Tilahun Gizaw

Tilahun Gizaw was born in 1940 in Maychew, Tigray, located in northern Ethiopia. He was the son of Abera Gizaw, a wealthy landowner from Tigray who divorced from his mother. His pre-university education was in mission boarding schools in Akaki and Addis Ababa, and in the Haile Selassie I Secondary School. His half-sister was Princess Sara Gizaw, the widow of Mekonnen Haile Selassie. == Activism ==

Tilahun expressed a strong dislike for the ruling royal elite. In 1968, he narrowly lost the election for the presidency of the Union of Students of the University of Addis Ababa (USUAA) to Mekonnen Bishaw. The contest was perceived as a struggle between radicalism/commitment to the Ethiopian masses, represented by Tilahun Gizaw and reactionary reformism, represented by Mekonnen. Others, the university leadership included, saw it as a fight between extremism/fanaticism and reason/moderation. Disappointed, Tilahun Gizaw withdrew from the university for one year. Upon his return, he had expanded his knowledge of revolutionary literature and Ethiopia. He was close to the activists during the troubled spring of 1969. == Death and legacy ==

Tilahun Gizaw was shot while walking outside the campus in the Afencho Ber area. It was commonly believed that he was murdered by the security police. After his death students took his body to the university. Thousands of students all over Addis Ababa came to the main campus to mourn his death. It all ended in tragic confrontation with the guns and bayonets of the Imperial Bodyguard. Gizaw was buried in his hometown of Maychew. His funeral had 500 mourners including his half-sister Princess Sara Gizaw and Ras Mengesha Seyoum. The death of Tilahun Gizaw undoubtedly contributed towards raising the level of political consciousness of the average student and enhanced the feeling of alienation from the regime. The violent crackdown on university students by the Imperial Bodyguard and the lack of response from the Addis Ababa University administration resulted in the ejection from the country of the Dean of the College of Business Administration, Dr. LX Tarpey, and the resignation of the Director of the Peace Corps, Joseph Murphy. == References ==