It was towards the end of 1991. On my assignment to Bale. We were driving from Addis Ababa to Goba through Asella. We were, as I remember: Abba Duula, the worst slave among all Oromo slaves, the lowest of the low, working for the TPLF and the most cowardly, an Amharized Shewan. Abraham (Manjus), TPLF central committee member, my immediate boss in Bale, a born intriguer, obsessed with the fear of Islam more than anything. He was to insist later on, repeatedly, that I should sleep in bed in the regional palace, while he himself slept on the ground at my feet, to prove to me how revolutionary he was, but he kept at the same time dictating to me, reclining his head on the sofa, unjust and unpractical instructions from above during long nights. Many times I told him to sleep in the bed himself but stop forcing his unreasoning instructions down my throat. Each time he would laugh my remarks away and start the game all over again, reporting all my remarks later, no matter how trivial and idle, to his superiors back in the capital. He often reported his own subjective assessments as facts and was taken seriously. Later he was purged, in the aftermath of the war with Eritrea, along Tewolde, the man who could camouflage and underpin with apparently logical and refined arguments very effectively all the infantile policies of the TPLF. Manjus could be rehabilitated by now. He was eager constantly to entertain and please his superiors; contemptuous of his equals and subordinates. That was the way he rose up through the ranks. Then there were two Oromo intellectuals from Hararge, former teachers: Hassan Ali and Ahmed Yusuf, who joined the EPRDF a little before its takeover in 1991, both of them gentle, intelligent and hard working persons, hood-winked, by TPLF’s ideological pretensions, like me, into working for the puppet group, the OPDO. Both were candidates at the time for central committee membership. To my information Hassan Ali left the EPRDF long ago and lives in the USA. Ahmed Yusuf was dismissed later. I do not know his whereabouts now, a kindly man. They were both wary of my openness, especially Hassan Ali, who was initially much admired by our TPLF bosses. I remember one of the TPLF leaders speaking of him as a model of revolutionary intellectual. We had a Tigrayan driver along some fighters.
On Arrival at the headquarters of the EPDRF in Mojo, we were greeted by youngsters throwing stones at our cars. Abbaa Duula was muttering threats at something I did not get at first. Then the fighters in the car started firing. I found myself shouting “stop shooting! Stop the car!” When they did, I jumped out of the car, asking who gave the order. Abbaa Duula stepped in, in defense of the soldiers, saying they fired only in the air to frighten off the hooligans. “Hooligans”, I learned later, is part of regular TPLF vocabulary to disqualify summarily any demonstration against its brutality and misuse of power. As he was saying that, a man came towards us, carrying a small boy wounded in the leg. I was beyond myself and kept asking this Abbaa Duula “Is this boy a hooligan? And, even if you say he is, have you the right to shoot him? “. He started begging me to listen to his stupid repetitious explanation which I could not stand. Then he rushed to talk to the so-called OPDO elders, while Hassan Ali and I concentrated on getting the boy a medical care. This should have been the first omen warning me of the violent nature of the TPLF and its Oromo slaves, which I unfortunately ignored.
That night we ended in Asella where I was asked by Abraham Manjus to participate in a meeting of the OPDO recruits, which he chaired. The main topic was how to disarm the OLF and the Oromo Islamic Front. From the outset, I shocked Manjus and those TPLF elements, present with a group of obedient new Oromo recruits, mostly Shewans in Arsi area, by saying the topic should be raised in the parliament first, where the OLF and the Oromo Islamic were represented. Besides, I asked, who would disarm whom. I said all these armies, including TPLF fighters, must be treated equally and the transitional government should see to it that they become part of the national army.
Let me admit here that I was behaving like a person from another planet. Actually I was not so naive. All I wanted was that the TPLF got to hear the right thing and to know my genuine position. So I was acting something out in a way. Usually If I am convinced I can play certain roles effectively, mostly to my own surprise! I had attended Damascus University for five years learning English literature. Drama was my best subject even though I did not get good marks for it!
Now, seriously speaking, the TPLF, at that stage, tolerated all my views and readily admitted all the mistakes I laid at its door, while men obsequious towards power such as Kuma Dammaksa and Abba Duula, were gaping at me with jealousy. I jettisoned some of their silly plans a number of times and crossed their ways intentionally. Takkalign, the man next to Kumaa in OPDO, cleverly opted out of the dirty game later. I tried to talk to him a lot privately but he was afraid. He had the right to be. I do not know what he is doing now. He shocked the TPLF later by converting to Islam. I think he did it partly to distance himself from the TPLF. Of all the so-called OPDO central committee members at the time, he was the only person with a degree of self-awareness and integrity.
TPLF had decided already at the highest level to make use of men, new comers like me, in all possible ways. One of the secret mottos of the TPLF, which I was slow in learning, is this: make use of individuals and groups with some qualifications, learn from them what you can and finally kick them out if they started asking more vital questions than the TPLF could digest, replacing them, when possible, by more loyal, docile, opportunistic and controllable Abaa Duula and Kumaa type “comrades” and, when not, by Tigrayans or even loyal Eritrean highlanders, who are the same for all practical purposes.. Many psychopaths who learned EPDRF’s political program by rote were methodically manipulated in this way by the TPLF.
By the way because of the present conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia, many people tend to underestimate the intoxicating power of Tigray nationalism or chauvinism even across the border in Eritrea, sometimes also across religious divide, and its influence in reshaping the politics in the Horn of Africa. It is, in a strange way, more coherent, articulate, resilient and more aggressive than Amhara chauvinism which shrouds itself in, and hides under old fashioned Ethiopian patriotism promoted by the Orthodox Church, to the point of hypocritically negating even the existence of Amhara national identity, unable to overcome the hangovers from the glory of the feudal era, brooding all the time over the so-called enemies of Ethiopia, over the lost glamour and the untouchable imaginary mythical ancient empire. TPLF is more diplomatic, more practical and more realistic in its assessments especially at the beginning. I think for the TPLF the Ethiopian unity is more a question of strategy and tactics than dogma. This practicality and this realism involve immense cynicism, nihilism, risk taking, adventurism, cruelty, ethnic ethos and euphoria, misinterpreted as intelligence, bravery and revolutionary commitment. It could even distinctly inspire a large number of its Moslem commanders so that they could be terribly brutal towards Moslem Oromo, Afar and Somali populations opposed to Tigray Domination. This is no speculation. But, one could say, this cruelty applies equally to the non-Tigray Moslem servants of the regime as well. It is true. Only these are not really distinguished and are even treated often with some suspicion and contempt, which is not new.
The two Tigrayan ruling elites in Ethiopia and Eritrea may indeed hate each other as much as they like but they are of the same stuff in more than one way and do not disagree, each for its own benefit and its own glory, on advancing Tigray supremacy in our region at the expense of others, including the Amharas even though they and the Amhara are agreed absolutely that Ethiopian unity comes first before everything else, before equality, before peace, before justice and human rights albeit for different motives. That is why for the time being almost all Amhara (Ethiopian, excuse me) political groups in opposition are tactically holding high the banner of democratic values on paper as never before. If they are allowed to take power again, yet another dictatorship is a foregone conclusion. That is also why most of the Eritrean opposition groups in Ethiopia today are playing a rare game and may succeed to achieve at least part of their agenda for a while. But most of the Oromo groups, the Somali and the Afar factions, for example, who look at the present regimes in Eritrea and Ethiopia as tactical friends are mostly engaged in self-deception and may pay heavily in the short and long run for their miscalculation.
The pretension of the Tigray political elites in both countries at supra-nationalistic or multi -national state and governance is a complete fiasco. Because of their narrow-mindedness, ethnic arrogance, their egotism and militarism, they wasted a historical opportunity for real changes in both countries.
After two days in Asella we were heading for Bale, my birth place. I had been in exile for long time. I really did not worry about my personal condition at the time. I had some money. I had worked in Germany for the first time for two consecutive years before I went back. So I could even help some people a little bit. And, don’t forget, I had German citizenship. I wanted to make some genuine contribution politically. But for the time being all I wanted was to be home again among the people I love most, and to care more about my health, not knowing that OLF had already poisoned the atmosphere by spreading the gossips and lies that I had sold myself for money to the EPDRF /TPLF. Even people with whom I grew up and who never questioned my integrity in general, including some of my close relatives, were obliged to shun me in public for fear of isolation, even while weeping with joy for meeting me. So strong was the atmosphere of awe, grandiosity and megalomania created by the OLF in a very short time, and without working for it hard! The name of the game was to get as much portfolios and positions in the government as possible, again, without working for it. It spread mostly by words of mouth fairyland tales about its strength and treated the unsuspecting masses of the Oromo people like children. Most Oromo big merchants everywhere and many Oromo collaborators with the former regime, with high expectations, were transformed overnight to its cadres, before it decided later to pack up its luggage and take safe passage with diplomatic passports and lots of coins that it had collected in the name of the struggle of the Oromo people. The Tigray dictators gave it only a push and cleverly facilitated its passage much as they wished to relieve it of the money. They were extremely pleased that the leadership of OLF voluntarily evacuated the city and that its ambition for more power in the bureaucracy evaporated in broad daylight. Most of the merchants and bureaucrats thus left behind swallowed their honor and the bait and turned in despair to the TPLF immediately with lots of gifts, presents and praise to promote their dear private interests. Some of them who avoided me in the hey-days of OLF turned to me in a servile manner thinking that I had some influence in the EPRDF.
The second omen came just as I was in rapture, looking ahead of me from the front seat, and to the left, as far as the eyes could see, at the vast lush Arsi plains around the river Wabe, extending all the way to the famous Bale heights on the right side. Far away to the left, I saw or perhaps imagined seeing the low lying area of the shrine of Dirre, a shrine whose periodic pilgrimages – Hajji and Zaaraa- had always inspired in me as a boy a sense of freedom and unconditional love at an early age. To this day I do love and adore the Baroo, songs of praise to Noor Hussein, even though I do not believe in superstition whatsoever, at least consciously not. Now, in the car, everybody was silent. I felt delighted and in harmony with the virgin natural landscape. Then as we were passing through a village I saw from a distance a pregnant dog lying on the waterproof asphalted roadside. Looking at my new Tigray driver grinning, I hastened to alert him, even though he was looking straight ahead. He nodded to me, and seemed for a moment to steer clear of the dog, then suddenly turning on the dog – a horrible sight I can never forget. I shouted to stop the car again. For some strange reason he kept driving defiantly until Hasan Ali joined me shouting “stop”. I remember covering my face with my hands, feeling horrible deep inside. Hassan Ali and others told the driver he should immediately admit doing wrong before we moved on, and others, including the notorious Abbaa Dula, joined the chorus. The guy admitted doing wrong, unmoved. I felt someone’s hand on my shoulder from behind trying to show sympathy. And the matter was never mentioned again.
I learned much later in the year that this driver was a TPLF fighter for over 15 years. Towards the end of my days with the EPDRF in Bale it became clear to me at some point that he had more power than Hasan Ali, Ahmed Yousuf, Dr. Adam, Takkalign and me, put together. He was instrumental in my removal from Bale later, which was a blessing in disguise.
The first direct confrontation between me and the TPLF started already only three days after I took office as the speaker of the transitional government in Bale. The occasion was a meeting of OPDO elements in Bale which I was heading. I wanted to be briefed on the nature of their activity before I took office. The top TPLF cadre in Bale, named Atakilt, forced the door open and burst into angry tirade. Shaking with fury, he accused me in front of all present of narrow-minded Oromo nationalism, saying I had no right to call a meeting in his absence. I answered that I had the right, and added that his behavior had the smack of chauvinism. Later, he twisted that and reported me as saying the TPLF was chauvinistic. No wonder he was taken seriously. It took six months to make him apologize in a well managed melodrama at EPRDF head office in the capital. He was replaced by a man called Chahma who worked with me till I left Bale. Later after I left the EPRDF I heard from a reliable source that he was Atakilt’s brother!
On the final showdown, the EPRDF summoned together about 200 military and civilian cadres in Bale in the military headquarters of Goba to assess my work as a speaker of the transitional government there. I asked myself if they were going to praise or damn me and concluded silently that it did not make much difference anyway. I already knew how unpredictable these men really were. I was looking for a peaceful way out. Yet I was not afraid perhaps because I was sure of my innocence, in a country where even innocence is often of no use. A little earlier I was in Ginir area on a sudden visit without prior notification where I followed EPRDF soldiers in action and saw how indiscriminate and heartless they were on the slightest provocation.
The meeting was chaired by TPLF central committee members flown by air from the capital to Bale. Of the 200 or so attending the meeting, three Oromo slaves were instigated to accuse me, among other things, of protecting, from the very beginning of my assignment, OLF elements and elders who allegedly had violated the charter of the transitional government.
I was not surprised even though I did not expect it to happen this way. On the contrary, to my own surprise, I suddenly felt relaxed. Smiling and looking back I stood up to question the three why they failed to alert me if I committed the mentioned blunders from the beginning of my assignment months back, in accordance with the internal regulations of the EPRDF. No answer. Some members from the back seats in the hall started giggling and laughing in sympathy with me and suddenly fell silent for fear. At this point one of the three stood up to address me as “doctor Hadi”. He said he knew that I was an intelligent man and advised me to accept nevertheless my mistakes instead of trying to look for excuses. I felt he was straining for effect. The whole thing appeared to me for a moment surprisingly surrealistic as seen in a dream.
By the way I never say every Tigray in the TPLF is a monster or an imposter. I also know among Tigreans superb human beings whose personal integrity I never doubt and who know the real nature of the TPLF, for that matter. Many innocent young people were drilled night and day over years and brainwashed never to question the leadership and never to raise vital topics. The leadership immerses and plunges them periodically in the so-called assessment meetings and endless discussions of petty technicalities with imaginary but attractively worded and cleanly printed “working programs”, with some ideological propaganda thrown in, so as to fill their times and to control them emotionally and mentally. Then the unbelievable metamorphosis begins: Ordinary human beings are transformed imperceptibly into thugs and merciless professional killers.
Well, there followed a long deadly silence in the military building. The chairman urged the three to answer my questions. Still no answer was forth-coming. I could see the shock on the faces of the chairman and his colleagues. Somehow the meeting failed to run as planned. There was again a long uneasy silence during which the delegation from the capital seemed to argue quietly among itself. Finally the chairman adjusted his microphone, saying the purpose of the meeting was only to start the assessment, and not to reach any conclusion. He asked those who accused me, (referring to me as a comrade), to prepare their evidences as the assessment would be taken up again in three or four months time.
With this drama over, Abraham Manjus informed me later in the day in extremely rude and hostile manner that I was transferred to Addis Ababa. Then I was bundled into a car and whisked off to the capital immediately. It was like being hijacked by one’s own government, not transferred. Again the nice thing was, thanks to heaven, I was for some reason calm and did not lose my temper at all. The said assessment never materialized. After what looked like a period of a short house arrest, they even gave me a small office in EPRDF headquarters, not far from Tewolde, the slowly talking authoritarian big man with a style of his own, which could be very attractive and, according to appearances, even sociable at times. Tewolde knew how to silence with a glare TPLF cadres when they became entangled in illogical and contradictory statements, especially in the presence of new comers like me.
My work was literally to sum up in writing the criticism of certain opposition papers against the EPRDF. I accepted the job in principle but wanted the right to reply to the critics, accepting what was right and repudiating what was false.
Actually I knew they would never accept such a demand. They hate any form of freedom of opinion more than anything else especially in their own ranks. Even then they did not refuse immediately but started delaying tactics, saying they had no time to discuss it, as usual. This was part of their techniques, whenever they were challenged to answer questions directly. Perhaps they were not entirely sure what to make of me. On my part I wanted to remain in Ethiopia by all possible means after so many years already in exile. I wished to see if I can at least indirectly contribute in a small way to a peaceful, open political dialogue no matter how difficult that might be, even though I had no clear-cut agenda how to achieve that aim. I considered cultivating vegetables, fruits and even coffee to earn my living. Before I left Ethiopia in 1966 I had gained some experience in these fields.
For the six ensuing months, I refused going to office and stopped taking my nominal salary. In the meantime I was met from time to time by Tasfaye, a hard working and diligent TPLF worker whom I had known In Cologne, Germany, where he worked in its information bureau under a rigid boss known as Negash, an expert in the conspiracy of silence. By the way talking about salary it may be interesting to mention here that the transitional government under the TPLF never paid my salary for the time I worked for them in Bale. I received only some expenses for food and pocket money. TPLF had readymade answer for that at the end. Cadres should renounce greater part of their salaries temporarily in order to finance the activities of the EPRDF! TPLF can always find rhyme and reason for its crazy behavior. Its parliament rubber stamps all its decisions. It is ironical that even as I am writing this article the international community is talking about an election in Ethiopia that is going inevitably to produce a similar parliament.
One day someone from the finance department in the EPRDF approached me asking why I failed to come to work. I told him why. From that day the TPLF decided to terrorize me definitely.
The first step was to throw me out of the house even though I was paying the rent. They set on me an OPDO functionary from Wollega with whom I shared the house for months, a very polite and outwardly refined short man, fat and chubby, with a round face and restless big eyes. He treated me with great respect for some time. Now he suddenly ran wild and started beating his wife and his small children in front of me. I could not believe my eyes. Each time this took place the woman came running to my sleeping room with the children. Once he went as far as turning a revolver on me. But he seemed to hesitate and turned away, shouting that I should leave the house if I did not like him. He then went through the reception room banging on furniture and doors, making a loud racket for some time. Back to his room he started firing the revolver for some minutes at short intervals, I could not say at whom or what. I thought the police, nearby, might come, and stayed where I was, puzzled and afraid. Nothing happened. The woman, a delicate looking person, was so shocked by this behavior which, she said, took her completely by surprise, that she disappeared with the children for a few days. Finally the man decided to humiliate some religious people who were visiting me, without the slightest provocation. I immediately moved out of the house but the TPLF did not stop at that. I was obliged to change more places of residence because of provocations by TPLF’s Kebele agents. The provocations were too numerous to recount here till I left the country. I did not disclose this terror, to which I was subjected, even to people close to me lest they should worry too much about me and be terrified themselves. Life has taught me not to feel sorry for myself. That does not mean I do not feel the pinch.
Most of us in Ethiopia live still in the darkest hours of history even in this 21st century. Satisfactorily explaining the situation in Ethiopia even to many intelligent people who live in western democracies is not easy. Actually it can be an uphill work. On returning to Germany in 1995 I explained the situation in Ethiopia, for example, to, among others, my German close friend Ulrich Kiwus, an electrical engineer, and to his wonderful family, including his dear parents, with whom I feel absolutely at home. On my return Ulrich accommodated me in his flat for a long time till I found my own lodging. He is a true friend and a great source of encouragement to me in many ways. Even he said to me one day as we sat drinking coffee: “Hadi, forget politics, go back to Ethiopia and make business.” I looked at him for sometime without saying anything. Then he added “You have German citizenship, what are you afraid of?” He ended by saying he would come along to see what would happen to me. He meant it with the best intention. If one is looking for such considerations in Ethiopia one has come certainly to a wrong place. There are many cold facts in Ethiopia.
In the west the image of Ethiopia as a Christian country, surrounded by hostile Moslems or pagans often diluted the crimes of our ruling circles. No doubt we are ourselves to blame in the first place for living silently with resentment and fatalism for so long and burying our heads in the sand. Our resentment can be systematically misused to our own disadvantage if we are not careful. This applies in a special way to the Moslems in Ethiopia. It is high time that we learn how to appreciate freedom of expression, which is not possible without appreciating some form of democracy. Part of the real problem is with those sections of the Abyssinian intellectuals and political elite who are even now constantly misinforming the west on Ethiopia intentionally. I doubt if they ever come clean with the world. Bariisa.com will do all it can to dispel illusions in this regard. I do not want Bariisa.com to remain a one man show. I invite here the readers again to respond dynamically and be part of it. I do believe genuine words can move mountains if backed with positive action.
None of the OPDO or TPLF colleagues for whom I had a degree of respect, because of their relatively moderate behavior and who seemed to have respect for me while I was in office, tried to show real solidarity with me except one whose name I would not like to mention.
Nothing seems safer in Ethiopia than shutting up your mouth with all the conflicting emotions. Most people do. In matters of politics silence is the hallmark of an average Abyssinian mentality. It is an accepted norm, respected, encouraged and enforced by all the ruling classes without exception. The same can be said of Oromos who were forced long ago to absorb spiritually and mentally the feudal Abyssinian culture and way of life. But theirs lacks the appearances of respectability and the decorum. It is like celebrating one’s own surrender, inferiority, and defeat. The speed with which the TPLF could mobilize Oromo Shewan horse men in their tens of thousands for pro EPRDF demonstrations in the streets of the capital is only too well known and does not need explanation. Foreign diplomats were often puzzled by it. Mostly for others, especially for the Somalis and the Oromo lowlanders the celebrated silence is quite literally an unavoidable torture. What most Oromos need not to forget now is this: the Ethiopian empire was created with an effective help of Oromo slaves. It can be maintained only with their help. Meles Zenawi knows this well and is working on it. Ignoring our history and our reality has led us to a blind alley .
Even by shutting up your mouth you cannot find real peace and safety in Ethiopia. Actually it is much better, I think, to speak out and tell the truth even though it can be risky, when done naively. I am speaking only of relative truth. Yet its potential and resources are, however, I believe, limitless and magical. I mean it. You have to know how to do it, free from hate and narrow perspective, without expecting quick results for yourself or your dogma. That is not easy. And obviously you will not get paid for all this. Mental and body discipline is a hard work that requires impartiality and discipline- very difficult to achieve alone on one’s own, especially so if the most basic human needs are not met.. Nowadays who is interested in a hard work for which there is no cash payment. Most probably you will lose personally and become isolated. For me it is better so. Otherwise it would be business as usual. I have no illusions about the disadvantages involved. I live with them relatively happy, which does not mean I am free from suffering.
The so-called bad omen is often not bad omen after all, if we learn its lessons quickly at the right time. I was slow and am still slow and full of my own hesitations in many ways. I cannot also be sure even while writing here of my own impartiality. Not, as yet. Anyway, the bad omen remained with me all along as a reminder. I never fully trusted the TPLF. And I will never again trust fully any political organization, no matter how brilliant it seems, and how attractive its political program may be. I think politics even in its revolutionary form has inherent limitations. Honestly speaking I have often problems even in dealing with most individuals, especially when it comes to politics among my own people, in my country of origin, and even in my own Arsi clan.
I am absolutely aware of the dangers not only of Abyssinian chauvinism but also of extremely mindless Oromo nationalism. I can only laugh with some irony at the stupidity of those Oromos, for example, who use proudly in one of the Paltalk conversation rooms names such as Hitler, Moshe Dayan etc. But there are more serious and hideous problems that seem harmless. Take, for example, countless Oromos who look back to the Gada age and religion, with yearning, most of them well intentioned innocent people. Aren’t they? Most of them have little knowledge of the system itself. They are engaged in rare self-sabotage without knowing mostly. No wonder that certain Abyssinian dominated circles, including the web Ethiomedia.com are encouraging this trend so that, at the end of the day, Oromo emotional and mental energy will be dissipated and wasted in sterile efforts at self-assertion in contradictory directions, to turn the wheel of history back. Escaping to the past is dangerous. Those who want to fix our attention in rigidity and divert it away from important immediate issues use it systematically. Escaping to the past means also a refusal to accept what is real and positive at present, here and now, unconditionally. It means running away from oneself in a subtle way. These Oromos do not stop for a moment to consider why the Abyssinian elites do not call upon their nations to look back to their pre Christian values and social systems. They do not realize that history moves forwards, not backwards. We can transcend certain aspects of the present reality which we cannot change, to some extent, by changing our orientation, the way we look at it or by increasing our awareness, not by escaping into the past. We can cherish from our old value system and religion what is still positive and valid, what makes us move forward in sync and harmony with the whole world now and here. We do not need to fix our attention on the dead past or to awaken in ourselves a deep nostalgia to so-called good old days, whether it is the Gada system or the old religion. The Gada system could not outlive its time. It is part of our history. It can live on in our memory, in our history books and curricula. But it should not be part of our live issues. Only the unthinking keep singing about an extinct system based on continual periodic wars, no matter how democratic or communal it might be. The Greeks do not keep brooding over their military democracy in the distant past. Nor do they worship their gods. They are getting on well with their lives in the modern scientific world.
The problem is there are those of us who misuse all these things intentionally, who would like to think for us, focusing our attention on the imaginary past and the glitter of their advertisements in the internet, the attractions of their private parties for fund raising and propaganda, to control and steer us the way that serves their interests best, not ours. Most of us do not ask why OLF promotes this trend systematically. Strange enough, many of the individuals or groups who loudly and rigidly support this front are the ones who know it the least and who may pay bitterly one way or another, sooner or later, for its misguided politics.
In an article entitled: “A perspective on the future of the Ethio-Eritrean relationship”, April 9, 2010, posted in Ethiomedia.com, Jawar Siraj Mohamed starts by saying that the Eritrean people’s demand was for democracy and not for independence, as if necessarily there is contradiction between the two demands. How did Jawar know that the Eritrean people did not struggle for independence? However, relevant to my point here, the same Jawar, being clearly an apologetic of the OLF, writes:” the OLF got a golden opportunity (during TPLF’s transitional government) to implement some of its policies. It was able to establish Oromia, make official and implement Afan Oromo as the working language in the region, and introduce its objectives to the wider Oromo public”. What a twisting of facts! As if the struggle of the Oromo people started with the OLF in 1976. Shame on you Jawar! OLF did not and could not do anything of the kind. TPLF was obliged to implement Oromia and Afan Oromo in order to contain Oromo nationalism and thus prolong the days of the empire. The struggle of the Oromo people and their nationalism reached a turning point long before OLF came into existence. Jawar makes in the same article seemingly knowledgeable generalizations about the political organizations such as EPRP, MEISON, EPLF and the DERG. But these are points which I may take up in another article, if necessary, in due course.
Those who know and believe in OLF’s hidden agenda, do work for it consistently and are often cool doing their work in relative peace in their regions and elsewhere with singular determination and without hurry. They seem even nothing to do with the declared aims of the organization. They have become experts in entangling innocent people with a web of lies and disinformation. I know OLF when it had no name, and did not want to have one, in the sixties, in its genesis, when it was a conspiratorial circle, in Fifinne, of Oromo bureaucrats, when it tried to contain and arrest spontaneous Oromo patriotic armed struggle in Bale and Harar, when it tried in the beginning of the seventies to neutralize revolutionary Oromo individuals such as Abbooma and many others including Bakare and even Galaasa Dilboo, before he reneged, joining it. Usually I do not like to mention names but sometimes it is unavoidable and even necessary. No matter what my criticism against the OLF may be, I will never downgrade it. It has established tradition, institutional structures at home. Moreover, it has international circles behind it, and counts its time in a relaxed manner, even if its leaders live in exile, while I have difficulty in running bariisa.com because of lack of solidarity and co-operation. What I am saying here about the OLF is already there as reality, it is not part of my fantasy in air, they are facts for which I do not pretend to take credit, yet facts to which many Oromos are unfortunately blind, knowingly or unknowingly, willy-nilly. I believe in the old saying: a man is known by the company he keeps. At times it is perfectly good to be a loner and to avoid cheap popularity the way one avoids poison. I always cherish the memory of my dead father if only for advising me repeatedly not to go the ways of the crowd, nor to seek influence for my own personal glory and advantage. His spirit will remain with me, I hope, as long as I live.
It is high time that we Oromos give up our dear illusions, including the illusion of a pan-Oromo Liberation struggle from the beginning. Nothing is more destructive and laming than the illusions we hold up and to which we cling. Freedom from such illusions means, among other things, having an open heart, a trusting heart and clear mind. An open heart and clear mind know what to do in a given situation without hesitation, without too much thinking, without the horror of being stabbed in the back, and without the fear of death. It is a heart full of commitments without reservation. Only then can one find what is beautiful in the midst of the ugly and the unpleasant. Only then, I think, can one practice true compassion with understanding and love, meaning true and not romantic love, making necessary sacrifices. Oromo unity will not come about as a result of our wishy-washy dreams. It needs real and not imaginary liberation struggle, with strong determination, in which all legitimate forms of struggle, all our energies in all parts of our land are unleashed and used in solidarity with other peoples who are oppressed and humiliated like us. There are attempts to drive wedges between us and these other peoples in order to isolate us with the sole intention of controlling us effectively and making decision for us by people who have surrendered long ago and who celebrate passivity and defeat, people who refuse in their own areas to cut the umbilical cord that connects them to our torturers, people who do not trust the great majority of the Oromo nation.. They talk a lot of nonsense about our distant past, misusing our history, while ignoring our martyrs and real heroes who made immense sacrifices in blood for freedom, exaggerating their own petty roles, which are mostly paperwork, trying to tell us what to do in order to maneuver us with their selfish Abyssinian type intrigues. Do I sound like a familiar maverick politician? I do not know a case in history except among us where those who want to struggle for freedom and who suffer most let themselves be led by those who have completely different agenda and different priority.
By nature I do not like to muffle my voice: If it should be necessary we must prefer to go our separate ways than remaining suspended in thin air between life and death forever. We have choice. We can make and take it if we want to release our energies in the service of freedom from oppression; if we want to be content and happy with ourselves, our decisions, while engaged in the struggle; if we want to fulfill our moral duties, with pleasure, which are man’s natural obligations in creative and productive ways; if we want to be in the flow and to enjoy more satisfying human relationships and if we want to have the power of healing of old emotional wounds. We can do that only if we are true to ourselves. This means, among other things, that we have to realize and admit that we are a divided nation who persistently refuses to accept the fact. Accepting the fact can radically help us in healing our wounds and transforming our reality more consciously. Denying it will make our situation only worse. Only the enemies of the Oromo people benefit from it, the Abyssinian ruling elite. The autobiographical flashback in this article is intended to reflect that part of my personal experience that seems to me to be of relevance to our political reality. Bariisa.com invites its readers to do likewise. Let us use all the freedom of self-expression that exists in this world to articulate our real problems and our genuine aspirations, far from organizational propaganda and narrow partisanship. Bariisa.com is an open invitation to an open discussion.
It cannot be repeated enough that the main cause of the problems that we see in the empire-state of Ethiopia today lies with the Abyssinian ruling classes, their greed that led to horrible poverty coexisting with and next to callous affluence, and their policies of divide and rule that led to ethnic oppression and religious persecution. Unless their status is abolished there will never be peace, social justice and democracy in our region, even on a bigger geopolitical scale than Ethiopia itself. The Abyssinian left has failed almost completely to free itself from the influence of the ruling classes. Hence the necessity of national liberation struggle of the oppressed nations and nationalities, in which the question of social justice is raised as a primary issue. Social injustice is at the root of our main problems.
The reader will misunderstand me entirely if he or she misinterprets “struggle” as meaning only the armed struggle. There is no end to human creativity in this field. I was just talking about negative silence. Now there is a positive silence as well that can be effectively used as a high form of political struggle. People who have a degree of human integrity from all levels of society can refuse taking part in the crimes of the regime directly and indirectly, in its exploitation, its manipulation, its violence and hatred. They can do this silently. I know people in Ethiopia who can do this effectively across ethnic and religious divide but they are not many and they do it unconsciously and without solidarity with others. I think we must overcome fear and trust one another to do it on a large scale, again, across ethnic and religious lines. Silent actions are many and varied. We can employ our creative imagination individually and in groups, within the framework of a political program or outside it. Personally there is nothing that I hate more than violence. But at times it is unavoidable to stop destructive ruling circles. That is part of the reality of existence, even a moral duty.
I believe we can achieve a lot through revolutionary forms of positive silent actions, if we really want to. It brings peoples together more effectively than revolutionary violence. When you come right down to it silent action can culminate in a relatively peaceful revolution depending on the level of commitment and awareness of the participants. The perceptive reader can visualize how silent actions speak louder than violence if we think and feel deeply. But thinking and feeling deeply is not possible without genuine human love and solidarity. The truth is most of us ordinary human beings in Ethiopia are also to blame for our dilemma, not only the ruling circles and those international powers sponsoring them. In a world where even love is mostly a commodity most of us are in the grip of poverty, physical and spiritual poverty, and we do all we can to escape to materialism. Consumerism has become our new religion, whether we admit it or not. We never seem to have enough. We must first overcome our many double standards and contradictory ambitions. In a country where many people still believe in jinn, in Satan and in automatic divine intervention, where absolute sources of authority is not only feared but also respected, it is very difficult to achieve genuine political dialogue in which we think for ourselves. My statements here are simple. They do not come from infallible divine inspirations. I cannot rely on an ideology or dogma or any system to underpin them. The reader is invited to question my assumptions, to disprove me if necessary. The point is we cannot achieve anything of substance without peaceful collaboration. To attain this we must have aims that go beyond our narrow short term private desires and aspirations. Silent actions are necessary and possible. Of course easier said than done, because of our own double standards, I must emphasize. Yet, if we are free in our thinking and if we can check our own greed there is no reason for complacency or despair.
I must say finally that the TPLF/EPRDF is still playing desperately with ideas on paper and is even now to some extent capable of systematically exploiting the best of human intentions, among its own cadres and in the wider world. That is exactly what makes it very dangerous, its volatility, its unpredictability and ideological vacillations and pretensions, even after all the crimes it has perpetrated against humanity, inside and outside Ethiopia. Now that China may pump part of its huge reserve into the economies of such dictators as ours, who are the sworn enemies of their own peoples- the Sudan is a good example-, even if western governments stop sponsoring TPLF under pressure at home, there seems to be no end to the saga of repression and violence in our region. One would only hope that China, for its own long term interest, will be wise to reconsider part of its foreign policy that can cause immense suffering to the poor and destitute peoples of Africa. China has ethnic problems of its own. It cannot lose the sight of the fact that Ethiopia is ruled now by an ethnic minority with an extremely brutal ethnic military machine.
