Echat
{{short description|1975–1978 communist organization in Ethiopia}}
{{Infobox political party
| name = Echat
Ethiopian Oppressed People's Revolutionary Struggle
| colorcode = #9932CC
| leader = Baro Tumsa
| split = MEISON
| national = Imaledih
| founded = 1975
| general_secretary = Tesfaye Habis
| ideology = Communism
Pan-Ethiopianism
| country = Ethiopia
| dissolved = 1978
}}
Echat (Amharic: ኢጭአት, acronym for የኢትዮጵያ ጭቁኖች አብዮታዊ ትግል, 'Ethiopian Oppressed People's Revolutionary Struggle') was a communist organization in Ethiopia.Clapham Christopher. [https://books.google.com/books?id=LeszAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA55 Transformation and Continuity in Revolutionary Ethiopia]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988. p. 55 The organization was active between 1975 and 1978.Clapham Christopher. [https://books.google.com/books?id=LeszAAAAIAAJ Transformation and Continuity in Revolutionary Ethiopia]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988. p. xvi The organization emerged from a split away from the All-Ethiopian Socialist Movement (MEISON). Echat was initially allied with the Derg military junta, but later turned against it.
Structure and background
Echat was led by Baro Tumsa. Tesfaye Habiso was the secretary of Echat.[https://books.google.com/books?id=oRdBAQAAIAAJ Ethiopian review], Volume 4. 1994. p. 50
The organization consisted of groups representing different oppressed nationalities.Holcomb, Bonnie K., and Sisai Ibssa. [https://books.google.com/books?id=WzSOAAAAMAAJ The Invention of Ethiopia]. Trenton, NJ: Red Sea Press, 1990. p. 374 Echat portrayed itself as a pan-Ethiopian movement. Its membership was largely Oromo, it found its following amongst urban Oromo population.Eide, Oeyvind. [https://books.google.com/books?id=t9kmAQAAIAAJ Revolution and Religion in Ethiopia: Growth and Persecution of the Mekane Yesus Church, 1974-85]. Oxford: James Currey, 2000. pp. 101-102
As of 1976 Echat held two of the 15 seats in the 'Politburo' of the Provisional Office for Mass Organizational Affairs (POMOA).Mammo, Tirfe. [https://books.google.com/books?id=-X_SuY5cteYC&pg=PA137 The Paradox of Africa's Poverty: The Role of Indigenous Knowledge, Traditional Practices and Local Institutions: the Case of Ethiopia]. Lawrenceville, NJ [u.a.]: Red Sea Press, 1999. p. 137 On February 26, 1977 Echat, Meison and three other organizations founded the Union of Ethiopian Marxist-Leninist Organizations.Harjinder Singh. [https://books.google.com/books?id=6lWNdA89xC4C&pg=PA187 Agricultural Problems in Ethiopia]. Delhi, India: Gian Pub. House, 1987. p. 187Uhlig, Siegbert. [https://books.google.com/books?id=l4WUdKWGcYsC&pg=PA668 Encyclopaedia Aethiopica 3 He - N]. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2007. 668
Echat took a critical stand towards the 'Red Terror' campaign of Mengistu. It had also opposed the banning of Meison. The regime on its behalf perceived Echat as a hotbed of Southern ethnic nationalism. Mengistu accused Echat of creating divisions between ethnic groups. Mengistu claimed that some Echat members had cooperated with Somalia against Ethiopian interests.Clapham Christopher. [https://books.google.com/books?id=LeszAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA68 Transformation and Continuity in Revolutionary Ethiopia]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988. p. 67-68 Echat was also accused of siding with Meison, of having links with the Oromo Liberation Front and of promoting narrow nationalism. Baro Tumsa and other key Echat leaders went underground in late 1977. During this period leading members of Echat were hunted down and jailed. Echat was expelled from the Union of Ethiopian Marxist-Leninist Organizations in March 1978, for supposed differences over political and ideological line.[https://books.google.com/books?id=dGs4AAAAIAAJ World Marxist review], Volume 27, Edition 7–12. p. 65 The Derg crushed Echat, along with the other factions of the Union of Ethiopian Marxist-Leninist Organizations.Milkias, Paulos. [https://books.google.com/books?id=hPVyAAAAMAAJ Haile Selassie, Western Education, and Political Revolution in Ethiopia]. Youngstown, N.Y.: Cambria Press, 2006. p. 266
After breaking with the Derg, many of the Echat cadres joined the Oromo Liberation Front.Salih, M. A. Mohamed, and John Markakis. [http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn%3Anbn%3Ase%3Anai%3Adiva-584 Ethnicity and the State in Eastern Africa]. Uppsala: Nordic Africa Institute (Nordiska Afrikainstitutet), 1998. p. 101
References
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Category:1975 establishments in Ethiopia
Category:1978 disestablishments in Ethiopia
Category:Communist parties in Ethiopia
Category:Defunct communist parties
Category:Defunct political parties in Ethiopia
Category:Factions of the Ethiopian Civil War