Yonas Biru, PhD
Oromummaa is engineered to destroy the “Ethiopian Empire.” But to do so, it must first change the Oromo tribal land beyond recognition. Before we go to the topic at hand, allow me to reintroduce you to two books.
The True Believer was written by Eric Hofer in 1951. Intrigued by the Nazi movement, the philosopher Hoffer studied and decoded the human psychology that explained how otherwise normal and intelligent people signed up for the Nazi movement. The book has become a useful handbook to those who want to create blind followers who are ready to sacrifice themselves for a movement they are indoctrinated and primed for.
The Logic of Collective Action by Mancur Olson was published in 1965. The book developed an original theory to build an effective organizational system that overcomes what economists call the free-rider problem. The free-ride problem signifies a phenomenon whereby people want change but want others to bear the cost for the desired change.
Where Hoffer’s book serves as a handbook to brainwash and prime individuals to join a movement, Olson’s book helps as an administrative manual to organize them effectively. Not surprisingly, Professor Jalata, the Godfather of Oromummaa, refers to both books in several of his articles. At a close examination, it becomes clear Oromummaa follows the same indoctrination and organizational methods that Adolph Hitler used.
Metamorphosis from Cultural Expression to Political and Religious Annihilation
First, Professor Jalata and his intellectual partners claimed Oromummaa is a concept to embrace and cherish being Oromo or Oromoness. Professor Mirgissa Kaba and Girma Gutema insist it is “a fundamental concept of being Oromo or Oromoness.” Professor Milkessa M. Gemechu describe it as a “broader concept that is explained by the totality of Oromo culture.”
Once concept got traction and won followers as a cultural expression, its architects smuggled political ideology into it. Professor Jalata declared Oromummaa goes “beyond culture and history.” All of a sudden, it became a “political project” with national and global aspirations.
The third step in Oromummaa’s transformation was putting Gadda center stage, “at the heart of Oromo tradition and culture, which shapes the basis of Oromummaa.” Gadaa, they said, reflects Oromo’s cultural, political, economic, social, and religious traditions. Consequently, Oromummaa became a wholistic movement.
Anyone who has read The True Believer understands, such a wholistic movement will bring political and religious aspects of the movement to the fore. Professor Jalata makes this clear, stating: “Establishing political and religious leadership” is key in “organizing Oromo society around economic, cultural and religious institutions.”
The Consequences of Political and Religious Leadership
Oromummaa has very little to do with the Oromo culture. In fact, its violence, malice, and bestiality are the antithesis of Oromo’s ethos of welcoming outsiders with a sense of community value and welfare.
At bottom, Oromummaa signifies political and religious conflicts. The political conflict is constantly hovering between Federalist vs. Pan Ethiopianist and Oromo Independence vs. Ethiopian Unity. The religious conflict is between Waaqeffanna (an indigenous Oromo religion) and two popular Abrahamic religions (Christianity and Islam).
Here is the problem both on the political and religious fronts. The majority of the people of Oromo see themselves as proud Ethiopians. In contrast, Professor Jalata accuse Ethiopia of “terrorizing and committing genocide on the Oromo people during the Scramble for Africa with the help of European imperial powers such as England, France, and Italy.”
Further, Waaqeffanna preaches the first man that God created is an Oromo and he is made of water. This stands in conflict with the Bible and the Quran that 90 percent of the people of Oromo follow.
In the Bible, Genesis 1:27 states “God created man in His own image.” According to Genesis 2:7 “God formed man of the dust of the ground.” The Qur’an (15:26) describes how Allah created Adam as follows: “We created man from sounding clay, from mud molded into shape…” Neither Holy book assigns race, tribe, or creed to God’s first human creation.
Professor Jalata is keenly aware that the odds are stalked against Oromummaa both on the political and religious fronts. He makes this clear in a 2010 presentation titled “Oromummaa: National Identity and Liberation Politics.” On the political front, he sated:
“Pro-Ethiopians Oromos are the majority in the Ethiopian rubber-stamp parliament, the Ethiopian army, and security networks; they work as colonial agents…; they are mercenaries, and they live for money and food.”
On the religious front, the Professor condemns Oromos who embrace their Islamic or Christian religion as follows:
“Oromos, [who] like their Habasha masters have been the defenders of the Habasha culture, religion, and the Amharic language and haters of the Oromo history, culture, institutions.”
His venomous attack against Islam and Christianity is laser focused and constant. He sees churches and mosques as Ethiopian “Empire Builders,” and “Colonial Institutions” with genocidal record against the Oromo.
Oromummaa: A Crusade Against Islam and Christianity
At its core, Oromummaa is a national “political project” to liberate the Oromo identity from Christianity and Islam. In this regard, Professor Jalata proposes a two-pronged approach. The first prong requires Christians and Muslims to “adapt to national Oromummaa.” This means they are expected to differ to Waaqeffanna when their beliefs contradict with it. For example, they need to accept Adam was Oromo and he was created from water, not of dust or mud.
The second prong aims to deal with Oromos “who have internalized these externally imposed religious identities because of their low level of political consciousness or because of their political opportunism.”
Over 90 percent of the Oromo population that follow Islam and Christianity is portrayed as either of “low level consciousness” or as an opportunist. In like manner, the majority of Oromos who see themselves as Ethiopians are condemned as “colonial agents and mercenaries” who have sold their Oromoness “for money and food.”
The Oromummaa doctrine portrays people like Laureate Tsegaye Gebremedhin, who is proudly Oromo and unabashedly Ethiopian, as suffering from low-level consciousness. Laureate Gebremedhin, choice to write poems in Amharic makes him a “hater of the Oromo history, culture, and institutions.” In like manner, Abuna Petros who sacrificed his life for Ethiopia is a “colonial agent and mercenary” who sold his Oromoness “for money and food.”
On the other hand, Bekele Gerba who proposed “not to do business with anyone who does not speak Afaan Oromo” and who attributed the decline of the Oromo language to intertribal marriage has high-level consciousness. Similarly, Jawar Mohammed and Shimelis Abdissa who declared that their allegiance to their Oromoness comes before their ecclesiastical allegiance to their respective religions is considered to be of high-level consciousness.
Professor Jalata insists Gadaa is a democratic system and signifies an example of classical African civilization. The 3.3 percent population of Oromo who follow the Waaqeffanna religion and lives under the tenets of Gadaa are the model on whose image he aspires to recreate the Oromo population.
If Gadaa is truly democratic and if Professor Jalata’s plan is to revive the democratic Gadaa system, how can he impose the religious practices of 3.3 percent of the population over the followers of Islam and Christianity?
Oromummaa intellectuals believe they have no chance of achieving their goal with over 90 percent of the Oromo population following of Islam and Christianity. What is their option? Gadaa as a democratic institution is no different from 16th century Mogassa that used violence, malice, and bestiality.
Over ninety percent of the Oromo population has its back marked as a mercenary, anti-Oromo, and agent of colonialism. The gun is cocked, locked and ready to draw. The trigger is waiting to be pulled. It will not be long before the Oromummaa movement reaches a critical mass to assert itself across the Oromo land. Those who doubt this must ask themselves why were Oromummaa intellectuals chosen by the Oromo Liberation Army as its delegation to negotiate with the Abiy government in Tanzania?
For further reading read my articles titled:
- The Oromummaa Politics: Weaponized with Lies and Soaked in Blood
- Oromummaa is a Low Grade Nazification Movement
- Oromummaa’s Religion Cleansing and Cultural Evilization Project
