Mereja.Forum

Agawia and Oromia are Main Pillars of Ethiopia in Particular and the Horn in General!

It is now clear that the people living in Tigrai, Gondar, Gojjam and Lalibella are mainly Agaw, who are unfortunately speaking not Agawigna, but either Amarigna or Tigrigna. Of course these areas are also partly occupied by the Oromo to some extent. This region, where mostly the Agaw people live can be named Agawia. Rayya, Wallo, Yejju and Shoa are part and parcel of Oromia, so they will be back to their owner. It is high time to help Agawigna and Oromiffa revive and thrive in these respective areas. Then, Agawigna speaking Agawia and Oromiffa speaking Oromia shall be best stabil two pillars of the wonderful Cushitic Ethiopia in particular and that of futur prosperious Horn of Africa in general.
Read more: https://orompia.wordpress.com/2023/03/2 ... n-general/

Ethiopia is multicultural, multilingual and multinational country. The Oromo are at least 40%, thus Ethiopian identity (Ethiopianness) should consist at Least 40% Oromummà. Amaranet has to be reduced to about 10% for the rest of Amarigna speakers are mostly the Agaw. Agaw people being about 20% is the second largest nation. The rainbow Ethiopian identity then shall consist about 40% Oromummà, 20% Agawnet, 10% Amaranet, 6% Somalummà, 5% Tegarunet, 4% Sidamummà, 3% Guragenet, etc. I once listened an interview given by Ob. Léncô Latà in OBN. He still asserts that Dr. Abiy’s Ethiopia is led by Oromo and the enemies are trying to undermine this leadership. Is it really so? Is Ethiopia not yet dominated by Amaranet/Amarigna? Is Dr. Abiy not comfortable by maintaining this domination? Are all PAE (pro-Amaranet elites), which are supporting Dr. Abiy, not fighting against Oromummà in order to hinder Afàn Oromo from over taking the primary position in federal institutions? If Ethiopia has to survive and thrive under the “Oromo leadership” of Dr. Abiy, all languages in the country should be prioritized based on their size. Accordingly, Afàn Oromo will take the primary position and Amarigna should have tertiary status, next to Agaw’s second position. In such case, for instance, the working language of ENDF (Ethiopian National Defence Force) will be Afàn Oromo, replacing the currently used Amarigna. Then, general Abebaw from Amara nation will give an interview in Oromiffa, instead of general Bàca in Amarigna. Can Amara elites and the PAE swallow this future fact? Can Dr. Abiy’s Ethiopia be like a rainbow, consisting of all colors (languages), of course, with different size?

Actually, Amara elites have already started a campaign to persuade Dr. Abiy’s adminitration ban ethnic parties legally, so that Ethiopian unity will not be jeopardized. Interestingly, this shows that both Amara elites and Oromo elites didn’t yet register their role exchange regarding power at Finfinne palace (Caffé Aràrà). Amara elites brag as if they still have power and Oromo elites yet act as if they don’t have power (“struggle for their right on Finfinné” and beg to have Afàn Oromô as federal working language, instead of just implementing both using their power). Actually, Oromo elites are now in a position to answer all the questions of the Oromo. Why do they hesitate? Just not to be very offensive and not to lose support of others. In the future democratic Ethiopia (de facto Oropia = Oromummà led Ethiopia), Ethnofederalism is more important for the Amaras than for the Oromo.

Now, it is clear that only Amara elites and few Amaranized others from different nations are against ethnic federalism and self-determination of nations. Genuine ethnic federalism is actually a compromise solution for all nations in Ethiopia to live together – achieving both national freedom and regional integration. The position of Amara elites regarding federalism and self-determination made them to be not suitable for cooperation with elites of other nations. Amara elites do prefer unconditional Ethiopian unity rather than self-determination as a precondition for the possible alliance to be forged between Amara and Oromo democratic forces. Oromos tend to accept this precondition, only if Amara elites also accept “Oromos’ precondition”, i.e making Afàn Oromo the only working language of the federation, instead of Amarigna. Some Oromo elites make such an exclusive demand to help Amara elites notice to be pro Ethiopianity and anti Ethnicity, even if Amarigna will be demoted to only local language of Amara region and Afàn Oromo be promoted to only working language of the federation? I am sure they will not! In case they will stay further to be pro-Ethiopianity and pro-unity as they seem to believe now, let’s then try this new version of Ethiopianity with Afàn Oromo instead of Amarinya as federal working language.

Nowadays, the three Biltsigina’s beloved political groups are anti-Oromia Amara, pro-TPLF Tegaru & anti-Ethiopia Oromo. TPLF ruled us for quarter of a century not only with brute force, but also due to our weakness! Some elites from the three main competing nations (Amara, Tigrai & Oromo) did the bidding by default or by design. No surprise that most of Tigrai elites were pro-TPLF as long as they were beneficiarries of the system. But, why did the elites from Amara and Oromo fail to learn in the last quarter of a century? Almost all Amara elites still refusing to accept Oromia as a national state of the Oromo (including their rejection of Finfinné being part of Oromia) and some Oromo elites yet trying to undermine Ethiopia as a common home are the beloved politicians of TPLF. It encourages such rigid elites so that they neutralize each other, instead of cooperating on the common ground: self-rule of Oromia with shared-rule of Ethiopia. From the Oromo side, a lot of elites have come to this middle ground, but from the Amara elites almost none. Is this may be due to difference in length of oppression the two nations experienced? The Amara suffered only 30 years, whereas the Oromo endured it for about 150 years. It seems the Amara need yet more than 100 years of oppression to make a compromise and come to the middle position. Can we help these Amara elites come to the middle win-win solution?

After reading about and observing the imposition of Amarigna at cost of Afaan Oromo in the past more than one century, I just couldn’t help, but think about the main mistake Ob Minilik Càla (Aste Minilik), Ob Qusé Dinagdé, Ob. Góbenà Dàcé and so on did. The main mistake they did was making Amarinya a working language of the empire they did build. Being Oromos, if they could have managed to make Afàn Oromó a working language of the empire, now the Oromo were not the ones to fight for self-determination. The whole Finfinné and other “modern” peoples in the empire would have spoken Afàn Oromô, the whole diaspora Oromians now would have used Afàn Oromo, even all would have claimed to be Ethiopian which is equivalent to be Oromo, not Amara.

At present, for the Amara elites to come to their sense and comprehend why we did say so, let’s look at the following fact in short. Almost 99.9% Amara nowadays think they are pro-Ethiopianity and anti-ethnicity and with that they think that they have moral upper-hand. For them to develop another view, let’s demote Amarinya to local language of only Amara region and promote Afàn Oromo to the only federal language. Till now, just based on the fact that Amarinya being federal language, they used to advocate Ethiopianity, which in essence means actually Amaranet for they know how Amaranization is still going on. When we exchange the role of the two languages, I am sure the Oromo will start to sing about Ethiopianity, which will be equivalent to Oromummaa and, of course, we will denounce Ethnicity. Then, Amaras will start to defend themselves from Oromonization and will denounce Ethiopianity with only Afàn Oromo as federal language and they will be automatically pro-Ethnicity. So, we can see how simple it is to be a moralist without understanding the mechanism behind all what we do believe.

Some Oromos just asked Amara elites to accept Afàn Oromo as the only federal language to neutralize their attempt of maintaining and talking about Ethiopian unity with Amarinya as the only working language of the federation and, of course, with that making Amaranization process as a norm to be accepted by all nations in the region. Few Amara elites demand that the public decide on which language to be the working language of the federal union. But to ask the public to decide on the type of language to be used as the federal language, we first need to ask the public what type of sovereignty they want to build: independence or union! Why doesn’t democracy of Amara elites include this? Some of these elites accuse the Oromo to have grudge against Minilik. Resentment of the Oromo against Minilik is fact, but not only that, unfortunately almost all Amara elites now want to perpetuate the same policy of Minilik with a pretext of Ethiopian unity. Furthermore, some Amara elites cry foul about possible Oromo hegemony just bcause of the fact that all demand Afaan Oromo be federal language. Oromo elites, who make such demand, are not actually promoters of Oromo hegemony. But just to show Amara elites how the effort of domination can be painful, some Oromo elites say: “if the Amara elites want Ethiopian unity (one common house), then they should see also what it looks like to be under Oromo domination replacing their own domination”. In general, why do Amara elites talk and preach democracy, whereas they do exclude the right of the public to decide on its destiny per referendum or self-determination? If they must think democratically as they usually claim to do, then they need to think that there is no half-baked democracy!

Oromo elites argue that the main conflict factor in the region is language factor. If Amhara elites disagree with this premise, then let’s try it practically: let’s demote Amarinya to only Amara region and promote Afàn Oromo to language of the federation. Surely, the Oromo will then accept unconditional unity and will denounce Ethnicity, even they can reject right of nations to self-determination. Then, hopefully, Amara elites will be ready to influence all their relatives to learn Afaan Oromo without any objection and the Oromo would be very happy if Amara elites prefer not to fight for self-determination, but further struggle for democracy, unity, justice, equality, peace and prosperity.

Looking back to history and trying to judge the status quo, all elites of each nation do have their own interpretation. Preferable is to look into the future and ask the question: what options regarding solution for the language conflict do we have if we want to live together? I can suggest the following five options:

– union of free peoples based on self-determination, all independent nations having their own languages in their respective national areas and using English as international communication language
– unity in a federated Ethiopia with Afaan Oromo as the only federal working language
– unity with English as the only federal language
– unity with Afàn Oromo and Amarinya as federal languages and
– unity with Amarinya as the only federal language (the status quo which should be changed by any means as far as the Oromo are concerned)

Pro-democracy Amara elites seem to prefer the fourth option. They also started to see that the fifth option is failed project. Some Oromo elites do suggest the first option as the best solution. But, if Amhara elites reject self-determination of nations and persist to have unconditional unity, then let them test the second option so that they can understand what it means to be called “Ethiopian” in such a condition, which means in reality Oromo, in contrast to the hithrto condition, where Ethiopian means Amara. If Amara elites reject the second option, it is then expected from them to have an empathy for Oromo elites, who are rejecting the fifth option, instead of vilifying them as “exclusionists”. Why should Oromo elites be exclusionists for the sake of demanding this role exchange of the two languages, whereas Amara elites have been seen as inclusive while just propagating the exclusive fifth option? To avoid such language conflict, then of course, it is also possible to opt for the third option, which is most pragmatic choice in the already globalized world.

It is natural to ask, why did TPLF prefer and promote Amarinya at the cost of Afaan Oromo fot 28 years. The answer is clear: TPLF wanted that conflict between the two big nations continue, so it can come back to power easily. Just because of the language privilege they had, Amaras are still seen as oppressive by almost all oppressed nations in the empire including the Oromo, even though the Amara were as oppressed and exploited as other nations by TPLF regime. The TPLF could have solved this language conflict between Amarinya and Afaan Oromo by making either both of them the working language of the federal government or by limiting both of them to their respective states and promoting only English to the working language of the federation. The TPLFites privileged Amarinya, talked about Ethiopianity and unity only as long as they had lucrative power in Finfinne palace, whereas Amara elites do the same as long as they have the language privilege.

When we choose certain language as a common communication between different free peoples, we need to consider its economical expediency and its international usage. Till now, nations in the empire were obliged to learn Amarinya as national language, because of domination by Abyssinians (even including Tigreans who accepted Amarinya as the only federal language). It is clear why they do it – simply because of the political and economical advantage they get. Here is one example to be taken in to consideration. Amaras usually advocate unconditional unity just because they know what an advantage they have as far as Amarinya is the only working language of the federation. Accordingly, they oppose genuine ethnic federation, because it undermines their language domination.

The question to be asked by other nations now is: can the pro-democracy Amara forces choose to settle for the alternative of using languages of all nations at their respective national areas or should they be compelled to accept such fact of nations using their respective languages as an alternative to their refusal of recognizing a union based on self-determination? I know the TPLF can accept even an alternative of separation to build their own independent state for they already lost power.

To compel Amara forces to accept a union based on national self-determination, we just have to demote Amarinya to be used only in Amara region and promote Afàn Oromo to the only federal language. Then, they will see that Ethiopianity will not be equivalent to Amaranet (as it was till now), but it will be the same to Oromummà. In such scenario of Oromummà being equivalent to Ethiopianity, Oromo forces will definitely start to be pro-Ethiopianity against Ethnicity and the Amara will begin to defend their identity by opting for self-determination of Amara people, so that they will support Ethnicity and reject Ethiopianity = Oromumma. This way, the Amara elites can comprehend what it means to struggle for national freedom within or without regional union.

The current attempt of Amara elites to make both Afàn Oromo and Amarinya working languages of the new country, which they want to build in the future, is disadvantageous for other smaller nations. Amara elites opted to this alternative just to help Amarinya again be language of all regions including Oromia, the option they don’t have now. As far as the Oromo are concerned, Afàn Oromo being federal working language is not bad, so long Amarinya will not be imposed on Oromia, but Amarinya should be working language of only Amara region and, of course, that of federation besides Afàn Oromô.

For other nations in the empire, this may mean to learn four languages instead of the present only three. But, I argue that these peoples need to learn only two languages: their own mother tongue and an international language – English. Why should their children be obliged to learn Afàn Oromô and Amarinya and be stressed with additional useless languages, whereas Amara children learn only Amarinya and English, so being free from such stress. My suggestion is that all children from all nations should have the privilege given to Amara children: learn only their respective national language and an international language.

If Amara elites come to their sense and learn to accept the common ground for all nations, i.e genuine ethnic federalism, it would have been very easy to forge an effective alliance of Amara and Oromo forces against the TPLF. Just to clear the confusion produced by hitherto articles on similar topics, other names used for genuine ethnic federalism are: language-based federalism, internal self-determination, national independence with regional union, self-rule with shared-rule, national self-determination with multi-national democracy, unity with liberty, union of independent nations, United States of Ethiopia, Union State of Oromia, autonomous nations in federated Ethiopia, national independence in an integrated region (e.g independent Oromia in an integrated Ethiopia)… etc. In short, the best instrument to compel or help Amara elites so that they recognize, accept and respect the compromise solution – genuine ethnic federalism – and to make them recognize the right of nations to self-determination is demotion of Amarinya to local language and promotion of Afàn Oromo to federal working language, i.e transformation of the empire to a new Ethiopia with Afàn Oromô as federal Language! It is time for the Amaras to swallow the truth that their assimilative Ethiopia with their domination at Caffee Aràrà palace is dead to never come back again. The campaign of banning ethnic parties in Ethiopia may hurt them more than it does to the Oromo. Oromo elites also should stop our victim mentality and act as victors to lead the rising accommodative Ethiopia! May Wàqa open the eyes of both Amara and Oromo elites to the reality on the ground