(Advocacy4Oromia, 27 January 2016) Distinguished Oromo scholar, Asefa T Dibaba, proposes the foundation of a national council of Oromia for Tracing a Roadmap for Oromo Struggle.

According to Dr Asafa T Dibaba, the best revenge is not revenge, but to move on justly and happily and let  Waaqa (God) do the rest! He says “in the Past, the oldest we were to be wise but the weakest to change our Fate.”

He has a seed of thought about Founding of OROMIA NATIONAL COUNCIL that would be “a first step toward transforming the long protracted Oromo national (liberation) struggle from stagnation to a more dynamic, inclusive, and active political force.”

Here below is his today’s message from his facebook timeline.

====================================================
FOUNDING A NATIONAL COUNCIL OF OROMIA

(Tracing a Roadmap for Oromo Struggle)

the best revenge is not revenge, but
to move on justly and happily and let
Waaqa (God) do the rest!

Hi folks!

During the last three weeks you wondered what I was/am up to. I understand that your concern was sincere and genuine. Then I said,
Oromo, in the Past, the oldest we were to be wise but the weakest to change our Fate. In the Present and Future, the youngest we shall ever be to be free and to live by our Freedom! Patience to wait and courage to encounter the unexpected are the two most intriguing lessons in Our life. And, My People, this is true no better moment in Our life than the present.

Twenty-five years ago, in Khartoum, I met with someone from ORA and he asked me how long it would take for the Oromo to be free. . I said, maybe ten or twenty years. And he asked me why. I said, our people do not know yet FREEDOM FROM WHAT and FREEDOM TO WHAT. He was mad at me.

After 25 years, now I have developed personally and professionally–I have a PhD (should that matter) and my people too have a PHD but in Poverty, Hunger, and curable Disease (malaria, malnutrition, etc). The difference is, I mastered the Theory and they did the Practice! And our leaders, whom I came to idolize in my early adolescence, now tell us that they were hand in gloves (communicating on regular basis) with the late Ethiopian Prime Minister until he was removed from power by natural death. Communicate what, and in whose favor?

Now, last week I shared my views about “Where are we now,” and “where to”” with two young Oromo scholars. I shared with them a seed of thought about the crucial need for FOUNDING NATIONAL COUNCIL OF OROMIA. And I heard someone last night on OMN sharing the same concern. This is it! I said–sharing the same common vision.

I am working on the project and I wanted to wait until I separate the wheat from the chaff but roughly here it is in a nutshell:

The Founding of OROMIA NATIONAL COUNCIL, I strongly believe, IS a first step toward transforming the long protracted Oromo national (liberation) struggle from stagnation to a more dynamic, inclusive, and active political force. This urgent need for an inclusive national dialogue among the Oromo, both in the Diaspora and back home (Oromia), is compelling at least for two reasons: first, our struggle for democratic right has been slowed down by the Ethiopian regime which seeks to assert and maintain its power indefinitely using lethal force; second, instead of cooperation and forming organizational alliance among Oromo political elites, the leaders put the national struggle in trap and reduced it to clashes of interest over power and, consequently, it suffered the lack of ideological clarity and organizational discipline, i.e., transparency and dynamism, among others.

Hence, there are two main aims for the present project: first, it is believed to create and increase awareness within areas that are regarded as important to revitalize the Oromo national struggle for democratic rights. Second, it is hoped to initiate national consensus and to encourage collaboration in the Oromo general public, as among individuals and organizations that have had, to the present, no need to accomplish tasks and solve problems collaboratively. As the project will evolve into practice, it is expected that possibilities and hindrances will become more obvious, and they necessitate careful handling of differences, issues, and attitudes using democratic principles.

At the moment, Qeerroo, the Revolutionary Oromo Youth League, and the Peasants seem to have taken back their fate in their hand during this historical move which I call AUTUMN REVOLUTION. But my worry is this: IF YOUTH KNEW, IF AGE COULD. Utuu Ijoolleen beetti ta’ee, Utuu Jaarsi danda’ee! dha. Oromo intellectuals and our political elites should narrow their differences, come together and work to bridge the gap and map out the future!

Never too late!

NOTE:
Not just Thumb Up or Down but I expect WHY in your comments and suggestions. Thanks

Abba Ebba.
Indiana University