By Malkaa Guutuu* | March 2014
My mother, who doesn’t have any formal education beyond grade six and
happens to be of your generation, recently solicited my opinion
regarding your imminent move to Finfinnee, perhaps thinking that I might
be privy to some pertinent information. She sounded both perplexed and
intrigued by the maneuver. Startled by the topic and overall
insightfulness of our talk (because I didn’t think that my mother would
be interested in this particular discussion given her general
comportment), I asked her what motivated the unusual question and
interest. It turns out that your upcoming relocation to the more
tropical Shaggar has been a hot topic of discussion among her peers,
some of whom happen to be non-Oromo.
There is no doubt that you are still capable of generating a
significant buzz in the Ethiopian political arena. Although you remain a
controversial figure among the Oromo (I will come back to this
shortly), you have engendered what can only be described as mass
hysteria in the Amhara camp, with some portraying you as the chief
menace to their continuing, if diminishing, stranglehold on what is left
of their fading empire, despite your Front’s unambiguously stated
wishes to contribute to the building of a new country in which all the
constituent parts have equitable stakes (a tall task). They dread your
return to Ethiopia, perceiving it as part-II of your “evil scheme” to
dismantle the country, with part-I being the role you are widely
believed to have played in its re-organization in the present form in
the early 1990′s. The most recent interview the sitting Ethiopian Prime
Minister gave to local journalists, in which he reiterated some inane
talking points and sounded defensive, while discussing your Front’s
potential entry into the Ethiopian political market, may also be cited
as another evidence of your heft as a political figure.
On the other hand, your reputation among the vocal segment of the
Oromo political class can only be described as incongruous at best: Your
detractors hold you responsible for everything that has gone wrong with
the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), while your passionate admirers
ascribe to you almost mythical qualities as a leader. For an objective
observer who has followed the course of your political career, however,
both characterizations are naive and miss the subtlety of Leenco the
person.
From my vantage point, you are neither a modern-day Goobanaa some
have portrayed you to be, nor a messiah of the Oromo people. You deserve
our unreserved gratitude and admiration for dedicating your entire
adult life to dismantling Abyssinian tyranny and promoting the Oromo
cause, sacrificing so much and shouldering a burden that only a few can.
There is no doubt in my mind that your contribution to our people’s
legitimate cause will be deemed essential, when this chapter of Oromo
history is written. Although I don’t necessarily subscribe to some of
your political views, I have always appreciated your knack for
synthesizing important political events and trajectories, particularly
as they pertain to the Horn of Africa. However, I am as clear-eyed about
your frailties (all-too-human), as well as your part in what we now
know to be the most ruinous decision taken by the OLF leadership
collectively in the early 1990′s – the encamping of our battle-tested
fighters that you and a few others had painstakingly built up over the
years, exposing them to the brutal enemy. Overall, however, you have
been a credit to your people, and no ill-informed and boorish slanderer
can change that.
The rendering of simplistic judgments on your very meaningful and
complex political career is par-for-the-course for individuals who have
consistently advocated, mostly from a safe distance, an either/or
solution to the Oromo question, clearly misdiagnosing the Oromo problem,
while the issues we are confronting as a nation demand nuanced and
practical solutions that are both/and. The same characters who have
largely been talking past each other about what is best for the Oromo
(complete independence vs. a union of independent nations in Ethiopia),
without thinking rigorously about how one gets at their preferred
solutions, have been either defending you uncritically, or defaming you
rather inexcusably.
I can’t say that I am as intrigued as my mother seems to be about
your more recent political incarnation. If I sound a bit cynical, I have
the political history of the Ethiopian empire to blame – history in
which the Oromo people have made numerous genuine gestures to co-exist
peacefully with the Abyssinians, but somehow found themselves on the
losing end of the bargain time and again. I realize that you are much
more familiar with the Abyssinian double-crossing than most people, not
least because you were a party to the political deal that had brought
the TPLF to power.
Therefore, I do not believe that the strategic route, which the Oromo
Democratic Front/ODF (your brainchild, it appears) is taking, will, by
itself, resolve the fundamental contradictions of the Ethiopian state,
mainly because of the inherent incompatibility of the highly-autocratic
and Machiavellian Abyssinian political culture (where the winner takes
all), with the famously democratic Oromo political tradition, which
emphasizes consensus building, give-and-take, and transparency. It would
simply be naive to expect that a political dialogue with the
Abyssinians as the primary political strategy will yield the necessary
and fundamental change our people have been fighting for and deserve.
My strongly held view is that only a disciplined and well-coordinated
armed-struggle will *guarantee* the freedom of our people from the
ongoing Abyssinian tyranny.
Nevertheless, it would be unreasonable to discount any effort with a
potential to empower the Oromo, even if marginally. I think the Oromo
Democratic Front (ODF) can make a worthy contribution to our cause,
conditional
on its vision being widely understood by the folks back home as one
necessary piece of the puzzle, which requires all-hands-on-deck and
thinking-outside-the-box, to resolve. The trick is to clearly
communicate to the main stakeholders – the Oromo people – that ODF’s
political program is just one of the existing, perhaps competing,
visions for the Oromo by the Oromo, emphasizing that your goal is to
empower the people, not to supplant other efforts exerted to cut the
Gordian-Knot, which is the Ethiopian empire. If the focus is the former –
and there are plenty of things your organization could potentially do
to empower the Oromo – your imminent entry into the TPLF-dominated
Ethiopian political landscape might prove to be a wise undertaking after
all.
What Can the ODF potentially do to Empower the Oromo?
The Amhara elites, who have been pushed out of almost all the key
institutions in Finfinnee (the political capital where all the important
decisions affecting the country are made) by the new czars from the
de facto
Tigray republic, appear to have understood very well the significance
of staying in close proximity to Menelik’s palace – the single most
important institution in the city (hence the country). Using whatever
little political leverage they could muster, they have been making the
most noise in the capital, even coming close to pausing a real threat to
the ruling party in the 2005 national elections. They are currently
organized primarily under two political groups (ANDINET and BLUE), which
have been successful in organizing demonstrations in the capital and
beyond, opposing various government policy decisions affecting their
kin, bringing sufficient light to the issues they care most about – in
some cases forcing the current office holders to reverse their
decisions. These seemingly minor achievements have had the effect of
putting the current regime on the defensive, while further emboldening
the people they represent, creating a momentum of sort in their pursuit
of their political goals.
With all due respect to
Obbo Bulchaa Dammaqsaa and Professor
Mararaa Guddinaa, and despite certain valiant efforts by Oromo
university students in the past (e.g. demonstrations against the
relocation of the capital of the Oromia State to Adaamaa), the Oromo
have virtually no representation in their own political capital. The
ruling party has taken numerous decisions with considerable adverse
impacts on the Oromo; regrettably however, apart from the sporadic press
releases and demonstrations by the Diaspora based Oromo organizations
and communities, these decisions have virtually gone unopposed by the
Oromo back home, making it easier for the ruling class to manipulate,
abuse and exploit Oromo resources with an attitude of impunity. With an
independent Oromo voice of your stature, political maturity and likely
connections, we may have a shot at channeling some of our grave concerns
in a systematic and organized fashion. We can’t afford to simply wait
for a few brave men and women to march into Finfinnee to liberate us,
while we are losing ground on so many fronts. I will just cite two broad
areas that ought to concern every Oromo with an ounce of dignity and
some idea of self-preservation.
We are losing ground, because there is a widespread and well-crafted
ethnocide taking place around Finfinnee. Oromo farmers are
systematically being evicted from their ancestral land at a frightening
speed, with no legal recourse to boot. It took about a century for the
Amhara elites to make the Oromo of Gullallee, Araadaa, Boolee, Kolfee,
Yakka, etc. strangers in their own land. Nowadays, Abyssinians are
openly bragging (in the name of development, of course) about the record
speed at which the Oromo towns and villages of Sulultaa, Sabbataa,
Sandaafaa, Labuu, are being cleansed of their Oromo identity and
culture. The powers that be are even projecting – via carefully planted
Trial Balloons – their ambition to annex more substantial Oromo land for
their exurban project of the imperial city of Addis Ababa, which, if it
were to come to pass, would no doubt effectively kill the idea of a
contiguous and a unified Oromia, as it were. Putting aside their
ambition, the damage that has already been inflicted in and around
Finfinnee is too deep and will require a concerted effort to reverse. In
my opinion, this is one area where ODF’s potential entry into the
Ethiopian political market might make an immediate and lasting
affirmative difference.
We are also losing ground, because Janjaweed like groups, armed and
supported by the Ethiopian government (hence, the most powerful nations
by extension), have been unleashed on our defenseless people at
different times: in Western Oromia by the Gumuz militia; in Eastern
Oromia by the Ogadeni militia; in Southern Oromia by the Garri, Gabra
& Burjii militias, with nary a consistent and unified opposition on
our part. Going forward, I hope the newly-established independent Oromo
voices –
Oromia Media Network and
Madda Walaabuu Media Foundation
– will zero in on these and other blatant human rights violations
perpetrated against our people; however, this might also be another
issue your presence on the ground in Finfinnee might deal with for the
benefit of our people.
I could go on and cite several other areas where the Oromo nation
could use all the seasoned help it can get. Our ideologues are welcome
to continue to engage in all sorts of rhetorical and puritanical debates
till kingdom come regarding what is best for the Oromo, but we can
ill-afford to stand idly-by and wait for a satisfactory resolution of
their flowery arguments. We are faced with a determined and cunning
regime that is pulling-all-the-stops in order to exploit Oromo human and
natural resources, thereby endangering our continuing existence as a
nation. With the potential presence in Finfinnee of the ODF – adequately
staffed to engage in retail politics – there is a decent chance that
some of the critical issues the Oromo people care about will come to the
fore, ultimately benefitting the nation you have dearly loved and
served, albeit with a record that includes some blemishes.
Your much talked about political maneuver thus comes with certain
potential benefits for our people, but it is also fraught with pitfalls
that demand your Front’s serious attention preemptively. In my next
letter, I will attempt to outline what I consider to be the major risks
associated with your move.
Thank you for serving our nation!
Sincerely,
Malkaa Guutuu
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* Malkaa Guutuu can be reached at malkaa.guutuu@gmail.com.
