity have any affect on the house-hold name and billion dollar company? “Probably not,” says a Starbucks employee in New York City who spoke on condition of anonymity. “People are so hooked on coffee that they are not going to be affected by something that is happening so far away. The only people protesting Starbucks are a minority of activists. Everyone else just thinks about their own problems.” The employee also spoke highly of Starbucks treatment of its employees. “They treat their employees better than most corporate companies and they give a lot back to the community,” he said.
Power positioning
As Meskela pointed out, the struggle between the coffee farmers and Starbucks doesn’t just address the issue of trademark rights. It also highlights the way coffee farmers are almost entirely left out of the trading industry between governments and corporations. The issue addresses the reality that farmers in “developing” countries don’t have much bargaining power in the international trade sector.
Senait Assefa, a resident of New York from Ethiopia, believes that strengthening the position of coffee farmers in the international market should be the focus of the efforts, not Starbucks. “The coffee producers should band together to control the supply of coffee in the international market, thereby enabling themselves to dictate their own terms (similar to how oil producing countries manipulate the price of oil by reducing or increasing production & supply)”, said Assefa.However, Assefa admits that this might not work.“While oil is a resource only few countries are endowed with, almost anybody can grow coffee,” she added.
Although coffee is a crop that can grow in different regions, the high quality of Ethiopian coffee is what makes it so unique. As Ethiopian farmers continue to work hard to produce such fine quality coffee, their position in the international trade market is just beginning to receive worldwide attention, thanks to the tireless work of Meskela and others. While the battle to trademark their coffees continues, the coffee farmers are also left to struggle with trade laws that make them invisible in the chain of international players.
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Selome Araya is a graduate student obtaining a Master of Public Health in Forced Migration and Health at Columbia University. See more articles by Selome Araya EYES ON AFRICA.
History is a clock people use to tell their historical culture and political time of the day. It's a compass that people use to find themselves on the map of human geography. The history tells them where they have been, where they are and what they are. But most importantly history tells a people where they still must go and what they still must be
