OromianEconomist

Metro News: Oromo Lives Matter: Edmonton Oromo group’s documentary gets global attention January 7, 2016

The Oromo Lives Matter Youtube video was picked up by media in Africa.

Edmonton (Metro News) — A short documentary produced by Edmonton’s Oromo community is gaining attention online and worldwide.

The 11-minute documentary, which aims to bring awareness to human rights abuses in Ethiopia, has been viewed around 2,500 times on Youtube since it was released online about a week ago and has been picked up by media in Africa.

“We want to bring awareness to the Canadian government and public about what is going on back home in Ethiopia. There are people here, including in our association, who have relatives who were killed in these incidents,” says Bedri Mohammed, president of the Oromian Community Association of Northern Alberta.

According to Mohammed, last year, around 100 young Oromians — mainly students — were shot by the Ethiopian army. They were killed for protesting against the government’s plan to take land from Oromo farmers without consultation or compensation.

He says the Ethiopian government is notorious for using aid money from countries such as Canada to build up the army. “We need the Canadian government to understand that, and to stop unknowingly funding a government that kills its own people.”

The documentary, called “Oromo Lives Matter: The Oromo Popular Resistance Against the Infamous Addis Ababa Master Plan”, was created in partnership by Paula Kirman, an Edmonton filmmaker and human rights activist.
Kirman says she got involved after attending a rally organized by the Oromo Association in December last year.

“I found the project to be really fascinating. Prior to this, I was unaware of what was going on, so I hope the video is effective in terms of educating others about what’s happening,” Kirman says.

The Oromo people are an ethnic group based in Ethiopia, northern Kenya and parts of Somalia. An estimated 5000 to 8000 Oromians live in the Edmonton area.

http://www.metronews.ca/news/edmonton/2016/01/06/edmonton-community-group-documentary-goes-viral-.html