Detail of a 17th century painting of St. Mercurius,
from a church in Lalibela, northern Ethiopia,
now in the Addis Ababa National Museum
Below is a letter I wrote to VDare regarding a post by one of their authors, John Derbyshire, who wrote about WHO's COVID mastermind, Tedros Ghebreyesus, in his April 4 article: Globalization Meant Sinification—Until China Virus Intervened.
VDare is:
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Dear Mr. Fulford,
VDare recently published a post which discusses Tedros Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of the WHO, by John Derbyshire.
I understand the concerns that Mr. Derbyshire expresses, but I wish to correct him on one point (well another, too).
Firstly, Derbyshire makes reference to Ghebreyesus' background as Ethiopian, well, "Ethiop," to use his wording. More precisely, Ghebreyesus is Eritrean-born. His loyalties are for Eritrea. That is a fine line perhaps, like saying the Scottish and English are British, and both have their loyalties. But Ghebreyesus' loyalties to Eritrea go beyond ethnic association, and are also political.
As I write here:
He worked for the Ethiopian government during the Derg Marxist era of the 1908s in the Ministry of HealthAnd here:
His PhD dissertation was on malaria transmission in the Tigray region, a province in northern Ethiopia, which further distance him from the "Ethiopia" label, since the Tigray people have fiercely contested the historical leaders of Ethiopia, the Amhara, and often would not recognize the historical Ethiopia in defiance of the Amhara tradition and history as rulers of Ethiopia.Most non-Amhara would wish to identify with the Amhara, as evidenced by their large numbers inter-marrying with the Amhara group, while openly associating with their various ethnic groups. I see this regularly within my own family circle (I am an Amhara).
And most Amhara will identify themselves as Ethiopians first.
The current politics in Ethiopia is a much larger and complex story. Yes, the Chinese have gained a foot-hold in Ethiopia for about a decade now, but the astute leader, Abiy Ahmed, a southern Muslim married to an Amhara woman, went to those who could help him in his time of "nation building" when America was too busy with wars in the Middle East, and unable (or unwilling?) to become the ally he needed.
Abiy, now, has enlarged his scope of allies, with Canada, Europe, and hopefully America, slowly replacing the Chinese and their many limitations. COVID-19 is now most likely the deal breaker.
Ghebreyesus' Chinese link in Ethiopia's politics may have been a reality at some point, but it is a weak one now.
The other point I would like to make is Derbyshire's condescending use of "Ethiop" to describe Ghebreyesus' (contested) origins.
Perhaps Derbyshire is using Shakespeare's "A rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear," although even Shakespeare got it wrong, since in his time (late 16th - early 17th century), those wearing such rich jewels, and often crosses, would be the lighter skinned Ethiopians, who consolidated themselves centuries earlier, through their various kings and emperors, as the Christian Amhara. They were leading that distant country then, as evidenced by paintings, mostly religious and Christian. Shakespeare perhaps associated this far off Christian civilization with the dark African (slaves?) whom he might have witnessed arriving within England's shores.
I have attached a detail of a 17th century painting of St. Mercurius, from a church in Lalibela, northern Ethiopia, now in the Addis Ababa National Museum, to give an idea of the Ethiopians prominent in that century.
Note, though, that Ghebreyesus has the Orthodox Christian background of his native Eritrea, which is of course the traditional religion of Ethiopia, which the Amhara developed and intertwined intricately with their culture, society, language, and their leadership (as kings, emperors and governors).
His first name Tedros comes from the Greek Theodore, later Christianized, with St. Theodore as an important namesake. It is also the name of two Ethiopian Emperors named Twedoros, one of the 15th century and another the 19th century. Perhaps Ghebreyesus intentionally changed his name's spelling from the traditional Twedoros (and which is phonetically more correct) to Tedros in order to weaken this association.
Ghebreyesus means servant of Jesus, with Ghebre being a common prefix for other "servants," such as Ghebremariam, Gherbreselassie (servant of the Trinity), etc. But Ghebreyesus' years as a Marxist would have annihilated his Christian spiritual references.
Ghebreyesus, through his WHO post (as Director-General), surely has close links with Canada's Chief Public Health Officer, the Hong Kong born, British educated Theresa Tam, who is the mastermind behind the COVID-Lockdown here in Canada. I have written on her and her links with the WHO. My article is published on the website of the Council of European Canadians.
Sincerely,
Kidist Paulos Asrat
Reclaiming Beauty