Mereja Forum

[OPFist]

Core Purpose of Oromo Struggle: Afàn Oromô as Primary Working Language of Ethiopia!

How pity to see Oromo nationalists, who have been leaders, members and supporters of the OLF being now parts of Ethiopian parlament and trying to speak perfect Amarigna instead of respecting and using Afàn Oromo. These people used to struggle for promotion of Oromo culture and language so that no one with sound mind can imagine that they try to be better Amara. Where is the difference between parlaments of the Monarch, Derg, Woyane and that of Biltsiginna? They all had Oromo rulers (H/Sillassie, Mengistu, Nagasoo and Abiy) and most of parlament members have always been such Oromos, who rever Amaranet/Amarigna instead of respecting Oromummà/Oromiffà. They prefer to be better Amara than the native Amaras. Such slave mentality was not expected from the ex-OLF leaders and members, who are now in the parlament. Ethiopia now using only Amarigna in all federal institutions is the same old Ethiopia serving the best interest of the cvnning Amara elites, who are well experienced in manipulating and instrumentalizing Oromo rulers in Finifinne palace. I hope that Abiy Ahmed will be the last Oromo to be instrumentalized and used by Amara elites. Genuine Oromo nationalists in the OFC, OLA/OLF and OPP should break this vicious cycle by promoting Afàn Oromô to the primary working language of all federal institutions (the palace, parlament, cabinet, justice, security, military, etc). This should be the core purpose of Oromo struggle, be it we finally achieve an independent Oromia or an integrative Oropia (Oromummà led Ethiopia).
Read more: https://fayyisoromia.wordpress.com/2017 ... -struggle/

[OPFist]

Thanks to the alarming uncertain situation in Abyssinian empire, I think debates and discussions in Oromo national camp is, slowly, but surely, coming to beneficial result. The tendency of Oromo nationalists to stop the infighting and to start understanding each other is an encouraging development. Now, the OLF is already at home. Especially, the step taken by the group called Oromo Democratic Front (ODF) to be against negative propaganda directed at any part of Oromo national liberation movement was groundbreaking phenomenon to stop the senseless pseudo-conflicts we have had. We have to repeatedly remember the unproductive conflicts we already had in order to learn from our mistakes. We can be sure that we have learned from experience, only if we don’t repeat the same mistake we committed in the past. Here, we can mention, as examples, the conflicts between IFLO and OLF, which had cost many precious lives; the split of OLF into many factions and the discord between ODF and OLF; all these political frictions were the cause for an unnecessary lose of our talent, energy and time, which we could have invested on our national struggle.

[OPFist]

When we look at cause of these conflicts, they seem to be based on misinterpretations of certain reconcilable discords of different approaches as irreconcilable conflicts. Surprisingly, some Oromo freedom fighters had not grasped this reality, even though they have been active participants in national struggle almost for the last about 50 years. The mantra of ‘Ethiopian democratization’ vs. ‘Oromian liberation’ as two conflicting goals was prayed by such people from our national liberation camp and, of course, this pseudo-conflict was highly instrumentalized by the real foes of Oromo movement – who wanted to see this discord be converted to a deadly conflict in Oromo bloc. But, fact on the ground is, as I have repeatedly tried to clarify, that the two approaches were complementary, not contradictory, to each other.

[OPFist]

To undo the existing confusion, regarding the misidentification of foes and friends in our struggle for Oromo people’s freedom and Oromia’s sovereignty, I used the following formula as chemistry of our struggle, even if such formula might not work in soft sciences like that of politics. The chemistry regarding foes vs. friends:

(OE in AE & OO in AE) of the ACF –vs– the OLF with (OA in EU & OI in OU)

The meanings of the acronyms are:

– OE = Oromia’s Extinction, as goal of Amara colonizing elites;

– AE = Abyssinian Empire;

– OO = Oromia’s Occupation, as it was under Tigrean colonizer elites;

– ACF stands for Abyssinian Colonial forces, which want to realize either Oromia’s extinction or occupation;

– OLF (Oromian Liberation Forces), including those which want to have ‘Oromia’s autonomy within Ethiopian union’ as the prelude to independence and those which want to push directly for ‘Oromia’s independence within regional union;’

– OA = Oromia’s Autonomy, EU = Ethiopian Union, OI = Oromia’s independence, and OU = Oropian Union (Ethiopian Union).

[OPFist]

According to this formula, the two groups in Abyssinian colonial bloc (those which wish to re-achieve Oromia’s extinction and those which want Oromia’s occupation) are foes we have to fight against with no compromise; whereas the two groups in Oromian liberation camp are rivals, but not enemies, to each other (having reconcilable approaches and complementary objectives). Furthermore, it is important to look at difference between Abyssinian empire and Ethiopian union, even though I think this union can exist only as a transitional solution towards the lasting solution, i.e. towards the indispensable and inevitable Oromia’s independence or Ethiopia’s transformation to Oropia). In Abyssinian empire, there was neither Oromo freedom nor Oromian sovereignty; but in the present transitional Ethiopian union of Dr. Abiy, we expect both Oromo people’s freedom and Oromia’s autonomy on the national journey towards Oromia’s independence and/or Oropian integration, because of the fact that such an autonomy is a very good prelude to our highly wished national independence. That is why I do consider the conflict between those who want to first realize Oromia’s autonomy as a short-term goal towards the long-term goal of independence, and those who wish to directly achieve Oromia’s independence as artificial.

[OPFist]

As far as I am concerned, both wings of the OLF (the faction, which wants autonomy as a prelude to independence like OFC of Dr. Marara, and the groups, which wish independence without any transitional autonomy) can foster unity of purpose in order to fight our archenemies in unison, and leave the decision on the two possible goals for the future Oromo public verdict per referendum, which we can exercise when the appropriate time will come. Additionally, it is not wrong if one or both of these groups foster alliance with opposition groups of Abyssinian forces, just for the sake of weakening and winning the powerful Abyssinian colonial forces. I know that some Oromo nationalists are vehemently against such alliance, but the logic behind the importance of this move is based on the confidence of Oromo forces to achieve Oromia’s autonomy with or without help of such alliance, and on the fact that there is an implicit acceptance of the inevitable self-rule of Oromo people in Ethiopian union by certain Abyssinian opposition forces. It is not bad if we can use these forces in order to materialize the better genuine Oromian autonomy in comparison to the ongoing fake federation.

[OPFist]

Specially, at the time of uncertainty in camp of TPLF, such unity and alliance were mandatory. It is already said, “strike while the iron is hot.” That is why we used the moment to shake the past fascist and racist regime, because any sort of destabilizing the empire was advantageous for Oromo national movement. We could think about the tactic of using a carrot and a stick (shankoora fi shimala) in fighting against the colonizers. As we have observed in the past, ‘Oromia’s autonomy within Ethiopian union’ was the shankoora, which at least the desperate Abyssinian opposition forces liked to hear from the OLF. That was why we saw an euphoria in their bloc as one OLF faction announced the amendment of its program (opted for struggling to achieve autonomy within Ethiopia by abandoning a further move for independence). As a legitimate reaction to this euphoria, the other OLF groups started to stress the uncompromising direct push for ‘Oromia’s independence within union of free peoples;’ this was, of course, like the use of shimala in order to show colonizers how determined the Oromo freedom fighters were to never give up the march towards end goal of Oromo people’s freedom and Oromo state’s sovereignty. I think, both the shankoora and the shimala were necessary, but we only needed to use them in appropriate situations with a right timing.

[OPFist]

For instance, it was important to be part of the protest by Muslim community in Ethiopia through emphasizing importance of a union of all nations after getting rid of the TPLF’s dictatorial regime. Oromo people had nothing to fear for there was nothing to lose if the empire would have been destabilized or if we even opted to live in a union with other nations as far as the system of domination would be abolished. On the contrary, Abyssinian elites (both from the incumbent and the opposition) were in great panic not to see the empire dismembered. They definitely knew that every step taken towards Ethiopian democratization was almost tantamount to a move in direction of Oromia’s decolonization. A million dollar question was: could our Oromo national forces use any opportunity in the empire or were we going to miss the chance as we did, for instance, in the years 1974 and 1991? If we didn’t want to lose in the struggle or miss this conductive and favorable situation, then we needed to engage the enemy at core of the power struggle, i.e. in Finfinne palace. Moving away from this central area of the conflict, as the mistakes done by ME’ISON (1977) and by the OLF (1992), only prolonged our national misery.

[OPFist]

Above all, we had to take note that the international handlers of Abyssinian elites knew how to systematically kill any opposition or rebel force against their servants. One of the methods they used was giving the challenging individuals and groups a sort of asylum recognition or academic scholarship just in order to remove their engagement from the center or core of power struggle, and reduce the anti-regime movement to a less efficient battle to be waged from far away or from abroad. It was important to remember, as an example, how the Muslim-led ELF forces in Eritrea were dismantled and given asylum in Western world for the sake of replacing them with Christian dominated EPLF, which were kept and supported to struggle at home for they could better serve interest of the Christian West and even East, despite Cold War at that time. Also in Ethiopia, we have seen how the OLF leaders were driven into exile (1992), how CUD leaders were granted asylum after their victory in 2005 election, and how Medrek leaders were given scholarship at the time of an emerging revolution like that of Arab spring (2010). Were these removal of prominent anti-TPLF individuals or freedom fighters from the center at home not calculated by foreign masters of the past regime?

[OPFist]

Anyways, the best way to tackle this incumbent direct and proxy Abyssinian colonizers being promoted by global power players was the coordinated anti-TPLF struggle in unison by firstly forging an imperative unity of all Oromo nationalists parallel to unity of Amhara (“multinational”) groups, and then by secondly fostering the necessary alliance between these liberation (Oromo) and opposition (Amhara) blocs against the TPLF regime. The main struggle should have taken place at home near Finfinne palace, which could involve even ODP and ADP against the dictatorially dominant and hegemonist TPLF. All movements in diaspora needed to be considered as diplomatic activities of support groups in a sense of behaving as ambassadors and financial sources for the common cause of freedom from TPLF tyrants. Regarding the specific Oromo people’s objective, I think both our foes and our friends should have known the real chemistry of Oromo national struggle for no one on the planet could hinder the great Gadaa nation from achieving our freedom and sovereignty, be it in a form of ‘Oromia’s autonomy within Ethiopian union’ or in a further move towards ‘Oromia’s independence within union of free peoples.’

[OPFist]

If the logical relationship of the two objectives (autonomy and independence) wass clear as I tried to describe here, then it was absurd that we observed Oromo nationalists, who had the revolutionary approach to realize Oromia’s independence, opposing and vilifying the others, who were following evolutionary approach (wanting to use Oromia’s autonomy as a transitional solution on the way to the final goal of Oromia’s independence). Such nationalists could have been compared to certain Oromo individual living in refugee camp in Kenya and wanting to immigrate to Washington, but refusing to accept when certain friend or relative of him tries to help by getting transit visa to London, from where he can easily fly further to Washington. Oromo nation living under colony, but some of our nationalists opposing an attempt of realizing ‘Oromia’s autonomy within Ethiopian union’ as a transit, but wishing direct achievement of ‘Oromia’s independence’ was like the ridiculous refusal of the above mentioned refugee not to fly from camp in Kenya to London on the way to Washington, but waiting only for a direct flight to his final destiny, even though he suffers from all sorts of inhuman way of life in the camp.

[OPFist]

In short, Oromo people had an opportunity either to use evolutionary approach and achieve genuine ‘Oromia’s autonomy within Ethiopian union’ as transitional solution or apply revolutionary approach and dismantle the colonial system to directly realize our goal of nation building in a form of ‘Oromia’s independence,’ but the common sense advised us that the two approaches could be used alternatively for the same purpose. The fact that different Oromo national organizations were opting for one of the approaches should not be cause of conflict and discord in the camp of our national movement. Knowing that the enemy uses this pseudo-conflict to divide and destroy us, we had to take hid of any manipulation so that we avoided falling into trap of our foes. Materializing the well known Oromo people’s proverb, “walii galan, alaa galan,” which has almost the same meaning to “united we stand, divided we fall,” was crucially important for our success. Mr. Manoel de Almeida, a Jesuit priest who visited Ethiopia in the 1620s, also once stated: “if God had not blinded them (the Oromo) and willed that certain groups among them should be at war with one another constantly, there would not have been an inch of land in the empire, on which they were not the masters.” Just registering this reality in our minds, we prayed that Waaqa help us look at the importance of our unity for freedom, given that we really didn’t want to miss any possible opportunity of getting our national freedom, be it in one form or the other. Is Dr. Abiy’s leadership helping us to move in this direction? I think he is not doing this business, but doing the bidding of Abyssinian elites, i.e keeping the ongoing domination of Amaranet/Amarigna. Thus, the core purpose of Oromo struggle being led by the OFC and OLF must be to promote Afàn Oromô to the primary working language of the federation, so that the new Ethiopia shall be de facto Oropia!

[OPFist]

In short, Oromo people had an opportunity either to use evolutionary approach and achieve genuine ‘Oromia’s autonomy within Ethiopian union’ as transitional solution or apply revolutionary approach and dismantle the colonial system to directly realize our goal of nation building in a form of ‘Oromia’s independence,’ but the common sense advised us that the two approaches could be used alternatively for the same purpose. The fact that different Oromo national organizations were opting for one of the approaches should not be cause of conflict and discord in the camp of our national movement. Knowing that the enemy uses this pseudo-conflict to divide and destroy us, we had to take hid of any manipulation so that we avoided falling into trap of our foes. Materializing the well known Oromo people’s proverb, “walii galan, alaa galan,” which has almost the same meaning to “united we stand, divided we fall,” was crucially important for our success. Mr. Manoel de Almeida, a Jesuit priest who visited Ethiopia in the 1620s, also once stated: “if God had not blinded them (the Oromo) and willed that certain groups among them should be at war with one another constantly, there would not have been an inch of land in the empire, on which they were not the masters.” Just registering this reality in our minds, we prayed that Waaqa help us look at the importance of our unity for freedom, given that we really didn’t want to miss any possible opportunity of getting our national freedom, be it in one form or the other. Is Dr. Abiy’s leadership helping us to move in this direction? I think he is not doing this business, but doing the bidding of Abyssinian elites, i.e keeping the ongoing domination of Amaranet/Amarigna. Thus, the core purpose of Oromo struggle being led by the OFC and OLF must be to promote Afàn Oromô to the primary working language of the federation, so that the new Ethiopia shall be de facto Oropia!