12 ሉነበቡ የሚገባቸው የአመራር ጥበብ መጽሐፍት

Bob SuttonProfessor,nally poste
I have been maintaining — and occasionally updating — a list of "Books That Every Leader Should Read" on my old Work Matters' blog since 2011. These are books that have taught me much about people, teams, and organizations — while at the same time — provide useful guidance (if sometimes indirectly) about what it takes to lead well versus badly. This is the 2018 update. I left out many of my favorites — and probably many of yours as well. After all, some 11,000 business books are published in the United States every year.

Many on the list are research based, others tell detailed stories, and only two are quick reads ('Orbiting the Giant Hairball' and 'Parkinson's Law'). That reflects my bias. I lean toward books that have real substance beneath them. This runs counter to the belief in the business book world that people will only buy and read books that are very short and simple — and have just one idea. So, if your kind of business book is 'The One Minute Manager' (which frankly, I like too ... but you can read the whole thing in 20 or 30 minutes), then you probably won't like most of these books.

1. 'The Progress Principle' by Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer

A masterpiece of evidence-based management — the strongest argument I know that "the big things are the little things."

2. 'Influence' by Robert Cialdini

The classic book about how to persuade people to do things, how to defend against persuasion attempts, and the underlying evidence. I have been using this in class at Stanford for over 25 years, and I have had dozens of students say to me years later "I don't remember much else about your class, but I still use and think about that Cialdini book." I also am impressed with Cialdini's 2016 bestseller, 'Pre-Suasion,' which adds wonderful new evidence-based twists. And while some of the examples in the original book are getting a bit dated, I suggest starting with the classic and then reading the new one.

3. 'Made to Stick' by Chip and Dan Heath

A modern masterpiece, already a classic after just a few years. How to design ideas that people will remember and act on. I still look at it a couple times a month and I buy two or three copies at a time because people are always borrowing it from me. I often tell them to keep it because they rarely give it back anyway. And, for my tastes, it has the best business book cover of all time — the duct tape even looks and feels real.

4. 'Thinking, Fast and Slow' by Daniel Kahneman

Even though the guy won the Nobel Prize, this book is surprisingly readable. A book about how we humans really think, and although it isn't designed to do this, Kahneman also shows how and why so much of the stuff you read in the business press is crap. I also recommend Michael Lewis' 2017 book 'The Undoing Project,' which tells the tale of the complex relationship between Daniel Kahneman and his colleague the late Amos Tversky (who would have shared the Nobel with Kahneman if he had lived).

5. 'Quiet' by Susan Cain

I have long been a fan of this book. The blend of storytelling, Cain's writing voice, and evidence is something to behold. There are three reasons I've moved it to my leadership list. The first is that the influence seems to grow every year; every leader I know now talks about the difference between leading introverts and extroverts. Leaders and future leaders who are introverts now are more confident, and understand better how to blend their style with extroverts. And, from the academic perspective, I believe it is no accident that, since Cain's book was published, there has been a big upswing in research on the virtues and nuances of extroverts — as leaders, group members, romantic partners, and on an on. Second, Cain does an magnificent job of taking down open office designs — which are especially tough in introverts, but undermine productivity, satisfaction, and healthy social interaction for all employees in ways that advocates have denied for decades (despite all the evidence of drawbacks). Cain's book has, I believe, played a substantial role in the current pushback against open offices. Third, and on a more personal level, my wife read 'Quiet' for the first time this year. She is an introvert and has been a successful leader for the past 25 years or so, first at a large law firm, and as CEO of the Girl Scouts of Northern California for the last decade. The book helped her understand why she has been successful and how to fine tune her leadership style depending on whether the staff, adult volunteers, and girls she works with are more introverted or extroverted.

6. 'Orbiting the Giant Hairball' by Gordon MacKenzie

It is hard to explain, sort of like trying to tell a stranger about rock and roll, as the old song goes. But it is one of the two best creativity books ever written, and one of the best business books of any kind — even though it is nearly an anti-business book. Gordon's voice and love creativity and self-expression — and how to make it happen despite the obstacles that unwittingly heartless organizations put in the way — make this book a joy.

7. 'Creativity, Inc.' by Ed Catmull

One of the best business/leadership/organization design books ever written — this and 'Hairball' are a great pair. I wrote a more detailed review of Ed's wonderful book here. As I wrote in my blurb, and this is no B.S., "This is the best book ever written" on what it takes to build a creative organization. It is the best because Catmull's wisdom, modesty, and self-awareness fill every page. He shows how Pixar's greatness results from connecting the specific little things they do (mostly things that anyone can do in any organization) to the big goal that drives everyone in the company: making films that make them feel proud of one another. I read this book from cover to cover again about a month ago — there is so much there as Ed brings in so much of his amazing life and gleans so many lessons about leadership and life.

I confess that I am biased about this book. I have met Ed several times and swayed by his modesty, smarts and how well he listens. The last time we met, Ed told me a great story. He and his editor were having trouble with the flow of the book. So he asked a couple of the Pixar script writers who worked on the film 'Monsters INC' to read the draft and make suggestions. Ed said they spotted the problem right away and came up with a great solution. Ed has resources that other authors don't! That beautiful cover is a Pixar design too.

8. 'Leading Teams' by J. Richard Hackman

When it comes to the topic of groups or teams, there is Hackman and there is everyone else. If you want a light feel good romp that isn't very evidence-based, read 'The Wisdom of Teams.' If want to know how teams really work and what it really takes to build, sustain, and lead them from a man who was immersed in the problem as a researcher, coach, consultant, and designer for over 40 years, this is the book for you. Oh, and if you want the cheat sheet — although you are missing enough that you are mostly cheating yourself — check out Hackman's HBR piece, the very definition of profound simplicity, a lifetime of wisdom and (I am guessing) the results of 1000 studies summarized in six concise points.

9. 'Give and Take' by Adam Grant

Adam is the hottest organizational researcher of his generation. When I read the pre-publication version, I was so blown away by how useful, important, and interesting that 'Give and Take' was that I gave it one of the most enthusiastic blurbs of my life: "'Give and Take' just might be the most important book of this young century. As insightful and entertaining as Malcolm Gladwell at his best, this book has profound implications for how we manage our careers, deal with our friends and relatives, raise our children, and design our institutions. This gem is a joy to read, and it shatters the myth that greed is the path to success." In other words, Adam shows how and why you don't need to be a selfish asshole to succeed in this life. America — and the world — would be a better place if all of us memorized and applied Adam's worldview. I love this book — I give it to Stanford students and executives all the time, especially when they worry aloud that, to get ahead, their only choice is to be a selfish asshole.

10. 'Parkinson’s Law' by C. Northcote Parkinson

You've probably heard of Parkinson's Law, which he first proposed in The Economist in 1955: "It is a commonplace observation that work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion." I had as well, but I never knew much about C. Northcote Parkinson, nor had I read his 1958 gem of the same name (I didn't even know it existed) until Huggy Rao and I started writing 'Scaling Up Excellence' and my well read co-author pointed me to this collection of essays. Parkinson was quite a guy — a scholar of public administration, naval historian, and author of over 60 books. For our scaling book, I was especially taken with his arguments, evidence, and delightfully polite English sarcasm about the negative and predictable effects of group size and administrative bloat. I am also a big fan of 'The Peter Principle,' which is similar in some ways, (I wrote the forward to the 40 Anniversary Edition), but 'Parkinson's Law' is an even better book.

11. 'To Sell is Human' by Dan Pink

You might ask, what does this have to do with management and leadership? Read the book. Dan does a masterful job of showing how, to lead and motivate others, to protect and enhance of the reputations of the people, teams, and organizations we care about, and to have successful careers as well, we all need to be able to sell people our ideas, products, solutions, and yes, ourselves. Dan's ability as a storyteller is what makes this book stand above so many others — his stories are not only compelling, they make evidence-based principles come alive. To be honest, I had not devoted much attention to this book until my wife picked up a copy and read the whole thing from start to finish in about a day. She then spent the next week raving about all the ways Dan's book would help her as CEO of a non-profit — in everything from fundraising, to inspiring employees and volunteers, to dealing with the media, to convincing new prospects to join her organization's board. Then I read it myself. As much as I admire Malcolm Gladwell, I believe that Dan Pink just might be the most skilled writer we have at translating behavioral science research. His stuff is so fun to read, it doesn't distort or exaggerate findings, and he does a masterful job of teaching us how to apply the lessons in his books.

12. 'The Path Between the Seas' by David McCullough

On building the Panama Canal. This is a great story of how creativity happens at a really big scale. It is messy. Things go wrong. People get hurt. But they also triumph and do astounding things. I also like this book because it is the antidote to those who believe that great innovations all come from start-ups and little companies (although there are some wild examples of entrepreneurship in the story — especially the French guy who designs Panama's revolution — including a new flag and declaration of independence as I recall — from his suite in the Waldorf Astoria in New York, and successfully sells the idea to Teddy Roosevelt).

As my Stanford colleague Jim Adamspoints out, the Panama Canal, the Pyramids, and putting a man on moon are just a few examples of great human innovations that were led by governments. If you want to learn about what world class scaling "clusterfug" looks like, read about how the French messed things up — and if you want to learn about skilled scaling (with some horrible side-effects) and the amazing U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt, find the time to read this rather massive masterpiece.

In addition to these twelve, I was tempted to add 'Collaboration' by Morten Hansen, the best book on the topic ever written and 'The Silo Effect' by Gillian Tett, which is stunning analysis of why — once organizations are broken into specialized groups — all sorts of bad things that undermine the greater good, along with some mighty thoughtful ideas about how to overcome these problems and make the best use of such specialized and isolated "stovepipes." And while I removed 'Who Says That Elephants Can't Dance,' by former IBM Lou Gerstner from my top 12 a couple years ago, it remains the best book on the transformation of a large company that I know of — the first half is especially strong.

Bob Sutton is a Stanford Professorwho studies and writes about leadership, organizational change, and navigating organizational life. His latest book is The Asshole Survival Guide: How To Deal With People Who Treat You Like Dirt.

ላሊበላ ውቅር አብያተ ቤተክርስትያን

#ገናን በላልይበላ እናሳልፍ ።

የላልይበላ ውቅር አብያተ ክርስቲያናት የሚገኙት  ሰሜን ወሎ ዞን ከባህር ዳር ጋሸና 236 ኪ.ሜትር ከጋሸና ላልይበላ 64 ኪሎሜትር ከወልዲያ ሰሜን ምዕራብ 18ዐ ኪ/ሜ ርቀት ላይ ከምትገኘው ከላልይበላ ከተማ ነው፡፡

ውቅር አብያተክርስቲያናቱ በ12ኛው ክፍለ ዘመን በቅዱስ ላልይበላ ከአንድ አለት ተፈልፍለው የታነጹ ሲሆኑ በሶስት ምድብ የተከፈሉ ናቸው፡፡

ምድብ አንድ ፦ ቤተመድሃኒዓለም፣ ቤተ ማርያም፣ ቤተ ሚካኤል / ቤተ ጐለጐታ/፣ ቤተ መስቀል፣  ደብረ ሲና እና ቤተ ደናግል ይገኛሉ።

#ምድብ ሁለት መካከል፦ ቤተ አማኑኤል፣ ቤተ መርቆርዮስ፣ ቤተ ገብርኤል ሩፋኤልና ቤተ አባሊባኖስ ይገኛሉ።

ከሁለቱም ምድቦች ፈንጠር ብሎ የሚገኘው #ቤተ ጊዮርጊስ ደግሞ በምድብ ሶስት ይመደባሉ፡፡

በላሊበላ በርካታ በዓላት አሉ የተለየው ግን ትልቁ ክብረ በአል ታህሳስ 29 ቀን የሚከበረው የገና በአል ነው፡፡

ለበአሉ ታላቅነት ሌላው ተጨማሪ ምክንያት ደግሞ በቅዱስነታቸው የሚታወቁት የቅዱስ ላሊበላ የልደት ቀን ጭምር መሆኑ ነው፡፡

የገና በዓል በላልይበላ በልዩ ልዩ ሀይማኖታዊ ዝግጅቶች ለበርካታ ቀናት ይከበራል፡፡

በተለይም በገና ዋዜማ በሌሊት የሚከናወነው የቤዛ ኩሉ ሀይማኖታዊ ስርአት እንደእርጥብ ሸንበቆ  ወገባቸው  የሚተጣጠፈውን የደብረ ሮሃ  ካህናት ዝማሜ ማየት እጅግ ያስደስታል፡፡

ጥምቀትም በላሊበላ ሌላው ትልቅ በአል ነው፡፡

የእነዚህን ሁለት ትላልቅ በአላት አከባበር በአካል ለመመልከት  እና ከበዓላት ውጭም ውቅር አብያተክርስትያኑትን የህንፃ ጥበብ ለማየት እና ለማድነቅ ብዛት ያለው ምእመን፣ የአገር ውስጥና የውጭ አገር ጐብኝ ወደ ላሊበላ በየአመቱ ይጎርፋል።

በርካታ ቅርሶችን የያዘ ቅዱስ ላልይበላ ውቅር አብያተ ክርስቲያናቱትን ሲሰራ የተጠቀመበት መጥረቢያን ጨምሮ በርካታ ቅርሶች በሙዚየም ተደራጅተዋል እንዲሁም ባማረ ህንፃ የተደራጀው የላልይበላ የባህል ማዕከልም የአካባቢውን ወግና ባህል በሚያሳይ መልኩ ሙዚየም  ተደራጅቶ ለጉብኝት አገልግሎት እየሰጠ ይገኛል፡፡

ከ11ዱ ውቅር አብያተክርስትያናት በተጨማሪ በቅርብ ርቀት በርካታ ጥንታዊና ታሪካዊ አብያተ ክርስትያናት ይገኛሉ፡፡

ከእነዚህም ውስጥ ይምርኸነክርስቶስ ፣ ገነተማርያም ፣ ናአኩቶለአብ ፣ ብልብላጊዮርጊስ፣ ብልብላ ቂርቆስ ፣ እመኪናመድሀኒዓለም ፣ አሸተን ማርያም ፣ አቡነ ዬሴፍና ሌሎችም ይገኛሉ፡፡

ውድ የአገር ውስጥና የውጭ ምዕመናን ገናን በላልይበላ በመገኘት እነዚህን ውድ የአገር ሀብትና ኩራት የሆኑትን ቅርሶች በመጐብኘት ደስታችን እጥፍ ድርብ እናድርግ፡፡

የፓርቲዎች ውህደት

"ቅንጅትም አይደለም ፤ ግንባርም አይደለም " ፦
ህብረ ብሄራዊ ፓርቲዎች የመሰረቱት ይህ ዜግነትን መሰረት ያደረገ ፓርቲ ከዚህ በፊት በ97ቱ ምርጫ ተሞክሮ ከከሸፈው "ቅንጅት " ትምህርት የተወሰደበት ይመስለኛል። በበፊቱ ቅንጅት አባል የሆኑት ፓርቲዎች እኩል ድምጽ የመበራቸው ሲሆን የራሳቸውን ድርጅታዊ ማንነትንም ይዘው ቀጥለዋል። ኢህአዴግም "ግንባር " ሲሆን አራቱም አባል ድርጅቶች የራሳቸውን ህልውና ይዘው ሲቀጥሉ በህወሃት በሚመራው ኢህአዴግና በአዴፓ በሚመራው ኢህአዴግ መሃል ልዩነቱ የሚታይ ነው። ይህ አሂን ህብረ ብሄራዊ ፓርቲዎች የመሰረቱት ግን "ቅንጅትም " አይደለም "ግንባርም " አይደለም ተብሎአል ይህም ውስጣዊ አንድነቱን ለመጠበቅ የሚያስችለው መላ ነው።
"ቅንጅትም አይደለም ፥ ግንባርም አይደለም ውህደት ነው "።በዚህ ውህደት ሰማያዊ ፓርቲ ራሱን ማክሰሙን ገልጾአል ።ይሁንና ግን አንድነት ሲባል ልዩነት የለም ማለት አይደለም ግን አንድነት ከልዩነት ይበልጣል ነው ሃሳቡ። ይህ ህብረ ብሄራዊ ፓርቲ አዲስ ይዞት የመጣው ሃሳብ በተለይም ምንም አይነት የፖለቲካ ውክልና ለሌለው ከተሜ አማራጭ ሊሆን ይችላል ።
በቦለቲካው ዓለም የአቁዋም ለውጥንና ማሻሻያን ወይም ተሃድሶን ብሎም የአመራር ለውጥን እያደረጉ መቀጠል አዲስ ነገር አይዶለም። ለምሳሌ በአሜሪካን አገር የጥቁር መብት ተከራካሪና ተራማጅ ተደርጎ በአብረሃም ሊንከን በ1860ዎቹ ግዜ የሚወሰደው ሪፐብሊካን ፓርቲው ሲሆን አሁን ደግሞ የሰራተኛውና የጥቁሮች የተሻለ ይወክላል እሚባለው #ዲሞክራቲክ ፓርቲው ነው። #adapt ማድረግ #flexibility ለፖለቲካ ፓርቲዎች ህልውናን ለማስቀጠልና ለአዳዲስ ጉዳዮች ጋር አብሮ ቀጥሎ ዘላቂ የሆነ የህዝብ ድጋፍን ይዞ ለመቀጸል ይረዳል።

የቅዱስ አትናቴዎስ ሐዋርያዊ ሕይወቱ እና ትምህርቱ አጭር ዳሰሳ

                                                                             የቅዱስ አትናቴዎስ ዜና ሕይወት

ቅዱስ አትናቴዎስ ሐዋርያዊ በ298 ዓ.ም በእስክንድርያ ተወለደ፡፡ ቅዱስ አትናቴዎስ በህጻንነቱ በጨዋታ ሜዳ ከህጻናት ጋር እርሱ አጥማቂ እነርሱ ተጠማቂ እየሆኑ ሲጫዎቱ ፓትርያርክ እለእስክንድሮስ አይቶ ወደ መንበረ ፕትርክናው በመውሰድ እንዳሳደገው ሩፊኖስ የተባለው የዚያን ዘመን ታሪክ ጸሐፊ ዘግቧል፡፡
እለእስክንድሮስ የቤተ ክርስቲያንን ትምህርት እና ሥርዓት እንዲሁም ሌሎችን የዘመኑ ዕውቀቶች እያስተማረ ካሳደገው በኋላ ለመዓርገ ምንኩስና በቃ፡፡ በቅድስናው፣ በሞያውና በግብረ ገብነቱ እንከን የሌለው ወጣቱ አትናቴዎስ በ23 ዓመቱ ሊቀ ዲያቆን ሆነ፡፡ በዚያ ዘመኑ መዓርግ “ሊቀ ዲያቆን” ማለት የሊቀ ጳጳሱ አፈ ጉባኤ፣ እንደራሴ እንደ ማለት ነበር፡፡ (የቤተ ክርስቲያን ታሪክ በዓለም መድረክ፣ አባ ጎርጎርዮስ (ጳጳስ)፣ 1978 ዓ.ም.፣ ገጽ 94)
በአጠቃላይ የአራተኛው መቶ ዓመት የቤተ ክርስቲያን ተጋድሎ ከአርዮሳውያን እና ተረፈ አርዮሳውያን ጋር የተደረገ እንደነበረ ታሪክ ይነግረናል፡፡ ቅዱስ አትናቴዎስንም ጎልቶ እንዲወጣ እና ታላቅነቱ እንዲታወቅ ያደረጉት በዚሁ ዘመን የነበረው የአርዮሳውያንና ተባባሪዎቻቸው ሁከትና ሴራ ነው፡፡
አርዮስ በአንድ ቤተ ክርስቲያን ላይ የክህነት ኃላፊነት ተሰጥቶት ቅዱሳት መጻሕፍትን እንዲያስተምር ተሹሞ የነበረ ሊቢያዊ ቄስ ነበር፡፡ በኋላ ግን “ወልድ በመለኮቱ ፍጡር ነው” የሚል ትምህርት እያስተማረ እና የቅዱሳት መጻሕፍትን ንባባት ለዚሁ ትምህርቱ በሚረዳው መልኩ እየተረጎመ ምንፍቅናውን በታላቅ ትጋት በማስተማሩ እርሱ እና መሰሎቹ ቤተ ክርስቲያንን ከግማሽ ክፍለ ዘመን በላይ አውከዋታል፡፡
በዚህም ምክንያት ቤተ ክርስቲያን የመጀመሪያውን ዓለም አቀፍ ጉባኤ አድርጋለች፡፡ ይህ ጉባኤ በንጉሥ ቆስጠንጢኖስ አስተባባሪነት እና በእስክንድርያው ሊቀ ጳጳስ በእለእስክንድሮስ መሪነት በ 325 ዓ.ም በኒቅያ (አሁን ቱርክ ውስጥ ባለች ቦታ) ተካሄደ፡፡ በጉባኤው 318 ጳጳሳት ብዛት ካላቸው ቀሳውስት እና ዲያቆናት ጋር ተገኝተዋል፡፡ በጉባኤው የአርዮስን ምንፍቅና በማጋለጥ እና ትክክለኝውን የቤተ ክርስቲያን ኦርቶዶክሳዊ ትምህርት በሚገባ ከገለጡ ሊቃውንት መካከል ለጊዜው በሊቀ ዲያቆንነት እለእስክንድሮስን ተከትሎ የሄደው በኋላ እለእስክንድሮስ ሲያርፍ በእስክንድርያ መንበር በሊቀ ጳጳስነት የተሾመው ቅዱስ አትናቴዎስ ዋናው ነበር፡፡ በተለይ አርዮስን በጉባኤው ፊት ተከራክሮ በመርታቱ እና አርዮሳውያን መሠረቱን ሊንዱት የጣሩትን የኢየሱስ ክርስቶስ የባሕርይ አምላክነት ትምህርት በጽሑፍና በቃል በማስተማር በማስጠበቅ ኃላፊነቱን በሚገባ የተወጣ ታላቅ የቤተ ክርስቲያን አባት ነው፡፡
ቅዱስ አትናቴዎስ በአርዮሳውያን ሴራ አራት ጊዜ የተሰደደ እና ብዙ መከራ የተቀበለ ሲሆን ለትውልድ እየተላለፉ ቤተ ክርስቲያንን የሚያለመልሙ ድንቅ የነገረ ሃይማኖት መጻሕፍትን ጽፏል፡፡ ከነዚህ መካከል “በእንተ ሥጋዌ”፣ “የአርዮሳውያን መቃወሚያ (Against Arians)”፣ “በእንተ ስደት” ተጠቃሾች ናቸው፡፡ በተጨማሪም የቅዱስ እንጦንስን ገድል የጻፈው ቅዱስ አትናቴዎስ እንደሆነ ይታወቃል፡፡
ይህ አባት ሌሎች በርካታ መጻሕፍትን እየጻፈ እና ከነገሥታት እና ባለሥልጣናት ሳይቀር የሚመጣበትን መከራ እየተቀበለ ለቤተ ክርስቲያን አስተምህሮ መጠበቅ እስከ መጨረሻዋ ሰዓት ድረስ ታግሏል፡፡ በዚህ ጽናቱም “ዓለሙ አትናቴዎስን ጠልቶታል፤ አትናቴዎስም ዓለሙን  ጠልቶታል” ለመባል በቅቷል፡፡ ዘመን ገጠሙ የነበረው ቅዱስ ጎርጎርዮስ ዘእንዚናዙ “የቤተ ክርስቲያን ዓምድ” ይለዋል፡፡ የግሪክ ቤተ ክርስቲያን ደግሞ “የኦርቶዶክሳዊነት አባት (Father of Orthodoxy)” ትለዋለች፡፡
ይህ ታላቅ የሃይማኖት አርበኛ በሰባ አምስተኛ ዓመቱ በአርባ ስድስተኛ ዓመተ ፕትርክናው ግንቦት 7 ቀን 373 ዓ.ም ድካምና ውጣ ውረድ የተመላውን የዚህን ዓለም ሕይወት በአስደናቂ ሁኔታ ፈጸመ፡፡
(ከዲያቆን ያረጋል አበጋዝ “ቅዱስ አትናቴዎስ ሐዋርያዊ ሕይወቱ እና ትምህርት።      

"ጌታ ለዘለዓለም አይጥልምና፤ ያሳዘነውን ሰው እንደ ይቅርታው ብዛት ይምረዋል" ሰቆቃወ ኤርምያስ ፫ ፥ ፴፩
                                   

የጥንቱዋ ኢትዮጵያ ታሪክ

#የጥንቱዋ ኢትዮጵያ ትንሳኤ ታሪክ_#የሱባ ቋንቋ መዝገበ ቃላት_#መጽሃፈ ብሩክ_ዣንሹዋ
#መጽሐፈ ክቡር #መጽሐፈ_ፈውስ #የእውነትን ህይወት_ወደዱ #አፍሪካ_ሁኑ #ጥበብ_ከዕውቀት_ ትምህረት_ከልጅነት #የልቤ_ ወዳጅ_የሰው_ዘር_ልጅ #ምክር_ከእኔ_ስማ_አንተ_ወገኔ ስል የተሰኙትን መጽሐፍት ጨምሮ 24 የሚደርሱ መጻህፍትን ጽፌአለሁ። አብዛኛው ጹሁፎቼ  ደግሞ ስለ ኢትዮጵያ ስለ ዓለም ስልጣኔ ብሎም በጥልቅ ስለማይታወቀው ስላልተመረመሩት
ለሎች ዓለማት ጨምሮ የሚያወሳ ነው።
  #መሪ ራስ ዓማን በላይ ነኝ
መጽሐፎቼን የምጽፋቸው ለህትመት ይበቁልኛል ብዬ ሳይሆን የኢትዮጵያ ታሪክ ትውልድ ሳያውቀው ተከድኖ በመኖሩ ይቆጨኝ ስለነበር ነው። አንድ አንዶች የኢትዮጵያ ታሪክ እንዲሁም መሰረት የሌለው የሚመስላቸው አሉ እንደዚህ አይነት እሳቤዎች በእርግጥም የተሳሳቱ ናቸው። ምክኒያቱም ኢትዮጵያ እነሱን ጨምሮ የእነሱን ዘር ማን ዘር ከመፈጠራቸው በፊት የነበረች ሃገር ናት ። ነጮች ልብስ መልበስ ሳያውቁ በፊት ኢትዮጵያውያን በስልጣኔ በአመራር ጥበብ በህክምና በምህንድስና ሳይቀር ትልቅ ቦታ የነበራቸው ህዝቦች ነበሩ። በነዚህ ጉዳዮችም በተለያዮ መጽሐፍቶቼ ላይ ያካተትኩ ሲሆን ወደ ሃያ አራት (24) የሚደርሱ መጽሐፍቶችን መሳተም ችያለሁ። ሆኖም ለህትመት ያልበቁ ሌሎች ስራዎች አሉኝ። ይህን ሃሳብ ይዤ ነው እንግዲህ የጥንታዊቱዋ #ኢትዮጵያ ትንሳኤ ታሪክ የሚለውን መጽሐፍ የጻፍኩት ። በዚህ መጽሐፍ ውስጥም ማንም ከዚህ ቀደም ስለ ኢትዮጵያ  የማያውቃቸውን ለማመን የሚፈታተኑ ታሪኮች አሰባስቤ የጻፍኩት። እውነት ግን መጪውም ሆነ አሁን ያለው ትውልድ ያሳዝነኛል። እኛ ቀደምቶቹም ብንሆን እውነተኛ ታሪክ ባለማወቅ እውነተኛ ማንነቱ ጠፍቶበት በየሄደበት ታሪኩን ለማግኘት የሚናውዝ በስጋው በነፍሱ የማንነቱ ገናናነት እየታወቀው ዓለም  ሳያውቀው በመቅረቱ ሲያሳንሰው ተደቁሶ  የሚኖር እንደ ግማሽ እብድ የሚያደርገው ስለ ታሪኩ ገናናነት ሲገልጽ ሲሞክር በውስጡ ያለውን አውጥቶ መናገር መግለጽ ስለሚሳነው ዓይኖቹን በማፍጠጥ በቁጣ መንፈስ የሚጋጭ የገዛ ወንድሙን ኢትዮጵያን አገሬን  እንደኔ አታውቃትም አትወዳትም ብሎ የሚደነፋ ነበር። #አሁን ያለው #የማንነት ግራ መጋባት ያናወዘው ነው። የሃገራችን ታሪክ መዛባት ና መጥፋት መነቀፍ የጀመረው ደግሞ ከእኛ ዘመን ቡኃላ በመጣው ትውልድ ነው።
    #የትውልድ ቦታዬም ሆነ ዕድገቴ #ጎንደር_በለሳ ተብሎ በሚጠራው ቦታ ነው። ገና በልጅነቴ ለትምህርት በሰጠሁት ቦታ ትኩረት ከፍተኛ ነበር። የትምህርት ጥማት ስለነበረብኝ ገና በልጅነቴ ከቤተሰቦቼ ተለይቼ ለዕረጅም ዓመታት ከደብር ደብር እየዘዋወርኩ የቤተክርስቲያን ትምህርት ልቅም አድርጌ ተማርኩ ቤተሰቦቼ ለዘመናት ስለጠፋሁባቸው ጫካ ለጫካ ስሔድ አውሬ በልቶት ይሆናል ብለው እርግጠኛ በመሆን እርማቸውን በለቅሶ ካወጡ ከሰላሳ ከ(30) ዓመት ቡኃላ በህይወት እንዳለሁ አወቁ ። በህይወት አጋጣሚ ብዙ ሃገር ዞሬአለሁ ። በተለይም የማረሳውና ወደ ጥልቅ ጥናት እንዳመራ መንገድ የከፈተልኝን ምስጢር ያገኘሁት ከዛሬ 45 ዓመት በፊት በ19 ዓመቴ ወደ #ሱዳን ኑቢያ ሔጄ በነበረበት ወቅት ነው።  በአንድ ቤተክርስቲያን ግቢ በነበረ የድንጋይ ሳጥን ውስጥ የተገኙ በርካታ የብራና መጻህፍትና ለሃገራችን ታሪካዊ ጥናት አዲስ የምርምር ዕይታ የከፈቱልኝ ነበሩ። በወቅቱ በገዳሙ ውስጥ የነበረኝ ቆይታ እንደ ማንኛውም የሃይማኖት አካልና ተማሪ ነበረ ።
ይሄ ወቅት 1950ዎቹ መጨረሻ የጥንቱዋ ኑቢያ ከነበሩ የጥንት ቤተክርስቲያኖች ፍርስራሽ ውስጥ #የብራና መጻህፍት ማግኘት ችዬ ነበር።
ወደ #ኢትዮጵያ እንደተመለስኩ ብራናዎቹን ለቀዳማዊ አጼ #ኃይለ ስላሴ አሳየዋቸው አጼውም ብራናዋቹን ተመልክተው በጊዜው ለነበሩት የትምህርት ምኒስትር ላኩዋቸው #ምኒስትሩም ብራናዋቹን ተመልክተው አሁን ይህን አሳትመህ ብታቀር  የሚያምንህ የለም።
ዝም ብለህ ጹሁፎቹን እያጠናህ እየተረጎምክ ቆይ ከዛ አመቺ ጊዜ ሲገኝ አሳትመን ለዓለም እናቀርባለን። አሉኝ።   ምክኒያቱን ባላውቀውም የተባለው ቃል ሳይፈጸም ቀረ  ለብቻዬ ሆኜ ከብዙ አመታትና ልፋት ቡኃላ #ብራናዋቹን መተርጎም ቻልኩ።

ጹሁፎቹ የተጻፍት በጥንቱ #ሱባ ቋንቋና በጥንቱ የመሮ ፊደላት እናም በግዕዝ ልሳናት ነበረ። እነዚህን ለመተርጎም እረጅም ጊዜ ፈጀብኝ ሁለቱን ቋንቋዎች ለመተርጎም በቂ እውቀት ያለው ሰው ማግኘትና እንዲመጥን አድርጎ መተርጎም ከባድና ፈታኝ ነበር። በተጨማሪም ስለ ኢትዮጵያ ያልተነገሩ  ሚስጥራትን ለማወቅ ከጠቅላይ ግዛት ወደ ጠቅላይ ግዛት እየተዛወርኩ  #ከቤተክርስቲያን ሊቃውንት ጋር እየተገኛኘሁ ስለ #ኢትዮጵያ ታሪክ ብዙ መመራመርና ማወቅ ችያለሁ። የተለያዩ ቦታዎች  ያሉትንም ብርቅ መጻሕፍት ለማወቅ ዕድል አግኝቻለሁ ።   እነዚህን መጻህፍት አሰባስቤ መጻህፈ_ሱባዔ የተባለውን የመጽሐፉን ንድፍ ጽፌ ለወዳጆቼ ሳሳያቸው ከዛም አማን_በላይ ብለው በስሜ የባለቤትነት መብት አያይዘው ይሰጡኛል። ከዛም በጣም በረጃጅም ዐርፍተ ነገር የጻፍኳቸውን ጹሁፍ ሳላስተካክል የላኩላቸውን እነሱ በበኩላቸው ለአንባቢ እንዳያሰለች በአጭር በአጭሩ እየከፋፈሉ እንዲመች አድርገው እያዘጋጁ ያስደስቱኝ ነበር።

በዚህ መልኩ ያሰባሰብኩዋቸውን ጹፎች ወደ መጻህፍት መቀየር ብዙ አላስቸገሩኝም ነበር።
እንደ ነገርኳቹ አብዛኛው የምጽፋቸው ጹሁፎች  በሰው ልጅ በጥልቀት ስላልተዳሰሱ ስለ ዓለማት ሚስጥር ነው። በተለይም መጻህፈ_ብሩክ_ዣንሽዋ መጻህፈ_ክቡር የተባሉ መጻህፍቶቼ ከኢትዮጵያ በአሳሹ ጀምስ_ብሩስ ተሰርቀው ከወጡት ታላላቅ የሚስጢራት  አንዱ በሆነው መጻህፈ_ሄኖክ ዙሪያና አልበርት_አንስታይን ሳይቀር ተመራምሮ ሊፈታቸው ስላልቻለው ስለ ሌሎቹ ዓለማት ሚስጢራትና እኛ ስለምንኖርባት ምድር ትልቅ ሚስጢሮች ነው። እኔም ኢትዮጵያን የእነዚህን ድንቅ ሚስጥራት የያዙ
መጻህፍት ባለቤት እንደመሆናችን  የማወቅ መብት አላቸው ብዬ ስለማምን ሁሉንም ሳይሆን ለንባብ ይመጥናሉ ያልኳቸውን ለንባብ ።

joseph cabkla

ካቢላ በመጨረሻም እጅ ሰጡ ። የቀድሞዋ ዛተር የእድሁንዋ DRC #president በመሆን አባታቸው ሲገደሉ ካባታቸው ስልጣን በመረከብ በ29 አመታቸው ወደ ስልጣን የመጡት ካቢላ መካሄድ የነበረበትን ምርጫን አራዝመው ስልጣንን የሙጥኝ ብለው ቆይተዋው ነበረ አሁን ግን እ.ኤ.አ በ2019 ምርጫውን በማድረግ ስልጣን ለማስረከብ መወሰናቸውን ተናግረዋል።
በማእድን ሀብቱዋ እጅግ ሃብታም የሆነችውና የቆዳ ስፋትዋም #ትልቅ ሲሆን ፥ ይህችው ሃገር #ጆሴፍ ካቢላ ካባታቸው የወረሱትን ስልጣን ወደ 18 አመታት ያኽል ቆይተውበታል የበዛ ሃብትም አካብተውበታል ለራሳቸውና ለቤተሰቦቻቸው እስክ 6 ቢሊየን ዶላር ይገመታል -የራሳቸውና የቤተሰባቸው ሃብት። በብዙ ቢዝነስም በሃገሪቱ ተሳታፊዎች ናቸው እርሳቸውም ሆኑ ቤተሰቦቻቸው።በቀድሞው #ሞቡዩ ሴሴሴኮ በርካታ #ቢሊየን ዶላር የተመዘበረችው የቀድሞዋ ዛየር ያሁነና #DRC ሰላም ከራቃትና ብጥብጥ መመለስ ከጀመረች ቆየች። የኦቦላ ወረርሽኝም ሌላው ፈተናዋ ነው።
DRC #የኮባልትሽየአለም 90 በመቶ ምንጭ ስትሆን የቆዳ ስፋትዋም በአፍሪካ ትላልቅ ከሚባሉ አገራት አንዱዋ ነች።

ህገ መንግስታዊ ማሻሻያ በኢትዮጲያ

እንድ የህግ ምሁር #ህገ መንግስታዊ አጣሪ ፍርድ ቤት ይቁዋቁዋም ሲሉ ፥ ህገ-መንግስት አጣሪው የፌዴሬሽን ም/ቤት መሆኑ የህግ አተረጉዋጎም ላይ ችግርን እንደፈጠረ መረዳት ይቻላል።
አስፈጻሚው ይህን ከባድ ህግን የመተርጎምን ስልጣን በ#ህገ_መንግስታዊ #ፍ/ቤት አማካይነት ለነጻ #ዳኞች መስጠት #ስላልፈለገ ቀስ ብለን መጀመርያ አጣሪ ፍ/ቤት ይቁዋቁዋም እሚለው ሃሳብ ዞሮ ዞሮ አሁንም የፌ/ም/ቤት የመጨረሻው ስልጣን #ከም/ቤቱ እጅ አይወጣም ይኽም #ህገ መንግስቱን ማሻሻልን እሚጠይቅ ነው።
#አቶ_ ሌንጮ ለ#Nahoo_ TV በሰጡት ቃለ ምልልስ #ህገ- መንግስቱን የ84ዓ.ም ቱን ቻርተር ማለታቸው ነው ያረቀቅነው እኔ መለስና "ህወህት ሻእብያና ኦነግ ሆነን "ነው  ብለዋል :: ይህ #ህገ-መንግስት #አማራው" አይወክለኝም፥አገር አልባ አድርጎኛል "  ሲል ትግራይ ክልል ደግሞ እስቲ "ከህገ መግስቱ አንድ አንቀጽ ይነካና" እያለ ያሳስባል። ለዚህ አይነተኛ ምሳሌ የሚሆነው በማንንነትና የአስተዳደራዊ ድንበር ኮሚሽን ይቁዋቁዋም ተብሎ በጠ /ሚ/ሩ ሲወሰንና በፓርላማ ሲጸድቅ የህውሃት አክቲቭስቶች #daniel-birhaneን ጨምሮ አምርረው ሲቃወሙ በአማራ ክልል በተደረጉ እንድ ሰልፍ ደግሞ #ህገ-መንግስቱ# ይህንን የድንበርንና የማንነት ጥያቄን ሊፈታው ስለማይችል# "ፖለቲካዊ_ መፍትሄ _ያስፈልገዋል " ብሎ #ህዝብ ሰልፍ ነው የወጣው።
ወደ 3 ሚሊየን የሚጠጉ ፤  #internally_displaced ወይም የሃገር ውስጥ ተፈናቃይ #ህዝብ ያለ #ሲሆን ለዚህም አንዱ ምክንያት# የፌደራል አከላለሉ #ያለጥናት መካሄዱና #የአማራና #የኦሮሚያ_ ክልሎችን ሆን ተብሎ ለማጥበብ የተደረገ ነው ብለው እሚተቹት አሉ።ለምሳሌ ቤኒሻንጉል ጉሙዝ ክልል #ካማራና ኦሮሚያ ክልሎች ተቀንሶ አለአግባብ ሰፊ እንዲሆንና #የአጎራባች #ክልሎችን #ግዛት አላግባብ #እንዲጠቀልል ተደርጎአል።
ይህም በፈንታው እንደ #እስራኤል ዙሪያዬን ተከብብልአለሁ የሚል የ( #seige mentality) በህወህስት ዘንድ እንዲደጠር አድርጎአል።# ዶ/ር_ ደብረጽዮንም ሁለት የተምታታ #መልእክትን ባንድ #በኩል ወጣቱ ለምናደርግለት ጥሪ #ይዘጋጅ ብሌልሳ በክክል ደግሞ #ከፌደራል መንግስቱ ጋር በጋራ እንሰራለን የሚሉ ንግግሮችን #አድርገዋል።

usa,china,russia africa relations in africa

#US አሜሪካ የአፍሪካ #ፖሊሲዋን ልትፈትሽ ነው
ብዙ ግዜ ያሜሪካ ፖለቲከኞች አፍሪካን የዘነጋ ፖሊሲን ይከተላሉ ይባላሉ ። ያሁኑ ፕሬዝደንት ትራምፕ ፖሊሲ "prosper Africa " ይሰኛል። አሜሪካ የዘነጋቻት አፍሪካ የሩስያና የቻይና ተጽእኖ እየሰፋ መሄድ አሁን እያሳሰባት ይመስላል። ለምሳሌ በጣም ቁልፍ በሆነችው ጅቡቲ ቻይና የጦር ሰፈር ሲኖራት ሁለት ተፎካካሪ ሃያላን ማለትም ቻይናና አሜሪካ በአንድ ሃገር የጦር ሰፈር ጎን ለጎን ሲኖራቸው በታሪክ የመጀመርያው ነው። ጅቡቲ ለጦር ሰፈር ኪራይ ከሁለቱም በሚሊየን የሚቆጠር ዶላር ክፍያን ታገኛለች። አሜሪካ ቻይና ጅቡቲ ላይ ያላት ተጽእኖን ባለመውደድዋ ኢትዮፒያ 95 በመቶ የገቢና ወጭ ንግድ እምታስተናግደውን ጅቡቲን ትታ ወደ ኤርትራና ሶማልያ ወደቦች ፊትዋን እንድታዞር ትሻለች። በዚህም ተሳክቶላት ኢትዮ-ኤርትራን በኤሚርቶችና ሳኡዲዎች በኩል ማስታረቅ ችላለች።  ጅቡቲ ደግሞ ከግብጽ ጋር ሞቅ ያለ ግንኙነትን ጀምራለች። ይህ ሁሉ አሜሪካ አምባገነኖችን በአፍሪካ መደገፍዋ የፈጠረው ክፍተት ለሩስያ በተለይም ለቻይና አመቺ ሁኔታን ፈጥሮአል.። USA ከቻይና ጋር በገባችው የንግድ ጦርነትም ካአፍሪካ ሃገራት ጋር ጠንካራ ግንኙነት ያላትን ቻይናን ማድከምና ወደ ድርድሩ ጠረጴዛ ማምጣት አልቻለሽም።
አሜሪካ ከአፍሪካ ጋር ያላት ግንኙነት #በጸረ-ሽብር ርግል ዙሪያ ብቻ የተቃኘ #መሆኑ ሲጎዳት አሁን በዚህ ዘርፍም ሶማልያን ጭምር በመተው ሊቢያና #ማሊ ላይ ብቻ ትኩረትን ለማድረግ ወስናለች።

This administration will not allow hard-earned taxpayer dollars to fund corrupt autocrats, who use the money to fill their coffers at the expense of their people, or commit gross human rights abuses,” said #Mr. Bolton.የፕሬዝደንቱ የደህንነት አማካሪ። #አሜሪካ ቻይና በብድር እዳ አፍሪካን ማስመጥዋንም አልወደደችውም።
The predatory practices pursued by China and #Russia stunt economic growth in Africa, threaten the financial independence of African nations, inhibit #opportunities for U.S. investment, interfere with U.S. military operations and pose a significant threat to U.S. #national security interests,” #John Bolton,# Mr. Trump’s national #security adviser, said

joseph cabkla

ካቢላ በመጨረሻም እጅ ሰጡ ። የቀድሞዋ ዛተር የእድሁንዋ DRC #president በመሆን አባታቸው ሲገደሉ ካባታቸው ስልጣን በመረከብ በ29 አመታቸው ወደ ስልጣን የመጡት ካቢላ መካሄድ የነበረበትን ምርጫን አራዝመው ስልጣንን የሙጥኝ ብለው ቆይተዋው ነበረ አሁን ግን እ.ኤ.አ በ2019 ምርጫውን በማድረግ ስልጣን ለማስረከብ መወሰናቸውን ተናግረዋል።
በማእድን ሀብቱዋ እጅግ ሃብታም የሆነችውና የቆዳ ስፋትዋም #ትልቅ ሲሆን ፥ ይህችው ሃገር #ጆሴፍ ካቢላ ካባታቸው የወረሱትን ስልጣን ወደ 18 አመታት ያኽል ቆይተውበታል የበዛ ሃብትም አካብተውበታል ለራሳቸውና ለቤተሰቦቻቸው እስክ 6 ቢሊየን ዶላር ይገመታል -የራሳቸውና የቤተሰባቸው ሃብት። በብዙ ቢዝነስም በሃገሪቱ ተሳታፊዎች ናቸው እርሳቸውም ሆኑ ቤተሰቦቻቸው።በቀድሞው #ሞቡዩ ሴሴሴኮ በርካታ #ቢሊየን ዶላር የተመዘበረችው የቀድሞዋ ዛየር ያሁነና #DRC ሰላም ከራቃትና ብጥብጥ መመለስ ከጀመረች ቆየች። የኦቦላ ወረርሽኝም ሌላው ፈተናዋ ነው።
DRC #የኮባልትሽየአለም 90 በመቶ ምንጭ ስትሆን የቆዳ ስፋትዋም በአፍሪካ ትላልቅ ከሚባሉ አገራት አንዱዋ ነች።

Artificial intelligence & Change Leadership

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is on the brink of revolutionizing how people live and work across diverse industries and globally. It is one of the fastest growing industries worldwide, with Canada playing a strong role as one of the forerunners as evidenced by the significant global in-flow of investments from both Public and Private sectors.

It is expected that in the next several decades there will be disruption in many of the traditional work functions. In a nutshell, AI will bring about a paradigm shift in all industries; and how organizations handle the adoption of artificial intelligence and automation will be decisive for their survival.

Now is the time for organizations, leaders and change practitioners to start preparing for how to lead and respond to change better and faster. During the conference, participants will be exposed to various ways in which our world and workplace is being impacted by Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, and how we can be better prepared and positioned to lead these changes.

The Change Leadership 2018 conference is being organized to help prepare Leaders, Change Practitioners and Organizations to lead change in face of AI and Robotics! Participants will be equipped with practical tools and strategies that will prepare them to lead in today's disruptive business environment.

The Change Leadership’s mission is to accelerate the preparation of leaders, change agents, and organizations to respond dynamically to the rapid pace of Change and Innovation taking place around us.

france german africa

howafrica.com
Scandal: According To A German Newspaper, Africa Pays Approximately 400 Billion Euros Annually to France
MT in Art, History & CultureBest of AfricaPoliticsShockingWorld Buzz 2 days ago
5-6 minutes

This economic slavery is important for the development of the French economy. Whenever this traffic is likely to fail, France is ready for anything to reconquer it. If a leader of the CFA zone no longer meets the requirements of France, Paris is blocking its foreign exchange reserves and more, France closes the banks in this country considered “rebel”. This was the case of Côte d’Ivoire with Laurent Gbagbo.

A German newspaper accuses France of looting 440 billion euros each year to Africans through the CFA Franc.

“The French government collects from its former colonies each year 440 billion euros of taxes. France relies on the revenues coming from Africa, not to sink into economic insignificance, warns the former president Jacques Chirac.

In the 1950s and 60s, France decided the French colonies of Africa to become independent. Although the Paris government accepted formal declarations of independence, it called on African countries to sign a so-called “pact for the continuation of colonization.” They agreed to introduce the French colonial currency FCFA (“Franc for the French colonies in Africa”), to maintain the French schools and military system, and to establish French as an official language.
The CFA franc is the denomination of the common currency of 14 African countries members of the Franc zone. This currency, which constitutes a brake on the emergence of these countries, was created in 1945, when France ratified the Bretton Woods agreements and proceeded to implement its first declaration of parity to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) . This was called “Franc of the French Colonies of Africa”.

Under this law, 14 African countries are still obliged to store about 85 per cent of their foreign exchange reserves at the Banque de France in Paris. They are under the direct control of the French Treasury. The countries concerned do not have access to this part of their reserves. As the 15 per cent of reserves are insufficient for their needs, they must borrow additional funds from the French Treasury at market prices. Since 1961, Paris controls all foreign exchange reserves in Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Togo, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

In addition, these countries must each year transfer their “colonial debt” for infrastructure built in France to Paris as Silicon Africa 3 reported in detail. France takes around 440 billion euros a year. The government in Paris also has a right of first refusal on all newly discovered natural resources in African countries. Finally, French companies must have priority in awarding contracts in former colonies. As a result, there is the most assets in the fields of supply, finance, transport, energy and agriculture in the hands of French companies.

The ruling elite in each African country must fulfill these compulsory claims without any other choice. African leaders who refuse are threatened with assassination or overthrow of their government. Over the past 50 years, there have been 67 coups d’état in 26 African countries. 16 of these 26 countries were former colonies of France.

An example is the first president of Togo West Africa, Sylvanus Olympio, overthrown by a coup. He had refused to sign the “Pact for the Continuation of Settlement”. But France insisted that Togo pay the compensation for the infrastructures that had been built by the French during the colonial period. The sum is equivalent to about 40 per cent of households in Togo in 1963, requiring the fairly independent country to reach its economic limits quickly.

In addition, the new president of Togo decided to remove and print his own national currency, the French colonial currency FCFA. Three days after this decision, the new government was overthrown by a group of former foreign legionaries and the President killed. The head of the Legionaries, Gnassingbe Eyadema, received 550 euros from the French embassy for the attack, according to the British Telegraph. Four years later Eyadema was promoted with the support of Paris, the new president of Togo. He established a tyrannical dictatorship in this West African country and remained in power until his death in 2005.

In the following years, the Paris government kept the link with the former legionaries to overthrow unpopular governments in its former colonies. This was the case of the first president of the Central African Republic, David Dacko, overthrown by former members of the Foreign Legion in 1966.
The same thing happened to the President of Burkina Faso, Maurice Yaméogo, and with the President of Benin, Mathieu Kérékou, the author of a coup d’état. This was also the case of the first President of the Republic of Mali Modiba Keita, who was also the victim of a coup by former legionnaires in 1968.
The reason, a few years earlier, he had simply decided to part with the French colonial currency. “

djibouti port militry base ethio-eritrea

Djibouti-Foreign Military Bases-Gateway House

Geopolitics is a lucrative business for Djibouti. The US pays US$63 million annually in rent for its base, the French US$36 million, China US$20 million and Italy US$2.6 million. The amount Japan pays is not publicly disclosed.

There are an estimated 4,000 soldiers and Filipino workers at the American base, 180 troops at the Japanese camp and 1,450 at France’s two bases — one near the airport and a naval facility on the coast where the Germans and Spaniards are also stationed. Around 80 Italians are situated in a base near the US camp.

China’s Doraleh base is close to a new seaport and the end station of a new Chinese-built 759-kilometer railroad extending from Djibouti’s coast to the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. The standard gauge railroad was opened for commercial traffic on January 1 this year, replacing a a meter-gauge railway built during the French colonial era that is no longer used.

Passengers can use a station close to the airport while freight trains carrying containers go all the way to and from Doraleh. Nearby is the largest free trade zone in Africa, known as the Djibouti International Free Trade Zone (DIFTZ), where hundreds of trucks can be seen waiting to pick up goods destined for Ethiopia and other countries beyond Djibouti.

The Chinese-financed, UD$3.5 billion DIFTZ opened earlier this year, covering an area of 4,800 hectares. According to an official announcement, it will focus on logistics, export processing, financial support services, manufacturing and duty-free merchandise trade.

This small and largely peaceful republic on the Horn of Africa is fast becoming China’s economic gateway to Africa. But it is the naval base that has sent jitters through the Western military community in Djibouti.

Djibouti-China-Naval base-2017-Facebook

Chinese PLA Navy officers on guard at Beijing’s Djibouti naval base. Photo: Facebook

The official China Daily, which covered the opening of the base in August last year, stated at the time it could “support some 10,000 people” with the caveat that “official figures for the number of personnel to be stationed there have not been released.” The paper said the official reason for the establishment of the base was “to support the Chinese military’s escort and peacekeeping missions in Africa and West Asia.”

The Western powers that have bases there usually refer to the same reason for their presence in Djibouti, as well as to fight pirates famously active off the coast of Somalia.

But The China Daily was probably more frank than Western spokespersons as it also quoted Liu Hongwu, a professor at Zhejiang University, as saying that Djibouti “is situated at the juncture of Europe, Asia and Africa; in a sense, it is at the crossroads of the world.”

That’s more likely why China is there, to protect its economic and strategic interests in the region — and hence also better position itself for any potential conflicts between China and the West, primarily the US.

Djibouti is not America’s only base in the region. It also has an important facility in Qatar, as well as the highly secretive, multi-purpose base at Diego Garcia, a leased atoll in the British Indian Ocean Territory that is the only possession the United Kingdom keeps in the region after it withdraw from east of Suez in the 1960s.

In that sense, China’s new base in Djibouti is the first serious challenge to US military supremacy in the Indian Ocean region. And China is making incipient moves in that direction.

US-Djibouti-Marines-Camp Lemonnier-Wikipedia

US Marines train at their Camp Lemonnier Base in Djibouti. Photo: Wikipedia

In July 2017, just before the official opening of the base, the Chinese warships CNS Jinggangshan and CNS Donghaidao brought in personnel and materiel to the base. The CNS Jinggangshan carried marines, engineers and military vehicles to the base while the CNS Donghaidao transported some unspecified heavy equipment.

Then, in September last year, troops stationed at the base carried out their first live-fire drills. The exercise, which involved dozens of soldiers, took place at Djibouti’s national gendarmerie training range and was meant to test their combat readiness when faced with extreme heat, humidity and salinity — all omnipresent in Djibouti as well as other parts of Africa.

To keep up the pretense that nothing untoward is underway, the combined European Union counter-piracy task force in Djibouti and China’s PLA Navy carried out a joint exercise in October.

But there is no hiding the fact that Western powers are peeved by China’s newly established presence. In March this year, Marine General Thomas Waldhauser, the top US general for Africa, told a US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee hearing that “the consequences would be significant” if China took over the port at Doraleh.

That is now happening as the Djibouti government took over the port from Dubai’s DP World in February without any official explanation and appears now to be negotiating an agreement with the state-run China Merchants Group to take its place.

DP World appealed against the decision and in August won a legal battle against Djibouti at the London Court of International Arbitration. But that is no guarantee that Chinese interests will not soon win control of the port.

Djibouti-Port-Wikipedia

# Paganism & #Christianity

many ways Christianity and Paganism are inter-twined. loavesmiracle #’ve #InThey existed along-side each other for nearly 2000 years and often share a language and culture. I often lament Modern Paganism’s obsession with belittling Christianity but I understand it too. We live in the shadow of our much bigger cousin, and might only exist because he began to falter and was unable to maintain his monopoly.

Christianity emerged amongst pagans and most of its early converts were pagans. Once Christianity rose to prominence in the Roman Empire (and later Europe as a whole) it actively worked not just to suppress those paganisms it grew up with, but to actively destroy them. There were pagans of old who disliked Christianity, and there were even sporadic and half-hearted attempts to persecute the followers of Jesus, but never a systematic effort to eradicate Christians, it just didn’t happen. (1)

Strangely though, even as Christians attempted to destroy ancient paganisms they also found that they couldn’t quite quit those very same paganisms. Pagan holidays became Christian feast days. When a form of folk magic was found useful it survived, though sometimes modified to fit the new context. The story of Jesus and the letters of Paul were all written in Greek, a pagan language, which meant Greco-Roman (pagan) ideas were put it into its texts, ideas that the Jewish Jesus would have never agreed with. For nearly 1,500 years Christianity was also essentially polytheistic. People experienced the divine through the mysteries of the saints, and there were hundreds of them, both male and female. In some places the differences between pagan and “Christian” faiths were nearly nonexistent. New names replaced those of the ancient gods, but life remained much as it had before. (2)

rsz_2014_10_08_10_56_30

Eventually Christianity changed again, pulled forward (or backward depending on your point of view) by the Reformation that began with Martin Luther. The Christianity that emerged in the wake of that shake-up was far less pagan, but something else happened at the same time. Just as Christianity started to become more monotheistic the gods of pagan antiquity began to return. True, not everyone was worshipping them quite yet, but they began to exist again in stories and art. They were once more a part of society, and those that were passionate about them probably worshipped them, even if that’s not the title they gave their veneration. (3)

What follows are some generalized thoughts on how Christianity and Paganism have co-existed over the last 2000 years.

HorusThe Birth of Christianity and the Decline of Ancient Paganisms

There was no “one paganism” during the formative years of Christianity. Instead there were various kinds of paganisms percolating throughout the Roman Empire. “Exotic” cults, such as those of Isis, Mithra, and the Magna Mater were popular. At the same time the deities of the old Greco-Roman pantheon(s) still held sway as well. If we think our Paganism today is diverse, it was probably even more so during the First, Second, and Third Centuries of the Common Era. Philosophical ponderings on the very nature of the gods were common and ancient pagans formulated ideas that we might call Neo-Platonism and even monotheism today.

Christianity grew up in this vast cauldron of religiosity, absorbing some ideas and discarding others. I don’t believe Jesus was “created” to be a “dying and resurrecting god” along the lines of Dionysus or Osiris, but the myth of the man was certainly influenced by the Roman Empire’s many pagan gods. Later ideas about Jesus’s mother Mary would be influenced by pagan goddesses, as would many Christian “saints.” Some have even argued that the very structure of the Catholic Church was influenced by the rites of Mithra. Christianity is no more a “pagan religion” than Wicca is a Christian one, but it was certainly influenced by the faiths it grew up alongside of.

One influence that Christianity did not pick up from ancient paganisms was a spirit of tolerance. Christianity actively sought to destroy pagan faiths, and succeeded to some degree. The church did stamp out a great many paganisms while absorbing many of their best features at the same time.

tumblr_inline_mlemwp8giH1qz4rgpThe Middle Ages

Christianity during the Middle Ages was not a bastion of monotheism, and many Christians today probably wouldn’t even recognize it. It was a hybrid of what was (pagan faiths) and what Christianity would later become. Multiple deities were replaced by numerous saints of both genders. Mary emerged as a true “Goddess” figure in her own rite, and many of the old pagan feast days continued to exist in varied forms. Often times the liturgy of Christianity resembled the somewhat monotheistic religion it wanted to be, but in practice was something else entirely.

The gods of paganism went underground (or changed their names and vestments) but in many places worship continued much as it had before. Magical practices remained, and the temples of the old faiths sometimes became the churches of the new. Christianity and practices we’d probably think of as “pagan” intermingled a great deal during the Middle Ages, even as some looked on disapprovingly.

Many of the seasonal observances we attribute to ancient paganisms were born during this period of time. Many of the traditions we associate with a holiday like Lughnasadh come from this pagan-Christian era of Europe. Lip-service was paid to Christian names, but holidays most likely looked and felt pagan. Magical practices and ideas from this period of time have shown up in many of my rituals over the years.

f25e6498db9960b52e57dbd2669147a1The Renaissance

One of the most extraordinary things about the Italian Renaissance was the re-emergence of pagan deities. I don’t want to overstate the power of the Greco-Roman deities during the Renaissance, but it’s hard for me not to. The Middle Ages were not as intellectually dead as many have made them out to be, but the Renaissance gave birth to a renewed interest in art, literature, culture, and science. At the same time all of those wonderful things were happening “the gods” were becoming popular symbols once more. People may not have been worshipping them in name, but they very well might have been worshipping them in deed.

As images of the gods became popular and acceptable once again, Christianity finally became Christianity (there’s often a dash of bad with the good). Much of its more pagan ideology and practice was finally set aside, and a “Christian worship” that most of us would recognize today began to emerge. Saints were still venerated, and Mary retained her goddess-hood (at least in some traditions), but Christianity was no longer paganism with Biblical names inserted into the spaces we would expect to see Hecate and Hermes in.

It was during the European Renaissance and not “the Dark Ages” that “witch burnings” reached their peak. One could paint pictures of pagan gods again, but worship of anything outside of Jesus, the saints, Dad, and Mary was still out of the question. Christianity was certainly at its worst in the centuries during and immediately after the Renaissance, and there are some in today’s world who refuse to leave that version of Christianity behind. Progress is sometimes exceedingly slow, but eventually the influence of the gods reawakened during the Renaissance would pave the way for a more scientific and rational Europe. Eventually that set the stage for the emergence of Modern Paganism in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries.

10579979_10152803378833232_6775469773827606627_nPost-Renaissance & The Modern World

We live in a modern world that has been shaped by Christianity for both good and for ill over the last 650 years. As a result Christianity has helped shape the development of Modern Paganism. Traditions like Wicca were directly influenced by generally Christian groups like the Freemasons, and many of our ritual structures are re-workings of Christian Ceremonial magick (which had been influenced by pagan magick prior). If you are calling “The Watchtowers” into ritual you are tapping into a current of angel magick that has been popular in ceremonial magick since the Middle Ages.

Sometimes the influences of Christianity on Modern Paganism are subtle, other times more direct. In a few weeks there will be a Christmas Tree in my living room. Sure it’s a tradition that might have pagan echoes, but it’s a practice popularized in the English speaking world by Christians. It’s probably not in my living room if Queen Victoria had been offended by it 150 years ago.

I’m not arguing that Paganism is Christian (far from it) but nothing exists in a vacuum. Most of us have friends, family, and neighbors who are Christians. Of course that’s going to be an influence! Pagan groups attempting to organize as churches or temples is most likely a direct result of how Christians organize themselves. That’s not a bad thing, just a thing. Even our gods are sometimes influenced by Christianity. James Frazer’s dying and resurrecting god was a deliberate attempt to find parallels between Jesus and ancient paganisms. As a result of Frazer’s work there’s a new male-deity archetype anchoring many myths that revolved around The Wheel of the Year.

Modern Paganism has grown up in the shadow of Christianity, we are linked with it whether we wish to be or not. But Christians are forever linked to paganisms past, present, and future too. Their holidays are often our holidays, and even now Christianity is being influenced by Modern Paganism. More tolerant and progressive strains of Christianity are finally embracing the religious openness of ancient paganisms. Due to circumstances ancient and modern, Paganism and Christianity will forever be linked in some way. Here’s hoping we can find ways to celebrate our differences and live happily side by side.

NOTES

1. Candida Moss’s The Myth of Persecution: How Early Christians Invented a Story of Martyrdom is a thorough debunking of the “Christian martyr” myth. Pagans weren’t really throwing Christians to the lions, unless of course the Christians in question offered us little choice. (Seriously, there were just a lot of folks looking to be martyred.)

2. Ronald Hutton’s Pagan Britain contains a lovely few pages detailing the synthesis of pagan and Christian during the English Middle Ages. I reference it extensively in the linked to article Lammas: First Fruits & A Sort of Christian Feast.

3. Joscelyn Godwin is one of Pagandom’s most overlooked scholars. His The Pagan Dream of the Renaissance is a lovely and captivating look at the re-emergence of the pagan gods during the Italian Renaissance.

4. Not really referenced in this article but I’m sure my completion of this piece over the last 24 hours (I started writing this last March in response to something) is somehow connected to my recent reading of A Million and One Gods: The Persistence of Polytheism by Page duBois.