By H.Goche
The past three Abyssinian regimes, namely Menilik, Haile Selassie, and the Military Junta came from the Amharic speaking Abyssinian elites, who protected and promoted the dominance of anything and everything Abyssinian from cultural, linguistic , economic, and political power. These Amharic speaking rulers enforced and promoted their barbaric and backward laws and culture using garrison towns that were established on hill-tops across Oromia and the South.
The other common traits of the three Amharic speaking Abyssinian rulers were deploying a blend of both the French and the British colonial system, the former being assimilative, where the political structure in the colonies were established on a highly centralized administrative system based on their national tradition of extreme administrative centralism. The French colonial ideology explicitly claimed that they were on a “civilising mission” to lift the unenlightened natives out of backwardness to the new status of civilised French Africans. To achieve this, the French used the policy of assimilation, whereby through cultural change and education and the fulfilment of some formal conditions, some natives would become evolved and civilized French citizens. In practice, due to the stringent conditions set for citizenship, it was virtually impossible for most colonial subjects to become French citizens. This was exactly what the Amharic speaking Abyssinian colonial rulers in Oromia and the South followed and practiced. In order to become an “Ethiopian” citizen, one has to dress Abyssinian cloth made of cotton, speak the Amharic language, practice Orthodox Christianity, even forced to marry an Abyssinian, so that his/ her offspring’s lose their father or mother identity and grow up as an Abyssinian or “Ethiopian”.
On the other hand, the British colonial system was an ideology based on indirect rule, where the new acquired colonies were organized at the central, provincial, and regional and district levels. There was a governor or governor –general in the colonial capital who governed along with an appointed executive council and a legislative council of appointed and selected local and foreign members. The governor was responsible to the colonial office and the colonial secretary back in London, from whom laws, policies, and directives were received and implemented by provincial, regional and district officials. Laws and policies on taxation, public works, forced labour, mining, and agricultural production and other matters are made in London and then passed down to the lower administrative levels for enforcement.
The current TPLF colonial regime is following and implementing a carbon-copy of the British indirect colonial rule in Oromia and the South, a system by which TPLF officials decide who will serve them best in the new colonies of Oromia and the South. For the last 23 years of TPLF rule in Oromia and the South, and to some degree in Amhara region, all regional, sun-regional and local levels officials are appointed (of course, there is fake periodic elections, where the out-come of the election was pre-determined by the TPLF officials, including the administrators). On top of that, at regional, sub-regional and local levels, a Tigrian is assigned to each local official office across the colonies to enforce laws and directives that are designed by the TPLF junta both from Mekele and the Menilik palace, both the command centre of TPLF rulers.
Both the Amhara speaking colonial rulers and the current TPLF regimes in the Ethiopian Empire have something in common, particularly in their foreign relations to the outside world. All of them have projected a false image of the empire as peaceful within itself by promiscuously adopting the dominant world ideology of the day to cover-up their abuse and ill-treatment of the Oromos and the Southern people from the outside world. Not only, they managed to cover-up the heinous crimes they perpetrated in Oromia and the South, they persuaded either the West or the East blocks and managed to receive billions of dollars in aid-money and military hard-ware, which they used on innocent Oromos and other colonial subjects without any regard to human lives. The genocide committed by Menilik, the use of war planes and cluster bombs on Bale Oromo uprising by Haile Selassie, and the extra-judicial killings the TPLF junta has been carrying-out for the last twenty odd years, and the recent and ongoing killings of peaceful Oromo students are few glaring examples of cruel, barbaric nature of all Abyssinian regimes. The killings, imprisonment, resource exploitation and the abuses on the Oromo and the South by Abyssinian colonialist regimes can only stopped by a war of anti-colonial struggle by the Oromos and the Southern Nations.
TPLF Colonial Rule must be the last Abyssinian regime in Oromia and the South
There are still many who think the TPLF can be reformed and implement a genuine federal system prescribed on its constitution so that the empire could be saved from collapse. Those who entertain this dead and buried philosophy must be either have not read or seen the progress of human history and the formation of Nation States or at best stuck in a state of denial and at worst delusional in their grasp and knowledge of how Empires are formed and disintegrated when the subject people rose and liberated themselves. We have witnessed the collapse of the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and French Empires in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and North America. The fate of Ethiopian Empire must be the same as other Empires in human history because Ethiopian Empire is built on and sustained by degrading her subject peoples, as well as by abusing and plundering their resources.
The following factors aided a minority Tigirian colonialist regime to replace a century old Amhara led colonialist regime in the empire; 1/ the decadence of the empire system due to corruption, 2/ the coup d’état by the imperial army of the 1960s, 3/ the students uprising of the 1974 that ultimately brought down the the imperial regime, 4/ the military junta’s determination to hang on to power by wiping –out all its opponents who wanted to bring genuine change in the empire, 5/ the 1980s famine in Tigre country, which brought lots of aid money and resources that was later capitalised on by the much weaker TPLF movement, and the last but not least the brutal war campaign by the military empire in Eretria that consumed un-precented human and resources all contributed for the TPLF to liberate Tigre areas from Amhara rule as they claim it. However, after observing the disarray in the Military Junta’s military and with the help and encouragement of the Eritrean liberation leaders, the TPLF changed course and managed to fulfil Aste Yohanes dream of replacing Amhara hegemony over the empire by Tigre hegemony. For their new ambitions, the Eritrean Liberation (EPLF), not only directly participated in TPLF’s march towards Finfine but also advised TPLF new elites to form satellite organizations for the Oromos and the Amharas from the Derg soldiers they captured as prisoners of wars (POWS).
The war with Eretria and TPLF’s false attempt to mix and claim both Tigrian nationalism and Ethiopian Nationalism.
The Badme war of the years 1998-2000 between TPLF and EPLF was not the result of mere accident but a calculated move on the part of TPLF rulers to gain the trust of the Amharas who were bitter after their loss of power and the accusation and labelling of TPLF as proxy organization to dismantle the Ethiopian empire supported by the EPLF. The other factor in going to war using Badme as a pre-text was that to give-in to the demands of the hard-core ultra- orthodox TPLF leaders such as Seye Abraha and Gebru Asrat, who resented the inclusion of Assab Port to the new Eritrean state because the loss of the Port of Assab will make a future Tigrian republic a landlocked that cannot sustain itself with its limited human and natural resources. But the dream of re-claiming the Port of Assab by the ultra-orthodox TPLF leaders was dashed when the pro-Eritrean group headed by Meles won the internal battle and defeated the Seye Abrah led group and purged them from the party.
History and the Truth are on our side but they can only be a means to an end if and only if exercised with determination and carefully prosecuted.
Over the last three weeks, we have witnessed how the giant Oromo People have risen in unison to uproot a century old Abyssinian colonization over Oromia and the South once and for all. Also, over the last three weeks, we, the current generations of Oromos and the Southern Nations have witnessed the barbaric and in-humane and violent culture of Abyssinian colonialism like our fore-fathers before us, who suffered and humiliated in the hands of Aste Menilik’ Abyssinian militia that committed genocide that on a scale that a Hitler led Nazi Germany committed on a Jewish population in Europe during the Second World War. The physical genocide committed by the then Menilik’s Abyssinian militia on the Oromos and the Southern nations, particularly on the Nations of Walaita and Sidama was followed by cultural, historical, economic, political, social, environmental and linguistic genocides that lasted the past one hundred years and continued under successive Abyssinian regimes, including the current brutal, fascist and minority TPLF regime.
The past three weeks also showed us the enemy we faced is as brutal and determined to hold onto the empire by killing as many Oromos they could. On the other hand, this in-humane and brutal tactics of our enemy taught all Oromos around the globe to close their ranks and rally in support of their compatriot who stood up to the enemy fire power. This is a massive attempt and shook the TPLF regime to its core. TPLF’s clearly understood its regime is rotten and on its last leg in Oromia and the South but there are already signs that TPLF is trying a last attempt to give-in to the demands of some groups organized under the banner of “Ethiopian unity” but when un-masked Amhara nationalist parties to survive few years so that it can plunder Oromos resources for the development of future Greater Tigray Republic.
The confrontation between the Oromo University students across Oromia and the TPLF and its Janjaweed militia called Agazi army sent shock waves among the Tigrian and some Amhara Organizations determined to see Oromia under their Abyssinian rule to make an urgent call to cooperate in the name of defending the territorial integrity of the nation. To prove this, some Amhara websites and their social media and chat rooms loudly congratulated the TPLF Janjaweed militia’s indiscriminate killings of Oromo children. This solidarity of the Abyssinian’s clearly shows the long standing principles of the two that they are interested in exploiting Oromia’s resources at cost and keep up their marginalisation of the Oromo’s from economic and political aspects in their country. There is also a sign among the TPLF supporters that they should get rid-off the current fake federal structure and article 39 of the constitution that has been demanded by the Amahara elites.
So far, I have made an attempt to show the nature of our enemy and the colonial rule they employed over the past one hundred years in their grip over Oromia’s struggle for liberation and independence.
All past and current experiences tell us one and only one thing, that is Empire rulers will never ever give up and free their subjects without a fight. For example, in the Algerian war of independence, the French colonial army killed millions of Algerians but that event did not stop the Algerians to defeat the French. At the same time, even when the Algerian independent army had liberated nearly ninety per cent of Algeria, there were few Algerian who sided and fought their compatriots with the French colonial army until the French were defeated. This example above shows us that the cooperation of few criminal OPDO leaders in the killings, arrest and harassing of our people back home.
Defeating TPLF abroad and in Oromia
The TPLF in-humane and barbaric rule over Oromia and the South managed to survive due to the following factors: 1/ our lack or failure to rise up as one and waste of energy and resources on our minor and avoidable differences, which the enemy exploited it to the maximum; 2/ The event of September 11, 2001 and its ramifications on genuine liberation struggle across the world, and the maximum exploitation of this event by TPLF to its own advantage to crash Oromo liberation struggle for freedom; 3/ The diplomatic, military support and the billions of aid money TPLF managed to garner from the West. All these three major factors indicated above and may be more cemented TPLF’s grip on Oromia by killing innocent Oromos at will and plundering Oromia’s resources with no challenge. Our differences in tactics and strategies of the struggle should not have been greater than our nation Oromia as the nation is bigger than the collections of its citizens. Oromia is so big leave alone its citizens but has been feeding and supporting aliens and the Ethiopian empire state for over one hundred years. There are plenty of more rooms not only for Oromos but for others to live in Oromia in peace in a future independent, a democratic system based on our Gada System. As one famous Oromo revolutionary singer puts it, peace and tranquillity will reign in a free Oromia and Oromos will gather under the Odaa Tree to formulate laws and by-laws that will govern everything on the land, including their differences like our fore-fathers did in the past.
As I indicated above somewhere in this article, TPLF can be defeated abroad by the diaspora community by lobbying and continuous protest and social action that must be must be used employed in Western capitals and lobbying their MP’s, Congressmen/women, senators. In order for the global campaign against the TPLF regime to bear fruit, the Oromo diaspora must coordinate, prepare and present the glaring human rights violations by the current TPLF regime in Oromia to their respective governments and people, including International institutions such as the UN, the Eropean Union and the World Bank. Those countries and Institutions who back the current Ethiopian regime may not be aware that their tax payer’s money is used in abusing, displacing and dispossessing the indigenous populations in Ethiopia. They only believe the concocted development statistics by the regime and few of the new high-rise buildings and some roads that the regime shows them. Some of them decided to look the other way because we were not able to present the glaring facts in a united, coordinated and sustained front. We have to change this course and make a planned, coordinated and sustained campaign in the capital cities of these countries and institutions. The recent victory by the Minnesota Oromo diaspora at the State level is a good example of what a coordinated and sustained lobbying and campaign can achieve. TPLF spends millions of aid dollar on lobbyist in Washington, London and other European cities. We have to take the fight to TPLF in these cities and stop the tax payer’s money that flows to TPLF coffers to abuse and dispossess our compatriot at home. These actions must be financed and coordinated by the global Oromo diaspora. Each and every one of us in the diaspora is a representative or diplomats for our people back home around the globe.
In conclusion, our road ahead will be up and down and full of obstacles but if we persevere and stand firm with our people back home, the victory is ours and in-sight because history and the truth is on our side. If we fail to stand up to TPLF and confront it now, TPLF is determined to slice and sell Oromia and make us a minority in our own back yard like what the Chinese did to the Tibetans and the Uighurs by settling the Han Chinese in Tibetans and Uighurs land. It is an urgent call and duty of each and every Oromo to close ranks and counted on to save Oromia now or accept defeat and live with shame and humiliation. History and future generations of Oromos will judge us on the actions we take now. There is a loud call of duty to all of us from mother Oromia to save her now. Let’s us be the generation that shall make an end to the Abyssinian colonization in Oromia and build a vibrant, peaceful independent Oromo republic, where all her inhabitants will be governed in her Gada democratic principles.
Victory to the Oromo and the Southern People.
