By Fayyis Oromia*
It is interesting to observe Ato Tekle Yeshaw and Prof. Habtamu Tegegn, along with all their supporters, doing the best bidding of the OLF. Especially the two individuals I mentioned by name—who carry what might be described as a classical Amhara accent of the nineteenth century—have become brilliant instruments for radical Oromo nationalists. In addition to their accent, their rhetoric regarding the Oromo is remarkable. They describe the Oromo as alien, invaders, aremene (people with no ethics), and even subhuman.
These are the same concepts that OLF supporters used to tell the Oromo about how Amhara elites allegedly mistreated them. For a long time, it was very difficult to convince some Oromos who had not personally experienced such malicious remarks from the Amhara side. Now, Ato Tekle and Prof. Habtamu, along with their supporters, have become living evidence that convinces even the most skeptical Oromos. At times, it feels as though we are observing nineteenth-century Amhara elites preserved in a museum.
One such Amhara elite, like Ato Tekle, is worth more than a thousand OLF cadres when it comes to agitating and convincing the Oromo about how Amhara elites once treated them. I can only pray that Ato Tekle produces many followers like himself, so that the OLF will no longer need agitators—they are already doing the best bidding on its behalf. We need such people to help unite the Oromo across all regional, political, and religious divides.
Viva Ato Tekle and Prof. Habtamu!
Read hear: https://orompia.wordpress.com
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