Symposium: The 70th Anniversary of His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I Ras Tafari Visit to Austria in 1954

28.11.2024 16:00 - 29.11.2024 22:00

The team of the FWF-Project "Rastafari Reasonings on Africa in Historical Perspective" (P 35987-G) at the Department of African Studies, University of Vienna, warmly invites you to three events taking place from November 28-29, 2024.

28.11.2024 | 1600 - 2100
SYMPOSIUM IN DER ALTEN KAPELLE AM CAMPUS DER UNIVERSITAT WIEN
Spitalgasse 2, Hof 2.8., 1090 Wien
(Hof 2.8, leider nicht barrierefrei)

The program is multilingual, partly in English, partly in German.

Speakers:
Prinz Ermias Sahle Selassie Haile Selassie
Grandson of Emperor Haile Selassie I and President of the Ethiopian Crown Council

Prinz Asfa-Wossen Asserate
Großneffe & Biograph von Kaiser Haile Selassie I

Dr. Jahlani Niaah
Head of the Rastafari Studies Unit at the University of the West Indies, Jamaica

Dr.in Lucile Dreidemy
Institut für Zeitgeschichte, Universität Wien

Regina Zodl
MA-Studium Globalgeschichte, Universität Wien

DDr. Werner Zips
Institut für Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie, Universität Wien

Moderiert von Dominik Frühwirth
Institut für Afrikawissenschaften, Universität Wien

 

29.11.2024 | 1630 - 1730
ÄTHIOPISCH-ORTHODOXE FEIER IM STEPHANSDOM mit Prinz Ermias Sahle Selassie Haile Selassie und Prinz Asfa-Wossen Asserate

 

29.11.2024 | 2000
THE 70TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION OF EMPEROR HAILE SELASSIE I VISIT TO AUSTRIA
Nanang Club, Hernalser Hauptstraße 21, 1170 Wien
Local & International Rasta Artists: Uwe Banton and Special Guests


Background:
Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia visited Austria from 28 November to 1 December 1954. This was the first state visit to Austria after the Second World War that thereby recognized Austria's sovereignty even six months before the Austrian State Treaty was signed. This is all the more remarkable as Austria had been the first Member State of the League of Nations that had betrayed Ethiopia in 1936 when it recognized Mussolini's Roman invasion of Ethiopia that denied Ethiopia its own sovereignty in violation of international law. The King of Kings on the Throne of King David and descendant of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba therefore not only supported Austrian independence with this visit, but also appealed to the Austrian conscience by donating over 100.000 Austrian Shillings for the poor of Vienna and a kindergarten for children with dis-abilities, which his visit put in the focus of the Austrian media. He also gifted an Ethiopian processional cross from the 13th century, the time when the Solomonic dynasty was reinstated in Ethiopia, to St. Stephen's Cathedral (Stephansdom). This significant gesture of the first state visit marked Austria's return to the international community after the Nazi Regime.