That academic education in the absence of substantial humanist political awareness can mean disaster must be clear by now to anyone who can think independently. Nowhere is this danger looming large as in Africa today with its predominantly greedy, self-serving elites who are open to all kinds of manipulation by world powers. Ruminating on recent events in Mali, Niger, Somalia and Southern Sudan, I cannot pretend to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Yet this is just the tip of the iceberg.
There is nothing new about the misuse and distortion of Christianity and Islam by the empire builders throughout history in the past and at present, in the Orient and the West, sowing seeds of division and unnecessary conflict in human family everywhere. What strikes me hard today is the refusal of most ordinary people who are victims of these manipulations to see through the distortion and the trick, which hinders them from acting in effective solidarity across boundaries, religions and cultures. We see, and yet do not see. What is the use of having a feeling heart and a sensitive brain if we misuse them for mean gains ultimately to our own disadvantage? I know first hand the human propensity to be manipulated for petty self-interest and for survival. It is a matter of degree. On the present scale it can lead to African cataclysm and final demise if we do not change our direction. If ordinary people honestly examine their life messages and share them without fear or despite fear, I would not worry much.
Paradoxically, despite the internet, true human communication is mostly missing as we live in the cybernetic world. Actually most of the main media, including the internet, are geared mainly toward controlling human beings by those who want to exploit everything in their own pursuit of power and wealth while the world ecology is in grave crisis. Strange and terrible things are happening deep in Africa. But any one who takes human history seriously will realize that tides and currents are shifting and that genuine human aspirations for justice cannot always be postponed by repression.
Ethiopia, under the domination of minority Amhara and Tigray militaristic elites is at the forefront of African countries where religion and ethnicity are systematically misused to oppress indefinitely. It is a country where modern Amhara and Tigray mass killers and their bloody emperors of the past are still worshiped massively in the most shameless manner. Yet world powers are helping its ruling elites as ever as to make them appear even a factor of stability in the region. Nothing is further from truth. The Abyssinian political and military elites are major factors of instability in the whole region. Today we see the Tigray dictators, hiding behind a powerless non-Tigrayan, on the trot, night and day, to mediate between the warring factions in Southern Sudan, while sitting on the Pandora box at home. How long will the volcano on which they are sitting remains inactive? Often those who firmly believe in coercion do think the military muscle is enough to go on silencing the disenfranchised majority especially with the help of world powers. All the dictators in the region are rushing to save Salva Kiir in Juba. Why? Because they want to transform him into a dictator like themselves. The possibility of a democratic Southern Sudan so near home has been a headache for them all. Especially, the regimes in Ethiopia, Eritrea and north Sudan will never tolerate a democratic alternative in the region. They are very happy with the Egyptian military that overthrew an elected government. They all must have encouraged Salva Kiir to destroy the movement that struggled for decades for the independence of that country.
Recently, I have talked to a Somali just back from Mogadishu. The government there and its bureaucrats live entrenched behind barbed wire, completely isolated from ordinary people, guarded by the military forces of African dictators, with UN mandate, supported by the American marines and air power.
But is this the best way to stop al-qaaida or al-shabaab if we believe that they really threaten regional or world peace? I know that most Moslems in Somalia and Ethiopia are peaceful people and have nothing to do with these groups. Yet they are paying the price. The number of innocent people exposed to the drones or those who are sitting in hidden prisons are on the increase.
The most peaceful Moslem leaders in Ethiopia are being tortured and dying in Ethiopian jails because they have supported legitimate demands in the most peaceful manner. In these situations I do not wonder if some frustrated Moslems turn to violence. But even then, do they need to be part of alqaaida or alshabaab? So, the definition of terrorism needs urgent rethinking if we are really interested in peace and if we have respect for the lives of innocent human beings. Moslems, like all other peoples in the world, have the right and even duty to resist oppressors no matter how powerful they may be. They have not been able to do so effectively in Ethiopia because Ethiopia has always been and still is a roaring Abyssinian military inferno. Must I say amen to my torturers even if I renounce resisting them actively?
The Paltalk room “Menelik’s Genocide Against Oromo” is doing, in the main, a good job in exposing the crude Abyssinian historical falsifications and propaganda. Yet ironically some Oromos who are active in this room are staunch defenders of the mythical Ethiopia. They confuse the real Ethiopia with the mythological one. They try to smuggle Abyssinian fantasies into Oromo minds hiding behind Oromo slogans. Knowingly or unknowingly they serve Abyssinian aims. Some conquerors, as we can see from history, passed on their engineering, mathematical and scientific skills to the people they conquered . In the real Ethiopia our conquerors have nothing for us except genocide, misery, constant harassment and oppression. Most of those African countries who were under direct European colonialism are much better off than us, in every way. Yet the Abyssinian elite today keep boasting of few stone monuments in Gonder and Axum with which they have nothing to do whatsoever! It is absolutely necessary to expose all this nonsense.
The biggest psychological hurdles standing in the way of our liberation lie within us especially in form of false religiosity. We do not need to blame others for our own failures and limitations. Oromos need leaders who can go beyond their traditional religious understanding and their clan and regional affiliation to unite our people against their oppressors. To be really applauded is Bulcha Dammeksa for coming out bravely to describe the Oromo question as a colonial question. By that action alone he has become part of our struggle for independence. If he continues in this way, he will be one of the icons of our freedom. The woman admin of Amhara dominated paltalk room “current affairs” was so angry at Bulcha that she went as far as asking who would bury him if he dies! What shamelessness and what an arrogance? For her the Oromo people do not exist, or if they exist, they, she must mean, would be fearful to come out and bury their heroes. Intimidation is one of the most effective means used by the Abyssinians to silence the Oromo spirit of resistance. Superpower support is the other factor. Shall we postpone our struggle for liberation until the Americans win the war on the so-called global terror? Some Oromos think so secretively. How do I know? Looking at what they do, not what they say.
I do support Oromo armed struggle for liberation beyond any shadow of doubt.. But that is not my point now. If I believe in it I must participate in it in some way instead of preaching it from safe distance. My point is this: short of armed struggle, there are many many things that committed Oromos can do for our just cause if we seriously believe in its justice: Just doing what we are good at doing instead of hoping for the impossible to come from outside us. The problem is most of us have lost the capacity to be practically serious through long night of mental disorientation due to terrible forms of oppression. This is our biggest tragedy. You can disagree with me.
Let us do what each of us can, no matter how small. For example, I want to see young Oromo historians, dramatists, cinematographers and film makers to work together to chronicle the history and the realities of Oromo people under Abyssinian oppression . This way the moments of despair in the realities of our people can be reflected and presented to the world. I am not speaking of 15 or 20 minutes of footage of propaganda. Extended well written films can capture the raw scenes of Abyssinian brutalities through the eyes of those Oromos who have experienced them..Such a film does not necessarily need to make debut catapulting its creators to international recognition. It must be honest. That is all.
Let us ask what are the ingredients of a good tragic Oromo novel. Who tells the story? How are we using the arts? Can we combine music and drama in the most effective way possible with genuinely humanistic orientation and global significance reflecting the reality of oppression in Oromia.? Where are our painters? There are many questions we can answer by ourselves provided there is enough attention, concentration, understanding and commitment. For some, these are issues of secondary importance meaning entertainment and luxury or even sin. We must realize that fanaticism in all its forms is hindering the true creativity in us. We become our own enemies. Where there is no freedom of thinking there is no choice. The Abyssinian slogan “Ethiopia or death” is the product of this unfreedom. We can freely choose life outside Ethiopia that is the prison of our people, instead of trying the impossible running after the mirage of a democratic Ethiopia..