Awra Amba RJ 300612 EN - Contacter un comité local d'Attac

Awra Amba, a current experiment of utopian socialism
25 %. As they cannot live only from agriculture due to soil poverty and scarcity, they diversified
their activities with weaving, milling and trade. These activities are conducted mainly within the
cooperative, except weaving, of which an important part is made by each family at home and is
privately managed.
These activities provide an average income per inhabitant, which seems slightly higher than the
regional one, but data provided are not very clear, sometimes contradictory. The food needs of the
inhabitants seem nevertheless fully covered all over the year, while two thirds of Amhara peasants
cover their food need for nine month a year only.
Then we examine the participation to the different agricultural, artisan and household tasks of
women and men, as well as girls and kids. These tasks are mainly distributed according to capacities
of each one and not according to the sex. The survey data provided show that there is equality
between couple members as producers, as consumers, and in terms of task and work responsibility
and of family responsibility.
Marriage is managed by the future spouses, their parents having no role, unlike the traditional
Amhara rule. The studies give us quite accurate statistics on marriage age, we compare to regional
ones. It appears that there is no early marriage in Awra Amba, the young women getting married
usually between 19 and 22, the young men between 20 and 25, while in the regional rural population,
5 % of boys and 8 % of girls between 10 and 14 are already married. The couples have an average of
one child less than the neighbouring ones of the region. A couple may divorce without formality by
mutual consent, their property being shared equally.
The solidarity and the mutual respect between Awra Amba members are especially implemented for
children. They have three tasks well differentiated: go to school, play, and contribute to community
work. Their participation to household and firstly agriculture tasks is nevertheless very low, but all
are going to school as long as possible according to their capacities and are encouraged to study after
school. The solidarity is also implemented through a system of support of women near delivery, ill
and elderly.
Contrary to the rural Amhara society where funeral ceremonies are attended by a lot of people with
spectacular weeping, they are attended in Awra Amba only by some people for a very short period (a
few hours). These funeral rites correspond to the social and cultural system of Awra Amba, whose
members do not believe in a life after the death and privilege the life on Earth.
Finally, to manage the conflicts within the couples and between members of the community, several
permanent bodies have been implemented. They seem very efficient to facilitate dialogue and
manage conflicts in a wise manner.
Then, we study in detail the education within the community, because it is especially important for
them. The learning processes are always directed to the promotion of the group's interest, as well as
of their own. Awra Amba implemented a self-help or mutual education system, for adults and mainly
for the young children who do not go to school and for school children when not at school. This
education is provided by older students and adults from the village, especially through a kindergarten
and a library with many technical books.
All the children who are old enough are going to school. They are very active in social and ethic
activities at school, very good in group discussions, very studious, but not very open to the students
from other villages. The teachers find them more hardworking, more ethical and more cooperative
than the children from neighbouring villages. Therefore, the education level of Awra Amba
members, all from peasant origin, is far higher than the one of the rural communities of the region,
with relatively few differences between men and women.
We look finally at the relationships of the community with the neighbouring communities,
characterized by suspicion: Awra Amba people are perceived by their neighbours as a suspicious,
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