Page 69 - Fighting Against the Injustice of the State and Globalization

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Fighting Against the Injustice of the State and Globalization
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(lineage), balbala (minor lineage), and warra (minimal lineage or extended family).
Wherever Oromos were divided into submoieties and clans, there is “clear distinction
between clans and lineages.The clan (qomo) is first of all a social group, consisting of
several descent groups who need not all be Oromo.The heart of every clan is com-
pounded of a cluster of lineages tracing their descent to the ancestor who gave his
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name to the clan.” All Oromo branches claim a single ancestral origin and trace their
genealogies to two moieties, or confederations, known as Barentu and Borana. How-
ever, practically it is not possible “to trace in detail the manner in which further divi-
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sion and the formation of” these moieties, submoieties, clans, and lineages occur.
However, Gemetchu Megerssa notes that the names of the two moieties, Barentu and
Borana, “were . . . not originally the names of specific groups but conceptual cate-
gories standing for the division of the Oromo into east and west, or right to left, con-
stituting the lateral or horizontal form of classification of the people into two
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halves.” Politically, this has important implications, because the classification of dual-
ity is a basic structural requirement for balancing and maintaining democracy and
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peace in Oromo society.
Despite the fact that Oromos claim that they descended from the same family
stock, Oromo, they do not define or limit kinship to biological ancestry alone. Oro-
mos recognize social ancestry and avoid the distinction between the biological and so-
cial descent since they know that the formation of Oromo peoplehood was based on
a biological and social kinship. Oromos have had a long history of cultural contacts
with non-Oromos through war, marriage, economic relationship, and group adop-
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tion. When there were wars and conflicts between Oromos and their neighbors over
economic and cultural resources such as land,water,trade routes,and religious and po-
litical issues, the former imposed specific cultural policies in order to structurally and
culturally change the conquered people and to Oromoize (Oromeesu) them to con-
solidate Oromo society before their colonization. Consequently, it is impossible to
recognize the difference between original and assimilated Oromos today. Oromo cus-
toms and laws strictly forbade the distinction between social and biological descent. 43
Through the processes of group or individual adoption known as moggaasa and gud-
ifacha respectively, non-Oromos were adopted into Oromo gossa and were structurally
and culturally Oromoized. These assimilated Oromos trace their descent to Oromo
moieties, lineages, and to the original Oromo. 44 Non-Oromo neighbors who were
defeated at war or who wanted to share resources with Oromo groups also would be
adopted to the Oromo gossa: “The adopted groups now become collectively the ‘sons’
of gossa.... This arrangement was inspired by political, military and economic con-
siderations, though clearly it is couched in the symbolism of kinship affiliation.” 45
There was no doubt that through the process of Oromoization, Oromos increased
their population.The main two moieties of the Oromo,Barentu and Borana,had orig-
inally one overall political structure called the gada system that helped fashion Oromo
relations with each other and with outsiders. 46 Further, there were five sets of sub-
moieties that extended from the Borana and Barentu moieties: the Sabbo and the
Gona, the Macha and Tulama, the Raya and Assabo, the Siko and the Mando, and the
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Itu and Humbana. To maintain the principle of balanced opposition there must be
the same number of leaders from the two moieties.Whenever members of these moi-
eties are asked to identify their descent, they always provide the name of their moi-
eties, rather than their lineages. The existence of similarly named putative descent
groups on the macro and micro kinship levels across the whole spectrum of Oromo