Tefera Dinberu
ethiopiakiberi@gmail.com
Currently I read some articles written on “Oromo Charter” and “Oromo Transitional State”. This has thrown many genuine thinking Ethiopians into skeptics. When people of Gondar are saying loud that Oromo people are their brothers and Bekele Gerba is their leader, Oromo politicians should think as to whether the charter and related issues develop cleavages or unity. It is not clear why Juhar and his associates are articulating such peripheral outlooks. These concepts help Weyane much more than Oromo folks. Such ideas were sown by Weyane over thirty years ago and are may be bearing fruits for them as they are testing our unity against them. Weyane by itself does not have any dream of building an Ethiopian state. It acts like an internal colonialist occupier with the vision to reside on divided people and the grave yards of Ethiopia. For Weyane, political organizations associated with peoples of Oromo, Amhara, Sidama, Wolaiyta, Gambella, Silte, Afar, Adare, Somali, etc. are tools used as a stepping ground to advance national questions and fan such sentiments in Ethiopia. Weyane never wants to solve any such problems but would like to create and fan them so that Ethiopians would have unabated or recurring conflicts. So, are Oromo intellectuals still following the ethnic divide of the Weyane scheme, or going away from it? Are they dreaming of Oromia as an African nation or Ethiopia in which Oromo and other ethnic groups enjoy equality, justice and prosperity in a true federal democratic system of state government?
There is no surprise that some of our folks abhored the Ethiopian tricolor flag and the name Ethiopia itself. There should not be denying the fact that oppressive regimes used the Ethiopian tricolor and religion to oppress their subjects. However, there is no sin in the tricolor itself; we should use it as a symbol of Ethiopia that consists of our diversities; because it is these diversities working together that can have the power of all the peoples; it is these diversities standing together that can build democracy since democracy is all about managing differences where all parties work for equal opportunities.
Although nationality questions revolved around marginalized or minority sectors in some parts of the world, especially where repression and backwardness claimed lives of the people, as happened in Ethiopia, sectarian politics have never been a means of development but a means to satisfy the lust of individual or group power mongers. The issue of nationalism in a nation where over 80 nationalities that lived together, shared common histories and cultural values, fought common enemies and survived to date would not have any vision of advancing economic, political, and social equality and justice. It would rather be a means of conflicts and anarchy. Ideas behind preparing a charter for Oromia at this time will rather delay a possible consolidation of opposition organizations for a common national goal. What is rather expected is a charter that makes all different political organizations work together on common national issues. It is only dictators that inherently hate democracy and the peoples voices from all corners. We cannot live in peace unless we can manage our differences; we cannot achieve true federalism unless we are prepared to live with other Ethiopians and their differences.
It is futile and outdated to make issues of nationality questions on this 21st century. On this 21st century, an educated person is supposed to understand that no one can stop social relationships by using racial cleavage; any people has the right to speak, write and read in its own language or any other language; any people have the right to choose what to worship and where to live, who to marry, where and how to earn one’s living. By the same token, any educated person or rational person is supposed to understand that a nation like Ethiopia should have a national language, or as few national languages as possible since any language has the purpose of being a medium of communication but nothing else. It is logical to ask Oromo language to be added to the Ethiopian language. However, a 21st century personality is supposed to know that no language can either be ethnically inherited or racially be identified. Everybody should have known that Amharic was not made a national language by a decree but came to being so by evolution from centuries of development. Although the people residing in the present day Menz, Yifat, Gojjam, Gondar, Wollo, etc, spoke Amharic since time immemorial, they had other indigenous languages; Geez, Saba, Agew, Afar (Adal), Hebrew, Arab,.Omotic, Nilotic, Cushitic (including Oromo language) and other many languages played their roles in making the Amharic language. Neither Ethiopian leaders nor the Amhara people chose Amharic to be their language but they were called Amhara because social interactions that created the language made them speak the language. Yet, the Amharic language did not lift up the standard of living of poor Gondere’s, Gojjames, Menzes, Bulges, and Welloyes. These people predominantly speak Amharic but remain the poorest people in the country.
If any mature person cannot see the difference between the past ruling Amharic speaking elites and the ever oppressed Amharic speaking people, then one has to start learning the ABC of our society. In like manner Oromo immigrants that occupied first Bale; destroyed kingdoms of Damot, Ganz, Bizama, Janjero, Sharka, Fatagar, Dawaro, Angota, etc., by using a gada military campaign, and spread to the whole country as far as Wellega and celebrated Tulu Welel as the symbol of their settlement, established Gibe kingdoms (Jimma, LimmuEnarya, Gumma, Gomma, and Gera in 1800-1830 where the Mecha Oromoo tribe was dominant), had forced the indigenous people not only to speak Afan Oromo but to be Oromos through assimilation processes known as moogassa, Gudifecha, meedhicha, and harmoahodha. The tenanted people were forced to make a covenant with the occupiers – to like what the Oromoos liked, to hate what Oromoos hated, to protect the interest of Oromoos, to believe in what they believe in, and to speak Afaan Oromoo. Oromization took place in the west, south, east, center, and north (Wallo) and previous inhabitants were persuaded or forced to accept Oromoo culture and even Oromoo names. One can read a more intensive “Comment that I made on misinterpreted and misleading Oromo History written by Melbaa Gadaa”.
While the Amara language development was evolutionary, the Oromo language expansion was comparatively done in shorter and recent times on the indigenous Ethiopians who lost most of their identities to the Oromo expansionists through gada system that was more of a military campaign administration that phased out or been replaced by religious and other rules when Ghibe states were created and migrant Oromos started settlements in the early 19th century.
However, although personalities that introduced Kubee to Oromo people could not see that ge’ez was spoken in Oromo courts of Ethiopia over 2000 years ago, adding Affan Oromo to the Ethiopian national language can save the unity of the nation. Because we are one people speaking different languages. We need to be proud of our diversity since our country is rich. This riches continues and grows when we keep on our interdependence. By thinking separately we may dream to satisfy individual interests but peoples’ interests can be jeopardized when think separately; our peoples’ interests can be met only when we stand together now and forever through democratic ideals that moderate our diversities.
Proponents of nationalism either try to go on the old way of power mongering that emanate from tribal identification of a people or lack genuineness rather than helping to come up to political solutions. Such outlooks fan nationalism, by denying coherence in diversity and deter political organizations to come to common terms on common issues. So, intellectuals of the 21st century are supposed to be internationalist, humanist, and pragmatists with the vision of seeing Ethiopians in the pace of the whole planet.
I would like to point out that local skirmishes used to take place anywhere in our society. Some took place due to material interests, but cultural differences had never become a measure problem anywhere in Ethiopia. Since Ethiopia is one of the oldest countries in the whole world, it is very rich in the history of internal conflicts and external wars, too. Out of this centuries old history, all peoples have many good and bad things to recite. However, as our late African leader, Nelson Mandela, said, we should not worry about the past but about the future. We cannot live in the past; so instead of developing one or another type of condemnation of past deeds, leaving all the past to history, we need to think and rethink about what our peoples need. If current politicians condemn chauvinism, discrimination, bigotry, inequality, and injustices, and all types of repression, are they working to eradicate these and enshrine these peoples with equality and justice? Or are they planting newer types of discrimination, inequality, injustice, chauvinism?
If our politicians are genuine, they should understand that no people essentially hate any other people, nor their languages; any people would like to live in peace and harmony with any other people in its neighbors and would rather like to advance all aspects of its standard of living. However, when there is poverty and poor government, even the same people in small villages fight against each other over springs, water wells, grazing grass or farmlands, and so on. So, if the common problem is poverty and lack of good governance, the objective of genuine politicians should have been to come together and make alliances in order to combat and resolve these problems. However, personality cult in which people are persuaded to adore personalities due to racial or ethnic backgrounds can end up in dictatorship. So, democracy cannot be not built on strong politicians but strong popular organizations.
The incumbent dictatorship existed for over 25 years because the political organizations did not understand that Weyane’s life has been based on their division; most of whom have become demagogues trying to stubbornly adhere to their absurd old dreams of getting chairs somewhere in the state structure, others dream of authority in an Utopian ideal Platonic state. Because, mature politicians do not indulge themselves in ideas that are interesting but would remain dreams. It is not like the “German Wall” would be dismantled and then the repressive state would fall down by itself overnight simply because we wish it did not exist. I contest the concept that Weyane stands for any morality, ethics, or values. It does not care to qualify any qualities or standards of state leadership since it does not have any national interest; it orchestrates conflicts and terrorism on the people it claims to administer. It kept on cheating the Ethiopian peoples and the international public. It usurped the nation’s resources and foreign aid for over 25 years and remains still unsatisfied in its greed. It is the shortsightedness of our politicians that helped the brutal regime to stay on state power for so long. We need to contest such persistence of poverty of philosophy.
Therefore, instead of preparing controversial issues that can later flare up into greater civil conflicts, opposition parties should be able to demonstrate to the people that they can jointly lead them in the struggle to topple the system; that in turn demonstrates a projection of peace and harmony among them. Harmony among opposition groups during the struggle entices harmony of the people that can be realized under federalism tomorrow. No one would like an Amara chauvinism, if it exists at all today, to be replaced by a Tigray, Oromo or other chauvinism. As the saying goes, “የማያጠግብ እንጀራ ከምጣዱ ያስታውቃል ”, a political organization that does not work in harmony with other Ethiopian opposition organizations for common objectives cannot demonstrate to the people that it can be part of a federal system of state leadership in the future and hence cannot get support not only among other groups but even from the people it claims to represent. In other words a party that does not respect other major or minor groups cannot be free either from sectarianism or from chauvinism and hence from neo-hegemony or dictatorship both of which ae obstacle to peaceful relationships. We should learn from South Sudan, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, Syria, and other countries to avoid any chaos and rather build a “United States of Ethiopia”. All groups need to reveal their agendas and come up to common terms. As the Oromo saying goes, “Afaanin dubbatan malee geraan nama akka gerba itii nama sodaachisaa”. There must be a defined alliance among opposition groups to achieve a defined objective so that every party would be motivated to achieving the common goal. That will avoid possible future conflicts. Otherwise as the Amharic saying goes ,“ አለባብሰው ቢያርሱ ባረም ይመለሱ, it will be letting problems remain hidden as embryos to grow later. It is also premature to see that people could follow up such projects that cannot show their bright destinies in the future Ethiopia. So, in order to get the support of Ethiopians and popular organizations, it is the most important part of the struggle to create a well formulated alliance today. When such an alliance is realized on the ground, it will force Weyane to start packing to leave.