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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 185.176.244.66 (talk) at 11:26, 18 September 2022 (→Move to a different title?: Reply). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.


Serious charges, no references, tagged as POV

I've tagged this recently created article as a possible violation of our policy of neutral presentation. It makes very strong claims, starting with the use of "genocide" in the title, and although it mentions specific events, it is completely unreferenced, making it impossible for the reader to verify the truth of the claims. As editors, we must remedy this, including presenting any reliable sources that give a conflicting point of view.

I believe the topic is also subject to discretionary sanctions under an Arbcom decision. Yngvadottir (talk) 09:37, 8 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

This is sheer advocacy. Nuking is a good option. TrangaBellam (talk) 10:38, 8 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]
That is, however, a reliable source. I would feel uncomfortable about nuking by redirection (where to, for one thing?) and it's not a candidate for speedy deletion. I noted that the creator is working on a referenced version in their sandbox, for some reason not adding the references to this article; maybe they intend to overwrite it when they're ready, but I urged them to add the refs to this published version. (I don't see that ref there, but they have quite a lot of refs.) What I have wondered about is moving it to draft. Yngvadottir (talk) 07:53, 9 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Hello All. Thank you for the feedbacks. Please forgive that I am new for the wikipedia publishing process. The first article without references was published by mistake- some how i assumed it saves it the sandbox automatically. I am not sure if deleting this article would be possible without affecting the sandbox draft that i am adding references at and still editing.
Content wise, the Amhara Community in Ethiopia lacks representation for all type of crimes committed against the people since 1990 (Articles 6/Genocidal act, 7/Crimes against humanity and 8/War crimes of the Rome Statue/UN convention). Acknowledgment and proving genocide is a challenging process but the crimes are listed clearly but the UN Genocide (high levels below). The crimes against Amhara are listed in this draft.
Format wise, if it is preferred to present this document using the 10 stages of genocide I can add that in a tabular form as well for clarity purposes.
https://iccforum.com/genocide-convention
https://www.csce.gov/issue/genocide-crimes-against-humanity-and-war-crimes
https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/documents/atrocity-crimes/Doc.1_Convention%20on%20the%20Prevention%20and%20Punishment%20of%20the%20Crime%20of%20Genocide.pdf
I guess the key takeaway is that the examples/references that I am adding should support the crimes. It may appear fragmented but that is because it is an ongoing event with limited coverages. Please look into the Amnesty, Human Rights Watch and UN independent reports that have been captured since 1992 (the political tone may vary with time).
Please stay patient and provide me your feedbacks so that I adhere to the Wikipedia guidelines.
Thank you. AmharaWAAGpublish (talk) 09:32, 9 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Moving the published to "draft" would be great. You may have seen my note- it is a complete error publishing it before adding references.
We have a "Sandbox" version. Please advise me. Thank you. AmharaWAAGpublish (talk) 09:38, 9 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]
@AmharaWAAGpublish: I'm ill placed to advise you; I know next to nothing about the topic area, or even how to tag this article as falling within discretionary sanctions. I think I'm going to ask for help from someone I trust to understand Wikipedia's procedures. However, now that this article exists, and regardless of whether it gets moved to draft, please add the references to this version, and don't overwrite it with the userspace version. It's been edited by others in the interim, and both the history and the improvements (wikilinks, categories, etc.) should be preserved. Also, you used "we" above; is your account operated by more than one person? I don't believe that's allowed. If there are others actually editing using the account, rather than making suggestions and helping research sources, please have them register their own accounts for the sake of transparency under our licensing. (The policy is here.) Yngvadottir (talk) 00:00, 10 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Hello. I would appreciate any help as well. Just to clarify, when I mentioned "we", i dont mean another person is working on the article. It is more to represent our cause from- i took this assignment from our non-profit that working on researching, document the Amhara cause. I can guarantee you that i am the only person working on this. I am still in the learning phase though.
I was wondering if I can remove the published article so that i can use the sandbox version as "fresh article". Would that be allowed? If so could you please share any tips? Thank you for your patience and help. I will check the level of edits made on the published article as well. AmharaWAAGpublish (talk) 03:11, 10 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]
I just noticed the typo and i keep loosing my edited version in the sandbox as well. It may be time to take some break. Please forgive the errors in the message above. AmharaWAAGpublish (talk) 03:13, 10 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Back again. Now, thinking about it, since most of the references are already in one place it should be easy to add the references in the published article as you advised. So, please ignore all the questions i asked above. I will make the edits in the article from now on but will use the sandbox to draw the reference information.
Just checking, how likely you think that I can get out of this Sanction after adding all the references and improving the overall article- follow the Neutral writing approach?
Thank you AmharaWAAGpublish (talk) 03:30, 10 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for adding the references here, that puts the article on a far better footing :-) I see this page has also been tagged so that Wikiproject members can help improve it and so that it's clear it falls under discretionary sanctions, and that you've been informed on your talk page about those. As you have no doubt seen from those templates and their links, those are not sanctions in the sense of punishment, nor do they apply to particular editors as such, but rather, editing in the subject area, by all editors, is subject to a particularly strict interpretation of Wikipedia's behavioral guidelines. If you have any specific questions, please do ask people who know more than me, but in case you were worried, that's how I understand it to work. Yngvadottir (talk) 01:41, 11 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]
This helps! I understand now that Wikipedia has special process for HORN. I will do my best to improve the document and work with you all to hopefully meet the requirements. As you suggested, I will also try to find others for any questions. The links under "categories" might be good starting place (the "Human Rights" part). Thank you again! Petra0922 (talk) 15:58, 11 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Amhara genocide

Amhara genocide happened in Wollega, Oromia region. The Amhara people living in Wollega as minority, faced mass killing and displacement from the period Abiy Ahmed Ali come to power and still on going event throughout Oromia region 197.156.118.178 (talk) 12:53, 4 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, systematic Amhara genocide is going on. Nathanaelsd (talk) 21:18, 18 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]

The role of the West in the (denial) of Amhara genocide.

The role of the West is completly ignored in the article.

1. The role of anti-Amhara Western so-called ‘scholars’ who actively demonized Amharas is left out of the article, dating back all the way to the period of Facist occupation by Italy to contemporary so-called ‘scholars’ who dehumanized Amharas by claiming Amharas don't exist, seized by ethno-nationalists as reasons to marginalize Amharas in areas of Ethiopia where they are a minority.

Already dehumanized by the some sectors of the West as a non-existent group, Amharas are further subjected to forced assimilation in Western countries where they ended up as refugees. Through economic, racial and societal marginalization, Amharas lose their native tongue, cultures and communual bonding.

Ofcourse it's almost taboo to critize the West, due to Amhara culture of not directly critizing authority.

2. The role of the West and it's so-called reliable Western media censorship of Amhara persecution and killings during TPLF-led federal government, and now by the dictatorship of the Abiy Ahmed Ali. The role of foreign search engines such as Google to censor awareness about Amhara genocide, or the more than 2 million killed and dissapeared between 1994 & 2007.

3. The role of foreign arms suppliers (East and West) in the killings of Amharas and foreign companies providing contraceptions to force sterilization on Amhara women. YonasJH (talk) 11:19, 6 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Hello YonasJH (talk). Thank you for the feedback. This article is open for editing specially after addressing the Citation issue that myself and other editors are working on. The 1994-2007 census outcome, the sterilization and other cases are covered (I encourage you to revisit the details).
I agree the article needs to expand its scope to provide well referenced historical context and to cover details of many events leading up to the genocide. I have some ideas but please I encourage you to contribute to/edit the work following WP:GUIDELINE. Petra0922 (talk) 10:01, 7 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Moving to draft

I get this will be a likely controversial move. But the work of the refs is heavily problematic:

  • Some of the sources given are from Youtube (for instance this one, as well as this broken link)
  • A lot of them are so to the Amhara Association of America, a lobbying group
  • One ref is sourced to Getty images
  • A good deal of these sources, including Borkena, apanews.net, Ethiopia Insight, and the Moresh Wegenie Amara Organization don't seem to have an established general credibility
  • There are at least two links to Fana Broadcasting Corporate, a state-owned news agency
  • Some of these, like TRT, Al Mayadeen, Breakthrough News, and et cetera. are downright unreliable
  • There are actually many reliable links, but these are mostly used for specific reports of atrocities rather than a wholesale genocidal campaign, although some do speak of ethnic cleansing
  • Most don't seem to describe what's happening in the context of a Genocide

Overall- I think the (reliable) refs given don't support portrayals as a genocide, more often as a persecution or ethnic cleansing. A better title and subject that this could cover might be Anti-Amhara sentiment or persecution of Amharas, both of which nobody denies exists. Dunutubble (talk) (Contributions) 19:45, 20 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Hello Dunutubble. I have serious concerns about the reasoning provided about the move of this article from the main space. The article writing was guided by the United Nations Genocide Convention, definitions of Genocide and the Rome Statute. I will add more response to your proposed edits as soon as I finalize my research about the two United States-based Non-profit grass root organizations you commented on. So far my research verifies that both AAA and Moresh Wogene are focused on documentations with field data- which I believe their work are crucial for what I call "marginalized" (barely campaigned), human right cases such as Yemen, Amhara, Afar, Anuak, Gedeo, Kore, Amaro, Ogaden, and many others. Generally, the USA 501c3 organizations are expected to demonstrate accountability for their work. The declaration or denial of mass violence or Genocide against certain group needs to be properly assessed and should be done with careful evaluation of political and cultural perspectives, historical understanding of the country and specific groups, and studying of other factors. I am trying to understand your approach of characterizing Genocide that seems to suggest informal requirements rather than adhering to the elements stated under Article II of the UNGC, and also specific definitions provided under Articles 6, 7, & 8 of the Rome Statute. I will add more information towards the end of the week. I encourage and invite more discussions that are based on fundamental International Laws. Petra0922 (talk) 19:01, 22 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Dunutubble, other than your argument that several of the sources are unreliable, none of what you say justifies draftification: your main point is that the article should be titled something other than "genocide". The article has been assessed at "B" class. Since you note that the article also has reliable sources, and find ethnic cleansing a more common term in those, would you be amenable to reverting the draftification and instead moving the article to Ethnic cleansing of the Amhara? Or can you suggest a better title? Petra0922, would that title change work for you? The article could still mention that some have called it a genocide. If that's unacceptable, can you cite here some reliable third-party sources using the term genocide? Yngvadottir (talk) 09:50, 23 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Hello Yngvadottir! I was compiling information to respond for your suggestions (Identified over 33 separate, third-party reports with mentions of Genocide related to the Amhara and Ethiopia), and also I was preparing responses to Dunutubble, using publication backed explanations of Ethnic cleansing versus Genocide, and other International Crimes. Then, I noticed that the editor didn’t respond at all. I learnt, it is very important that experienced editors watch such major changes and take time to verify justifications. I found this Move confusing and when checking the editors page, I observed multiple warnings related to “edit warring” and repetitive reverting of others work, and the editor providing matching apologies. I thank you for doing this important (the page move) assessment!Petra0922 (talk) 23:44, 23 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Move to a different title?

After receiving no response from Dunutubble, who recognized that returning the article to draft was a likely controversial move, I've reverted the action as part of the WP:BRD process. Dunutubble's main concern being with the word "genocide", opening a section here to discuss whether the article should be moved, and if so, to what title. We endeavor to base such things on what third-party reliable sources call it. Yngvadottir (talk) 21:13, 23 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Hello Yngvadottir. I appreciate the approach you took to assess this situation. Thank you for reverting the prior action taken by the other editor, Dunutubble. I can still provide justifications as for why I believe, the article title, Amhara genocide, is reasonable. I compiled specific and large sets of reports that mention the Genocidal crimes against the Amhara. At the same time, my understanding is that the term Genocide shouldn’t necessarily be mentioned in the references- in most of the cases one or more elements of the Genocide components are discussed. My approach was to research, identify, organize and structure the elements of Genocidal crimes from various sources, using the UNGC and the Rome Statute guidelines to create a Wikipedia article that could potentially be used as input for other possible comprehensive works (books, or Genocide reports). Please let me know if adding more details in the talk page would help. Thank you again!Petra0922 (talk) — Preceding undated comment added 00:06, 24 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Hi, I've written two comments under the topic "Unsourced intro" (from 9th of September and 18th of September 2022). Would you be so kind as to read them?
I'm concerned that this whole page "Amhara Genocide" is a propaganda set-up, to be honest. 185.176.244.66 (talk) 11:26, 18 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Unsourced intro

Intro states this: "Large-scale killings and grave human rights violations followed the implementation of the ethnic-federalist system in the country". References (8 and 9) are to (8) the multi-national Ethiopian constitution of 1995, and (9) a harsh critique of the constitution. Neither of the sources document claims of genocidial- or ethnic-based mass killings caused by the constitution. They don't document human rights violations caused by the constitution either. The intro, when read in context with the title "Amhara Genocide", gives the impression that a multi-nationalist constitution with autonomy and self-determination for different nations has caused a genocide on Amharas. This is not sourced.

It's technically correct that there were grave human rights violations from the 1990s and onwards. It might also be argued that some (non-ethnic) war crimes or political killings technically fits a bill of "large-scale killings". Some credible charges have numbers on over 100. The problem with the intro lies in this:

1) The period from 1991 and the 1995 constitution was less violent (far less mass killings from the state) than the previous period, not more violent. The period before 1991 was marked by an era that was astonishingly bloody (state red terror, man-made famine in the 1980s, extermination in the hundreds of thousands, ethnic cleansing etc). The multinational constitution was followed by less state violence, not more. But the intro makes it sound as if a constitution from 1995 caused a particularly bloody - even genocide - state policy. That's not founded.

3) The intro might confuse political repression and killings for genocide.

We should delete this part of the intro, IMHO. I'll delete it in a couple of days if it's not sourced properly by someone. 185.176.244.66 (talk) 21:21, 9 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Hello. Addressing the points you brought up for the lead section. Please note that the very first sets of sources (3, 6, 7, and the sub-references listed) provide background on events leading up to ethnic violence and the root cause for intentional identity-based killings with the new ruling. Sources that show examples of ethnic-based violence against the Amhara and others under the EPRDF, the new ethnic-based structure are also incorporated. To help clarify, another reference that specifically explains issues related to self-determination, the controversial Article-39, and "abuse" of the ethnic constitution is re-cited in the lead section. Please refer to the Phase-1 section and the sources listed under it for more details. If we look closely at the history of Ethiopia, a variety of ethnic attacks began after EPRDF came to power (shown in the sources used in this article). Other outbreaks of violence prior to this period were based on conflicts in political ideology and societal class, rather than ethnic identity (genocidal intent for eliminating certain ethnic groups).Petra0922 (talk) 20:32, 12 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Hello. I'm the person who said I'll be deleting the intro.
There's a myriad of sources here given for strong claims, and the sources are not corresponding to the claims. It's extremely difficult and time-consuming to read through the sources and follow-up if the sources actually give evidence for the article statement about an "Amhara genocide". There's a lot of details and claims. Why can't just the person who wishes to make the claim give a proper source for it, instead of telling e.g me to just spend hours reading the "details"?
I've looked closely at the history of Ethiopia, and that's why I'm questioning both this Wikipedia article, and also your claims. I'll go through them:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. You claim this: "Other outbreaks of violence prior to this period [before 1991] were based on conflicts in political ideology and societal class, rather than ethnic identity (genocidal intent for eliminating certain ethnic groups)".
This is simply not true. There's a myriad of sources that documents genocidial, state-sponsored violence in Ethiopia before 1991. Oromos and Tigrayans were particuarly hard-hit. The violence was committed by the state, which was ruled by an, urban, socio-economic elite that speaks the Amhara language (which is different from ethnic Amharas in the Amhara region). Se e.g Cultural Survival about Oromos in 1981: https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/oromo-continue-flee-violence
Quotes: "The ruling Amhara, who constitute less than 15 percent of the nation's population but have ruled since the 19th century, have been systematically driving the Oromo for their fertile lands and subjecting them to torture, imprisonment, forced conscription, and execution". And "The roots of the present Oromo-Amhara conflict lie in the late 1800s when the independent Oromo nation was conquered by Abyssinians who were creating an empire. The Oromo have always viewed the Amhara Emperor Menelik and his successors, backed by European powers, as colonizers. His retainers acquired rights over the most productive Oromo lands and were allowed to exact tribute from even greater areas. Written Oromo texts were destroyed and education of Oromos was conducted in Amharic". And "Today under the Dergue it is illegal to speak Oromo for public purposes, Torture, harassment, and military campaigns against the Oromo force many to join the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and others to flee the country. Apparently, the ruling minority cannot afford to allow the majority population to unite [...] The Oromo refugees in Washington left Ethiopia for various reasons. Some were wanted by the police for teaching the Oromo language in village schools."
You could also look into a man-made famine with killing field of enforced starvation against Tigrayans in 1983-1985, where the Ethiopian state killed up to 1 million Tigrayans, and which had ethnic subtext. See e.g Robert Kaplans book "Surrender or Starve", that was published in 1989: https://www.routledge.com/Surrender-Or-Starve-The-Wars-Behind-The-Famine/Kaplan/p/book/9780367304690
Quotes: "Famine in the Horn is both a tool and an aspect of ethnic conflict, with the Ethiopian Amharas of the central highlands pitted against the Eritreans and Tigreans of the north." And under contents: "What the media saw [...] the world's biggest forgotten war [...] the African killing fields".
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2. I pointed out in my first comment that reference 8 and 9 was used as evidence of this claim: "Large-scale killings and grave human rights violations followed the implementation of the ethnic-federalist system in the country". Reference 3, 6 and 7 was not used. I must repeat that reference 8 and 9 does not evidence the claim that they're supposed to, and I'll add that 3, 6 and 7 are also highly questionable.
Reference 3: This is a newly-made Youtube-video by a state-controlled propaganda page in Ethiopia, in a country where journalists and investigators are blocked from free access, beaten or deported. It's not a credible source.
Reference 6 and 7: Those are mostly activist claims and newspaper Opinions, and claims that are not properly sourced. There's also two more credible sources here: The US department report "Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1992", and a statement from The Lemkin Institute.
I'll look first at the US report and then at The Lemkin Institute:
4. The US department report "Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1992":
The 1992 US report says this about Amharas: "Most non-Eritreans, particularly ethnic Amharas, left Eritrea or were expelled if they had close contacts with the Mengistu regime".
I interpret this as being a statement that Eritreans, who had gone through crimes against humanity from the Mengistus, expelled the Mengistus after liberation of Eritrea. But his doesn't give any evidence of genocidial violence. Do you agree?
The 1992 US report also says this: "In many areas of the country the TG [Transitional Government after a civil war] does not exert effective judicial or police control. This government weakness means that those responsible are seldom, if ever, held legally accountable for human rights abuses. There were dozens of instances of violent clashes in the countryside between local militaiy elements of political parties within and outside the TG. In a number of instances, rival groups repeatedly engaged in politically or ethnically motivated violence and killings. In the campaign for the June local and regional elections, the Islamic Front for the Liberation of Oromia was linked to numerous, gruesome, politically motivated killings. Credible allegations spread in May and June that the Oromo People's Democratic Organization, an affiliate of the EPRDF, was responsible for the massacre of Amhara nationals in Arbagugu and in other towns in May and June. In Eritrea there were no reports of extrajudicial killings".
I intepret this as if that there was no evidence of genocidial violence from the Ethiopian state and/or the TPLF. There was a credible claim of one - 1 - massacre against Amharas, and this was probably committed by an "affiliate" of the government in a chaotic post-civil-war situation. The US report says nothing about if those were ethnic Amharas, or if they were urban Ethiopians that just speaks the Amhara language (this is a socio-economic group, not an ethnic one). Ethnic Amharas mostly live in the Amhara region, and are often confused with urban, educated Ethiopians that speaks the Amhara language and lives in towns all over Ethiopia. Political revenge on a ruling class (as opposed to an ethnic group) must not be confused with genocide here. Overall, I don't see evidence of systematic, state-sponsored in this US report. Do you agree?
5.The statement from The Lemkin Institute:
The Lemkin Institute are not activists. It's made up of a few competent genocide scholars. The problem here is that the statement is unsourced, and is mostly plagiarism of unsourced Ethiopian propaganda about an "Amhara genocide". The statement contains so many claims that are obvious propaganda, that it's hard to take this statement seriously.
I'll mention some (A-D) obvious problems in this Statement from The Lemkin Institute:
A) The claim of Tigrayan annexation of the Amhara region from 1991, and ethnic cleansing of Amharas from this area.
B) That the Statement conflates ethnic Amharas with a social class.
C) The claim of "systematic cultural and identity destruction" and a "prohibition against speaking and learning in Amharic" from 1991.
D) The claim of "hundreds of thousands" disappeared Amharas from "the census" after 1991.
A) The claim of Tigrayan annexation of the Amhara region:
Background:
From the 19th Century an Ethiopian empire expanded into neighbouring states and populations. The territory of Ethiopia increased at least threefold. This happened through brutal warfare, colonialism, enslavement, economic exploitation and ethnic cleansing. Nations that resisted were killed, had their means of existence taken away so that they would starve, and were brutally subjugated under enforced administrative rule.
One example is the Woyane resistance in the Tigray region in 1943:
https://martinplaut.com/2019/10/06/when-britain-bombed-tigray-into-submission/
"When in 1942–43 peasants in central and southern Tigray began to rebel out of desperation, they were met with a harsh response. Haile Selassie’s government in collaboration with the British Royal Air Force (RAF), after dropping warning leaflets addressed to ‘the Chiefs, Balabats — people of Tigre province’ on 6 October 1943, devastated the region including Mekelle, the capital of Tigray, throughout the rest of that month.
This quelled the Tigrayan peasant uprising, known as Woyane, meaning ‘revolt’.
Thousands of defenceless civilians lost their lives as a result of aerial bombardment
[...]
Repression did not stop there.
The people of Tigray region were forced to pay large sums of money and their land was confiscated and distributed to loyal gentry as a punishment and as a deterrent to future revolt. A new taxation system was imposed that ‘cost the peasants five times more than they had paid under the Italians’".
The statement from the Lemkin Institute doesn't specify which parts of the Amhara region that was supposedly annexed into the Tigray region in the 1990s. I suppose it refers to Western Tigray. This is an ancient Tigrayan-populated area that was put under forced subjugation.
Jan Nyssen has made a thorough assessment of old maps and administrative boundaries for Western Tigray:
https://www.ethiopia-insight.com/2022/05/13/unearthed-evidence-maps-out-western-tigray-dispute/
Some quotes from Nyssen:
"Handtke’s map
Given its greater detail, I have chosen to focus on Handtke’s map (1849), which was prepared by a German atlas-printing house in the mid-19th century.
Handtke’s map is 39 cm wide and 66 cm tall, and is printed on paper that has been bonded to fabric. The scale is approximately 1:5,600,000; relief is shown by short lines representing slope aspect and a general sense of steepness (hachures).
The map, based on early and mid-19th century diplomatic and other sources, has been produced by lithographic printing, with manual outline coloring, as was done for many maps prepared at that time.
The work was created in one of the few stronger cartographic publishing houses in 19th century Germany, managed by Carl Flemming (1806-1878). Flemming was aided by cartographer Friedrich Handtke (1815-1879), who worked on nearly every map assignment for the firm [...]
The map shows that the geography of the Red Sea Coast, Egypt, and “Nubia” was fairly well known, as well as that of the northern and central Ethiopian highlands. These were mapped in relative detail for “Tigre”, “Amhara”, and to the south with fuzzy boundaries for “Schoa”, as the mapmakers referred to these areas [...]
On Handtke’s map, Ras Ali’s “Amhara” corresponded largely to the current Amhara region, yet with Wollo as a separate entity. The territorial organization of “Tigre” included the Eritrean highlands (“Baharnagasch”) and the current Tigray region, comprising “Walkayt” and “Waldubba” in the west".
Short summary: There's detailed maps going back to 1849 that shows that today's Tigray region was not a part of the Amhara region.
But what about who lived there?
Jan Nyssen, quote:
"Remarkably, all language maps of the Ethiopian state sustain the current boundaries of the Tigray region. Such is the case for the map of languages of Ethiopia established by J. Spencer Trimingham, and republished by Egbert Westphal in 1975".
I also recommend this text from 2011 on the topic:
https://hornaffairs.com/2011/06/05/reality-check-tigray-annexed-amhara-lands/
A current claim of "TPLF annexation of Amhara" has been a driving force behind a massive ethnic cleansing of – at a minimum – hundreds of thousands of Tigrayans from Western Tigray from 2020 until 2021. This ethnic cleansing also seems to be a part of an ongoing genocide against millions of Tigrayans in Ethiopia. Tigrayans are presented as dangerous expansionists and that they're annexing land. This is used by extremists to argue for ethnic cleansing, based on a logic of 'if we don't cleanse our land of a danger, they're a danger to us instead'.
An "accusation in a mirror" is a hate-speech incitement technique. It refers to falsely imputing to one's adversaries the intentions that one has for oneself and/or the action that one is in the process of enacting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accusation_in_a_mirror
The Lemkin Institute seems to peddle genocidial accusations in a mirror here. This is incredibly concerning. How did the Lemkin Institute suddenly claim that Amhara land was annexed and Amharas were ethnically cleansed after 1991? Where is their evidence of this? And why did this Statement come straight after a sudden uptick in claims of an "Amhara Genocide" and establishment of a Wikipeda page on this?
B) Conflation of ethnic Amharas with a social class:
I recommend this article about how "Amhara" is a term for two distinct groups:
Pausewang, Siegfried. "The Two-faced Amhara Identity". In Scrinium: Revue de Patrologie, d'Hagiographie Critique et d'Histoire Ecclèsiastique, year 1 (2005), p. 273-286.
"The Amhara" is a term that refers to two different groups:
A) An ethnic group by the name of Amhara, who speaks the Amhara language, are mostly subsistence farmers, have historically been similar to the Tigrayans and who mostly live in the Amhara region.
B) A social class which is urban, educated, speaks the Amhara language, and has violently conquered, incorporated and colonialized other nations into today's Ethiopia since the 19th Century. This social class lives in different areas all over today's Ethiopia, in mostly urban, affluent areas. They usually refer to themselves as "Ethiopians", not Amharas, and claim that they're against "tribalism and ethnic politics". A critical approach to Amhara as a ruling class may refer to them as "neftegna". This term may be translated as "murderous rapist colonizer". A literal translation is "rifle-bearer". "Neftegnas" conquered and colonized. Neftegnas intimately and daily terrorized and subjugated their victims, and bore rifles at all times to oppress and kill.
The Lemkin Statement seems to confuse and conflate those two groups, and accuse different actors (TPLF; OLA) of wishing to commit genocide on ethnic Amharas, simply because those actors have confronted and fought against one of the most violent imperialist and assimilist states in history. This confusion is currently used to present an extermination campaign against the Tigrayans as a fight against "ethnic extremists in the TPLF" or similar disguises.
This is problematic.
C) The claim of "systematic cultural and identity destruction" of Amharas, a supposed "prohibition against speaking and learning in Amharic" since 1991.
A brief historical overview:
Oromos – September 1981 publishing from Cultural Survival:
https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/oromo-continue-flee-violence
"The ruling Amhara, who constitute less than 15 percent of the nation's population but have ruled since the 19th century, have been systematically driving the Oromo for their fertile lands and subjecting them to torture, imprisonment, forced conscription, and execution".
"Written Oromo texts were destroyed and education of Oromos was conducted in Amharic [...] The Oromo refugees in Washington left Ethiopia for various reasons. Some were wanted by the police for teaching the Oromo language in village schools. Others had been jailed and tortured on suspicion of belonging to Oromo political organizations".
Tigrayans now – a selection of published texts in 2021 and until now:
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-in-tigrays-war-ancient-christian-and-muslim-houses-of-worship-risk/
"In group e-mails, academics such as University of Toronto historian Michael Gervers have been circulating photos of heavily damaged churches and mosques. Some are trying to build a database to list the losses. The information is still fragmentary – but it is enough to deeply alarm the scholars.
“I stand in total disbelief,” said Prof. Gervers, who has spent 40 years studying Tigray’s culture and photographing 70,000 pages of its historic manuscripts. “I’m absolutely shocked. It’s distressing. They’re trying to do away with Tigray.”
He calls it a “cultural cleansing” – an attempt to obliterate the entire Tigrayan culture. Among the treasures at risk are some of the world’s oldest surviving Christian scripture, dating back to the fifth century".
More links:
https://africanarguments.org/2021/03/tigray-why-are-soldiers-attacking-religious-heritage-sites/
https://restlessbeings.org/articles/the-attack-on-tegaru-heritage-as-cultural-genocide
The claim of a "prohibition against speaking and learning in Amharic":
The reality:
The Amhara language was the only legal language to use in federal public administration before 1991, and continued to be so after 1991. People in the Ethiopian capital who spoke Tigrayan or Oromo were at risk of harassment, and in today's situation they're at risk of jailing or disapperance. If people speak Amharic with an accent instead of fluently, they're are seen as uncivilised.
I can name at least four universities in the Amhara region that have been established after 1991, and that teaches in the Amharic language: Bahir Dar, Gondar, Debre Berhan and Wollo. A quick Google search points to it being several more. Public schools also teaches in Amharinja.
This is in contrast to before 1991, where there was a single university in the whole of Ethiopia for 50 millions inhabitants. The sole language was Amharic in this university. You had to pass an Amharic-exam to gain admission. This effectively banned large swathes of the Ethiopian population from getting a higher education. I'm not sure what the Lemkin Institute is bullsh**ing about here. Do they seriously believe that stopping assimilation and destruction of non-Amharas is equal to genocide on Amharas, or are they just copying propaganda outlets without a second thought? Have they been infiltrated by radical Amhara activists and compromised?
The Lemkin Statement is a mirror accusation of what has been done towards Tigrayans from 2020 until now, and what was done before 1991 against Oromos.
D) The claim of "hundreds of thousands" disappeared Amharas from "the census":
I guess that this refers to a claim that hundreds of thousands of Amharas mysteriously disappeared after 1991. Two different population censuses in Ethiopia are supposedly evidence of this. See e.g this statement on the propaganda page Borkena:
"The 1994 Rwandan Genocide that claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Tutsis shocked the entire world. Yet, the Ethiopian census of 2007 that showed 2.5 million ethnic Amhara missing did not draw attention at all [...] Since the replacement of the Socialist regime by the Meles-led TPLF/EPRDF regime in 1991, a pre-planned destruction of the Amhara people was set in motion using different methods-mass killings, displacements, and dispossession of Amhara everywhere in the country".
https://borkena.com/2022/06/26/ethiopia-dialouge-forum-statement-on-amhara-genocide/
I guess that it refers to those two censuses:
A) The 2007 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia.
B) Population and Housing Census 1994.
The reason I guess that it's those two censuses, is that there hasn't been any other censuses since 1991 than those two.
My comment: Those censuses does not demonstrate that Amharas have gone missing.
The logic behind the claim of "missing Amharas" goes like this, and I'm paraphrasing here:
"The 1994 census showed that Amharic-speakers made up 17 millions of the population in 1994, and 22 millions in 2007. But, the Ethiopian population as a whole increased from 53 til 74 millions from 1994 until 2007. That's a higher growth rate. The Amharas should have been more numerous. Therefore, millions of Amharas must have been [insert genocide claim]"
The 2007 census is used as "evidence" for several claims: Ethnically-targeted forced disapperances, mass killings, a claim of a massive anti-Amhara forced sterilization program, and so on. There's little questioning of whether or not the censuses were correct at all, and if they are, that there might be others reasons for why the Amhara population growth was slightly lower than other Ethiopians.
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