Two Faces of Dr. Abiy’s OPP: the OLF-Face and the OPDO-Face

Two Faces of Dr. Abiy’s OPP: the OLF-Face and the OPDO-Face

Dr. Abiy’s OPP is characterized by internal struggle of two forces: between those with OLF’s mindest of sovereignty and OPDO’s mindset of servitude. Those with OLF’s mindset are pushing slowly towards freedom and sovereignty of the Oromo, whereas those with OPDO’s mindest are still ready to have Habesha master from either Amhara or Tegaru elites. Specially interesting is to observe how those with OLF mindest are trying to promote Oromiffa/Oromumma and those with OPDO’s mindest are striving to maintain the ongoing domination of Amharanet/Amharigna. The struggle between these two forces is still continuing. For the OLF’s mindest to win the struggle, it is very necessary for the genuine Oromo nationalists to enter and take over OPP completely from the dying faces of the OPDO. Entering and owning the OPP and its government structures must be main focus of the OLF. This method of owning the regime is better struggle than only engaging in the opposition party OFC or rebel front OLA. The OLFites should try to infiltrate the OPP more in order to purge out the dying OPDO men and women from this ruling p es war es esarty.

It is good that Tegaru Hegemonists are lastly done. We hope that Amhara Naftagnas will not get a chance to controll the palace. Then, Oromo republicans with OLF’s mindset of freedom shall deal with the ruling Oromo prosperitans having OPDO’s mindset of servitude. Dr. Abiy’s OPP being with servitude mindset just changed the master to serve from TPLF to ANDM (APP). As long as Amharanet and Amharigna are dominating the palace and other federal institutions, OPP is there only to do the bidding of APP. That is why, we can simply say Dr. Abiy and his prosperitan followers are still moving with OPDO’s servitude mindset. For the Oromo to achieve our freedom genuinely, this bloc must be replaced by republican Oromos with OLF’s freedom mindset. Such elites with freedom mindset from the OLF, OFC and even some from OPP can come together and challenge those with OPDO’s servitude mindset. Take it how ever long it may, at last, freedom mindset will prevail over servitude mindset.

To change the existing rule of Dr. Abiy’s EPP, there is nothing alternative to forging an inclusive very strong opposition party or alliance or coalition including all genuine and major democratic forces. Can they come together and challenge EPP in the coming election or will they stay fragmented and give chance to the incumbent to rule for further at least 5 years? No question that such strong opposition is mandatory to promote the ongoing democratization process. It is high time for the Oromo republicans with OLF’s freedom mindset to come together and foster one strong Oromo Republican Party (ORP) against the ruling Oromo prosperitans with OPDO’ servitude mindset.

Once Ob. Leencoo Lataa wrote about Meles Zenawi’s political vision and about Zenawi’s principle of “dominant party democracy” – which was published under the link: http://oromiatimes.multiply.com/journal/item/293/293. According to Lataa’s writing, the vision of Meles Zenawi was to foster a developmental state, which should be led by a dominant party/coalition that indefinitely wins elections in order to promote economic growth, and hence end poverty in Africa. This is what Zenawi was recommending for the whole of Africa, i.e. a political system that he and his TPLF has been practicing ever since the U.S. government, through its apostle, Samuel Huntington, recommended it to them in 1993. He wrote further in his 2007 article:

“… The Ethiopian peoples had no role whatsoever in selecting the TPLF to become the dominant party that should indefinitely rule them. The very fact that this choice was made by a foreign government or scholar speaks volumes about the democratic credentials of this political system. It also shows that the Ethiopian peoples have yet to enjoy one fundamental right associated with the status of democratic citizenship, the right to elect a government both into and out of office.

Exercising such a right was simply unthinkable during the imperial era since the Emperor had claimed that he was the “Elect of God.” It remained unthinkable also under his successors who credited history with the act of thrusting upon them the responsibility of holding the country together. The TPLF has now been selected to permanently rule Ethiopia by indefinitely winning elections by the almighty power on earth, the U.S. government.

As it functions elsewhere in the world, the U.S. included, democracy enables citizens not only to elect, but to also un-elect their government. In the version of democracy originally proposed for Ethiopia by Samuel Huntington and then reconfirmed by PM Meles Zenawi, individuals have only the right to elect the dominant party as their government at each and every election. They have no right to vote it out of office no matter how unpopular it becomes and how totally ineffectively it performs. One can only wonder why conducting elections becomes necessary when the winner is predetermined. Why, both the electorate and the party should take time out of other productive engagements first in order to register and then to come back later to vote for one and the same party election after election.

Thomas Hobbes has a name for a political system in which a particular group monopolizes the right to indefinitely rule society. He calls it the monarch of the group. The dominant party formula is even worse because unlike common monarchies it demands the society to periodically go through the unnecessary process of voting it into office. This is nothing else but the one party rule that has wreaked havoc in Africa for the last four decades.

The dominant party version of democracy tries to reconcile the irreconcilable, i.e., democracy and domination. Since it is unlikely to perform this impossible mission, the dominant party political system actually pits democracy and domination against each other. Hence, either democracy steadily gathers strength to ultimately end domination or the reverse happens. This is inevitable because democracy starts where and when domination ends and vice versa. One of them has to ultimately prevail over the other.

And this struggle between democracy and domination will unfold both within the dominant party as well as between it and the rest of society. The struggles within these two spheres intimately influence each other. For the party’s dominance over society at large to be established and sustained, domination has to prevail over democracy within the party itself first and foremost. And conversely, for democracy to see the light of day in the wider public sphere, democracy has to prevail over domination within the party. Which of these alternative courses has Ethiopia been following during the last sixteen years of experimenting with this political system? …”

RULE BY DOMINATION
After the “landslide” victory during the 2010 “election”, Meles Zenawi’s party was a clear “dominant party”, which was “ready to lead the empire to be a democratic and developed state” and, of course, his close friends were dominating in the “dominant party.” Even we could hear the bragging of the “dominant party” about the “development and transformation plan,” which would “make us food secure within five years and help us be part of the world with middle income within fifteen years.” This was the miracle we were told to expect from the “dominant party democracy” under the leadership of the “revolutionary democrats” (actually they were neither revolutionaries nor democrats).

But nations and peoples in the empire were not too naive to believe this false prophets from the circle of the “revolutionary democrats.” All political opposition parties and rebel groups from all the political spectrum in the empire have started, without any illusion, the struggle for liberation from the fascist and apartheid TPLF regime. Almost all of them have started to believe that liberation from tyranny should precede the struggle for democracy. Expecting any sort of democratization process to take place under the minority dictators was just like a pipe dream. That was why all who were against the TPLF should habe been considered as freedom fighters, be it they were in “legal” opposition parties or in the “illegal” rebel groups.

Interestingly, valuable time was wasted by not discussing what Ob Leencoo brought up in 2007 about “dominant party democracy;” instead, most politicians were busy to take part in the past local “election” as well as in the regional and national “elections” with an illusion that the “democratization process was going on.” Then Ob Leencoo gave again an interesting interview on ESAT-TV (read http://gadaa.com/oduu/?p=5088), where he stressed that “the fundamental precondition for electoral democracy was not existing in Ethiopia;” the fundamental precondition here being the consensus on how Ethiopia should be constituted (“common understanding of the state”), i.e. the Ethiopian state must be restructured in a fashion acceptable to all stakeholders before any talk of electoral democracy. Unfortunately, it seemed again that the future valuable time was going to be wasted for the concerned peoples and politicians were not discussing adequately on this issue.

I encouraged all the freedom fighters to discuss and find a “common understanding of the state,” to fight together to get rid of the fascist TPLF, which was ruling the empire with iron fist and then to work on the “fundamental precondition for electoral democracy,” i.e. to my understanding to work on the self-determination of each nation in the empire. It was only after or with the genuine self-determination of Oromo people and that of other oppressed nations that we can have a multinational democracy in Ethiopia. Can freedom fighters from the two major opposition blocs (unionists and unitarists) agree on this precondition and had a “common understanding of the state”? Time will show us, but the discussion must continue now.

MEDREK
Regarding Medrek as the “legal” form of PAFD at home, I gave a critical support to it till the 2010 “election,” where I had expected that it might lead the public into civil disobedience and public uprising after the already programmed vote rigging by the TPLF. I had no illusion to expect any sort of fair and free election, but had an optimistic view on a possible “revolution.” The joining of Siye Abraha and co. gave a promise of galvanizing the expected public uprising, but not the contrary, i.e. pacifying and paralyzing the anti-apartheid movement, which seemed to be the case. I wondered if the allegation of some mistrustful people regarding Isayas Afeworqi as a pacifying “coordinator” of all rebel groups and Siye Abraha as a pacifying “influential figure” among all the “legal” opposition, instead of looking at both of them as promoters of serious threat to the TPLF regime, holds water.

It was fact that the leadership would have promoted Medrek with its consensus theory (consensus between the unionists and the unitarists on keeping both Ethiopian integrity and Oromia’s unity) to a very challenging opposition, which the TPLF hindered successfully. Birtukan Midhagsa had had a potential to motivate politicians and peoples from both opposition blocs (unionists and unitarists) as explained here: http://gadaa.com/oduu/?p=2580. The ruling party was a “dominant party” per fraud, which was in search of party playing junior role and lose the coming elections permanently. Actually, the 2010 “election” can be re-framed as a referendum between the dominant party theory of TPLF and the consensus theory of Medrek. The following fake statistics shows that the dominant party theory “won” over the consensus theory. Though TPLF ended up controlling 99.6% of the seats at the central government and 100% at the regional governments (almost all of the regions), 30% of the votes (taking all the numbers they had provided us as legitimate) went to Medrek.

The right wing of the opposition (main actors in 2005) were essentially reduced to nothing (i.e. in terms of the % of votes they had received in comparison with Medrek’s). We can look at the results in Finfinne (the supposed stronghold of the right wingers) under the link: http://www.addisfortune.com/Vol%2010%20 … nenews.htm. Was this the result which the Shawel-Zenawi-handshake moment supposed to bring about? Was it real that the regime, by casting some votes towards Medrek, gave Medrek a false strength over the other opposition groups, as Medrek, obviously not the right wingers, will be used as an appeaser for the Oromo in elections?

Or has Zenawi fabricated the numbers in order to show the “Medrek route” as a promising route that will again and again turn out to be “false” as the “dominant party” wins decisively in the presence of a “capable” candidate, Medrek, in future elections? Can this suggest that Medrek has been basically organized to serve a junior role, which indefinitely loses as the “dominant party indefinitely wins”? It seems that the leaders of the “dominant party” need for the coming elections a party that will lose indefinitely if they are planning to win indefinitely. Is Medrek the party that will indefinitely lose in TPLF’s world of “dominant party”? In other words, will Medrek continue to be an Oromo appeaser for election purposes? Some Oromo nationalists are just wondering “who” had been selected to be a permanent loser by TPLF’s adviser, Samuel Huntington, as TPLF continues to act as a dominant party?

These all questions were raised by some Oromo nationalists particularly to be directed to Medrek supporters to help them think over their role: to serve as a junior partner for the ruling fascist front or to act as a major freedom fighter against the apartheid system? The development now seen in the opposition camp is encouraging; all political organizations, which do struggle against the regime started to feel as if they are liberation movements. All have started to promote unity of purpose in blocs of both unionist and unitarist liberators as well as they have planned to forge a possible alliance of these two blocs against the regime – which opted to rule indefinitely. It is clear that such unities and alliances were formed to fight against Derg before 1991 and to struggle against the TPLF after 1991, but all were not as effective as expected. Time will tell us whether the currently ongoing ones will be different and make a difference.

As far as I am concerned, the way forward is to agree on the lasting solution proposed by OLF and stated in its program: national self-determination and multinational union. Trying to bring back a unitary country is obsolete, attempting to achieve only a democratic ethnic federation is temporarily good, but it can never be lasting solution for the oppressed nations will continue their demand for self-determination. To comprehend and to accept this lasting solution, all the concerned politicians in the empire should start to think, love and talk about peoples, not about only land and map. Almost all of the politicians are ready to die for the map and the land, but never for the peoples. But the reality is that maps can change always, land is never to separate, and peoples of one region, in this case peoples of the Horn, do live together under all possible political arrangements as well as under all circumstances (be it in a unitary country with geo-federation or in a democratic true ethno-federation or in separate sovereign nation-states within/without a confederation). So, I hope that our politicians come to their senses and start to think in terms of the peoples of the Horn, rather than being ready to die in order to keep certain maps, which they used to adore and idolize.

The core measure, which the Habesha elites should take, to keep the necessary Ethiopian union for the sake of common economical benefit, is to accept and respect Oromia’s autonomy and unity as a nucleus of the regional union they are struggling for. Specially, the radical pro-Ethiopian-unity forces need to think over this. The only way they can achieve their goal of unity is by recognizing this status of Oromia. Liberated and united Oromo region is the corner stone for the Ethiopian union in particular, and for African union of free nations in general. Ethiopia/Cushland of the Oromo people includes all areas between Meroe and Mombaasa, where all Cush nations do live; that is why I do recommend the Oromo people be committed to union of all free nations in this region, beyond achieving Oromian independence. I think this is what also OLF put in its program. Dr. Bayan Asoba’s explicit repetition of OLF’s original goal in front of the mass media and the supporters of the Front in Toronto/Canada few years back killed the hitherto maneuver of our foes in trying to divide Oromo nationalists. Now, we all clearly know that there is no difference of aim between the three factions of our vanguard liberation front.

I am personally very happy to hear the progress going on regarding the re-unification of OLF. A lot of Oromo nationalists have done our part to help this happen. Even those Oromo nationalists, who had opposed to such re-unification, rejected the re-unification for they have thought their own alternative way of unification could have been better to make us successful in our anti-colonial struggle. They have not categorically opposed to both unity of Oromo liberators, and alliance with non-Oromo forces against TPLF. Those, who are doing every thing to hinder these two important instruments from being established and used against the apartheid system at any cost, without suggesting any alternative, are the camouflages from the ruling camp. Thanks Waaqa, now both the unity and the alliance are moving forward, slowly but surely. To make both of them a success story, OLF needs to move forward proactively, not only reactively.

Liberated Oromo people and Oromo region can be used as an example and as a precedence for the liberation of all African nations and nationalities from the hitherto divisive colonial borders and assimilative colonial languages, just as the revival of the Oromo traditional religion, Waaqeffannaa, is an example for the future revival of African traditional beliefs in one God, which has been devalued by the colonialists as something “animism or paganism”. Finfinne, as the capital of Africa and Oromia as the political center, must be free to open the door of liberty for all the oppressed nations to enjoy their national freedom. The light beam of freedom will be radiated from this center to all directions, no doubt that even the Abyssinian colonists will enjoy this freedom for they, as oppressors, are as enslaved as the nations they were oppressing.

If OLF gets stronger and pushes in this direction, Medrek can not be an Oromo appeaser as already asked by some Oromo nationalists, be it settles for playing the role of the ever losing junior partner of the already programmed “ever winning dominant party” of Meles Zenawi or not. But, Medrek was not settling for such cheap job, but it was part and parcel of the liberation struggle against the ethnocentric apartheid regime by complementing the all-inclusive alliance in order to promote the effort of the true freedom fighters against the EPP. So, I would like to encourage its transformation from the present loose alliance to a political front, if and only if the goal of the front will be a true ethnic federation as a compromise solution. I just say: NO to the suggested referendum on the fate of Oromia, if the unitarists in UDJ want to achieve a consensus on the fate of Ethiopia. The front should have either consensus on both Ethiopian integrity and Oromia’s unity, or should be ready to go for referendum on both YES vs. NO to Ethiopian integriity, and YES vs. NO to Oromia’s unity. The cunning way (consensus on Ethiopian integrity and referendum on Oromia’s unity) is simply unfair to say the least. Also Oromo nationalists in OFC were not such naive to accept such misguiding move from the concerned Habesha elites.

Only such a front of member organizations with different goals, which is based on such a very fair ‘either a consensus on the fate of both Ethiopia and Oromia or a referendum on both’ can have a strong mass base and an all rounded support to be a challenging opposition against the regime. Otherwise, Medrek will be doomed to fail or to exist like only the ever losing junior partner of the ever “winning dominant party.” I would like to encourage the suggested all-inclusive alliance also follow the same example and have a common ground based on the fair method of either a consensus on the building of the union of autonomous nations (saving both Ethiopia and Oromia) or a referendum on the future type of union we want to foster (a union of fragmented nations as the unitarist liberators wish or a union of autonomous nations as the ethno-federalists want or a union of sovereign nations as the unionist liberators will achieve). Only if there is such a fair political game, would it become possible that ORP will be effective and efficient to defeat the EPP. Otherwise, the Opposition groups will have no Oromo mass support and in such a case, they  should prepare themelves for the role as a junior partner of the “dominant party,” not for the noble job as a major promoter of the democratization process. Hopefully, the Oromo repuböican forces like the OFC and the OLF can now foster a sort of coalition and become the challenging strong opposition party in the coming 2021 election. 

Galatooma