Economic and development analysis: Perspectives on economics, society, development, freedom & social justice. Leading issues in Oromo, Oromia, Africa & world affairs. Oromo News. African News. world News. Views. Formerly Oromia Quarterly
A former refugee from Somalia made history this week in Minnesota when she knocked off a long-serving legislator in the state’s primary election. Ilhan Omar, 33, handily defeated incumbent Phyllis Kahn, who had served as a state representative for 44 years, on Tuesday. The historic victory made Omar the first Muslim American woman of Somali descent to ever win a state primary and it puts her on the cusp of becoming the country’s first Somali-American legislator. Omar, a Democrat, is the favorite in the November election, and her opponent is also an immigrant from Somali. “Tonight we made history,” Omar told supporters following her big win on Tuesday night. “Tonight marks the beginning of the future of our district, a new era of representation.” She delivered her victory speech in both English and Somali.
It’s been a long road for Omar, a community activist and mother of three. As a child, her parents fled Somalia and she lived with them for four years in a Kenyan refugee camp. Eventually, the family was granted the opportunity to become U.S. citizens when Omar was 8. After a brief stay in Virginia, the family settled in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where they began a new life. Nowadays, the Somali immigrant population has exploded to the point where her neighborhood is known as Little Mogadishu. Constituents there were largely overjoyed with her ascent. In Minneapolis, Somali immigrants have had recent successes being elected to local government posts, but Omar’s election on November would be a real breakthrough. Her grandfather, she said in her nomination acceptance speech, instilled in her what has become a deep interest in local politics. She also discussed some of the challenges including sexism and misogyny that she encountered through her campaign. Some community leaders, she said, “bought into the narrative of misogyny” and told her it was impossible for a Somali woman to win the nomination for that seat. She was happy to prove those skeptics wrong, she told supporters.
Omar is hopeful in her outlook toward the November election, where the opportunity to make history again awaits. “I hope our story is an inspirational story to many people,” she told The Associated Press in an interview. She went on to list “closing the opportunity gap in our educational system, working on criminal justice reform, taking on policing reform,” as some of her top priorities. Watch her emotional victory speech below.
(Oromedia, 13 Hagayya 2016) ABO fi QBO irratti shirri haaraa xaxamaa jiraachuu saaxile. Haata’uutii, ABO fi Ummatni Oromoo lammata shira akkasii akka hin keessumeessine ABOn gada jabeessee hubachiiseera.
Adda Bilisummaa Oromoo ibsa Hagayya 13 bara 2016 mata duree “Gaaffii fi Galii Siyaasaa Ummata Oromoo Caalaatti Ifa Gochuu” jedhuun baaseen karoorri haaraan qabsoo Oromoo dadhabsiisuuf qopheeffama ajiraachuu ibse.
Karoorri kun akak ABOn ibsetti, akkuma London Conference 1991 irratti godhame marraa lammataaf shira qabsoo Oromoo irratti akeekame, kan mirga hiree murteeffannaa Oromoo hin kabajne ta’uu addeesse.
“Akeekaa fi yaada farrummaa QBO kan mirga hiree murteeffannaa Oromoo hin kabajne kana ABO-Qeerroo fi ummatni Oromoo jabinaan dura dhaabbatu,” jedhee jira ABOn.
Itti dabaluunis, “mirgii fi dantaan ummata Oromoo alagaa fi humnoota alaa irraa kanneen dantaa aangoof bulaniin osoo hin taane ummata Oromoo abbaa dhimmaatiin murteeffamuu qaba,” jechuun ejajnnoo jabaan ibseera.
Reiterating the Oromo political Questions and Ultimate objectives of the Oromo struggle The OLF press release
The aims of the Oromo struggle led by the OLF is to realize the Oromo people’s selfdetermination right; to dismantle colonial system from Oromia and to free Oromo from subjugation and to establish free Oromia state. This can be achieved through the sole decision of the Oromo people who will choose either to establish a free Republic of Oromia or to make new political arrangement with neighboring nationalities based on interest, equality, mutual respect and democratic values and principles. This means that the OLF struggles to make an arrangement for Oromo people for free referendum rights.
The Oromo people has struggled and made huge scarifies to fulfill the aims and objectives of the Oromo struggle set out by the OLF. When the Oromo elites and committed individuals developed the OLF program, the central aim was to solve the fundamental political problem of the Ethiopian empire from its roots. The program was not only based on the interest of Oromo people but also considered the interests of other peoples in the Ethiopian empire who were colonized in a similar way and benefit from this struggle.
Thanks to Oromo heroes and heroines, today the Oromo people liberation struggle has reached the stage where every Oromo has gained a full confidence to achieve its long awaited freedom. Also millions of Oromo heroes and heroines are ready to sacrifice their lives for freedom until
the liberation of Oromia is realized. We have no doubt that with the sacrifices of committed Oromo heroes and heroines, the OLF vision, which is also the vision of vast Oromo people, will be achieved. However, we cannot deny that there are internal and external forces that want to give the Oromo liberation movement a blind eye and want to divert the Oromo genuine questions for their own political agenda and strategic interest.
Funerals are taking place across the country. Locals report a heavy military presence in every town in Oromia and all major towns in the Amhara region. Arrests and disappearances have become daily occurrences. Despite the ongoing crackdown, the protests are expected to return to the streets with more vigor.
The ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) is in total disarray.
Ethiopia protests at a point of no return
(OPride 12 August 2016) — At least 104 people were killed last weekend as anti-government protests flared across Oromia and Amhara regions. Nearly a week after the bloody carnage in which hundreds of thousands protested the Tigrayan domination in Ethiopia, the regime in Addis Ababa remains tight-lipped.
Ethiopia’s bombastic communications minister Getachew Reda has blamed the diaspora and social media activists for hijacking the protests. Addis Ababa also rebuked a plea for an independent investigation into the killings of protesters by the United Nations Commissioner on Human Rights. Reda on Thursday told Al Jazeera English that international observers are not welcome in Ethiopia.
Funerals are taking place across the country. Locals report a heavy military presence in every town in Oromia and all major towns in the Amhara region. Arrests and disappearances have become daily occurrences. Despite the ongoing crackdown, the protests are expected to return to the streets with more vigor.
We asked a well-placed Addis Ababa-based analyst to get an accurate reading on the latest developments on the ground. Here’s an excerpt of that exchange:
The prevailing situation is similar to the last days before the 1974 revolution which saw the demise of emperor Haile Selassie. How? The regime is busy with self-destruction by focusing excessively on internal bickering and clueless about the storm gathering on the outside;
Expressions of solidarity between the Amhara and Oromo has become the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF)’s greatest anxiety. A dangerous social division is emerging. There have emerged two Ethiopias: one intoxicated by the Ethiopia rising narrative, the new Tigrean elite, and the other resentful of Tigrean excesses. The former has no clue as to why people are protesting and the later is wondering and waiting for the time when the whole country will be rising up to remove the humiliation.
The ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) is in total disarray. TPLF has become incoherent. The Oromo Peoples’ Democratic Organization (OPDO) and Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM) — supposedly the two most influential members of the four-party EPRDF coalition after TPLF — are embittered by their Inability to contribute to resolve the crisis due to TPLF intransigence;
The rank and file of ANDM is bitter against its old guard. They see them as instruments of Tigrean dominance. The lower level Amhara leaders are angry about being continually presented as oppressors when TPLF has been oppressing for 25 years;
The overwhelming view in the country is this: EPRDF is not an organization that is capable of reforming itself and thus headed to its demise.
On the question of why TPLF failed to tackle corruption and bad governance, a high-ranking official responded “how can thieves police themselves?” While the problems are structural in nature, remedies proposed by EPRDF are of administrative and technical nature. A case in point is their flagging of what they call rent-seeking, which is a catch-all category which is as open to different interpretation as vacuous.
Amhara solidarity with Oromo protests is growing and is serious. They are impressed with the discipline and peacefulness of Oromo protests. While the diaspora-based Amhara elite are still mistrustful of #OromoProtests, those at home are at peace with the Oromo desire for self-governance and equitable representation;
The general feeling in the country is that the protests have reached a point of no return. Many had appealed to the Tigrean oligarchy to prevent such a development and they are not coherent to steer country off the cliff;
There is a great deal of fear of further chaos. TPLF will not stop killing. People’s restraint is being exhausted. Disagreement within the army and police, along ethnic lines, is potentially the greatest source of chaos;
Protests in Addis Ababa are increasingly likely. People’s sense of justice has grown steadily strong. People’s hearts are ailing from the abuses Oromo protesters are subjected to and the youth appear ready to resist at all cost.
In short, Ethiopia is at a dangerous crossroads. We have a regime that will not stop killing and not ready for the kind of dialogue that the volatile situation demands. Besides, the EPRDF regime has become increasingly incoherent and unable to come to an approach that will pull the country away from the cliff.
On the other hand are highly enraged and mobilized populations whose patience and restraint against regime violence is fast running out. This is a deadly combination. Ethiopia’s allies can no longer deceive themselves, as they have in the past, that EPRDF-led Ethiopia is a force for regional stability. A destabilized Ethiopia is a nightmarish scenario with regional and continental repercussions. And the instability within Ethiopia’s ruling party and its intransigence to steer away from violent means of dealing with the gathering storm of society-wide dissent and resentment is driving the country toward chaos.
Oromian Economist 
You must be logged in to post a comment.