Bilisummà Precedes Biltsiginnà, Also in Dictionary!
By Fayyis Oromia*
No question that bilisummà (freedom) of the Oromo should preced biltsiginnà (prosperity of) the Oromo. Some Oromo elites, who promote and support Abiy Ahmed’s EPP, are putting the cart infront of the horse. They try to convince us that we already achieved bilisummà and now it is time for biltsiginnà. I also thought like this in the first two years of Abiy’s rule. I never imagined that Abiy Ahmed will betray the Oromo and sell our sacrifice and victory to the Neo-Naftagnas. Just as we had 3 years of euphopria till Mengistu started to persecute Meison of Haile Fīdà and we enjoyed 10 months of transition till Meles started to suppress the OLF of Léncô Latà, it took us about 2 years of observation just to figure out that Abiy Ahmed is jailing genuine Oromo nationalists in order to keep the dominance of Amharanet at the cost of Oromummà. We had three revolutions, which the Oromo brought by sacrificing our limbs and lives, but we unforunately lost all the three. Why did we fail repeatedly and what should be our next move to achieve the final and lasting success in the form of bilisummà and walabummà/sovereignty?
As I tried to describe in my hitherto opinions, the Oromo nation is in a liberation struggle against Abyssinian colonizers and their Oromo collaborators, who were supported by their handlers from both power players of Eastern and Western world. This fighting for freedom from the proxy colonial forces (from Abyssinian and Abyssinian minded ruling elites) is continuing in multiple forms: diplomatically, militarily and politically. In this globe, where politics gives more value to principle of survival of the fittest, because of the fact that only ‘might is right,’ there is no other alternative to empowering the Oromo people, if we are really serious about getting national freedom from the oppressors and achieve national sovereignty to determine our destiny. One of the ways to strengthen our nation is by forging necessary unity of purpose among all Oromian liberation forces. Now, we are in the final stage to be free from Abyssinian domination, so that the purpose of our unity is to bring the Oromo to power in Finfinne palace. What is this unity of purpose, how can we define it operationally?
James Wilson once defined unity of purpose as the blending of primary and derivative responsibilities into a common pursuit. Alexander Hamilton said that securing such unity of purpose, coupled with the desire to make a difference, would generate the necessary energy to assure every nation’s liberty and stability. In effect, Wilson’s unity of purpose represents a central component of the American constitutional form. In the process of showing the importance of unity of purpose, he asserts that humanity is driven forward by the tension between those, who upon viewing order, create disorder, and those, who upon viewing disorder, create order. In a conflict between these two diametrically opposite forces, unity of purpose can help those who want to create order/unity to have an essential victory over those who do the opposite. To indicate the very importance of such unity, the current president of the UNO also once told to the African leaders in certain AU leaders’ submit: “through unity of purpose, I believe there is no limit to what we can achieve.”
From these important sentences said by the above prominent personalities, we can see how relevant national or supra-national unity of purpose is. Oromo nationalists, who are conscious about the importance of such unity describe this unity of purpose as ‘tokkummaa for bilisummaa’ = unity for national freedom. The main thing, which the Oromo freedom fighters desperately need to be successful is such unity of purpose. We know that unity comes before victory even in a dictionary. That means, we need to have the necessary blending of primary and derivative responsibilities of our freedom fighters into a common pursuit of Oromo’s freedom and Oromia’s sovereignty. This blending into a common pursuit through such unity of purpose, coupled with the desire of our people to make a difference, would generate the necessary energy to assure the stability and strength of Oromo bloc. The strength of Oromo national liberation movement is challenged by the principle put well by Wilson that ‘humanity is driven forward by the tension between those, who upon viewing order, create disorder (forces of entropy) , and those, who upon viewing disorder, create order (forces of enthalpy).’
These two forces are also present in Oromo national liberation struggle. There are still Oromo nationalists who do their best in ‘creating order/unity upon viewing disorder/disunity,’ and we do observe forces from enemy camp trying to create disorder/division upon viewing order in Oromo camp. Aims of the two opposing movements are, of course, antagonistic because of the fact that those, who strive to create unity upon viewing division in Oromo national liberation camp, do try to strengthen Oromo freedom fighters, whereas those, who attempt to create division upon viewing unity, want to weaken the struggle. If these two forces can be differentiated well, at least by Oromo polity, then Oromo nationalists can consciously work on supporting the forces of unity for freedom in order to empower Oromian national bloc against the Neo-Naftagna camp, i.e. against the giant evil, which could develop to be such a big oppressor because of the massive support it gets from those who form and are keeping Abyssinian empire as an instrument designed to serve their interest in the Horn region.
The two main forces we do now see struggling in Oromia and/or Ethiopia in such sense of creating disunity or unity are Neo-Naftagna forces, who do everything under the sun to weaken Oromo’s power by using divide-and-destroy method, and Oromo forces, which try to fix this problem of discord in Oromo liberation movement with the purpose of strengthening Oromo people. No question that to be liberated and sovereign, Oromo nation must be a force. For this potentially great nation to be a determining force, it is fact that unity of Oromo liberation forces is necessary. The unity we need should not necessarily be structural unity so that all forces be in one stronger organization, as we dream and wish, but surely, unity of purpose among all Oromo organizations is mandatory and a must. The main principle used by Neo-Naftagna camp to hinder Oromo nation from being such a force is as mentioned above by sowing a discord and using the colonial method of divide-to-destroy.
To that effect, particularly, they do apply the so called ‘AME principle’: the acronym standing for antagonize-moralize-emotionalize. Nowadays, they try to antagonize the two goals envisioned by the OLF, even though we know that one of the goals will prevail based on the future decision of Oromo public per referendum: ‘Oromia’s autonomy within Ethiopian union’ vs. ‘Oromia’s independence within African union.’ Furthermore, both objectives are not antagonistic to each other for the fact that the first goal is a very good prelude to the second. The cadres go on and try to moralize (paint as if Oromia’s autonomy is bad like a devil, and Oromia’s independence is good like a divinity, or vice versa). After moralizing the two goals like this, they further try to emotionalize (try to manipulate Oromo nationals, so that we develop an immense hatred against Oromia’s autonomy, and of course, have an enthusiastic love towards Oromia’s independence, or the reverse).
Regarding such move of EPPites to create division upon viewing unity, the main areas of operation observed in the last many years of their rule are: Tegaru-Oromo divide, where they do try to make sure that these two camps never find common denominator and forge a sort of alliance against their regime; Tegaru-Tegaru conflict, where they try to hinder unity of Tegaru bloc, which can challenge their power in Finfinne palace; and Oromo-Oromo discord, where they try to do everything under the sun to avoid any sort of unity in Oromo camp, which, not only could take over power in Finfinne, but also liberated Ethiopia from the Neo-Naftagna forces. Oromo nationalists in particular, and all anti-EPP forces in general, should try to neutralize this malicious action of EPP by promoting Oromo-Oromo unity, by not opposing Tegaru-Tegaru unity, and by being open for the possible Tegaru-Oromo alliance. It is clear that the forces, which want to create disorder/division/disunity upon viewing order, are doing their job in the camp continuously and untiredly. But, why do forces of order/unity not have such diligence and try their best to deal with these destructive forces of disorder/disunity?
To illustrate, the importance of unity among Oromo organizations, let me use the following metaphor by applying the five colors, used in flags of Abbaa-Gadaa and OLF, to represent the possible five steps and stages needed to move from the state of suffering under colony towards the future optimal freedom of the Oromo and sovereignty of Oromia. To move from the colonial “Ethiopian unity” of Neo-Naftagnas to free Oromian (Ethiopian) union envisioned by some Oromo nationalists, these five steps can be undertaken or the five stages can be achieved one after the other. Just to categorize some organizations and to give them certain political color, we need to divide the road-map of Oromo national liberation movement into five blocs or stages, and paint each of them with the five colors:
“- the first bloc/part/stage of the road-map is colored with white, symbolically the phase of EPP′s unitary Ethiopia devoid of Oromia, but has respecting Oromo people’s national right for freedom at heart, which is the same to what the OLF, being active (for example) in ME’ISON, tried to achieve and now considered as an obsolete political move and belongs to the past. We had already traveled this bloc or moved to this first stage till 1991. The Neo-naftagnas in EPP want to reverse the Oromo liberation move from follow back to white, whereas Jawar and co want that we move stepwise to green, red and black.
– the second part or stage is colored with yellow, which represents TPLF’s evil and pseudo-federalism, where in reality Oromia was under occupation of TPLF forces, but where the OLF was doing its job infiltrating (for instance) the instrumental OPDO and trief to keep the already achieved minimum political victories from setback.
– the third part/stage is the present short-term goal of Oromo national liberation movement in the form of true Oromia’s autonomy (genuine ethnic federation) as planned by the OLF operating (for example) in OFC and this bloc can be painted with green color.
– the fourth part/stage of the road-map can be given red color, and it is the middle-term goal of Oromo national liberation movement, i.e. Oromia’s independence, which is indispensable and envisioned by the OLF operating (for instance) in ONP.
– the final, optimal, highest and fifth part/stage is represented by the black color, which symbolizes Oromian (Ethiopian) union (supra-national union of free peoples) as a long-term goal, which is necessary to unite all Oromo in the Horn from Meroe to Mombaasa. As far as I know, the OLF has not yet explicitly stressed this final move as a goal.
Whereas we have certain Oromo organizations claiming to be in exclusively green and red uniforms, none of the structurally existing Oromo forces seems to be exclusively and explicitly in the black uniform, even though all do have the potential to be; here again, black – being the final and lasting goal, which can serve the interest of all the stakeholders in the Horn region. This stepwise move from one stage/bloc to the next/highest level is like liberation journey from colony under the Derg rule till 1991 in a symbolical Djibouti (white) and from the border town of Ayisha (yellow) representing the TPLF rule — through Oromia’s autonomy symbolized by Diredhawa (green) — and through Oromia’s independence represented by a move to Adama (red) — to the final goal in the form of Oromian (Ethiopian) union, which is given the symbol of arriving at Finfinné (black).
This national liberation journey – first towards Diredhawa, then to Adama and finally to Finfinne – is an optimal and progressive move, in which all Oromo freedom fighters can take part. All of them weared together yellow uniform for the sake of hindering any possible backward and regressive move to Djibouti, the backward move for which almost all Naftagna forces including EPP do struggle. Then, all Oromo freedom fighters can have now green uniforms to move together to Diredhawa, followed by changing the uniform to red in order to push further towards Adama, and at the end, all these nationalists can together put on black uniforms to move to Finfinne, the most beneficial type of Oromia’s sovereignty.
Here, we can clearly see how wrongly we usually do categorize both EPP and OFC in one camp. In reality, EPP wants us to move regressively backwards to the white area, whereas OFC tries to help us progressively move from the yellow position forwards to green zone. Actually, Oromo nationalists in the exclusively red uniform (pro-independence forces) could move with OFC, who are now wearing green (pro-autonomy forces), forwards to the next bloc of the road-map, and then challenge the convincingly green nationals, not to hinder the further move of Oromo nation to the red zone. At the end, if it will be in the interest of Oromo people, nothing can inhibit us from the final move to black part of the road-map (to the position of pro-union forces). Very important in fostering the imperative unity of purpose among Oromo organizations is to be conscious that a genuine and true ‘Oromia’s autonomy within Ethiopian union’ is the best prelude for ‘Oromia’s independence within African union.’ Thus, through resisting both the white (Amara elites) and the yellow (Tegaru elites) Abyssinian forces and being open to support the move of our mindset-OLF towards both green and red blocs, Oromo nationalists can harmoniously struggle together.
That is why I do think that the past way of alienating the OFC, which is actually the frank attempt of the OLF to exclusively move to the green zone, from other Oromo freedom fighters, serves only the evil intention of those who want to weaken unity of purpose in Oromo camp. Of course, indisputably clear is that to minimize such opposition of some Oromo nationalists against the move of OFC, actually also the EPP should change its program towards accepting true ethnic federation in a process of forging the alliance between these two respective forces. Otherwise, to understand why we should in unison support the progressive moves to both green and red zones, we can see that even flag of the OLF is a combination of green (pro-autonomy move) and red (pro-independence move) illustrating the fact that the OLF is, by nature, inclusive of the two goals, on which the Oromo public will have a referendum at the right time in the future.
Furthermore, important to consider regarding Oromo liberation movement is the significance of allowing our mind-set of freedom (the OLF) to move in all directions and areas by using different factions and rhetoric as mere instruments. The move of this mind-set in a structural (organizational) form of the OFC, OLF and ONP must be recognized, accepted and respected by all the reasonable and seasoned Oromo nationalists with sound mind. There is no irreconcilable conflict between different approaches of the OLF operating in these structural Oromo national liberation forces, as our foes want to see it and want to make us believe. The move of OLF, be it tactical or strategical, using these different names is not as such contradictory, but complementary. These different structural organizations of the OLF, which ought to have the imperative unity of purpose, are necessary for Oromo nation to come to the purpose of Oromo’s freedom and Oromia’s sovereignty (the type will be decided). Besides unity of purpose at present, some other factors, which are necessary to empower Oromo nation against Abyssinian domination include: our commitment and dedication to sacrifice our talent, money and time for the objective; our efforts to strengthen the military wing of our movement, the OLA (Oromo Liberation Army) as the means for Oromo nation to get respect in the world, where survival of the fittest is rule of the game; our possibly smart diplomacy to get more international support for our cause; and our internal strength not to be influenced by pressure from the enemy camp.
Last, but not least, it is not only use of unity of purpose to empower Oromo forces what is necessary, but also knowing the vice versa, i.e. empowering Oromian forces can lead to consolidation of necessary unity for the sake of achieving Oromo’s power in Caffee Araaraa. That means, another way of unifying Oromo camp is just helping one of OLF structural organizations be stronger, so that the forces in weaker structures will be attracted towards the stronger one, and this stronger OLF structure can be core of empowering our nation. So, let us all Oromo nationals be ready to join one structural organization, which we think can fit our belief, and then let’s contribute our best to Oromo’s unity of purpose through strengthening, where possible, structural unity of the OLF, if not, spiritual unity of purpose among the existing multiple structures. In this way, we can at least materialize spiritual unity of all Oromo nationalists with the mind-set of bilisummà, which we can take as unity of purpose. Such unity of purpose is indispensable, if we want that, at the end of the day, Oromian forcess have victory over the Neo-Naftagnas. Only when we create such unity of purpose, Oromo people can boldly assert like the UNO president did: through unity of purpose, there is no limit to what we can achieve. May Waaqa help Oromian forces be empowered through our unity of purpose (through unty for freedom and sovereignty), and help us come out victorious over Neo-Naftagnas. In all these process, we have take heed that bilisummà precedes biltsiginnà even in dictioary.
Galatôma!
Read more:https://orompia.wordpress.com/2017/01/1 ... r-victory/