Page 92 - Fighting Against the Injustice of the State and Globalization

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The Oromo National Movement
and expression, and the formation of a multinational federal democratic state. How-
ever, in reality the adoption of the charter and the formation of the Transitional
Government “was more an exercise in bringing more groups under the mantle of
203
Tigrean People’s Liberation Front than in open democracy.”
Using its surrogate
organization, EPRDF, the TPLF dominated a Council of Representatives and a
Council of Ministers and controlled the policy and decision-making process; it re-
duced the influence of the OLF in government “by filling all key government posts
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with EPRDF”
and by establishing its shadow government in four ministerial po-
205
sitions it provided to the OLF.
While the Tigrayan rulers had opposed the Derg out of an interest in capturing and
consolidating Ethiopian state power and keeping the Ethiopian empire under their
control, Oromos were struggling for the dismantling of the Ethiopian colonial system.
“If we accept that national liberation demands a profound mutation in the process of
development or productive forces,”Cabral notes,“we see that this phenomenon of na-
206
The Oromo national
tional liberation necessarily corresponds to a revolution.”
movement has sought to promote the processes of decolonization, democratization,
transformation, and national self-determination.According to then OLF General Sec-
retary Galasa Dilbo, Oromos and their organizations participated in the transition to
give a democratic transition a chance and to further mobilize the Oromo nation cul-
turally and politically. 207 The OLF has officially taken the position preferring a demo-
cratic conflict resolution, and it engages in armed struggle only where democracy is
not working. 208 Implicitly to avoid war and give peace and democracy a chance, the
OLF leaders during this period downplayed its objective of the creation of an inde-
pendent republic of Oromia.
The participation of the OLF in the Tigrayan-dominated transitional government
for almost one year enabled the Oromo leadership to realize some of its ideological,
cultural, and intellectual objectives. Evidence suggests that a majority of Oromos ac-
cepted the OLF during that transitional period and declared the necessity of the unity
of Oromos, of the OLF leadership, and of the creation of Oromo national power. 209
Michael Hiltzik said in 1992,“Any unwitting observers who happened upon a pub-
lic ceremony . . . recently could be forgiven for thinking they had strayed across the
border into another country. Speaker after speaker evoked the name of the ‘nation of
Oromia.’” 210 The revival of Oromo culture astonished many observers. For example,
Ben Barber observed in 1994, “Ordinary Oromo people are savoring the return of
cultural freedom.” 211 He also commented,“The challenge faced by Ethiopia today is
whether allowing an Oromo language and cultural revival will go deep enough to
convince nearly half of its people to remain part of the nation.The allure of self-de-
termination could well lead to conflict such as has convulsed Hutus and Tutsis in
nearby Rwanda.” 212 One of the cultural achievements of the OLF was to enable Oro-
mos to use qubee, an Oromized Latin Alphabet, which transformed Oromo society
from an oral to literary society. Because of the Oromo national movement, Oromia
has become a political and geographical reality, despite the fact that parts of it have
been partitioned off and given to other regions by the Tigrayan-led regime in order
to minimize the influence of Oromos.
The OLF extended its politics from the periphery to the center; this new condi-
tion temporarily allowed Oromos to send their representative to Habro, Arssi, Fin-
finne, Naqamte, Ambo, and other regions to discuss and develop a strategy for the
Oromo national struggle. 213 OLF cultural and musical troupes articulated the nature