By Habte Dafa | May 21, 2014
It is human Nature not to be absolutely sure. But that does not negate appreciating the present, while bearing in our minds of the prevailing potentials. It was the adversaries, as well as very few friends within the Oromo struggle that had unclear, but suspicious minds towards the path it was/is taking to reach its goal of Freedom. But unfolding realities in Oromia dictates to the other direction:
The new reality in Oromia.
Today in all the vicinities of Oromia, the Nations of the entire world are witnessing the resurrection of the rudiments of the Oromo people’s Nationalism. Yes, at its face value, it appears to be, the current “master plan” for Finfine/Addis Ababa. But the fundamental cause goes further deeper than that. Yes, the disgraceful and infamous “Master Plan” did energize the Qubee generation of the Oromo Nation to ignite the flames of resistances once again from all corners of Oromia, and beyond. On the other hand, the present wave of the Oromo people’s solidarity and unity in facing the brutalities and vindictiveness of the TPLF regime are seen by the other Ethiopians with different lenses depending on their conscious level, and beliefs in the basic human dignity, equality, and inclusive and peaceful co-existences/survivals. The media controlled by the present colonial Ethiopian regime -TPLF, continued dismantling pure fallacious and unsubstantiated claims of all sorts including; (but not limited) to accusing the Oromo students themselves by stating on their TV stations -just a few trouble makers within the Oromo University students started to make disturbances…. Others Ethiopians kept quite as though nothing had happened as simple bystanders. We all know the validity of such claims from TPLF which we did not expect better!!! What remains a real ironic is the causes for other Ethiopians’ insensitivities to this heinous atrocities and massacres perpetuated by the TPLF on the University students of Oromia vividly in the day lights. The choices of “I hear no evil, and see no evil” does really bother anyone with a minute senses of humility. Yet, thanks to the other progressive and oppressed Ethiopians of all walks of lives, who did express their agony over TPLF’s barbaric transgressions in handling the present Oromo University students’ grievances. Amazingly, the international communities became thoroughly aware of the crimes lashed against the Oromo University students who were demonstrating peacefully in the different campuses of Oromia, and poured their sympathies from all over the world as well.
One needs to know the real, and fundamental causes of this societal explosions of the people of Oromia. Led by the Oromo students attending the Higher Educational Institutions all over Oromia, unflinchingly (they) stood against the so-called “Master plan” not only to express their mere opposition, but decisively and courageously revealing their willingness to sacrifice all it takes (including their own young lives)to halt it. In all of the Oromo University campuses, they were joined by their people not to give a free ride for this pernicious “master plan” of TPLF, at the cost of impoverishing and displacing without any plan for appropriate compensation and resettlement plan for these Oromo farmers, who had been living their whole lives in those districts surrounding the capital city – Finfinee/Addis Ababa. Within a few days, all the people of Oromia walks of lives from Moyyale/Borrana/Gugii through Baalee to Rayyaa Azaboo, Harrargee/Haramaayya through all the ijoolle Tuullam’s lands to Jimma – Begii and – Manasibuu/Mendi: corner to corner overwhelmingly joined the Qubee generation of Oromia to make their voices unmistakably clear that their Nation’s land is not for sell!!!
The question of the ancestors’ land in Oromia is tied to the very cultural heritages of the people of Oromia. The symbolic values of the forefather’s land transcends the ordinary acquisition of property for the people of all Oromo origins. Furthermore, no given generation is endowed with the power to ignore their obligations that their Nation’s Gaddaa cultural institution already positioned and nurtured them for. Therefore, the ingrained issue remains mysterious to those who fails to get the real panorama of the Oromo people’s psychological and personality compositions and configurations.
This heroic sacrifices of the University students of Oromia, is just a symptom of the manifestation for the underlying huge social volcanic emissions and unparalleled inconsistencies that happen to hoover all over Oromia since the occupations of their ancestor’s land by the neighbors’ invading armies. It was in the beginning of Ninetieth century that the Abyssinian kingdoms ventured for expansion and annexations of the neighboring North East African territories. Assisted by other European colonialists of those days, the Abyssinians kings succeeded in the materialization of the horn of African Kingdom known as the present day “Ethiopia”. One needs to inquire far beyond the contemporary appearances in gallery of the present international communities. This paper is not intended to address in details about the basics of the formations of the Statehood in the content of Africa between eighteenth, nineteenth century. Therefore, it could correlatively suffice to indicate that the formation of “Ethiopia” as one of the independent states in Africa, did inherit the same colonial structure and ambitions. At those days no African people/Nations or Nationalities did come together willingly to form today’s geographically and politically rationed/limited states within the continent of Africa. Forced colonization was the norm for configuration of political statehood and realizations the artificial boundaries according to the colonizing regime’s individual exploitative interests. Those days colonial powers did discuss and agreed among them how to partition Africa. History testifies that the Ethiopian Kingdom were one of the participants in the conference to partition African states among (the alien colonialists) themselves.
In the vast majority of the African lands, a wide spread massacre and genocide including severe cruelty, barbaric atrocities, gross human abuse, and reducing the owners of the land (and its properties), to servitude, beggary/homelessness were indiscriminately maintained as a normal practice of the colonialists on the indigenous African people.
In the cases of the colonial Ethiopia, the dreams and desires of having one state under the Ethiopian flag was followed by wars of invasions and occupations of other non-Abyssinian Nations and Nationalities of the other North East Africans territories. Thus, the ruling regimes in this newly created colonial Ethiopian; with the African ancestry and lineage was able to blind and conceal the injustice that were perpetuated against the entire African people that were colonized by the Abyssinians. Consequently, the people of Oromia did experience their own aliens imposed fair share of all the above aftermath of occupations as the rest of the Africa people. The cosmetic difference is that the other African Nations were occupied by other aliens who landed in Africa with the modern army and ammunitions (by then) from across the sea, as well as their skin colors (White European colonialists). The issue of the color of the colonizing black Abyssinians did not only aggravated the extent of their cruelty on the colonized people of Oromia, but also facilitated the Abyssinians with the umbrella for their grandiosity, naivety of not respecting and appreciating the basic human dignity. Hostilities against non-Abyssinian cultures, and languages were unleashed and openly publicized, but theirs’ were/are promoted and institutionalized to be the official media for the entire colonial state of Ethiopia even up to the present day. All the educational texts were written and taught in the colonial language – Amharic till 1991 when an Oromo pioneer Obboo Ibsaa Guutamaa became Minister of Education for Transitional Government from 1991 to 1992, and changed the colonial policy to institute Qubee as an official alphabet for teaching at all the schools in Oromia. In the words of Obboo Leenjiso Horo:
“…. Millions of teaching books were published and millions of Oromo children were taught in it. Indeed, Qubee brought the irreversible conflict between Ethiopia and Oromiyaa. It may sound clichéd, but the plain truth is Qubee would not have been possible as a living Qubee today without the work of Dr. Haile Fida and its adaptation by the OLF and without Obboo Ibsaa Guutama becoming Minister of education to implement it in that shortest period of time…..
The Qubee Generation.
Understanding what is meant by the “Qubee generation” is not complex. Simply, the “Qubee Generation” is a new generation in the Oromo struggle that has come into being since 1991 with the adaptation of Qubee, a Latin alphabet, as Oromo’s writing script and thereafter. By Qubee Generation we mean the Oromo youth generation that have been born and grew since 1991 with the idea of struggle for the liberation, independence and sovereignty of Oromiyaa and a generation that has been taught in Qubee, in the Oromo school system. It is a generation that is not adulterated with Ethiopian political outlook. It is a generation that is not hostage to Ethiopian colonial empire’s policy of Oromo divide and rule. In that sense, it is a new generation that refused to accept Ethiopia, Ethiopianism, and Ethiopia’s institutions, its laws and constitution. The Qubee Generation is a new generation that sees Oromiyaa and its people with Oromo eyes; a generation that believes in truth and justice of the Oromo cause. It is a generation that has unbounded faith in the independence of Oromiyaa as those Oromo nationalists who had paid the ultimate price in lives in the struggle for the liberation of Oromiyaa and as those who are still in this struggle despite the obstacles posed by the alliance of internal and external enemy forces……………….” ( History of the development of Qubee. By Leenjiso Horoo. July 28, 2008)
The successive administrations of the colonial Ethiopian ruling apparatus often fished in the ocean of the governing philosophies, and principles just to keep their old colonial structure alive. Starting from their colonial dynasty’s pretentiously ostentatious self-proclaims, to the Military/Marxism, and to the present-day pseudo democratic federalism, the Abyssinians never failed to uphold their forefather’s dreams and desires: To keep the old colonial Ethiopia operational despite the modern changes and occurrences in all human domains: Science/technology, Economics and Geography, peaceful oppositions, and the genuine people’s demands for democratic principles which the current colonial regime of Ethiopia-TPLF claims to adhere to as a trade mark (only!!!!).
THE COSTS OF FAILURE TO COMPREHEND THE BASICS OF THE OROMO PEOPLE’S QUESTIONS.
It is a public secret to know that Ethiopia is one of the poorest Nations, and often in need of the international assistances. The worst scenario is in the area of food: self-sufficiency. These problems of basic Economics and development in all human domains are all interwoven and do have the direct connections with the political policy that governs the whole state. Any Development needs people. The people need security, and freedom. It goes utterly together. You cannot expect people who do not feel safe and secured to be motivated beyond their basic daily needs. Furthermore, people need to feel that the government is protecting and promoting their best of interest, which starts at the community level. Therefore, the Ethiopian government needs to follow economically conducive national policy instead of attempting to enrich themselves at the cost of robbing the indigenous citizens. In the theory of today’s economic development, as contested by” ENTERWeb” the emphasis for development should start with the local community. It states …” In the present policy context of globalization and international trade, most of the alternative efforts to fight unemployment and generate economic growth are focused at the community rather than global level. “Think global and act local”. This means acting at the community level and fostering economic, social and cultural growth….” (The Enterprise Development Website, 1996-2012 ENTERWeb.)
The Nation of Oromia is facing the government who refuses to be realistic according to the changing world. The Abyssinian resistances to change and progress was/is dictated by the very old original and out of date dogma to which all Abyssinians; even some educated class of young Ethiopians chose to endure and be incarcerated, while remaining forever the unconsciously prisoners of their forefather’s timeworn exploitative doctrines. It is true that these dogma could allude any civil inquirer’s pragmatic approach in case one fails to pursue the entire picture of the discrepancies, and inhuman cruelties that molded “Ethiopia” to be the present day African people colonial house.
It is impractical to keep the old outdate exploitative philosophy and governing guidance effectively serving and producing the same result as in old days-when those colonial paradigms were conceptualized. What really remains paradoxical and absurd is that how long even some so- called Abyssinian University professors will continue not comprehending the basis of the Oromo people’s messages. Their ancestor’s dogmas were conceived out of cheer arrogance, driven by the only way they knew how. But, today at this Information age, we are bombarded with many useful and some useless information from which we often filter and apply the most productive body of knowledge to serve “in the best interest” of all human beings. Unfortunately, as I mentioned before, well known University Professors of Abyssinia spent their whole life teaching and preaching the supremacy of their narrow northern clans to the rest of the Ethiopian people including the Nation of Oromia. This type of pedagogy produced nothing but animosity among the people. All the Colonized people including the Nation of Oromia, became naturally suspicious of all the northerners specifically the Amharas and the Tiray people. Hate, and wave of violence became the norms of the present colonial Ethiopian people’s daily greetings. These all non-productive, but negative social energy could have been channeled towards what would be the best for the people of that Nation, had an inclusive curriculum for indebtedness to each other’s rich, but equally diverse social appreciation was promoted. Even if I should not focus entirely on the works of few Professors, I still hold them responsible for not navigating their entrusted body of knowledge to serve in improving the country’s social relation which is the back bone for the peace, development, and base for the overall motivational aspirations for all societies.
The social animosity with in all the Ethiopian people not only preached by those social philosophers whose metal development was arrested and remain hitting the same ground for centuries, but was taken to its highest level by the current Abyssinian regime, TPLF for official looting and impoverishing the Farmers of Oromo Nation who are living around the city of Finfinee/Addis Ababa. TPLF’s current Master Plan is within the continued story of the Northerner’s failure to gain basic indulgence for the Nation of Oromia and their god given properties. Yet, the deployment of their suicide commandos AGAAZIs on the peaceful demonstrators of the Oromo students of Universities to deliver the most brutal massacre, and unparalleled malicious atrocities on the College students, clearly attests to the level of the TPLF’s inhuman natures, frustrations and absolute regression to the lowest standard of viciousness. But that will never halt the young “Liberation generation” of Oromia from resurrecting their Nation’s fundamental cause which had been entrusted to them by their respectfully retiring Freedom generations.
Where to from here?
Honor and glory for the heroines, and heroes of the Oromo Nation.
Oromia shall be free.
Habte Dafa.
May 21, 2014.
