Two Blocs of the Competing Ethiopianist Elites: Amapianists vs Oropianists!
At the moment, the voice of pro-independence movements in Ethiopia is very minimal. There is no group, which is explicetly determined to separate any nation in order to dismantle Ethiopia. The main pro independence forces of Ogaden, Tigrai and Oromia have already minimized their rhetoric and they seem to have made a paradigm shift towards living together in genuine federation or confederation. Almost all political elites in the country are now pro-unity Ethiopianist. But, we do observe two blocs of these Ethiopianists: 1. the Amapianists, who want to keep the hitherto Amaranet dominated Ethiopia (ADE) and 2. the Oropianists, who are dedicated to foster Oromummà led Ethiopia (OLE). All Amara elites are with out question Amapianists. When they cry about Ethiopia and Ethiopiawinet, they actually mean the Amaranet dominated Ethiopia. There are a lot of elites from other nations, including the ruling Oromo Prosperitans, who are Amapianists. All genuine Oromo nationalists rallying behind the OLF, OLA and OFC as well as elites from other nations, who are ready to accept the future Oropia replacing Amapia are Oropianists. The political struggle in Ethiopia is now crystalizing to be clearly between these two Ethiopianist groups: Amapianists vs Oropianists. Oromo nationalists are moving step by step towards realizing Oropia. Our short term goal is Oromian autonomy within Amapia, our middle term objective being Oromian independence as Gadà republic and our long term vision is Oromian union (Oromummà led union of free nations).
Read more: https://orompia.wordpress.com/2023/04/1 ... opianists/
Two Blocs of the Competing Ethiopianist Elites: Amapianists vs Oropianists!
Last edited by OPFist on 28 Feb 2025, 14:20, edited 2 times in total.
Re: Two Blocs of the Competing Ethiopianist Elites: Amapianists vs Oropianists!
When are you going to invoke bullet 39?! The 83 tribes cannot wait to attend your funeral, but without compassion for you committed suicide. RIP Orommuma!
Keep f@rting! Orommuma steal power without firing a bullet, it will be dismissed without firing a bullet. Orommuma are vultures not predator Eagle. The Eagles are coming to pick you up like a kite in the sky. Keep f@rting
Keep f@rting! Orommuma steal power without firing a bullet, it will be dismissed without firing a bullet. Orommuma are vultures not predator Eagle. The Eagles are coming to pick you up like a kite in the sky. Keep f@rting
Re: Two Blocs of the Competing Ethiopianist Elites: Amapianists vs Oropianists!
Ethiopian politics is characterized by two blocs or two visions: pro-Amharanet with domination of Amharigna as entertained by Ezema and EPP as well as pro-Oromummaa with leadership of Oromiffaa at federal level as envisioned by the OLF and OFC. Again the two blocs have each two lines of politics: Ethiofederalism including and up to integration vs Ethnofederalism including and up to independence. From the pro-Amharanet bloc, Ezema is dictatorial Ethiofederalist and EPP is dictatorial Ethnofederalist. From the pro-Oromummaa bloc, both the OLF and OFC are democratic Ethnofederalists, whereas no genuine pro-Oromummaa organization is Ethiofederalist. Previously, Meison of Dr. Haile Fida is used to be pro-Oromummaa Ethiofederalist. The Ethiofederalist line is highly promoted by Amara elites and the Ethnofederalist one strongly supported by Tegaru elites. Both do that based on their own respective advantage and interest. Amaras think of assimilating the whole country because of the still dominating Amaranet (Amarinya) and Tegarus need to secure their minority status and prevent this danger of assimilation. Oromo elites seem to entertain both. The more confident they are to own and lead the country, they opt for Ethiofederation and the less confident they are vis a vis Abyssinian elites’ cannng manipulation, they prefer security through the line of Ethnofederation. As an example, Halle Fida was in favour of first line, whereas Baro Tumsa was promoter of the second. Now, it seems the majority are marching in the second line. The few like Dr. Abiy, who seem to be open for the first line are suspected as pro-Amara (pro-Nafxanya).
Actually, the two individuals (Dr. Haile Fida and Dr. Abiy Ahmed) did put the Oromo at center of Ethiopian politics and tried to show how Ethiopia belongs to Oromo, countering the allienation of this big nation from this historical country by the hitherto Habesha ruling class. The difference between the two is that Dr Abiy Ahmed is Amapianist, whereas Dr Haile Fida is Oropianist. The Habesha ruling class tried to portray the Oromo as anti-Ethiopia, who want to separate from other nations. Beside these two Oromo politicians, the famous colonel Alemu Qixessa also once said: “Ethiopia yeman hona new Oromo yemigenetelew?”, showing that Ethiopia belongs to the Oromo, so no need of separation politics for the Oromo. But, Oromo politcs has got always two sides of the same coin and here are the two interesting Oromo perspectives regarding our history/destiny in short.
As I have read and understood, there is one perspective (Cushitic narrative), which tries to show us how Oromo is related to Egypt, to origin of Cushitic civilization, to the city of Meroe, and it tries to figure out how Oromo destiny should include renaissance of Ethiopia (Biyya-Kush), and it teaches us how Oromo-proper is the “stalk” for all Cushitic nations in northeast Africa. The other perspective strives to achieve freedom of the Oromo including liberation of Oromia (Biyya-Oromo) from Abyssinian subjugation, whatever the history of Oromo could be, it concentrates on Colonial narrative. The main difference of the two perspectives (Cushitic narrative vs Colonial narrative) seems to be that the first one is more history-oriented whereas the second one is highly destiny-oriented. The first is digging into history of the Oromo from different perspectives whereas the second is doing its best to promote sovereign Oromia at any cost; but both have common agenda of liberating the Oromo from any sort of domination.
To me, very interesting is an implication of the two positions. The first perspective is used to formulate our final goal as RENAISSANCE of Ethiopia, defining the Oromo as people to include Oromo-proper (who now identify itself as Oromo nation), and Oromo-progeny (all Cushitic nations which seem to have emerged from Oromo-proper). That means, Oromo nation is inclusive of all Cushitic peoples including the Habeshanized Cush in the region, i.e. most nationalities in Ethiopia and some in neighboring countries. An implication of the second position is LIBERATION of Oromo-proper or the presently demarcated Oromia by any means from subjugation and suppression of the last 3000 years. This time span, which is usually adored by Amapianists as time of Ethiopian freedom, is actually the time of Oromia’s gradual assimilation so that a lot of its parts lost their original Oromo identity (Oromummà) and became Abeshanized and Arabanized.
I personally can look at the smart move of the first perspective as support for our liberation movement, and I would like to call it and its supporters as that of OPP, which strives for Oromo liberation within union of peoples in Ethiopia, and which then will try to influence other progeny nations to look at their Oromo roots. Of course, very clear is political stand of the second perspective, which looks like position of the OLF, i.e self-determination per referendum of Oromo public on the issue of free Oromia within Vs. without union of peoples, be it the Oromo renaissance follows or not.
Just accepting Oromo’s modern history, which suggests that Oromo is an indigenous nation in the region and it is the origin for most other nations, I can say that the Oromo till now used to exercise self-destruction under the influence of forces from the Middle-East and Western world. Just as an example, the Axumite Oromos (Habeshanized and Christanized ones) destroyed the traditional Oromo of Meroe, and the Amaranized Oromo like Emperors Theodros, Minilik, H/Sillasie and dictator Mengistu as well as the Tigranized Oromo individuals like Emperor Yohannes and tyrannt Melles Zenawi destroyed the well preserved and the very resistant Oromo-proper. Here, it is important to mention that Oromo-proper is the most dissent force which resisted an influence from the outside world and kept its indigenous religion and language. Some scholars even tend to say that this is a reason for the name “Gàllà” was given to this NO-sayer nation. The word seems to have been driven from the Arab word “Qallà” which means “said NO”. I can say that Arabs gave Oromo people this name for they resisted to accept Islam at cost of Wàqeffannà. Of course, then Abesha elites (the Habashanized Oromo-progeny) further gave it more negative connotations.
The question to be raised and to be answered now is: how can we, the Oromo-proper, who used to fight for our liberation from domination by the “ignorantly arrogant” Oromo-progeny (TPLF elites), achieve this goal? What is the implication of having these two positions (OPP’s and OLF’s perspectives) in Oromo society? Are the two positions irreconcilable? Is position of the OPP a prerequisite to promote position of the OLF or vice versa? I just write this opinion and ask these questions to provoke thinking and invoke action in Oromo community. My stand here is not necessarily the last well thought and not the most important.
As far as I am concerned, the two positions are complementary, not contradictory, to each other. Fact on the ground is that Oromo nation (Oromo-proper) was under [deleted] of TPLF, and it needed to be liberated unconditionally. For this struggle, we had both OPP and the OLF with theirs noble positions on political right of the Oromo-proper to self-determination (be it for Ethnofederalism and an independent Oromia of the OLF or Ethiofederalism and an integrated Ethiopia of OPP). This ensures our liberation at any cost without any compromise. As far as there is Abesha domination (mind you Abesha are part of the Oromo progenies) over the Oromo-proper, there will be Oromo liberation movement, and surely, there will be a viable front to fight for freedom. After achieving goal of the OPP or that of the OLF, i.e. after liberating Oromo-proper from any sort of oppression, we can opt further to realize the common position of the two organizations, i.e integration of all nations (most of which are actually Oromo progenies) with Oromo-proper in union of free peoples in Ethiopia.
I think this is a reason for the fact that also the OLF put in its programme not only the necessity of Oromian independence, but also the possibility of Ethiopian union, of course in a sense of Oropian union, Not Amapian union. So, in short, we, the Oromo, do have yet three goals to achieve one after another. The next stop of our liberation journey, which started in Djibouti (colony), passing through Ayisha (limited cultural autonomy), will be Diredhawa (true federation); that is why we need to support OFC and OPP. Then, the true federation can lead us to goal of the OLF, i.e. Adama (total independence of the Oromo from external influence) as well as to the common goal of both positions – Finfinné (union of free peoples in Ethiopia, even further in the Horn), which is a final step to achieve the required Ethiopian (Cushitic) renaissance.
Furthermore, sure is that if there is a true freedom and democracy, at last we will achieve the final common goal (Oromo renaissance), in which both the Oromo-proper and the different Oromo progenies, including other nations in the Horn which might not have emerged from the Oromo, will grow together. Here again, without imperative liberation of Oromo-proper, it is fact that the whole region will continue to suffer under present poverty and tyranny. So, the key to prosperity in that cursed region is liberation of Oromo-proper, be it within or without the desired union of free peoples. In short, let’s all Oromo nations (the proper and the progeny) move now from our hitherto self-destruction to the future self-determination. Let’s continue to be NO-sayers to slavery, injustice and tyranny.
I think, this idea is the motivating force behind Dr. Abiy’s “Ethiopian Keenya” movement, which was actually entertained by the known Oromo politicians like Haile Fida, Alemu Qixesa, Lenco Lata, Marara Gudina, Bulcha Damaqsa….etc. The difference between the pioneer Haile Fida and the present Abiy Ahmed is the timing! Haile fought at the time, when we were at low confidence to identify ourselves as Oromo and he became a victim, whereas Abiy is enjoying the era of Oromo’s high confidence to be proud of Oromo identity and to claim that infact Ethiopia belongs to the Oromo, so that he can be a victor! It is up to all Oromo polity from the whole political spectrum to stand with Abiy (in case He is Oropianist, Not Amapianist), whose time seems to have come and help him be successful. Haile Fida’s vision needed Oromo’s high confidence to claim not only Oromia, but the whole Ethiopia in form of Oropia.
Last, but not least, I would like to appeal to the Oromo (both the proper and progeny) historians, geologists, anthropologists, politicians, ethnologists and other social science students to write what they know on this issue and educate us, the Oromo public (in a wide sense, i.e. including all Oromo progenies), further. Don’t leave the topic of “Ethiopian (Kush) keenya” to the amateur writers. Now, it is an appropriate time to give up the Colonial narrative, which already successfully did its job of liberation and give in to the more beneficial Cushitic narrative in order to promote Oromo’s renaissance (including both the proper and progeny) in the Horn of Africa. Be it the first line of Ethiopian (Oropian) integration or the second line of Oromian independence, nothing is disadvantageous for the Oromo. May Wàqa help.
Actually, the two individuals (Dr. Haile Fida and Dr. Abiy Ahmed) did put the Oromo at center of Ethiopian politics and tried to show how Ethiopia belongs to Oromo, countering the allienation of this big nation from this historical country by the hitherto Habesha ruling class. The difference between the two is that Dr Abiy Ahmed is Amapianist, whereas Dr Haile Fida is Oropianist. The Habesha ruling class tried to portray the Oromo as anti-Ethiopia, who want to separate from other nations. Beside these two Oromo politicians, the famous colonel Alemu Qixessa also once said: “Ethiopia yeman hona new Oromo yemigenetelew?”, showing that Ethiopia belongs to the Oromo, so no need of separation politics for the Oromo. But, Oromo politcs has got always two sides of the same coin and here are the two interesting Oromo perspectives regarding our history/destiny in short.
As I have read and understood, there is one perspective (Cushitic narrative), which tries to show us how Oromo is related to Egypt, to origin of Cushitic civilization, to the city of Meroe, and it tries to figure out how Oromo destiny should include renaissance of Ethiopia (Biyya-Kush), and it teaches us how Oromo-proper is the “stalk” for all Cushitic nations in northeast Africa. The other perspective strives to achieve freedom of the Oromo including liberation of Oromia (Biyya-Oromo) from Abyssinian subjugation, whatever the history of Oromo could be, it concentrates on Colonial narrative. The main difference of the two perspectives (Cushitic narrative vs Colonial narrative) seems to be that the first one is more history-oriented whereas the second one is highly destiny-oriented. The first is digging into history of the Oromo from different perspectives whereas the second is doing its best to promote sovereign Oromia at any cost; but both have common agenda of liberating the Oromo from any sort of domination.
To me, very interesting is an implication of the two positions. The first perspective is used to formulate our final goal as RENAISSANCE of Ethiopia, defining the Oromo as people to include Oromo-proper (who now identify itself as Oromo nation), and Oromo-progeny (all Cushitic nations which seem to have emerged from Oromo-proper). That means, Oromo nation is inclusive of all Cushitic peoples including the Habeshanized Cush in the region, i.e. most nationalities in Ethiopia and some in neighboring countries. An implication of the second position is LIBERATION of Oromo-proper or the presently demarcated Oromia by any means from subjugation and suppression of the last 3000 years. This time span, which is usually adored by Amapianists as time of Ethiopian freedom, is actually the time of Oromia’s gradual assimilation so that a lot of its parts lost their original Oromo identity (Oromummà) and became Abeshanized and Arabanized.
I personally can look at the smart move of the first perspective as support for our liberation movement, and I would like to call it and its supporters as that of OPP, which strives for Oromo liberation within union of peoples in Ethiopia, and which then will try to influence other progeny nations to look at their Oromo roots. Of course, very clear is political stand of the second perspective, which looks like position of the OLF, i.e self-determination per referendum of Oromo public on the issue of free Oromia within Vs. without union of peoples, be it the Oromo renaissance follows or not.
Just accepting Oromo’s modern history, which suggests that Oromo is an indigenous nation in the region and it is the origin for most other nations, I can say that the Oromo till now used to exercise self-destruction under the influence of forces from the Middle-East and Western world. Just as an example, the Axumite Oromos (Habeshanized and Christanized ones) destroyed the traditional Oromo of Meroe, and the Amaranized Oromo like Emperors Theodros, Minilik, H/Sillasie and dictator Mengistu as well as the Tigranized Oromo individuals like Emperor Yohannes and tyrannt Melles Zenawi destroyed the well preserved and the very resistant Oromo-proper. Here, it is important to mention that Oromo-proper is the most dissent force which resisted an influence from the outside world and kept its indigenous religion and language. Some scholars even tend to say that this is a reason for the name “Gàllà” was given to this NO-sayer nation. The word seems to have been driven from the Arab word “Qallà” which means “said NO”. I can say that Arabs gave Oromo people this name for they resisted to accept Islam at cost of Wàqeffannà. Of course, then Abesha elites (the Habashanized Oromo-progeny) further gave it more negative connotations.
The question to be raised and to be answered now is: how can we, the Oromo-proper, who used to fight for our liberation from domination by the “ignorantly arrogant” Oromo-progeny (TPLF elites), achieve this goal? What is the implication of having these two positions (OPP’s and OLF’s perspectives) in Oromo society? Are the two positions irreconcilable? Is position of the OPP a prerequisite to promote position of the OLF or vice versa? I just write this opinion and ask these questions to provoke thinking and invoke action in Oromo community. My stand here is not necessarily the last well thought and not the most important.
As far as I am concerned, the two positions are complementary, not contradictory, to each other. Fact on the ground is that Oromo nation (Oromo-proper) was under [deleted] of TPLF, and it needed to be liberated unconditionally. For this struggle, we had both OPP and the OLF with theirs noble positions on political right of the Oromo-proper to self-determination (be it for Ethnofederalism and an independent Oromia of the OLF or Ethiofederalism and an integrated Ethiopia of OPP). This ensures our liberation at any cost without any compromise. As far as there is Abesha domination (mind you Abesha are part of the Oromo progenies) over the Oromo-proper, there will be Oromo liberation movement, and surely, there will be a viable front to fight for freedom. After achieving goal of the OPP or that of the OLF, i.e. after liberating Oromo-proper from any sort of oppression, we can opt further to realize the common position of the two organizations, i.e integration of all nations (most of which are actually Oromo progenies) with Oromo-proper in union of free peoples in Ethiopia.
I think this is a reason for the fact that also the OLF put in its programme not only the necessity of Oromian independence, but also the possibility of Ethiopian union, of course in a sense of Oropian union, Not Amapian union. So, in short, we, the Oromo, do have yet three goals to achieve one after another. The next stop of our liberation journey, which started in Djibouti (colony), passing through Ayisha (limited cultural autonomy), will be Diredhawa (true federation); that is why we need to support OFC and OPP. Then, the true federation can lead us to goal of the OLF, i.e. Adama (total independence of the Oromo from external influence) as well as to the common goal of both positions – Finfinné (union of free peoples in Ethiopia, even further in the Horn), which is a final step to achieve the required Ethiopian (Cushitic) renaissance.
Furthermore, sure is that if there is a true freedom and democracy, at last we will achieve the final common goal (Oromo renaissance), in which both the Oromo-proper and the different Oromo progenies, including other nations in the Horn which might not have emerged from the Oromo, will grow together. Here again, without imperative liberation of Oromo-proper, it is fact that the whole region will continue to suffer under present poverty and tyranny. So, the key to prosperity in that cursed region is liberation of Oromo-proper, be it within or without the desired union of free peoples. In short, let’s all Oromo nations (the proper and the progeny) move now from our hitherto self-destruction to the future self-determination. Let’s continue to be NO-sayers to slavery, injustice and tyranny.
I think, this idea is the motivating force behind Dr. Abiy’s “Ethiopian Keenya” movement, which was actually entertained by the known Oromo politicians like Haile Fida, Alemu Qixesa, Lenco Lata, Marara Gudina, Bulcha Damaqsa….etc. The difference between the pioneer Haile Fida and the present Abiy Ahmed is the timing! Haile fought at the time, when we were at low confidence to identify ourselves as Oromo and he became a victim, whereas Abiy is enjoying the era of Oromo’s high confidence to be proud of Oromo identity and to claim that infact Ethiopia belongs to the Oromo, so that he can be a victor! It is up to all Oromo polity from the whole political spectrum to stand with Abiy (in case He is Oropianist, Not Amapianist), whose time seems to have come and help him be successful. Haile Fida’s vision needed Oromo’s high confidence to claim not only Oromia, but the whole Ethiopia in form of Oropia.
Last, but not least, I would like to appeal to the Oromo (both the proper and progeny) historians, geologists, anthropologists, politicians, ethnologists and other social science students to write what they know on this issue and educate us, the Oromo public (in a wide sense, i.e. including all Oromo progenies), further. Don’t leave the topic of “Ethiopian (Kush) keenya” to the amateur writers. Now, it is an appropriate time to give up the Colonial narrative, which already successfully did its job of liberation and give in to the more beneficial Cushitic narrative in order to promote Oromo’s renaissance (including both the proper and progeny) in the Horn of Africa. Be it the first line of Ethiopian (Oropian) integration or the second line of Oromian independence, nothing is disadvantageous for the Oromo. May Wàqa help.