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

Awra Amba, a current experiment of utopian socialism
by At05/70, only 4 or 5 men bury the deceased, while others work normally. There is therefore no
important gathering of relatives, nor wailing, which are compared to salt on a wound (Yi07/63). The
body is simply wrapped in a new shroud and then buried (At05/70). There is no funeral ceremony,
because "if we have something to tell to someone, it must be done in his lifetime", and everyone,
including the close relatives of the deceased, go back to their daily routines (Yi07/51; Ya08/86;
Jo10b/5). The mourning lasts at most until the evening. People gather in the evening in the house of
the deceased person to play, joke and discuss, while they are spinning cotton (At05/70).
The refusal of any mourning rite with the relatives after the burial is very severely judged by the
neighbours of Awra Amba, which judge that absolutely inhuman. So, a women living in the
neighbouring village of Jib Gudguad says to Yi07/63: "To express our sympathy and so that our
friend does not think about the dead person again and again, we have to be with him at least for some
time or some days. This is a part of our culture that I am proud of. Contrary to what they think [in
Awra Amba], we are not going here to get something to eat, nor to rest. They are really very weak in
this regard."
These burial rites correspond to the social and cultural system of Awra Amba, whose members do
not believe to a life after death and privilege the life on Earth, for instance by taking great care to the
sick and the elderly. The mourning of the deceased by its very close relatives is furthered according
to Awra Amba members by the daily work, which starts again immediately after the death rather
than – in the surrounding communities – by long funerals, which show gradually to the close
relatives that the deceased no longer belongs to the society (At05/71). If it is understandable the
neighbours judge inhuman the behaviour of the inhabitants of Awra Amba – in relation with their
own practices and beliefs, there is no firm evidence that the death of a close relative is felt more
strongly in Awra Amba than elsewhere without proper investigation (Question 31 in Annex).
For the death of someone they know in the surrounding, the members of the Awra Amba community
attend the funerals because they believe it is a duty, but afterwards, they don't go the home of the
family like other communities (Yi07/51).
In Awra Amba, all children inherit equally from their parents, and the community inherits in the
absence of close family (At05/40).
4.7. Management of conflicts internal to the community
Awra Amba is first a large family whose members are very close each other. For instance, Atnafu
(2005/39-40) states families build their houses side by side, come and go, work together; the 96
households of the village at this time share four wooden mortars and five grinding stones. The adults
care for and nurse each other's children. All avoid disturbing their neighbours by self-control and
silence.
The inherent dignity and well-being of every person, the equality between men and women, the due
protection of and respect for children, the care for the elderly and the disabled people, the elimination
of socio-economic, cultural and religious barriers, which create an artificial division between
humans, are thought to constitute the real foundations of peace, justice and social harmony within the
community (Me09/78). The source of the conflicts is for Awra Amba the lack of consideration for
others not to treat others as we wish to be treated (Me09/42).
Moreover, in case of conflict, the Awra Amba community developed a set of rules and mechanisms,
which are mechanisms of conflict resolution.
Those who quarrel are firstly invited to resolve their dispute between themselves (Me09/44). Family
and interpersonal conflicts are then managed internally by the community through a family
conference, an inter-spousal advisory cell, and a complaint hearing committee, which is one of the
committees of the cooperative (see section 4.1 page 41). They are very simple and flexible
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