From the outset of this personal opinion, I wish to express that I risk being biased since I am from this region of Ethiopia. I have tried to be as objective as one can be in trying to express a personal opinion in good faith thinking and hoping that it would be constructive for both Ethiopia as well as its federal states.
If my reading serves me right, Florence is a region in Italy that is symbolized for sparking the first Renaissance.
The rebirth came after De Rerum Natura, which was written in the first century BC, was uncovered in the 15th century.
It took a long time before the spark became a far reaching light.
A meaningful study of our region’s ancient history and a deeper understanding of the local culture would suggest that something must be amiss. The region’s history dates back to the most ancient of recorded times. Yet, it remains one of the least developed in the world in economic terms.
This paradox would invite anyone with some level of interest to get to the root of what caused it.
My study suggests that it started with the story of the Exodus. Ironically, a quick reflection suggests that the story was taught throughout the region for a long time now as divine instead of as the beginning of a decline.
This observation is one of the sources of my call for the second Renaissance.
Surprisingly, I came across at a later time an abstract poem by the late Ethiopian Laureate Tsegaye Ghebremedhin, which was written around 1971 or 1972 (1964 in E.C.) in Borana, Ethiopia.
I have yet to fully understand the depth of his poem. However, three words in it, ለካ ኣንተ ነህ, are unmistakable. It can be roughly translated to saying eureka!
As someone who had a similar eureka moment while reading Sigmund Freud’s Moses and Monotheism book, I was pleasantly surprised by these three words.
In calling for the second Renaissance, if De Rerum Natura was the spark for the first Renaissance, ለካ ኣንተ ነህ would be the spark for the second one.
If the first Renaissance went all the way back to the era of Goddess Athena in search of wisdom traditions, the second Renaissance would go back to the era of Pharaoh Akhenaten in search of the same.
Ahmed Osman’s Moses and Akhenaten book built on Sigmund Freud’s Moses and Monotheism book and identified Pharaoh Akhenaten’s name change to Moses after the Exodus.
It would take a genius to be able to map the wisdom traditions of the era of Pharaoh Akhenaten to its practice in the 20th century in Borana, Ethiopia.
Understanding and explaining the late Ethiopian Laureate’s three words or refuting them is up to well trained social scientists.
To the extent that the three words ለካ ኣንተ ነህ mirror De Rerum Natura, I imagine a parallel between Florence and Ambo State.
I am borrowing the term Ambo State from a book authored by one of the leaders of Matcha and Tulema Self-help Association. Geographically, it roughly encompasses the current West Shawa Zone.
If my childhood memory serves me right, two communities that lived together harmoniously in this region are its largest inhabitants. The first are locally known as the Gabaro, who were residents in the region when the Borana arrived there in the 16th century. At least by one account the correct word for Gabaro is Gabare, which means a peasant.
The region has been part and parcel of Ethiopia. Fitawurari Habteghiorghis Dinagde was part of the Ethiopian polity who was seen as capable to lead Ethiopia during his time.
Its youth fought bravely against fascist Mussolini’s invading army during the Second World War. The famed Ethiopian hero General Jagama Kello was under twenty years of age when he joined the fight against the invaders, which came against all Ethiopians.
Atse Haile Selassie affectionately renamed the region’s largest town, Ambo, Hagere Hiywot, even though it retained its original name.
During the tragic internal fight in Ethiopia, which was arguably instigated and supported by external powers, its youth stood once more in defense of the stability of the country. A ranked Ethiopian officer confided in me the following in the latter days of the Dergue: ከን ዻበቴ ሎልቱ ጌዶ አመ ሆለታ ት።
He may be as biased as I can be subconsciously or perhaps there may be some grain of truth in it that calls for a study of the history of bravery in battles in Ethiopia and what cultural traits contribute to it.
Ethiopians from this region continued to be part and parcel of Ethiopia’s leadership up to the last days of the Dergue. I remember hearing a specific report by the Voice of America’s (VOA) Amharic Program that Tesfaye Dinka and Zegeye Asfaw were two capable cabinet members of those that were formed in the latter days of the Dergue. Tesfaye Dinka was the last Prime Minister of Ethiopia before the Dergue was overthrown.
The region stood up temporarily by organizing quickly and repulsing the army of the TPLF in the final days of the Dergue when the latter literally invaded the region driving tanks.
Political prisoners from this region during the time of Dergue scoffed at some others that the latter became opportunists after the government changed in Ethiopia even though they failed to endure as much when all of them were political prisoners.
Shortly after the change in government in Ethiopia, a political scientist from this region rose to stand for both Ethiopia’s stability as well as equal rights in Ethiopia.
One of the leaders of Matcha and Tulema Self-help Association, the late Colonel Alemu Qitessa, was heard asking the following (paraphrased) on VOA’s Amharic Program: የሚገነጠለዉ ቅርንጫፍ ነዉ እንጂ ግንድ ወደየት ይገነጠላል?
Culturally, it is a region where ወልደ ራብዕ feels equally at home with ገብረ ክርስቶስ and ገብረ መሓመድ። It is a region where Gada rituals were being practiced as recently as the latter part of the 20th century.
It may be one of the regions with more prevalent ሀመቺሳ names.
Several years ago, an effort at mapping out an African wisdom tradition throughout the ages was published in the name of ዳንያ?
The region is not a newcomer to the struggle for equal rights and decentralized governance in Ethiopia. At least, it dates back to the days of Mamo Mezemir and Matcha and Tulema Self-help Association.
Both legacies, standing for Ethiopia’s stability as well as democratic governance, are the region’s legacies to keep by its farsighted political leadership.
When you imagine this kind of vision as noble that can be practiced throughout Ethiopia, one gets dumbfounded by utterly childish political shenanigans in 2024, not in 1974.
In what amounts to a slip of the tongue, a participant on this forum by the name of DefendTheTruth, among others, wrote that Shawa Oromos are deeply infiltrated by Wallaga Oromos.
If this slip of the tongue is substantiated, it means yet another effort to impose the devolution of the “enter-ethnic” disharmony into “intra-ethnic” disharmony in Ethiopia.
Such are childish shenanigans that consume the valuable time of some grownups in order to rectify them for the benefit of all. In the culture I grew up in this region, honesty is not a perceived figment but ingrained consciousness to practice.
Evidently, grownups aren’t in abundance. Some appear to be indifferent or complicit with the childish shenanigans when some grownups say ሞራት ህን ሆፍኔ፣ ሞራት ህን ሆፈምኔ።
From what I can infer from a distance, these are the shenanigans that have been practically debasing the harmony among Ethiopians and painting its civil culture.
I have wondered for a long time now if the political scientist in the region was enticed to become more of an Oromo nationalist than he was while others started to backpedal into becoming more of newborn Ethiopian nationalists and by doing so painted his legacy and a legacy.
News reports suggest that Addis Ababa and its environ has been developing at a faster rate that it has become a city state. This new development alone makes Ambo State a de facto economic state.
My suggestion here is given such new economic realities, the history of the region as part and parcel of the Ethiopian polity, and a fertile field of research for the second Renaissance in the years to come, it may be prudent for farsighted political leaders in this region of Ethiopia to discuss about Ambo State as one of the new and model federal states of Ethiopia in order to move forward the stabilities and developments of both Ethiopia and its federal states.