Page 152 - Fighting Against the Injustice of the State and Globalization

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Beyond Nationalism
ple’s Revolutionary Party (EPRP). Although the regime successfully suppressed the
EPRP, the national liberation movements survived and continued their struggles that
led to the overthrow of the regime in 1991.The regime destroyed the All Ethiopian
Socialist Movement by killing or imprisoning its leaders. Prominent Oromo socialists
such as Haile Fida, Birhanu Gamada, Hailu Garbaba, Abdullai Yosuf, Lama Fida, Mi-
tiku Tarfasa, Makonen Jote, and Tarafe Waldasadik were murdered by the regime be-
cause they attempted to promote an independent political line and refused to be
subservient to Mengistu and his political party. Similarly, hundreds of prominent Oro-
mos who tried to build the Oromo national movement were either imprisoned or
killed or forced to join an armed struggle.Prominent Oromo nationalists such as Rev-
erend Gudina Tumsa, Negussie Nagassa, Imiru Ibssa, Gazhigne Kassahun (Beka), Biru
Warqu, Argawu Dinka, Mohe Abdo, and others were murdered by the regime, and
others spent about a decade in prison.
The assassination of Baro Tumsa, the central figure in the Oromo national move-
ment after the banning of the Macha-Tulama Association, denied the Oromo strug-
gle a visionary and charismatic leadership.The circumstance of his assassination is not
yet adequately explained. He was murdered when he was in the liberated area of Oro-
mia. Baro Tumsa informally established a complex informal network among Oromo
nationalists that gradually led to the formation of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF).
Further, the assassination of Magarsa Bari (OLF Chairman), Demise Techane (Vice
Chairman),Aboma Mitku, Omer Abrahim,Yigazu Banti, and others attacked the cen-
tral nervous system of the Oromo national movement and armed struggle. Further, in
the 1990s, thousands of OLF leaders, fighters, and supporters or sympathizers of the
Oromo national struggle were assassinated by the Tigrayan ethnocratic regime or
killed at war fronts.The OLF executive committee members who sacrificed their lives
for the liberation of their people included Gutama Hawas, Gammachis Dhaba, Nadhi
Gamada, Milkessa Gadaa, Gutu Chali, Nagasa Kumsa, Buriso Boru,Waqigari Ayana,
Boru Dheressa, and Mulis Abba Gada. Due to the problem of space I cannot list the
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names of all Oromos who were assassinated or killed in this process.Since these peo-
ple were the best and the brightest of the Oromo people, had they survived and con-
tinued to lead the Oromo struggle, the Oromo might have been liberated or close to
liberation. Probably there is no other national liberation organization that has lost its
leadership and fighters to the same extent as has the OLF. Further, members of other
Oromo liberation organizations also lost their lives while struggling to liberate Oro-
mia from Ethiopian colonial occupation.
The Ethiopian elites and their government never tolerated or found means to ac-
commodate Oromo leaders who refused to be blatantly subservient to them.Without
being discouraged, Oromo leaders tried several times to transform Ethiopia from a
colonial empire to a genuine multicultural democratic society. In 1991, Oromo liber-
ation organizations joined the Transitional Government of Ethiopia, which was dom-
inated by the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front. By joining the transitional
government, the Oromo liberation organizations, particularly the OLF, positioned
themselves to popularize the Oromo struggle openly among the Oromo people and
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introduce it to the international community. This helped in developing Oromo
awareness crucial to nationalism. As a result, the feeling of Oromoness penetrated
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Oromo society. The world community recognized a national entity called Oromia,
although its boundaries are not correctly established to include all Oromo. Afaan Oro-
moo, the Oromo language, and its alphabet, qubee, were officially recognized. The