Author Contact Information:
Girma Berhanu (Professor)
Department of Education and Special Education
University of Gothenburg, Sweden
E-mail: Girma.Berhanu@ped.gu.se
Introduction
Ethiopia is in dire straits due to a peculiarly malignant state system called Ethnic Federalism. In existence since the early 1990s, it has been sold as a brave attempt at empowering subjugated nationalities and, to borrow the Marxist parlance of the government that introduced it, ‘to let nations, nationalities, and people’s blossom’.
The dialectics, tempting as they are, replicate the Bantustan policy of the apartheid government of South Africa. Under the guise of ‘national aspirations’, a crafty system of divide and rule is put in place so that regions and ethnicities squabble for limited power while the central government gets on with its misrule.
In Ethiopia, like in South Africa back in the late 1970s and 1980s, this system of ethnic federalism has created explosive animosity. Beyond the repeated outbursts of civilian strife engineered by local political entrepreneurs, two well-armed groups have harnessed the shortcomings of ethnic federalism to suit their own goals. These are, of course, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). The latest scheme from the OLF and its allied Oromo People’s Democratic Organisation (OPDO) has been to declare an alleged North-South conflict based on racial narratives of Semites vs. Cushites. The OLF classify Oromos as Cushites, and as such they are honest, hard-working and, sadly, oppressed. This stands in contrast to the Amhara, who as a Semitic people are portrayed as deceitful, parasitic and exploitive. The echoes of Nazi ideology are all too evident to ignore, as is the fact that this manufactured racial cleavage is a copy-paste version of the Hutu Power discourse of Rwanda in the late 20th century.
As in Rwanda one generation ago, these toxic narratives are peddled with great success and have, to a large extent, infiltrated government policy. The OLF has progressed from innuendo and indirect hate-speech to open hostility, declaring war on Ethiopians of Amhara ethnicity on the grounds that they are Semitic settlers. When news breaks out, almost on a weekly basis, of some killings in villages and town across the south, east or west of Ethiopia, the underlying narrative behind the violence is invariably one of ‘rooting out the bad weeds’ – that is to say, killing the undesired Semitic Amharas.
The OLF has gone so far as to issue an open manifesto declaring war against these people on all fronts. To this end, they encourage and undertake the desecration of places of worship, murder priests, and reprimand those who use their language, Amharic.
In short, the OLF and the governing OPDO are bent on dismantling Ethiopia through war-mongering and focusing on destroying the very people who have played a central role in the survival and independence of this ancient country in East Africa –the Amhara.
The focus of this paper is to explore the danger of Oromummaa ideology that is bent on racist discourse imbued with anti-semetism that is engulfing the whole east Africa. Dawit (2023) succinctly remarked that it is the opinion of every legal expert involved in studying the crimes against the Amharas in Ethiopia: that genocide has and is being committed in Ethiopia with the intention of ethnic cleansing and establishing a Cushite Empire.
According to Cush Media and Oromo literatures, Semites (Amharas and Tigrayans) are considered colonizers of the Cushites, in a very strange twist of history. To this end, genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes have been committed in the last 4 years causing the death of three million people and the displacement of 4 million Amharas. How many more have to die and be displaced for the international community to wake up and stop this madness?[1]
The concern in this paper is the Ethnic apartheid system and the expansionist greed by the Oromo officials that is in place under this new regime as a continuation of the previous regime’s policy. This structural discrimination is conducted within the Oromo nationalists’ main agenda, Oromummaa. ‘Oromummaa is a complex and dynamic national and global project. As a national project and the central ideology of the Oromo national movement, Oromummaa enables Oromos to retrieve their cultural memories, assess the consequences of the purported “Ethiopian colonialism”, give voice to their collective grievances, mobilize diverse cultural resources, interlink Oromo personal, interpersonal, and collective relationships, and assists in the development of Oromo-centric political strategies and tactics that can mobilize the nation for collective action empowering the people for liberation[2]. Although the adherents claim that Oromummaa requires that the Oromo national movement be inclusive of all persons, operating in a democratic fashion, it is in fact a dominating, aggressive and excluding process aimed at dismantling Ethiopia. Abuses of power and control tactics are rampant. Underneath this grisly reality lies an appalling cycle of hate-politics that has been deployed against the Ethiopian people and in particular the Amhara people and is currently permeating the social, political, and cultural facets of the country. The world should be aware of this malicious, fanatic group that can destabilize the Horn of Africa by aggravating the conflict in the already inflammable geopolitics of the region.
Another line of focus in this paper is to outline the remarkable resemblance between Oromummaa and Fascism/Hitlerism. Although fascist parties and movements differed significantly from one another, they had many characteristics in common, including extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and the rule of elites, and the desire to create a Volksgemeinschaft (German: “people’s community”)[3], in which individual interests would be subordinated to the good of the nation.”[Fascism is] based on an ethnic division between ‘us’ and ‘them’, an extreme ethno-nationalism. It’s based on nostalgia for a mythic past, typically in which members of the chosen ethnic group had an empire – and it represents the present as loss of that great empire, The Roman Empire, that natural standpoint in which members of this ethnic group dominated their environment militarily, politically, and culturally”[4]. The corollary of that belief was the idea that anything that might impede national unity had to be gotten rid of, and violently. In fact, violence was seen as beneficial to society. The Oromos need to weigh this matter with accuracy as to which one is in the long-term interest of the Oromos. There are two thorny issues that I do not dwell here at length are (1) Oromo extremists are prone on putting Gadda[5] at center stage, that is “at the heart of Oromo tradition and culture, which shapes the basis of Oromummaa.”[6] The ultimate goal is to subjugate Islam and Orthodox Christianity with the aim of resurrecting and elevating Gadaa, Irrecha, and Waaqeffanna as unifying national identities of Oromo[7]. This transformation from Cultural Expression to Political and Religious Annihilation is highly costly to the Oromo people because it is going to supersede the two main religions Islam and Christianity, to which an overwhelming majority of Oromos belong to (2) Another problematic issue concerns that Tigrayans can be perceived as victims of the anti-semitic attack in the country. One may be tempted to conclude that Tigrayans are targeted for attacks as are Amharas because they are Semitic people; and they struggle to withstand the Rovuma attack in line with Amhara forces (which is entirely not the case). Tigrayans brought the ethnic divergent rule system and finally made themselves victims. The attack on Tigrayans can be explained further in other dimensions besides the postulated anti-semitic attack. I will problematize the two thorny issues in another paper.
Oromummaa and Fascism
Ethiopian scholars including Prof. Haile Larebo, Achamyeleh Tamiru and Dr. Beza Assefa have exposed the nature of Oromo nationalism and olfism (onegawinet) which is founded on barbaric genocide and ethnic cleansing against all people considered non-original Oromo particularly Amharas. This savage cultural heritage is well documented by the Portuguese Jesuit cleric Paez who wrote in 1621 of “Gallas[8] slaughtering children, girls, pregnant women and old folks”[9]! Actually, the Gada system, which is highly militaristic and excludes women completely, was designed to subjugate non-Oromo people by using shocking genocidal homicide to silence them into servile submission[10]! Today this primitive form of savagery is being practiced by the OPDO/OLF dominated genocidal Abiy regime—spear headed by the Cushitic discourse— which as represented by Abiy, has had the temerity to say, “if you touch my power a hundred thousand people could die per day! “and” I will plant seedlings to create shade for the massacred!” So, the Abiy Ahmed genocidal regime will never stop unless confronted by an equal or greater force for it is a deeply held cultural belief on the part of the 200-odd people now in power! Besides, the damage has already been done and there is no looking back as far as they are concerned! So expect more of the same in the next few years[11].
The Oromo liberation front (OLF) was formed in June 1973 in the dormitories of the Addis Ababa University as a socialist ethno fascist group exactly like the national socialist party of Germany aka NAZI party[12]. The group’s mission was two: To destroy the Ethiopian state and form the Oromia state (republic) on the ashes of Ethiopia. The question now is can they achieve the last mission, giving birth to the new state of Oromia in east Africa? It’s possible, according to Sheger post-6/23/2023, but it will be much bloodier than what we saw so far[13]. International support may not be there like the case in Eritrea’s formation in 1991 or what we saw in Eastern Europe. Even worse, the Amharas are already gearing up for the fight. Amhara Militias have been engaged in skirmishes against the government in the contested Wollega province. They won’t give up easily. Other like the Guraghes and the Somalis might pick up arms too. It’s going to be Armageddon.
The gruesome invasion and the destruction of Ethiopia has been captured in a number of scientific historical documents
When the Oromo peoples arrived in the old Ethiopian provinces of Bizamo, Damot, and Šäwa during the 1580s and 1590s, many Semitic-speaking Indigenous Gafat Christian communities were already established there. Writing in 1593, the royal historiographer and ethnographer Abba Bahrey reported that Bizamo, Damot and Šäwa, areas which had anchored the Gafat culture for perhaps thousands of years, were devastated. Their people had fled to the neighboring province of Gojjam as internal refugees, or were scattered throughout the inaccessible mountainous region of northern Šäwa and other places, blending with the local cultures there (Bahrey 1954: 121–4; Bouanga 2013: 352–62; Beckingham and Huntingford 1954: 56)[14].
According to the known historian Professor Habtamu Tegegne ‘Surviving Gafat and many other distinct ethnic groups were forcefully assimilated into the Oromo population and gradually disappeared as a distinct people. The professor argues that the takeover of Bizamo, Damot, and Šäwa and other key provinces of the former medieval Ethiopian kingdom by the Oromo and the accompanying rapid decimation of the Indigenous people should be framed as genocidal events’[15].
The fascistic and genocidal acts of the extremist Oromos can be traced to medieval period. Currently spearheaded by Oromummaa political ideology a similar destruction and preparation for a large-scale agenda to dominate East Africa using racial discourses is underway[16]. Dr. Yonas Birru[17] has aptly captured the Oromummaa evil agenda that ‘Oromummaa is the 21st century equivalent of the 16th century Mogassa empowered by the social psychology of Nazism. Hitler was highly successful in creating, nurturing and weaponizing the population’s anger and fear against designated enemies. They targeted the Jews as arch enemies. Oromummaa uses the Amhara as well as Christians and Muslims as Oromo’s arch enemies to rile up their followers in anger. The root cause of the Oromo cruelty is the venomous political narrative and nazified[18] political strategy of Oromummaa that claims “The Ethiopian colonial terrorism and genocide that started during the last decades of the 19th century still continue in the 21st century.”[19]The author further noted that in pursuit of adopting the Bible to the Oromo identity, Oromummaa scholars have published a new version of the Bible. For example, Psalms 68:31 reads “Ethiopia is extending her hands to God.” The Oromummaa version reads: “Cush is extending her hands to God.”
Just like Hitler used hate and anger as social energy to create the Aryan race as an alpha race, Oromummaa intellectuals are doing the same. Just like Hitler was able to create followers with repulsively subhuman qualities, Professor Jalata[20] and his Oromummaa mobster intellectuals have created a repulsively subhuman murderers with no moral fiber. It is led by tribal intellectuals who are guided by Hitler’s mass indoctrination and mobilization processes to create Oromo nationalism. Those who ignore Oromummaa do so at their peril like people who ignored the Nazi movement in its formative years[21].
It is striking to note that the historical Oromo expansionism and the desire to invade and conquer neighboring ethnic groups are similar to what the Oromummaa is currently advocating for. The following quotations describe the level of atrocities in the 16th century. Paralleling the discourse of Oromo savagery is the Christian concept of original sin. The Jesuits blamed the never-ending Oromo raids on the sinfulness of Ethiopians, believing that the Oromo raids were a scourge and punishment sent by God. Missionary Pedro Páez summarized this prevalent perception when he wrote that For the last seven years [1615–22], nothing else has happened in this kingdom but harsh and continual punishments that Our Lord God has meted out on [Ethiopians], as on the impenitent, and they feel it so little that they ask very dispassionately why, if they are such good Christians, God persecutes them so much [through] Turks, Moors, Galas, plague, continual wars without end, and they are insensitive to what Our Lord intends. (Páez 2011: 65)[22]
The parallel between Nazi’s and Oromummaa’s modus operandi and ideology is essentially the same. Hitler’s ideology revolved around the metaphor of the German nation as an actual body or “living organism.” The Jew was identified as a force within this body working toward its destruction[23]. Hitler continually referred to the Jew as a force of disintegration or decomposition. Nazi ideology was like a dream or fantasy—that many people were having at the same time. This shared fantasy was powerful enough to give rise to a social movement, and to shape the course of history. So is Oromummaa demonizing the Semitic people of Ethiopia. Hitler himself was deeply plugged into the Nazi fantasy—was possessed by it—and had the capacity to convey this fantasy to the German people. The Oromummaa adherents are just a replica of Hitler. That is making history through fantasy. Creating “Oromo consciousness” is in line with Hitler’s German Consciousness. “Hitler’s aims of restoring the Aryan race as a hegemonic race and conquering the world constituted his higher mission. In like manner, Oromummaa’s higher mission or castle in the air aspires to reinvent and idolize the Gada system as a “dynamic global project.”[24] Dr Yonas further noted that the people of Oromo see Christianity and Islam as part of their integral culture. In contrast, the Oromummaa doctrine portrays the two Abrahamian religions as Ethiopian “empire builders.” The Ethiopian empire that Jews Muslims and Christians allegedly built is accused of “brutaliz[ing], murder[ing], terroriz[ing], and introducing an inferiority complex [on the Oromo] by attacking the Oromo culture.”
Prof. Donald Levine [25]believed that the ideological glue that sustained Ethiopia’s unity were, successively, what he called the “Solomonic ideology” under the imperial regime which maintained that Ethiopia as a whole was an ancient kingdom that traces her origin to the union between King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba as illustrated in the Kebre Negast. It is clear that, following this line of thought, Ethiopia needs a new ideology that re-affirms not only the possibility, but also the necessity of maintaining our multi-ethnic nation. Oromummaa[26], an ideology conceived and promoted by expatriate Oromo intellectuals, is by design too divisive, hegemonist and partisan to be of any use for holding the nation, let alone promote stability, peace and prosperity[27].
Nazism was marked by extreme nationalism, racism, and authoritarianism. Some scholars have explored the role of inferiority complex in understanding their mindset. An inferiority complex, characterized by feelings of inadequacy, may drive individuals to seek power and control. Hitler, for example, experienced failures as an artist and is believed to have compensated for his sense of personal inadequacy by pursuing dominance and scapegoating Jews for Germany’s problems. Other leaders like Himmler and Goebbels also displayed signs of inferiority complex. Inferiority complex leads to envy, which can lead to insatiable need to usurp everything, and yet it will never be satisfied as the ego is hollow! Are the architects of Oromummaa and Oromo extremists infected with the virus of inferiority complex? Although not all fascists believed in biological racism, it played a central role in the actions of those who did. Nazism was viciously racist, especially in its attitude toward Jews. The Nazis blamed the Jews for almost everything wrong with Germany, from the Great Depression and the rise of Marxism to the evils of international capitalism and decadence in art. The Holocaust, culminating in the “final solution to the Jewish question,” was the immensely cruel outcome of this hatred (Fascism – Biological Racism, Racial Inferiority, and Warrior Christianity | Britannica). Oromummaa as a political ideology is aspiring to accomplish the same. The past five years government orchestrated ethnic cleansing and recurrent pogroms and displacements especially against the Amhara people are testimony to their vicious agenda. (see Graham Peebles writings on Counter Punch titled Ethiopia: Amhara People, Betrayed Persecuted and Ignored; Ethiopia: The Agony of Tribal Nationalism; Ethnic Terrorism Continues to Stalk Ethiopia.
Attacking Semitic people in Ethiopia
Attacking semitic people in Ethiopia has been a centuries old barbarism that especially Oromos practice as a cultural heritage. Oromo cultural rites, symbols and customary practices manifest that killing a Semitic person is a rewarding heroism. Thus, an Oromo adult is expected to kill and show up the trophies for a desired promotion in the community role. The highest-ranking Oromo community leader [aba Geda] wears a dried penis on his forehead, until today, to identify himself as a leader. Details of the practice and how Semitic people are selectively victimized can be fetched from dozens of publications[28].
Fundamentally, the Oromo culture [historically]has a never-ending thirst of expansion through the gradual Oromization of neighboring communities. This Oromization has been undertaken through different assimilation techniques. The Oromos in group invade a certain ethnic group and force the entire community to accept Oromoness and speak Oromo language, practice Oromo traditions, and replace existed values and systems with the ones Oromos dictate. When an entire ethnic group is assimilated and Oromized, they call it midecha. When the invaded ethnic group fights against them, they kill all adults, take trophies for their rites, and grew captive children to make them cow herders. Semitic children who once were Oromized in this process are called Gudifecha. Socially less organized and economically less competitive communities easily fall under the influence of the uncheckable Oromummaa. Then, such communities voluntarily leave their own original identity and accept Oromummaa [they become Oromo]. This voluntary assimilation is called Mogasa. Last but worst, Oromos till date practice slavery. In the typical Oromo culture, if a Semitic guy is a war captive, he becomes Gerba. First, they mutilate his genital to make sure he cannot have intercourse with their women, and then they make him a slave Oromo. They force him to accept their religion and values, speak their language and work for them for no returns other than food, not even clothing. Yet, they say he is Oromo[29].
Oromos using one of or combination of these techniques have eliminated 28 ethnic groups only in past three decades, which were mainly semitic people. For example, the Zay people: who lived in Zeway island are completely invaded and eliminated in the current decade. These people had rich cultural life, long Judaic and Christian history, rich natural resources, and unique identity. Graham Hancock[30] in his outstanding book titled “The Sign and The Seal: The quest for the lost ark of the covenant” mentions the Zay people as the hosts of the Ark of the Covenant for nearly 73 years. He also describes them as racially Semitic and the people also traced their ancestors to far northern Semitic peoples. Zay people are entirely eliminated by surrounding Oromos.
The repeated attack and invasion of Oromos on Harari people is slowly becoming in alignment with annihilated Zay ethnic group. Today, two third of the Harari region is populated by Oromos and it is encroaching even towards inside the gated town of Harar. This targeted attack on Harari is the continuity of Oromos’ hate to Semitic people. Oromo Public figures and social activists such as Jawar Mohammed and Bekele Gerba, including the Oromia region President Mr. Shimelis Abdisa, constantly spewed hate speeches, insults, categorizing and naming Semitic people for attack. The Oromia region president made a speech, at an Oromo cultural holiday in front of more than twenty thousand people, that literally targeted Semitic people. He said, “Eliminate those who have Jewish[31] or Arabic names! If one is Oromo that should have an Oromo name. An Oromo is Oromo before he is Jewish or Islam or Christian. We are complete. We have our own land, we have our own names, we have our own religion, we have our own mythology of creation. We don’t need to borrow anything from them; we just need to abandon them and become more consolidated amongst ourselves”. Following his speech, thousands of Semitic people across Oromia were slaughtered like chickens. This reminds us of the gruesome (historical) event as captured by Páez, Pedro (2011)
The Oromo slaughtered many people and carried out extraordinary cruelties, because they cut to pieces the men and many of the boys and girls that they seized, and they opened up pregnant women with their spearheads and pulled the babies out of their wombs. The people of that land therefore came to fear them so much that nobody dared resist them[32].
The genocide on Semitic people in Ethiopia has a multi-layer operation. First, the soft components of the Semitic people as a community have [the social fabrics] been systematically attacked. For example, Chebo Guraghe is amongst the major Semitic ethnic groups in Ethiopia that has completely been assimilated to Oromo after losing the micro and middle level social institutions and cultural values that identify the community as one Semitic group. It followed then the splitting of Kistane and Sodo Guraghes. These communities are Semitic people under the umbrella of Guraghe ethnic group. Nonetheless, they were forced to change many cultural elements including their language scripts so that they can effortlessly transform in to being Oromo communities or die out.
Guraghe is on the tip of the sword from multiple fronts. The Oromo elites formed a systemic alliance with Kebena people to attack Guraghe from inside. Kebena ethnic group recently changed their official script of their language to Qubee, according to the Oromummaa terms. They are the Cush alliance members as are Wolayta, Sidama, Gedio, and Oromo mainly. The purpose of the Cush alliance is to protect non-Semitic people from planned mass killings. The alliance identifies its member communities that live intertwined and integrated with Semitic Ethiopians. The largest of all attacks goes to the largest Semitic group in the country. The attack on Amhara has for centuries continued silently. All these atrocities and Semitic targeted cleansing from Ethiopia are integral parts of the Oromo social organization and ideology. Methodologically, they approach a certain Semitic group then they break it in to pieces, then invade disintegrated parts and keep on expanding Oromo at the cost of eliminating Semitic people. The practice is highly revered in the Oromo cultural moral-value system, and calendars, holidays, social statuses/ranks and so forth are formulated according to such practices.
Now, a political entity that came from this background has seized power in the modern-day Ethiopia. These political entities are led by Abiy Ahmed and have a crystal-clear genocidal program once and for last, to clear Semitic people and establish an Oromo dynasty where only Cush people can live. A conventional war is waged on the last remaining Semitic people in Ethiopia; namely Amhara and Guraghe people. If the Cush societies make alliances to kill Semitic people, what is the reason that prevented Semitic people to establish a genuine alliance to protect themselves, and survive?
Like in the case of Amharas in Ethiopia, the persecution and segregation of Jews was implemented in stages under the rule of Adolf Hitler. The state-sponsored hatred of the Amharas led to anti Amhara policies, proclamations and decrees, all of which aimed to systematically isolate the Amharas from the central role they have played for three thousand years as a kingdom, and in later 2000 years as a custodian of both Christianity and Islam, of biblical and Koranic cultures, and defense of the integrity of a nation which had remained an icon of freedom in Africa and the promised land for blacks across the globe. For most of Amharas what happened in Germany in 1941 to 1945 has a resemblance to what is happening today in Ethiopia. The persecution of Amharas in Ethiopia began with the government of TPLF under PM Meles Zenawi and reached this stage under PM Abiy Ahmed who personifies Adolf Hitler[33].
Before the start of World War II, around 9.5 million Jewish people lived in Europe. By the time the war ended, the Nazis had killed 6 million European Jews in concentration camps, or pogroms, or ghettos, or mass executions in what we refer today as the Holocaust. The Nazis used the term Endlösung, or Final Solution, as the “answer” to the “Jewish question.” Adolf Hitler had provided clues to his ambition to commit mass genocide as early as 1922, telling journalist Josef Hell, “Once I really am in power, my first and foremost task will be the annihilation of the Jews.” This is very familiar for Amharas because Abiy Ahmed has said it in a different way. Abiy Ahmed and his officials have repeatedly stated that his paramount enemies are the Amharas and the Orthodox Church, and true to his words he did start the destruction of both the church and Amharas (Semites). Hitler took the solution to the Jewish problem to its “furthest extremes,” when he found out that he had people around him who were willing to kill people as a testament of their loyalty to the Fuhrer. Abiy has lined up these kinds of people. Like Hitler Abiy is a ‘gifted orator’ who knew what his audience wanted to hear and how to package it with lies. But his lies have caught up with him and he now rules through terror.
It is the opinion of every legal expert involved in studying the crimes against the Amharas in Ethiopia: that genocide has and is being committed in Ethiopia with the intention of ethnic cleansing and establishing a Cushite Empire. According to Cush Media and Oromo literatures, Semites (Amharas and Tigrayans) are considered colonizers of the Cushites, in a very strange twist of history. To this end, genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes have been committed in the last 4 years causing the death of three million people and the displacement of 4 million Amharas[34]. How many more have to die and be displaced for the international community to wake up and stop this madness[35]?
According to Major Dawit Giorgis, a former minister of foreign affairs and African political analyst, this Cushitic war against the Semites of the North has been conducted in a very barbaric manner — a type of brutality unseen in our history. It is hatred to its worst limits. The claim of the Cushitic movement spearheaded by OLF goes beyond Ethiopia to Kenya, Sudan and Somalia. The war has just begun earnestly in Ethiopia.
Conclusion
What makes Oromummaa dangerous is that it aspires to change the cultural and social landscape to promote uniquely Oromo traditions and values where the diverse components of cultural, political, economic, and social aspects of life converge. There is nothing wrong with this, but for the fact that Oromummaa wants to achieve its goal by Nazifying its movement. Just like the Third Reich for Nazi Germany was the restoration of the country to its former glory by purifying and unifying its racial identity, Oromummaa attempts to restore “the Gadaa glory days” by purifying and unifying the Oromo tribal identity[36].
In all these, the Amhara are the ones who are the primary victims, targets of atrocity crimes (first-tier victimhood); The ethno-nationalists claim that they, rather than the Amhara, are the victims (ጩኸቴን ቀሙኝ) (second-tier victimhood); and the international community is misinformed and manipulated by the ethno nationalists, the majority of whom are so-called the ‘educated Diaspora’. The Amhara have increasingly become “The forgotten people” whose blood is thin? The global media and public opinion are indifferent to the humanitarian crisis and genocide facing the Amhara population persecuted by the ethno-nationalist armed groups, including some different sections and units of the security apparatus within regions where the Amhara reside. This is the third-tier victimhood: the statistics of mass murder or genocide, no matter how large the numbers, including mass graves fail to convey the true meaning of those atrocities, psychic numbing both by the international community and the Ethiopian government. The “Amharafrei” is well underway and its campaign is focused primarily on eliminating the Amhara from Oromia. However, it is crucial to remember that the “Amharafrei” campaign is also directed against all who see themselves primarily as Ethiopians[37]. “Amharafrei” can be likened to ‘Judenfrei’[38]. “Amharafrei” refers to the TPLF policy initiated in 1991 and pursued with vigor under the Abiy & Shimelis regime to cleanse Oromia and other kilils of “Amhara” presence. The tools being applied to destroy Ethiopia and the Semitic people are Historicide, Ethnocide and Linguicide.
“The first time it was reported that our friends were being butchered there was a cry of horror. Then a hundred were butchered. But when a thousand were butchered and there was no end to the butchery, a blanket of silence spread. When evil-doing comes like falling rain, nobody calls out “stop!” When crimes begin to pile up they become invisible. When sufferings become unendurable the cries are no longer heard. The cries, too, fall like rain in summer.”― Bertolt Brecht, Selected Poems
References
[1] Ethiopia: The Final Solution (by Dawit Giorgis ) (borkena.com)
[2] Aseffa Jalata: Urban centers in Oromia, consequesnces of Spacial concentration of power in Multinational Ethiopia: Journal of Oromo studies, Vol. 17 no 2 (July 20lO): Lata, L’Peculiar Challenges to Oromo Nationalism;’ in Oromo Nationalism and the Ethiopian Discourse. Edited by Asafa Ialata,
Lawrenceville, NJ: The Red Sea Press, (1998)
[3] Norbert Götz. Ungleiche Geschwister: Die Konstruktion von nationalsozialistischer Volksgemeinschaft und schwedischem Volksheim. Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2001; Peter Fritzsche. Life and Death in the Third Reich. President and Fellows of Harvard College, 2008. p. 38.
[4] Jason Stanley, professor of philosophy at Yale University and author of “How Fascism Works(opens in new tab)” (Random House, 2020) told All About History(opens in new tab) magazine.
[5] Th extremists say that Gada System reflects Oromo’s cultural, political, economic, social, and religious traditions. Consequently, Oromummaa became a wholistic movement.
[6] Oromummaa’s First Targets of Destruction are the Oromo People and Culture (zehabesha.com) (Yonas Biru, PhD)
[7] https://addisinsight.net/oromummaas-religion-cleansing-and-cultural-evilgelization-project/ ((Yonas Biru, PhD)
[8] A journal published by the International African Institute suggests it is an Oromo word (adopted by neighbors), for there is a word, gala, meaning ‘wandering’ or ‘to go home’ in their language. The Oromo never called themselves Galla and resist its use because the term is considered derogatory.
[9] Juxon Barton (September 1924), The Origins of the Galla and Somali Tribes, The Journal of the East Africa Natural History Society, No. 19, pages 6–7
[10] Herbert S. Lewis. “A Galla Monarchy: Jimma Abba Jifar, Ethiopia 1830–1932″. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1965.
[11] In June 2023, the OLF is celebrating its 50th anniversary. As the nominal leader Dawud Ibsa claimed half of the goal is achieved. Ethiopia is a nation without a state and a government for that matter. The Civil war has killed over a million so far. Over two million non-Oromos have been wiped out from the Oromia region. The orthodox church is officially banned. The economy has collapsed. Abiy Ahmed leads the official government from the old palace in Addis Ababa. They’re building a new palace too. The actual OLF government rules the rest of Ethiopia. The TPLF has succeed since 2018. It’s been functioning as its own state since then.
[12] https://shegerpost.blogspot.com/2023/06/httpsshegerpost.blogspot.comafter-50-years-of-bloody-campaign-olf.html
[13] https://addisinsight.net/oromummaas-religion-cleansing-and-cultural-evilgelization-project/
[14] A Cultural History of Genocide, 6 volumes edited by Paul R. Bartrop, Bloomsbury Academic, London and New York, 2021(Munson, H. (2023). A Cultural History of Genocide, 6 volumes: edited by Paul R. Bartrop, Bloomsbury Academic, London and New York, 2021)
[15] Ibid
[16] The Effort to Crown Gadaa, Irrecha and Waaqeffanna as Unifying Cultures. As a tribal society, Oromo is culturally, religiously, and socially diversified and fragmented. The Oromo of Shewa has a lot more in common with the Amhara of Shewa than with the Oromo of Wellega. The same way, the Muslim Oromos of Arsi have little in common with the Oromo of Shewa or Wellega who are mostly Christians. There is no Oromo-centric culture that ties all Oromos together. The social engineers of Oromummaa saw this as a hurdle to build a unified national movement.
[17] “The Oromummaa Politics: Weaponized with Lies and Soaked in Blood” and “Oromummaa is a Low Grade Nazification Movement.”
[18] Adolf Hitler: Hitler’s Second Book (New York 2003) XXI
[19] https://borkena.com/2023/06/03/oromummaas-religion-cleansing-and-cultural-evilgelization-project/
[20] Aseffa Jalata, Fighting Againist the Injustice of the state and Globalization: comparing the African American and Oromo movement, (2001). Aseffa Jalata, in and out of Africa: Journal of Black studies, Vol.XX no.X, (2008).
[21] What makes Oromummaa dangerous is that it is anti-Christianity and anti-Islam in a country where the two Abrahamic religions account for over 90 percent of the nation’s population. In recent days Oromummaa’s ethnic cleansing endeavor has been elevated to religion/religious cleansing crusade. A 398-page study from the University of South Africa notes Professor Asafa Jalata, the Godfather of Oromummaa, “is hesitant to affirm Islam as having any rightful place within Oromo identity” and blames the processes of “Abyssinianization and Christianization” of Oromos as racist endeavors.
[22] Páez, Pedro (2011), History of Ethiopia, 1622, vols 1 and 2 [Hakluyt Society, 3rd Series], ed. Isabel Boavida and Hervé Pennec, trans. Manuel João Ramos, Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing for the Hakluyt Society. In A Cultural History of Genocide, 6 volumes: edited by Paul R. Bartrop, Bloomsbury Academic, London and New York, 202.
[23] https://www.libraryofsocialscience.com/ideologies/resources/koenigsberg-ideology-perception/
[24] Oromummaa is a Low-Grade Nazification Movement – Addis Insight. By Addis Insight May 15, 2023.Yonas Biru, PhD
[25] Greater Ethiopia: The Evolution of a Multiethnic Society (Donald N. Levine)University of Chicago Press, 2000 – 231 pages).Greater Ethiopia combines history, anthropology, and sociology to answer two major questions. Why did Ethiopia remain independent under the onslaught of European expansionism while other African political entities were colonized? And why must Ethiopia be considered a single cultural region despite its political, religious, and linguistic diversity?
[26] Jalata, Asafa (1993), Oromia and Ethiopia: State Formation and Ethnonational Conflict, 1868–1992, Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
[27]https://borkena.com/2023/06/22/is-this-the-end-of-greater-ethiopia/?fbclid= IwAR1aarKtY1dE9ZDvIFEe2zwp4UYp7 -1QL7BCfSWklsBiWNG4HYkMp54Zq6c
[28] See Páez, Pedro (2011), History of Ethiopia, 1622, vols 1 and 2 [Hakluyt Society, 3rd Series], ed. Isabel Boavida and Hervé Pennec, trans. Manuel João Ramos, Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing for the Hakluyt Society. A Cultural History of Genocide, 6 volumes: edited by Paul R. Bartrop, Bloomsbury Academic, London and New York, 202.
[29] Davidson, Lawerence (2012), Cultural Genocide, New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press; bin Uṯmān, Šihāb ad-Dīn Aḥmad bin Abd al-Qāder bin Sālem (2003), Futūḥ al-Ḥabaša: The Conquest of Abyssinia [16th century], ed. and trans. Paul Stenhouse, Hollywood: Tsehai Publishers.
[30] Hancock, Graham (1992). The Sign and the Seal: The Quest for the Lost Ark of the Covenant. New York: Crown.
[31] Walker, “Martin Luther’s Dirty Little Book: On the Jews and their Lies- a Precursor to Nazism:’ NoBeliefs.com, http://nobeliefs.com/luther.htm.
[32] Páez, Pedro (2011), History of Ethiopia, 1622, vols 1 and 2 [Hakluyt Society, 3rd Series], ed. Isabel Boavida and Hervé Pennec, trans. Manuel
[33] Ethiopia : The Final Solution (by Dawit Giorgis ). https://borkena.com/2023/04/12/ethiopia-the-final-solution-by-dawit-giorgis/
[34] See Berhanu’s series of articles published On Euro Asia Review.
[35] Ibid
[36] Oromummaa’s Religion Cleansing and Cultural Evilgelization Project. Oromummaa’s Religion Cleansing and Cultural Evilgelization Project – Addis Insight
[37] The Abiy Ahmed & Shimelis Abdissa Lawless Regime and “Amharafrei” (zehabesha.com)
[38] Literally translated, judenfrei means “free of Jews.” This was the term the Nazis used to designate areas where every single Jew had been killed or rounded up for deportation. Massacres like the Erntefest were designed to create judenfrei areas in Poland.
