A Call for Discussion to all Diaspora based Oromo Youth Organizations

June 8, 2014

Since the Oromo Protests began, Ethiopian security forces responded to the peaceful protests by massacring, imprisoning and torturing innocent students. Government forces famously known as the (Agazi Commandos) have been abducting university students both at school and home. Furthermore, thousands of students have been expelled from universities and are continuously terrorized outside of school. Due to Ethiopia’s repressive policies and lack of free media not much is known about the current crisis. Continuous murders and arbitrary arrests of Oromo students go unreported. However, Oromo groups in the diaspora have organized and rallied in solidarity with Oromo Protests to pressure the international community to condemn human rights violations in Ethiopia. This allowed for some media coverage from the international community, but not enough to get mass media attention.

In an effort to fully understand the recent Oromo protests in full context, the International Oromo Youth Association (IOYA) calls for a discussion on paltalk.com. The discussion aims to bring together global Oromo youth organizations in an attempt to address the most prominent issue currently facing the Oromia region in Ethiopia. This Paltalk discussion will allow youth organizations to speak about the issue and formulate an agenda on what role Oromo Diaspora based communities should play. It is imperative to have a global discussion on the issue and identify advocacy strategies that can be employed by those residing outside of Oromia, Ethiopia.

We will have a special guest speaker, Nagessa Oddo Dube, lawyer and human rights activist who will be present to facilitate the discussion and answer questions. At the end of the discussion Executive board members will present the agenda for the Oromo Youth Leadership Conference (OYLC) to be held this coming August.

Our Discussion will consist of:

(1) What is the Oromo Protests?
(2) Why are the students protesting?
(3) What was the outcome of that protest?
(4) What is the Role of the Diaspora communities?

The Discussion will begin at 6:00-8:00 pm Eastern, U.S.A time on Saturday, June 21, 2014. The username for Paltalk.com is (ioyaforum). If you have any questions or concerns please email us atioyanetwork@gmail.comor amaneb36@gmail.com

=>ayyaantuu