Biraanu Gammachu
This piece is mainly devoted to discussions on Functioning
Ethiopia from OLF’s (Oromo Liberation Front) perspective, and thereby
opinionates what ought to be embraced by stakeholders.
OLF’s presentation of Oromo as non-Ethiopia was completely wrong.
Ethiopia is significantly a making of Oromo. De-making Ethiopia amounts
to Demaking Oromo. Independent Republic Oromia is therefore not within a
substantive Oromo worldview; at best it’s an artistic culture.
Functioning Ethiopia which is a warranty for sustainable solidarity and
tradable interaction in inter-Oromo and/or intra-Oromo is one missing.
For any realistic [and rational] change Functioning Ethiopia has been
a point of gravity unlike for separatist OLF. So subtly it has been
advancing its inverse function [Malfunctioning Ethiopia]. Implicitly, it
is all about E – T – H – I – O – P – I – A and only interested in the
middle letter ‘O’ virtually trashing the rest. This position has been
unequivocally reflected in its sundry statements, public speeches and
local affiliated electronic tabloids. Imagine given such unhelpful
stance how will it enjoy an attention from non-Oromos? How can someone
entrust one who destroys his own making? It is then not only a source of
tension but also a liability for Functioning Ethiopia.
Customizing it …
OLF come in to existence four decades ago. Today we have virtually
different environment, different imagination, different audience,
different need, and different means of conflict resolution so what it
chartered then is incompatible to today. The young generation has
totally different world view and perspective. We bet OLF is in false
association with the young generation or at best it’s futilely imposing
itself.
Customizing OLF is thus an important matter over due to refresh its
relevance to Ethiopia’s political demand or even to ensure its claimed
Oromo-centric flag bearer-ship. However, the cluster is decreasingly
knowledge intensive, and hence hardly convinced of an internal
predictable change. Interfacing Marxist and Communist world view it
profoundly disincentives knowledge-based driven political enterprise
alternate to blind and customary revolutionary convictions. It has been
alarmingly drifting away from crucial intellectual resources. Actually,
its geographic location is also another factor. It is possibly a
discouraging environment for it to appreciate venturing different
course. For instance, since it was doctored to move to Asmara OLF had
delivered at best as an information unit/desk under security apparatus
and has been meeting other political interests to the regime in Asmara
towards Ethiopia. It has been simply a ‘stool-pigeon’ of the Red Sea
State and an object of the No Peace No War game with the regime in
Ethiopia. Equally important, its tools of operations, structure and
personality loyalist elements are in sum change resistant giving rises
to hopelessness, mistrust, in-fight and demobilization within the group
with a spillover effect. The paradox is customizing OLF is a
far-fetching subject but customary OLF is definitely dead.
Did not create healthy political society but few who hate…
Unlike significant number of Oromo’s imagination, substantial media
archives, public discourses and critical assessment about its nature and
practice tell us beyond reasonable doubt that OLF is sadly little more
than a collection of unrefined and less realistic political narrative,
disjoined and pseudo liberators but hatred and vengeance against Amhara.
Amhara [Habesha] as a social group is simply the beginning and the end
of its narrative. For that reason, it kicked-off a retributive
nationalism which is a function of vengeance, ethnic sentiment and
hatred. This is the main common denominator which has been shaping an
identity of OLF. In an endeavor to expand, continue and consolidate its
social base young Oromos at school, college and university has been the
main soft target and their interaction with other social back ground
almost exclusively from Tigre and Amhara has been deliberately
sabotaged. This insidiously has been un-harmonizing togetherness, mutual
inter-social interaction, tolerance and humanity among young Ethiopians
or the people at large. Further, it has been not only a criminal act of
disrupting their future life but also it has been dislocating them from
developing critical thinking about their country at large beyond
colors.
Down the road OLF did not manage to create viable political society
but very few sections of its target populous who sentimentally identify
themselves against Amhara and Ethiopia which is simply wrong to any
healthy political enterprise. Arguably, OLF is now at a point where
neither taming nor changing its infamous agenda can work out minus
risking its identity. The stalemate calls for competent and timely
leadership to help it move beyond such a threadbare an eye for an eye
business.
It must repay change price…
Earlier on there is not reliable and clear secondary documentation,
‘the 1976 OLF revised political program’ accounts too much to Marxist
ideology both as a means and end in itself for OLF chartered struggle.
The political narrative further on impeached its alleged western made
and backed ‘Imperialist Ethiopia’ and thus as an outcome bided for its
total disintegration. One of the 2004 was clearly made for taming the
preceding narratives but it sat between two stools.
Subtly, in the whole process Amhara as a social group was animated to
have bedeviled and unwittingly equated to Ethiopia. Here’s where the
group unable to skin-off the political dynamics potentially risking
social fundamentalism and abhorrently overlooked substantive culture of
Oromo. That unhealthy political view was not meaningfully converged for
good to date among the group in charge though significant aborted
efforts are made. During the infamous 1991 transition where people of
Ethiopia could have entered genuinely new beginning having given their
back to wrong past, OLF must have brushed off its disintegration agenda
alternate to democratic Ethiopia through ethnic federalism. It did not
respect the handout political participation and positions during ‘the
charter’ thus it set off for military struggle. In a similar vein,
‘Tigre’ as a social group should have been picked in place of Amhara as
they are in charge of the current Ethiopia at least post the charter.
However, fixated OLF did not meaningfully move beyond such unhealthy
politics, and still darting wrong target.
In 2006 encouraging news surfaced; OLF and its sister front ONLF
together with other Ethiopian political groups initiated AFD (Alliance
for Freedom and Democracy) against the late ethnocentric Meles Zenawi’s
regime (
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5005980.stm).
It was a timely show-ground for equally desolate political signatories
to the alliance. Hopes were refreshed for newly sound target –
realization of functioning Ethiopia where coordination and cooperation,
compassion and solidarity, common destiny and humanity are collectively a
driving force of change. From OLF side it was clearly a negotiated
rejection of long held infertile political position – Independent
Oromia. It was a significant build-up and expectation from the youth.
Unfortunately, mainly due to structural, strategic and leadership crises
the alliance did not fruit at all. The price dividend was high from OLF
side, as it compromised its habitual position and given its thorny
conservative critics. The leadership neither contained internal shocks
following the stagnated alliance, nor delivered promises. Apparently
waning in dismay it has not yet recollected itself, and had no power to
bargain any alliance – internal or external. Therefore, this round a
repayment price is not for dealing in for change but for self-change if
there will be one.
Still at defensive…
Unwholesome nationalism has been oozing among OLF cadres and OLF
affiliated Oromo public – it is a terrible social and political
infectious disease escaped from OLF leadership (mostly awful in
Diaspora) thus shuttering any immediate hope for it to reshape the
struggle. Its failure of managing its internal affair is at a heavy cost
of accommodating external interests.
Implicitly there has been growing uncertainty within OLF attributed
to both internal and external circumstances. That is to say the cluster
is irresolute and largely incapacitated of exploiting internal problems
and external pressures to its own favor on its own term. In addition to
unwittingly forgone opportunities it’s left to wait for paternalistic
circumstances to raft it to its own end. Equally, the variation of the
group from its initial picture is almost insignificant. The leadership
deliberately denied the struggle leeway to stand to fit into
ever-appealing realities and nurture potential minds to this effect.
Thus it can be concluded that the group still resonates within defensive
width far from commanding internal and/or external environment at least
reasonably.
It is simply off the market…
Exclusive ethnicity (which amounts to social-fanaticism) has never
been healthy political enterprise in an endeavor to stability, peace and
security and development at a smaller or a larger political geography
which are meaningfully achieved through collective action. It is highly
engaged in producing and reproducing un-togetherness, hatred and
sentiment grossly undermining the benefits gained looking at the
picture. Few core, fanatic and pseudo-armed Oromo group leaders have
hardly imagined dancing beyond illusive past and personality cult. The
local or global political, economic, environmental and social trend
dictates the rational need for harmony, peaceful-coexistence, tolerance
and mutual interdependence. Therefore, for relatively resultant healthy
society and healthy environment to be achieved humanity, love,
tolerance, justice, freedom and democracy should be at the forefront of
our aspiration towards social change.
The world is moving. There are more futures to become present and
there are more presents to become past. There is nothing as such we call
history is repeating itself unless otherwise the history makers
remained constant.
Beyond reasonable doubt we are convinced that no human history had
perfect past in any part of our planet Earth so do people in Ethiopia.
No past could twist to be a future nor does a future exclude the past in
absolute terms. Our future could tangent the past but it should be with
different curve. In order to mutually benefit from the dynamic, we must
work together to evolve from less perfect towards more perfect social
interaction. Then we would be able to leave behind more predictable
social, political and economic interactions.
In conclusion, however bad we could think the previous regimes are,
they in fact credibly, at least on one perspective, entrenched
unflinching psychological and physical attachment to Ethiopia. Building
on such a good aspects and embracing collective actions towards the
failures are the missing life-line. Conversely, the group’s sensational
hunt for an absolute unassembled Ethiopia so far did not come true.
However, the cluster is just continually taken away by an oblivious of
article 39 – an impious element of the current regime’s constitution in
Ethiopia. At all, at its current nature and practice OLF is simply
nowhere neither to contribute well nor to undermine geographic,
political, emotional and economic Ethiopia.
My call…
Safe to leave making assertions on how far OLF succeeded without
scientific investigation but its failure does not need so and it is as
big as a mountain. Well it is still history but History of Failure.
Regrettably, things did not work out at all for the Front of No and it
has been living as the principal object of EPLF (Mr. Isaias) /TPLF (Mr.
Meles) History. The most painful fact of it is that it continued to
cajole its claimed subject – Oromo. Dear OLF leaders the failure is no
more secrete and it is ours so join the stakeholders with facts and we
seek solutions together.
My fellow youth you should be able to imagine an environment beyond
the casket – liberators are also wrong doers. You must demand leaders on
the real ground; after all it’s about our tomorrow. Cognizant to
Ethiopia’s internal and external context insurgence induced power, as
usual, did not win dictators and their philosophy once and for all; it
rather widens opportunities for the new breeds to be crowned. Ethiopian
people are a living witness and we have drawn enough lessons from
track-record of regime changes in Post feudal Ethiopia and in a larger
postcolonial Africa. Realities of an ethnocentric regime in Ethiopia
dictate preference of concerted and inclusive evolutionary approach for
social transformation to unpredictable and exclusive revolution.
Furthermore, geo-economic, geo-politics, collective security, and
proliferation of science and technology have been perverting violence
means to political power making rebellion less cost effective.
Historic Ethiopia in mind, let’s blame no particular social group as a
sole liability to an injustice or oppression but our less accommodative
and less tolerant institute of governance [social, political, economic
and environmental interaction] induced by our collective or individual
behavior and attitude. Our past is our collective history; no group is
exclusively free of blame because everyone must have something to
account for it. Therefore, the war should be not on social/ethnic or
class manifestations but importantly on behaviors and attitudes that
habitually embeds and institutes our thinking. Reactions against wrong
tongues and actions are mainly emotional, unsustainable and quick fixes,
then [w]e have to work to together to change our mindset.
We [People of Ethiopia] shall continue as a Whole. Tolerance,
Respect, Dialogue, Compassion, Humanity, Forgiveness and Togetherness
should be the order of the process. ———————————-
The author can be reach at biraanug@gmail.com
