By Dr. Baro Keno Deressa
We must reorient our understanding of what colonization is in order to situate ourselves to act on bringing health into our lives and to break the colonial regime’s constant negative pressure on the practical reality of our lives. This paper argues that individual and groups who betrays the truth of Oromo’s and supporting the enemies.
In the long and continuous battle for freedom, despite many reverses, freedom has won battles. Many died in those battles in the conviction that to die in the struggle against oppression was better than to live without freedom. Such a death was the utmost assertion of their individuality.
However, individuals of the oppressed nations knowingly or unknowingly at one stage sided with the enemies of freedom. How can they be so ignorant of history and traitors to their own people? is power of money? is fear of death? is matter of loyalty? is question of false justification?
During the process of colonization, between 1870 and 1900, the Oromo population was reduced from ten to five millions. Many were killed by the colonial army and settlers, others died of famine and epidemics of various diseases or were sold off as slaves. Those who remained on the land were reduced to the status of gabbar (a peasant from whom labor and produce is exacted and is a crude form of serfdom).
Menelik, the slave trading Abyssinian king of the nineteenth and twentieth century was responsible for the massacre and disappearance of millions of Oromos, Sidamas, Wolayta, Somalis, and others. He was responsible for the physical and psychological torture of the Arsi Oromos at Anole, where his soldiers chopped off every man’s arm, and every woman’s breast. Harar Oromo’s massacre at Calanqo. In all spheres of life, discrimination, subjugation, repression and exploitation of all forms were applied. Everything possible was done to destroy Oromo identity – culture, language, custom, tradition, name and origin. In short Haile Selassie maintained the general policy of genocide against the Oromo. During those period of time there are many Oromo’s who sided with killers of Oromo’s Haile Selassie because of ignorance, loyalty and fear of subjugation and death.
Tigrean People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) has declared an all-out war on Oromo’s. Millions of Oromo farmers are being evicted from their lands, peaceful protestors were shot dead by Ethiopian government forces, 90% of the prisoners are Oromo’s. The TPLF government justifies his action by claiming that he is better than the Amhara’s by recognizing the Oromia and Oromo languages. So any Oromo man and women against them will face imprisonment, humiliation, torture and death. According to TPLF policy the universal declaration of human rights “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights” will be wrong and does not work in Ethiopia as long as TPLF in power. Again During this period of time there are many Oromo’s who sided with killers of Oromo’s TPLF oligarchical government because of new villa house in the yard of Oromo farmers and money with high GDP, fear of humiliation and death.
All Oromo’s sided with enemies have one thing in common. Money and fear of death. Surprisingly their death is already programmed from the first day of their contact with their master, killers of the Oromo people through labeling system. In medical terminology the meaning of apoptosis is programmed cell death and necrosis is the accidental of premature death of cells. During Menelik, Haile Selassie, Derg and TPLF era, Oromo’s who continuously loyally serve their masters are programmed in the form of peaceful individuals as an apoptotic label (they have never contributed any minor enhancement of freedom or peace for their oppressed people, because they are already enlisted in their master database as trustful and finishing their life time by serving the enemy destructive policy). Those Oromo’s who are serving the enemies for time being in order to gain money and power are programmed in the form of peace lovers as a necrotic label (those kinds of individuals are insufficient and inconsistent for a bitter struggle to eradicate our enemies and create peaceful life for their oppressed people and they are enlisted in their master database as suspicious individual and their fate will be sudden death in the hands of their master). So both servants of the enemies are pacing the sound of peace without any fruitful actions for real peace. So why the enemies are looking for pace maker instead of searching real peace for his own Tigrean people, Oromo’s and other nations….
Racist images and assimilative identities created by the colonial regime are manifestations of the power of empire to implant harmful delusions and to confuse our minds with laboratory fantasies. As weapons of disempowerment, control and dispossession, they are superbly effective. Yet their full purpose and effect remains the spiritual defeat of Oromo people and the dissolution of nation building aspiration. The psychological landscape of contemporary colonialism is defined by extremes of self-hatred, fear and co-optation of the mind; the effect has been the creation of a reality and culture in which people are unable to recognize, much less realize, their value as human beings.
In order to get to the root of the colonial problem in Oromia, it is necessary to understand that oppression experienced over such a long period of time effects people’s minds and souls in seriously negative ways. Meaningful discussions on the subject of alleviating the harms that colonization has wrought requires seeing beyond colonialism as historical process of societal changes or a set of legal and military events. It means recognizing that colonial injustices and oppression have had effects on both individuals and collectivities, and that addressing these effects necessitates perspectives and strategies to build our nations.
First as collectivities and as individuals. Destruction, dependency or assimilation. None of these are morally justifiable, and none of them in fact work very well in practice even from the perspective of the colonial regime. Health and healing, in the true sense of these terms, can only be achieved by breaking out of the toxic environments of the enemies propaganda and reserve; physical, spiritual, psychological health of Oromo people, and socio-cultural integrity. When clear, calm minds and strong bodies are connected, we have whole persons again; working together we become strong and dignified nations.
If we are not for our people , who will be for us? (Dignified death is more valuable than comfortable life under enemy armpit).
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Wayyaaneen filmaata sobaa dhufutti uummati Oromoo narratti ka’a sodaa jedhuun kan baarage guyyaa har’aa Caamsaa 11,2015 sa’aatii saddeetii hanga kudhaniitti barattoonni Yuunivarsiitii Wallaggaa FDG narratti qindeessu sodaa jedhuun deeppoo magaalaa Naqamteetti argamu keessatti wal ga’ii caasaa basaastotaa geggeesse.
QEERROO 