Increasing Political Activism and Mobilization: Building an Oromo Agency and Capacity for Liberation

Without increasing our political activism, mobilizing and organizing our people, we cannot effectively challenge and defeat our external and internal enemies that are attempting to strangulate the development of Oromummaa and the progress of the Oromo national struggle. Our external enemies have been using Oromo clienteles to achieve their political and economic objectives in Oromia. Some Oromos have been used as raw materials in building other nations. Such Oromos have lacked political and national consciousness or lacked self-respect and attacked the Oromo nation for money and other interests. As the Said Bare government created and used the Somali Abo group against the Oromo national interest, the Tigrayan colonial elites have created and used the OPDO. As a result, the Tigrayan colonial class has blurred the political boundary between the external and internal enemies of Oromo society

The Impacts of Terrorism and Capitalist Incorporation on Indigenous Americans

This article demonstrates the connections between terrorism , colonial state formation, and the development of the capitalist world system, or globalization, exploring theconsequences of colonial terrorism on indigenous American peoples. First, the piece introduces the central argument and conceptualizes and theorizes terrorism. Second, it examines the structural aspects of colonial terrorism by connecting it to specific colonial policies and practices. Third, it explain the ideological justifications tha Euro-American colonial settlers and their descendants used In committing crimes against humanity and dispossessing the homelands of indigenous Americans, as well as in amassing wealth/capital by ignoring moral, ethical ,and philosophical issues and human rights

Oromummaa as the Master Ideology of the Oromo National Movement

Oromummaa, as an element of culture, nationalism, and vision, has the power to serve as a manifestation of the collective identity of the Oromo national movement. The foundation of Oromummaa must be built on overarching principles that are embedded within Oromo traditions and culture and, at the same time, have universal relevance for all oppressed peoples. The main foundations of Oromummaa are individual and collective freedom, justice, popular democracy, and human liberation all of which are built on the concept of saffu (moral and ethical order) and are enshrined in gada principles. Although, in recent years, many Oromos have become adherents of Christianity and Islam, the concept of Waqaa (God) lies at the heart of Oromo tradition and culture. In Oromo tradition, Waqaa is the creator of the universe and the source of all life. The universe created by Waqaa contains within itself a sense of order and balance that is to be made manifest in human society. Although Oromummaa emerges from the Oromo cultural and historical foundations, it goes beyond culture and history in providing a liberative narrative for the future of the Oromo nation as well as the future of other oppressed peoples, particularly those who suffer under the Ethiopian Empire

What is next for the Oromo people?

Thank you for inviting me to give a talk on the future of the Oromo people. To try to speculate on the future of the Oromo people is a very challenging task. Nevertheless, I try my best depending on my knowledge of the Oromo colonial history and national struggle in relation to the Ethiopian colonial state. Currently, the Oromo people and their national struggle are at a crossroads because of three major reasons. First, since the Oromo people are engaged in national struggle for self-determination, statehood, sovereignty, and democracy, the Tigrayan-led Ethiopian government is systematically attacking and terrorizing them. Second, at the same time, the Oromo elites who suppose to provide guidance and leadership for the Oromo national movement are fragmented, ideologically confused, and have failed to understand the lethal danger the Oromo people are facing from the Habasha colonizing elites. Third, the Oromo people are suffering from absolute poverty, recurrent famines, and malnutrition because the Meles regime and its supporters loot their economic resources. In addressing these three complex problems, I focus on five central issues. First, I explore the past and current status of the Oromo nation under Ethiopian colonialism. Second, I identity and explain the strengths and weaknesses of the Oromo elites in organizing and leading the Oromo national movement. Third, I explain the main characteristics of Oromo society. Fourth, I briefly identify the major opportunities and obstacles of the Oromo struggle. Finally, I suggest some urgent and practical measures that the Oromo elites and society should take to ensure the survival Oromia and to achieve national victory

Commemorating Falled Oromo Heroes and Heroines (Guuyyaa Gootota Oromoo)

Why do we commemorate this national day? What is the importance of having heroes and heroines in Oromo society? What criteria distinguish Oromo individuals who have sacrificed their lives for the liberation of their people and their country? There are five major reasons why we commemorate this day. First, this day allows us to remember those Oromo heroines and heroes who sacrificed their lives to restore Oromo culture, identity, and human dignity that were wounded by Ethiopian colonialism. Second, this commemoration day assists us to recognize the dialectical connection between martyrdom, bravery, patriotism and Oromummaa. Third, this day reminds us that we have historical obligations to continue the struggle that Oromo martyrs started until victory. Fourth, it causes us to recognize that Oromo heroes and heroines are still fighting in Oromia today. Fifth, this commemoration day reminds us that Oromo liberation requires heavy sacrifices, and those who have given their lives for our freedom are our revolutionary models which have created a dignified Oromo history

Faces of Terrorism in the Age of Globalization: Terrorism from Above and Below

This paper explains how the intensification of globalization as the modern world system with its ideological intensity of racism and religious extremism and its concomitant advancement in technology and organizational skills has increased the danger of all forms of terrorism. In this world system, the contestation over economic resources and power and the resistance to domination and repression or religious and ideological extremism have increased the occurrence of terrorism from above (i.e. state actors) and from below (i.e. non-state actors). We cannot adequately grasp the essence and characteristics of modern terrorism without understanding the larger cultural, social, economic, and political contexts in which it takes place. Since terrorism has been conceptualized, defined, and theorized by those who have contradictory interests and objectives and since the subject matter of terrorism is complex, difficult, and elusive, there is a wide gap in establishing a common understanding among the scholars of terrorism studies. Most experts on the subject look at this issue from a narrow perspective by ignoring the reality that terrorism is a “social cancer” for all human groups affected by it. First, this paper defines the concept of terrorism in relation to different forms of terrorism, and explains how it has increased with the intensification of globalization. Second, taking the events of 9/11 and the case of Ethiopian state terrorism, the piece explores the general impacts of all forms of terrorism

Celebrating Oromo Heroism and Commemorating the Oromo Marytrs\u27 Day (Guyya Gootota Oromiyaa)

Oromo history demonstrates that the Oromo people had been heroic when they were organized under the gadaa system of government. Between the third and fourth gadaa grades (i.e., from 16 to 32 years), Oromo boys became adolescent and initiated into taking serious responsibilities, including protecting the security of the Oromo country. The ruling group had responsibility to assign senior leaders and experts to instruct and advise these young men in the importance of leadership, organization, and warfare

Comparing the African American and the Oromo Movements in the Global Context

The African American and Oromo movements have been anti-colonial struggles, and they have aimed to dismantle racial/ethnonational hierarchies legitimated by the ideology of racism in the hegemonic state of the United States and the peripheral and imperial state of Ethiopia

The Place of the Oromo Diaspora in the Oromo National Movement: Lessons from the Agency of the Old African Diaspora in the United States

Just as European and African slave traders merchandised Africans and created the old African diaspora, successive colonial and authoritarian regimes2 of Ethiopia forced some Oromos out of their homeland, Oromia, and caused them to settle in the West. The displaced Oromo entered the United States as one of the new African diaspora groups four centuries after the old African diaspora began to be created. In the process, the Oromo diaspora emerged on the world stage. Whereas the old African diaspora lived under racial slavery and segregation for almost three centuries, the new African diaspora communities such as the Oromo came to enjoy a measure of freedom in the land of their refuge, primarily owing to the new conditions created by the struggle and sacrifice of the old diaspora. Elements of the Oromo diaspora who, under Ethiopian political slavery, 3 lived without freedom of expression and association, came to exercise these rights in the United States. Members of this Oromo group created communities, political organizations, and scholarly associations. In foreign lands, they became able freely to define and defend their individual and collective national interests and to link the Oromo people to the global community. This article documents the experiences of the old African diaspora in building institutions and organizations, in order to impress the lessons of these experiences upon diaspora Oromo nationalists. Isolated from the world for more than a century by Ethiopian colonialism, the Oromo people became scattered around the world. Oromo diaspora communities nowadays are building close linkages among themselves and with the Oromo movement at home, thanks to globalization and modern communication technology. The diaspora Oromo nationalists, if acquainted with the African American story, can be inspired to contribute their part to the Oromo movement\u27s struggle for survival, self-determination, and multicultural democracy. The article also aims to open a critical dialogue between the old and new African diaspora groups in the hope that African Americans, if informed about the tenacity and endurance of their African compatriots, can make common cause with the Oromo in the struggle for multicultural democracy and economic development on a global scale. Overall, the article will enable us to explore issues of transnationalism through which diaspora groups can direct and shape nationalist movements in the countries of their origin

The Impacts of European Colonial Terrorism on Africans

This article critically explores the essence and characters of European colonial terrorism and its main consequences on various African peoples during racial slavery, colonization, and incorporation into the European-dominated capitalist world system between the late 15th and 20th centuries. It employs multidimensional, comparative methods, and critical approaches to explain the dynamic interplay among social structures, human agency, and terrorism to critically understand the connections among terrorism, the emergence of globalization, and African underdevelopment. The piece focuses on four central issues: First, it conceptualizes and theorizes terrorism to clarify its roles in creating and maintaining the global system. Second, it focuses on the first wave of European colonial terrorism that was practiced via racial slavery by focusing on the dialectical connections among various forms of violence and genocide to demonstrate the process of enslaving and merchandising Africans. Third, the paper deals with the second wave of European colonial terrorism by focusing on the process of colonizing of the whole continent by violently destroying African peoples and their institutions to enrich European colonialists and their African collaborators and their governments and companies