1959 January, Ethiopia, Addis Ababa

The Chairman of the Derg Mulugeta Buli made a speech today, after announcing the decision of the Ethiopian government to increase mobilization and begin further recruitment efforts in the wake of the Italian invasion. Emergency war taxes and other measures are being put in place as Ethiopian prepares for a war of survival.

Below is the transcript from the speech of the leader of the Ethiopian nation:

Today the Ethiopian people find themselves for the fourth time in a century beset by a foreign force. Some have called the war we have embarked upon unnecessary, but is it unnecessary to protect our children? Is it unnecessary to protect our loved ones? Is it unnecessary to stand against evil? We do this not because we need to but because we must! Because if we let the Italians win they will deny us every freedom, every liberty we have worked tirelessly to obtain.

The Italians if they triumph here will deny us even the right to breathe, their racialism and fascistic tendencies leads them ever onwards to try and loot and pillage the wealth of these lands. They view us as fit only for killing and subjugation. In their diplomatic communiques they adopt the tone of the high handed and civilized. All the while, however, they act as deceitful and brutal as the lowest savage warlord of yesteryear.

The Italians expect an easy victory, they expect this because the three prior invasions Italy has launched has been a war against not Ethiopia, but a war against the Monarchy. But this time the Italians are not at war with some distant monarch, no, they are at war with the people of Ethiopia itself. And I can tell you this, it will never be the Ethiopian people that break. The question is not if we can win, for that is assured. The question is for the Italians, how many lives will need to be lost and how much money spent in this doomed cause of theirs.

The last time the Italians tried to conquer this land they could only achieve true gains through the usage of inhuman and illegal chemical weapons. We warn Italy never to try these despicable and barbaric acts again, as we are just people, and we believe that Italy will receive its retribution in said justice.

My people, look upon this land, and gaze upon the shores and opportunities once we have dealt with the Italians and their puppets. We are not the monsters that the Italians claim, but to them we shall be worse than their worst nightmares. The Italians have after all stolen Eritrea from our fathers and now they intend to steal Ethiopia itself. But know that as you walk under the Ethiopian banner, that you are protected by it, because the banner is held aloft by all the millions of Ethiopians. And we are not afraid, fear is born of uncertainty, we fear nothing because our purpose is clear and our path is certain. The Italians call us tyrants but their coming here has done nothing but prove themselves to be agents of tyranny. Are they Self appointed defenders of justice? For what right do they have to tell us how to live? What authority do they have over our very lives? We are a free people and we will command our lands and our families as we see fit! We, Ethiopians have always been a resilient people: we toil while others complain, we persevere when others give up and when evil stares us in the eyes we stare right back!

Hardship and sorrow add focus and give one’s existence meaning. We will help the Italians find meaning. With our hands we built this country up from nothing, our sweat and blood is as much a part of this land as the air we breathe, and the Italians think they can take it away from us? They are either fools or madmen! There is no understanding without weapons, there can be no dialogue without bloodshed. The Italians will be made to understand and that knowledge will be paid for, with their lives! The Italians come into our home under the auspices of liberty and freedom, killing and pillaging in the name of their laws and then dare lecture us on morality! They will be held accountable for their crimes, this I swear to you! The Italians speak of innocence but in war there are no innocents. The Italian public support their leaders, they elect them into power and they send their children to fight against us. They are all guilty and as any civil nation will agree: the guilty must be punished! As before, we stand alone, but we stand as one – united. As the combined forces of the Italian Alliance rises against us, we will stamp them back down!