Let Us Foster Unity for Freedom!

Whatever the dictators in the Abyssinian empire do, the train of the Oromo national liberation movement moves forward to the final goal slowly, but surely. In 1991 the train, which started its journey from Djibouti (the hypothetical symbol/destination for colony in this article – emulating the Djibouti-Finfinne train route), arrived at the border town called Ayisha (the hypothetical symbol/destination for the current limited cultural autonomy), but not yet at Diredhawa (the hypothetical symbol/destination for genuine federation), on the way to Adama (the hypothetical symbol/destination for the independence of Oromia) and/or Finfinne (the hypothetical symbol/destination union of free nations). Whether our colonizers like it or not, this way or that way, the next eventuality can be the opportunity for the train to move to Diredhawa. Let’s be watchful and strengthen our tokkummaa (unity) for bilisummaa (freedom), and then use the opportunity. Of course,
the spirit of freedom (mindset of all the freedom-loving Oromos) is moving in genuine Oromos in the rebel, in the opposition and in the ruling organizations. This spirit is uniting us, even if we seem to be disunited structurally.

Genuine Oromos in the ruling party with the freedom-mindset are there to keep the status quo by making their rhetoric, that they have liberated us, even though they know that we only moved from Djibouti to Ayisha. Oromo nationalists in the opposition organizations – with the same mindset, are trying their best to promote the liberation journey to Diredhawa; we hope they will succeed in the next eventuality. Those in the rebel national liberation fronts with the freedom-mindset then will finish the journey to Adama and/or Finfinne. To promote the last phase, we definitely need an alliance with the liberation movements of all oppressed nations. But, more important above all things is unity for freedom of all Oromo organizations, which must unite to:

– live in Ayisha together (keep the status quo),
– move to Diredhawa together, and
– then finish our journey to Adama and/or Finfinne together.

The question yet to be answered is, why should we and how can we build this unity for freedom? Here is the answer:

We are a big nation with 40 million people. But yet, we are colonized. One of the many factors which hinder us from success is the fragmentation of our political organizations. We do now have several mini-liberation fronts roaring like baby lions against one big ruling party, the Woyane. The well experienced Woyane is laughing at our mini-lions for they are not dangerous to it. It even pretends to take one or two of them seriously and try to negotiate with them. But, the baby lions can not gain in the negotiation since Woyane despises them. In order to gain in negotiation, the mini-lions need to be strong in the battlefield. That is why all of them have to come under one structure and build one strong liberation front. No one in life fears 100 baby lions, but everyone is scared of confronting one strong adult lion. Here is my small suggestion on how to forge such a strong lion:

At the level of the public: we need to enhance the consciousness of our people at the grass-root level and organize them to be oriented to the big picture, to our end goal, i.e. to the beneficial union of free nations. We have to help our communities all over the world to forge unity for ‘freedom and independence’ or for ‘freedom and union’. Every Oromo at the grass-root level should take heed of the dividers, who try to play the cards of region, party and religion to sow a discord among Oromos.

At the level of the media: (TV, forums, radio, internet news, paltalks, etc.), we should be wise enough to discern between constructive and destructive comments, criticisms, ideas, etc. We know that nowadays our opponents use Oromo name, Oromo language and Oromo identity in order to fight against us. Every comment, idea or criticism said or written by someone in the name of Oromo is not necessarily from an Oromo. Of course, there are some Oromo, who knowingly or unknowingly serve the interest of our opponents against the Oromo cause. So, our bloggers and journalists should take heed of such destructive messages and expose them as they come.

At the level of the polity: I just recommend all Oromo organizations try to work together. It is encouraging that the “legal” opposition already consolidated under one strong organization. Let our mini-lions come together and foster one strong adult lion of the rebels. They do accuse each other as if they have different goals. But, when we look at them and their programs, they do have no difference in objective. Their common goal is clear, i.e. an imperative freedom of the Oromo people and an optional independence of the Oromo land. Where they do differ is only in attitude and way of struggle. We can understand the difference in attitude in double sense. One is because of the emotional disagreement of some Oromo politicians (antipathy to each other). The other is, of course, some politicians are putting their self-interest higher than the Oromo people’s interest. I hope, in due time, these politicians learn to control their attitude and work
together for the sake of the Oromo people’s national goal. The difference regarding the way of struggle is actually complementary rather than contradictory. They only need to accept and respect the different routes chosen by each of them (just as an example the “illegal” route and the “legal” way are complementary.)

Regarding the possible alliance with the Abyssinian democratic forces, we may move with them to Diredhawa, but surely, they will not be willing to move with us to Adama and/or Finfinne. To comprehend the difference, let us look at the four current political blocs in the empire:

– the Andinet Hayiloch: those unitary forces striving for the further existence of the empire with pretext of “Ethiopian unity” as it had been before 1991.

– the Abiyotawi Hayiloch: the current ruling Fascist regime of Woyane’s revolutionary democratic forces keeping the status quo.

– the Abironet Hayiloch: those federalists, who try to achieve both freedom of nations and union of the region, be it in the name of Ethiopia, Oromia, the Horn or otherwise.

– the Arinet Hayiloch: those fighting for freedom and independence of their respective nations, being open for the possibility of forging a union of free nations.

The Andinet Hayiloch want that we move back to Djibouti; the Abiyotawi Hayiloch want to keep the status quo; with Abironet Hayiloch, we can move to Diredhawa, but we need an alliance with the Arinet Hayiloch to end our journey to Adama as well as Finfinne. A new alliance of opposition groups which emphasizes the importance of self-determination needs to be formed in order to promote our liberation journey. Of course, only the Abironet and the Arinet Hayiloch can be ready for such an alliance. I encourage the Oromo organizations to take a lead as before, and forge such an alliance against the regime of the Woyane.

In short, Tokummaa for Bilisummaa is the panacea for our hitherto predicament!

Galatooma!