3 thoughts on “Resources”

1. Woyane’s Best Method to Divide and Polarize the Opposition!

   OLF’s way of struggle these days is very smart; it effectively tackled the Woyane’s method of destroying any opposition by DIVIDING. It is becoming inclusive of all groups of Oromo nationalists with the vision to realize one of the three different forms of walabummaa Oromia/Ethiopia, for which they want to vote, after achieving the common Oromo goal: bilisummaa Oromo. We do love ALL these Oromo nationalists, who are fighting for an Oromo FREEDOM (bilisummaa) from Woyane’s fascism (garbummaa), knowing the fact that they wish to realize one of the following types of Oromia’s sovereignity (type of walabummaa):

   – an independent Oromia of the ULFO (getting rid of Ethiopia),
   – the Ethiopia-Oromia (Ethiopian union with Oromian autonomy) of the OFC, and
   – an integrated/unitary Ethiopia to be led by the Oromo people and having Afaan Oromo as a federal working language as planned by the politically conscious Oromo nationalists in the UDJ (getting rid of Oromia).

   Which type of the sovereignity will prevail in the future depends on the vote of the Oromo majority after achieving our bilisummaa by any means possible (through the armed struggle of the OLA and/or through the public uprising of an all-inclusive alliance and/or through the electroal struggle of the OFC). So, it is good that OLF now leads these moves of the politically conscious Oromo nationalists in different routes/ways towards the same kaayyoo of bilisummaa Oromo and then to the type of walabummaa Oromia/Ethiopia to be decided by the Oromo public majority.

   To hinder this clever move of the OLF, the fact on the ground nowadays is that the “smart” Woyanes are trying their best to preach an ‘unconditional Independent Oromia’ and an ‘unconditional Unitary Ethiopia’ at the same time, just for the sake of trying to sow a discord between the Amhara democratic forces and the Oromo liberation fronts so that the tsunami of the REVOLUTION, which is now almost coming up on their bosses in Finfinne palace, may be hindered; i.e to prevent the tsunami coming from the planned all-inclusive alliance. We like it or not, the spirit of AFD is on the process of resurrecting and reviving, which is really an excellent phenomen on development. Meles Zenawi’s political acrobat as well put by Gadaa.com in the following link will never prevent such an all-inclusive alliance from being a reality: http://gadaa.com/oduu/9059/2011/04/22/zenawis-ethiopia-hegemony-of-separatists-turned-article-39ers-turned-chauvinists/ . Interestingly Meles Zenawi has already dispatched his cadres in three directions (being camouflaged as independenists in the Ethno-nationalists’ camp of the Oromo, as killil-federalists in his Woyane camp of the Tegaru and as unitarists in the Ethio-nationalists’ camp of the Amhara):

   – in Amhara forums and paltalks to preach a ‘Unitary Ethiopia’ and to demonize the Ethno-nationalists, specially to blame the Ogaden and the Oromo liberation forces;
   – in Tegaru forums and paltalks to act as the popes of ethnic federation (braging about §39) just in order to curse the Amhara unitarists as “chauvinists” and the Oromo independenists as “secessionists”;
   – in Oromo forums and paltalks to function as hardliner supporters of an ‘Indepnendent Oromia’ just to denigrate and to insult the Amhara camp.

   At the moment, the card of the ‘Tigrean independence’, which Meles Zenawi used to preach as he was a rebel, has no more value, as long as Woyane is in power. Even if the Woyane cadres try to use this card, no one is scared of it; also the pro-unity Amharas do say: “go to hell and declare your independence”! This card of course will be important when Woyane starts to see that its power in Finfinne palace is in danger. Till then Woyane purposely advocates an UNCONDITIONAL ‘Independent Oromia’ to the Oromo, so that the Oromo people be cornered only at this position, not to be flexible. Woyane knows very well that this position has got a lot of enemies (not only the unitarist Amhara, but also the Western regimes). With the same logic, Woyane preaches to the Amhara nationalists how important an UNCONDITIONAL ‘Unitary Ethiopia’ is, because this position produces an enemity of all the oppressed nations in the Ethiopian empire, including the act of inducing the enemity of the Oromo, towards the Amhara. That means Woyane’s best cards now are these two diametrically opposite positions: an ‘unconditional independent Oromia’ and an ‘unconditional unitary Ethiopia’, of course beside its continous song about Woyane’s ethnic federation per force (about its de facto Tigrean hegemony).

   Actually the flag, which Meles Zenawi carries in the first picture drawn by Gadaa.com, is the OLF-flag with the slogan “Oromia shall be free”! He already has hidden the “Abbay Tigrai” agenda and the “Tigrai shall be free” slogan behind his current Ethiopianist rhetoric. He is happy when the pro-”Oromia shall be free” Oromo nationals and the pro-”Long live Ethiopia” Amhara groups do bark at each other and neutralize each other; that is why he promotes both the Ethiopian and the Oromian nationalisms and tries to control the two emotional communities, who he thinks are ready to be moblized when ever he wants. He tried to mobilize the emotional Amhara nationalists against OLF in the time between 1992 and 2005 and he attempted to moblize some Oromo nationals during the 2005 election and after that against the CUD of Amhara camp; now he again tries to mobilize the gullible part of the Amhara nationals using his Ethiopian nationalist slogan about Abbay River, of course to hinder them from cooperating with the Oromo nationalists during the upcoming REVOLUTION. To some extent he is successful; for instance, the fact that Oromo students are now revolting without any help from other students is the proof.

   To counter this Meles Zenawi’s move towards the ‘Right’ side of the political spectrum, just to make the Ethio-nationalists to rally behind himself, I think the ongoing cooperation between G-7, ONLF and OLF is a smart progress. They need to foster the necessary all-inclusive alliance based on the common denominators, ‘FREEDOM and democracy’, so that we can build a TRUE killil-federation (Oromian autonomy within Ethiopian union) after the demise of the regime. The independenist wing of the OLF and those in ULFO should be wise enough not to oppose this move. Now the arguement among the Oromo polity on: ‘independence vs union’ must stop! Even we don’t have to oppose the position of the pro-unitary Ethiopian forces as long as they fight against the brutal fascist Woyane.

   So, the best anti-dote against the current Woyane’s move is that we do everything possible to make Woyane be insecure and if possible to lose power. The best instruments to achieve this are the IMPERATIVE ‘tokkummaa of the Oromo liberation forces’ and the IMPORTANT ‘tumsa with the other democratic forces’. I am sure that the Oromo people do have nothing to lose by pushing in this form. Those Oromo nationals, who fear the possible comeback of the Amhara elites with the assimilationist feudal mentality to reverse the partially achieved Oromo’s right to self-adminstration, are simply unrealistic! So let’s fight together with ALL the anti-Woyane forces in order to achieve our national Oromo liberty with regional Ethiopian union.

   I personally think that now we do have only one ALL-inclusive opposition against Woyane. This opposition camp has got the ‘LEFT’ wing Independenists like the ULFO, the ‘MIDDLE’ body Unionists like those in MEDREK as well as those with the spirit of AFD (the G-7, OLF and ONLF) and the ‘RIGHT’ wing Integrationists like the AEUP and EPRP. Now, we are in the critical phase of the struggle where we need the cooperation and coordination of the move of all these three parts of the opposition against our common enemy (against the fascist and racist Woyane). That is why we all anti-Woyane political groups should stop our infighitng and start to target only the Woyane, so that we can forge a transitional governement based on the principles of freedom and democracy after the fall of this regime.

   Nothing can save the political acrobatist Meles Zenawi, from the imminent and the upcoming REVOLUTION; that means the time is for a revolution. But we, the Oromo nationalists, do ask: where are the other students, while the Oromo students are revolting? Why are the Amhara students and the students from the other opressed nations still sleeping? Are they still the victims of Woyane’s divide and rule method? We actually must be able to say together: no more antagonizing the all-inclusive freedom fighters in favour of the Woyane fascist forces. It is clear that the Woyane fascists and racists survived by dividing, fragmentizing and polarizing both the Amhara integrationist camp and the Oromo independenist camp among themselves and between each other.

   But now the question is: how long will both the Ethiopian nationalists’ camp of the Amhara and the Ethnic nationalists’ bloc of the Oromo allow the Woyane to play with them and how long do they give a chance for this mafia group to beat them turn by turn? Are they less intelligent than the Woyane not to outsmart this fascist and racist regime? Time will show us for how long Woyane will play the game of pure political acrobat, presenting itself (camouflaging) as either the Oromo independenist or as the only Ethiopian unionist (killil-federalist) or as the Amhara integrationist just to sow a discord among the opposition and make these different parts of the opposition to fight each other; actually the ONLY true motive of Woyane is to keep the Tigrean hegemony at any cost. On the day that the Oromo nationalists start to make also the issue of an integrated Ethiopia as their own REGIONAL issue, of course beside an independent Oromia as the NATIONAL issue, and on the day the Amhara nationals start to accept and respect Oromia’s right to exist, at least within an integrated Ethiopia, this day will be the day of a real demise for the fascist and racist Woyane regime.

   Otherwise, we have to be able to differentiate Woyane political acrobatists from the genuine independenist Oromo, the unionist (federalist) South and the integrationist Amhara. To know this difference, what matters is not the position of their guts, but more the direction of their guns. Woyane cadres do direct their guns (verbal bullets) on pro-integration Amhara nationals and on pro-independence Oromo nationalists, whereas the genuine opposition from these two camps nowadays consequently and conciously try to direct their guns ONLY on the currently tormenting enemy (the Woyane). Woyane cadres shoot continously at these genuine Amhara and Oromo groups, whereas the genuine pro-independence Oromo and the genuine pro-integration Amhara nationals do try to tolerate all the opposition political groups with their different tactics and strategies in struggling for FREEDOM from Woyane’s fascism. So we just need to check the direction of their guns in order to differenitate the camouflaged Woyane cadres talking about an ‘independent Oromia’ and an ‘integrated Ethiopia’ from both the genuine opposition blocs advocating these two same agenda respectively.

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2. —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. Then, we came in to a situation, which helped some Oromo nationals percieve, accept and respect the existence of an Oromo national area (Oromia) in the Ethiopian empire, but yet without an attempt to separate this area from Ethiopia, the empire, which is said to be 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. These three visions (Oromia is the whole Ethiopia, Oromia within Ethiopia, and an independent Oromia without Ethiopia) and the respective political movements are still entertained in the Oromo society at large, the common denominator of the three forces 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 is like a fighter jet, which has got the left-wing, the middle-body and the right-wing as three important 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 Hindi 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 with the name 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 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 a Cushitic Ethiopian union, similar to that of the british United Kingdom and promote Afaan Oromo to a 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 elites of Amhara, Tigrai and Eritrea) 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 these 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 observing 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 national ‘independence within a union’ Vs. ‘independence without a union’.

   We know that OLF permanently advocates all the three: the independence of Oromia, the Oromos’ right to self-determination, and 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 an ‘independence within a union’ and an ‘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 an ‘independence without a union’.
   – OLF3 of Gn. Kamal looks like having a decision, which favours an ‘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 the following three karaa’s (strategies) with their respective rhetorics:

   – 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, 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 possible alliance against the Woyane, which may be forged by the OLF et al must be based on a solid ground by taking 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 types of sovereignty to be achieved through the three karaa’s accompanied by the three rhetorics).

   Just regarding some politically vigilant Oromo nationalists, I personally can understand when they 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 (Ashine means in Afaan Oromo: ‘we have begotten a child’), the man who bravely conquered and ruled certain parts of Arabia as the ancient Cushitic Ethiopia used to include not only the areas in the north eastern Africa, but also some regions in Arabia? The issue of this hero, Abraham Ashine, must be researched and the role of the Oromo in ruling even this part of Arabia including Yemen must be rightly interpreted. Fact on the ground seems to show that the Yemenites and some other Asians themselves were/are Cushites and their tricolors, similar to that of Abbaa-Gadaa’s faajjii, show 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. The Agew dynasty of Lalibela (Elalibela) and even the Aksum history is not that of the “Semetics” as usually told, but part and parcel of the Cushitic kingdoms. Can we really find an ancient history that the Tigreans did build in Aksum, which is not part of the Cushitic civilization? Let alone Abyssinian history, we can further say that parts of the Arabian history are based mainly on the Oromo’s (Cushitic) 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 still acts against our Oromummaa by targetting specially Aadaa-, Afaan-, Biyya-, Alaabaa-, and Amanti-Oromo (Waaqeffanna). Now, the very conscious 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!

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3. Jabadhaa saba koo !!!!!!!!! hangamii turitulee lafti bari hin olituu!!!! ani qabeeynaalee hin qabu wana qabu hunda WBOF kenuuf dubati hin jedhuu garuu karaa kam gargaru dandeenyaa!!! yaa laamii koo!!!!!!!!!!!

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