The Renegade Intellectual
After underlining the traditional role of intellectuals, Asres deals with what he considers as the greatest betrayal in Ethiopia’s long history, that is, the transformation of the Westernized Ethiopian intellectual into an ally of the colonization of Ethiopia. In a statement that is most revolutionary, he bluntly declares: “although Italy’s army was driven out, its politics was not.”8 In other words, the military defeat of the colonizer has not put an end to the colonial project. It has simply compelled Westerners to proceed cautiously and to use other more subtle means. Chief among such means of preserving their original design is modern schooling. That is why they were so eager to open schools and send teachers. What better means was there for realizing their colonial project than the propagation of their books and the creation of a Westernized Ethiopian elite?
So firmly convinced is Asres that the so-called modern intellectuals are but the instrument of Ethiopia’s colonization in default of military means that he asks: what else is their role but “to appropriate and expand what originates from the enemy and pass it on to youngsters?”9 As a result, Ethiopia faces the greatest danger of all time since those whose task was to provide protection now side with the enemy. When the patrols of the society turn into deserters, its defensive capacity is utterly shattered.
This ominous transformation occurred when the guardians of tradition turned into its critics under the instigation of Western teachers and books. Let us reflect for a moment on the magnitude of this transformation. To change intellectuals into turncoats, Western education had first to “denationalize their mind” by encouraging individualism and social ambition.10 In thus isolating them from the rest of the community and inducing frustration over their place in the social hierarchy, Western teachers changed them into rebels. Whereas the traditional intellectual completely endorsed the social hierarchy, mainly because he knew what justifies it, Westernized Ethiopians are essentially unhappy with it because they have been talked into thinking that the exposure to Western education alone should determine status and authority.
The first target of this rebellious mind is the traditional knowledge, especially the education of the Ge’ez language, which is now derogatorily labeled as “priestly education.”11 No better way could be found to instill contempt for the traditional system of education than to reduce Ge’ez to an education reserved for priests. To say so is to imply that Ge’ez is totally alien to the pursuit of real and useful knowledge so that it has no place in a modern world. Note that the exclusion of Ge’ez serves the social ambition of the Western educated elite, since the rejection of Ge’ez means that only those who can read Western books “find a place in governmental institutions.”12 The primacy given to the learning of foreign languages is evidence of denationalization. Speaking directly to youngsters, Asres says: though “to learn is first to master the mother tongue, you youngsters ally with expatriate teachers and refuse to learn your national language because you primarily seek social promotion.”13 There is no denying that young Ethiopians were persuaded to prefer foreign languages because of the prospect of better jobs in the modern sectors of the country.