OROMO STUDENT PROTESTORS RELEASED FROM JAIL

Jul 9

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(Advocacy4oromia, 9 July 2015) At least six Oromo university students were also among three journalists and two bloggers released from Ethiopian prison yesterday, according to various reports.

Adugna Kesso

Adugna Kesso

The freed Oromo university students include Adugna Kesso, Bilisumma Dammana, Lenjisa Alemayo, Abdi Kamal, Magarsa Warqu, and Tofik. All were students who were arrested by security agents from various universities located in the Oromiya regional states. No charges were brought against many of them in the last year and three months.

The arrest of unknown numbers of Oromo University students followed a May 2014 brutal crackdown by the police against university students who protested when a master plan for the expansion of Addis Abeba, the city originally home to the Oromo, was introduced by the federal government.

The 10th Addis Abeba and Oromia Special Zone Integrated Development Master plan, which was in the making for two years before its introduction to the public, finally came off as ‘Addis Abeba and the Surrounding Oromia Special Zone Integrated Development Plan.’

The government claims the master plan, which will annex localities surrounding Addis Abeba but are under the Oromiya regional state, was aimed at “developing an internationally competitive urban region through an efficient and sustainable spatial organization that enhances and takes advantage of complementarities is the major theme for the preparation of the new plan.”

The students protested against the plan and the federal government’s meddling in the affairs of the Oromiya regional state, which many legal experts also say was against Article 49(5) of the Ethiopian Constitution that clearly states “the special interest of the State of Oromia in Addis Abeba.”

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Aslan Hassen

Two months ago, student Nimona Chali, one of the detained students, was released from jail without charges. Abebe Urgessa of Haromaya University is still in Qaallitti prison.

Student Aslan Hassen died in prison in what the government claimed was a suicide.

However, many believe he was tortured to death. No independent enquiry was launched to investigate his death.

By the government’s own account, eleven people were killed during university student demonstrations in many parts of the Oromia regional state. However, several other accounts put the number as high as above 50.

Source: http://addisstandard.com/oromo-student-protestors-released-from-jail/

About Abebe Urgessa

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Abebe Urgessa

Abebe Urgessa was a second year student, Water Engineering Major, at Haramaya University. After classes were interrupted following the ‪#‎OromoProtests‬ movement that swept the whole nation in April 2014, Abebe like many other students went to visit his family till the classes resume.

He was arrested upon arrival at a small town called Teji, in South west Shawa, where his families are living. After detention incommunicado for three weeks, he was falsely accused of standing in a market place telling people not to pay taxes to the government. Though the court released him on bail on the 21st of May, 2014, student Abebe was abducted again just a week later on the 29th of May.

While his where about still remains a mystery to this very date, it’s known that the government accused him, on its media outlets, of detonating hand grenade at the Haramaya University facility.

Abebe’s story designates with many other innocent Oromo students unlawfully abducted and falsely accused with bogus charges while being taken to or kept at undisclosed detention centers under severe tortures, more often than not. His story is just one among the many.

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We wish the planned visit will not send the wrong message

Jul 6

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6 July 2015

Press Release

Re: We wish the planned visit will not send the wrong message to the dictators

a4oAdvocacy for Oromia, a non-profit organization incorporated in Australia, to advocate for human rights and for social justice, would like to address the planned visit of US President Barack Obama to Ethiopia in July 2015. We respect the policy of the United States whose foreign policy in principle is committed to promoting the ideals of human rights, the rule of law, and democracy. However, we strongly entreaty to the USA to cautiously assess that such visit will not send the wrong message to the dictators as we are extremely concerned about the human rights abuses in Oromia.

For over six thousand years, the Oromo people maintained a unique national identity distinct from the national identity of Abyssinia. In 1900, the Abyssinian rulers invaded the land of Oromo people and embarked on a policy of occupation and oppression that seriously threatens the continued survival of the unique cultural and religious identity of the Oromo people. Tragically, a world that condemns colonialism has largely ignored Abyssinia’s occupation of Oromo land. The human cost to the Oromo people has been of tragic proportions. Hundreds of thousands of Oromo’s were killed outright or died as the result of aggression, torture or starvation. Over 8,000 sacred places and centre of Gadaa were destroyed.

Full Press Release https://advocacy4oromia.org/action/we-wish-the-planned-visit-will-not-send-the-wrong-message/

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Obama’s Planned Visit to Ethiopia is Incompatible with Claims of Democratic Principles of the US Government

Jul 5

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asxaa_oromo

(Statement from Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) , July 4, 2015) The Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) strongly opposes the planned visit to Ethiopia of the US President Barack Obama on the end of July 2015.

As Ethiopia is one of the most brutal regimes of the world, OLF believes that such a visit will result in strengthening the dictatorial minority regime, will boost the regime’s confidence to strengthen its ruthless human rights violations, will give a green light to the regime to continue its repression, economic exploitation, and marginalization of various nations and nationalities of the country under its usual pretense of democracy.

OLF also believes that a lasting national and security interest of the US is better protected not by blessing and supporting such a well-known ruthless regime, but by being on the side of the people, supporting the struggle of the peoples of the country for freedom, democracy, and justice by using its leverage through exerting the necessary pressure on the regime on power.

For full Statment: OLF_Statement_on_Obma_visit

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THE PLIGHT OF OROMO REFUGEES

Jun 29

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BY EMILY ONYANGO

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The Oromo community met recently in Eastleigh estate to discuss critical issues that for the last month, have been affecting their community.

They believe that there are people who have been sent to kidnap Oromo residents and take them back forcefully to Ethiopia where ethnic Oromo are subject to arbitrary arrest, detentions without access to lawyers, repeated torture and even targeted killings to crush dissidence.

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So far, approximately 70 people have been forcefully taken back in this manner.

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Many of the respondents said they had been detained in prisons, police stations, where they are subjected to repeated torture.

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They listed a myriad human rights problems they faced including arbitrary killings, allegations of torture and mistreatment of detainees by security forces, harsh and at times life-threatening prison conditions, arbitrary arrest and detention, detention without charge, a weak and overburdened judiciary subject to political influence, infringement on citizens’ privacy rights including illegal searches, as well as restrictions on academic freedom and freedom of assembly, association and movement. They also alleged interference in religious affairs, violence and societal discrimination against women, abuse of children, trafficking in persons and societal discrimination against persons with disabilities.

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“We are here expressing the problems we Oromo refugees are experiencing here in Kenya. We have fled our home country due to political persecution and execution targeted by the ruling government of Ethiopia, but I feel the Kenyan government are not taking concern of refugees protection seriously. We are being arrested by police and taken back to Ethiopia unlawfully. I believe our rights as refugees are not recognized fully. We have cases of our women being raped and our men taken to Ethiopia,” said Daki Waso.

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“ Last Saturday some spies who are believed to come from Ethiopia were taken to the police station but at midnight they were terrorizing the community. Those who reported are not aware which criteria they used to come out from the police station since they are in the country illegally,” said Jabir Sheik-Ismail.

Source: http://www.sautiyamtaa.com/2015/06/22/the-plight-of-oromo-refugees/

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The poetics and politics of Oromo resistance

Jun 22

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                            By AWOL ALLO

Oromo music has played a central role in providing alternative spaces for enunciating ‘the Oromo question’.

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Haacaaluu Hundeessaa 2014

On June 4, 2014, renowned Oromo artist Haacaaluu Hundeessaa released an intoxicating single track, Maalan Jiraa. The song condenses within itself the story of the Oromo people with impeccable acuity, waltzing between stories of pain and pride, hope and despair. Full of anguish and self-doubt, Maalan Jira is a powerful probe into the modern Oromo condition and illustrated the complex dilemma facing the Oromo nation and its struggle for political emancipation.The Oromo are the single largest ethnic group in East Africa, comprising well over a third of Ethiopia’s 99 million people. For generations, Oromos have been relegated to the periphery of Ethiopian politics, not in spite of their numerical majority, but because of it. What makes the Oromo experience so incomprehensible is the fact that they remained one of the last oppressed majority groups of the world in a country in which identity is both theconstitutive and regulative principle of political life.

Stripped of agency, voice, and visibility, the Oromo use poetry, music, and storytelling both to articulate their experiences of marginalization and to resist forms of knowledge and modes of interpretation used to legitimize their oppression. Originating from a deep well of Oromo tradition, music has served as the single most important expressive art form used – a site of counter-memory and counter-culture. Among the downtrodden and reviled of the world, Oromos turned to music to resist official narratives and hegemonic interpretations, undoing imposed silences, and disrupting established frameworks of remembering and forgetting.

By undermining the very coherence and unity of official interpretations, Oromo music has played a central role in providing alternative spaces and enunciating ‘the Oromo question’.

The Oromo question

The Oromo question has been articulated as a question of national self-determination, understood as the right of the Oromo people to determine their political, economic, and cultural status. Within this historically specific articulation, national oppression is the origin of the question, Oromumma (Oromo national identity) its engine, and liberation its end goal.

Oromos consider themselves victims of a systemic and structural wrong, an injustice that deprived them, like the Plebeians of antiquity, of the very conditions of visibility and audibility. Though an integral part of the Ethiopian state, the stigmatization of their identity and culture makes them what French philosopher Jacques Rancière calls ‘the part of no part’. Oromos insist that to include them in ways against their will, and on terms that do not reflect and acknowledge their status as a people, is no less violent and oppressive than exclusion. They remain threatened in the very space to which they belong. 

Oromo resistance music

Oromos have always used freedom songs and dances to symbolize and enact their experiences of dispossession and marginalization. In the 1990s a distinctive genre of protest music begun to function as the loudspeakers of the Oromo struggle for freedom. Oromo musical icons such as Ali Birra, Abitaw Kebede, Nuho Gobana, Umar Suleyman, Ebbisa Adunya, Kadir Said with many others played an indispensable role in creating a social space wherein the Oromo struggle for equality and self-emancipation is articulated and debated.

It is here, in this reservoir of songs, in the unruly dances and heart-breaking ballads, that one finds the story of the Oromo nation and its struggle for self-determination, not in the official archives and historiographies of the Ethiopian state.

In lyrics packed with angst and fervor, a generation of Oromo singers turned to the cryptic but transformative power of music to give voice to their aspirations. Singing against the current, they rejuvenated Oromo nationalism and conserved the Oromo experience of marginalization and humiliation. They also engaged in forms of protest that laid bare the essence of Oromo life within Ethiopia in all its traumatic complexity.

For example, Suleyman’s poignant compositions and enthralling bass voice moves people to action. His epic lyrics, recorded on cassettes, have been listened to in awe and admiration throughout Oromia. In the 1990s, Omar’s songs literally flew the flag of rebellion, articulating the limits of non-violent resistance and the inseparability of the cause of freedom and justice from violence.

It is in this most unpromising and unhistorical of places, in lyrics full of emotions and nostalgia but expressive of the devastation of the social fabric, that one finds the authentic experience of the Oromo.

The Addis Ababa master plan

Hundeessaa’s song comes at a time of great uncertainty for Oromos living around the city of Addis Ababa. Historically an Oromo city located at the heart of Oromia, the largest of the 9 states making up the Ethiopian federation, Addis Ababa (Finfinne) is the seat of the Federal government. The Ethiopian constitution recognizes the special interest of Oromia in Finfinne and directs parliament to enact laws specifying the terms and conditions that respects and regulates this multifaceted relationship between the city and Oromia.

Two decades on, however, no such law is forthcoming, and to add insult to injury, the ruling party announced what it calls the ‘Addis Ababa Integrated Master Plan’, allowing the unprecedented expansion of the city into Oromia. Emboldened by a symbolic election victory in which the ruling party won 100% of the 442 seats announced thus far, the government is set to implement the Master Plan, threatening the wellbeing and livelihood of Oromo farmers neighboring the city.

This is precisely what Hundeessaa’s new song depicts. It weeps for Finfinne, a city that for generations condemned the Oromo culture and identity to precarious subterranean existence. The song’s engrossing sonic texture is at once unsettling and captivating, unsettling because it excavates and reopens past wounds, captivating because it has the poetic quality only a work of art can achieve.

Two clear narratives emerge from the song: first, that of pride and affirmation of Oromo identity and self-worth, and second, that of mourning, discord, and humiliation born of the continued dispossession and marginalization of the Oromo on their own land.

Full of fire and pride, Hundeessaa protests this tyranny of the center, and situates ‘the Finfinne Question’ within the broader Oromo history and experience of dispossession. His song is part tribute and part mémoire, a tribute to Finfinne and a memoire to the dozens of students gunned down by security forces during Oromo students protest against the Master Plan.

This is a song that enables the Oromo to imagine beyond the given-ness of present arrangements; a song that shows that the present is not inevitable, and that things could be different and better.

Source:  https://www.opendemocracy.net/awol-allo/poetics-and-politics-of-oromo-resistance

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Documentary:The Oromo Heritages: Gadaa, Siiqqee and Irreechaa

Jun 13

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Hacaaluu Hundeessaa: Maalan Jiraa?

Jun 5

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” The singer-poet that tells a story, the story of our times. A true voice of suffering in the now and here (and in the then and there). A genuine voice of hope … I love his mixture of lamentations and regret (of the injustice, of the past) on the one hand and enchantment towards hope (of an inevitable triumph, of the future) on the other. …
Haacaaluu is back to keep enchanting the generation to a better future…
Ganna kana waan ittin keessa baanu argannee, dhiiroo–ganna biyyaa, ganna seena Oromoo…
If you are like me, you will listen to it carefully, attentively, slowly, and repeatedly in order to work your way through his words of lamentation and hope… to grasp the message of this heavily textured/layered piece..”comment from Tsegaye R Ararssa Facebook.

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Irreechaa Arfaasaa was celebrated under the theme of “Moving Forward: Restoring the Good Spirit of Humanity”

May 31

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(Advocacy4oromai, Melbourne, 30 May 2015) The Oromo Irreecha Arfaasaa festival, held on 30 Mya 2015  for the first time in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia at Mount Dandenong.

Irreechaa Arfaasaa 2015 (17)The ceremony was celebrated at Mount Dandenong to promote the Oromo Good Spirit tradition of respect for nature and gratefulness for life.
It was celebrated under the theme of “Moving Forward: Restoring the Good Spirit of Humanity” in which it aimed to celebrate Irreechaa festivals to follow our tradition and religion in society, to create public awareness where Oromo cultural and religious issues was discussed.

According to the organisers the festival was designed to provide a better understanding of Oromo culture, history and humanity, to pave the way for promotion of the Oromo culture, history, and lifestyle.

The Celebration of Irreechaa Arfaasaa, a national Spirit Day, is held yearly both to thank Waaqaa for the blessings and mercies we have received throughout the past year and to welcome the new rainy season associated with hard working, challenging and respect for mother earth for caring and sharing.

The ceremony honoured the Oromo elders’ blessings and wisdom, and eventually helped to preserve the heritage and strengthen the progress of humanity.

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Joint Statement

May 24

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                           By Ogaden Liberation Front (ONLF ), Sidama Liberation Front (SLF) and  Oromo Liberation Front(OLF)

Joint Statement from Ogaden Liberation Front_1The Tigray dictatorial ruling class was built on excessive military power. The regime indulged the country into extreme poverty. The corruption of the ruling class was one of the main machinery that put the country into the highest level of economic inequalities where the few members of the ruling class became the richest and the majority of the citizens are unable to even earn their daily bread.  This high level of inequality resulted into absolute poverty, migration and loss of lives of hundreds of thousands of people. Today hundreds of thousands of Ethiopian people are living in hunger and insecurity in their own country.  Some are cherished in Sahara desert and Mediterranean Sea while they were trying to escape from unfair and abusive government.

For the last 24 years, since the Tigray ruling class  came to power, the corruption, displacement of people and human rights abuses have increased with the tremendous speed. These miseries darken the political space and eradicated people’s hope for democracy. The Ethiopian people have been denied political freedom and rights of expression of their opinions. In this current regime, it is a crime to have different political opinion rather than supporting the Tigray ruling class’s party. The Ethiopian regime recorded highest level of Human rights abuses, killings, and intimidations not only in African continent but also in the world.

The Tigray ruling class came to power with military force; it has built its dictatorial regime on military power and will continue to do so. One party dictatorship rule was the vision they had from the very beginning. They proved their vision within the last 24 years. In the future, they want to rule Ethiopia under one party dictatorship rule. The Tigray ruling class never listened to the Ethiopian people, nor willing to listen in the future. The responses to peoples’ questions were imprisonments, tortures and killings.

The main priority for the Tigray ruling class is to stay on power. One of the strategies they designed to stay on power is to carry out fake election every five years. The last four elections proved that the ruling class is the most dictatorial regime on the planet. This 5th election that will take place on May 24, 2015 is not different from the previous elections. This election will not make any change to the political system and democracy in the country but it is only to renew the power of the ruling class for the next 5 years. This election is not democratic and not expected to fulfil the interest of the Ethiopian people. The election board is established by the current ruling class; the so called participating political parties are not treated fairly; the members of the opposition parties are arrested, harassed and beaten; the election process do not follow the democratic principle. Therefore, one can easily to judge the outcome of such unfair and sham election.

The Ethiopian people were struggling for peace and democracy for several years. Among the people struggling for their rights the Ogaden, Sidama and Oromo people were on the forefront. The Ogaden, Sidama and Oromo people were struggling for many years and made huge sacrifices to regain their freedom and democracy. The Ogaden, Sidama and Oromo people were not struggling to gain nominal seats in dictatorial government system but to become free from a century long political, economic and social domination. This objective cannot be achieved through participating in the election organised by the dictatorial ruling class.

Particularly to the Ogaden, Sidama and Oromo youngsters and students, you have made significant sacrifices to move our freedom and democracy struggle forward. In order to make your sacrifices yield a fruit, you must continue your struggle for freedom and democracy. Participating in this fake election means that you forget the sacrifices your brothers and sisters made. Participating in this election means that you’re building the power of your perpetrators. From many years’ experience, the ONLF, SLF and OLF know the plan and behaviour the Tigray ruling class. The ONLF, SLF and OLF know that this regime is not prepared to leave its position even if they lose the election, which is unlikely within the current election process.

Therefore, we want to inform the Ethiopian people in general and the Ogaden, Sidama and Oromo people in particular, that this election stands only to serve the Tigray ruling class and to keep them in power for the next five years. This election does not fulfils the interest of the Ethiopian people and do not lead to peace, stability and economic development of the country. The Ogaden Liberation Front (ONLF ), Sidama Liberation Front (SLF)& Oromo Liberation Front(OLF) once again want to remind that our people should not mispleaded by this fake election. Particularly to the Ogaden, Sidama and Oromo people, you are the first target of the Tigray ruling class; the power and strength of this regime works against you. Hence, the ONLF, SLF and OLF remind you to stay away from any activity, including the current election that build the Tigray regime and keep them in power.

Victory to the people!

May 23, 2015

For PDF format Joint Statement from Ogaden Liberation Front

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Celebrating Oromo Irreechaa

May 20

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Irreechaa is Thanksgiving celebration of the Oromo people of East Africa, Oromia. The Oromo people celebrate Irreechaa to thank Waaqaa (God) twice a year: Irreechaa Arfaasaa and Irreechaa Birraa.

Irreechaa Arfaasaa

FlyerIrreecha Arfaasaa is annual Oromo Thanksgiving Day that repeats once in May to mark the end of the dry season and beginning of the rainy and planting season. It marks the end of the dry season (October to April) and the beginning of the rainy season for planting (May to September). It is a unique Oromo cultural, historical and natural beautification (planting) in their full glory at the height of the season.

On this day, people come to gather on mountain tops to give thanks to the almighty Waaqaa(God) for all the blessings throughout the past dry season and ask for Araaraa(Reconciliation), Nagaa (Peace), Walooma (Harmony) and Finnaa (Holistic Development) for the present and the future. There is also a ceremony of thanking all forebears for their endurance and determination to survive their culture and history – paving the way for further social victory.

The May 30, 2015 Event – Mount Dandenong (Victoria, Australia)

The Oromo Community in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia warmly invite you to join them at the 2015 Irreecha Arfaasaa festival at Mount Dandenong. It is an Oromo Good Spirit tradition of respect for nature and gratefulness for life.

The theme of this coming Thanksgiving Day is “Moving Forward: Restoring the Good Spirit of Humanity” in which it aims to celebrate Irreechaa festivals to follow our tradition and religion in society, to create public awareness where Oromo cultural and religious issues will be discussed to provide a better understanding of Oromo culture, history and humanity, to pave the way for promotion of the Oromo culture, history, and lifestyle and to celebrate Irreechaa Arfaasaa, a national Spirit Day, both to thank Waaqaa for the blessings and mercies we have received throughout the past year and to welcome the new rainy season associated with hard working, challenging and respect for mother earth for caring and sharing. The ceremony honors elders’ blessings and wisdom, preserves the heritage and strengthen the progress of humanity.

During the event, we will be serving with Oromo foods and featuring with traditional dances by Oromo children, youth and dance troupes. “Please come and experience our Oromo culture with people from various communities, social organizations, agencies, volunteers, friends and families,”says the flyer of Irreechaa Arfaasaa.

Venue: Dandenong Ranges National Park, Sassafras, Victoria 3787, Australia

Date: May 30, 2015

Time: 11:30AM – 3:00PM

Irreechaa Birraa

The Irreechaa Birraa is another annual Thanksgiving event that celebrated every year at the beginning of Birraa (the sunny new season after the dark, rainy winter season). This thanksgiving event is celebrated at the sacred grounds of Hora Harsadi (Lake Harsadi), Bishoftu, Oromia. It is celebrated throughout Oromia and around the world where diaspora Oromos live especially North America and Europe. It symbolizes the arrival of spring and brighten season with their vibrant green and daisy flowers.

It’s a day all Oromian’s celebrate and cherish due to our ties to our root: Oromo Identity and country. It’s a time for reflection, celebration and a good connection with our best heritage, Oromummaa.

644106_668272023183755_1322976786_nThe Oromo people consider the winter rainy season of June to September as the time of difficulty. The heavy rain brings with it lots of things like swelling rivers and floods that may drown people, cattle, crop, and flood homes. Also, family relationship will severe during winter rain as they can’t visit each other because of swelling rivers. In addition, winter time could be a time of hunger for some because of the fact that previous harvest collected in January is running short and new harvest is not ripe yet. Because of this, some families may endure food shortages during the winter.

In Birraa (the season after winter in Oromo land), this shortage ends as many food crops especially maize is ripe and families can eat their fill. Other crops like potato, barley, etc. will also be ripe in Birraa. Some disease types like malaria also break out during rainy winter time. Because of this, the Oromos see winter as a difficult season. However, that does not mean the Oromo people hate rain or winter season at all. Even when there is shortage of rain, they pray to Waaqaa (God) for rain.

Moreover, we are celebrating this auspicious event to mark the end of rainy season[1], known as Birraa, was established by Oromo forefathers, in the time of Gadaa Melbaa[2] in Mormor, Oromia.   The auspicious day on which this last Mormor[3] Day of Gadaa Belbaa[4]-the Dark Time of starvation and hunger- was established on the 1st Sunday of last week of September or the 1stSunday of the 1st week of October according to the Gadaa lunar calendar ‐‐ has been designated as our National Thanksgiving Day by modern‐day Oromo people.    Oromo communities both at home and abroad celebrate this National Thanksgiving Day every year.

Irreechaa as a medium for bringing all Oromias together

15The Oromian Irreechaa Festival will not only serve as a medium for bringing all Oromias together, from all its diasporas, as one voice, but will also focus on promoting and enhancing Oromummaa in freedom struggle, tourism, arts and crafts, business, restaurants and hospitality, and entertainment. Moreover as a moving and flourishing heritage, Irreechaa also connects our Oromo identity with the global civilization in which the industrial and manufacturing sectors of heavy and light machinery of natural resources and raw materials.

During the event, we will be serving with Oromo foods and featuring with traditional dances by Oromo children, youth and dance troupes. Irreechaa is about a lot more than just putting on shows, it encourages engagement and participation from everyone in the greater community across our great city, country and the globe.

The Oromo people celebrate Irreechaa Birraa not only to thank Waaqaa (God) but also to welcome the new season of plentiful harvests after the dark and rainy winter season associated with nature and creature. On Irreechaa festivals, friends, family, and relatives gather together and celebrate with joy and happiness. Irreechaa festivals bring people closer to each other and make social bonds.

Both Irreechaa Birraa and Irreecha Arfaasaa have been observed by the Oromo people for more than 6400 years.

 

[1] Rainy season symbolized as a dark, disunity and challenging time in Oromia.

[2] Gadaa Melbaa was established before 6400 years ago at Odaa Mormor, North-west Oromia.

[3] Mormor in Oromo means division, disunity, chaos.

[4] Gadaa Belbaa is the end time of starvation.

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