The Day “Revolt Against Subjugation” was Lit in Oromia
By Daandii Qajeelaa –
Sadaasa 9: It is the day Oromo nationalists in Oromia and around the globe commemorate the popular student uprising known as Fincila Diddaa Gabrummaa (meaning “Revolt Against Subjugation”) that suddenly broke out on November 09, 2005 following the failed Ethiopian election of 2005 in which the Oromo was denied any meaningful representation. The popular revolt started on November 09, 2005 following a call by the OLF to Oromo students and entire Oromo people to peacefully oppose the government and bring to the forefront the demands of democracy, justice, and most importantly, the realization of the right of the Oromo people to self-determination. Below are the chronology of the events related to the 2005 “Revolt Against Subjugation” that begun with a brutal killing of high school unarmed students in Ambo High School, Western Shoa zone, Ambo town.
November 09, 2005. Students of Ambo High school staged a peaceful demonstration. At least five students were reported kille , including students Jagama Badhane and Kabbada Badhassa and a younger female student and police killed at least two mor when shooting in response to protests at Jagama’s death (Reporter, 13 November, 2005). The Sunday Times (November 10) reported 17 others were wounded. Reporter also reported demonstrations, school closures and loss of lives in Ambo, Wollega, Adama (Nazareth), Woliso, Guder, Gedo and Haromaya and that the funeral of Jagama was attended by 50,000 people, which was also a sign of protest against the regime. The same day, students of Jimma zone, Qarsaa district (woreda), Qarsaa Tolii elementary school reportedly staged a peaceful demonstration in which they marched on the streets of the town in large numbers denouncing the regime and openly and loudly demanding their support for the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) to come and take over the governance of Oromia.
November 10, 2005. In response to the OLF’s call for revolt and outraged by the killings of Ambo high school, students of Biiftuu Ghmbi High School, Western Wollega zone staged a peaceful demonstration. The school was surrounded by the police force of the regime and several students were taken to jail. The same day students of several high schools of Western Shoa zone such as Xuqur Hincinnii, Gedo, Bako, Jajjii, Nekemte (Eastern Wollega), Shambu (Eastern Wollega), Kofale (Arsi), Shashamanne (Eastern Shoa), many other places staged demonestration. Hundreds of students beaten and arrested.
Nov. 11, 2005: Student protest continue in Jimma, Ambo (3rd day), Shashemenie, Haromaya (3rd day), Aweday, Ciroo, Dembidollo, Ghimbi (2nd day), Asela, Diredawa, Galamso, Badesa, Awaday, Bako, Warra Jarso, Innango (West Wollega) and Mojo. The entire public has joined the protests especially in Haromaya, Awaday, and Ciroo. About 100 were rounded up by police in Ciroo. Civilians in Mojo prevented police from taking several students to prison.
Nov 15, 2005: The student protests continue all over Oromia: Some of the protests that have been reported between November 12 – 15, 2005 are: Bishooftuu, Haroomaya University, Machaaraa, Miicataa, Harooreysaa, Miliqaayee, Gaadullaan, Nekemte, and Gidda Kiramu. By November 15, all schools of Western Shoa zone have been reported closed by the authorities of the regime.
Nov 16, 2005. Four students were killed when peaceful protestors were fired upon in Qore (Arsi zone). Local residents reacted with more protests and another six were shot dead (OSG report No. 42).
Nov 17, 2005. In response to the Qore killings of November 16 (above), students in Kofale (Arsi zone), Negelle, and Kuraya, staged large demonstrations. The same day 5000 Oromo students at universities in Gonder, Bahar Dar amd Mekele were beginning hunger strike in protest, against killings of Oromo students and the harassment of Gonder students under the pretext of investigating the burning of houses there (OSG report No. 42).
Nov. 18, 2005. Student protests continued in Hirna (Hararge), continued for that week, with nine more students and other residents, including a mentally disabled person, being added to those in the detention camp there. Many of those detained have been injured by beatings. The same day, farmers around Hirna refused to attend a government meeting and students and residents of Ciroo blocked roads to the town on another continued protest (OSG report No. 42).
Nov 19, 2005. Student demonstrations continued in Gindhiir (Bale zone). At around 8:30 pm, the police shot a young boy. This has caused much tension in this and neighboring towns. As a result, a nearby town, Dalloo Sabroo remained under siege by heavily armed government forces for several days. Residents are harassed and their movement within the town is heavily restricted. The same day it was reported that all schools in and around Kofalee (Arsii zone) remain closed since the uprising was ignited in early November. Extensive campaign of arrest has been unleashed in both the town of Kofalee and its surroundings. Eyewitnesses have reported that people are jammed into small cells and tortured daily.
Nov 20, 2005: Discomforted by the continued uprising of the Oromo people in Harargee zone Mr. Minaase W. Georgis, the then President of Oromia arrived at the city of Sakina, in Daroolabu district (Harargee). When the news of his arrival was leaked, Oromo people quickly gathered in the thousands and staged a demonstration, chanting and demanding implementation of article 39 of the Ethiopian constitution, demanding an immediate release of members of Macha and Tulama Self-help Organization, voicing their support for the OLF, and rejecting Minaase W. Giorgis as President of Oromia. Minaase immediately turned around and left the area without meeting anyone. Embarrassed by this development, the local OPDOs later embarked on indiscriminately harassing the residents. Their attempt to murder a resident named Diitaa Ahmad Muummee failed, but Diitaa was wounded slightly by a bullet shot by an OPDO envoy. It was reported that the OPDO has demanded that Diitaa pay for the lost bullet, reminiscent of the Derg regime (OSG report No. 42).
Nov 21, 2005. Students of Roobee Teacher’s Training College and surrounding schools (Bale zone) staged a demonstration. The same day Oromo people residing along the main road leading Roobee to Finifnee (Addis Ababa) expressed their protest by blocking the main highway using boulders and rocks. In retaliation, the police was ordered to arrest anyone seen outdoor after 9:00 pm. The police have been conducting 24 hour surveillance around residences of individuals suspected of sympathizing with the OLF (OSG report No. 42).
Nov 22, 2005. Oromos residing along the main road linking Finifinee and Western Oromia closed the artery highway at a place called Asgorii (Western Wollega). Demonstrators gathered at the blockage chanted slogans denouncing the Meles regime. The Ethiopian police was dispatched to the area to disperse the demonstrators who courageously resisted the police for several hours.
Nov 23, 2005: Students of Daaloo elementary school (Hararge) protested on the street burning OPDO flag and waving OLF flag.
Nov. 24, 2005. The residents of Shambuu (Eastern Wollega zone) protested by closing the main road leading to Baakkoo, thereby cutting the main line to and from the city (OSG report No. 42).
Nov. 25, 2005: Oromo students at the Jimma Teacher’s College staged peaceful demonstration. The Federal police attacked and injured several students while arresting 24 others. The same day, students of Galamso intensified the protest which they already begun on November 11 (Oromia Times, Nov. 30, 2005).
Nov. 29, 2005. Oromo students in Jaldu district of Western Shawaa zone staged a peaceful demonstration. As usual, the Ethiopian police attacked the protestors killing 2 students, Habtaamuu Bayyataa and Fiqaaduu on the spot, critically injuring two more, Nurressaa Katamaa Xaafaa, and also wounding several others. One policeman has been reported hurt during this demonstration. There has been extensive campaign of arrest in this district in both the city and the countryside. All schools in Jalduu remain closed since the uprising began. At the same time similar protests continued in neighboring districts of Geedoo and Haratoo (OLF Dec. 05, 2005).
Dec. 7, 2005. Classes at Jimma university had been stopped starting from December 7, 2005 because of clashes between Oromo and Tigrean students, leading to several arrests (Reporter Dec. 11).
Dec. 8, 2005. Students of Mendi district (Woreda) staged a massive demonstration which lasted all day during which 12 high school students were injured in clashes with police (Reporter, 11 December, 2005).
Dec. 13, 2005. Oromo students of Ziway, Eastern Shoa zone, demonstrate against the regime. The students later clashed with the police who tried to stop them in which two students and one police were severely wounded. Five other students have been abducted by the regime’s forces (Seife Nebelbal, 16 December, 2005).
Dec. 18, 2005. The Reporter wrote that students at Jimma University were refusing to resume classes because police and army were still on campus.
Dec 21, 2005. The private weekly Tikusa reported that six students died and six others were injured and sent to hospital when students blocked a road in Mendi [Kiltu Kara] to help prisoners heading to an unknown destination escape. Members of the military forces that were driving behind the truck which carried the prisoners opened fire and killed six students. The newspaper also reported the arrests of several Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement members in Nejo, Wollega.
Dec. 26, 2005. Hundreds of people from the towns of Mendi and Gimbi, Wallega, were rounded up and taken to Senkele Police Training Center in Ambo. Special forces surrounded the towns after the residents started holding protest rallies demanding the removal of Meles Zenawi and Juneidi Sado. (Ethiopian Review, 26 December, 2005).
Dec. 27, 2005. Dagim Wenchi reported two killings in student demonstrations in Boji Chekorsa, Wollega, and the arrests of several elders and youth in Gimbi. The youth were taken to Didhessa concentration camp.
Dec. 28, 2005. Toma reported the arrest of four businessmen in Dembi Dollo, Wollega, Yonas Gelan, Fekade Shibeshi, Kassahun Kitla and Belay Yadeta, and that those who were arrested from Dembi Dollo, Anfilo, Mughi and Gimbi were detained in Senkele police training camp. The same day ‘Parliamentarians representing the Oromo people have petitioned the House Speaker to discuss mass arrests in Oromia State’ the paper reported.
Dec. 30, 2005. VOA reporte the closure of the three high schools in Nekemte, Wollega, following student arrests and the killing of four students in Wollega that week. Police admitted over 300 arrests to VOA.
Jan. 20, 2006. All schools in the following towns have been reported closed due to continued students protest and extended popular uprising: Ambo, Tikur-Incini, Dembi Dollo, Gimbi, Qoree, Biyo Karaba, Asasa, Kofale, Gedo, Bako, Sarbo, Shashamane, Nekemte, Lalo Asabi, Jimma, Machara, Finca’a, Kombolcha, Xullo, Dhangago, Ciro, Oliqa Dingilu, Qelam, Haro Maya, Doba, Ginir, Habro, Matufi Darimu, Dire Dawa, Galamso, Badesa, Asabot, Bedeno, Mi’esso, Bordode, Mandi, Daro Labu, Gadulo, Gololcha, Calanqo, Awaday, Bate, Kara-Mile, Harar, Qobbo, Langey, Masala, Awash, Didhessa, Guttin, Haro Sabu and Gibe (OSG report No. 42).
The above selectively reported incidents are few of the widespread popular unrest in the entire Oromia, East, West, South, North, that was ignited on November 09, 2005 and continued for nearly two years. Tens of thousands of students, farmers, teachers, businessmen, and all sectors of the society have been jailed, tortured, disappeared, and killed in broad day light and in prison cells. While international media stands generally ignored this long-lived and massive popular unrest and unimaginable human rights abuse and loss of life, some humanitarian organizations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Oromia Support Group, have shaded light to a small part of the uprisings, massive unrests, and brutal killings. On January 30, 2006, Amnesty International in its issue (AI Index: AFR 25/002/2006) reported:
“…The 11 students named above are among several thousand school and college students from the Oromo ethnic group who have been detained in a series of anti-government demonstrations in different parts of the Oromia Region, in the capital, Addis Ababa, and in other towns. All those named above are detained incommunicado at a number of different locations, and are at risk of torture or ill-treatment. The arrests have taken place during a wave of student demonstrations which began on 9 November 2005. The demonstrations are still taking place in some areas. Most of those taking part were secondary school students, some of them children under 18 years old, but teachers, farmers, businesspeople and others have also been detained in connection with the demonstrations. Most demonstrations reportedly began peacefully but some police and demonstrators were injured, property was damaged and explosions were reported in some places. The demonstrations are said to have taken place after a call by the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), an armed opposition group, for demonstrations against the government. Demonstrators called, among other political demands, for the release of Oromo political prisoners, including officials of the Mecha Tulema Association, a long-established Oromo welfare association (emphasis mine).”
The total number of those killed in cold blood during and after the student demonstrations in Oromia remains unknown or simply under reported, but is believed to be several hundreds. The International Oromo Youth Associatio (IOYA) reported on December 10, 2006 that “…in the years 2005- 2006 alone, more than 500 students were killed by government’s security forces of which the record is available and widely reported by different media and human rights groups..”. On February 15, 2006 (about 3 months after the protests first broke out) the OLF reported in a press release:
“…Since the last press briefing many school children, university students, the young and elderly have been killed, and disappeared while tens of thousands have been imprisoned where they routinely faced torture. According to reliable reports, more than 105 have been killed in different parts of Oromia while 232 have disappeared without trace. The recent cold-blood massacre of 22 innocent people in Guduru is a graphic example of the facts on the ground. Prisoners are being picked from detention centers during the night never to return either to their prison cells or to their relatives (emphasis mine).”
The protests and peaceful demonstrations Oromo students are a manifestations of the anger and frustration of the Oromo people against the current brutal regime in Ethiopia. It also shows that the Oromo people are still under a “hidden” and new form of subjugation. The current regime in power may think it has relinquished the popular fire (uprising) that was ignited in the entire Oromia by force. But the student movements are reflections of the overall struggle of the Oromo people for democracy, justice and freedom. It will only stop when ALL the oppressors (those who are on power and those who intend to replace them) are gone from the Oromian soil for good and the Oromo people freely determine their fate.
It is to be noted that the above report is focused only on the protests in Oromia which broke out on November 09, 2005 and continued on-and-off in the entire region for nearly two years. The time these protest started also coincides with the widely reported protest in Finfinnee (Addis Ababa) and several major cities organized by the then CUD (Coalition for Unity and Democracy) in which some 200 people have been brutally murdered and tens of thousands jailed. The massive popular unrests in Oromia and in the entire Ethiopia against the current brutal regime may now look subdued for several reasons, but it is actually a ticking bomb that can explode at any moment just as it exploded suddenly on November 09, 2005 following a call from OLF and the post-election protests called by the CUD. And when it does, it has the potential to wash away the oppressors and their collaborators.
QEERROO 
—The Oromo Liberation Movement is Like a Fighter Jet Shooting From its Three Parts—
There was a time, when the Oromo freedom fighters wanted to liberate the Oromo people from any sort of subjugation in Ethiopia without trying to demarcate a national area called Oromia; for instance, we can mention the movements like the Raayya Oromo revolt, the Bale Oromo resistance, the initiation of Maccaa Tulama association, the Oromo struggle led by ME’ISON and IC’AT as well as the formation of ENLF (Ethiopian National Liberation Front), which was the forerunner of the OLF. Also there was a situation, which helped the Oromo nationals think about the existence of an Oromo national area (Oromia) in the Ethiopian empire, but without an attempt to separate this area from Ethiopia, the empire, which some Oromo nationals think is build by the blood and bone of the Oromo people. Now we are in the era, when we started to think not only about the existence of the Oromo national area, but also about the necessity of liberating this region in a form of an independent Gadaa republic of Oromia. Yet, these three visions (no Oromia in Ethiopia, Oromia within Ethiopia, and an independent Oromia without Ethiopia) are still entertained in the Oromo society at large, the common denominator of the three movements being the struggle for an unconditional bilisummaa/freedom of the Oromo people from any sort of political domination, economic exploitation and cultural suppression.
That is why I do now think that the Oromo liberation movement has got the left-wing, the middle-body and the right-wing as three parts shooting at the enemy. The left-wing wants to change the whole Ethiopia, name the country as Oromia and promote Afaan Oromo to a federal/national language of the country; the middle-body wants to liberate Oromia within Ethiopia and make it to be the leading nation-state of the whole country; and the right-wing wants to establish an independent Gadaa republic of Oromia, which will have the influential position in the whole region of the Horn of Africa. These three parts of the Oromo liberation movement are now trying to harmonize their move against our common current enemy, i.e against the fascist, Abyssianist and racist Woyane. Accordingly, we do now find the Oromo liberation movement in all the spectrum of the opposition parties and liberation fronts against the oppressive regime (in the left wing, like the Oromo nationalists, who are active in AEUP, EPPF, EPRP, G-7 and UDJ; in the middle body including those organized under OFDM, OLF-KY, OPC and UEDF of MEDREK; as well as in the right wing such as the freedom fighters in OLF-QC, ONLF, ULFO). Surprisingly the main body of the OLF (OLF-SG) seems to represent the whole Fighter jet coordinating, accomodating and cooperating with all the three parts. This reality persuades us to think that the Oromo liberation is inevitable and the possible future three types of our sovereignty are not as such disadvantageous for Oromia and the Oromo people; we can now fight together for our common freedom from the Abyssinianist elites’ system of domination and then choose one of the following styles/types of sovereignty:
– the Hindi style: the Hindi people liberated all nations and nationalities in their region and named the whole country as India, made the Hindi language as the working language of the Indian federation and of course divided the national area of Hindi into multiple federal regions. Why not we, the Oromo people, liberate the whole nations and nationalities in the Ethiopian empire, call the whole country Oromia and promote Afaan Oromo to the working language of the federation, with the historical local Odaa’s of Oromia (Odaa-Bisil, -Bultum, -Garreess, -Makodi, -Nabee and -Roobaa) being the future separate federal regions of the country?
– the English style: the English people liberated themselves from the 700 years rule of the Roman empire, forged England as an autonomous region and united it with the neighbouring others to form the british United Kingdom, they also made English language the working language of the Kingdom. Can’t Oromia being autonomous, free and independent from the alien forces be united with the neighbouring autonomous regions to forge the Cushitic Ethiopian union, similar to that of the british United Kingdom and promote Afaan Oromo to the working language of the union?
– the Ruski style: the Russian elites dismantled the Soviet union and established the Russian federation, which uses the Russian national language, the federation which still does have an influence on its neighbouring nations, because of its economic and military strength. Does this way of dismantling the Ethiopian empire and fostering the highly wished independent Gadaa republic of Oromia to have a further influence over the other liberated neighbouring countries more advantageous than the first two types of sovereignty?
Interestingly, the three Abyssinianst groups (the Amhara, Tigrai and Eritrean elites) have got only one option respectively in their political struggle: the Amhara elites still can only sing about the Hindi-style for they know that Amharinya has got the privilage to be the federal language of the empire; the Eritrean elites as a minority at the periphery were so insecure to live within Ethiopia so that they had only the alternative of separation (the Ruski-style); the Tigrean elites can neither have the language privilage to opt for the Hindi-style nor the capacity to live alone as an independent nation in order to choose the Ruski-style, so they do stick at the English-style. But the Oromo and Oromia, being the majority at the center, can play all the three cards (the Hindi-, English- and Ruski-style) as long as the rule of the game in the region will be freedom and democracy. So, let’s Oromo people use our advantage and struggle with all the pro-freedom and pro-democracy forces of the Empire against the Woyane to come to the position of voting for one of the three options we do have.
As far as I am concerned, all the three ways are not harmful, but the decision must be made by the politically conscious Oromo polity and Oromo public per referendum, when the time comes. This short essay is a bitter pill I wanted to present to the Oromo foes, who are nowadays delighting by perceiving a division of the Oromo liberation vanguard (the OLF) into three. For their information, OLF has got in its pocket, from the very beginning, only one kaayyoo (goal) of bilisummaa/freedom, which at the same time can be interpreted as three kaayyoo’s of walabummaa (three types of sovereignty), and it plays with these three cards of walabummaa based on the objective reality it is in, i.e according to the “here and now” of the situations. Even though the one kaayyoo of bilisummaa is the Oromo national self-determination, the three interpretations of the kaayyoo of walabummaa are:
– Oromian national independence within a regional union (internal self-determination of the nation),
– Oromian national independence without a regional union (external self-determination of the Oromo), and
– Oromian citizens’ Independence to have a referendum on this issue of ‘independence within a union’ Vs. ‘independence without a union’.
We know that OLF permanently advocates for all the three: for the independence of Oromia, for the Oromos’ right to self-determination, and for the union of nations in the empire/region. It emphasizes one of these three interpretations according to the condition of the time (according to the Zeitgeist). Whenever Abyssinianist elites become arrogant and start to sing about the unconditional unity of their empire with suppression of Oromos’ national rights, it stresses the necessity of an independent republic of Oromia, of course undermining the possible union. The logic behind this position is that whenever there is suppression, there will be a move for separation. When some reasonable politicians from different nations in the empire start to recognize the God-given right of the great Oromo nation to self-determination, the OLF starts to play the card of self-determination, i.e an appropriate decision per referendum either for ‘independence within a union’ or ‘for independence without a union’. Now, the one structural OLF, which we Oromo nationals have believed to own, has been divided into three, each of the factions just taking as a goal one of the three interpretations of the kaayyoo regarding walabummaa of Oromia:
– OLF1 of Ob. Daud appears to have the Oromo national self-determination as its goal (being open for both the ‘independence within a union’ and the ‘independence without a union’ as far as the Oromo majority will decide for one of the two).
– OLF2 of Ob. Dhugaasaa seems to make no compromise on the ‘independence without a union’.
– OLF3 of Gn. Kamal looks like having a decision, which favours the Oromian ‘independence within a union’ of nations in the empire/region so that it tries to seek a cooperation with the Oromo nationals in the ruling party, OPDO, and at the same time it strives for a possible alliance with the reasonable “pro unity and democratic” Habesha opposition forces.
Anyways, a merdo (bad news) to the foes of the Oromo liberation movement is that the one/three OLF(s) will never give up the struggle for the right of the Oromo nation to self-determination until we, the Oromo people, become the determiners of our own destiny, be it within the Ethiopian union or without the union. Otherwise, let’s differentiate the ongoing rhetoric from the real conviction. We heared certain Oromo politicians talking about the “fact” that the Oromo people do not want “secession”. But, I do consider such talking about the Oromo wanting independence or not is a wrong generalization. One thing we need to know as a fact is that almost all Oromo politicians (including those who do make the above mentioned rhetoric), deep in their hearts, believe in the right of the Oromo nation to self-determination. This is the hallmark of Oromo nationalists and it is the aim of our mindset (that of our spiritual organization, the OLF). This mindset, the OLF, has got only one kaayyoo of bilisummaa with the three interpretations regarding walabummaa, but it also does persue three karaa’s (strategies) including the following respective three rhetorics serving the strategies:
– OLF mindset in the rebel organizations like the ULFO has got an explicit rhetoric of self-determination, i.e in a form of a national independence, be it within or without a union, and it fights for this kaayyoo by all means,
– OLF mindset in the opposition organizations like OFC has got the rhetoric of struggling for liberation in only the Ethiopian context, but it covertly struggles for the same kaayyoo of self-determination,
– OLF mindset in the ruling organization, the OPDO, has got the rhetoric, which says: “we have already achieved the liberation”, but yet it also covertly pushes for the same and similar kaayyoo.
So, our fellow Oromo nationals, let’s allow this mindset move to the kaayyoo of bilisummaa in all the three karaa’s, despite the rhetoric of some Oromo nationalists in the opposition and in the ruling Oromo organizations. Let our foes know exactly that despite the different rhetorics, the Oromo liberation movement can never be stopped till it achieves the kaayyoo of bilisummaa Oromo and walabummaa Oromia of any type. We only need to motivate ourselves just to make our respective rhetorics and to do our practice in the liberation movement on the karaa each of us chooses in order to come to the only one kaayyoo of self-determination. We have to forget the rhetoric of Oromo politicians in the ruling party and in the opposition parties, who are doing their talks under the gunpoint of Woyane (they are just denying the right of Oromo people to self-determination at gunpoint) and let’s strive to achieve our kaayyoo, which is already determined by our mindset lead by the OLF.
I am personally against any sort of dictatorial unity, and I am a supporter of a possible union of independent nations in the empire/region based on the free will of the respective peoples. Any unity without Oromo’s public verdict will fail, take it only 1 year, about 10 years or as long as 100 years. That is why I do advocate for a lasting solution based on free will of all the stakeholders, instead of the temporary hoyaa-hoyee of unity as a wishy-washy solution. Some organizations seem to have chosen unconditional Ethiopian unity as a precondition for the alliance against Woyane, but the unity they do strive for will surely never last long, because it is not based on accepting the self-determination of peoples, but based on a predetermination of the future fate of peoples by only few elites. The future coming alliance against Woyane, which may be forged by the OLF et al must be based on a solid ground and must take the self-determination of nations, rather than the unconditional unity of the region/empire, as the precondition for an alliance.
This way or that way, our foes need to know that, they can only manipulate and delay the realization of Oromo’s right to self-determination, but they can never hinder it. Oromo’s mindset is leading us to our only one kaayyoo, i.e to the self-determination of the Oromo people, however long it may take. Our enemies like it or not, in reality almost all Oromo nationalists are led in our liberation struggle by this mindset. That is why the International Crisis Group (ICG) wrote: “despite its organizational flaws and divisions, many ordinary Oromos retain an almost messianic belief in the OLF as the major nationalist organization”. So, I would like to say: long live the OLF as both a fighter jet and a trinity (the OLF with only one kaayyoo of self-determination, but with the three possible interpretations of walabuummaa to be achieved through the three karaa’s accompanied by the three rhetorics).
Just regarding the Oromo nationals, who do prefer the Hindi- or the English-style of walabummaa, I personally can understand when some of them do refuse accepting the name Ethiopia as belonging to the Oromo people, but we need to dig deep to come to the facts that the name Ethiopia is not far from the history of the Oromo people in particular and from that of the Cush in general. To illustrate this fact with concrete example, who was the warrior named Abraham Ashine (the name Ashine has got a meaning in Afaan Oromo: ‘we have begotten a child’), the man who bravely conquered and ruled Yemen as the Cushitic Ethiopia used to include not only the areas in the north eastern Africa, but also some areas in Arabia? The issue of this hero, Abraham Ashine, must be researched and the role of the Oromo in ruling even Yemen must be rightly interpreted. Fact seems to show that the Yemenites themselves were/are Cushites and the tricolor of their flag shows it all. Simply put, the Oromo people can win only when we do understand our lost and real history. The Oromo people now fighting against our own history of the Cushites (Ethiopiawinet in its true sense) is not as such constructive. Even the Agew dynasty of Lalibela (Elalibela) was part of the Cushitic Oromo kingdom; also the Aksum history is not that of the “Semetic Tigreans” as usually told. Can we really find an ancient history that the Tigreans did build in Aksum, which is not part of the Cushitic Oromo civilization? We can further say that many parts of the Arabian history are based mainly on the Oromo’s culture, because of the fact that Abraham Ashine, the king who conquered and ruled Arabia seems to be an Oromo in particular and a Cushite in general. Interestingly, even the name of the continent Asia is said to be derived from this Oromo name Ashine, according to some recorded histories, legends or stories.
The more we dig deep, the better we know our real history and the best we can be in a position to charter our future beneficial destiny. So let’s, Oromo nationalists, be sure that we are on the right line of understanding and interpreting our history and let’s look at the fact that not only an independent Oromia of the Ruski-style, but also an integrative Oromia in a form of either a Hindi-style or an English-style can be the right kaayyoo, for which we, the Oromo nationalists, can fight. In summary, we can be like a fighter jet shooting from its three parts to attack our main enemy, the oppressive Abyssinianist elites’ system of domination which acts against our Oromummaa by targetting specially Aadaa-, Afaan-, Biyya-, Alaabaa-, and Amanti-Oromo (Waaqeffanna). Now, the very concious harmonization of the three parts of our fighter jet in targetting our enemy in unison is the alpha and omega of the Oromo liberation movement in order to be successful in our struggle. As an effective and efficient symbol of this action in unity towards the common purpose of bilisummaa Oromoo in a form of self-determination, the Alaabaa of TQO (Tokkummaa Qabsaa’ota Oromoo), which I already proposed in my last two articles, is the neutral banner, behind which we all can rally. May Rabbi/Waaqa help us, all the Oromo nationalists, to cooperate with each other, to coordinate our efforts and to move in unison towards our kaayyoo of bilisummaa Oromoo and walabummaa Oromia. May HE bless Oromia and the Oromo people!
Galatooma!
yaa ijoollee teenya uummanni oromoo baroota dheeraa gabrummaa jala kan turreef biyya dhaba osoo hin tane barnoota dhaba.