By Asafa Jalata
The University of Tennessee
(Paper Presented at the 2002 OSA Conference, Howard University, Washington, DC.)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Orommuma as a cultural and political project attempts to combine the best elements of the Oromo cultural traditions with a revolutionary nationalist ideology to mobilize all sectors of Oromo society to participate in the Oromo national movement and achieve human liberation. As the politics of Oromo liberation, Orommuma envisions the construction of Aa new Oromo national community@ in which all Oromo subgroups come together through the struggle to regain their human dignity by overthrowing Ethiopian settler colonialism and its institutions through building a just and democratic society. Some Oromo nationalists aspire to build this just and democratic society on the principles of the Oromo democratic traditions that can be compatible with the current conditions of the Oromo people.
Whether Orommuma or Oromo nationalism is in transition or in stagnation depends on the maturity of the Oromo nationalist ideology that can gradually transform the segmented identities of religion, region, clan, and borrowed cultural identities. Although the concept of Oromumma as the cultural and political project is reaching different sectors of Oromo society since the early 1990s, it is not well developed into the master Oromo ideology of liberation. As a result, some Oromo elites subconsciously or by their actions confuse fractured identities with the concept of Oromumma, and promote ill-conceived visions and ideologies. The major reason why nations need nationalism and state power in the modern world is that with large-scale changes in culture, politics, and economics, they could not handle their problems on clan, neighborhood, and local levels. Oromo nationalism cannot be different from other forms of nationalism.
To speak in the Oromo language and to complain about the impact of the Ethiopian colonialism do not necessarily make us nationalists who promote the concept and ideology of Oromumma. It is essential to recognize that the ideological foundation of Oromumma is built on the common denominator of collective grievances, the principles of human liberation and equality, the restoration of the best elements of Oromo culture, history, and traditions, and at the same time, the recognition of religious and other forms of diversity in Oromo society. Those Oromos who pay necessary sacrifices to defend the Oromo national interest are true nationalists.
Since 1991, Oromo nationalism has entered into a new phase. Before this time, Oromumma was accepted and recognized in a few circles. Before the 1990s, because of the impact of Ethiopian settler colonialism, most Oromos identified themselves by clans, colonial regions, or borrowed religious identities such as Christianity and Islam. Oromo identity was submerged under these fractured identities. Although some progress has been made to overcome these segmented identities, these identities still compete with the master cultural identity, Oromumma, in the minds and activities of some Oromo. This means that an ideological transformation did not yet take place in the minds of such Oromos.
When most Oromos accept Oromumma as the master cultural identity by going beyond segmented identities and paying necessary sacrifices in the form of money, time, knowledge, and skills, and other resources or even in lives, Oromo nationalism transforms and matures as the cultural and political project of Oromo liberation. The cultural identity of Oromo that is confused with fragmented identities is a political raw material that can be used by the enemy against the Oromo interest. As a result, those Oromos who did not develop Oromumma can be converted into any thing for material gains. For example, Somalis and Ethiopians have recruited such Oromos and mobilized them against the Oromo national struggle. The development of Oromumma can dissolve the development of an Oromo collaborative class.
The Oromo national movement has not yet reached on the level where it can have an ideological maturity and organizational capacity to mobilize the Oromo people to take coordinated concrete political actions on local, national, and global levels. Because of the uneven development of Oromo nationalism, most Oromo elites are incoherent in their ideologies and political actions. The transformation of Oromo nationalism and the process of building organizational capacity require a coherent Oromo nationalist ideology that can be packaged into a policy that can mobilize most members of the nation to combine their efforts and take collective actions on different levels. Practically, these efforts involve organizational, political, ideological, cultural, financial, propaganda, and military actions in well-organized and coordinated ways.
The development of Oromumma is absolutely necessary to empower the Oromo people. Oromo power will enable Oromo society to have political power to facilitate the creation of state by uprooting Ethiopian settler colonialism and its institutions. Oromos want to have state power that will allow them to regain political liberty and enjoy the fruit of their labor without exploitation and dehumanization. Such state will also allow all sectors of Oromo society to have the freedom of the media, association or organization, education, employment, and development. All religious institutions, including the church and mosque, will reflect Oromo-centered culture and values and freely participate in spiritual and cultural development of Oromo society. Oromo women and children will be protected and encouraged to freely develop their talent through education and work.
Individuals who do not have a clear vision of Oromumma think that the Oromo people will remain as they are now, and think that colonial names such as Shewa, Wallaga, Haraghe, will remain intact. Large-scale political and cultural changes and technological and educational transformations will make segmented identities obsolete. Every part of Oromia and Oromian resources belong to all citizens. Like in any democratic society, any Oromo can be at home in any administrative region of Oromia. In order to accomplish all these objectives, the concept of Oromumma must be formulated and packaged as the main nationalist vision to solve the internal problems of Oromo society.
It is not our choice to be colonized and dehumanized under Ethiopian political slavery and global tyranny, but it is our choice to rebuild Oromumma by increasing our commitment and determination to liberate ourselves. History demonstrates that only the politically and culturally conscious, and the determined and organized people achieve political victory. We cannot achieve victory by the politics of common sense. We need to further develop Oromumma through scientifically recognizing our political problems and solving them by using sound policy actions. There have been external and internal factors for the slow and uneven development of the Oromo national movement and its organizational shortcomings. Several books and articles have been written on the external factors, and how these factors have negatively affected the development of Oromo nationalism.
There are dynamic interactions between external and internal factors. Some of these internal factors were created by Ethiopian colonialism and its institutions. Particularly, the legacy of Ethiopian political slavery has affected our physique and demoralized our human spirit, and turned us against one another rather than promoting new ideas and strategies that help us develop Oromumma in order to achieve our human liberation. The internal problems of our society include uneven development of Oromumma, low level of cognitive liberation, the politics of common sense, low level of global awareness, and organizational deficits.
One of the great weaknesses of the Oromo national movement is the uneven development of Oromo nationalism. At this time, the Oromo people can be roughly categorized into three. On one extreme there are Oromo nationalists who have been sacrificing their lives and resources to liberate their people. Those Oromos who have taken actions to defend the rights and interests of the Oromo nation belong to this category. The Ethiopians have been targeting to destroy such Oromos. On another extreme there are Oromos who consciously or unconsciously betrayed their people for personal gains by joining the enemy camp to fight against the Oromo national interest and national struggle. One of the indicators of the weaknesses of the Oromo struggle is its inability to stop these collaborators.
The majority of Oromos are between these two extreme ends. This is the third category. Oromumma matures when it mobilizes this majority section of Oromo society. The recent Oromo student struggle shows the beginning of the development of Oromo nationalism toward this direction. There is no any doubt that Oromo awareness has developed among this section since 1991, but we need to intensify the struggle to transform this awareness to Oromumma. When Oromo nationalism mobilizes this section, there is no force that can stop the Oromo nation from achieving its political objectives. With further development of Oromo nationalism and its maturation, the political and cultural project of Oromumma will be consolidated. The consolidation of Oromumma requires the cognitive or mental liberation of the majority of Oromos.
On an individual level, cognitive liberation means to have critical knowledge that allows you to confront a complex problem and solve it. It also means developing high level of political and cultural understanding and consciousness. On an organizational level, cognitive liberation is indicated by critical understanding of the past and contemporary problems and formulating a dynamic policy to address and solve them. Despite the fact that Oromo political organizations have some kinds of programs, they have not yet developed specific policies, strategies, and tactics that must be evaluated periodically to achieve the objectives of their programs.
Because of the low level of the Oromo cognitive liberation, Oromo political organizations, including the Oromo Liberation Front, have not yet effectively mobilized Oromo cultural, intellectual, and material resources. These organizations depend on the political programs that do not address this age of global development. Further, the creation of different organizations without having major ideological differences also demonstrates how some Oromo leaders are not yet politically sophisticated, and how they are not yet ready to solve their political problems within organizations. Politicians and organizations with high level of cognitive liberation push their national interest as first priority, and solve their differences through open dialogue based on the principles of a common denominator.
Our people have lived under Ethiopian political slavery for more than a century. As a result, they are chained by ignorance and poverty. They are rural and scattered people without modern communication networks and information. Therefore, their understanding of the world is limited. Most of them are fatalistic, and they think that external forces will solve their problems. What about formally educated Oromos? The legacy of Ethiopian politically slavery has psychologically disabled educated Oromos; it has dwarfed our potentials and undermined our creativity.
Some of us want to be free from Ethiopians, but we act like Ethiopians practically in our daily lives. Some educated Oromos are more Ethiopians than Ethiopians. What about the Oromo nationalist intellectuals? Although we began to defend the interest of our people, our cognitive liberation has not reached on the required level of blossoming Oromumma and building organizational capacity. One of the indicators of the low level of cognitive liberation in our society is the intoxication by the politics of common sense.
If we need to survive in the era of intensified globalization as a nation, we Oromos must replace the politics of common sense with the politics of liberation that is based on research, scientific knowledge and a sound policy. Oromo nationalism as a national project has not yet challenged the conditions that promote the politics of common sense because of the low level of cognitive liberation, low level of global awareness, and organizational shortcomings. Since the experiences of various forms of our leaders are not blended, our political activities and ideological visions are based on the common sense politics. The common sense politics hinders an ideological leap and perpetuates political passivity and ignorance.
The politics of common sense undermines Oromumma by promoting political opportunism and fatalism, withdrawal, and by encouraging false accusation and malicious propaganda. The politics of common sense confuses Oromo nationalism with segmented identities. It prevents us from critically understanding the world, and legitimizing our political weakness and ignorance. Since we are left behind other nations by many centuries, we need to catch up with others by replacing the politics of common sense by the politics of liberation.
Because of our lack of critical understanding of the racialist global world order, we try to refashion the world after our disoriented perceptions rather than trying to catch up with the world by learning how it works. The racialist capitalist world system is brutal to the people who do not have power and state. It is heaven for those who have power and wealth. It is hell for most people like Oromos who don=t have power, state, and wealth. We Oromos naively think that this world cares, and somebody is going to help us in solving our political problems. Even when we get help from a few corners or individuals, we do not know how to maintain friendship and use their knowledge, expertise, commitment, and other resources. We fail to understand that we only get support from others if we first help ourselves and convince others that they can benefit by helping us.
We must refashion our perceptions and understanding according to the fast changing global system. We only get our freedom if we work for it. Otherwise, we remain a powerless and victimized people without any voice in the world. We need to learn about the world around us, particularly about the countries like the US, and how the oppressed people took their matters into their own hands by aggressively organizing and defending their collective interests. If we continue to see ourselves as powerless victims who fight one another and expect some leaders or some organizations to liberate us we remain hopeless victims. We need to catch up with the fast changing world by overcoming our illusions and ignorance, and by building Orommuma and overcoming our organizational deficits.
Since we have lived under Ethiopian political slavery for more than one century, we lack experience to build and run a strong political machine. We tend to hide our ignorance through impression management, and pretend that we know every thing. Nobody is born with knowledge, and nobody knows every thing. We fear to take actions to avoid making mistakes so that we are considered perfect human beings. We also believe that our leaders and organizations know everything for us, and we have only to do what we are told to do. This tendency created a wrong impression in Oromo leadership. As a result, our leaders and organizations require absolute loyalty without listening to the voice of their followers. Such approaches stifle creativity.
Without fulfilling our obligations, we expect a miracle from our organizations. If things go wrong, we are quick to blame those leaders and organizations that try to do something. We need to stop transferring responsibility by blaming certain leaders and organizations. We must establish a single standard by which we measure ourselves both individually and organizationally before we blame others. We do not have a moral power to blame others if we are doing nothing or little. There are no any external powers or unknown perfect leaders that will lead us to the promised land of liberated Oromia. Those revolutionary Oromos who have high level of commitment have their own different world, and they are not ready to share with us their hardships, grief, and shortcomings.
What they want from their supporters and sympathizer is material assistance, and not ideas and knowledge. They always want to tell us stories, and they are not ready to listen to their supporters and followers. Since the supporters and sympathizers are not ready for higher level of commitment, they are satisfied with this relationship. I believe that such approaches did not take us any where in the 1990s, and they will not take us anywhere in the future. Such dead-end political positions must be rejected if we want to build Oromumma and develop our organizations and progress toward our liberation.
We must recognize that ideas and knowledge can emerge from ordinary people. The capacity of revolutionary leaders is measured by their ability to listen to their followers and sympathizers and mobilizing and coordinating the best ideas and knowledge toward building organizations and taking actions. Since the best ideas, knowledge, and other resources are not mobilized and coordinated by our political leaders and activists, our political and social organizations could not bring a paradigm shift in the Oromo national movement. The Oromo movement needs to create a platform for an alternative knowledge of liberation and mobilization.
Particularly, the Oromo Liberation Front should open up itself to diverse ideas, and the ideas and knowledge of ordinary people. We know that there are no ready-made answers for our problems, and millions of Oromos should find solutions together based on the principle of a common denominator. When we advocate for openness and inclusiveness of ideas, we should make sure that the leaders of our organizations and members are loved and respected. We should stop those who attempt to improve their own images by destroying the images of others. We must defend one another as members of a family. These are the only way we can further develop Oromumma and solve our organizational shortcomings on all levels.
The strategies for building Oromumma should include developing policies that attack and destroy the legacy of Ethiopian political slavery both on individual and societal levels. We Oromo elites need to liberate ourselves from the prison house of the legacy of Ethiopian political slavery by overcoming our low level of cognitive liberation and organizational deficits, and by developing critical global awareness. It is only when we accomplish these, we can form a united elite that can be the blood vessels of the Oromo movement on global, regional, national, and local levels to mobilize and coordinate our political, cultural, ideological, economic, and military actions. This is the way to build a national organizational capacity. The Oromo national family can build its organizational capacity by reinventing its democratic tradition of the gada system that can be compatible with the current democratic principles and values.
The Oromo Liberation Front as the temple of Oromo liberation politics needs to broaden its political activities. It must struggle to establish a coherent leadership on global, national, regional, and local levels. Such leadership needs to be guided by a research-based policy to develop a uniform vision and take similar political, cultural, and diplomatic actions. The OLF also should wholeheartedly support all Oromo movement centers that are gathered together under the umbrella of ULFO because this umbrella can be a platform for building the vision of Oromumma which will help create a coherent Oromo elite based on the principles of common denominator and trust. These Oromo movement centers also need to be honest to themselves and specialize certain activities in which they are strong to develop Oromumma and broaden the Oromo national movement.
It is ironical that when Oromo society is united by the ideology of Oromumma in Oromia since the early 1990s, we Oromo elites in the Diaspora are fragmented and confused. We Oromo nationalist elites have not yet developed clearly the concept and vision of Oromumma in order to overcome our organizational shortcomings. Therefore, one can observe the transformation of Oromumma from below in Oromia, and stagnation of Oromo nationalism among the elites. This is a serious challenge to the Oromo nationalist elites and the Oromo national movement.
Practically and psychologically Ethiopians have inflicted heavy damages on us as some activities of our people in the Diaspora and at home demonstrate. People who do not have confidence in themselves, and who do not believe that there are capable individuals among them who can rise up and lead them are psychologically damaged. Whenever leaders emerge among them, such people look for weaknesses of these leaders and ignore their strengths to belittle them. Some of us are interested to create or imagine mistakes and attack Oromo heroes and heroines who have done something for our struggle. We tend to ignore good things that these individuals have done for their nation, and magnify their mistakes and weaknesses.
Whoever tries to do something can make a mistake. Therefore, I believe that the correct approach is to recognize and praise the achievements of these leaders and to provide constructive criticisms on their weaknesses. By discouraging individuals from contributing to our struggle, unintentionally we are weakening our camp and strengthening the camp of our national enemies. The idea of trying to look good by cutting down our brothers and sisters is a very dangerous trend. This approach encourages laziness and discourages achievement. Greatness comes from determination and hard work, and not from belittling others. There are some individuals who have no clear understanding of Oromo nationalism and prey on the low level of Oromo consciousness by spreading misinformation on leaders or organizations that are pushing the Oromo struggle forward.
If we need to move ahead, we must stop these misguided actions and also challenge, expose, and discredit those individuals or groups or organizations that are engaged in destructive behavior. Individuals or organizations should genuinely compete to excel by promoting the objectives of the Oromo movement and by producing results not by engaging in destructive behavior. We can only unleash the potential of our people from ordinary to elite by overcoming the legacy of Ethiopian political slavery and believing in ourselves, leaders, and organizations.
What kinds of leaders we need? We only need leaders who are ready to change with us, and who are determined to coordinate our ideas, knowledge, money, and other resources. Oromo revolutionary leaders and organizations that can successfully attack the legacy of Ethiopian political slavery and solve the problems of uneven development of Oromumma by increasing the level of cognitive liberation and solving the problems of the politics of common sense, low level of global awareness, and low level of political experience in Oromo society can build an Oromo organizational capacity that will lead the Oromo people to national victory.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Asafa Jalata
Associate Professor of Sociology
and African and African American Studies
Department of Sociology
University of Tennessee
901 McClung Tower
Knoxville, TN 37996-0490
865) 974-7027
(
865) 974-7013 (FAX)
ajalata@utk.edu