I was looking at some paintings that were Rastafari inspired and I returned to the main page of the sire that hsted African art. They had a portrait of His Majesty and this was what went with it-
HALIE SELASSIE
Emperor of Ethiopia
Emperor Halie Selassie was deeply distressed when the Italians conquered Ethiopia in 1935. But that may have been because the Italians had shot the 30 pet lions that roamed the grounds around his hilltop palace. In the end, Selassie may have been a better king to the animals of Ethiopia than to its people; in 1973, during the height of a drought in which 200,000 Ethiopians died of starvation, Selassie was seen feeding strips of beef to his Great Danes.
Admittedly, Selassie was a fairer ruler than many of those around him. For example, as a young provincial governor, he only took 50% of his peasants' crops while other governors were taking 90%, and in the 1950s as few as 100 political prisoners were tortured in his jails at one time. But under his long rule, Ethiopia remained in the dark ages. Just before his overthrow in 1974, the annual per capita income was $90, the literacy rate was 7% and Ethiopia was the poorest nation in Africa.
Under Selassie, Ethiopia received more U.S. aid than any other African country and Washington purchased a $2 million yacht for the Emperor. When Selassie faced an uprising in the province of Eritrea, the U.S. sent advisors and arms to help him smash the revolt. In return for our support, Selassie provided the United States with a naval base in the Red Sea and a place for a strategic communications station.
Selassie's kindness to his animals was his downfall; he was overthrown when photos of him feeding his dogs during the 1973 famine were circulated among his outraged troops.
I wonder what feed this dog his story.
Pretty amusing.
Peace
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