Ethiopian Political Struggle at Three Levels: Ethnic, Party and Individual!

It is important to defferentiate political struggle in Ethiopian (Great Oromia) at three levels:

– the struggle at ethnic level is going on especially in the form of triangular struggle between the three major ethnic groups (Amhara, Tegaru and Oromo). The power struggle at this level functions simply with the natural principle of “survival of the fittest”. Trying to apply democracy at this level is foolishness and futile. One of the ethnies always wins and rules or loses and be ruled. Till 1991, the Amhara ruled, then the Tegaru dominated and now the Oromo are leading. Only the fool Oromo can give up this power per ballot box.

– at party level: after one ethnic group consolidates power per force, political parties in favour of the dominating ethnic group can compete democratically for power. That is why the Oromo after being sure of checking the cvnning Abyssinian elites can be open for the competition of OFC, OLF and OPP for power in Finfinne palace.

– at Individual level: the individuals in each party can absolutely use democratic principle to get any status and get a chance even upto being the leader (prime minister) of the country.

In summary, there is no democracy in the power struggle at ethnic level. At party level, it is necessary to check Abyssinian elites not to give them a chance to comeback to power per ballot box with pretext of democracy. Intra-party competition of individuals in OFC, OLF and OPP can be purely democratic as long as the individuals are loyal to Oromo’s political interest.

No question that the Oromo are slowly, but surely coming nearer to absolute freedom from the hitherto allien rules and own dictaors. It is the matter of time, but genuine Oromo nationalists in the pro-Oromummaa Republicans’ camp shall overtake political power from the existing pro-Amharanet Prosperitans in Finfinne palace. Then, Oromo Republicans should consolidate Aango/power and promote Afaan Oromo to the primary working language of the federation, replacing Amharigna. After that, we need Oromo political specialists functioning at 9 levels:

– local level (Ganda/village)

– county (Aradda/Qebele)

– district (Aana)

– zone (province)

– Oromia (state)

– Ethiopia (federation)

– Horn (region)

– Africa (continent)

– global level (UN)

Oromo nationalists have to specialize themselves politically to play smart game and keep Oromo interest of our nation at all levels. Knowledge, experience and skill at all the 9 levels are mandatory. Empowering Oromummaa and promoting Afaan Oromo at all levels must be at core of our endaveour.

Specially, the ongoing deplomatic move of Oromo elites to foster a sort of confederation in the form of United States in Horn of Africa (USHA) is encouraging and smart. The coming together of Eritrean, Somalian and Ethiopian leaders to discuss such possibility was nice. We hope that Djibouti and Somaliland will join the regional block. As far as the Oromo are concerned, consolidating our aango (power) in Finfinne palace, liberating Gadaa Oromia from any alien domination and democratizing Ethiopia (Great Oromia), we can push for integration of the Horn (Greater Oromia) and federation of Africa (Greatest Oromia), all using Finfinne as their capital and center of politics. Any country, region or continent having Finfinne as the center can be under ripple influence of Oromo politics. How lucky the Oromo are to be in this position, if we are smart enough to play our advantageous political card appropriately. To play beneficial politics at these different levels (country, region and continent), Oromo forces in the OFC, OLF and OPP must have a consensus and unite all Oromo nationals to rally behind them. If we forge such unity of purpose, no force in the region can challenge and hinder us from being culturally, economically and politically influencial at the mentioned different levels (Finfinne, Gadaa Otomia, Great Oromia, Greater Oromia, Greatest Oromia and Global Oromia)

Eventhough OPP is so slow to implement Oromo’s vital questions like owning Finfinne and promoting Afaan Oromo to federal language, the Oromo as a nation is to some extent free from Abesha domination, be it Amhara elites’ oppression or Tegaru elites’ hegemony. This can be nice example for freedom of all African nations, who are either divided or lamped together by the colonial borders. Ethiopia (Great Oromia), a multi-national state in Africa (i.e. a state formed based on ethnic regions), in contrast to the mono-national states of Europe, is one of the countries still suffering from sequel of an attempt by European colonization in the region and from an impact of Abyssinian colonization over other nations like the Oromo. We all know that the name Ethiopia is a contaminated and abused name. It has got different meanings: according to the Bible, it is Cushland; according to Greeks, it is land of blacks (burned face); according to Tigreans, it is Axum empire; according to Amharas, it is Abyssinia; and according to Ethiopianists from the southern nations, it is the current geographical state. For Oromo nationalists, it is a symbol for the system of domination. Ethiopia existed as feudal monarchy till the rule of Teferi Mekonnen, as military dictatorship of Mengistu, and as dictatorial revolutionary democracy of Meles and co. Will the next step be forging of democratic federalism by OPP and others? According to program of OPP, it is understandable that the move is towards democratic true ethnic federation in contrast to TPLF’s dictatorial fake ethnic federation.

Regarding OPP’s program on fantastic administrative structure, it supports the right of all nations and nationalities to be organized in their territories at community, district, province (zone) and state levels. What a nice structure! This can be a good example for the whole of African multinational states. To tackle the problems of nations in Africa and to deal with the present global challenge, Africans are trying to come together and forge USA (Union States of Africa). Till now, we are looking at U.S.America or EU (European Union) as an example. For instance, Amhara democrats, who want to get rid of ethnic federation and want to establish Ethiopia as a melting pot (melting all nations in to Amharic speakers), do look at U.S.America. as a model, whereas Oromo liberation forces, who want to establish an independent democratic republic of different nations, which may further forge union of free peoples based on free will, do like the model of EU. But both US and EU can not be good examples for Africa. US is a melting pot for all nations around the world migrating to America and learning English language. EU is union of well developed and independent mononational states, all using their own respective languages.

Africa can be neither melting pot nor union of developed mononational states. The nations in Africa are diverse in development and size. What is good for Africa is to build union (federation) with autonomous national areas for all nations aka “ethnies”. Based on their size and development, some nations can forge mononational state like Oromia region. Others, which are too small to have their own state can forge multinational state like SNNP, with all nations having their own province, district or community as autonomous national areas based on their size. Here, relatively bigger nations can have their own autonomous province, smaller nationalities can have autonomous district, and the smallest peopless can have their own autonomous community. Based on their geographical position, certain small nations can join the bigger neighbor nations, but have their own autonomy, be it as province, district or community. Such five tier organization (African federation — mono-/multinational states — mono-/multinational provinces — mono-/multinational districts and mono-/multinational communities) is the best way of administrative arrangement for Africa.

In Short, OPP’s Ethiopian model can be used as a prototype for African future federation, just changing the current ethnic federation’s fake status under TPLF to a very genuine one, for which OPP and OFC are struggling. Then, we will have not only an integrated Ethiopian union, but also an integrated continent Africa, which will be build on the center called Oromia with Finfinne as a capital. Oromia will be a sovereign state in United States of Africa, so can be Amharaland, Tigrai and other nation-states. The only question we people need to ask ourselves is that, at which administrative level are we thinking, talking and walking when we try to deal with politics? If we are ready to accept and think at level of the above five tiers, then we can look at the fact that ethnic federalism or language-based federalism, rather than geography-based federalism, is a panacea for regional union of Ethiopia and  continental integration of Africa.

In respect to the development in this direction, thanks to CUD and OLF, formation of AFD was the first nightmare TPLF ever experienced. The formation of similar alliance at home (Medrek) by the OFC and UDJ with parties of other nations was the second nightmare. Now, OPP’s vision is a better hope in comparison to TPLF’s fake federation, but not the best hope; PAFD definitely will be the best hope for the nations in the empire. Having Ethiopian union of nations as envisioned by OPP and OFC is really good, whereas PAFD fortunately will have the same result based on referendum by the concerned public. PAFD’s action will lead to the lasting result and the end-goal (regional union of nations per referendum), whereas that of OPP is only temporary and leads us only to a mid-goal of nations in Ethiopia, i.e to union of nations per consensus of the involved parties without taking into consideration the will of the concerned public.

The fulfillment of the above mentioned hope is because of the fact that both OPP and PAFD are on the same middle line (in the political spectrum of the empire) trying to establish union of peoples, on the contrary to the ultra-left liberation fronts needing to achieve only unconditional national independence without a possible union and  the ultra-right political parties striving for unconditional integration in form of assimilating all nations in to Amharinya speakers. According to its leaders, even AG7 is pursuing to achieve the goal of a union of nations per public verdict in the future union per referendum. If this is true, then ODF cooperating with AG7 and forming an alliance called Ethiopian National Movement (ENM) was almost the same to supporting PAFD. The only difference is that ODF wanted to get freedom from TPLF fascists peacefully, whereas PAFD tried all-inclusive method. The political move in Ethiopia is simply from position of TPLF with its fake ethnic federation, first to position of OPP forging true ethnic federation (self-administration) and then to position of PAFD to realize right of nations to self-determination!

According to interview given by leaders of different Oromo liberation fronts, their organizations were moving towards a united front, to then revive AFD, the alliance with democratic forces and freedom fighters of other nations. This was a very good move to strengthen the struggle against fascist TPLF. I hoped this alliance in Diaspora to be reactivated and galvanize the struggle for freedom and democracy at home being cooperated and coordinated with the struggle of  OPP and Medrek.

As far as other African multinational states formed by colonial powers are concerned, they should learn from OPP’s Ethiopia two things: firstly, they need to accept and respect the God-given right of their nations and nationalities in order to help them have self-administration and self-determination, so that they can use and develop their own respective national languages instead of still worshiping colonial languages. Secondly, they need to foster ethnic federation with different administrative levels of five tiers as described above to promote cultural, economic and political autonomy of all nations and nationalities in Africa, which will be democratic bases for the future United State of Africa, the continent being free from negative influence of both the hitherto colonial borders and colonial languages. To fulfill this end, Oromo’s liberation can be used as a precedence and Oromo politicians can play active role to transform Africa of colonial artificial borders to Africa of natural national boundaries. Of course, Oromo’s ripple political influence from Finfinne through Gadaa Oromia towards Global Oromia is a God given luck for the Oromo.

Galatooma!