Mereja.Forum

[OPFist]

Gadaa Democratic Ethiopia (Oropia) of the OLF is the Future!

It is already over due! The OLF-face of the OPP is defeating the OPDO-face, slowly but surely. The OLF mindset of sovereignty is subdueing the OPDO mindset of servitude in OPP. Simply put, the OLF mindset of freedom and sovereignty is doing fine in OFC, OLA and OPP. Regarding the Kaayyo (goal to be persued), finally, the OLF mindset prefered Great Oromia (Gadaa democratic rainbow Ethiopia) to the smaller Gadaa Oromia. Nowadays, no Oromo with sound mind is against such Gadaa democratic rainbow Ethiopia, in which Afaan Oromo shall be the primary working language, a modernized Gadaa system will be adopted and the cultural diversity of all nations shall blossom. Such Ethiopia will be fair and home to all nations and peoples in the country. Of course, the OLF mindset leading all bilisummaa/freedom loving organizations in Ethiopia will prevail and defeat the current dictatorial regime of the prosperitan party.
Ready more: https://fayyisoromia.wordpress.com/2023 ... he-future/

[OPFist]

I once read an open letter written by Dr. Fikre Tolassa directed to Dr. Beyan Asoba and also saw the different responses from few Oromo nationalists – including the one written by Dr. Beyan himself. It was really an interesting discussion. I couldn’t manage to ignore that discussion and to refrain from airing my own opinion in public for I used to write on such either pseudo or true histories of the Oromo, other Cushites and Abyssinians now living in ethnofederal Ethiopia. Let me express my view regarding Dr. Fikre’s open letter. I don’t belong to those who totally dismiss his view, but I do have certain concerns and a criticism in some areas of his writing.

[OPFist]

As I first heard Dr. Fikre speaking and as I read his opinions, my reaction was: “here is a modern neo-Debtera carrying an Oromo name, and propagating the same old fictions and legends of Abyssinians.” I think he was also a bit like this at the beginning. For instance, he used to write that the Oromo are who “expanded in sixteenth century towards north and occupied Amhara territories”. He once wrote: “… The Amhara were not lucky enough to live in peace. Shortly after the Islamic wars were over, they engaged in a war with their other countrymen, the Oromo, who had started expanding into their territories in the 1520s when the Amhara were busy with their Muslim brothers. Compared with the Tigre, the Amhara lived in the most fertile regions of Ethiopia. Initially, the different Oromo tribes fought the Amhara wherever they happened to be, looking for ideal grazing lands for their cattle….”

[OPFist]

Thanks to Oromo liberation struggle, now he is writing that the Oromo are indigenous people in this part of the globe and many Abyssinian scholars have unwillingly started to entertain this fact. We need to congratulate Dr. Fikre for his change of mind and for being ready to learn from new facts he got. I am not historian and can not falsify or verify his current narration about history of the Oromo, but I can say one thing. His new version of Oromo history is better than what old Abyssinian Debtera’s used to write. They tried to denigrate the Oromo and regarded this great nation as an alien to North-East African region, whereas he glorifies and confirms that the Oromo nation is backbone of the region.

[OPFist]

When it comes to the genealogy he tries to tell us that Amaras and the Oromo are brothers. I don’t want to say it is a fable, but I would like to recommend Oromo scholars with conscious mind of Oromo nationalism to engage him, find out the fact and try to consider his perspective in writing Oromo history from an Oromo point of view. As I could understand from one of his hitherto opinions, his information is based on one discovery of very old literature in Nubia. He once wrote: “… This information is based on my reading of Ethiopian history and Metsehafe Djan Shewa, (an ancient Ethiopian manuscript in Geez discovered by Meri Ras Aman Belay, in the ruins of an Ethiopian church in Nubia, part of the Cushitic Kingdom) which has been, translated into Amharic, abridged and published as Metsehafe Subae by the discoverer himself… ”

[OPFist]

According to this finding, the genealogy speaks more for Cushites, to which the Oromo is main stalk and from which other Cushitic nations of the region seem to be differentiated. The name Amara was derived from Mara (an Oromo term), “one of the sons of Deshet.” A-Mara means, according to his assertion, children of Mara. I think the logic behind this derivation is, if we take the genealogy at face value, that Amara are children of the Oromo (Cushite). This assertion supports the claim of some historians that Abyssinians are the self-denying Cushites whose priori identity could be either Agaw, Oromo or other Cushitic nations. I think it is better to say that Agaw and Oromo were brothers, and Abyssinians are the converted Cushites, who in due time changed their identity by accepting alien system of cultural and language domination claimed to be from Semitic origin, just to distance themselves from culture and language of the common people.

[OPFist]

Coming to the appeals, which Dr. Fikre directed towards Dr. Beyan, it seems that Dr. Fikre lacks a necessary sensitivity regarding Oromo national liberation struggle of the last more than 150 years. Disregarding whether Abyssinians and Oromians are biologically related or not, the fact on the ground tells us that Abyssinian elites were and still are enemies of Oromo people because of the crimes they used to do and are still doing. Whatever name we give to the oppression (colony, domination, exploitation, dictatorship, empire-building and -keeping, tyranny, fascism…etc), Oromo people were in a bitter struggle to get back our freedom by any means. Dr. Fikre seems to have sympathy towards keeping the empire at any cost, instead of addressing Oromo grievance. To this end, he tries to instrumentalize his knowledge of history, be it pseudo or true history.

[OPFist]

This attitude of him is well reflected in three demands he made: change of the alphabet used in writing Afaan Oromo from Latin to Saba; persuading the Oromo to strive further in order to keep unity of “greater Ethiopia” by abandoning a “little Oromia;” wishing the Oromo to love the current Ethiopian flag; and asking the Oromo to accept Ethiopian identity rather than being proud of their Oromo identity. These demands faced furious resistance from almost all Oromo nationalists who had read his open letter. They perceived his opinion as a mischief calculated from Abyssinian camp to weaken Oromo national liberation struggle and to possibly reverse the victories achieved up to now.

[OPFist]

Unfortunate to Dr. Fikre and those who do have same stand like him, Oromo struggle has reached at the very irreversible stage. Using the Latin alphabet has got not only linguistic value, but also political meaning. Simply put, it is one of the ways used to distance Oromo national identity from that of the oppressors. Also flag has got both emotional and political dimension. One can not love the symbol of an enemy at any battlefield. Most Oromo nationalists, who fought and struggled against the Abyssinian empire, had to fight against forces carrying this flag. That is why it is wrong to expect Oromo nationalists to love and wear the present Ethiopian flag as Dr. Fikre seems to do.

[OPFist]

Unfortunate to Dr. Fikre and those who do have same stand like him, Oromo struggle has reached at the very irreversible stage. Using the Latin alphabet has got not only linguistic value, but also political meaning. Simply put, it is one of the ways used to distance Oromo national identity from that of the oppressors. Also flag has got both emotional and political dimension. One can not love the symbol of an enemy at any battlefield. Most Oromo nationalists, who fought and struggled against the Abyssinian empire, had to fight against forces carrying this flag. That is why it is wrong to expect Oromo nationalists to love and wear the present Ethiopian flag as Dr. Fikre seems to do.

[Abere]

EOuroipa አልሽው hahahaha ወይ ጉድ። የሚሰራችሁ ቅጡ ጠፋው እኮ። ነፋኝ ቀበተተኝ ትንሽ ልጩህ አለች አህያ ግጣ ግጣ ስትጠግብ። መጨረሻ ላይ ግን አያ ጅቦ ዘነጣጥሎ ጣላት። calm down you will go no where you are sandwiched between 84 ethnic groups. I read Fikre Tolossa's book, he was sabotaging history by mixing written documented history with his assigned Orommuma fairytale. Oromo of the 16th century had nothing with Lake Tana. The fact that absence of coherent history from so-called Oromo activists story tellers confirms that Oromo did not exsit in Ethiopia before the 16th century. Inconsistent stories include: 1) Fikre Tolossa mentioned Oromo was born from a woman taking bath in Lake Tana from a sperm simen carried by water hahahaha b) Hizkeal Gabissa, the First man (Adam) was a gender less man popped out of water 3) Another Fanatic OLF, Jesus speaks Oromiffaa hahaha

[OPFist]

Regarding “little Oromia vs. greater Ethiopia” he mentioned, I would like to recommend Dr. Fikre and all who love the empire to rename the whole country they want to save as Oromia. When we look at the version of history he wrote, the whole empire can be called Oromia or Oropia. Just as their Addis is our Finfinne, their Ethiopia is our Oromia. Because of the fact that the name Ethiopia is contaminated by the meaning given from the Greeks (burnt-face, which is almost the same to the N-word used against blacks) and by the content given from Abyssinians (making Ethiopia equivalent to Abyssinian empire’s system of domination, excluding as well as exploiting the Oromo and other nations), this change of the name is mandatory, if we really want to live together. That is why I asked: why not you accept great Oromia (Oropia), rather than asking the Oromo to join you in loving great Ethiopia? Surprisingly, Abyssinian elites who tried to exclude the Oromo from Ethiopian identity are now doing everything under the sun in order to persuade us to accept this same identity. The response of Dr. Beyan regarding this attempt was very precise and to the point:

[OPFist]

“… I want to make one thing perfectly clear to you and your likes. The days when Oromos had to endure self-abnegation are over and shall never return. We have rejected Ethiopiawinet that is the antithesis of being an Oromo and shall continue to do so as long as this antithetical relationship is maintained. The choice is yours and your likes’. You either accept us with our identity and other rights fully respected or you kiss goodbye to your much vaunted Ethiopiawinet and Ethiopian unity. Can you not see that there is something immoral in trying to build Ethiopian unity on graves of Oromos, Sidamas, Walayitas, Kambatas, Hadiyas, etc .? Why do you refuse to recognize that this aspiration is ultimately counterproductive? I only hope that this irrational, immoral and ultimately destructive aspiration would give way to a more sober and fair articulation of an Ethiopian identity that is as an amalgam of the identities of the various nations inhabiting its territorial space… “ I must say, this Ethiopia described by Dr. Bayan is just the Gadaa democratic Rainbow Ethiopia of the OLF.

[OPFist]

Simply put, I want to tell Dr. Fikre and others, who have similar attitude, that the future of Ethiopia will only be either transformation of an empire in to genuine union/true ethnofederation as the OFC planned, the union which can be given the name Oromia or Oropia if you agree or you will just face the inevitable emergence of “little Oromia” in a form of an independent Gadaa republic as the OLF was trying to achieve. Both you, the Abyssinians, and we, the Oromians, know very well that Oromia, being occupied by Abyssinia and kept within Ethiopia, will not last as long as you want. That is why we need to come to our sense and try to find solution, in which we all do have win-win compromise. Manipulating histories and legends is not what we have to do now. Important is future-oriented creative thinking, which can benefit all nations in the empire. All anti-Biltsigina forces (pro-independence forces like the OLF, pro-federation forces like the OFC and pro-unity forces like the OPP) ought to come together unconditionally and deal with the fact on the ground, instead of the ongoing day-dreaming about any sort of past legend or future utopia.

[OPFist]

Last, but not least, whatever our history is, there will be no compromise on destiny of Oromo nation. All nations in the empire deserve an imperative freedom of their people and an optional independence of their land (based on the public verdict of respective nations). The Oromo, as nation, have three alternatives after achieving national liberation by our bitter struggle: an independent Oromia (Gadaa Oromia), ethnofederal union (Union Oromia, instead of Empire Abyssinia) and an integrated Ethiopia (Great Oromia). I think Dr. Fikre and all pro-unity forces need to realize this fact. As far as I am concerned, free “little Oromia” within Ethiopian union is only a temporary solution leading towards free Gadaa Oromia within the UN as previously envisioned by the OLF or to federal Great Oromia or Oropia (Gadaa democratic Rainbow Ethiopia) as currently persued by the OLF mindset loving in all Oromo organizations. For Abyssinians to save unity of the country forever, they have to approach Oromo nation with a better idea than an independent “little Oromia.” That better idea can only be a transformation of the present Abyssinian empire to future Great Oromian union of free nations, of course, with Afaan Oromo as the primary working language of the union and flag of the union being black-red-white (BRW) with Mo’aa Odaa, instead of Mo’aa Ambasha or Mo’aa Anbessa, at its center. I am happy by observing that all Oromo elites with the OLF mindset of bilisummaa/freedom already opted for the bigger Great Oromia (Oropia), i.e Gadaa democratic rainbow Ethiopia. May Waaqa help all the Oromo to accept and agree on this reality!

[OPFist]

Last, but not least, whatever our history is, there will be no compromise on destiny of Oromo nation. All nations in the empire deserve an imperative freedom of their people and an optional independence of their land (based on the public verdict of respective nations). The Oromo, as nation, have three alternatives after achieving national liberation by our bitter struggle: an independent Oromia (Gadaa Oromia), ethnofederal union (Union Oromia, instead of Empire Abyssinia) and an integrated Ethiopia (Great Oromia). I think Dr. Fikre and all pro-unity forces need to realize this fact. As far as I am concerned, free “little Oromia” within Ethiopian union is only a temporary solution leading towards free Gadaa Oromia within the UN as previously envisioned by the OLF or to federal Great Oromia or Oropia (Gadaa democratic Rainbow Ethiopia) as currently persued by the OLF mindset loving in all Oromo organizations. For Abyssinians to save unity of the country forever, they have to approach Oromo nation with a better idea than an independent “little Oromia.” That better idea can only be a transformation of the present Abyssinian empire to future Great Oromian union of free nations, of course, with Afaan Oromo as the primary working language of the union and flag of the union being black-red-white (BRW) with Mo’aa Odaa, instead of Mo’aa Ambasha or Mo’aa Anbessa, at its center. I am happy by observing that all Oromo elites with the OLF mindset of bilisummaa/freedom already opted for the bigger Great Oromia (Oropia), i.e Gadaa democratic rainbow Ethiopia. May Waaqa help all the Oromo to accept and agree on this reality!