Conversation creates a drive for learning. For that matter, I have learned a lot from those who always write insulting words as well as from those who suggest genuine solutions to our political predicament. This is to say that people with diverse opinions and behaviors have given me a chance to understand why we look divided and weak. To clarify the misconception revolving around this issue, the proper question that we need to ask ourselves will be, “are we really divided along ideological lines or we are ineffective”?.
Firstly, I am one of the majority Oromians who believe that we the Oromians can restore our dignity only if we increase our military capabilities. In other words, if we don’t shed blood, we cannot have an equal relationship with the Abyssinians.
Even those Oromians who have attempted to use the TPLF legal framework and contribute what they can to our freedom never contrasted our nation’s demand to govern themselves. Facts attest this reality when the Madrek party and the majority OPDO members supported the Oromo students protest regarding landownership and development matters. When we look at such strong collaboration effort among the Oromians, we clearly understand that, though we look as if we peruse different ideological avenues, we are looking for the same result notwithstanding of the various political avenues we use. That makes us one great family. We are sons and daughters of Oromia and we are members of one great institution, the Gadaa system. We speak one language, afaan Oromo and our hopes and aspiration lies in our goodness and love for peace. When we speak of Oromo freedom, we are talking about a better world for everyone. Fact on the ground shows that when the Oromo people are free to harness their natural resources, they are helping other minority groups of empire Ethiopia to exercise their cultures, build their economies and also become democratic societies. The idea behind ” FREE OROMIYAA” is the process of every individual right to landownership. In no case did the OLF or other Oromo political organizations said that the government of free Oromia will automatically own land and what lies on or underneath privately or publicly owned lands. In short, the idea behind free Oromiyaa is our way of saying that we are not interested in grabbing other nations and nationalities resources and dominate them like the Abyssinians have been doing. If Oromiyaa is free, other nations and nationalities of the empire will gain revenues by taxing the incomes of land owners and of the companies that help them extract their land’s resources.
Comparing this clear ideology to Minilik, Hailesilase, Darg, TPLF and Save Ethiopia groups governing polices, we see huge differences. These groups actions and aspirations has always been to crush any idea that has a hint of freedom in it. Since Minilik’s breast cutting practice took place in Walayita, Oromia and Janjaroo kingdoms, we live under the irresistible power of our conquerors, scattered, examined or killed, and we could only sigh out our lost hopes here and there. Being cut off from each other and being given new labels known as Shawaa, Wallagaa, Baalee, Iluu abbaa Booraa, Jimmaa, Gujii and Boorana, we speak at different times from different places even when we all are being driven from our lands by the Tigre mobs who are now building empire of corporations with the money they are borrowing in the name of the Ethiopian empire they are ruling. Thanks to the European guns, the Tigreans are building best city known as Maqalee with best universities. In addition, they have established spying organizations and military institutions capable of keeping the Tigreans in power for the coming 100 years.
All these being said, I can point out few factors that may be a reason for our ineffectiveness within the limits of knowledge I have. The major reason for our lack of effectiveness is the SUB STANDARD behavior we came to adopt since the era of imported religious expansion, feudalism and communism.
Though many may disagree with my assertion here, one of the frighting paradoxical prospective that our people use to marginalize each other with is religion. Since the emergence of foreign ideologies in Oromia, our people’s relation has been poisoned as feudalism and capitalism fueled corruption and authoritarianism. Similarly, though communism has great vision for human equality, it fall short when it comes to allowing native and progressive values to develop. For example, by uprooting the Oromo Safuu values, it promoted the Bafkattee attitudes that few addaggees/lampoon use to promote themselves to public stage. That for sure, reversed Oromummaa by directly replacing it with lawlessness, envy and jealousy culture from which our era tribalist few suffer from.
When it comes to organizational matters, the fundamental issue that gave rise to our ineffectiveness is finger pointing, not admitting mistakes, denying reality, procrastination and acting knowledgeable about everything when in fact one can not know everything. These attitudes created a confusion responsible for the rotation of unproductive tasks around which our enemy made us to orbit. In the process, taking first step against our enemy was lost. What is interesting is that a relatively small group created a political environment where killing an idea seem to be a norm. Hence, this dubious theory that the Oromians are divided along ideological line is false.
What is true however is that others have continued building their institutions and even gathered some of our confused ones around themselves, shaped them and used them for their political purposes and objective ends. For example, changing an Oromo name into Amharic by using the Orthodox church doctrine has been and still is a legal frameworks of empire Ethiopia political process that were originally established for colonial exploitation reasons. These legal framework is still in place today being camouflaged as religiosity. This means, the Oromo, as an individual or as communities own no name of their own, no land for burial of their dead, they own no rights to minerals, to timber, water, or other resources since all these things belong to the ruling Habasha groups. So far, whoever controls governmental power retains the privilege of controlling language, culture and the profits from resource extraction by granting licenses and concessions to foreign private firms. Thus, locals have little say in contract negotiations and rarely see any of these profits. To further complicate matters, only few afaan Oromo speaking migrants are recognized as the representatives of the Oromo people and used to make it easier for the rulers to detach people from their identity, from their lands and extract natural and human resources.
Generally speaking however, the Oromo people are united when it comes to fighting for the return of their dignity and to exercise their language, culture and to build collective self-defense army. This efforts have provoked growing alarm in the minds of the Habasha racist groups. Regardless of what any opposition says or does about this, the Oromians will use their limitless potential to build the future they want. The colonizing forces of Oromia may have believed that the Oromo people have been already assimilated to the Habasha identity not knowing that only very small number of people being drifted into worthless identity crisis sea. Even these negligible group of people are still struggling to find ways to come back to their true selves and that is what we see today across Wallo and Gojaam.
As to accepting changes, the Oromians welcome some changes for that things have always changed throughout human history. We see change in nature whether we like them or not. For example, there are changes in our lives which are sudden, such as the unexpected death of those whom we respect and love. Other changes are the ones that take place subtly and slowly. Now, when we debate on whether or not a change may have taken place for us within these past 25 years under the Tigreans occupation, some people may believe that there are monumental changes while others argue saying things have gone worse for us. Since we are a living witness of the changes that took place in Oromia, we can talk about the changes we see day by day in Oromia. But debating on such things is not ideological division. Rather it is an argument about where we were and where we are now. The lives of all Oromians, of course, went through so many alterations. Our people grieved whenever their kids are shot dead everywhere and those who are languishing in Tigreans colonial prisons and jails suffer from physical and physiological pains. So, the difference in our debate is only in the details not in an ideology. True, we get frustrated by lack of accomplishment because we know that time never stands still but it steadily march on, and with the marching comes the changes we don’t want.
When all is said and done however, we realize that we have the spirit of love and respect for those great men and women who instilled in all of us a pride that all humans have to have and the pivotal experiences that we have had as a free human beings. The spirit of being free, the dreams and wishes that we all talk about every day are commonly shared by all Oromians. We all have fond childhood memories of what it means to be an Oromo. Out of all the episodes that comes alive in our imaginations is a sacred record of Oromummaa, which is the foundation of our namummaa. Hence, let’s not confuse debate with ideology.
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