How long injustice and suffering of the Oromo people go on?

Alamayoo Tilahun

The Ethiopian dictatorship was the incumbent of a political office of legislator of the Ethiopian democracy. But Ethiopian dictators had allocated absolute power for 23 years. Their power was originally neither arbitrary nor unaccountable, being subject to law and requiring retrospective justification. There were no such like Ethiopian (TPLF) and his late party prime Minster Melas Zenawi dictatorships in the world after the beginning of the 2nd century BC, later dictators such as Sulla and the Roman Emperors exercised power much more personally and arbitrarily.

A government controlled by one person, or a small group of people. In this form of government the power rests entirely on the person or group of people, and can be obtained by force or inheritance. The dictator(s) may also take away much of its peoples’ freedom.

In contemporary usage, dictatorship refers to an autocratic form of absolute rule by leadership unrestricted by law, constitution, or other social and political factors within the state.

In the 20th century and early 21st century hereditary dictatorship remained a relatively common phenomenon.

For some scholars, a dictatorship is a form from the government that has the power to govern without consent for those who are being governed (similar to authoritarianism, while totalitarianism describes a state that regulates nearly every aspect of public and private behaviour of the people. In other words, dictatorship   concerns the source of the governing power (where the power comes from)   and totalitarianism concerns the scope of the governing power (what is the      government).

In this sense, dictatorship (government without people’s consent) is a contrast to democracy  (government whose power comes from people) and totalitarianism (government controls every aspect of people’s life) opposes pluralism.

There for, in the cause of Ethiopian’s dictator system , not only disappearance of exercising democracy , free speech , free election , free mass media and free demonstration  but also the existence of droughts and hunger for an era’s.

In fact, Ethiopia today is 123 out of 125 worst fed countries in the world. According to a new Oxfam food database “while the Netherlands ranks number one in the world for having the most plentiful, nutritious, healthy and affordable diet, Chad is last on 125th behind Ethiopia and Angola.”

In the presence of democratic right, According to the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights.

‘International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights.’  Here, we’ve got all we need: Article 1, paragraphs 1 and 2 (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which includes the exact same text as the first article) :

1. All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.
2. All people may, for their own ends, freely dispose of their natural wealth and resources without prejudice to any obligations arising out of international economic cooperation, based upon the principle of mutual benefit, and international law. In no case may a people be deprived of its own means of subsistence.

On the contrary Ethiopia is facing an ecological catastrophe: deforestation, desertification, soil erosion, overgrazing and population explosion .Tens of thousands of Oromo’s who are sick and dying from drinking the polluted waters of Lake Koka, once a pristine lake, located some 50km south of FINFINNE. Like the people who are dying around Lake Koka, the people who live in the Omo River Basin in South-western Ethiopia are facing an environmental disaster thatcould push them not only to hunger, starvation, dislocation and conflict, but potentiallyto extinction through habitat destruction. According to International Rivers, a highly respected environmental and human rights organization committed to protecting rivers and defending the rights of communities that depend on them. Furthermore,In 2004 when the then President of Oromia ( now Refugee) agreed to move Caffe Oromia from Finfinne To Adama, Oromo students peacefully demonstrated to oppose the systematic disposition of Finfinne from Oromia. Hundreds of students dismissed from universities, dozens of Metcha Tulema leaders thrown to prison, the Organization which was functional for over. 40 years get closed.

In the last 100 years under various regimes of Abyssinians, Oromo farmers and peasants were systematically displaced from the land they lived on for generations. Under TPLF Wayanes regime, oromos in areas around Finfinne were snatched off their land and left for destitution and forced to work as a daily laborer on their own land.

Obviously the project of displacing Oromo’s by Tigrians and amharas is complet, and the next step is the official take over, that is including these areas under Finfinne. When will these expansions stop? Holota? Ambo? Bushoftu? Who is next? We stopped fighting for ownership of Finfinne since 2004, and they want to take more!

The rights based response to the problem of land and grabbing article 11:

1. The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions. The States Parties will take appropriate steps to ensure the realization of this right, recognizing to this effect the essential importance of international co-operation based on free consent.
2. The States Parties to the present Covenant, recognizing the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger, shall take, individually and through international co-operation, the measures also including specific programmers, which are needed:

1. To improve methods of production, conservation and distribution of food by making full use of technical and scientific knowledge, by disseminating knowledge of the principles of nutrition and by developing or reforming agrarian systems in such a way as to achieve the most efficient development and utilization of natural resources;
2. Taking into account the problems of both food-importing and food-exporting countries, to ensure an equitable distribution of world food supplies in relation to need.

In additional, the government has a responsibility to respect his people’s rights!!

The right to life and freedom from torture and degrading treatment. Freedom from slavery and forced labour.

The right to liberty.
The right to a fair trial.
The right not to be punished for something that wasn’t a crime when you did it.
The right to respect for private and family life freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and freedom to express your beliefs freedom of expression freedom of assembly and association.
The right to marry and to start a family.
The right not to be discriminated against the respect of these rights and freedoms.
The right to peaceful enjoyment of your property.
The right to have an education.
The right to participate in free elections.
The right not to be subjected to the death penalty.

Finally, keeping our rights and obligations in mind, let’s struggle this dictator regime for those dying without any crimes in the place of no rights and full banning.

Victory for Oromo!

Alamayoo Tilahun | April 20, 2014