Haile Selassie in Wimbledon, London, UK

myminifactory

Haile Selassie I (July 23, 1892 – August 27, 1975), born Tafari Makonnen Woldemikael, served as regent of Ethiopia from 1916 to 1930 and Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 until his overthrow in 1974. He was a member of the Solomonic dynasty. At the League of Nations in 1936, Selassie condemned Italy's use of chemical weapons against his people during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. His internationalist views led to Ethiopia's becoming a founding member of the United Nations, and his ideas on multilateralism and collective security continue to influence global politics today. Critics, however, argue that his suppression of rebellions among the landed aristocracy (the mesafint) and his failure to modernize rapidly enough earned him criticism from contemporaries and historians alike. His regime was also criticized by human rights groups like Human Rights Watch as autocratic and illiberal. In the Rastafari movement, whose followers number between 2 million and 4 million people, Haile Selassie is revered as the returned messiah of the Bible, God incarnate. The Rastafari movement perceives Selassie as a messianic figure who will lead a future golden age of eternal peace, righteousness, and prosperity, beginning in Jamaica in the 1930s. Throughout his life, Haile Selassie remained an Ethiopian Orthodox Christian, leaving behind a lasting legacy in both Ethiopian and African history.