By Aba Orma
I hope this letter finds you in full health and strength.
I read your article titled “Ethiopian Spring: Killing is not an answer to our Grievances” with great interest and also saddened by the dark cloud hovering over Ethiopia. This dark cloud is the minority Tigray-led government of Ethiopia that rendered itself illegitimate.
It is not a stretch if I say that the uprisings in Amhara and other regions of Ethiopia are fueled by the persistence protest by the Oromo people in Oromia and the sacrifices they paid in the most precious way, their blood. There was an Oromo Spring before “Ethiopian Spring”. The seeds of Oromo spring were planted when the Oromo people and OPDO was pushed out of the capital and even reaches way back.
I am intrigued by the short comings of your article when it comes to Oromo sources and references on the subject. I am sure there are plenty of articles and stories that relate to your story. You would have been better served have you taken a little more time to better understand how the Oromo see their struggle directly from the Oromo than relying on your old dogma and narrow outlook of what Ethiopia should become to survive. Today the Oromo people have voices and forums to discuss issues important to their lives and about their country. You would also be more sympathetic if you have read the hundreds of heart breaking stories like an elderly mother who through her body in front of her son to save and both ended up victim of Agazi snipers. You would have read first hand testimonies of not only the tortured, raped, evicted, but also act of heroism in the face of atrocity and encouraging stories of how strangers shelter children running for their lives. The Oromo people have decided to rise up and die together.
I am also taken back by the lack of mention of the single most heroic act of defiance by an Oromo athlete. Most likely a turning point and defining moment in the struggle of the Otromo people against injustice. I am sure you know (perhaps watched) of the 1968 Olympics Black Power salute by African-American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. How can you fail to mention the Sunday morning Feyisa Lilesa decided to run the 26.5 miles Rio Marathon for his people, the Oromo People? Is this admission by omission that this is so big that talking about it overshadows everything else you are about to make? It was a day that finally tarded his fame and all the perks that comes with it for his people- the Oromo people and Oromia.
Feyisa`s heroic act of defiance and solidarity with the Oromo protest will live in the hearts and minds of Oromo and millions of oppressed people across Africa! This is the icing on the cake for the Oromo Spring. Every news outlets around the globe reported on Feyisa`s defiance (except your article) and hundreds of articles are written on it. Ironically the first Oromo protest started in Jeldu by school children in response to confiscation of their soccer field by the regime happens to be the birth place of Lilesa. More than any time in history, the Oromo people`s plight is heard loud and clear around the world. Since his heroic act, hundreds of Feyisas are being born every day in power corridors, the army, and the federal police and militias of the regime. I really would love to hear how such a milestone is missed in your analysis.
You unambiguously stated that the oligarchy has failed at every level imaginable. You said that the Tigrean-elite is losing control of the country. The army has effectively taken over the administration of Oromia and part of the Amhara region from the civilian. You also pointed out that the Oromo protest is systematically dismantling the ruling party’s infrastructure put in place to control their community. What part of such a failing regime can be saved to continue business as usual? For the Oromo people, the minority Tigray-led ruling party has lost credibility and the mandate that it never got in the first place to govern when it opened fire on peaceful demonstrators and killed hundreds on the streets of Oromia and jailed thousands. For Oromo people, Oromia is under siege by an illegitimate force. Oromia is under occupation!
And then, we are given the old argument that there is no viable alternative to the TPLF-led government. Is that not exactly why the Tigrean oligarchy systematically eliminated the so called “legal” and “illegal” opposition according to your classification from taking root and present itself as the sole viable option to govern Ethiopia? 25 years are long time to transition a country to something that resembles the rule of law. Instead what we have is the whole country under military siege by the federal police and the Agazi. How are we supposed to believe that the only alternative to guide us out of the mess is the same group of people that created it? When is, enough is enough? The good thing is the Oromo and the rest of Ethiopian people are saying enough is enough. The Oromo mass have put the wheel of change in motion and there is no turning back. The question is not if, when!
The truth on the ground is that effectively there is no government in Ethiopia. There is an occupying force on a mission of killing innocent people and destroying communities. Killing, mass incarceration, and disappearances are the only language this regime perfected over the last 25 years! It is up to the people to put a stop to it. The only way to replace the dark cloud over Ethiopia is to take it down and replace it by government for the people by the people.
Respectfully,
Ababiya Jimma