Feature Commentary: On History, Fear, and the Unfinished Work of Liberation

By Maatii Sabaa
February 1, 2026

A specter haunts the discourse around the Oromo struggle for self-determination: the fear of history. Not the fear of making history, but the fear of speaking its full, unvarnished truth. A persistent notion suggests that to revisit the complex, often painful narrative of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) is to court chaos, to sow discord, and ultimately, to abandon the ongoing struggle. This perspective, often implied if not directly stated, holds that dwelling on the past is counterproductive.

This is a profound and dangerous miscalculation.

To argue that examining our history—with all its sacrifices, schisms, and strategic crossroads—has no place in the current struggle is to build our future on a foundation of amnesia. It is to disrespect the very martyrs in whose name we claim to act. The journey of the OLF, from its intellectual germination in the early 1970s, its formal establishment in 1973, and the articulation of its political program in 1976, is not a relic to be shelved. It is the origin story of a modern political consciousness. The subsequent decades of immense sacrifice—of targeted killings, imprisonment, and exile of its intellectuals and heroes—were the bloody ink with which chapters of resistance were written. The bittersweet victory of 1991, which broke the back of the Derg but saw the dream of Oromo liberation deferred, is a pivot point every contemporary analysis must contend with.

The internal fractures, the political alliances within the four-party coalition of 1991, the subsequent marginalization, and the difficult choices faced in the 1990s are not scandalous secrets. They are critical data points. They explain why the OLF found itself back in the bushes, in a “no-choice” scenario, fighting to keep a promise made to its fallen. To ignore this is to ignore the root causes of the very cycles of conflict and resistance that have characterized the past thirty years.

The claim that today’s generation, which has demonstrated formidable political maturity through movements like the #OromoProtests (Finfinnee DFS/Gadaa system is not the correct term here, replaced with the widely recognized hashtag) and the Qeerroo mobilization, would be destabilized by an honest reckoning with history is an insult to their intelligence. It is a paternalistic logic that assumes they cannot handle the complexity that shaped their present. We see remnants of old guard mentalities attempting to replay 30-year-old scripts, causing needless friction, and we are told to look away for the sake of unity. But unity forged in silence is fragile; unity built on a shared, honest understanding is unbreakable.

Therefore, speaking our history—the full history of a people’s resistance against successive repressive systems—is not separate from the struggle. It is an essential organ of it. Our history is our primary weapon against systemic alienation. When we surrender its narrative out of fear, we disarm ourselves intellectually and spiritually.

The central question for every individual invested in this cause today must not be, “How do I avoid offending powerful sensibilities?” It must be: “What is my role in ensuring the ultimate sacrifice of our heroes was not in vain?” For those who mistake gossip, character assassination, and sowing despair among the ranks as revolutionary action, a reckoning is due. True revolutionary duty lies in disciplined organization, in studying and adapting the strategic frameworks of our forebears to today’s realities, and in building upon—not abandoning—their foundational goals.

My recounting of history is not a wish to return to yesterday. It is an act of gathering all the pieces of our story so we can understand the puzzle of our present. Yes, we must celebrate every hard-won gain at the national level. But we must also be clear-eyed: without a deliberate, collective, and honest effort to address the core, unresolved question of Oromo national self-determination, those gains will remain incomplete and vulnerable.

The final struggle is not just against a visible enemy; it is against the forgetting, the fear, and the fragmentation of our own story. To remember completely, to analyze courageously, and to speak truthfully is, itself, a revolutionary act.

The Final Struggle is to End Subjugation!
Victory for the Oromo People!