Is Oropia as Member of East African Federation Oromo’s Vision?
By Fayyis Oromia*
I just read that Somalia is accepted as member of East African Community being 8th member of the envisioned political federation. It is also mentioned that Ethiopia can be the next candidate. If Ethiopia led by Oromummà, i.e defacto Oropia, becomes member of this huge common market, no need of crying for Assab as a possible see outlet, because the whole ports of Somalia, Kenya and Tanzaia can be used smoothly. Oropia being member of this federation is a God given blessing for the whole Oromo, who live being distributed in this east Aftican region. How beautiful to observe that the Oromo as little David already defeated our enemy as huge as Goliath and now we are planning for such future blessing. I hope that genuine Oromo nationalists in OFC, OLA, OLF and OPP shall defeat the Hybrids (marital, physical and mental mixes) now trying to suppress the legitimate Oromo questions such as ‘Finfinné be under Oromia’, ‘Afàn Oromo as federal language’ and ‘Wallo back to Oromia’ not to be answered. These Hybrids being our current enemies are not different from the already defearted Habesha elites; it is only matter of time. I think the story of David and Goliath is known to all Oromo from different regions and religions. The story is, in short, as follows:
“The Philistine army had gathered for war against Israel. The two armies faced each other, camped for battle on opposite sides of a steep valley. A Philistine giant, measuring over nine feet tall and wearing full armor, came out each day for forty days, mocking and challenging the Israelites to fight. His name was Goliath. Saul, the King of Israel, and the whole army were terrified of Goliath. One day, David was sent to the battle lines by his father to bring back news of his brothers. David was probably just a young teenager at the time. While there, David heard Goliath shouting his daily defiance, and he saw the great fear stirred within the men of Israel. David responded, ‘who is this Philistine defying the armies of my nation?’ So David volunteered to fight Goliath. It took some persuasion, but King Saul finally agreed to let David fight against the giant. Dressed in his simple tunic, carrying his shepherd’s staff, slingshot and a pouch full of stones, David approached Goliath. The giant cursed him, hurling threats and insults. David said to the Philistine, ‘you come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of my nation, whom you have defied. Today, I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air.’ As Goliath moved in for the kill, David reached into his bag and slung one of his stones at Goliath’s head. Finding a hole in the armor, the stone sank into the giant’s forehead, and he fell face down on the ground. David then took Goliath’s sword, killed him and then cut off his head. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran. So the Israelites pursued, chasing and killing them and plundering their camp.”
Some points of interest from the David and Goliath story are:
– why did they wait forty days to begin the battle? Probably for several reasons. Everyone was afraid of Goliath; he seemed invincible. Not even King Saul, the tallest man in Israel, had stepped out to fight. Also, the sides of the valley were very steep. Whoever made the first move would have a strong disadvantage and probably suffer great loss. Both sides were waiting for the other to attack first. Is such waiting for the right timing and right courageous leadership beneficial for the Oromo people?
– David chose not to wear the King’s armor because it felt cumbersome and unfamiliar. He was comfortable with his simple slingshot, a weapon he was skilled at using. I think, also for us, the Oromo, using unique skills in our own hands is more useful, so we don’t have to worry about “wearing King’s armor.” Let’s just be ourselves, self-reliant and use the familiar gifts and talents we do have. If we are ready to use our talent and time effectively, we can surely be successful in our national liberation struggle.
– David’s self-confidence caused him to look at the giant from a different perspective. Goliath was merely a mortal man defying a powerful nation. David looked at the battle from his strong point of view. If we look at giant problems and impossible situations, such as the hitherto colonial domination under Abyssinian rulers, from such perspective of our strength, we definitely can fight substantially and realize our national objective of Oromo people’s freedom successfully. When we put things in such proper perspective, we do see more clearly and can struggle more efficiently.
– when the giant cursed, insulted and threatened the whole nation, David didn’t stop or even waver. Everyone else cowered in fear, but David ran to the battle. He knew that action needed to be taken. David did the right thing in spite of the discouraging insults and fear inducing threats. He was not theorizing the problem of his nation, but quick enough to take pragmatic action. Only the interest and opinion of his terrorized nation mattered to David. Is the interest and opinion of the Oromo people the only thing what matters nowadays to Oromo freedom fighters?
The further important questions the politically conscious Oromo nationals need to ask ourselves as citizens individually, and as a nation collectively, can be: are we now facing a major primary giant problem like a sort of impossible situation or are we fleeing into the minor nonconstructive secondary conflicts with our fellow Oromo? “Gaara ol bahuu dadhabnee, dalga fiiga jirra?” = are we running horizontally in the wrong direction for we are frustrated in walking upwards vertically on the right direction in fighting for our freedom objective? Let’s stop for a minute and refocus. Can we see the situation more clearly from our strong vantage point? Do we need to take courageous action in the face of discouraging intimidation from our archenemies and confronting fearful circumstances? Do we have national self-confidence to fight for our cause to the end, despite the repeatedly experienced frustrations caused by the alien enemy forces? We have to remember that our interest and the opinion we do have as a nation towards our national liberation struggle are the only things that matter.
Parallel to the story we read here, we can take the name David as a symbol for a citizen or an organization of a certain intimidated and terrorized nation, whereas Goliath is an example of any sort of a terrorizing foe. In our case, the Oromo people, who sufferred under the state terrorism and political suppression, can be designated as the bold and courageous David, while the enemy camp of colonizers, the Tigrean elites, with their imperialist supporters, can be seen as the giant Goliath. On the contrary to such fact of having the powerful oppressor, specially some Tigrean elites tried to tell us that the “small Tigrai nation used to rule over big Oromo nation.” Such persons can’t understand that, in reality, the TPLF, with its more than 4-billion supporting taxpayers from both the Western and the Eastern power players of the globe, was the giant Goliath against whom the relatively small Oromo nation of only about 40-million was fighting. Interestingly, cadres of our archenemy (the TPLF) were waging their battle against Oromo national liberation movement, not only with massive economic support from these foreign forces, but also with a calculated emotional (psychological) attack, as for instance, seen in the following expressions: “OLF struggled for 40 years, but it is still without any tangible result;” “only 4 million courageous Tigrayans are ruling over the 40 million coward Oromo;” “less number of Tigrean fighters could imprison the non-efficient 20,000 Oromo fighters within few weeks as POW in the year 1992.” Even if this imprisonment in mass of Oromo national liberation army was right, of course, the mini-mind of the cadres can’t comprehend the international scenario behind the episode: e.g. they do not want to admit the fact that Western intelligence and the EPLF military helped the Tigreans at that time of attacking the already disarmed OLA (the Oromo Liberation Army) due to the peace negotiation at that time. Additionally, the cadres are very busy in blaming, cursing and discrediting leaders of Oromo national liberation movement – naming them as betrayers, ineffective individuals and collaborators.
But the reality is that Oromo people resisted atrocities from such big global power, not only for the last 150 years, as most of us do believe, but for thousands of years, since alien forces started to influence Cushland in the eastern part of Africa by instrumentalizing the regional movements of both politics and religion. As already well known, Abyssinian rulers were/are the programmed software of non-African alien forces; they are designed to oppress the indigenous Cushites of the region, including the Oromo. The best method our Goliath (Oromo’s giant enemy) used to conquer and control Oromo nation is the divide-and-destroy-strategy. TPLF, being like forehead of Goliath, was expending hundred millions of dollars just for the sake of sowing discord among Oromo public in general, and between OLF factions in particular. The discord was important for division and polarization maneuver of TPLF, into which Oromo nationalists repeatedly fall, be it knowingly or unknowingly. The result was, for instance, the fragmentation of our beloved national liberation vanguard – the OLF – into dysfunctional mini-groups, instead of building the very cohesive, effective, bigger and stronger national liberation front.
If we look at our national liberation struggle objectively, the Goliath (Abyssinian rulers with their alien supporters) could repeatedly frustrate our David (Oromo nation) causing multiple setbacks in our struggle. Examples, which can be named, are: the help, which Amhara warlord Theodros got to attack and conquer Yejju Oromo rulers of 19th-century in Gondar and to subjugate Wallo Oromo; the assistance given to Tigrai warlord Yohannes to compel Wallo Oromo be converted from Islam to Christianity; the support for Minilik’s invasion of whole Oromia and other southern nations; the sabotage undertaken to hinder the Wallo Oromo prince Iyasu from being emperor of Ethiopia; the continuous suppression of Oromo uprisings in regions like Rayya and Baale with help of forces from the Western regimes; the hijacking of past revolutions led by Oromo people (such as the ones in 1974, 1991 and 2005); the attempt to isolate and separate the OLF from Oromo people and trying to limit it as only an organization in exile; and the manipulation to overtake OLF by forging certain pseudo-OLF, as we could observe in the near past.
To counteract all these destructive actions of the Goliath against us, our David (Oromo nation) could learn how to resist the maneuver and manipulation of the enemy. Here are some measures, which I suggested as helpful idea: our David should try to be internally stronger than it is now in order to confront the Goliath with all the necessary boldness and courage; it needs to strengthen the national liberation camp via unity of Oromo freedom fighters, and alliance with other anti-TPLF national liberation forces, especially being conscious for TPLF wants to make sure that no Amara-Amara unity, no Amara-Oromo alliance and no Oromo-Oromo unity against its rule will take place. Our David should be smart diplomatically and strong militarily to have the necessary respect in eyes of the international community, which tends to revere strong nations and despise weak ones; it must be accommodative of the two OLF forces (pro-independence and the pro-union factions) as it used to be until 2001 – year of break-away for the exclusively pro-independence group, and till 2012 – year of separation for the exclusively pro-union faction; and it ought take into consideration that the historical Jericho wall could be crumbled by the united action (shouting) of the concerned people; this collective shouting is a symbol for the efficiency of action in unison. This actions can also be applied against the currently suppressiv Hybrids in Power.
Also, we need to fight till the day of complete victory of our David, keeping in mind that we surely will prevail because of the following facts:- war of David against the intimidator and terrorist Goliath is war of justice, just like the war of Oromo people against the Hybrids; David finally used his own weapon, taking off the military uniform from the Alien; similarly, self-reliance of the Oromo is mandatory. David’s determination to fight is great, so is the unflinching dedication of Oromo nation to freedom necessary to come to victory; for there was no single individual from David’s nation, who used to back-stab and sabotage David’s move (all his people rallied behind him), so is the importance of rallying in unison behind our only one strong vanguard national liberation front. David, consequently, targeted forehead of the enemy, which is a good lesson for us so that we try to focus at the forehead of our Goliath, i.e. focus at only the Hybrids, instead of just wasting our resources and weapons at the peripheral parts of Goliath, like what we are doing now by targeting the powerless Amara elite base, diverting our attention from the powerful current enemy and channeling it in a wrong direction towards trivials.
If Oromo nationalists (our David) will be wise enough to cooperate with each other and coordinate our struggle, definitely, the Goliath, which is still insulting, terrorizing and intimidating Oromo people, will fall with his face down on the ground. In order to realize this, our mind-set of freedom, the OLF, need to be smartly active, be it in the ruling OPP way, the opposition OFC way, the pro-independence OLF way or the pro-self-determination (pro-referendum) OLF way. If we can understand each other as well as accept and respect the possible different routes of national liberation journey, chosen by the respective Oromo nationalists in each organization, these four ways can lead us to freedom of the Oromo, after which we can decide on the type of Oromia’s sovereignty we will have in the future per Oromo public verdict.
This struggle of Oromo nation (our David) for freedom from direct influence of alien forces and from indirect invasion using Abyssinian elites continued till we achieve both freedom of Oromo and sovereignty of Oromia. I think now, we already won, Here, the best instruments, which could lead us to success in our struggle are self-reliance of Oromo people combined with smart diplomacy and strong military of our vanguard national liberation front. Above all, very important is that Oromo freedom fighters in all routes of the journey (OPP route, OFC route, and OLF route) do try to comprehend that their common denominator is ‘freedom of the Oromo’ in order to be in a position of exercising our self-determination to decide later per public verdict on the future type of Oromia’s sovereignty: ‘Oromia’s autonomy within Ethiopian union’ or ‘Oromia’s independence within union of free peoples’.
Regarding the possibility of cooperating with the anti-Biltsigina Amara forces to strengthen our David and to weaken the Goliath to some extent, unfortunately, Amara forces missed the opportunity of getting support of Oromo mass, because of their undermining the right of nations to self-determination. Even though the Amara were under the oppression of their cousins, they yet need to feel exactly what a national subjugation means and have to learn how to fight for their own national freedom, instead of crying about the whole Ethiopia, which they want to possess further. It may take them about a century, if not a millennium, to come to the national consciousness level of Eritreans and the Oromo, so that they can start to struggle to liberate their occupied national areas from the colonialists. For now, as I have repeatedly wrote, the best lottery, which the Hybrid regime got to rule the whole empire is the Amhara-Oromo conflict. It is very easy to instigate and inflame any sort of conflict between these two nations, as seen in the last years. Biltsigina cadres (foot soldiers of the Goliath) were very busy to saw discord and to produce an Amara-Amara conflict, an Amara-Oromo conflict and an Oromo-Oromo conflict. They pretend as if they are supporters of one side and curse the other side, e.g. being camouflaged as pro-Independence Oromo and/or as pro-unitary Amara, and vilify the opposite side. Unknowingly, some genuine anti-Biltsigina individuals and organizations already fell into this trap, and indirectly did bidding of the Biltsigina cadres.
Actually, our mind-set of freedom – the OLF (our David) – used to play both cards of independence and union (union card as a carrot, and independence card as a stick) in the national liberation struggle against Abyssinian colonialists; so the “pro-independence vs. pro-union” conflict could have been avoided by looking at this important approach of using both cards positively. I personally believe that the OLF can still be accommodative and inclusive to have both pro-independence and pro-union Oromo – being organized in one political structure and struggle in unison by supporting each other till we will have the final verdict per Oromo public at large. The current trend of separating the two camps into two different OLF directions (one moving in direction of independence and the other towards union) is not as such productive. I again would like to suggest that we do look at our national liberation struggle as a journey in national liberation train from Djibouti to Finfinne. We used to live under domination in a form of Oromia’s occupation, which is symbolized by life in Djibouti under Abyssinian colonialists; from this status, we can move to the next step of freedom in a form of Oromia’s autonomy (to Diredhawa) as planned by pro-union ODP; then further to Adaama, to freedom in a form of Oromia’s independence envisioned by pro-independence OLF; finally, we can move to Finfinné, to the more beneficial and the most likely future global political trend of building a supra-national union, i.e freedom in a form of ‘union of free peoples’ in the region, which can include all the Oromo people in the Horn of Africa – a move to final objective, which can be common for both wings of the OLF and OPP.
Last, but not least, I must repeat the following assertion again and again: genuine ethnic federation planned by pro-union ODP can only serve as a transitional arrangement leading us to the future public verdict, where Oromo mass will choose between ‘Oromia’s autonomy within Ethiopian union’ and ‘Oromia’s independence within African union’ as a lasting solution. This decision must be left for Oromo public (our David) as an exercise of right to self-determination after completely getting rid of Biltsigina fascists (after hitting the Goliath on his forehead); it should not be predetermined now by Oromo polity. As far as I am concerned, the following is the reality of political development in Abyssinian empire:
– Unitary Ethiopia of Amara forces is obsolete and belongs to the past;
– Biltsigina’s pseudo-federal Ethiopia is evil and on process of dying;
– Ethiopian union (true ethnic federation) of pro-union OPP can only be a transitional solution;
– Oromia’s independence envisioned by pro-independence OLF is indispensable and a must;
– Union of free peoples in the Horn – which can be accepted by both pro-independence and pro-union Oromo nationals, is the beneficial and lasting solution for all stakeholders in the region.
Here, we can see that unitarists and unionists are not necessarily on the same page, as we usually try to describe them. OPP can be considered as a collaborator, only if it endorses the unitary Ethiopia dominated by Amhara and Amarinya. If this will be the reality, we can say that Ezema is riding OPP as a horse. In case the Ezema is ready to promote, accept and respect Oromia’s autonomy planned by the OPP , then it is unfair to criticize and curse both of them and vilify their alliance. So, to take Oromia’s autonomy as a temporary goal of the possible all inclusive alliance against Hybrid fascists and racists should not necessarily be the same to opposing future Oromo public decision for Oromian independence. The pro-union Oromo nationalists, who either convincingly or tactically talk about ‘Oromia’s autonomy within Ethiopian union,’ are not collaborators of the Goliath, as some pro-independence nationals do accuse them. True collaborators are only those Oromo nationals, who want to keep Biltsigina’s pseudo-federal apartheid Ethiopia or who do support the come-back of Amara’s assimilative Ethiopia. I know this topic of discussion will continue till we settle it per Oromo public verdict in the future. Until then, we can express our only individual and institutional positions, but we can not decide for Oromo people. What is now very essential is working towards strengthening our David against the Goliath, so that at the end of the day, consolidated victory will be for our David, even though the forehead of Goliath (the Hybrids) seems to be invincible based on the unlimited support it used to get from all power players of the globe. Here, the David has already won the Goliath, but yet need to consolidate and keep the victory. May Wàqa help our political organizations, in striving to forge unity of Oromo forces, and to foster alliance with other anti-Biltsiginà fighters in order to empower our David further.
Galatôma!
Read more: https://orompia.wordpress.com/2018/12/1 ... r-goliath/