Mereja.Forum

The Emerging Pragmatic and Smart Third Generation of Oromo Nationalists!

By Fayyis Oromia*

We have already come a long way on our journey toward liberation. There was a time when we all competed to be better Amharas rather than being proud Oromos. That was the path taken by all ruling Oromos—from Atse Yekuno Amlak (an Oromo) to Emperor Haile Selassie (also an Oromo). They revered Amharanet/Amharic more than they respected Oromic/Oromummà. Even today, some leaders in the ruling party, and even within our own families, strive to be Amhara rather than identifying themselves as Oromo. That’s why they continue to uphold the dominance of Amharic, instead of legitimately promoting Oromic as the primary working language of the federation.

Fortunately, most Oromo elites are now emerging as pragmatic and smart nationalists. They are claiming the broader Oropia (Oromummà-led Ethiopia) as our gross salary, rather than being complacent with liberating the smaller Oromia, which is only our net salary. Thanks to the OLF, which reversed the trend from revering Amharanet to respecting Oromummà, we are now on the right path. Let’s examine how Oromo nationalism has evolved to reach this current third-generation stage.
Read more: https://orompia.wordpress.com/2023/06/1 ... ionalists/

The Oromo liberation movement is part and parcel of the broader struggle of Cushitic nations in the Horn of Africa against foreign colonization, exploitation, and domination over the last 3,000 years. These Cushitic nations—referred to as Oromota in the Oromic version of the Bible—describe the non-Semitic peoples who influenced ancient Egypt and Israel. The Oromota were known as the people of Cush, later renamed by the Greeks as the people of Ethiopia (land of burnt faces). As parts of Cushland came under Semitic influence, some Cushites adopted foreign cultures and became the Habesha of Abyssinia—a name given by the Portuguese, meaning “land of the mixed.”