Page 80 - Fighting Against the Injustice of the State and Globalization

The Oromo National Movement
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of nationalism. Between the 1860s and the 1900s, different Oromo groups resisted
Ethiopian colonialism and fought several wars against Ethiopian colonial settlers and
128
Various Oromo branches, such as Wallo,Arssi,Tulama, Hanbana,
their collaborators.
Borana, Macha, Raya, and Yejju, fought bravely against the Ethiopian occupying
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Mentioning that his people were defeated because of lack of alliance with
forces.
Europeans and modern weaponry, one Oromo leader said,“The hour has not come,
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The
but it will come; perhaps our children will see the departure of the oppressor.”
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resistance also took varied ideological expression; some Oromos accepted Islam,
and others accepted Protestant Christianity to resist the imposition of the Ethiopian
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religion, Orthodox Christianity.
Islam and Protestant Christianity helped to draw a
cultural boundary between Ethiopian colonizers and some colonized Oromos, al-
though, as we will see, Oromo nationalism originally was initiated by elements of ed-
ucated Oromo who were forced to accept Orthodox Christianity and assimilate to
Ethiopian culture.
Different Oromo groups continued their resistance struggle during the first half of
the twentieth century; there were numerous local uprisings in the Arssi, Hararghe,
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Qellem, Borana, Gibe,Wallo, Raya,Azabo,Yejju and other regions.
Northern Oro-
mos, such as the Raya and Azabo, allied with the enemies of the Ethiopian govern-
ment, including the Italian fascists who occupied Ethiopia between 1935 and 1941, to
eliminate Ethiopian colonialism and create their own freedom. 134 Other Oromos used
the opportunity of Italian colonialism to liberate themselves from Ethiopian colonial-
ism.According to Baxter,“The Italian invasion led to local outbreaks of violence and
there were some attempts to create locally autonomous units. In Arussi [Arssi] and
Bale the people seem to have been content to chase away or kill local naftaanya [colo-
nial settlers]. In Wallaga and Jimma, there was a series of attempts to create a Western
Oromo Federation which would break away and place itself under British man-
date.” 135 In 1936, thirty-three Oromo leaders held several meetings and decided to
form a Western Oromo Confederacy and expressed the desire of Western Oromos to
become the protectorate of the League of Nations with the assistance of the British
government until Western Oromia could achieve independence. 136 Since the British
government and the League of Nations did not listen to this Oromo voice,Fascist Italy
occupied western Oromia.
In 1941, the British government helped the restoration of the Haile Selassie gov-
ernment, although one of its officials openly admitted that it was wrong to restore the
corrupt Amhara rule over the Oromo and other colonized nations.The Chairman of
the British Committee on Ethiopia,Lord Moyne,after the Italians were defeated,com-
mented,“we have a moral duty to see that the people of the country are not oppressed
and enslaved.When we are fighting for freedom in Europe,how can we restore the Gal-
las [Oromos] and other subject races to Amharic tyranny?” 137 The British government
ignored this important comment and restored the corrupt Haile Selassie regime which,
immediately eliminated reforms that the Italian fascists introduced to win Oromos to
their side.The Italian fascists abolished slavery and the nafxanya-gabbar system, restoring
some rights to their lands and introducing the wage system and an Oromo-language
radio station, but all these were eliminated when Ethiopian colonialism was restored.
One Oromo aphorism captures how Ethiopian colonialism was as degrading and ex-
ploitative as that of Italian fascists: “Ha’adatu shashi gabi waya, ha’aamatu Xaliyani
waya.” (This means even if Italians were cruel they were not worse than the Ethiopi-
ans in their treatment of Oromos.) After Italians were expelled and the Haile Selassie