Page 84 - Fighting Against the Injustice of the State and Globalization

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The Oromo National Movement
turning point in Oromo history because prominent Oromos such as Haile-Mariam
Gamada, a lawyer, and Colonel Alemu Qixxeesa facilitated the merging of three
small self-help associations—the Meta-Robbi, Jibat-Macha, and Tulama Shawa self-
help associations—to create the Macha-Tulama Self-Help Association in the Shawa
161
However, this regional self-help association, because of its
administrative region.
objectives, emerged as an Oromia-wide organization and centrally led movement
by attracting members from all regions.There were two sets of objectives of the as-
sociation.The first one was the establishment of schools and health clinics and the
construction of roads wherever they were needed in Oromia.The second set of ob-
jectives was the construction of churches and mosques for the Christian and Mus-
lim believers who did not have them and the provision of financial and legal
assistance for disabled and unemployed persons. The first set of objectives was
aimed at improving the welfare of the Oromo nation.The second set was aimed at
mobilizing the Oromo nation toward a common goal, thus undermining the colo-
nial policy of divide and rule on the bases of religion, class, and region.
It was only in the 1950s that the Ethiopian government allowed the formation of
162
associations by its revised Constitution.
Before this time it was a political crime to
form an association or an organization. Using the opportunity that was provided by
this revised Constitution, those few Oromo individuals who joined colonial institu-
tions such as schools, the army, and administration, as well as merchants, started to pro-
mote Oromo national development by forming this association.According to Baxter,
“As more Oromos became civil servants, army officers and NCO’s and more Oromo
schoolboys became undergraduates,and as more Oromo members of Parliament man-
aged to get elected, the various Oromo groups found that, in addition to humiliating
experiences, they shared a common language and similar values.The new pan-Oromo
consciousness was largely generated by the army, the university and parliament it-
self.” 163 Both individual experiences and the exploitation and dehumanization of their
people made such Oromos politically aware. Such Oromo individuals were brought
together in urban areas by the same colonial institutions that discriminated against
them and attempted to use them as members of a collaborative class.
Because of its objectives and popularity, within three years, the membership of the
association reached more than two million. 164 There were also 26 leaders from other
ethnonations, such as Afars, Issas,Adares, Bella Shanguls, Gamos, Gimiras, Kulo Kon-
tas, Sidamas, and Walayitas, who joined and held important positions within various
committees of this association. 165 A core of nationalist leaders, such as Haile-Mariam
Gamada, Alemu Qixxeesa, Taddasa Biru, and Mamo Mazamir, clearly articulated to
Oromos the objectives of the association and expanded its branches all over Oromia.
Whereas scholars like Onesimos Nasib and his team and Bakri Sapalo had attempted
to restore Oromo culture and develop Oromo literature through their written works,
these nationalists attempted to mobilize Oromos politically and culturally. Explaining
similar conditions, Peter Alter said,“The second phase, in political mobilization, comes
when the learned interest of the minority, spreads to the other sectors of the popula-
tion, when it is transformed into channeled political agitation by a minority that
thinks in terms of the nation.” 166
When Brigadier General Taddasa Biru, who hesitantly joined the Macha-Tulama
Association, discovered that the Ethiopian government and its top Amhara officials in-
tentionally designed mechanisms that would restrict a constant influx of Oromo into
Ethiopian institutions, he became very angry and started to promote the objectives of