WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.859 OK, let's get into it. Imagine, if you can, a 00:00:03.859 --> 00:00:07.740 single human life that somehow manages to stretch 00:00:07.740 --> 00:00:12.339 across the absolute widest spectrum of human 00:00:12.339 --> 00:00:14.980 experience possible. Right. And I don't just 00:00:14.980 --> 00:00:17.760 mean like a rags to riches story. I mean something, 00:00:18.019 --> 00:00:21.339 something far more extreme. We're talking about 00:00:21.339 --> 00:00:24.399 a spectrum that goes from being literally. and 00:00:24.399 --> 00:00:27.019 I mean literally worshipped as God incarnate. 00:00:27.059 --> 00:00:29.000 The Messiah. The Messiah returned to Earth. All 00:00:29.000 --> 00:00:31.640 the way to ending up as a prisoner in your own 00:00:31.640 --> 00:00:34.560 home. His remains found under a concrete slab. 00:00:34.820 --> 00:00:37.460 Some sources even say near a latrine. It's a 00:00:37.460 --> 00:00:39.939 story that feels almost too big for one biography. 00:00:40.259 --> 00:00:42.780 On one side, you have this icon, the father of 00:00:42.780 --> 00:00:45.039 modern Africa, a man who stood alone against 00:00:45.039 --> 00:00:47.299 fascism when the rest of the world was sort of 00:00:47.299 --> 00:00:49.280 looking at their shoes. And on the other side, 00:00:49.299 --> 00:00:51.159 you have a feudal monarch accused of feeding 00:00:51.159 --> 00:00:53.560 prime beef to his pet lions while his people... 00:00:53.579 --> 00:00:55.759 starved in a famine he supposedly tried to hide. 00:00:55.960 --> 00:00:58.979 It is the absolute definition of a complex legacy. 00:00:59.240 --> 00:01:01.280 We are talking, of course, about Hail Selassie 00:01:01.280 --> 00:01:05.200 I, the last emperor of Ethiopia. And the mission 00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:07.659 for this deep dive is, I think, pretty specific. 00:01:07.739 --> 00:01:10.159 We aren't just doing a timeline, a simple A to 00:01:10.159 --> 00:01:13.500 B. We have to try and reconcile these. These 00:01:13.500 --> 00:01:15.840 completely different versions of the man. They're 00:01:15.840 --> 00:01:17.920 almost different people. They are. We've got 00:01:17.920 --> 00:01:19.819 the historical records. We have the Rastafari 00:01:19.819 --> 00:01:22.040 theology, the political history of the Horn of 00:01:22.040 --> 00:01:24.799 Africa. I mean, I've been buried in these notes 00:01:24.799 --> 00:01:28.099 all week. And honestly, the aha. Moments just 00:01:28.099 --> 00:01:30.700 keep coming. It's a massive topic. I mean, to 00:01:30.700 --> 00:01:33.260 really understand Hale Selassie is to understand 00:01:33.260 --> 00:01:35.659 the history of the 20th century, the history 00:01:35.659 --> 00:01:38.760 of colonialism, of anti -colonialism, and even 00:01:38.760 --> 00:01:40.959 the history of new religious movements. It's 00:01:40.959 --> 00:01:43.359 all there. It's all wrapped up in this one man 00:01:43.359 --> 00:01:46.569 who was. By all accounts, barely over five feet 00:01:46.569 --> 00:01:49.370 tall. But he casts such a giant shadow. Before 00:01:49.370 --> 00:01:51.049 we get into the heavy politics, though, we have 00:01:51.049 --> 00:01:53.390 to talk about the style. The sheer spectacle. 00:01:54.030 --> 00:01:57.430 The hook details in this research stack are just 00:01:57.430 --> 00:02:00.290 wild. I knew he was an emperor, but I didn't 00:02:00.290 --> 00:02:02.810 realize he traveled with a literal pride of lions. 00:02:03.090 --> 00:02:05.150 Oh, absolutely. This wasn't just a metaphor. 00:02:05.349 --> 00:02:07.670 You know, when we say the Lion of Judah, he took 00:02:07.670 --> 00:02:09.650 that quite literally. So this was part of his 00:02:09.650 --> 00:02:12.349 whole... His brand. It was his brand and his 00:02:12.349 --> 00:02:15.169 diplomacy. Before he was even emperor, when he 00:02:15.169 --> 00:02:17.729 was regent and touring Europe in the 1920s, he 00:02:17.729 --> 00:02:20.490 brought lions as diplomatic gifts. Wait, actual 00:02:20.490 --> 00:02:23.509 live lions? Live lions. He gave one to the president 00:02:23.509 --> 00:02:25.770 of France, one to the prime minister of France, 00:02:25.969 --> 00:02:28.349 even one to King George V in Britain. Can you 00:02:28.349 --> 00:02:31.069 just imagine the logistics of that? Or the conversation? 00:02:31.710 --> 00:02:34.330 Your Excellency, we have a gift for you from 00:02:34.330 --> 00:02:38.080 Last Safari. Where should we put his lion? It 00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:39.560 certainly made an impression. The press went 00:02:39.560 --> 00:02:42.080 crazy. It created this sensation they called 00:02:42.080 --> 00:02:45.180 Oriental dignity. It established him immediately 00:02:45.180 --> 00:02:47.060 as someone from a different world, an ancient 00:02:47.060 --> 00:02:50.199 world of almost biblical power. I see. But as 00:02:50.199 --> 00:02:52.379 we're going to see, beneath that spectacle of 00:02:52.379 --> 00:02:55.639 lions and gold capes was a very, very shrewd 00:02:55.639 --> 00:02:57.759 and in many ways a very modern political operator. 00:02:58.060 --> 00:03:00.500 So, okay, let's go back to the source. Before 00:03:00.500 --> 00:03:02.740 the lions, before the throne, he wasn't born 00:03:02.740 --> 00:03:05.379 Hail Selassie. No, not at all. And names are 00:03:05.379 --> 00:03:07.539 incredibly important in this whole story. He 00:03:07.539 --> 00:03:10.620 was born on July 23, 1892, in the Hararg province 00:03:10.620 --> 00:03:13.860 of Ethiopia. His given name was Tafari Makonnen. 00:03:14.060 --> 00:03:16.699 And Tafari, that name has a specific meaning, 00:03:16.819 --> 00:03:18.699 right? I saw that in the note. It does. It means 00:03:18.699 --> 00:03:23.099 one who is respected or feared. Wow. That feels 00:03:23.099 --> 00:03:25.520 incredibly prophetic for a kid who would grow 00:03:25.520 --> 00:03:28.539 up to be both in just extreme measures. It really 00:03:28.539 --> 00:03:30.919 does. And his title was Lish Tafari, which means 00:03:30.919 --> 00:03:34.250 child. And it designated his noble blood. His 00:03:34.250 --> 00:03:37.449 father, Reis Makonnen, was a legend in his own 00:03:37.449 --> 00:03:40.270 right. He was a top general, a key player in 00:03:40.270 --> 00:03:43.370 the Battle of Ottawa in 1896, which is, I mean, 00:03:43.389 --> 00:03:44.810 that's one of the most important moments in modern 00:03:44.810 --> 00:03:47.050 African history. That's where Ethiopia defeated 00:03:47.050 --> 00:03:49.090 the Italians the first time, right? The first 00:03:49.090 --> 00:03:52.069 time, yes. A stunning victory that reverberated 00:03:52.069 --> 00:03:55.050 across the world. But the real key to understanding 00:03:55.050 --> 00:03:58.810 Tafari's rise and his entire psychology is the 00:03:58.810 --> 00:04:01.909 lineage. The Solomonic dynasty. I felt in such 00:04:01.909 --> 00:04:03.830 a rabbit hole reading about this. This isn't 00:04:03.830 --> 00:04:05.729 just claiming, you know, your grandfather was 00:04:05.729 --> 00:04:08.330 a king. This is a claim that goes back thousands 00:04:08.330 --> 00:04:11.289 of years. Precisely. This is the cultural and 00:04:11.289 --> 00:04:13.409 religious glue that held the Ethiopian empire 00:04:13.409 --> 00:04:16.250 together. The dynasty claims direct descent from 00:04:16.250 --> 00:04:19.860 Menelik I. And Menelika I, according to the Kebra 00:04:19.860 --> 00:04:22.740 Nagast, which is the Ethiopian national epic, 00:04:23.060 --> 00:04:26.079 he was the son of King Solomon of ancient Israel 00:04:26.079 --> 00:04:29.160 and Makeda, the queen of Sheba. Correct. So in 00:04:29.160 --> 00:04:32.079 the eyes of the Ethiopian people and, you know, 00:04:32.079 --> 00:04:34.980 eventually the Rastafari movement, this man has 00:04:34.980 --> 00:04:37.500 the blood of the Bible of the Old Testament flowing 00:04:37.500 --> 00:04:39.860 directly through his veins. That gives his role 00:04:39.860 --> 00:04:42.660 a kind of divine right, that is. It's hard for 00:04:42.660 --> 00:04:46.240 a modern secular mind to really grasp. It is. 00:04:46.730 --> 00:04:48.629 wasn't just that he was the strongest warlord 00:04:48.629 --> 00:04:51.170 or the smartest politician. It was that he was 00:04:51.170 --> 00:04:53.850 chosen by God, part of an unbroken chain going 00:04:53.850 --> 00:04:55.709 back to antiquity. But here's the thing that 00:04:55.709 --> 00:04:59.189 surprised me. In the early 1900s, that bloodline 00:04:59.189 --> 00:05:01.550 wasn't enough to guarantee him the throne. He 00:05:01.550 --> 00:05:04.089 wasn't the heir apparent. No, he was not. He 00:05:04.089 --> 00:05:05.930 had to hustle. He had to scheme. He had to be 00:05:05.930 --> 00:05:07.389 smarter than everyone else in the room. Right. 00:05:07.509 --> 00:05:09.699 He had to work for it. The news mentioned he 00:05:09.699 --> 00:05:13.019 became a governor at age 13. I was, I don't know, 00:05:13.079 --> 00:05:15.660 barely managing my paper route at 13. No question. 00:05:15.839 --> 00:05:18.639 He was appointed de Jasmach, which is roughly 00:05:18.639 --> 00:05:21.180 equivalent to a count or maybe a duke at 13. 00:05:21.360 --> 00:05:24.139 But his path to the top was blocked by Ligiasu. 00:05:24.540 --> 00:05:27.680 Ligiasu. Okay. He was the appointed heir, the 00:05:27.680 --> 00:05:31.040 grandson of the great Emperor Menelik II. And 00:05:31.040 --> 00:05:34.259 this is where we see the first real glimpse of 00:05:34.259 --> 00:05:36.680 Tafari's political genius. Iyasu was the one 00:05:36.680 --> 00:05:40.019 who flirted with Islam, is that right? That was 00:05:40.019 --> 00:05:42.540 the accusation, yes. And in a staunchly orthodox 00:05:42.540 --> 00:05:45.220 Christian empire, that was political poison. 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:48.379 Iyasu was seen as getting too cozy with Muslim 00:05:48.379 --> 00:05:51.459 powers in the region. He was accused of apostasy. 00:05:51.579 --> 00:05:54.930 Which gave Tafari an opening. A huge one. Tafari 00:05:54.930 --> 00:05:57.009 Makonnen, along with the leadership of the Ethiopian 00:05:57.009 --> 00:05:59.410 Orthodox Church and a faction of the nobility, 00:05:59.569 --> 00:06:03.230 orchestrated a coup in 1916. Yasu was deposed, 00:06:03.290 --> 00:06:06.009 and Menelik's daughter, Zuditu, became empress. 00:06:06.110 --> 00:06:09.769 So Zuditu takes the throne, but Tafari doesn't, 00:06:09.769 --> 00:06:12.170 not yet. Not yet. He played the long game, he 00:06:12.170 --> 00:06:14.509 became Ras Tafari Makonnen, and more importantly, 00:06:14.629 --> 00:06:16.889 Regent Plinipatentiary. Which is basically what 00:06:16.889 --> 00:06:19.449 prime minister? Think of it as the CEO to the 00:06:19.449 --> 00:06:21.930 empress's chairman of the board. He was running 00:06:21.930 --> 00:06:23.779 the day -to -day of the country. But he had to 00:06:23.779 --> 00:06:26.680 be careful. Empress Sudit, who was very conservative, 00:06:26.819 --> 00:06:29.199 very traditionalist, Tafari was the young Kirk, 00:06:29.300 --> 00:06:32.360 the modernizer. So he's pushing for change. Constantly. 00:06:32.540 --> 00:06:35.199 He wanted schools, hospitals, airplanes, international 00:06:35.199 --> 00:06:38.480 recognition. He was looking outwards to the future. 00:06:38.639 --> 00:06:41.220 She was looking inwards to the past. It seems 00:06:41.220 --> 00:06:44.100 like a very stressful roommate situation for 00:06:44.100 --> 00:06:47.060 the entire country. It was a delicate, 14 -year 00:06:47.060 --> 00:06:50.120 -long dance of power. But he was brilliant at 00:06:50.120 --> 00:06:52.870 it. He managed to secure Ethiopia's admission 00:06:52.870 --> 00:06:56.089 to the League of Nations in 1923. Which was a 00:06:56.089 --> 00:06:59.769 massive deal. A massive diplomatic coup. It put 00:06:59.769 --> 00:07:02.689 Ethiopia on the map as a sovereign state and 00:07:02.689 --> 00:07:05.089 equal to the European nations, at least on paper. 00:07:05.329 --> 00:07:09.910 And then in 1930, Empress Zuditu dies and Rastafari 00:07:09.910 --> 00:07:12.509 Makonnen finally steps into the spotlight. The 00:07:12.509 --> 00:07:15.829 coronation, November 2nd, 1930. This was the 00:07:15.829 --> 00:07:18.069 event of the decade globally. The description 00:07:18.069 --> 00:07:20.339 of this coronation is just... It's mind -blowing. 00:07:20.439 --> 00:07:21.819 It really does sound like something out of a 00:07:21.819 --> 00:07:23.819 fantasy novel. It was designed to be awe -inspiring. 00:07:24.040 --> 00:07:26.040 This is the moment he took the regnal name Hail 00:07:26.040 --> 00:07:28.660 Selassie I, which means Power of the Trinity. 00:07:28.879 --> 00:07:30.319 Isn't that the full title? It's like poetry. 00:07:30.620 --> 00:07:32.939 It is. By the conquering lion of the tribe of 00:07:32.939 --> 00:07:35.360 Judah, His Imperial Majesty Hail Selassie I, 00:07:35.540 --> 00:07:39.379 Kings of Ethiopia, Lord of Lords, Elect of God. 00:07:39.639 --> 00:07:43.319 King of Kings. Nagusa Nagas. That's not a subtle 00:07:43.319 --> 00:07:45.939 title. It implies that everyone else, every other 00:07:45.939 --> 00:07:48.160 monarch in the world, is just a regular king. 00:07:48.839 --> 00:07:51.519 But he's the boss. That's exactly the message. 00:07:51.720 --> 00:07:54.660 And the guest list reflected that. The Driddish 00:07:54.660 --> 00:07:57.009 sent the Duke of Gloucester. A royal prince. 00:07:57.149 --> 00:08:00.850 You had envoys from Japan, Egypt, Italy, the 00:08:00.850 --> 00:08:02.790 U .S. Time magazine put them on the cover. It 00:08:02.790 --> 00:08:05.649 was a global spectacle. One report estimated 00:08:05.649 --> 00:08:09.889 the cost at over $3 million. In 1930 dollars. 00:08:10.050 --> 00:08:11.649 That's the start of the Great Depression. That 00:08:11.649 --> 00:08:14.129 is an absolutely astronomical amount of money. 00:08:14.230 --> 00:08:16.769 It was. And that tension, you know, between the 00:08:16.769 --> 00:08:19.350 immense, almost fairytale wealth of the monarchy 00:08:19.350 --> 00:08:21.689 and the deep poverty of the nation. That's a 00:08:21.689 --> 00:08:23.990 theme that runs through this entire story right 00:08:23.990 --> 00:08:26.180 to the very end. Of course. But at the time, 00:08:26.220 --> 00:08:28.620 it was seen as necessary to project strength 00:08:28.620 --> 00:08:31.800 and ancient legitimacy. He sent a gold encased 00:08:31.800 --> 00:08:34.559 Bible to an American bishop just for saying a 00:08:34.559 --> 00:08:36.840 prayer for him. It was all about establishing 00:08:36.840 --> 00:08:39.360 this image on the world stage. But he wasn't 00:08:39.360 --> 00:08:41.440 just throwing parties. He was trying to modernize 00:08:41.440 --> 00:08:43.779 the country, at least on his own terms. The 1931 00:08:43.779 --> 00:08:46.120 Constitution is a big part of this. Right. In 00:08:46.120 --> 00:08:48.399 the notes, it's framed as this great step forward. 00:08:48.500 --> 00:08:52.320 But when you actually look at the text. It's 00:08:52.320 --> 00:08:54.740 a bit tricky, isn't it? It is a classic example 00:08:54.740 --> 00:08:57.179 of what you might call authoritarian modernization. 00:08:57.419 --> 00:09:00.480 Yeah. Yes, it was Ethiopia's first ever written 00:09:00.480 --> 00:09:03.820 constitution. That's historic. It set up a bicameral 00:09:03.820 --> 00:09:07.299 legislature, two houses of parliament. On the 00:09:07.299 --> 00:09:09.879 surface, that looks like a move towards democracy. 00:09:10.179 --> 00:09:13.440 But you have to ask, who appointed the members 00:09:13.440 --> 00:09:15.899 of the upper house? The emperor. And who had 00:09:15.899 --> 00:09:19.490 the final absolute veto? On all laws. The emperor. 00:09:19.750 --> 00:09:21.509 Right. So it was democracy with training wheels, 00:09:21.629 --> 00:09:24.450 but the emperor was holding the handlebars, steering 00:09:24.450 --> 00:09:26.629 the bike, and had his foot on the brake. So the 00:09:26.629 --> 00:09:29.090 goal wasn't really democracy. It was centralization. 00:09:29.450 --> 00:09:32.049 Precisely. The stated goal in the text was a 00:09:32.049 --> 00:09:34.549 transition to democratic rule, but only, and 00:09:34.549 --> 00:09:37.250 I'm quoting here, until the people are in a position 00:09:37.250 --> 00:09:39.210 to elect themselves. Which the emperor gets to 00:09:39.210 --> 00:09:42.059 decide. Which the emperor gets to decide. It 00:09:42.059 --> 00:09:44.440 was a brilliant move to consolidate power away 00:09:44.440 --> 00:09:46.919 from the regional warlords and centralize it 00:09:46.919 --> 00:09:50.179 in the palace in Addis Ababa. It was modern state 00:09:50.179 --> 00:09:52.399 building, but it was definitely not freedom in 00:09:52.399 --> 00:09:55.059 the Western sense. And then just as he's getting 00:09:55.059 --> 00:09:58.700 started with this project, this, you know, this 00:09:58.700 --> 00:10:03.039 grand vision for a modern Ethiopia, the sky falls. 00:10:03.659 --> 00:10:06.059 Literally. The Italian invasion of 1935. The 00:10:06.059 --> 00:10:09.000 second Italo -Ethiopian war. This is the turning 00:10:09.000 --> 00:10:10.700 point, isn't it? This is where he goes from being 00:10:10.700 --> 00:10:12.980 a national leader to a global figure. It changes 00:10:12.980 --> 00:10:16.179 everything. Mussolini is in power in Italy. Fascism 00:10:16.179 --> 00:10:19.120 is on the rise. And Italy has this 40 -year -old 00:10:19.120 --> 00:10:21.019 grudge from the Battle of Ottawa. They wanted 00:10:21.019 --> 00:10:23.200 revenge. They wanted revenge. They wanted a new 00:10:23.200 --> 00:10:25.940 Roman Empire. And they wanted to link their colonies 00:10:25.940 --> 00:10:29.299 in Eritrea and Somaliland by conquering the land 00:10:29.299 --> 00:10:31.940 in between. The mismatch in technology here is 00:10:31.940 --> 00:10:34.039 just heartbreaking to read about. You look at 00:10:34.039 --> 00:10:36.240 the mobilization order from Selassie, everyone 00:10:36.240 --> 00:10:38.419 able -bodied. But what were they fighting with? 00:10:38.740 --> 00:10:42.820 Courage, mostly. And old rifles, some from the 00:10:42.820 --> 00:10:46.639 19th century. Spears, swords. The Italians had 00:10:46.639 --> 00:10:49.399 a modern air force. They had tanks. And most 00:10:49.399 --> 00:10:51.740 horrifically, they had chemical weapons. Mustard 00:10:51.740 --> 00:10:54.860 gas. Yes. This is one of the darkest chapters 00:10:54.860 --> 00:10:57.340 in modern colonial history, and it's often overlooked. 00:10:57.539 --> 00:11:00.379 The Italians completely violated the Geneva Protocol. 00:11:00.639 --> 00:11:03.559 They dropped mustard gas bombs not just on soldiers, 00:11:03.580 --> 00:11:07.679 but on civilians, on farms, on rivers. Even on 00:11:07.679 --> 00:11:10.240 Red Cross hospitals. It's pure terror warfare. 00:11:10.559 --> 00:11:12.679 It burns the skin. It blinds the eyes. It destroys 00:11:12.679 --> 00:11:14.539 the lungs. It was designed to break the will 00:11:14.539 --> 00:11:16.700 of a people. And Selassie, he actually went to 00:11:16.700 --> 00:11:18.299 the front. He wasn't just directing from the 00:11:18.299 --> 00:11:20.759 palace. No, he did. He led troops personally 00:11:20.759 --> 00:11:24.139 at the decisive Battle of Mechu in 1936. But 00:11:24.139 --> 00:11:26.340 you can't fight mustard gas with bravery alone. 00:11:26.600 --> 00:11:29.080 The Ethiopian army was shattered. And this led 00:11:29.080 --> 00:11:30.980 to the most agonizing decision of his entire 00:11:30.980 --> 00:11:34.080 life. The exile debate. Yes. I found this part 00:11:34.080 --> 00:11:36.139 fascinating because his advisors were completely 00:11:36.139 --> 00:11:38.919 split. One side is saying, you are the emperor, 00:11:39.039 --> 00:11:41.100 you are the lion of Judah, you stay and die with 00:11:41.100 --> 00:11:42.860 your people. If you leave, you're a coward. The 00:11:42.860 --> 00:11:46.000 honorable death. Right. Noblemen like Bledetekle, 00:11:46.080 --> 00:11:48.519 Wold Horiat were adamant about it. They wanted 00:11:48.519 --> 00:11:51.379 to wage a guerrilla war from the mountains with 00:11:51.379 --> 00:11:53.759 the emperor as a symbol of resistance on home 00:11:53.759 --> 00:11:55.840 soil. But the other side had a different view, 00:11:56.039 --> 00:11:59.419 a more legalistic one. A more modern statecraft 00:11:59.419 --> 00:12:02.279 view. They argued that if the emperor died or 00:12:02.279 --> 00:12:04.960 was captured, the Ethiopian state would cease 00:12:04.960 --> 00:12:07.759 to exist legally. The Italians could just claim 00:12:07.759 --> 00:12:10.039 it was an internal matter. They argued he needed 00:12:10.039 --> 00:12:12.740 to go abroad to embody the sovereign state and 00:12:12.740 --> 00:12:15.559 plead Ethiopia's case to the world. So he chooses 00:12:15.559 --> 00:12:17.860 exile. He chooses exile. He boards a British 00:12:17.860 --> 00:12:20.679 train, then a cruiser. He goes first to Jerusalem. 00:12:20.940 --> 00:12:23.059 Which is heavy with symbolism. The king of the 00:12:23.059 --> 00:12:25.139 Solomonic dynasty returning to the land of Solomon. 00:12:25.299 --> 00:12:27.899 Exactly. And then to Europe. And this leads to 00:12:27.899 --> 00:12:30.440 the moment that I think makes him a legend. The 00:12:30.440 --> 00:12:33.019 speech to the League of Nations in Geneva. June 00:12:33.019 --> 00:12:36.220 1936. It is one of the greatest and most tragic 00:12:36.220 --> 00:12:38.860 speeches of the 20th century. You have to picture 00:12:38.860 --> 00:12:42.120 the scene. The hall is filled with European diplomats 00:12:42.120 --> 00:12:43.980 who are basically just trying to ignore the problem, 00:12:44.120 --> 00:12:47.019 hoping it will go away. Fascist Italian journalists 00:12:47.019 --> 00:12:49.100 are in the gallery and they're heckling him. 00:12:49.340 --> 00:12:52.480 Whistling, screaming abuse, trying to shut him 00:12:52.480 --> 00:12:55.600 down. And this small dignified man stands at 00:12:55.600 --> 00:12:57.799 the podium and he starts speaking in Amharic. 00:12:57.879 --> 00:13:00.879 Which was a deliberate and powerful choice. He 00:13:00.879 --> 00:13:03.960 spoke fluent French, which was the language of 00:13:03.960 --> 00:13:06.399 diplomacy. He could have easily given the speech 00:13:06.399 --> 00:13:09.200 in French. But he used his own language. He was 00:13:09.200 --> 00:13:11.679 asserting his identity, his nation's sovereignty, 00:13:11.919 --> 00:13:14.700 right there in the heart of Europe. He laid out 00:13:14.700 --> 00:13:17.220 the cold, hard facts of the chemical attacks. 00:13:17.480 --> 00:13:20.779 He shamed them. He called out the idea of collective 00:13:20.779 --> 00:13:23.659 security for what it was, a total sham. And then 00:13:23.659 --> 00:13:26.039 he drops that line, that prophecy. It gives me 00:13:26.039 --> 00:13:28.139 chills every time I read it. It is us today. 00:13:28.200 --> 00:13:30.960 It will be you tomorrow. He was telling the West, 00:13:31.159 --> 00:13:33.779 in no uncertain terms, you think you can ignore 00:13:33.779 --> 00:13:36.000 fascism because it's happening in Africa? It 00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:38.740 is coming for you. And he was 100 % right. World 00:13:38.740 --> 00:13:41.779 War II was just three years away. He became the 00:13:41.779 --> 00:13:44.299 conscience of the world in that moment. Time 00:13:44.299 --> 00:13:46.840 magazine named him Man of the Year. He became 00:13:46.840 --> 00:13:49.320 this global icon of anti -fascist resistance. 00:13:49.740 --> 00:13:53.190 Yeah. But... And this is the great tragedy of 00:13:53.190 --> 00:13:55.409 international politics. The League did nothing. 00:13:55.730 --> 00:13:58.690 Nothing meaningful. They imposed some weak partial 00:13:58.690 --> 00:14:01.169 sanctions that didn't even include oil, which 00:14:01.169 --> 00:14:03.110 is the one thing that could have stopped Mussolini's 00:14:03.110 --> 00:14:05.110 war machine. They basically just wrung their 00:14:05.110 --> 00:14:07.409 hands and let Mussolini have Ethiopia. So he 00:14:07.409 --> 00:14:10.590 ends up in Bath, England. An emperor in exile 00:14:10.590 --> 00:14:13.250 living in a house called Fairfield House. Yes. 00:14:13.389 --> 00:14:16.129 And we should spend a moment on what that life 00:14:16.129 --> 00:14:18.110 was actually like. He wasn't living in some gilded 00:14:18.110 --> 00:14:21.049 palace. He was cash strapped. He was, by all 00:14:21.049 --> 00:14:23.669 accounts, deeply depressed. He spent his days 00:14:23.669 --> 00:14:26.350 writing his autobiography, walking in the dreary 00:14:26.350 --> 00:14:29.169 English rain, lobbying anyone who would listen 00:14:29.169 --> 00:14:31.490 to him. And the news from home was just devastating. 00:14:31.730 --> 00:14:33.950 Horrific. The Italians were carrying out brutal 00:14:33.950 --> 00:14:36.870 reprisals. They executed his son -in -law, his 00:14:36.870 --> 00:14:39.159 own daughter, Princess Ramon Work. was captured 00:14:39.159 --> 00:14:41.460 and died in an Italian prison camp. It's just 00:14:41.460 --> 00:14:44.220 such a human image. The king of kings shivering 00:14:44.220 --> 00:14:46.919 in a drafty English house, grieving his children 00:14:46.919 --> 00:14:49.799 while the world just moves on. But he didn't 00:14:49.799 --> 00:14:52.440 give up. He never gave up. And when World War 00:14:52.440 --> 00:14:55.059 II finally broke out, the British suddenly realized, 00:14:55.259 --> 00:14:58.519 hey, this Ethiopian emperor could be a very useful 00:14:58.519 --> 00:15:01.200 ally against the Italians in East Africa. So 00:15:01.200 --> 00:15:05.340 in 1941, he returns. He returns with a legendary 00:15:05.340 --> 00:15:08.580 special forces unit called Gideon Force. Gideon 00:15:08.580 --> 00:15:11.019 Force, great name. It was a mix of British officers 00:15:11.019 --> 00:15:14.419 like the eccentric genius Ord Wingate and Ethiopian 00:15:14.419 --> 00:15:16.200 patriots who had been fighting a guerrilla war 00:15:16.200 --> 00:15:18.179 for years. They fought their way back into the 00:15:18.179 --> 00:15:20.860 country, rallying the people. And on May 5th, 00:15:20.860 --> 00:15:24.259 1941. Let me guess. Exactly five years to the 00:15:24.259 --> 00:15:27.399 day after the Italians had entered. Addis Ababa 00:15:27.399 --> 00:15:29.480 Hale Selassie re -entered his capital in triumph. 00:15:29.639 --> 00:15:31.860 That moment must have been just electric. He 00:15:31.860 --> 00:15:33.620 raised the line of Judah's standard over the 00:15:33.620 --> 00:15:35.580 palace again. He was vindicated. He had been 00:15:35.580 --> 00:15:38.100 right all along. So the war is over. The emperor 00:15:38.100 --> 00:15:40.059 is back on the throne. And this kicks off his 00:15:40.059 --> 00:15:42.740 second act. He pivots from being a war hero to 00:15:42.740 --> 00:15:45.440 being the diplomat, the father of Africa. This 00:15:45.440 --> 00:15:48.759 is the era of the 1950s and 60s. Decolonization 00:15:48.759 --> 00:15:52.860 is sweeping the continent. Ghana. Kenya, Tanzania, 00:15:52.980 --> 00:15:55.480 Nigeria, they're all fighting for and winning 00:15:55.480 --> 00:15:58.620 their independence. And Ethiopia, because it 00:15:58.620 --> 00:16:01.179 had this long history of resisting colonization, 00:16:01.440 --> 00:16:04.220 becomes the ultimate symbol of black freedom 00:16:04.220 --> 00:16:06.440 and sovereignty. And Selassie positions himself 00:16:06.440 --> 00:16:09.019 right at the center of it all. He does it masterfully. 00:16:09.240 --> 00:16:12.340 He makes Addis Ababa the political capital of 00:16:12.340 --> 00:16:15.899 Africa. In 1963, he presides over the formation 00:16:15.899 --> 00:16:19.049 of the OAU. the Organization of African Unity, 00:16:19.250 --> 00:16:21.610 the precursor to the African Union we have today. 00:16:21.789 --> 00:16:23.509 And getting all those new leaders in one room 00:16:23.509 --> 00:16:26.070 was not easy. It was incredibly difficult. You 00:16:26.070 --> 00:16:28.149 had the Monrovia group, who were more moderate 00:16:28.149 --> 00:16:30.429 pro -Western, and you had the Casablanca group, 00:16:30.590 --> 00:16:33.350 the radicals like Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, who 00:16:33.350 --> 00:16:35.330 wanted a United States of Africa immediately. 00:16:35.710 --> 00:16:38.490 A huge ideological divide. A huge divide. And 00:16:38.490 --> 00:16:40.230 Selassie was really the only one with the historical 00:16:40.230 --> 00:16:42.529 weight and the gravitas to get them all in the 00:16:42.529 --> 00:16:44.330 same room and hammer out a compromise. He was 00:16:44.330 --> 00:16:47.179 the bridge. He was the elder statesman. He steered 00:16:47.179 --> 00:16:49.580 a middle path. He supported decolonization movements. 00:16:49.980 --> 00:16:52.320 But he was also a conservative monarch who was, 00:16:52.440 --> 00:16:54.620 you know, meeting with President Kennedy. He 00:16:54.620 --> 00:16:57.120 was the first foreign head of state to meet Mao 00:16:57.120 --> 00:16:59.340 Zedong after the crisis of the Cultural Revolution. 00:16:59.860 --> 00:17:02.480 He was mediating peace deals between Morocco 00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:05.940 and Algeria. A true global figure. And the lions 00:17:05.940 --> 00:17:08.519 probably helped maintain the mystique, I assume. 00:17:08.759 --> 00:17:11.380 The lions always helped. He maintained that aura 00:17:11.380 --> 00:17:14.950 of Oriental dignity. Perfectly. For two decades, 00:17:15.170 --> 00:17:17.509 he really was the elder statesman of the world. 00:17:17.609 --> 00:17:20.289 But while he's doing all this high level geopolitical 00:17:20.289 --> 00:17:22.609 maneuvering, something completely different and 00:17:22.609 --> 00:17:24.789 frankly, kind of mystical is happening on the 00:17:24.789 --> 00:17:27.890 other side of the planet in Jamaica. The Rastafari 00:17:27.890 --> 00:17:30.269 movement. This is where the story leaves the 00:17:30.269 --> 00:17:33.009 realm of politics and history and enters straight 00:17:33.009 --> 00:17:35.740 into theology. It's an incredible term. We have 00:17:35.740 --> 00:17:37.980 to unpack this because for a lot of people, especially 00:17:37.980 --> 00:17:40.220 in the West, this is the only context they have 00:17:40.220 --> 00:17:42.720 for Hill Selassie. Bob Marley, dreadlocks, reggae 00:17:42.720 --> 00:17:46.099 music. How does a devout Ethiopian Orthodox Christian 00:17:46.099 --> 00:17:48.539 emperor become God to people in the Caribbean? 00:17:48.799 --> 00:17:51.440 It starts with Marcus Garvey, the Jamaican pan 00:17:51.440 --> 00:17:54.940 -Africanist activist. In the 1920s, he preached 00:17:54.940 --> 00:17:57.599 this message of black pride and return to Africa. 00:17:58.079 --> 00:18:01.299 And he supposedly uttered a prophecy. Look to 00:18:01.299 --> 00:18:03.619 Africa where a black king shall be crowned for 00:18:03.619 --> 00:18:07.200 he shall be the redeemer. And then in 1930, Tefari 00:18:07.200 --> 00:18:09.559 Makonnen gets crowned in that spectacular ceremony. 00:18:09.960 --> 00:18:11.519 And you just have to look at the titles again 00:18:11.519 --> 00:18:14.140 from their perspective. King of Kings, Lord of 00:18:14.140 --> 00:18:17.059 Lords, The Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah. 00:18:17.240 --> 00:18:19.359 These are titles straight out of the Bible. Straight 00:18:19.359 --> 00:18:22.339 out of the Book of Revelation. For poor, marginalized 00:18:22.339 --> 00:18:24.480 communities in Jamaica who are reading the King 00:18:24.480 --> 00:18:26.710 James Bible every day. This wasn't a coincidence. 00:18:26.950 --> 00:18:28.829 They didn't see a political leader. They saw 00:18:28.829 --> 00:18:31.569 the fulfillment of prophecy. They saw Jah, God 00:18:31.569 --> 00:18:33.809 incarnate, return to Earth. It's such a powerful 00:18:33.809 --> 00:18:36.869 narrative of reclamation. But for decades, this 00:18:36.869 --> 00:18:40.609 was just a belief system far away. Then, in 1966, 00:18:41.089 --> 00:18:43.470 the emperor decides to visit Jamaica. Grown Nation 00:18:43.470 --> 00:18:47.410 Day, April 21st, 1966. I mean, if you want a 00:18:47.410 --> 00:18:49.049 scene for a movie, this is it. It's one of the 00:18:49.049 --> 00:18:51.170 most remarkable state visits in history. Set 00:18:51.170 --> 00:18:53.410 the stage for us. What happened? He lands at 00:18:53.410 --> 00:18:56.359 Palisados Airport in Kingston. There are an estimated 00:18:56.359 --> 00:18:59.000 100 ,000 Rastafari waiting for him. They have 00:18:59.000 --> 00:19:01.400 come from all over the island. They've been waiting 00:19:01.400 --> 00:19:03.299 their whole lives for their messiah to arrive. 00:19:03.640 --> 00:19:07.619 The drumming is incessant. And the smoke. Every 00:19:07.619 --> 00:19:10.059 contemporary account says the air was literally 00:19:10.059 --> 00:19:13.400 thick with a haze of ganja smoke. 100 ,000 people. 00:19:13.640 --> 00:19:15.940 That is just intense. It was completely overwhelming. 00:19:16.460 --> 00:19:19.259 When the plane finally taxied to a stop, the 00:19:19.259 --> 00:19:21.740 crowd just broke through the barriers. They rushed 00:19:21.740 --> 00:19:24.059 the tarmac. They surrounded the airplane, touching 00:19:24.059 --> 00:19:27.319 it. kissing the tires, chanting, Ja, Rastafari. 00:19:27.440 --> 00:19:29.160 And the emperor. He looked out the window at 00:19:29.160 --> 00:19:32.339 this chaotic, ecstatic scene, and he refused 00:19:32.339 --> 00:19:34.660 to come out. He was scared. He was probably terrified. 00:19:35.039 --> 00:19:37.579 He was a man who prized order and dignity above 00:19:37.579 --> 00:19:40.619 all else. He locked the door. The Jamaican government 00:19:40.619 --> 00:19:42.940 officials didn't know what to do. The police 00:19:42.940 --> 00:19:45.400 were completely useless against that crowd. So 00:19:45.400 --> 00:19:47.579 what did they do? They finally had to find a 00:19:47.579 --> 00:19:49.799 prominent Rasta elder, a man named Ross Mortimer 00:19:49.799 --> 00:19:52.980 Plano, to go up the stairs, knock on the door. 00:19:53.500 --> 00:19:56.140 and basically negotiate with God to tell him 00:19:56.140 --> 00:19:57.839 it was safe to come down and meet his followers. 00:19:58.099 --> 00:20:00.660 That is unbelievable. And when he finally stepped 00:20:00.660 --> 00:20:04.859 out. Candemonium. Pure joy. Rita Marley, Bob 00:20:04.859 --> 00:20:07.839 Marley's wife, was in the crowd. She later claimed 00:20:07.839 --> 00:20:10.599 that as he waved, she saw the stigmata, the nail 00:20:10.599 --> 00:20:13.200 wounds of Christ in the palm of his hand. That 00:20:13.200 --> 00:20:17.180 was the moment she converted. Wow. Now here is 00:20:17.180 --> 00:20:19.730 the million dollar question. Did he ever tell 00:20:19.730 --> 00:20:22.150 them, guys, look, I appreciate the enthusiasm, 00:20:22.410 --> 00:20:25.829 but I am not God? This is the source of endless 00:20:25.829 --> 00:20:28.589 debate and interpretation. He was a devout Christian. 00:20:28.890 --> 00:20:30.710 Technically, for him, claiming to be God would 00:20:30.710 --> 00:20:33.289 be the ultimate blasphemy, but... But he didn't. 00:20:33.289 --> 00:20:35.309 He didn't rebuke them. He didn't take the microphone 00:20:35.309 --> 00:20:37.490 and say, stop this nonsense. Why not? What's 00:20:37.490 --> 00:20:39.309 the thinking there? Some say it was just political 00:20:39.309 --> 00:20:42.109 pragmatism. Why alienate these people who adored 00:20:42.109 --> 00:20:45.009 him? Others say he was genuinely and deeply moved 00:20:45.009 --> 00:20:47.430 by their love and faith. He gave gold medallions 00:20:47.430 --> 00:20:49.789 to the Rasta elders, and he gave them a very 00:20:49.789 --> 00:20:53.490 specific, very clever instruction. He said, liberation 00:20:53.490 --> 00:20:56.789 before repatriation. Liberation before repatriation. 00:20:57.150 --> 00:20:59.230 What does that mean? Well, the Rastas wanted 00:20:59.230 --> 00:21:02.170 to go back to Africa immediately. Selassie had 00:21:02.170 --> 00:21:05.390 even granted 500 hectares of land in Shashamane, 00:21:05.450 --> 00:21:08.289 Ethiopia, for them to settle. But he told them. 00:21:08.650 --> 00:21:11.109 essentially. Don't leave yet. You have work to 00:21:11.109 --> 00:21:13.589 do here in Jamaica. You must liberate the people 00:21:13.589 --> 00:21:16.630 of Jamaica first. That is such a savvy political 00:21:16.630 --> 00:21:19.670 and spiritual answer. It validates them, but 00:21:19.670 --> 00:21:21.750 it keeps them constructive where they are. Exactly. 00:21:21.869 --> 00:21:24.509 He walked a very, very fine line. He accepted 00:21:24.509 --> 00:21:27.210 their worship without ever explicitly confirming 00:21:27.210 --> 00:21:30.289 it in his own words. So on the world stage, he 00:21:30.289 --> 00:21:33.210 is this master diplomat. In Jamaica, he is literally 00:21:33.210 --> 00:21:37.720 a god. But back home in Ethiopia. things are 00:21:37.720 --> 00:21:40.079 starting to rot. This is the heartbreaking final 00:21:40.079 --> 00:21:42.259 act of the tragedy. This is section five of our 00:21:42.259 --> 00:21:44.440 outline. While the emperor was being toasted 00:21:44.440 --> 00:21:47.099 in London and worshipped in Kingston, the foundations 00:21:47.099 --> 00:21:49.480 of his own empire were crumbling from the inside. 00:21:49.700 --> 00:21:51.740 It's the classic tragedy of a leader who becomes 00:21:51.740 --> 00:21:54.140 so focused on foreign policy that they neglect 00:21:54.140 --> 00:21:56.920 what's happening in their own backyard. And he 00:21:56.920 --> 00:22:00.269 was a modernizer, but he was too slow. He couldn't, 00:22:00.269 --> 00:22:02.849 or perhaps wouldn't, dismantle the feudal system 00:22:02.849 --> 00:22:05.309 that his own power rested on. Land ownership 00:22:05.309 --> 00:22:08.309 was still totally medieval. Peasants had to give 00:22:08.309 --> 00:22:10.950 huge portions of their harvest to absentee landlords. 00:22:11.190 --> 00:22:13.089 And the cracks started showing long before the 00:22:13.089 --> 00:22:16.430 end. There was a coup attempt in 1960 while he 00:22:16.430 --> 00:22:19.309 was away in Brazil. That was a huge shock. The 00:22:19.309 --> 00:22:21.289 army put it down, but it was the first time anyone 00:22:21.289 --> 00:22:23.390 had seriously challenged his absolute power. 00:22:23.829 --> 00:22:26.500 Then you have the war in Eritrea. The annexation 00:22:26.500 --> 00:22:29.960 of Eritrea in 1962 was a complete disaster, wasn't 00:22:29.960 --> 00:22:33.279 it? A catastrophe. It dissolved Eritrea's parliament 00:22:33.279 --> 00:22:36.380 and sparked a brutal 30 -year civil war that 00:22:36.380 --> 00:22:38.299 drained the treasury and the morale of the army 00:22:38.299 --> 00:22:41.640 for decades. But the thing that truly, finally 00:22:41.640 --> 00:22:44.680 destroyed him was the famine. The Wallow Famine 00:22:44.680 --> 00:22:47.500 of 1973? Yes. There had been famines before, 00:22:47.619 --> 00:22:48.920 but this one was different. It was different 00:22:48.920 --> 00:22:51.220 because of the cover -up. Tens of thousands of 00:22:51.220 --> 00:22:52.980 people were starving to death. The most common 00:22:52.980 --> 00:22:55.380 estimate is between 40 ,000 and 80 ,000 people. 00:22:55.680 --> 00:22:58.099 And the imperial government actively tried to 00:22:58.099 --> 00:22:59.960 hide it. They didn't want to embarrass the nation 00:22:59.960 --> 00:23:02.279 or the emperor. They were celebrating the 10th 00:23:02.279 --> 00:23:04.200 anniversary of the OAU. They wanted to project 00:23:04.200 --> 00:23:07.259 an image of success and stability. And then came 00:23:07.259 --> 00:23:10.380 the journalist Jonathan Dimbleby. A British journalist. 00:23:10.680 --> 00:23:13.759 He heard rumors and he smuggled film crews into 00:23:13.759 --> 00:23:17.069 the famine zones. He produced a documentary for 00:23:17.069 --> 00:23:19.069 British television called The Unknown Famine. 00:23:19.210 --> 00:23:22.289 And the editing of this film, it was absolutely 00:23:22.289 --> 00:23:24.690 lethal. What did it show? It used a technique 00:23:24.690 --> 00:23:27.910 called montage, a simple but devastating contrast. 00:23:28.170 --> 00:23:31.029 It cut back and forth between images of skeletal 00:23:31.029 --> 00:23:33.190 children dying in the dust, their mothers wailing, 00:23:33.329 --> 00:23:35.750 and official government footage of the emperor 00:23:35.750 --> 00:23:38.369 at a lavish palace banquet for his birthday, 00:23:38.569 --> 00:23:42.470 eating cake. drinking champagne, tossing prime 00:23:42.470 --> 00:23:44.670 cuts of meat from the table to his little dogs. 00:23:44.789 --> 00:23:46.849 That is an image you can't ever recover from. 00:23:47.029 --> 00:23:50.029 You can't. It aired in Britain. But more importantly, 00:23:50.109 --> 00:23:52.769 copies were smuggled back into Ethiopia and shown 00:23:52.769 --> 00:23:55.170 secretly to university students and junior army 00:23:55.170 --> 00:23:58.069 officers. It shattered the myth. He wasn't the 00:23:58.069 --> 00:24:00.150 benevolent father of the nation anymore. He was 00:24:00.150 --> 00:24:01.990 a senile, out -of -touch tyrant who didn't care 00:24:01.990 --> 00:24:04.529 if his people died. So the revolution begins 00:24:04.529 --> 00:24:08.509 in 1974. But it wasn't a sudden explosion, was 00:24:08.509 --> 00:24:10.789 it? The notes describe it as something much slower, 00:24:10.970 --> 00:24:13.329 much stranger. They called it the Creeping Coup. 00:24:13.789 --> 00:24:17.569 And it was fascinatingly macabre. The Derg, which 00:24:17.569 --> 00:24:20.470 means committee, and Amharic, this group of anonymous 00:24:20.470 --> 00:24:23.109 junior military officers, they didn't just storm 00:24:23.109 --> 00:24:26.190 the palace. They stripped his power away layer 00:24:26.190 --> 00:24:29.390 by layer over months. Like peeling an onion. 00:24:29.650 --> 00:24:31.829 Exactly. First, they arrested his ministers, 00:24:31.970 --> 00:24:34.710 one by one. Then they nationalized the imperial 00:24:34.710 --> 00:24:37.140 family's bus company. Then they arrested his 00:24:37.140 --> 00:24:39.559 grandson. They were testing the waters, seeing 00:24:39.559 --> 00:24:41.440 if anyone, the senior generals, the public, would 00:24:41.440 --> 00:24:44.200 stop them. And nobody did. Nobody did. The spell 00:24:44.200 --> 00:24:46.200 was broken. That must have been terrifying for 00:24:46.200 --> 00:24:48.000 him, just sitting in that massive palace, this 00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:50.279 old man, watching the lights go out one by one. 00:24:50.420 --> 00:24:52.460 He seemed almost paralyzed by it. He was 82 years 00:24:52.460 --> 00:24:54.140 old. He'd been in power for almost 60 years. 00:24:54.279 --> 00:24:56.819 I think he truly believed, perhaps, that his 00:24:56.819 --> 00:24:59.359 divine right, his destiny, would somehow protect 00:24:59.359 --> 00:25:03.299 him. It didn't. September 12, 1974. The end of 00:25:03.299 --> 00:25:05.500 the line. A group of junior officers went to 00:25:05.500 --> 00:25:07.940 the palace. They read a proclamation deposing 00:25:07.940 --> 00:25:10.220 him for crimes against the people. And then, 00:25:10.279 --> 00:25:13.900 this detail always, always gets me. They didn't 00:25:13.900 --> 00:25:16.359 put him in a limousine or an army truck. They 00:25:16.359 --> 00:25:18.640 put the King of Kings, the Lion of Judah, into 00:25:18.640 --> 00:25:21.740 the back of a small, light blue Volkswagen Beetle. 00:25:21.839 --> 00:25:25.039 A VW Beetle. It was a calculated, deliberate 00:25:25.039 --> 00:25:28.200 humiliation. They drove him away as crowds who 00:25:28.200 --> 00:25:30.799 had once worshipped him now shouted thief at 00:25:30.799 --> 00:25:33.299 the little car. He was imprisoned in a small 00:25:33.299 --> 00:25:35.799 apartment within the Grand Palace grounds. And 00:25:35.799 --> 00:25:38.960 then came the blood. Black Saturday. In November 00:25:38.960 --> 00:25:42.140 of 1974, the Derg rounded up 60 of the highest 00:25:42.140 --> 00:25:44.200 officials of the old regime without any trial. 00:25:44.900 --> 00:25:47.440 Two former prime ministers, the emperor's own 00:25:47.440 --> 00:25:50.759 grandson, generals, aristocrats, all taken to 00:25:50.759 --> 00:25:53.039 a prison yard and machine gunned. Buried in a 00:25:53.039 --> 00:25:55.400 mass grave, it was the signal that the old world 00:25:55.400 --> 00:25:57.599 was well and truly dead. But Selassie himself 00:25:57.599 --> 00:25:59.940 lingered for a few more months as their prisoner. 00:26:00.140 --> 00:26:03.680 Until August of 1975. The official story put 00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:05.700 out by the Derg regime was that he died of respiratory 00:26:05.700 --> 00:26:07.819 failure following complications from prostate 00:26:07.819 --> 00:26:10.619 surgery. Which was a complete lie. A total lie. 00:26:11.359 --> 00:26:13.779 The doctor who supposedly performed the surgery 00:26:13.779 --> 00:26:16.000 hadn't seen him in months and later confirmed 00:26:16.000 --> 00:26:19.299 he was in good health. It wasn't until 1994, 00:26:19.599 --> 00:26:21.720 after the Derg regime was finally overthrown, 00:26:21.880 --> 00:26:25.000 that the truth came out in court. What happened? 00:26:25.420 --> 00:26:28.180 Two of his former servants testify. They were 00:26:28.180 --> 00:26:30.420 there that night. They saw the derg officers 00:26:30.420 --> 00:26:32.460 enter the emperor's room with a pillow and a 00:26:32.460 --> 00:26:35.440 cord. He was strangled in his bed. Assassinated. 00:26:36.420 --> 00:26:39.019 The 83 -year -old emperor was smothered to death 00:26:39.019 --> 00:26:42.299 in his sleep. And then, and this is the final 00:26:42.299 --> 00:26:44.380 awful indignity, they didn't even give him a 00:26:44.380 --> 00:26:47.140 proper burial. They took his body and buried 00:26:47.140 --> 00:26:49.440 him secretly beneath the floorboards of the palace 00:26:49.440 --> 00:26:52.539 office, under slab of concrete. Some accounts 00:26:52.539 --> 00:26:54.500 say it was specifically placed near a latrine 00:26:54.500 --> 00:26:57.299 just to desecrate his memory. They tried to literally 00:26:57.299 --> 00:27:00.119 pave over him, to erase him from history. They 00:27:00.119 --> 00:27:01.519 tried, but as we said right in the beginning, 00:27:01.579 --> 00:27:03.859 you can't erase a figure like this. In 1992, 00:27:04.160 --> 00:27:06.799 after the revolution against the Derg, they dug 00:27:06.799 --> 00:27:09.039 up the floor. They found the bones. And in the 00:27:09.039 --> 00:27:11.859 year 2000, he finally got a funeral. He did. 00:27:12.019 --> 00:27:14.579 It was a huge controversial event. The new government 00:27:14.579 --> 00:27:16.539 didn't want to make it an official state funeral, 00:27:16.680 --> 00:27:18.819 but thousands and thousands of people turned 00:27:18.819 --> 00:27:21.240 up. Old veterans in their tattered uniforms, 00:27:21.579 --> 00:27:24.220 weeping in the streets for their lost king. And 00:27:24.220 --> 00:27:26.240 the Rastafari. What do they make of the bones 00:27:26.240 --> 00:27:28.180 in the funeral? For many of them, they reject 00:27:28.180 --> 00:27:31.559 it entirely. Their mantra is, Jah cannot die. 00:27:31.779 --> 00:27:33.900 To them, the bones are a hoax or they're irrelevant. 00:27:34.440 --> 00:27:37.339 Hail Selassie is a spiritual force, not a biological 00:27:37.339 --> 00:27:40.720 entity. You can't bury God under a concrete slab. 00:27:41.000 --> 00:27:44.420 So after all this, we're left with this incredible 00:27:44.420 --> 00:27:48.019 mosaic, the modernizer who is too archaic to 00:27:48.019 --> 00:27:50.500 save himself, the diplomat who couldn't save 00:27:50.500 --> 00:27:52.779 his own throne, the God who was murdered in his 00:27:52.779 --> 00:27:55.400 bed. It leaves us with a really provocative thought, 00:27:55.480 --> 00:27:58.519 I think, about the nature of great men or of 00:27:58.519 --> 00:28:00.420 historical figures in general. Hail Selassie, 00:28:00.519 --> 00:28:02.859 the man was flawed, he was tragic, and in the 00:28:02.859 --> 00:28:05.799 end he was utterly defeated. But hail Selassie, 00:28:05.859 --> 00:28:09.049 the symbol, the Lion of Judah. The anti -fascist 00:28:09.049 --> 00:28:12.930 icon, Ja Rastafari. That symbol is arguably stronger 00:28:12.930 --> 00:28:15.230 and more influential today than it was even when 00:28:15.230 --> 00:28:17.490 he was alive. The symbol, I live the man. By 00:28:17.490 --> 00:28:20.569 a long shot. And it probably always will. Well, 00:28:20.609 --> 00:28:23.089 that is a lot to process. From the League of 00:28:23.089 --> 00:28:26.269 Nations to the ganja haze of Kingston to the 00:28:26.269 --> 00:28:28.549 back of a Volkswagen Beetle. What a journey. 00:28:28.710 --> 00:28:31.069 A journey unlike any other in the 20th century. 00:28:31.670 --> 00:28:33.670 Thanks for listening to this deep dive. We'll 00:28:33.670 --> 00:28:34.450 catch you on the next one.