Italia, Etiopia e Gabriella Ghermandi

Italy has a complex relationship with Ethiopia because of (1) the loss of the battle at Adua in 1896 and (2) Mussolini, who was determined to vindicate the loss at Adua and reestablish the Roman empire by conquering countries in Africa which were not yet colonies of Britain or France in the pre WWII era, and Ethiopia was the jewel in that crown, if only briefly, if never really, if done brutally. As the 20th century approached, Italy found itself without African colonies and only the kingdom of Ethiopia and the tiny republic of Liberia were yet to be claimed. Italy first went after Ethiopia at this time with arrogance - after all they had supplied arms to the emperor and he would capitulate, but, after advancing deep into Ethiopia, the Italians were forced to withdraw to defensible positions in Tigray, where the wor armies faced each other, and, even with its army of 17,700 and 56 artillery, they ultimately lost to Ethiopian forces under Menelik, mostly riflemen - a humiliating defeat. A good article on the situation leading up to and the battle at Adua is found at: http://digilander.libero.it/fiammecremisi/adua.htm An excellent YouTubeshort feature with images of the Adua battle can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id_3pzPjTd0

As a result, Mussolini sought to heal that humiliation before the second World War ended. An excellent historic film on the colonization of Ethiopia by Italians, historic, in Italian, can be found at: www.lastoriasiamonoi.rai.it/puntata.aspx?id=515.
"A partire dal 1929 il governo fascista di Benito Mussolini dà inizio al progetto di conquistare un “proprio posto al sole” sulla scia di Gran Bretagna e Francia: l’aspirazione del duce è, in altre parole, quella di avviare una politica imperialista che sia in grado di dare lustro al regime, di conquistare terre ricche di risorse naturali, di ricostruire un impero sullo stile del grande impero romano. L’Abissinia sembra subito, alle alte gerarchie politiche e militari fasciste, l’obiettivo giusto; è uno Stato ancora indipendente e l’invasione italiana non avrebbe con tutta probabilità provocato reazioni internazionali. Inoltre il livello militare delle truppe etiopi è basso: la guerra di Etiopia sembra l’occasione adatta per vendicare la sconfitta subita dall’Italia, nel 1896 in Africa orientale."

Many immigrants from Ethiopia are now in Italy, amongst them the brilliant writer Gabriella Ghermandi whose novel about that colonization, entitled, Regina di Fiori e di Perle, is a literary masterpiece and a mirror for Italy to see itself, then, and now.
Ms. Ghermandi has her own website, with many pages and links worth exploring: www.gabriella-ghermandi.it/ . Ms. Germandi has lived in Bologna since she was a child, the product of an Italian father and Ethiopian mother who could not wait to get out of Ethiopia and to Italy to try and erase the stain of having lost so much in that period. Ms. Ghermandi, in spite of her mother's efforts, speaks not only a perfect Italian, in which she also wrote this book, but also the language of her mother's people, which she used when she returned to gather their stories for this oral history of a book.

Professor Federica Sossi of the University of Bergamo and webmistress of the site highligting stories of immigrati from many countries - wrote a provacative recensione of Ghermandi's book on the website for La Libreria delle Donne di Milano.

Gabriella Ghermandi saw the review and contacted Prof. Sossi which led to a Dialogo a Distanza molto interessante.
Ms. Ghermandi also reads her stories, sings and presents music of Ethiopia in free "concerts/readings". Here is a video link to one such spettacolo; there are other links to others on her website. http://www.culturaspettacolovenezia.it/show_img.php?id=29092&name=linkfoto&thumb=1

Oggi, Italy seems to be working to help Ethiopia with several worthwhile initiatives like this one:
http://www.itacaddis.org/italy/index.cfm?fuseaction=basic_pages.lang&page_name=1&lang=fr ; - la cooperazione fra l'Italia e Etiopia
La cooperazione tra Italia ed Etiopia ha una lunga storia. Il primo accordo di cooperazione è stato firmato il 5 aprile 1973 tra il Governo italiano e il Governo imperiale d’Etiopia con lo scopo di avviare progetti tra i due paesi. Il 24 ottobre 1986 è stato firmato un ulteriore accordo che ha gettato le basi per l’istituzione dell’Ufficio della Cooperazione allo sviluppo all’interno dell’Ambasciata d’Italia di Addis Abeba.

How Italy treats the immigrants from Ethiopia, and elsewhere, is the topic for another blog. Per adesso, c'e' molto razzismo, forse sempre di piu', per alcuni motivi. Punto e basta.