Let’s be Transformed Like Dr. Nagàso Gidàdà from Oromianist through Unionist to Oropianist!
I read years ago certain news about Negàso Gidada, the ex-president of Ethiopia, joining the opposition party – UDJ, with feeling of ambivalence. Was his move constructive or destructive to national liberation movement of his own nation – the Oromo? Was his political development a backward or forward move or a horizontal shift within the spectrum, i.e from the vision of an independent Oromia (as he was in OLF) through federal Union (what he entertained in OPDO) towards an integrative Oropia (Oromummà led Ethiopia) – his position in UDJ? To answer these questions, we need to look at the conflict between interest of the Oromo nation, to whom he belongs, and interest of Ethiopia composing many nations, in which the two Abyssinian nations were exchangeably dominant in the past about 150 years. In short, we need to look at the complementarity and contradiction between the Oropian democratic movement and Oromian liberation movement.
Read more: https://orompia.wordpress.com/2023/05/0 ... ropianist/
Re: Let’s be Transformed Like Dr. Nagàso Gidàdà from Oromianist through Unionist to Oropianist!
When I was student some years back, I and one of my friends were sitting in bus and looking through window a nice city we were touring, and accidentally we saw one of our teachers walking. He was a bit elderly, with light coloured skin, had bald head till his back side and having full beard. My funny friend just watched and asked me, whether the teacher was walking forward or backward. Because of his bald head and full beard, we couldn’t differentiate his face from back of his head. That was very funny indeed, so both of us laughed. Since then, the episode remained to be a joke among our friends. As I read Nagàso’s decision to join the “multi-national” UDJ instead of the national party OFC, I just remembered this joke and laughed at the step taken by the ex-president. A question came to my mind was: is this backward or forward political move?
To look at the political career of the ex-president, first he was OLF activist who used to believe in liberating Oromia from Abyssinian colonialism; then he joined OPDO believing in ethnic federalism of Ethiopia (federal Union); after he left OPDO, I heard him demanding Oromo’s right to self-determination per referendum; then he joined a party which rejects right of Oromo nation to self-determination and which even wants to dismantle Oromia with a pre-text of preferring Ethiopian geo-federalism (Oropia) in contrast to the ethnic federalism, which is now supported by Oromo people. Is this move backward or forward move for one Oromo intellectual, who wrote his dissertation on Oromo history and who used to struggle for right of Oromo People in the past more than 40 years?
No question that Oromo liberation movement is getting momentum, slowly but surely; thus many stakeholders in the region are in a worry (firstly, Habesha elites; secondly, the Western allies of Habesha elites who used to support them in suppressing the Oromo; and thirdly, few elites of small nationalities in the empire, who are mistakenly in fear of Oromo’s “future domination”). These anti-freedom forces are now doing every thing under the sky to inhibit and hinder Oromo liberation’s forward movement. One of the “modern and 21st century” way to hinder us from achieving freedom of Oromo people and sovereignty of Oromo state is playing game of fake democratization of Ethiopia.
Opponents of Oromo liberation movement know very well that genuine democratization of Oropia is the best means to achieve the end of Oromo liberation movement, that is why they only give lip service, but never allow it to happen. Conservative and old-mode Amara elites with mind of the 20th-century Nefxenya (rule using nefx or gun) already showed their alliance with the 21st Nefxenya TPLF through the Zenawi-Shawel-handshake. The smart and modern Nefxenyas of both Habesha nations were re-organizing themselves in different forms. That is why I am not surprised by the once raised handshake of Siye Abraha with Gizachew Shiferraw, but the raised handshake of Nagàso Gidàdà with Gizachew Shiferraw made me sad and at the same time to laugh; that was ambivalence of emotion I had. Fact on the ground is that all these handshakes are about saving the empire! Conservative Nefxenyas try to keep the empire with old method like talking about the “history”,which Debterà Bahirey and Aleqà Taye wrote regarding Ethiopia and by demanding directly to dismantle Oromia. The “modern” ones use totally other methods, for example, to reduce the danger of dismantling the empire domination system by the Oromo, they use the following theories as postmodern approaches now applied to fight against Oromo’s right to self-determination:
– “All Ethiopians including Tigrayans are Oromo, so Oromo liberation in form of Oromia’s autonomy or independence is not necessary”, this was the theory constantly preached by Habesha elites in different forums.
– “the Oromo, as a majority, can rule the whole Ethiopia, so let’s fight for democracy together, no need of Oromo liberation movement”, this is an approach of the modern Habesha movement which tried to instrumentalize Oromo individuals.
– “Every body in Ethiopia is blended with the Oromo, so Ethiopia is Oromia and Ethiopian empire is in reality an Oromo empire”, Siye Abraha’s approach belongs here based on the speech he made as he toured North America.
– “Let’s focus on development of Oromia; majority of Oromo people need more food rather than freedom”, TPLF and its puppets in OPDO did use this Approach to divert attention of the Oromo from struggling for liberation and to pacify Oromo.
– “Oromo need unconditional national independence without regional union, but OLF is the first enemy who abandoned this goal; so first let’s focus on bashing, cursing, demonizing, discrediting and vilifying the OLF, specially its hitherto leaders”, TPLF cadres acting as radical pro-Oromia’s independence tried this method to divide and destroy the vanguard liberation front.
Be it they are conservative or moderate, till now there is no Amara party, which came to the middle ground to accept and respect ethnic federalism as a compromise solution for the conflict between pro-unitarity Amara elites and pro-independence Oromo elites. By the way, I personally don’t believe that there is any “multi-national” party in Ethiopia. One of the fake and fiction stories we are hearing from Ethiopia nowadays is that people try to divide political parties in that empire in to “ethnic based” and “multi-national”. All Amara parties try to sell themselves as all inclusive political parties. And, they try to vilify others as “narrow minded national” organizations. For their justification, they try to show us that, for instance, AG7 is led by people from many different nationalities.
Here, I think there is no necessity to fool each other. People from other nationalities, who are active in Amara parties are only hardware (biologically from other nations), but with Amara software (Amara mind pursuing to keep Amara interset). Just look at some of them: Birtukan Midhegsa is Amara software in Oromo hardware (she is Amara in mind and Oromo in blood); Hailu Araya is Amara in mind and Tigaru in blood; Berihanu Nega is Amara in mind and Gurage in blood; Muluneh Iyuel is Amara in mind and Hadiya in blood, etc. We can see their attempt of stressing the use of only Amarinya by all parties, they never dare to use Afaan Oromo even though they try to get support of the Oromo. We can forget other conservative parties like Semayawi and EPRP, who talk only about one “Ethiopian people”, they never dare to say “Ethiopian peoples”! But let us all be aware of Amara software in others’ hardware. Otherwise, I just want to add my observation regarding the form of expression used by two Oromo intelectuals, Merara Gudinà and Nagàsô Gidàdà. They used to talk about “Ethiopian peoples” till a journalist from Addis-dimts once confronted Merara in one of his interviews. Since then both of them talk only about “Ethiopian People”, the expression which is loved by Habesha elites just to confirm their mantra of “only one people” in Ethiopia. To my understanding both expressions are not wrong, it only depends on the context. When they are talking in context of government vs people, it is right to use “Ethiopian people” i.e in relation to only one federal government, but when the discussion is about right of nations in the empire, using the expression “Ethiopian peoples” is appropriate. So, I just encourage Oromo politicians to use both expressions depending on the context.
Regarding the move of Oromo nationalists nowadays, I think there is a consensus on the route of the journey to our end destination. We have to keep the status-quo (limited cultural autonomy) from any setback; then we have to move together towards true Oromia’s autonomy, the goal set by OFC; lastly, we have to finish the journey to self-determination per referendum leading to one of the two outcomes (‘free Oromia within union of nations in the region’ or ‘free Oromia without such a union’). Beside this, it is good to know that according to my hitherto observation, Abyssinian elites and Oromian elites preach democracy for the sake of two different and opposite ends:
– for Abyssinian elites, democratization of the country is a means for decimation of Oromia into ten pieces. That is why they propagate geography-based federation, contrary to the language-based “ethnic” federalism. It is a move towards unitary state, melting all nations into Amharic speakers. Did Dr. Negasso prefer this move?
– for Oromians, democratization is a means for liberation of Oromia from the empire domination system. That is why we want to convert the fake ethnic federation of TPLF to genuine federation, which can be the best precondition to move to self-determination of the Oromo and other nations.
Abyssinian elites theoretically preach democracy, but practically they walk against it. Oromo elites do have no fear from genuine democracy for it can lead us to a liberated Oromia. At the same time, we do have no fear from union of free peoples in the empire or region if it is based on our free will. It is the best way leading to Oromo’s leadership in the region for the Oromo is a biggest and strongest nation of the area. Based on the difference we do have among Oromo people in respect to the two possible outcomes of self-determination per referendum, I think pro “freeedom without union” Oromo individuals, who do oppose the pro “freedom within union” Oromo’s dedication to democratize the country, should stop their move. Democratization is not an end per se, but a means to the end, i.e to liberation of Oromia. If we perceive it like this, then it is clear to see why Abyssinian elites get panic whenever genuine democratization is getting root in the empire!
Coming back to the raised handshake of Negàso with Gizachew and Siye, let’s look at the possible impact on our liberation movement. Just as TPLF cadres and their websites rejoiced and jumped because of the advantage they did get from the handshake between Meles Zenawi & Hailu Shawel, the handshake of Negasso Gidada with Gizachew Shiferraw also made pro-unitary Amara elites to sing and jump with joy. Why? Because they perceived it as a triumph of their movement of unitary over Oromo movement for liberty. To their pleasure, surprisingly Dr. Negàso also made an analogy of a chicken in an egg-shell for “national movements,” such as Oromo liberation movement. He just failed to perceive the smart Amara national movement, which is always masked with “Ethiopian multi-national movement”, in its true nature. Thus, in reality, he just moved from his own egg-shell (Oromo liberation movement) into the other one’s egg-shell (Amara domination movement). Why did he do this? He already gave the answer himself: because of the “love and popularity” he got from the Habesha elites! Interestingly, this is smart method Habesha elites used till now in order to weaken Oromo nationalists, i.e make them “friends”, give them “love and recognition” as far as they are in line with Habesha elites’ domination move and the same Habesha elites do the opposite (hate, denounce, despise, denigrate, etc) whenever such Oromo elites start to emphasize the importance of Oromo liberation from Habesha elites’ domination.
Anyways, I hope that Oromo individuals in AG7 one day will wake up and smell the coffee. Unless Habesha elites in parties like AG7 are ready to accept and respect the God-given and Man-made right of the Oromo people to self-determination, unless they at least decide to recognize Oromia’s autonomy in Ethiopian context, no manipulation of Habesha elites will stop Oromo people from pushing for the liberation struggle towards our desired goal. But, for the sake of fighting against the self-determination, I supported the move of both Negasso and Siye to strengthen the viable opposition – Medrek. If UDJ in Medrek was for true democratization process, even geo-federation is defacto integrative Oropia, which can be one result of the right of Oromo people to self-determination. In such case, I think Negàso’s political move was a shift from left to right (from Oromia of the OLF, through theoretical Union of OPDO to Oropia of the UDJ). Then, he is may be the only prominant Oromo, who is transformed from first generation OLF (believing in only one possible objective – an independent Oromia) to second generation OLF (accepting both Oromia and Union as possible outcomes) and now to third generation OLF (entertaining three possible types of post-freedom sovereignty: an independent Oromia, a federal Union Oromia and an integrative Oropia). The only thing that all stakeholders in the Region need to have in mind is that they can not fool Oromo people, who do have no other wish and intention except securing our right to self-determination, which can lead us to one of the above three post-freedom Oromia’s sovereignty. As far as I am concerned, all Oromo nationalists need to shift their vision like Dr. Negàso from the past oriented independent Oromia through the presently used federal Union to the future beneficial integrative Oropia. May Wàqa help us all.
To look at the political career of the ex-president, first he was OLF activist who used to believe in liberating Oromia from Abyssinian colonialism; then he joined OPDO believing in ethnic federalism of Ethiopia (federal Union); after he left OPDO, I heard him demanding Oromo’s right to self-determination per referendum; then he joined a party which rejects right of Oromo nation to self-determination and which even wants to dismantle Oromia with a pre-text of preferring Ethiopian geo-federalism (Oropia) in contrast to the ethnic federalism, which is now supported by Oromo people. Is this move backward or forward move for one Oromo intellectual, who wrote his dissertation on Oromo history and who used to struggle for right of Oromo People in the past more than 40 years?
No question that Oromo liberation movement is getting momentum, slowly but surely; thus many stakeholders in the region are in a worry (firstly, Habesha elites; secondly, the Western allies of Habesha elites who used to support them in suppressing the Oromo; and thirdly, few elites of small nationalities in the empire, who are mistakenly in fear of Oromo’s “future domination”). These anti-freedom forces are now doing every thing under the sky to inhibit and hinder Oromo liberation’s forward movement. One of the “modern and 21st century” way to hinder us from achieving freedom of Oromo people and sovereignty of Oromo state is playing game of fake democratization of Ethiopia.
Opponents of Oromo liberation movement know very well that genuine democratization of Oropia is the best means to achieve the end of Oromo liberation movement, that is why they only give lip service, but never allow it to happen. Conservative and old-mode Amara elites with mind of the 20th-century Nefxenya (rule using nefx or gun) already showed their alliance with the 21st Nefxenya TPLF through the Zenawi-Shawel-handshake. The smart and modern Nefxenyas of both Habesha nations were re-organizing themselves in different forms. That is why I am not surprised by the once raised handshake of Siye Abraha with Gizachew Shiferraw, but the raised handshake of Nagàso Gidàdà with Gizachew Shiferraw made me sad and at the same time to laugh; that was ambivalence of emotion I had. Fact on the ground is that all these handshakes are about saving the empire! Conservative Nefxenyas try to keep the empire with old method like talking about the “history”,which Debterà Bahirey and Aleqà Taye wrote regarding Ethiopia and by demanding directly to dismantle Oromia. The “modern” ones use totally other methods, for example, to reduce the danger of dismantling the empire domination system by the Oromo, they use the following theories as postmodern approaches now applied to fight against Oromo’s right to self-determination:
– “All Ethiopians including Tigrayans are Oromo, so Oromo liberation in form of Oromia’s autonomy or independence is not necessary”, this was the theory constantly preached by Habesha elites in different forums.
– “the Oromo, as a majority, can rule the whole Ethiopia, so let’s fight for democracy together, no need of Oromo liberation movement”, this is an approach of the modern Habesha movement which tried to instrumentalize Oromo individuals.
– “Every body in Ethiopia is blended with the Oromo, so Ethiopia is Oromia and Ethiopian empire is in reality an Oromo empire”, Siye Abraha’s approach belongs here based on the speech he made as he toured North America.
– “Let’s focus on development of Oromia; majority of Oromo people need more food rather than freedom”, TPLF and its puppets in OPDO did use this Approach to divert attention of the Oromo from struggling for liberation and to pacify Oromo.
– “Oromo need unconditional national independence without regional union, but OLF is the first enemy who abandoned this goal; so first let’s focus on bashing, cursing, demonizing, discrediting and vilifying the OLF, specially its hitherto leaders”, TPLF cadres acting as radical pro-Oromia’s independence tried this method to divide and destroy the vanguard liberation front.
Be it they are conservative or moderate, till now there is no Amara party, which came to the middle ground to accept and respect ethnic federalism as a compromise solution for the conflict between pro-unitarity Amara elites and pro-independence Oromo elites. By the way, I personally don’t believe that there is any “multi-national” party in Ethiopia. One of the fake and fiction stories we are hearing from Ethiopia nowadays is that people try to divide political parties in that empire in to “ethnic based” and “multi-national”. All Amara parties try to sell themselves as all inclusive political parties. And, they try to vilify others as “narrow minded national” organizations. For their justification, they try to show us that, for instance, AG7 is led by people from many different nationalities.
Here, I think there is no necessity to fool each other. People from other nationalities, who are active in Amara parties are only hardware (biologically from other nations), but with Amara software (Amara mind pursuing to keep Amara interset). Just look at some of them: Birtukan Midhegsa is Amara software in Oromo hardware (she is Amara in mind and Oromo in blood); Hailu Araya is Amara in mind and Tigaru in blood; Berihanu Nega is Amara in mind and Gurage in blood; Muluneh Iyuel is Amara in mind and Hadiya in blood, etc. We can see their attempt of stressing the use of only Amarinya by all parties, they never dare to use Afaan Oromo even though they try to get support of the Oromo. We can forget other conservative parties like Semayawi and EPRP, who talk only about one “Ethiopian people”, they never dare to say “Ethiopian peoples”! But let us all be aware of Amara software in others’ hardware. Otherwise, I just want to add my observation regarding the form of expression used by two Oromo intelectuals, Merara Gudinà and Nagàsô Gidàdà. They used to talk about “Ethiopian peoples” till a journalist from Addis-dimts once confronted Merara in one of his interviews. Since then both of them talk only about “Ethiopian People”, the expression which is loved by Habesha elites just to confirm their mantra of “only one people” in Ethiopia. To my understanding both expressions are not wrong, it only depends on the context. When they are talking in context of government vs people, it is right to use “Ethiopian people” i.e in relation to only one federal government, but when the discussion is about right of nations in the empire, using the expression “Ethiopian peoples” is appropriate. So, I just encourage Oromo politicians to use both expressions depending on the context.
Regarding the move of Oromo nationalists nowadays, I think there is a consensus on the route of the journey to our end destination. We have to keep the status-quo (limited cultural autonomy) from any setback; then we have to move together towards true Oromia’s autonomy, the goal set by OFC; lastly, we have to finish the journey to self-determination per referendum leading to one of the two outcomes (‘free Oromia within union of nations in the region’ or ‘free Oromia without such a union’). Beside this, it is good to know that according to my hitherto observation, Abyssinian elites and Oromian elites preach democracy for the sake of two different and opposite ends:
– for Abyssinian elites, democratization of the country is a means for decimation of Oromia into ten pieces. That is why they propagate geography-based federation, contrary to the language-based “ethnic” federalism. It is a move towards unitary state, melting all nations into Amharic speakers. Did Dr. Negasso prefer this move?
– for Oromians, democratization is a means for liberation of Oromia from the empire domination system. That is why we want to convert the fake ethnic federation of TPLF to genuine federation, which can be the best precondition to move to self-determination of the Oromo and other nations.
Abyssinian elites theoretically preach democracy, but practically they walk against it. Oromo elites do have no fear from genuine democracy for it can lead us to a liberated Oromia. At the same time, we do have no fear from union of free peoples in the empire or region if it is based on our free will. It is the best way leading to Oromo’s leadership in the region for the Oromo is a biggest and strongest nation of the area. Based on the difference we do have among Oromo people in respect to the two possible outcomes of self-determination per referendum, I think pro “freeedom without union” Oromo individuals, who do oppose the pro “freedom within union” Oromo’s dedication to democratize the country, should stop their move. Democratization is not an end per se, but a means to the end, i.e to liberation of Oromia. If we perceive it like this, then it is clear to see why Abyssinian elites get panic whenever genuine democratization is getting root in the empire!
Coming back to the raised handshake of Negàso with Gizachew and Siye, let’s look at the possible impact on our liberation movement. Just as TPLF cadres and their websites rejoiced and jumped because of the advantage they did get from the handshake between Meles Zenawi & Hailu Shawel, the handshake of Negasso Gidada with Gizachew Shiferraw also made pro-unitary Amara elites to sing and jump with joy. Why? Because they perceived it as a triumph of their movement of unitary over Oromo movement for liberty. To their pleasure, surprisingly Dr. Negàso also made an analogy of a chicken in an egg-shell for “national movements,” such as Oromo liberation movement. He just failed to perceive the smart Amara national movement, which is always masked with “Ethiopian multi-national movement”, in its true nature. Thus, in reality, he just moved from his own egg-shell (Oromo liberation movement) into the other one’s egg-shell (Amara domination movement). Why did he do this? He already gave the answer himself: because of the “love and popularity” he got from the Habesha elites! Interestingly, this is smart method Habesha elites used till now in order to weaken Oromo nationalists, i.e make them “friends”, give them “love and recognition” as far as they are in line with Habesha elites’ domination move and the same Habesha elites do the opposite (hate, denounce, despise, denigrate, etc) whenever such Oromo elites start to emphasize the importance of Oromo liberation from Habesha elites’ domination.
Anyways, I hope that Oromo individuals in AG7 one day will wake up and smell the coffee. Unless Habesha elites in parties like AG7 are ready to accept and respect the God-given and Man-made right of the Oromo people to self-determination, unless they at least decide to recognize Oromia’s autonomy in Ethiopian context, no manipulation of Habesha elites will stop Oromo people from pushing for the liberation struggle towards our desired goal. But, for the sake of fighting against the self-determination, I supported the move of both Negasso and Siye to strengthen the viable opposition – Medrek. If UDJ in Medrek was for true democratization process, even geo-federation is defacto integrative Oropia, which can be one result of the right of Oromo people to self-determination. In such case, I think Negàso’s political move was a shift from left to right (from Oromia of the OLF, through theoretical Union of OPDO to Oropia of the UDJ). Then, he is may be the only prominant Oromo, who is transformed from first generation OLF (believing in only one possible objective – an independent Oromia) to second generation OLF (accepting both Oromia and Union as possible outcomes) and now to third generation OLF (entertaining three possible types of post-freedom sovereignty: an independent Oromia, a federal Union Oromia and an integrative Oropia). The only thing that all stakeholders in the Region need to have in mind is that they can not fool Oromo people, who do have no other wish and intention except securing our right to self-determination, which can lead us to one of the above three post-freedom Oromia’s sovereignty. As far as I am concerned, all Oromo nationalists need to shift their vision like Dr. Negàso from the past oriented independent Oromia through the presently used federal Union to the future beneficial integrative Oropia. May Wàqa help us all.