Professor Alem Habtu in earlier times |
One of the extraordinary things about the story that I have been investigating for the last few years is that these dramatic events are not ancient, lost history but memories still living with survivors and veterans of the times I’m attempting to chronicle.
It just came to my attention that somebody I had hoped to interview for my research has passed on. Professor Alem Habtu was a key member of the leadership of the Ethiopian Students Union in North America in the early 1970s. He lived in Manhattan near City College with a number of other Ethiopian students, all of whom were recognized players in the transformation of the Ethiopian Student Movement into a political movement that helped spawn a revolution. I’m saddened at the passing of Professor Alem, and now regret that the questions I hoped to ask him will go unanswered. There’s a lesson there for those hoping to collect oral history.
Mesfin Habtu |
From what I can gather, Alem Habtu did not return to Ethiopia along with other members of the diaspora upon the advent of the revolution in 1974, and ultimately became a harsh critic of both the EPRP and Meison, whom he blamed for provoking the violence that would consume so many lives during the period of the so-called “Red Terror.”
Professor Alem Habtu died of cancer. I'm lucky that he left a number of testimonies to his experiences on the internet: his accounts have been helpful to me in understanding some of the factional ins and outs of the movement at the time.
Rest in power!
I was lucky to have him a teacher. I always remember him and today for some reason I decided to look up down memory lane (1974-1978) my time at QC. Rest in Peace Mr. Habtu.
ReplyDeleteHave you looked up Hailu Habtu, an elder brother who last I heard, is a professor at Addis Abeba University?
ReplyDeleteHave you looked up Hailu Habtu, an elder brother who last I heard, is a professor at Addis Abeba University?
ReplyDelete