Personal and selfish self-interest and self-promotion, primordial and atavistic connection, and ideological enlightenment and political alignment and expediency against colonization were all at play. Although, it is clear that all the Eritrean SmeTr have one thing in common–hatred of Italian colonization–it is not equally clear that they have a parallel love for Ethiopia.įor some, Ethiopia was a safe haven from political persecution, and for others, it was a land of opportunity where they could easily excel due to their exposure to a much more developed economy in Italian Eritrea, and for some others, it was the mother-land where the prodigal children have to go to, and for some others, it was the cruel reminder of the barbarity inflicted on Eritrean POWs at the orders of Emperor Menelik after the 1896 battle of Adwa. SmeTr is the Amharic word to signify the heroic deeds of Eritreans (Hamassien) in the service of Ethiopia.

She would often say, “May God pluck out the eyes of the Italians.”īut how was Italy, a country that was itself not unified till 1861 and considered second-rate by European standards, able to conqueror Eritrea, the ancient and only gateway to Greater Abbyssinia, or Adi Habesha as the author puts it? What were the socio-political and economic factors that contributed to the subjugation of the people of the Horn of Africa in general and Eritreans in particular under Italian rule?Īn attempt to answer these questions have led the author to focus on the SmeTr Hammassien: Eritreans who rebelled against Italian colonization by siding with Ethiopia in the aftermath of 1890, when Eritrea was officially declared an Italian African Colony. The author of SmeTr Hammasien (ስመጥር ሓማሴን፥ ዕላማን ተጋድሎን።) grew up listening to his own mother lamenting the indignities her family had endured as the first and early victims of Italian colonialism. The English version is out under the title: Profile of Courage: Eritrean Struggle against Italian Colonization and Fascism. Posted on Septemby Semere T Habtemariam in Perspective 197 Comments

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