Wednesday, October 1, 2025
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“GIVE CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE…”

“We have always been modern.” Etege Menen Asfaw

Melkam Addis Amet dear readers! With the New Year comes resolutions; one of mine is to support the process of giving credit where credit is due. The purpose? To recognize and record significant people, places, events and institutions contributing to the development of the arts in Ethiopia and Africa. I begin by applauding an artist I’ve previously mentioned, Elias Sime, 2019 Smithsonian’s National Museum of Africa Art Awardee. Elias is one of two recipients receiving the award whose unique and detailed work; emerging from historic and futuristic magi-nations, where everything is worthy to be presented and preserved; will be displayed in the Smith’s entry hall from mid- October for the viewing of thousands of visitors daily. The other winner is Nigerian Njideka Akyunyili Crosby, said to “connect Lagos to Los Angeles” through her intense colorful mixed-media paintings and collage. National Museum of African Art’s Director, Gus Casley-Hayford, said, “Both artists focus on the personal and societal impact of connection as they work with materials evocative of contemporary renewal, reuse and hybridity.”
Ethiopian artists have also been connecting us through art for decades on a platform provided in Addis by one of Ethiopia’s leading and arguably oldest partners in contemporary art, Alliance Ethio-Francaise. On September 19th “To Muse…”, a fine art exhibition curated by Mifta Zeleke, will open to the public presenting selected works from a nearly 30 year old collection of Ethiopian art possessed by the Alliance. Mifta writes in his curatorial note, “The exhibition couldn’t provide a full picture of what was exhibited in the space within the stated time period … some donated paintings are lost or migrated whereas some couldn’t actually represent the overall notions of the caliber of Ethiopia’s modern and contemporary art. But, this collection by far remains to be one of the vital means to examine the exhibition history of Ethiopia’s contemporary art.” Lost or migrated…hmmm? The curator goes on to highlight some pivotal Alliance solo shows including Tadesse Mesfine’s “Gulit”, 2001; Bekele Mekonnen’s “Enquokilish” 2004; and Dawit Abebe’s “X-Privacy”, 2009. I too invoke my pen prowess adding three of my favorite artists’ solos at Alliance including Daniel Taye’s, 2015 and Getachew Yosef’s, 2005; which by the way, was my introduction to Alliance during my first year in Ethiopia organizing Africa Unite – Bob Marley’s 60th Birthday. Finally, before my time, was Prince Merid Tafesse’s “Wood, Fire, Charcoal” in 2001/2, a turning point in Ethiopian art history where Merid, dubbed ‘The King of Charcoal’, declared charcoal and drawing mainstream media; both were usually reserved for studies. Mifta is known for curating dynamic shows and I am certain this will be no exception, especially given the 40 artists in “To Muse…”.
We have all been concerned and connected in one way or another to the ethnic violence in South Africa, but artists continue to drive conversations through works expressing the plethora perspectives of pain, fear, frustration, and helplessness. For those in South Africa this weekend, you can check out Latitude Art Fair which is being promoted as “a new platform for African art in international times – a niche-focused art fair seek(ing) to build local art audiences and promote African art…”. Executive Director, Lucy MacGarry states, “By African, we mean anyone who has a meaningful connection to Africa and the diaspora, and by international, we mean the endless permutations of trans-geographic relationships – rather than the reinforcement of values entrenched in European and American economic centres.” Whoah! Part of the 5 woman team, Business Development Director, Makgati Molebatsi adds, “…the backbone of this initiative – belongs to artists, curators, collectors, and art lovers who have felt for some time that the art market as it exists today does not yet have a place for them.” This is refreshing. Why? Truth be told, the majority of Africans still feel excluded from the contemporary art scene.
Finally I close with a reading recommendation entitled, EMPRESS MENEN CHRONICLES: An African Woman’s Journal of History and Culture edited by Dr. Asantewaa Oppong Wadie and Kwado Oppong. I was gifted the book this summer while in Chicago, but had a little time to fully read the “chronicling of the African woman’s experiences from ancient times to present” according to Dr. Asantewaa’s preface. What I loved most about the book, especially in view of the Ethiopian New Year and giving credit where credit is due, is the profile and pictures presented on Etege Menen Asfaw, wife of Qadamawi Haile Selassie. The Empress is not often written about however the book reminds us of her ‘savvy’ when it come to responding to media in defense of Ethiopia. A brilliant one liner response to journalist Joan Orth in 1955 asking “…if any of the women of her nation were also modern…?” Empress Menen sharply replied, “All of them. We have always been modern.” Bravo! Giving credit where credit is due, for 2012, let us proudly recognize and appreciate our achievements and progress as we strive for even more, daily.
May all your visions for health, wealth and happiness be created and continued.

Dr. Desta Meghoo is a Jamaican born
Creative Consultant, Curator and cultural promoter based in Ethiopia since 2005. She also serves as Liaison to the AU for the Ghana based, Diaspora African Forum.

Development and Demography

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Tectonic demographic shifts are happening to the foundations of the world economy. Consider that about 85% of world GDP is generated in countries that face an unprecedented reversal of the population ageing pyramid. As it happens, this rapid process of population ageing is affecting developed and developing countries alike. Among developing countries, China’s leaders were early to focus on ageing-related challenges. Their country’s long-run joint approach to demographic change and development offers a useful case study for today’s poor and young countries.
Lauren Johnston, a Research Associate in School of Oriental and African Studies, at the London University stated that in 1979, leaders of then poor and demographically youthful China initiated an economic modernization agenda commonly known as “reform and opening.” The aim was for those reforms to facilitate economic development and poverty alleviation. At that time in China, poverty was endemic and hunger a major concern. The parallel implementation of a complementary population policy, which would become known as the One Child Policy, was considered a step in the direction of supporting that modernization and poverty alleviation journey.
Lauren Johnston noted that Chinese leaders foresaw, however, that a low total fertility rate and falling mortality rates, including via rising life expectancy, would also mean that China’s population structure would age more rapidly. China’s median age in 1980 was 21.9 years and had risen to 37.0 years by 2015.
Worse, there was basically no feasible rate of economic development that would mean China realise high per capita income living standards for its people – before the population itself was “old.” China, that is, would be old, and not yet rich. Worse, China’s policy makers worried that facing such aging-related challenges as a “poor” country would weigh upon China’s prospects of ever becoming a “rich” country.
What is the Economic Demography Transition?
Implicit in China being “poor-old and old” are three parallel economic demography categories: “Poor-old and young,” “rich and old” and “rich and young.” Put together, these form the Economic Demography Matrix (EDM). The Economic Demography Matrix is a simple and useful framework for categorizing countries and regions via their economic and demographic profile. By extrapolation, it also forms the basis for study of the interaction of demographic and economic transition within and across countries over time, or study of the economic demography transition.
According to Lauren Johnston, whether, for example, a country first moves from “young” to “old” or “poor” to “rich,” may be essential to understanding how demography and the economy are interacting. Japan, which got rich before it got old, and China, which is old but not yet per capita income rich, make for an interesting comparison on that point. As the world’s largest economies almost all move rapidly out of their respective demographic dividends window, understanding the particular national dynamics of economic demography over time is increasingly essential to shaping effective fiscal and monetary policies, as well as for determining needed microeconomic reforms.
Similarly, at the other extreme, today’s poor and young countries, most of which are concentrated in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, can also learn from China’s very explicit utilization of its demographic dividend for development. Hence, they can shape a long-run economic demography transition strategy, a development strategy that takes demographic change as integral.
Jean-Pierre Lehmann, emeritus Professor of international political economy at Lausanne University in, Switzerland explained that all countries, whether rich-old, rich-young, poor-old or poor-young, would best consider how to adjust fiscal and monetary policies over time accordingly, before time and opportunity are lost and change becomes even harder to make.
Jean-Pierre Lehmann argued that rapid population ageing across most of the world’s major economies is the new normal. This may serve to stagnate global growth. Whether ageing populations effectively also “age” their economies or whether economic and social structures are able to be sustainably and continuously adjust to this new structural reality will determine how late-stage demographic transition affects the future of the global economy.
And hence, whether poor-old countries (e.g., Brazil, China, Russia and Turkey), rich-old countries (most OECD economies) or poor-young countries hoping to embark on a sustained process of development, it seems timely that every country’s policymakers might best learn from China by advancing an economic demography strategy. Understanding the economic demography transition, a process that appears to have been implicit to China’s long-run development since the 1980s), is the first step in that process.

New format for next year

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The Ethiopian Football Federation announced a new format bringing together twenty-four sides into two groups. The Addis Ababa clubs have asked for clarification from the federation.
The announcement from the federation renowned for its inefficiency and lack of knowledgeable individuals among its executive members, is considered a desperate move to win a yes vote in the coming National General Assembly to be held at the end of this month.
According to the announcement the 16 Premier League sides including the three relegated sides, the newly promoted three sides from the Super League, the runner-ups of the three groups and the best two of the three third place finishers, a total of twenty-four teams are members of the league season. Two groups each having twelve sides will have a two round tournament then the top four finishers from each group will have a knock out play-off to decide the ultimate title winner.
If the new format wins a majority vote in the coming National Assembly, Addis Ababa will be represented by five sides including Medin and ECOSCO, Amhara to stick with the two already in the top tier, Tigray with four including relegated Dedebit, the southern region with seven and Oromia having five teams under its wing.
Critics suggested that the move is a desperate action from the federation that is under heavy pressure from all sides for its inefficiency. “It is just like a political campaign to win the backing of Super League sides at the cost of the country’s football that is already on the death bed,” one critic underlined.
Assuming the new format is approved by the majority vote at the coming National General Assembly, the league season is expected to kick-off at the end of October or first week of November 2019.

Kenenisa Bekele added to Berlin Marathon field

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Organisers of the BMW Berlin Marathon have announced that Kenenisa Bekele has joined a loaded men’s field for the IAAF Gold Label road race on 29 September.
Bekele is one of the greatest distance runners of all time. Along with his three Olympic gold medals, he has amassed 17 world titles on the track, indoors and outdoors, and cross country. His world records for 5000m and 10,000m have stood for 15 years.
He stepped up to the marathon in 2014 and set a course record of 2:05:04 in Paris on his debut at the distance. He set a personal best of 2:03:03 – which, at the time, was an Ethiopian record and just six seconds off the then world record – when winning the Berlin Marathon in 2016.
On 29 September he will line up against compatriots Guye Adola, Leul Gebrselassie, Sisay Lemma and Birhanu Legese in what looks set to be another memorable race in the German capital.
Kenenisa won the 2016 Berlin Marathon in a time of 2:03:03 which set a new personal best time for him at the Marathon distance and the second fastest marathon of all time. However in 2017, attempting to break the world record, Kenenisa dropped out of the Dubai Marathon after the half way mark due to a fall at the beginning of the race. Back to half form Kenenisa finished second in the 2017 London Marathon finishing in 2:05:57, 9 seconds behind winner Daniel Wanjiru. Once again in the lineup he finished sixth in 2018 London where Eliud Kipchoge won in 2:04:17. Kenenisa Bekele also ran the Amsterdam marathon in October 2018, but dropped out with about a mile or 1 km to go.