Name of the book: Tower in the Sky
Author: Hiwot Teffera
Publication year: 2012
Size of the book: 437 pages (paperback)
Publisher: Addis Ababa University Press
Reviewed by: Dejene Tesemma
"To begin with
“There was a generation in Ethiopia that came out once in time with a beautiful dream. As history did not allow that dream come true, it turned to a nightmare. And that generation boiled away writing largely a history of tragedy and sacrifice. It killed each other; it cleared the way for its slayers (Ethiopia’s destroyers) and gave in itself at last. The sacrifice was not only fruitless but also extremely virulent. “However, that generation was not homogeneous both in its world view and the role it played in history. As much as there was a firm stand for a purpose, as much there was commitment and love for the people, there was also opportunism, hesitancy and egocentrism. As a result, all who had set out for the journey did not travel together to the end point. Among those who escaped execution some ended up in exile, some led their lives in different spheres, others sheltered themselves around the power circle, and still some others betrayed that wonderful cause and condemned it as if it was a “childish game” merely as they wanted to ease their way for subsistence. The rest abandoned the whole past behind and reassured themselves with the situation. Some others yet calculated their “limit” and refrained from matters of the past but sighing inside.” Dr. Eshetu Chole, a prelude to Dr. Fekade Azeze’s Chuhet-Cry, A poetry book, published in 1993, (Translation by the writer of this piece) The storyTower in the Sky is a story of a generation to which reference is made by Eshetu Chole in the prologue cited above as having a beautiful dream. A generation which emerged in the 1960s and toiled fervently in the 1970s to transform the Ethiopian society; a generation that bloomed like the spring flowers and spurted out as shooting stars for a while but short lived like those stars melting away in obscurity of the darkness. That was a generation which envisioned Ethiopia to be on top list of the blissful world via the transformational wave and ideological canopy of Marxism. That was ageneration that wished to march far off the distance but stumbled at the door yard. That was the generation of Hiwot Tefferra, the author of Tower in the Sky. Hiwot Teffera, the main “character” of the book comes from the city of Harar to Addis Ababa to join the then Haile Sellasie I University, Sidist Kilo, Campus in 1972 when she was only 18.
She was an innocent and cheerful young girl who seemed to enjoy all the “modern” styles
available in her home town in those days. As a teenager, she didn’t see student demonstrations and class boycotts to be any different from a sort of picnic walks and she had never missed those riotous walks. It was apolitical for her and she enjoyed the commotion like any teen of her age. However, having landed on the hot spot of the student politics, Haile Sellassie I University, she was recruited to the secretive study circle under the mentorship of Getachew Maru, a highly sophisticated student activist who was also a young man himself but well equipped with Marxist Leninist Philosophy and the ideas beyond. Getachw who was an engineering student brought Hiwot to a different being indoctrinating her with Marxism and elevating her world view and imagination to a higher level where she devoted her entire life for a cause. That was the cause of a society. That cause had no an egoistic foundation. Nor it was aiming at a minuscule transformation. It was about radical change they fantasized afar the horizons. They wished a brighter future where democracy, justice, equality and prosperity would reign. They dedicated their entire being to the realization of an idyllic world where each would contribute according to his ability and each would reap in return according to his needs. Hiwot was a member of a circle which initially operated under the auspices of Abyot, a clandestine movement that largely embraced younger intellectuals and ran by the same until later they merged with Ethiopian People’s Liberation Organization (EPLO) to form the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party (EPRP)........."
http://quatero.net/pdf/The%20Golden%20Generation%20of%20%20Tower%20In%20The%20Sky.pdf
Author: Hiwot Teffera
Publication year: 2012
Size of the book: 437 pages (paperback)
Publisher: Addis Ababa University Press
Reviewed by: Dejene Tesemma
"To begin with
“There was a generation in Ethiopia that came out once in time with a beautiful dream. As history did not allow that dream come true, it turned to a nightmare. And that generation boiled away writing largely a history of tragedy and sacrifice. It killed each other; it cleared the way for its slayers (Ethiopia’s destroyers) and gave in itself at last. The sacrifice was not only fruitless but also extremely virulent. “However, that generation was not homogeneous both in its world view and the role it played in history. As much as there was a firm stand for a purpose, as much there was commitment and love for the people, there was also opportunism, hesitancy and egocentrism. As a result, all who had set out for the journey did not travel together to the end point. Among those who escaped execution some ended up in exile, some led their lives in different spheres, others sheltered themselves around the power circle, and still some others betrayed that wonderful cause and condemned it as if it was a “childish game” merely as they wanted to ease their way for subsistence. The rest abandoned the whole past behind and reassured themselves with the situation. Some others yet calculated their “limit” and refrained from matters of the past but sighing inside.” Dr. Eshetu Chole, a prelude to Dr. Fekade Azeze’s Chuhet-Cry, A poetry book, published in 1993, (Translation by the writer of this piece) The storyTower in the Sky is a story of a generation to which reference is made by Eshetu Chole in the prologue cited above as having a beautiful dream. A generation which emerged in the 1960s and toiled fervently in the 1970s to transform the Ethiopian society; a generation that bloomed like the spring flowers and spurted out as shooting stars for a while but short lived like those stars melting away in obscurity of the darkness. That was a generation which envisioned Ethiopia to be on top list of the blissful world via the transformational wave and ideological canopy of Marxism. That was ageneration that wished to march far off the distance but stumbled at the door yard. That was the generation of Hiwot Tefferra, the author of Tower in the Sky. Hiwot Teffera, the main “character” of the book comes from the city of Harar to Addis Ababa to join the then Haile Sellasie I University, Sidist Kilo, Campus in 1972 when she was only 18.
She was an innocent and cheerful young girl who seemed to enjoy all the “modern” styles
available in her home town in those days. As a teenager, she didn’t see student demonstrations and class boycotts to be any different from a sort of picnic walks and she had never missed those riotous walks. It was apolitical for her and she enjoyed the commotion like any teen of her age. However, having landed on the hot spot of the student politics, Haile Sellassie I University, she was recruited to the secretive study circle under the mentorship of Getachew Maru, a highly sophisticated student activist who was also a young man himself but well equipped with Marxist Leninist Philosophy and the ideas beyond. Getachw who was an engineering student brought Hiwot to a different being indoctrinating her with Marxism and elevating her world view and imagination to a higher level where she devoted her entire life for a cause. That was the cause of a society. That cause had no an egoistic foundation. Nor it was aiming at a minuscule transformation. It was about radical change they fantasized afar the horizons. They wished a brighter future where democracy, justice, equality and prosperity would reign. They dedicated their entire being to the realization of an idyllic world where each would contribute according to his ability and each would reap in return according to his needs. Hiwot was a member of a circle which initially operated under the auspices of Abyot, a clandestine movement that largely embraced younger intellectuals and ran by the same until later they merged with Ethiopian People’s Liberation Organization (EPLO) to form the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party (EPRP)........."
http://quatero.net/pdf/The%20Golden%20Generation%20of%20%20Tower%20In%20The%20Sky.pdf
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