Clark University - Clark News Winter 2003
A lesson in humanity
Meslin Wolde-Mariam M.A. '57, Ethiopia's leading human rights activist exemplifies the Clark ideal of changing the world for the better.
By Judith Jaeger
Mesfin Wolde-Mariam M.A. '57 came to Clark in the 1950s to study geography, but he learned much more than that.
"I was very much impressed by everything I saw," says Wolde-Mariam, who recalls his wonder at the "confidence, the driving force, the dynamism" of the United States.
After finishing his degree, Wolde-Mariam was asked to stay at Clark to earn a Ph.D. But Wolde-Mariam wanted to return to Ethiopia. "I had so much that I wanted to transfer there, I was impatient," he says.
Since then, Wolde-Mariam has become a world-renowned scholar and one of Ethiopia's leading human-rights activists. The founder and chairman of the Ethiopian Human Rights Council, Wolde-Mariam returned to Clark in November to receive an honorary degree in recognition of his scholarship and his work combating famine in Ethiopia. Wolde-Mariam received the honorary degree and gave a keynote address as part of inauguration ceremonies for the new facility for Clark's International Development, Community and Environment Program.
The causes of famine
Wolde-Mariam is known for bringing to light Ethiopia's most devastating drought of the 20th century. In 1973, he and his students from the then Haile Selassie University were conducting field research when they discovered the drought and famine, which the government had covered up to avoid embarrassment. Defying the government, Wolde-Mariam and his students sponsored a photo exhibition in Addis Ababa about the famine, which caught the world's attention and brought relief.
This was not the first time Wolde-Mariam encountered famine in Ethiopia. In 1968, he heard rumors of a famine in northern Ethiopia and decided to see it for himself.
"It was the most horrible thing I've ever seen in my life, and it haunted me," he says. It still haunted him in 1976, when Wolde-Mariam stopped teaching because he refused to teach along the Marxist-Leninist ideology, as dictated by Ethiopia's government at the time. "I decided to confront this thing that was constantly popping up in my mind, sometimes even waking me in the night."
After years of study, Wolde-Mariam determined that the cyclical famines that plague Ethiopia are caused not only by drought, but by other forces that drive the peasants to starvation. These peasants farm small, fragmented plots of land with ancient methods, he explains, and are then forced to pay myriad taxes on their small amount of produce. In order to pay all of these taxes, the peasants must sell their produce, and Wolde-Mariam notes, they all sell at the same time, which causes prices to drop. Lower prices force the peasants to sell even more of their produce, which leaves them with nothing for their own consumption.
"When this sort of exploitation makes peasants starve, it's not drought," says Wolde-Mariam, noting that this year an estimated 17 million peasants are starving in Ethiopia. "If we want to stop famine, we have to bring about the liberation of the peasants."
Promoting human rights
In 1991, Wolde-Mariam established the Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRC) to promote democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights in Ethiopia. A nonpolitical group with members from all racial, ethnic and religious backgrounds, the EHRC teaches students, teachers, workers and ordinary men and women about human rights and democracy and distributes a monthly newsletter about these issues. The EHRC also monitors human rights violations in all parts of Ethiopia, tracking and reporting extrajudicial killing, torture and brutality perpetrated by the Ethiopian government.
"The dirty work in human rights is monitoring the violations," says Wolde-Mariam, who has endured harassment, intimidation and arrests. He is due back in court in March for a case pending since last spring when Wolde-Mariam was arrested and jailed for allegedly inciting students to violence. "All this is simply concocted," he says, noting the irony of the charges. "I am unconditionally against all sorts of violence, against armed struggle, and I stand for democracy and the empowerment of the people."
Despite these impediments and financial constraints, Wolde-Mariam and the EHRC are making progress. Wolde-Mariam says they have been most successful in raising awareness of human rights among Ethiopians. Stopping the current regime's abuse of human rights has been more difficult, he adds, but even there the EHRC has made progress.
"We have definitely reduced their immediate reaction to kill, maim and torture. Now they know someone is watching," Wolde-Mariam says.
Wolde-Mariam has suffered for his work with the EHRC, but he has not lost hope. He believes that "the Ethiopian people deserve better" and is convinced that Western countries will eventually recognize that it is in their best interest to support human rights and democracy in Ethiopia.
A life of activism
Wolde-Mariam is also quick to point out that he has not suffered as much as many others and that he can leave Ethiopia. He often travels to the United States to visit one of his daughters and was a fellow at Harvard University last fall. He returns to Ethiopia, however, to satisfy what he considers to be a basic human need.
"For me, a life will have meaning only if you are involved. A life without involvement is really no life at all," he says. "We become human beings when we become aware of those who are below us."
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