8B aie its ss010 Addis Through the Looking-Glass ‘Marc Angélil and Cary Siress There is the room you can see through the glass that’s just the same as our drawing room, only the things go the other way. Lewis Carroll!City-Tour ‘The dynamic of transactions, the hustle and le of activities, and the hodge-podge as- Is are all iment of goods, colors and sm simply by ing. Corrugated metal roofs .e products offered ‘cover stalls piled with dix for sale: woven baskets, coffee, charcoal, ma- naterials of every so asands of people long the wed tires, build and coffins made of wood crowd the streets and alleys bartering, of making a good deal whe Around possible. As the popular say in for a new soul.” f oes, atmosphere exudes an air of exo cism for any outside observer, a closer look at the everyday lives of the local population strug- gling to survive reveals the perception as de 1s seen by fore ling, into question the allure of ign eyes — and a most of the the p curious place itis, Actually, we are poorest countries of the world, mor pia, in the middle of the largest Afri- distriet of Ad- precisely, good sustainable than those pro: est. An unexpected mirror-effect sas the developed world is es into play. Whe held up as a universal measure toward whieh all ther stan, developing countries must strive, an dard drives the daily workings of this culture. Were we to look back at the world from the tage point of the Mercato, it would not be from a disposition of envy but rather one of suspicion, for history has already provided a bitter lesson on the conseque very fact that the name of the market is of Italian descent points to Africa's troubled past when European powers earved the conti- to pieces. Although Ethiopia defiantly a ts that it was never a colony, the country was le of Mussolini from nonetheless a 1936 to 1941. During this short phase of Ital- ian occupation, the fascist regime undertook an raph by Dari ee) g-2: Mercato main sreet (phe Fig Sid alley in Mercato district (pong Karucsony Fig. §: New worker in Mercato district pi by Kathrin Gimme aph by Darius12 ier 52-2010 Fig: Sino-Afviea flocting on the ease of Addis Ababa shows us that what appears to be backward is actually a forward-looking tactic of how to effectively cit- cumvent the dictates of global capital through the implementation of communicative action in planning, But just as any mirror ean be shattered, so too can this fragile grassroots vision. A new form of colonization is well underway. China, hav- ing spied lucrative trading, prospects, has now stepped through the window of opportuni opened in Africa, Pusting, the West unexpected Sino-Afriean dynamic ig, evoking memories of the European of the continent. Nowwithstanding, complaints I at ease, from Western companies that Chinese bids are impossible to match, the People’s Republic has leamed to play the game of coaxing African countries along the path of development. In marked contrast to Wester investments that tie trade incentives to human rights, China's policy of “no-strings aid” is simply more seducti Ethiopia is not immune to this lure: New in- frastructures, schools, and factories are being built, favorable trading agreements signed and vocational programs sponsored. On top of this, China recently made a gift worth 150 million US dollars for an annex to the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa. However, all of this comes at a price: substandard wages; noretirement benefits; no customs revenue from mports; no income due to tax 3 and, above all ral disregard for the rights of citizens. Anyone browsing through the M ld not be surprised to discover ious label “Made in of o today sho ing the ubi In effect, exploitation is the mn Let's pretend” that we in the West arv out in front in a race, looking back at the rest ofthe world.!! 4 second glance in the however, reveals another player in th ipeting, set to overtake us, One might do well to recall that objects in the mirror are eloser than they appear City-Tour Through the Looking-Glass (first don: Penguin Books Led 9): Athion P19) 2 Hips pen, Bielefeld: Pewee Bump Publish 3 Ovcassky, T.Ps Benny, L. (2004) Ethiopia 4 Country Study. Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Pub- 15: Contested Space. Transforma- tion of Inner-city Market Areas and User's Reac- tion in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Trondheim: Nor- ian University of Science and Technology weg pee *Mervato Local Development Plan", Addis Ababa Development Plan. Sdidis Ababa: City Planning Commission (2002), p.73 ‘Masterplan for the Mer- 10", Aecented. Urban Management. Eschborn che Gesellschaft fiir Technische Zusa arb 2005), pp. 6 Kevo,Ls Hines, D. Abeba, archithese. pp.a6 See also Veen, n yon Addis shers, from tects in Addis Ababa in May 2007. 8 Opacit, Addis Ababa Development Plan, pp-5. e action in Theorie dee kommu- Paris: Quarvo Gallimard (1996), pp.851, 855. F4 Op.cit, Carroll, es p12 2-800 13