Dr. Getachew Reda, I read your article in defense of Dr. Fikre tolassa about Oromo people with curiosity. The article is full of lies and isn’t substantiated with evidences. According to you, the word Galla isn’t a derogatory, and the Oromo people should call themselves as such. And you said you are unable to find any evidence or anyone to disproof your argument. You are like “some men go through a forest and see no firewood.” You have failed to mention evidences in your article except hearsay; you need to back up your arguments with evidences. Dr. Getachew, let me list some of the Amhahara sayings: Gallana sagara iyyader yigemal; Galla kemiweldegn berie barragn; Galla siseltin begabi lay kis yisefal. These sayings clearly depict the derogatory nature of the word galla. Dr. Getachew, can you find any Oromo in today’s Ethiopia from east to west or north to south who calls himself/herself galla? You cannot come across anyone. So, why do you want us to carry the name we don’t want? We call ourselves Oromo. As the late Chinua Achebe once remarked “nobody can teach me who I am. You can describe me parts of me, but who I am – and what I need – is something I have to find out myself.” It is just like telling the African Americans to call themselves ‘nigger.’ This is a typical nature of Amhara elites. This is not new. The Amhara elites always want us to abandon Afaan Oromoo and speak and write in Amharic. This reminds me what Europeans used to tell Africans to write their literature in English, French and Portuguese. And Ngugi Wa Thiongo, a Kenyan writer, responded like this: “There is something very wrong in saying to a human being, ‘Let me cut off your legs and I will give you artificial ones, which will be perfect.’ I’m saying let us walk on our own two feet.”
Posted on: Fri, 05 Jul 2013 23:08:39 +0000