It was on this day in
May 5, 1936 Fascist Italian forces had taken Ethiopia's capital. The same day, mass demonstration in Rome's Piazza Venezia square was called and the Fascist leader Benito Mussolini (Il Duce) made his 'Ethiopia is Italian' infamous speech . He opened his speech by reading the telegraph sent by Marshal Badoglio which stated:
I entered Addis Ababa at the head of the victorious troops. May 5, 1936.
He then proclaimed that the war is over and Ethiopia is annexed by Italia. The speech was followed by wild cheers from the crowd gathered at the square. Listen to the speech and watch the video recorded during the speech
here
Five years later on
May 5, 1941, Atse Haile Selassie accompanied by Gideon force which is comprised of British & Ethiopian combatants and led by General Wingate triumphantly reentered Addis Ababa reclaiming his throne after resistance by Fascist Italian forces in the city collapsed due to coordinated attacks from allied troops as well as Ethiopian Patriot resistance fighters. The Allied Forces offensive which started in late January same year when Haile Selassie entered Ethiopian territory from Sudan at UmEdla managed to get rid of all Fascist Italian troops from the entire country with the help of Ethiopian Patriot Resistance Fighters in matter one moth after recapture of Addis Ababa.
Sylvia Pankhurst who is known among Ethiopins as true friend of Ethiopia for her steadfast support to Ethiopian liberation during the Italian occupation was born on this day
May 5, 1882 in Manchester, England. Sylvia, who came from a liberal-socialist, internationally-minded family was a second child of barrister & legal reformer Dr. Richard Pankhurst and Women suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst. In her youth she had inclination to drawing and won several art scholarships, one of which took her to Venice, Italy, to study mosaics. Alongside her mother & her elder sister Isabelle, she was involved in organizing women to fight for their equal right to vote as their male counterparts. While her mother and sister's political activism is confined largely to Women's right issue which ended with British women earning their rights, Sylvia's political activism evolved beyond women's issue to organizing workers as well as to pacifism & anti-fascism. It was her anti-fascist stance that brought her to embrace the Ethiopian cause. Closely following events in Italy, she was quick to see that Mussolini was preparing to invade Ethiopia. She worked with Italian anti-fascists in agitating against that aggression. On
5 May 1936 she founded the London-based weekly newspaper
New Times & Ethiopia News to publicise the resistance of the Ethiopian people.
After liberation, She opposed British colonial attempts to partition the country, and supported Eritrean
Reunion with Ethiopia. She was awarded the Patriots’ Medal, granted to supporters of the Patriots, as well as to actual combatants. Sylvia settled in Ethiopia in July 1956 at the age of 74, and, inaugurated the monthly journal called Ethiopia Observer. She edited the Observer for four years until her death.
She died in Ethiopia in 1960, at the age of 78, on 27 September (Masqal
Day). She was buried here at Sellassie Cathedral, the
following day under the name of Walata Christos, beside other Patriots, in
the presence of Emperor Haile Sellassie and many Ethiopian and other
friends.
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