On this date in 1996, Oromo singer Ebbissaa Addunyaa was slain in his Addis Ababa home.
He “appeared to have been extrajudicially executed on suspicion of supporting theOLF,” according to Amnesty International. “No investigations were known to have taken place into allegations of torture, ”disappearance” or extrajudicial execution.”
Ebbisaa Addunyaa was not tried for anything, never mind convicted. His “execution” was a close cousin to simple murder … but a murder carried out by state security forces, targeting him specifically, and acting, if not under color of law, at least with legal impunity.
Ebbisaa and his friend Tana Wayessa
were at Ebbisaa’s home … north of the American Embassy in Addis Ababa, when gunmen burst in. Eyewitnesses claim the bodies were dragged from the house and put in a Land Rover with a government license plate. The security men, who carried out the murders, first cleared the street. Residents who looked out of their houses after the gunfire were told to get back indoors. The bodies were recovered [the] next day from the morgue at the Menelik II hospital.
All this took place in the turbulent 1990s wake of the collapsed Derg dictatorship. An initial multiparty post-Derg coalition government had included the Oromo Liberation Front — an organization upholding the rights of Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group — but the OLF soon withdrew from the coalition.
Ebbisaa was an OLF cadre who used his musical gifts for advocacy, and became a target when the outlawed OLF was forced underground.
A United Nations “Special Rapporteur” monitors “Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions” for the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
Many of the Special Rapporteur’s reports dating back to the 1990s are available on the website of NYU’s Project on Extrajudicial Executions, and the 1997 country report (pdf) for Ethiopia reveals that Ebbisaa’s execution/assassination/murder was only one in a pattern.
The Special Rapporteur transmitted the following allegations of violations of the right to life concerning 16 identified persons and 13 unidentified persons: Ahmed Good Abdi, Ahmed Sanay Farah, Ahmed Sangaab and Hassan Ahmed Sagal, reportedly arrested and killed on 8 August 1996 in Toon-Ceeley by members of the Ethiopian armed forces; Ebissa Addunya, a singer and musician, and Tana Wayessa, reportedly shot and killed on 30 August 1996 by members of the Ethiopian security forces in the former’s house in Addis Ababa; 4 unidentified persons reportedly killed on 8 August 1996 in Gabababo; Awal Idire, aged 16, Awal Sani, aged 13, Badiri Shaza, aged 12, and Usen Kalu, aged 12, reportedly killed on 20 July 1996 by members of the Ethiopian armed forces because they had the initials of the Oromo Liberation Front tattooed on their hands; Mohamed Arabi Hirsi, Abdi Mohamed Yare, Gahnug Yusuf Aare, Mohamed Aw Farah Ga’iye, Haye Hirad, alleged to be tribal chiefs and clan elders, reportedly killed on 18 July 1996 by members of the Ethiopian armed forces; Sarecya Seerar Mohamed, her newborn child and eight other unidentified individuals, reportedly killed in mid-August 1996 by members of the Ethiopian armed forces in Qabridaharre (30 September 1996).
(**Paper presented at the 29th Oromo Studies Association (OSA) Annual Conference, Howard University, Washington, DC, August 1-2, 2015) | Watch the presentation below.
The main purpose of this paper is to theorize Oromummaa by conceptualizing it on different levels and offering theoretical insights and critical analysis of the Oromo national movement in relations to the struggles of other colonized and oppressed peoples.[1] Theorizing and conceptualizingOromummaa specifically in relation to the ideological problem[2] of the Oromo nation movement and that of the others require recognizing the need to transform thinking and scholarship in Oromo politics and studies in order to critically and thoroughly assess the prospects for Oromo politico-cultural transformation and liberation. Theoretically, critically, and practically comprehending Oromummaa as Oromo nationalism, national culture, and identity is essential because the Oromo nation is the fulcrum for bringing about a fundamental transformation in the Ethiopian Empire and the Horn of Africa in order to establish sustainable peace, development, security, and an egalitarian multinational democracy.
The primary reason for this assertion is that the Oromo are the largest national group in the empire and the region; Finfinnee, which the colonialists call Addis Ababa, is the heart of Oromia and the seat of the Ethiopian colonial state, the African Union, and many international organizations. In addition, Oromia is located in the heart of the empire state of Ethiopia, and the Oromo people have already created a cultural corridor with different peoples of the region. The foundation of this corridor is the gadaa system (Oromo democracy), which with other indigenous democratic traditions can be a starting point for building a genuine multinational democracy based on the principles of national self-determination. Although the starting point of this analysis is Oromummaa, the issues of other colonized and oppressed peoples are addressed. As we shall see below, the theory and ideology of Oromummaa embrace the principles of human freedom, social justice, equality, equity, national self-determination, and egalitarian multinational democracy.
First, this paper briefly explains the major theoretical perspectives of regional and global social and national movements and social revolutions. Second, based on these theoretical insights and the principles of national self-determination and egalitarian multinational democracy, which emerges from the gadaa/siqqee[3] heritage and which also borrows from other democratic traditions that expand freedoms, this piece theorizes Oromummaa as an Oromo movement theory. Third, it specifically brings forth ideas about the need to develop Oromo liberation knowledge for advancing a greater understanding of Oromo liberation theory and practice. Fourth, the piece explains how the theory and practice of national Oromummaa facilitates the development of strategies and tactics for advancing the Oromo national struggle and the struggles of other colonized peoples to their final destinies. Fifth, it notes that the development of national Oromummaa, the intensification of the Oromo national movement, overcoming of the deficits of leadership and organizational capability and achieving liberty and the removal unfreedoms in the Oromo society are dialectically interrelated. Finally, the paper demonstrates that the theory and practice of Oromummaa cannot be fully understood and developed without liberation knowledge that emerges from critical Oromo studies and other subaltern knowledge and wisdom.
Theoretical Insights on Movements
While colonial states, nation-states, dominant classes, powerful racial/ethno-national groups, corporations, and patriarchal institutions have been engaged in producing false or biased knowledge, theories, and narratives in order to naturalize and justify all forms of inequality and injustice, various progressive social movements—national movements, women’s movements and labor unions—have struggled to expose and discredit such knowledge by producing alternative narratives, theories, knowledge, and worldviews.[4] Consequently, there are two forms of contradictory processes of theory and knowledge production, narratives, and modes of thought in the capitalist world system: one form is associated with a dominant narrative and knowledge for total control, exploitation and the maintenance of the status quo while the other is associated with subaltern narratives and knowledge for liberation, social justice, and egalitarian democracy.[5] Despite the fact that various social movements, including the Oromo national movement, have introduced some social reforms, they have yet to develop a necessary critical theory of human liberation that invigorates the struggle to overthrow the dominant worldview in order to produce a new politico-economic paradigm—one which will facilitate the emergence of a participatory and egalitarian democracy for all peoples.
Most often, subaltern movements and social revolutions have been about the capture of state power and subsequently have become an integral part of the capitalist world system. As a result, social movements and social revolutions have only been successful in introducing limited changes and reforms that are confined by the parameters of global capitalism.[6] Nevertheless, the increasing crises of the capitalist world-system—the possible depletion of the world’s valuable resources, global financial and ecological crises, growing social inequality, the intensification of terrorism from above and below, and the declining availability of material resources for ordinary people—indicate possible paradigmatic shifts that could shape the prospects for advancing new and system-transformative modes of thought, knowledge, and action.[7] Learning from the past limitations of various social movements and social revolutions, critical scholars who engage in Oromo studies, progressive Oromo forces, and the Oromo national movement, need to develop an alternative knowledge and a critical ideology that are encapsulated in national Oromummaa. This development can help in reimagining a new Oromo worldview beyond domination and exploitation. Similarly, the movements of other colonized and oppressed nations need to develop a critical knowledge and ideology based on their democratic and egalitarian traditions that promote horizontal relations within their societies and in relationship to other societies that struggle for freedom, self-determination, and egalitarian multinational democracy. As this occurs, it is critical that these progressive critical movements engage in dialogue with each other and coordinate their efforts to bring about a social order that respects the full humanity of each person without regard to ethno-national identity, class, gender, religion, or any other conceptual category that has been used to legitimate the domination of one person or group over another.
Mainstream classical scholars of collective behavior, such as Neil J. Smelser, and modernization theorists, such as W. W. Rostow, incorrectly considered social movements as abnormal and irrational or deviant.[8] These theorists believed that the collective behavior of social revolutions and movements are caused by factors such as social breakdown, strain, deprivation, discontent, cognitive dissonance, ambiguity, and psychological frustration.[9] Such theorists blamed the victims for struggling for their own emancipation. The mainstream theoretical approaches of social movements have failed to explain how the politicized collective grievances lead to collective action. In the 1960s, resource mobilization theory emerged, challenging the classical model of collective behavior and social movements.[10] National liberation movements such as that of the African American and Oromo flourished in the Rest and the West. The African American national struggle developed in the US in its reformist, revolutionary, and cultural phases.[11] Progressive movement scholars and activists started to use neo-Marxism and conflict theory as alternative theories to explain the relationship among political power, conflict, and domination. Resource mobilization theory as a theoretical paradigm shift challenged the collective behavior approach. This theory primarily depended on political, sociological, and economic theories and paid less attention to political interests, social psychology, and other issues.[12]
Criticizing resource mobilization theory, political process theory emerged in the 1970s by explaining social movements in relation to capitalism, industrialization, urbanization, and state formation.[13] The political process model criticized resources mobilization for: (1) downplaying politics and political interests; (2) deemphasizing the role of grievances, ignoring ideology, and exaggerating rationalistic roles of movement actors; and (3) ignoring group solidarity as well as social psychology.[14] Combining the traditions of Karl Marx, Max Weber, and John Stuart Mill, Charles Tilly emphasized the importance of ideology, grievances, aspects of rationality, the importance of social solidarity and common interests, and the availability of political opportunities for social movements to emerge and develop.[15] Tilly integrated the Marxian tradition that recognizes conflicting interests, the existence of conflict, and the importance of organization with the Weberian tradition that stresses commitment to belief systems.[16]
Political process theory recognizes factors such as the availability of material, intellectual, and cultural resources, the capacity for mobilizing these resources for collective action, the importance of the existence of preexisting social networks, organizations, and institutions, and the rationality of participants in weighing costs and benefits for engaging in collective action of social movements.[17]Similarly, criticizing resource mobilization theory, Doug McAdam further developed political process theory.[18] He identified that mobilization theory blurs the difference between the oppressed classes and groups and the established polity members, over exaggerates elite’s financial support for social movements, minimizes the role of the masses in movements, lacks clarity on the concept of resources, and glosses over the issue of grievances. McAdam identified two necessary conditions for social movements to challenge the established political system. These two conditions are the structure of political opportunities such as political and economic crises and the strength of indigenous political organizations that are equipped by cognitive liberation. Cognitive liberation has three dimensions, namely the recognition of the illegitimacy of the established system, the capacity to overcome fatalism among the populace in order to believe in changing a social system, and the ability to believe that introducing social change is possible.[19]
Furthermore, another theory called framing and social construction emerged to criticize political process theory for giving a secondary role for collective grievances in the development of social movements.[20] This theory focuses on micro-level social dynamics and emphasizes framing, signification, media, and social psychology. It also pays attention to both symbolic interaction and cultural theories that help in the construction of meaning and understanding of grievances, motivations, recruitment process, and identity formation. Framing and construction theory identifies three categories and focuses on them. These three categories are: (1) the process through which social movements frame grievances as injustice and illegitimate and require a collective challenge; (2) the recognition of movements such as status and identity politics, religious movements, lifestyle interests, and environmental concerns; and (3) the necessity to understand the role of meaning and signification.[21] By focusing on micro-level analysis, framing and social construction theory emphasizes the importance of cognitive liberation for politicizing grievances. Cognitive liberation allows people to integrate individual interests, values, and beliefs with the activities, goals, and ideology of social movements.
When there is cognitive liberation or the transformation of consciousness and behavior, movements emerge. The process of the transformation of political consciousness indicates that when movement actors do not recognize the legitimacy of a given establishment, they may organize and engage in collective action. Most political process theorists focus on structural factors of political opportunity and organization and have paid less attention to subjective factors such as cognitive liberation.[22] William Gamson recognized the importance of micro-mobilization and cognitive liberation, and identified the role of ideas and political consciousness in shaping collective action.[23] In micro-mobilization, know-how is very important, and it includes “a repertoire of knowledge about how to engage in collective action along with the skills to apply that knowledge.”[24] Micro-level analyzing and convincing people to mobilize and organize require building loyalty, managing the logistics of collective action, mediating internal conflict, and framing and politicizing grievances in relation to structural factors.[25]
Referring to the theoretical framework of Ervin Goffman, Steven M. Buechler defines framing as an “interpretive schemata that people use to identify, label, and render meaningful events in their lives. Frames allow people to organize experiences and guide actions, both in everyday life and in social movements.”[26] The dominant classes and groups in the capitalist world system can control and exploit oppressed classes and other subaltern groups because they have the know-hows, skills, and knowledge as well as economic resources for developing central organizing ideologies that can be translated into organizational capacity.[27] Overall, the critical integration of the theories of resource mobilization, political process, and framing and social construction is necessary to understand how the Oromo national movement and other movements emerged in the Ethiopian Empire. These movements have also continued to develop political consciousness through developing the knowledge for liberation to expose the fallacy and irrationality of Ethiopian knowledge for domination, control and exploitation. So Oromummaa, as a theory, emerges through such processes.
Oromummaa as an Oromo Movement Theory
Beginning in the early 1960s, a few Oromo nationalists transformed, to certain degree, the consciousness of the Oromo people who had been reduced to a collection of so-called “tribes” and “raw material” by the Ethiopian colonial state and its global supporters. In other words, these colonial and imperial forces intentionally separated the Oromo people from their history and culture and made them a collection of the so-called tribes and raw material from which they could form other nations. With the help of the European colonial powers, Abyssinia/Ethiopia defeated the Oromo nation eliminating its sovereignty, and separating its people from the democratic traditions they enjoyed under the gadaa/siqqee institution. Being colonized, the Oromo could no longer access the free social and economic arrangements and institutions they had as an independent people. Previously, they had political and civil rights including the freedoms of organization, expression, and participation in public discussion which they could use to remove major sources of unfreedoms.[28] Ethiopian colonialism brought unfreedoms to Oromo society in abundance. Amartya Sen identifies such unfreedoms as poverty, social deprivation, dictatorship, repression, social control, terror, ignorance, and disease.[29]
The Ethiopian colonial institutional arrangements have prevented the Oromo nation from exercising its own agency, denying it economic opportunity, political freedom, and social and political power. The colonial power has also not allowed the Oromo to develop a health and education infrastructure, build cultural capital, and make their motivation and creativity visible. As a result, Oromummaa, as Oromo nationalism, developed to remove these unfreedoms from Oromo society. The regimes of Haile Selassie and Mengistu Haile Mariam tried their best to brutally suppress this flowering of Oromo nationalism by imprisoning and murdering Oromo nationalists. Despite the fact that the Macha-Tulama Self-Help Association, the Afran Qallo Cultural movement, and the Bale Oromo armed struggle were suppressed, Oromo nationalism survived in the form of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). Beginning in the early 1990s, Oromo political awareness and consciousness began to expand; this was one of the victories of the Oromo national movement led by the OLF.
As the consequence of the Oromo national struggle, Oromummaa, as a national identity, culture, and ideology, has been reshaped as the result of the heavy price paid by the lives of thousands of Oromo heroines and heroes at the hand of the Ethiopian state. In addition, Afaan Oromoo has become an official language in the Oromia Regional State, which is still a colony of Ethiopia; it has been written in Qubee, an adapted Latin alphabet rather than Ge’ez, the Amharic-Tigre alphabet. The Oromo national movement has forced the current Ethiopian regime to allow Oromo elementary and high school children to learn in their language although the content of the literature they learn is controlled and manipulated by the neo-nafxanya Tigrayans who distort Oromo history, culture, and politics. Although the colonial aggressors from of the Tigrayan minority nation control and exploit Oromia and some of its territories were given to other nations, it has been recognized as the regional state of the Oromo people. Despite the fact that a few scholars have begun to study the recent changes taking place in Oromo society, adequate studies are not available. Oromo intellectuals in Oromia still lack the political freedom to scientifically study and publish scholarly articles and books on the changes taking place in Oromo society.
In addition, Oromo intellectuals in the diaspora lack unfettered access to their society because of the restrictions on political freedom in Oromia and its surroundings. For almost three decades, the Oromo Studies Association (OSA) has functioned in the diaspora and is unable to hold its annual conferences in Oromia because of the lack of political freedom. Oromo intellectuals and activists do not have the political space in Oromia to collectively debate and decide the future of Oromo studies. Despite all of these problems, the Ethiopian colonial state has been unable to prevent the development of Oromummaa in the form of language, national culture, and ideology and identity in Oromia and beyond. Although there are numerous internal and external forces that are trying to abort the development of Oromummaa, it is slowly and surely becoming a reality. In this context, providing some theoretical insights on the issues of Oromummaa and the Oromo national movement in relation to broader social movement theories is necessary. By critically understanding and integrating the theories of resource mobilization, political process, and framing and social construction, we can better understand why there is still the deficit of leadership and organizational capacity in Oromo society. Without knowing the sources of this problem, it is impossible to seek ways of solving it.
Building Oromo national leadership and organizational capacity requires ideological clarity; resource mobilization in the form of money, human capital, and knowledge; critical understanding of objective and subjective conditions; and liberation knowledge in order to facilitate the development of cognitive liberation among the Oromo. The theory of Oromummaa as a backward- and forward-looking phenomenon combines all these processes for the purpose of facilitating the development of cognitive liberation for building Oromo national leadership and organizational capacity. Without cognitive liberation in Oromo political consciousness and behavior, it is impossible to fully develop a national Oromummaa, which is the ideological foundation of the Oromo national movement. Ideology plays many roles in a society; its essential function is to define and promote the political, material, and cultural interests of a group, nation, social class, state, or other entity. It also “offers an explanation and an evaluation of political, economic, and social condition; provides its holders a compass that helps orient them and develop a sense of identity; and tenders a prescription for political, economic, or social action.”[30] Therefore, it is a priority of the Oromo national movement to have the clarity in its ideology, which Oromummaa provides.
Theorizing Oromummaa in general, and its different levels in particular, is essential for increasing cognitive liberation and building consensus and the unity of purpose in the diverse leadership of the Oromo movement in order to consolidate its organizational capacity. Furthermore, the theory and practice of Oromummaa help in exposing the ideological fallacy of Ethiopianism,[31] universalism, progress, modernity, development, civilization, and humanity that mainstream theories and knowledge use as a legitimating discourse in order to hide the massive human rights violations of indigenous peoples such as the Oromo and other subaltern groups by contributing to the perpetuation of unfreedoms such as underdevelopment, poverty, and suffering. By refuting the false claims of Ethiopians, which supports and promotes colonialism, national Oromummaa advocates freedom, social justice, national self-determination, and egalitarian multinational democracy for all peoples who are suffering in the Ethiopian Empire and beyond.
The theorization of Oromummaa requires at least five levels of conceptualization: at the first level, having a basic form of Oromummaa means to manifest Oromoness by practicing some aspects of Oromo culture, language, belief systems, values, norms, customs, and traditions. Whether an Oromo is politically conscious or not, she or he automatically develops this form of Oromummaa because of the influence of the Oromo family and community institutions. Hence, every Oromo, if not totally assimilated by another culture, has the basic form of Oromummaa. At this historical moment, most Oromo have this kind of Oromummaa even though their national political consciousness is limited. On the basic level, most Oromo speak the same language called Afaan Oromoo, claim a common historical and cultural background, and face similar challenges of Ethiopian colonial terrorism, repression, cultural domination, exploitation, and humiliation. To a greater or lesser extent, most Oromo manifest basic Oromummaa in their cultural values, norms, and belief systems that have been encoded in and expressed by Afaan Oromoo, which unites all Oromo branches as one people/one nation. Therefore, the Oromo language is the primary carrier of the essence and features of Oromo culture, tradition, history, and peoplehood. Since the Ethiopian colonizers have failed to destroy Afaan Oromoo and replace it by their own language, Amharic or Tigre, they have been unable to successfully suppress this most basic form of Oromummaa.
Oromummaa, as the total expression of Oromo peoplehood, has developed from the historical, cultural, religious, and philosophical experiences of Oromo society. As a self and collective schema, Oromummaa encapsulates a set of fundamental beliefs, values, moral codes, and guiding principles that shape the Oromo national identity and make Oromo society different from other societies. Consequently, basic Oromummaa is built on personal, interpersonal, and collective connections. It is “a historically shaped form of knowledge that emerged out of the Oromo experience of several centuries of life and living (jiruf jireenya)… [It has] served as a mechanism that built Oromo society in the past and left its unique mark upon the people, and their environment.”[32] Similarly, other colonized peoples have basic essence and features that are the foundations of their cultures, histories and identities. Every national group in the Ethiopian Empire must have its rights to national self-determination and to develop its identity and self-esteem without being subordinated to another national group or groups. The politics of liberation and democracy involves these fundamental rights that Oromummaa as both theory and practice promotes.
Currently, the Tigrayan-led Ethiopian minority government that claims that it has allowed cultural autonomy for the Oromo and others actually opposes the manifestation of basic and other forms of Oromummaa. According to the November 2014 report of Amnesty International, entitled “Because I am Oromo,”
Expression of Oromo culture and heritage have been interpreted as manifestations of dissent, and the government has also shown signs of fearing cultural expression as a potential catalyst for opposition to the government. Oromo singers, writers and poets have been arrested for allegedly criticizing the government and/or inciting people through their work. People wearing traditional Oromo clothing have been arrested at Oromo traditional festivals.[33]
The Ethiopian colonialists have attacked the individual psyche and biography of the Oromo, as well as their collective culture and history. These attacks have been carried out through various forms of violence, including colonial terrorism.[34] According to Hussein Abdilahi Bulhan, “Violence is any relation, process, or condition by which an individual or a group violates the physical, social, and/or psychological integrity of another person or group. From this perspective, violence inhibits human growth, negates inherent potential, limits productive living, and causes death”[35] (emphasis in original). In order to make the Oromo and other peoples submissive and control and exploit their labor and economic resources, successive Ethiopian governments have used different forms of violence that have resulted in genocidal massacres as well as societal and cultural destruction. The current report of Amnesty International mentioned above attests to this reality.
Basic Oromummaa primarily remained at the personal and interpersonal levels because the Oromo were denied the opportunity to form and maintain national institutions. They have been also denied a formal education and free institutional spaces by successive Ethiopian governments that have not tolerated the existence of independent Oromo leadership, institutions and organizations. The Ethiopian colonialists have also expropriated Oromo economic resources and destroyed Oromo institutions, cultural experts, and leaders. Oppressors don’t only want to control the oppressed economically, culturally, and politically; they also want to control their minds, thus ensuring the effectiveness of domination. The mental control of the oppressed causes personal and collective damage.[36] The passivity of the majority of the Oromo and the mental enslavement of most Oromo collaborative elites are the major reasons why the Oromo people who comprise almost the half of the population in the Ethiopian Empire are brutalized, murdered, and terrorized by the minority Tigrayan elites today. Most Oromo collaborators have repressed their Oromo norms and values through the process of Amharization/Ethiopianization and suffer from an inferiority complex. Without the emancipation of Oromo individuals and groups from this inferiority complex and without overcoming the ignorance and the worldviews that the enemies of the Oromo have imposed on them, the Oromo collaborative class and the Oromo masses lack the self-confidence necessary to facilitate individual liberation and Oromo emancipation.
The Oromo collaborative elites who are opportunists or lack a sense of Oromo nationalism have become raw material in the hands of successive Ethiopian regimes and have participated in the implementation of their terrorist and genocidal policies. As Frantz Fanon notes, “The intermediary does not lighten the oppression, nor seek to hide the domination…he [she] is the bringer of violence into the home and into the mind of the native.”[37] Ethiopian Colonialism was and is maintained by engaging in mental genocide, cultural destruction, and the assimilation of a sector of the Oromo population that has abandoned its basic sense of Oromummaa. However, Oromo cultural memory has survived to a certain degree despite the fact that the Ethiopian colonialists have denied the Oromo opportunities to develop the Oromo system of knowledge by preventing the full transmission of Oromo cultural experiences from generation to generation. Successive Ethiopian governments have designed policies and practices to uproot basic Oromummaa in order to produce individuals and groups who lack self-respect and are submissive and ready to serve the colonialists at the cost of their own people. Under these conditions, the Oromo basic needs and self-actualizing powers have not been fulfilled. “If failure to satisfy biological needs leads to disease and physical death,” Hussein Abdilahi Bulhan notes, “then denial of human contact, communication, and affirmation…leads to a social and psychological ‘starvation’ or ‘death.’”[38]
The Ethiopian colonialists have caused the physical death of millions, and further attempted to introduce social and cultural death to the Oromo by suppressing their basic Oromummaa and by preventing them from developing Oromo nationalism. Those who were born into Oromo families and lost their basic Oromummaa developed an inferiority complex and sense of self-hatred that Ethiopian colonialism had imposed on them; some of them have becomes the tools of the Ethiopian state. Since the colonization of the Oromo, one of the goals of the Ethiopian state has been the destruction of an independent Oromo leadership; the Amhara-Tigrayan state has used both violent and institutional mechanisms to ensure that the Oromo remain leaderless. In addition, to ensure its colonial domination, the Ethiopian state has destroyed or suppressed Oromo institutions while glorifying, establishing, and expanding the Amhara-Tigrayan institutions such as language, government, and Orthodox Christianity in Oromia and beyond.[39] This state has also sought to suppress Oromo history, culture, and language while promoting that of the Abyssinians. The main reason for suppressing or destroying the major Oromo institutions was to prevent the transmission of the Oromo system of knowledge and wisdom, the Oromo belief systems and cultural norms from generation to generation, and to prevent “each new generation [from] engaging creatively with the circumstances in which they found themselves to find expression for the core values in the way they organized themselves.”[40]
Oromummaa as a conceptual and theoretical framework is elastic and expands to the political arena. Therefore, an Oromo, who has an Oromummaa as a national ideology, is somewhat different on the level of political knowledge and consciousness from other Oromo who have yet to develop this ideology or Oromo nationalism. The combined process of developing the Oromo nationalist ideology and engaging in the struggle for national self-determination is the second level ofOromummaa. Between the first and the second levels of Oromummaa, however, there is the stage of achieving political awareness. Most Oromo began to develop national political awareness in 1991, when the OLF joined the Transition Government of Ethiopia dominated by the Tigrayan Liberation Front (TPLF) that was then supported by its Godfather, the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front, the governments of Sudan and the USA. The West supports the TPLF financially, militarily, and diplomatically.
At the second level, Oromummaa is seen as a nationalist ideology that attempts to mobilize the entire Oromo people to restore their national culture, history, identity, language, human dignity, and freedoms that Ethiopian colonialism has destroyed or suppressed for more than a century. At this level of Oromummaa, Oromo political awareness is transformed into Oromo nationalism and enables Oromo individuals, families, groups, and communities to comprehend the illegitimacy, evilness, and criminality of Ethiopian colonialism and to struggle for their national liberation. In other words, Oromummaa, as the nationalist ideology, empowers Oromo to build and strengthen their ideological determination, solidarity, and capabilities to define, defend, and struggle for the Oromo national cause. In general, the ideology of national Oromummaa increases the determination of Oromo individuals, groups and communities to be ready to make a sacrifice of different forms and levels including sacrificing lives for the Oromo national cause. Basic sacrifices include joining Oromo associations, investing in Oromo material and intellectual products, and spending time, energy, and money to promote the Oromo national cause. Levels of sacrifice depend on the level of national Oromummaa consciousness as well as commitment.
Oromo nationalists have been killed or tortured and imprisoned while struggling to liberate their people and their country. We can list thousands of them from the very young to the very old and from women to men who have given their precious lives to further build national Oromummaa. Furthermore, there also have been thousands of Oromo who have suffered in Ethiopian concentration and military camps and secret prison cells because they manifested national Oromummaa or sympathized with or struggled for the Oromo cause. There are also thousands of Oromo who have escaped from the brutality of the Ethiopian government and who are suffering in refugee camps in different countries or have been re-settled in foreign countries. But, there are millions of Oromo who have yet to develop the national Oromummaa ideology and who are not involved in the Oromo national struggle even at the basic level. As already explained, there are also Oromo who have joined the enemy camp because of political opportunism or the lack of political consciousness or ignorance. The main reason for not being involved in the Oromo national struggle or for joining the enemy camp is the deficit of Oromo leadership and organizational capacity, which is necessary to raise Oromo political consciousness, develop national Oromummaa and to stop those who are joining the enemy camp through various mechanisms.
Without developing the national Orommummaa ideology, it is impossible to raise Oromo political consciousness to the level needed to organize and build a formidable leadership and organizational capacity that can challenge and defeat the Ethiopian colonial state, which is supported by global powers and the imperial interstate system. Oromummaa as the Oromo nationalist ideology defines and promotes the Oromo political, material and cultural interests in order to develop an Oromo political community and transform it into a state through destroying all powers and ideologies, mainly Ethiopianism, which have kept Oromo society under political slavery. According to Antonio Gramsci, political domination is practiced through ideological hegemony.[41] Ethiopianism as an ideological hegemony has been imposed on the Oromo via physical coercion including terrorism and mental genocide and other political and cultural mechanisms. All forms of domination, including colonial domination, cannot be practiced without imposing “a structure of meaning that [reflects] its leading beliefs, values, and ideas;”[42] the process through which the dominated internalizes the ideology, worldview, culture, and mentality of the rulers as natural order is called ideological hegemony.
In order to consolidate the Oromo national movement, it is necessary to recognize its current ideological inadequacies and overcome them. The triple ideological problems of the Oromo national movement are Ethiopianism and the failed ideologies of the East and the West that have victimized the Oromo.[43]Oromummaa as a theory of liberation refutes false or biased knowledge and challenges reactionary narratives that naturalize and justify colonialism and all forms of social hierarchies, injustices, and exploitation because it is informed by the principles of the egalitarian Oromo democracy of the gadaa/siqqee system. Furthermore, as a theoretical foundation of the Oromo national movement, Oromummaa with other critical theories enables the Oromo to engage in producing knowledge for critical thinking and liberation to promote egalitarian democracy. Despite the fact that the development of this theory is primarily based on the Oromo cultural foundation, it recognizes the importance of multicultural and critical knowledge and theories. Therefore, in developing the theory of Oromummaa, it is essential to use the critical aspects of the theories of resource mobilization, political process, and framing and social construction that are identified and explained above.
Vårens etiopisk valg ga statsminister Hailemariam Desalegns regjeringsparti EPRDF full kontroll over alle 546 seter i parlamentet. Internasjonalt kritiseres Desalegns regime for å undertrykke opposisjon og fengsle kritiske journalister. Første halvår i år har det kommet flere etiopiske asylsøkere til Norge enn i hele 2014.
Regjeringspartiet EPRDF har vært enerådende siden de kom til makten i 1991. Opposisjonen er splittet og mobilisering av kritisk opposisjon blir slått hardt ned på. I et system med enmannskretser mistet opposisjon sitt eneste sete i parlamentet og sitter nå bare igjen med 21 ulike representanter i forskjellige regionale styrer.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) har kritisert regjeringen og framtredende partirepresentanter for å ha skremt velgere og benyttet lovstridige restriksjoner overfor etiopiske medier i flere måneder før valget 23. mai i år. Organisasjonen påpeker at det etiopiske regjeringspartiet kontrollerer sivilsamfunn og kritisk opposisjon gjennom undertrykkende lovgivning, i strid med internasjonale normer.
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) rangerer det etiopiske regimet som det fjerde mest sensurerende i verden, etter totalitære stater som Eritrea, Nord-Korea og Saudi-Arabia. Etiopia er også på CPJs liste over de ti landene i verden som fengsler flest journalister.
Svekkede sivile og politiske rettigheterEtiopiske myndigheter strammet på nytt til overfor bloggere og uavhengige kritikere i 2014. Bistandsaktuelt skrev i februar i år om landet, som er ett av regjeringen Solbergs 12 «fokusland» for bistand, at i løpet av fjoråret var minst 22 kritiske journalister og bloggere blitt arrestert og siktet. I følge CPJ satt 17 journalister fengslet i Etiopia ved utgangen av 2014. Seks uavhengige aviser måtte stenge og rundt 60 journalister flyktet i eksil. Flere opposisjonsledere ble arrestert, og demonstrasjoner slått ned. Minst 30 personer skal ha blitt drept da politiet slo ned demonstrasjoner i Oromo-områder av landet. Ulike lover setter strenge begrensninger for menneskerettighetsorganisasjoners arbeid i Etiopia. Flere opposisjonspartier og grupperinger er forbudt og anti-terror-lovgivning fra 2009 kriminaliserer alt myndighetene mener «oppmuntrer» eller «gir moralsk støtte» til forbudte grupper.
Møte med fengslede journalisterDen svenske journalisten Martin Schibbye skriver på www.dissidentblogg.org om situasjonen for Reeyot Alemu og andre fengslede, etiopiske journalister. Martin Schibbye har sammen med fotograf Johan Persson skrevet boka «438 days», om deres erfaringer og møter med fengslede politiske dissidenter, bloggere og journalister i løpet av de 438 dagene svenskene var det etiopiske regimets fanger fra juli 2011 til september 2012.
Flere etiopiske asylsøkere til NorgeI løpet av første halvår i år har det kommet flere etiopiske asylsøkere til Norge enn i løpet av hele 2014. Ved utgangen av juli hadde Utlendingsdirektoratet (UDI) registrert 322 etiopiske søkere, mot 269 i hele 2014. Blant de etiopiere som fikk behandlet søknadene sine av norske myndigheter i første halvår i år, fikk 73 prosent innvilget opphold.
Økonomisk vekstSamtidig som det er sterk kritikk mot sensur, undertrykkende lovgivning og fengsling av politisk opposisjon, journalister og bloggere, nyter Etiopia godt av samarbeid og økt vestlig bistand. Positiv økonomisk utvikling og landets rolle som en viktig alliert i kampen mot al Shabaab og andre islamistiske terrorgrupper i regionen, er avgjørende i vestlig samarbeid med Etiopia.
STATUTES OF THE PEOPLES’ ALLIANCE FOR FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY
PREAMBLE
The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF),
The Oromo Liberation Front (OLF),
The Sheckacho People’s Movement for Democracy and Justice (SHEPMODSOJ),
The Sidama Liberation Front (SLF)
Hereinafter referred to as the Parties,
Whereas united effort among the oppressed people has become essential in the struggle to stop a continuous and gruesome repression perpetrated by the current regime in Ethiopia,
Recognizing the fact that true and lasting cooperation to fight repression could only exist among the oppressed people and political organization that stand and promote the causes of the people, including genuine and unfettered acceptance of the right of selfdetermination for all peoples in Ethiopia;
Reaffirming their unwavering determination to put an end to the underlying causes of repression, bloodshed, insecurity, political instability and marginalization in Ethiopia and the region, which is inflicting severe hardships and suffering on all the people, and seriously hampers the prospects for sustainable peace, freedom, and the attainment of equality, social justice, and development;
Reaffirming their commitment to shape political order and system of governance inspired by the universal aspiration for freedom and founded on the values of justice, liberty, equality, democracy, good governance, pluralism, respect for the fundamental rights and freedoms, solidarity, mutual understanding, tolerance and cooperation and the right of choice;
Convinced that the realization of all these aspirations and ideals demands the cooperation of the Parties and the coordination of their activities towards the establishment of a genuine democratic process leading to genuine healing and reconciliation and lasting peace based on the free will and choice of all peoples concerned;
Conscious that the failure of the opposition political forces to develop mutual understanding and coordinate their struggle benefited no one but rather contributed in prolonging tyranny by the TPLF regime
The weyanee/Tplf federal high court fourth criminal bench today sentenced including four members of Ethiopian Muslim arbitration committee members, one journalist and thirteen others to a lengthy jail term between seven and 22 years. The eighteen Muslims were charged on counts that include attempted terrorism, conspiracy to establish an Islamic state, and public incitement.
The court passed a guilty verdict on all of the on July 6th and adjourned the sentencing until Aug. 3rd. Accordingly the first defendants, Abubakar Ahmed, Ahmedin Jebel, Yasin Nuru and Kemal Shmsu were sentenced to 22 years each. Accordingly, defendants Bedru Hussien, Sabir Yirgu, Mohammed Abate, Abubeker Alemu and Munir Hussien were each jailed for 18 years. The court also sentenced Sheik Mekete Muhe, Ahmed Mustefa Sheik Seid Ali, Mubarak Adem and Khalid Ibrahim were jailed for 15 years each; while while defendatns Murad Shikur, Nuru Turki, Sheik Bahiru Omar and Yusuf Gentachew were jailed for less terms of seven years each.
Background
Ethiopian Muslims were protesting since 2011 against what many of them say were uncalled for interference by the government in the affairs of their religion. The protests came to a disturbing twist on Monday Oct. 29th 2012 when a federal court in Addis Abeba decided to charge 29 Muslim protestors arrested in July of the same year with “plotting acts of terrorism” under the country’s infamous anti-terror proclamation.
Many of the arrested were the Ethiopian Muslim arbitration committee members who volunteered to become members in order to seek solutions to narrow the widening gap between Muslims and the government pertaining to three outstanding requests the former were demanding; i.e. the restoration of the Awoliya College and Secondary School administration sacked by the government in Dec. 2011, a free election without the interference of the government to replace members of the Islamic Supreme Council (Mejlis), again sacked by the government, and an end to the government’s attempt to publish and distribute books which carry a new Islamic teaching called Al-Habesh. The government denies its hands were on all the three demands but claims Awoliya College and Secondary School, a highly regarded Islamic school based in Addis Abeba next to the Grand Anwar Mosque, has become a breeding ground for radicalism and Wahabia.
The incident triggered one of the most disciplined and sustained Friday sit-in protests by hundreds of thousands of Muslim protestors here in Addis Abeba and other major towns throughout the country; and an online activism on twitter and facebook by an underground group called ‘Dimtsachin Yisema’ (let our voices be heard) has attracted the participation of thousands who continue demanding for the release of the committee members and the others. However, protestors were often met by the presence of large numbers of police forces who at many occasions have clashed with protestors.
He “appeared to have been extrajudicially executed on suspicion of supporting theOLF,” according to Amnesty International. “No investigations were known to have taken place into allegations of torture, ”disappearance” or extrajudicial execution.”