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Oromo Nationalists Struggle Should Focus on the Dichotomy: “Domination of Amharanet vs Leadership of Oromummaa”!

Post by OPFist » 05 Jun 2021, 16:53

Oromo Nationalists Struggle Should Focus on the Dichotomy: “Domination of Amharanet vs Leadership of Oromummaa”, not Necessarily on “Geo-federation vs Ethno-federation”!

It seems as if the conflict in Ethiopia (Great Oromia) now is between pro-Amharanet Elites (PAE) promoting geo-federation and pro- Oromummaa elites (POE) supporting ethno-federation. Actually, Amhara elites continue promoting geo-federation as long as Amharnet/Amharigna is dominating and the assimilation process of others to Amharanet is continuing. Now, Dr. Abiy and his Biltsignna party are doing this job by neglecting the legitimate right of Oromumma/Oromiffaa to take the primary leading position as major identity and working language of the federation respectively. Genuine Oromo nationalists should now try to change this status quo by promoting Afaan Oromo to primary leading position, by abolishing Amharigna’s domination in the country. As long as Afaan Oromo will be in a leading position in all institutions of the country (parlament, government, justice, military, security, etc), it doesn’t matter for the Oromo wether the federation will be based on geography or language. Amhara elites prefer the first for having domination status of their language and Tegaru elites opt for the later due to their minority status and the insecutity they sense because of it. For the Oromo, as a majority all over the country, what matters most is the leading primary position of Oromiffa/Oromummaa, be it within geo-federation or ethno-federation.
Read more: https://fayyisoromia.wordpress.com/2016 ... mmon-goal/
Last edited by OPFist on 10 Jun 2021, 16:00, edited 3 times in total.

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Re: Nationalists Struggle Should Focus on the Dichotomy: “Domination of Amharanet vs Leadership of Oromummaa”!

Post by EthioRedSea » 05 Jun 2021, 17:57

No. Ethiopia should be divided into smaller states. Tribal associations against other tribes cannot work and a united Ethiopia is impossible. OLF and TDF should work together to overthrow the Fin Finne government or self-appointed PM and his henchmen.

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Re: Oromo Nationalists Struggle Should Focus on the Dichotomy: “Domination of Amharanet vs Leadership of Oromummaa”!

Post by OPFist » 06 Jun 2021, 01:29

For instance, the only thing what EZEMA’s citizens’ politics lacks is reformation of its language policy. By using only Amharinya as its working language, the party is seen as promoter of Amharanet at the cost of Oromummaa and against other nations’ identity. If this party wants to get Oromo support, it has to start using Afaan Oromo, just like EPP, at least parallel to Amharinya or use it instead of Amhirinya. Otherwise, its inclusive politics is not bad. I even suggest that the future Oromo politics in Ethippia, where both Aangoo Oromo in Caffee Araara palace and Afaan Oromo as primary federal working language will be secured, needs to be such zeginet politics. Thus, I recommended certain Oromo org. to be formed in order to promote this zeginet politics working in Afaan Oromo. Such party promoting integrative Great Oromia (democratic Ethiopia devoid of ethnic federation) can be seen as Oromo’s future leader! That is what EPP tries to be. Why should the Oromo confine ourselves in only Gadaa Oromia killil, whereas having the possibility of owning Great Oromia speaking Afaan Oromo?

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Re: Oromo Nationalists Struggle Should Focus on the Dichotomy: “Domination of Amharanet vs Leadership of Oromummaa”!

Post by OPFist » 06 Jun 2021, 02:56

One article titled, “The Dreadful Mess of Negation of Negation in Oromo Politics: When Will It End?” was published few years ago here: http://gadaa.com/oduu/2494/2010/02/20/t ... d-opinion/ . Then, editor of the website asked a legitimate question: “The Oromo National Liberation Movement in a Self-Imposed Gridlock; How Can the Oromo Movement Unlock This Gridlock?” At the same time, the website showed us a very descriptive picture of a traffic jam as an illustration for the gridlock. What a challenging question from Gadaa.com and what a confusing article from the author! I personally took time to respond to the two and wrote since then my opinions on the subject repeatedly. The endless discussion on the same topic is still going on and we are not yet free from labeling each other as “enemy” just for choosing one alternative solution to the other. Thus, we republish the same opinion again and again for the problem is not yet resolved. It is like prescribing the same medication again and again for certain chronic disease. I will try here to summarize my idea in short and show what the common goal can be for the different Oromo ideological factions.

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Re: Oromo Nationalists Struggle Should Focus on the Dichotomy: “Domination of Amharanet vs Leadership of Oromummaa”!

Post by OPFist » 06 Jun 2021, 07:15

I read the article mentioned above and could comprehend that the “thesis” of Oromo struggle was presented as “only an independent Oromia” to be the original objective. This thesis is in contrast to my hitherto opinions regarding the Oromo’s goal; i.e ‘Ethiopian union of free peoples’, which I do consider as the current synthesis of the Oromo liberation movement. It is not bad that the article stressed the necessity of forging an independent democratic republic of Oromia. Actually OLF’s aim was from the very beginning an inclusive ‘independence and union’ unlike TPLF’s objective of ‘federation or separation’. This goal of the OLF can be summarized as ‘a union of free peoples’, which is almost the same to ‘multinational union’ or ‘self-rule and shared-rule’. OLF’s approach is optimal to the majority nation at the center of the state (to the Oromo nation), whereas that of the TPLF is good for the minority nation at the periphery.

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Re: Oromo Nationalists Struggle Should Focus on the Dichotomy: “Domination of Amharanet vs Leadership of Oromummaa”!

Post by OPFist » 06 Jun 2021, 09:55

Actually such minority nations at the periphery are the ones, who need to excercise their right to self-determination in order to either federate with or separate from Oromia. For the Oromo nation, freedom is automatically the same to independence, because it simply means a direct taking over of the centeral government; unlike the liberation of Eritrea or the eventual future separation of Tigrai. What the Oromo liberators need to do after occupation of Caffee Araara palace should be just change the name Ethiopia to Oromia, if necessary. Even if we continue calling the union as Ethiopia, it will be de facto Oromia, as long as freedom and democracy are rule of the game and Afaan Oromo will be a working language of the union. Then, the Oromo of Finfinne are the nation who will give a right to self-determination including independence for these minority nations at the periphery; that means the Oromo will not be the one who are going to demand this right from Bahirdar of Amhara or from Maqale of Tigrai.

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Re: Oromo Nationalists Struggle Should Focus on the Dichotomy: “Domination of Amharanet vs Leadership of Oromummaa”!

Post by OPFist » 06 Jun 2021, 14:30

The problem I see in assertion of the article is that the author thinks with “parallel framework” on the contrary to my “series framework” thinking. Parallel and series here are the metaphors based on the two kinds of electrical circuits (parallel and series circuits). He is a classical example of those who have the hitherto “parallel way” of thinking regarding the arrangement of the three terms of the Oromo’s objective (autonomy, independence & union), the way of thinking which is applied by many members of Oromo polity, including those who produce conflicts where there is actually no conflict. That is why the author ends up accusing and blaming Oromo nationalists, who emphasize the other two terms of the Oromo goal different from the ‘independence term’. According to his “parallel framework,” the following three terms of one Oromo objective are in an irreconcilable conflict, because he and his likes think that the three terms lead us from the status quo to three different directions:

– a plan to forge true Oromia’s autonomy in a federated democratic union; that means regional state being dominated by a multinational federal government,

– an original objective to establish an independent Gadaa republic of Oromia, i.e Oromo state free from any non-Oromo centeral government,

– a vision to achieve self-determination of the Oromo people with final objective of fostering ‘Ethiopian union of free peoples’: be it in a form of smaller Ethiopia (excluding Abyssinia), in a form of the existing current Ethiopia, i.e. including all free peoples in the country, or in a form of greater Oromia, including even the neighboring nations in the Horn such as Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia.

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Re: Oromo Nationalists Struggle Should Focus on the Dichotomy: “Domination of Amharanet vs Leadership of Oromummaa”!

Post by OPFist » 06 Jun 2021, 16:25

If we think in “parallel framework” like the author, we just end up thinking as if these three terms of the objective are exclusive to each other so that the conflict between the groups fighting for these terms of the objective, respectively, is already programmed. Nowadays, there are two groups of people in Ethiopia, who do want to convince and influence us to think in this “parallel framework.” Some do it unknowingly, like the author seems to be, and the others act intentionally to exploit this “conflicting situation” in order to sow a discord among the three groups of Oromo nationalists. Especially, it is good to know Biltsigunna cadres’ loving this frame of thinking for they grasp how effective it is to divide Oromo nationalists.
Last edited by OPFist on 12 Jun 2021, 02:40, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: Oromo Nationalists Struggle Should Focus on the Dichotomy: “Domination of Amharanet vs Leadership of Oromummaa”!

Post by OPFist » 06 Jun 2021, 17:38

I believe that the antithesis to the nonconstructive frame of thinking revealed in the article is my “series framework.” According to mine, the above three terms of the objective are not contradictory, but complementary, to each other. Even though unitarist Ethiopians’ objective does not include the right of Oromia to exist as a free country at all, the merits like justice, democracy and freedom, for which members of unitarist Ethiopian parties do struggle, are not against our national liberation movement. It seems that is why the parties, in which most of the unitarist Ethiopians are organized, are now tolerated by many Oromo nationals. Coming to the three important goals, which the author tries to present as if they are the thesis, anti-thesis and the synthesis to each other, they are which I put in a series circuit for they are three terms of one Oromo’s objective and need to be achieved one after another. I think autonomy is our short-term goal, independence being middle term and union to be considered as the long-term aim. I believe all these three terms of one Oromo objective should be supported by all Ethiopians.

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Re: Oromo Nationalists Struggle Should Focus on the Dichotomy: “Domination of Amharanet vs Leadership of Oromummaa”!

Post by OPFist » 06 Jun 2021, 23:53

Gadaa.com’s poll project in relation to the article seemed to be misleading. The question raised was, “What is the Oromo Cause for You?” and, of course, asking that is not bad. Nevertheless, the alternative answers given there as listed below are not actually exclusive options, among which we should choose. They are complementary options, which we can have at different situations and which we do support at different steps of our liberation journey. The alternatives given as the answer in the poll were:

– liberating Oromia and form an ‘Ethiopian union of free peoples’.

– liberating Oromia in the form of an independent sovereign country (republic of Oromia).

– establishing the self-rule of Oromo state in a democratically federated whole Ethiopia with strong multinational centeral government.

– winning the class struggle first, foremost, and last.

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Re: Oromo Nationalists Struggle Should Focus on the Dichotomy: “Domination of Amharanet vs Leadership of Oromummaa”!

Post by OPFist » 07 Jun 2021, 11:24

Gadaa.com would have asked better, for instance, if the question were like: “What Should Be the Final Objective” of the Oromo people for you? Then, we can know how many people really want to have as their final goal “only winning class struggle,” or “only self-rule of Oromia” or “only Gadaa republic of Oromia,” instead of pushing step by step towards “union of free peoples in Ethiopia,” which surely will be the end-goal of all citizens and nations in this globalized world, where we do see even the whole of Africa trying to come together to forge an African federation.

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Re: Oromo Nationalists Struggle Should Focus on the Dichotomy: “Domination of Amharanet vs Leadership of Oromummaa”!

Post by OPFist » 07 Jun 2021, 14:00

According to the article and according to the diagram added from Gadaa.com, the thesis of the Oromo national liberation movement is independence, the antithesis is autonomy (federation) and the synthesis is self-determination (referendum). But, we could ask: where is the contradiction among these three concepts? The Oromo national liberation movement was striving for self-determination to decide on our own future destiny. All nations could together fight to achieve national liberty and be in a position to exercise their right for referendum, after which we can vote on the issue: ‘free Oromia within Ethiopian union’ vs ‘free Oromia without Ethiopian union’ (this union being either that of only oppressed peoples excluding Abyssinia, or inclusive of the only nations in the present Ethiopian geography, or including all nations in the Horn of Africa). Autonomy can be a mid-goal leading us to an independence; why do then the author and his likes try to create a conflict among Oromo nationalists, where actually there is no viable conflict?
Last edited by OPFist on 12 Jun 2021, 02:45, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Oromo Nationalists Struggle Should Focus on the Dichotomy: “Domination of Amharanet vs Leadership of Oromummaa”!

Post by OPFist » 07 Jun 2021, 15:09

According to the result of the poll in Gadaa.com, the objective of “only winning class struggle” is not an option for the Oromo people and the aim of “only self-rule in a federation” seems to be a transitional solution, but can not be a preferred part of the referendum. The “referendum” would be expected between the two concepts: the goal of “free Oromia without a necessary union” and “free Oromia within Ethiopian union of free peoples.” It seemed to be a nice referendum, but is now a good timing to argue on this two possible final goals? Is such untimely quarrel not what our enemies want, instead of fighting together against our enemy for our common national liberty, first to come to the position of making referendum, then to leave the decision for the stakeholder nations and try to live according to the result of the public verdict? Actually, the Oromo needed to take over power in Caffee Araara and the other nations have to go for referendum and decide on the alternatives of living in union with the Oromo or choose their own independence from Oromia. I personally do accept and respect the position of the author to pursue and realize the “Gadaa republic of Oromia without any possible union”. But Ethiopian unionists do have also God-given right to advocate for a “free Oromia within Ethiopian union of free peoples.” To see which of the two would be our final destination, let’s leave the decision for the public at large of all concerned nations.

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Re: Oromo Nationalists Struggle Should Focus on the Dichotomy: “Domination of Amharanet vs Leadership of Oromummaa”!

Post by OPFist » 07 Jun 2021, 17:53

The very interesting message from the diagram of Gadaa.com is an attempt to show that Ethiopian nationalism = Oromian nationalism in the “synthesis” part of the diagram. Was this right/wrong? Or was it conditional? For Oromo nationalists, who were fighting for the “only isolated independence of Oromia,” it is principally wrong. For those who do have autonomy as their final goal, it is absolutely right. For the Ethiopian unionists, I am sure it is only conditionally false/right; it can be right, if the unitarists can accept and respect Oromo nationalism and the union will be named as Oromia. After all, Oromo nationalism is a national issue, whereas Ethiopian nationalism is a regional issue. If it is in this sense of the unionists, then Oromo nationalism is not in contradiction with Ethiopian nationalism. We need to differentiate the Ethiopian nationalism according to the unitarist elites from this form of Oromo unionists’ version, where Ethiopian nationalism = Oromian nationalism. In this case, future citizens of the country will be Oromians; i.e Ethiopian Nationalism (thesis) + Oromo Nationalism (anti-thesis) = Oromian Nationalism (synthesis).

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Re: Oromo Nationalists Struggle Should Focus on the Dichotomy: “Domination of Amharanet vs Leadership of Oromummaa”!

Post by OPFist » 07 Jun 2021, 23:59

Another illustration was an attempt to show as if the democratization of Ethiopia = liberation of Oromia. Is this possible? It is possible only if we take democratization of Ethiopia as a means to liberation of Oromia. Whether this means will be effective to lead us to the required end or not is another question. We could raise similar question regarding armed struggle, whether it was more effective than the democratization (non-violent) way to come to our goal. Otherwise, democratization of Ethiopia as a goal, disregarding liberation of Oromia, the same view to that of the unitarist Ethiopians is not what Oromo nationalists should accept. Ethiopian unionists look at democratization of Ethiopia as a possible good tool to help us move to our objective. Furthermore, it is really good to differentiate and try to understand the position of the unitatrist Ethiopians, federalist Ethiopians, pro-independence Oromo and that of unionist Ethiopians. But for God’s sake, where is the contradiction and why should there be an animosity among them, as far as they accept and respect the future public verdict of the Oromo people at large, when we get a chance to vote on their different options or on their different goals? The question we need to answer is, how should we approach and manage the parties? Here is my suggestion, taking the present Ethiopian political spectrum into consideration; let’s:

– cooperate with, but always check, the unitarists as long as they fight against the sytem of domination.

– fight unconditionally against the hegemonist Abyssinians in unison.

– accept and support the federalists to move one step forward in our liberation journey; we know that Oromo nationalists did opt to take this term of the objective as their own goal based on the objective reality in Ethiopia.

– respect and take the objective of the pro-independence fronts as a core-objective to move two steps forward.

– look at the unionists as farsighted, who are ready to move beyond only achieving national Oromia’s independence up to a regional Ethiopian union of free peoples for a common benefit.

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Re: Oromo Nationalists Struggle Should Focus on the Dichotomy: “Domination of Amharanet vs Leadership of Oromummaa”!

Post by OPFist » 08 Jun 2021, 01:56

I do hope that we will come slowly, but surely, to the position of clarity as far as the Oromo’s cause, aim or question is concerned. The metaphor I brought here, putting the different terms of Oromo’s objective in a form of either “parallel circuit” or “series circuit” can make immense difference in our way of thinking and may make big effect on our contribution to the Oromo national liberation movement. Putting the three terms of the goal (autonomy, independence and union) in a “parallel circuit” makes the three terms of the objective to be seen as if they are very contradictory destinations from which we must choose one. Arranging them in a “series circuit” as if we can achieve them one after another (first achieve autonomy, then independence and then further a union), makes it clear, so we can see that there is no conflict among the three terms of the only one objective. I hope in due time, all of the concerned Oromo nationalists will start to think in this form of “series framework” instead of thinking in “parallel framework”. For further clarity, I would like to put my own version of thesis, antithesis and synthesis of the hitherto effective political concepts as follows:

– thesis (original objective): unconditional and exclusive independent republic of Oromo state

– antithesis: unconditional and only unitary Ethiopia (unitarist Ethiopians’ position)

– synthesis: Oromo’s objective with its three terms (short-term is autonomy, middle-term being independence, and long-term can be union of free peoples)

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Re: Oromo Nationalists Struggle Should Focus on the Dichotomy: “Domination of Amharanet vs Leadership of Oromummaa”!

Post by OPFist » 08 Jun 2021, 14:42

Now, it will be the good time for all Oromo nationalists to agree on accepting the above mentioned synthesis part of our national liberation movement as our common ground, rather than opting to the possibility of rallying only behind the original objective and to continuously confuse the Oromo mass. Otherwise, the poll in Gadaa.com is designed based on thinking with “parallel framework” so that we are obliged to choose between autonomy, independence and union of free peoples as the only Oromo cause. Actually, most of the Oromo nationalists seem to support all three terms of the objective as our short-term, middle-term and long-term goals, respectively, when we do think in a “series framework.” It is not bad to observe in the poll that the majority of the voters concentrated on and voted for the “independent republic of Oromo state” as a preferable Oromo cause, which I also do think is the core and the very secure form of our sovereignty. We know that autonomy is only the temporary solution and, of course, union of free peoples will happen only after securing of our independence, when we give our verdict based on our free will to achieve a better benefit in the future; that is why such a union is a long-term project. The only bad thing was, when we started to look at these three terms of our objective as if they were contradictory to each other, which was actually the way of thinking we observed in the article mentioned. Otherwise, it was good to know and to keep in mind that nowadays there are four groups of Ethiopian politicians:

– unitarist Ethiopians, who do still support the project of one uniform Ethiopia, disregarding the existence of an autonomous Oromia as a country.

– federailst Ethiopians, who do have an autonomous Oromia in a federal democratic Ethiopia with strong multinational centeral government as their goal of struggle.

– pro-independence Ethiopians, who do struggle for the core-objective, an independent republic of Oromia, as their final goal.

– unionist Ethiopians, who do struggle for a union of free peoples in the region as their lasting goal.

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Re: Oromo Nationalists Struggle Should Focus on the Dichotomy: “Domination of Amharanet vs Leadership of Oromummaa”!

Post by OPFist » 08 Jun 2021, 16:14

Here come the two questions yet to be answered: are there really many Oromo, who want to limit Oromo’s objective to “only unitary Ethiopia”, to “only federal Ethiopia” or to “only independent Oromia”? Are really the above mentioned unitarist Oromo, federalist Oromo and liberator Oromo against the noble cause of the unionists? Last but not least, the picture of cars in gridlock (Oromo national liberation movement in a self-imposed gridlock) shown on the front page of Gadaa.com was very wonderful picture. It described well the chaotic situation of our political movement. It helped me feel and be really surprised by thinking how passive we were at least not to discuss the issue intensively and get out of the gridlock. Waaqa helped us at least to talk and write, even if we lacked a sort of stamina to act and behave in promoting the Oromo liberation movement, despite the wonderful resistance our people were showing at home. Finally, I would like to say that Oromo’s objective was: only one goal with three terms, i.e a short-term to achieve autonomy — a mid-term to forge independence (the core-objective) — and a long-term to foster a union of free peoples. Autonomy was only the mid-goal to the core-objective; union is a post-core-objective arrangement for the sake of a possible mutual benefit, based on the future free will of nations. A big nation like the Oromo can only benefit from such a union. We need to have no illusion and no confusion on the only one Oromo’s objective with three terms to be realized one after another. In short, the synthesis of the different goals among our nationals was ‘Ethiopian (Great Oromian) union of free peoples’, which can be boldly told to both internal Ethiopian community and international others’ community. I believed, hoped and loved to see that we be out of the self-imposed-gridlock using this new app

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Re: Oromo Nationalists Struggle Should Focus on the Dichotomy: “Domination of Amharanet vs Leadership of Oromummaa”!

Post by OPFist » 08 Jun 2021, 16:46

Now, the Oromo are free from Abyssinian elites, we are beyond claiming Autonomy, having our independence from Abyssinian system of domination. We need to foster the beneficial union of free peoples. If necessary, we even can opt for zeginet politics as long as both Aango Oromo in the palace and Afaan Oromo as primary working language of the federation are secured. If Dr. Berihanu and his party make Afaan Oromo their primary working language, I will be their supporter and surely many Oromos will follow the party.

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Re: Oromo Nationalists Struggle Should Focus on the Dichotomy: “Domination of Amharanet vs Leadership of Oromummaa”!

Post by OPFist » 10 Jun 2021, 16:01

It seems as if the conflict in Ethiopia (Great Oromia) now is between pro-Amharanet Elites (PAE) promoting geo-federation and pro- Oromummaa elites (POE) supporting ethno-federation. Actually, Amhara elites continue promoting geo-federation as long as Amharnet/Amharigna is dominating and the assimilation process of others to Amharanet is continuing. Now, Dr. Abiy and his Biltsignna party are doing this job by neglecting the legitimate right of Oromumma/Oromiffaa to take the primary leading position as major identity and working language of the federation respectively. Genuine Oromo nationalists should now try to change this status quo by promoting Afaan Oromo to primary leading position, by abolishing Amharigna’s domination in the country. As long as Afaan Oromo will be in a leading position in all institutions of the country (parlament, government, justice, military, security, etc), it doesn’t matter for the Oromo wether the federation will be based on geography or language. Amhara elites prefer the first for having domination status of their language and Tegaru elites opt for the later due to their minority status and the insecutity they sense because of it. For the Oromo, as a majority all over the country, what matters most is the leading primary position of Oromiffa/Oromummaa, be it within geo-federation or ethno-federation.

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