A brief note on history: The interpretation that the Oromo’s were passive victims to highlanders’ aggression was not only historically inaccurate but also a serious underestimation of the power of the Oromo people. Such assertions represent a gravely flawed understanding of the complex relationship between the Oromos and the highlanders of Ethiopia. As much as the highlanders were persecuting, invading and killing the Oromos, the Oromos were persecuting, invading and killing the highlanders in equal measures. The long, and sometimes complicated, relationship between these two groups was more equal than is widely believed. Read “The Land of Prester John”, a neutral source on the Oromo-highlander relationship which is based on a collection of European travelers’ personal notes and diaries in the 15 and 16 centuries. The travelers had relatively little incentive in reading our history biasedly. The book portrayed the Oromos as an incredibly organized and powerful entity. At that time, the Oromos had a powerful army that used to strike the highlanders at it wished. The balance of power tipped in the highlander’s favor only very recently, probably during the time of Minilik II. In light of the above, it always strikes me where contemporary Oromo political personalities’ crippling sense of victimhood came from. A brief note on cultural identity: I spent my college years in Jimma, a proud city that is strongly rooted in the Oromo tradition. In the 19th century, the city was the seat of Aba Jiffar’s kingdom and other big Oromo personalities. At the University, I had ample opportunities to get to know, befriend and live with Oromo students. I had little opportunity to interact with the Oromos before my college years. The Oromo students I observed were so culturally expressive and true to their Oromo identities that I used to envy them. In my student years, the Oromo students were the most conscious and active cultural entity at Jimma University. Some Oromo students were very mindful of their identity that they used to confront teachers who they believe misrepresented the proud history of the Oromo people. I did not came across any other cultural entity at the university that had the same level of identity consciousness as had the Oromo students. In many ways, they were an example for the rest of us. When viewed against this backdrop, Jawar and his AJ stream entourages’ assertion that contemporary Oromos cannot express their identities freely starts to fracture. A brief note on political persecution: I accept the fact that the Oromos are being presecuted in Ethiopia for their political views but only to the extent that the Amharas, the Gambellas, the Ogadenese and the countless other Ethiopian communities are prosecuted for their political views. There is no solid evidence to suggest that the government is selectively targeting the Oromos more than any other ethnic entity in the country. If there is more than proportional government persecution and harassment directed toward the Oromos in today’s Ethiopia, a lot of it can be explained by the OLF factor. The government’s persecution of the Oromos has more to do with silencing the OLF which, in my view, is a misguided approach, than suppressing the Oromo identity altogether as Jawar et al. argued on AJ stream. Summing up: I am not in any way opposing the genuine political struggle of the Oromo people against government led oppressions. What I am opposing is unwarranted and exaggerated claims by dissident Oromos in the Diaspora that do not accurately reflect the facts on the ground. There are a million reasons that we can condemn the Ethiopian government for, but suppressing cultural identities is not one of them!
Posted on: Fri, 28 Jun 2013 23:00:57 +0000
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