July 30, 2013
(A guide for foreign journalists on
Oromos and Ethiopian history) Oromo, Ethiopia Courtesy: ayyaantuu.com)
One of the reasons al Jazeera reported inaccurate information about Oromo history is because it depended on one-sided sources, especially from members or supporters of Oromo groups outside of Ethiopia (diaspora OLF, OFDM etc). But nobody can blame al Jazeera media because most people inside Ethiopia would be too scared to speak or contribute. The only option al Jazeera or any foreign media has is to use diaspora/refugee/external sources outside Ethiopia. This is a dilemma all foreign media outlets face while reporting about third-world countries like Ethiopia.
For educational purposes, some corrections are provided below to fix inaccuracies reported on al Jazeera media regarding Oromo history and our struggle for democracy. The corrections below are supported by non-political scholars, but they might be rejected by biased politicians (both from ruling party and from opposition party) for the obvious reasons. However, they are based on historical textbooks, European authors and scholarly accounts.
Fiction #1:
"Between 1868 and 1900, half of all Oromo were killed, around 5 million people"
"Between 1868 and 1900, half of all Oromo were killed, around 5 million people"
Fact #1:
This is one of the most repeated
inaccuracies, usually told by Secessionist Oromos, radical ethno-nationalist
politicians outside the country or pro-OLF history revisionist websites like
gadaa.com et al. However, the undisputed fact is that even the total Ethiopian
population (the sum of dozens of ethnic groups) was much less than 5 million in
the late 1800s, let alone one ethnic group being 10 million. So claiming that 5
million ethnic Oromos were killed by Emperor Menelik's forces does not add up.
The truth is several thousand Oromos were in fact killed during battles of that
era. It was not a "genocide" as some politicians claim but it was a
massacre of the ill equipped southern forces defeated by the Shewan military of
Emperor Menelik which had more European weapons. Throughout those decades, the
truth is more Oromos were killed by other Oromos than by non-Oromos because
competing Oromo Clans often traded for weapons to have an upper hand against
their local competitors, who were often their fellow Oromo and Sidama
neighbors. And it was not the first lop sided victory of that era in Africa
because various communities from all corners of Ethiopia had attacked one another
during the "resource battles" and whichever group had more modern
weapons had the upper hand. To summarize, Professor Mengistu Paulos of Jimma
University said it best when describing right-wing Oromo liberation
philosophy:--
"Most fictional accounts of
'Oromo history' blindly accepted as facts by some misled people are
manufactured by former politicians turned Pseudo-historians like OLF writer
Asafa Jalata, who is renowned for abuse of paraphrasing, often with
out-of-context citations. For example, while quoting the 19th century Russian
Alexander Bulatovich (who provided an 'educated guess' of annihilation of
almost half Ethiopian population by disease, famine and war, including internal
conflict between Oromo clans and with Abyssinians), the OLF-writer Asafa Jalata
infamously claimed half Oromo population was killed by 'evil' Amharas. This was
purposely done by Mr. Jalata to create a foundation for ethnic hatred between
Oromos and Amharas. Ironically, even Mr. Bulatovich himself never had the
capacity nor the legitimacy to do a reliable census, as he spent just a couple
of months walking around Oromia and hunting elephants in 1890s."
Fiction #2:
"…. largely
Muslim Oromo people"
Fact #2:
This is a phrase seen
in some media outlets but not most. Oromo people have never been a
predominantly muslim people. In fact, both Christianity and Islam is not our
ancestral religion because we have practiced an indigenous traditional religion
for centuries before. Gradually, Islam and Christianity were both adopted
(during Oromo migrations) by us and imposed (during conquest of our lands by
Abyssinian/Christians & Somalis/Islam) on us throughout history. Even
today, both the two major religions have equal representation among Oromos. The
latest official 2007 census showed that around 48% of Oromos practice
Christianity (Both Orthodox & Protestant) while around 47% of Oromos
practice Islam. Yet, word on the ground is that the Islam population might soon
surpass Christianity among Oromos in the future because Orthodox Christianity
is decreasing inside Oromia.
Fiction #3
"Abyssinians labeled
Oromos the derogatory word 'Galla'"
Fact #3:
For many decades, this
false statement has been used by Oromo separatists to create emotional
resentment among Oromos against Semitic Abyssinians (Amharas, Tigrayans and
Gurages). The fact is the derogatory word "Galla" was first used by
Arab and muslim Somalis to describe Oromos as "gal" meaning
"outsiders" and "Pagans." Muslims used this label during
Oromo migration because Oromo people had their own religion which the Muslims
believed was paganism. Nonetheless, this derogatory word was gradually adopted
and used by other Ethiopians.
Fiction #4:
"Oromos were
colonized by Emperor Menelik"
Fact: #4
Another popular claim
made by secessionist Oromo politicians (and usually repeated by foreign
journalists) is the fiction that Oromo people (as a whole ethnic group) were
colonized by another ethnic group. Usually, the slogan goes "Abyssinians
colonized Oromos" etc. This claim is popular among the Oromo Liberation
Front (OLF) organization and consequently among some Diaspora Oromo
nationalists living in America and Europe. While a different version or a
re-arrangement of the wording might still be true…in general, the Oromo nation
as a whole was never colonized by another Ethiopian ethnic group. To start
with, even a united one Oromo nation did not exist at those times. All
non-political historical textbooks show the existence of battles between
multi-ethnic BUT monolingual communities for many centuries throughout
Ethiopia. Even in northern Ethiopia (traditional "Abyssinia") Oromos
have migrated and mixed so much with Tigrayans, Amharas, Afars etc for
centuries that the "Abyssinia" state itself was never a one-ethnic
state. In fact, even around the 1700s, Rayya Oromos and Yejju Wallo Oromos
conquered and dominated a portion of Amharas and Tigrayans; and thus made Afan
Oromo the official language of Abyssinia for that brief period. Meaning: clans
and ethnic groups have mixed up in Ethiopia for over a millennium but the
dominant ethnic group always imposed its language since it was convenient. This
linguistic domination however was not always as exploitive and as vilified as
it is today; because many of the ethnic groups living along trade centers and
trade routes often spoke the languages of other ethnic groups already, because
there was financial or commercial incentive to do so. This is the background of
the region. Therefore, when it comes to the Emperor Menelik era, all historians
have argued that it is more factual to say a predominantly Amharic language
speaking community gradually conquered a predominantly Afan Oromo language
speaking community in the 1800s. So this does not mean an Oromo ethnic group
was conquered by an Amhara ethnic group. In fact, just like Amharas of the
north were divided,Oromos were also divided and in conflict among themselves.
The obvious evidence for this comes from the fact that the Amhara Emperor
Menelik was imprisoned by other Amhara regional kings when he was younger. And
when he was freed, Oromo clans were also in fierce battles amongst each other,
so much so that the Tullama Oromo, Limmu and Macha Oromos created an alliance
with the Shewan Amharas of Menelik, leading to the infamous battles of 1880s
that led to this said alliance easily crushing the non-allied Oromos in various
bloody wars. In short, Oromos as a one whole were never colonized by
exclusively non-Oromos. In fact, the original founders of the OLF organization
themselves never believed it so they did not emphasize the word
"colonization" in the beginning. But in the mid-1970s, OLF leaders
needed to mobilize Oromos against Emperor Haile Selassie (who was half Oromo
himself) and to justify the call for "Oromia independence" from
"colonial Ethiopia." Therefore OLF had to create a bad cop-good cop
scenario for their convenience and simplified history for their people to
create national resentment. This helped OLF to portray Oromos as suddenly being
colonized by this foreign ethnic group (Amhara) that we (Oromos) have never
came in contact with before. This is common tactic used by national liberation
movements around the world. The truth that most Ethiopians know is that Shewa
based Oromos and Amharas (ethnically mixed Ethiopians) were the main creators
of modern Ethiopia. In his book "Who are the Shoans," the
historian and anthropologist, Dr. Gerry Salole once summarized that: "In
terms of descent, the group that became politically dominant in Shewa (and
subsequently in Ethiopia) was a mixture of Amhara and Oromo."
In Conclusion, the
above are 4 of the main issues that create confusion for foreign journalists
who report on Oromo people and Oromo politics in Ethiopia. While it is vital
that al Jazeera and other media outlets cover the current suffering of Oromos
and other Ethiopians, it is necessary to report responsibly. Otherwise,
creating confusion and resentment between the younger Ethiopian population
causes more problems than solutions. In reality, not just Oromos, but all
Ethiopians have suffered under several governments and the only way they can
achieve freedom and lasting democracy is when united, not when divided by
tribes or not when being polarized by historical lies presented as truth. It is
important that foreign media outlets make corrections or report accurate
information to avoid inflammatory statements that are destructive and counterproductive
against Oromos and all Ethiopian people' ongoing struggle for democracy,
development and justice.
-- Feqadu Lamessa
is a former Adama University professor and writer
Source: Salem News
