By the Rivers of Babylon!
Three things strike you about the Ethiopian community. First is the sheer absence of any franchised civil or political influence of the Ethiopian Diaspora on local (city-county) or state politics in America. In a country where communities found organizations that promote the welfare, rights and opportunities of their members, one cannot mention of any such organization in the Ethiopian context.
America is a whirlpool attracting the good souls and shots of the world from all over. Some arrive seeking safe haven from political persecution. Others land to be a partaker of the American Dream. Still others consider it as their alma mater for higher education and professional training. It is home to various Diaspora communities from Europe (Irish, Greeks, Italians, Jews, Poles, Czechs, Norwegians, Armenians), Asia (Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese and Koreans), Hispanic (Latin, Central and Mexican Americans) and African (Ethiopians, Eritreans, Nigerians, Ghanaians, Somali etc) communities.
The degree of integration of these Diaspora communities partly depends on the migration patterns of the populations in question. Italians, Greeks, Jews and Irish Americans have comfortably weaved themselves into mainstream American society partly because they arrived earlier than their Asian and African counterparts.
Asian migrants, however, seem to put high premium on higher education so much so that the percentage of first degree holders among Asian Americans has now outstripped Whites, Black and Hispanic Americans. Their involvement in business, banking and finance is also very visible. A short stroll by Wall Street tells you the number of Indian and Chinese origin clerks in New York- the world’s financial capital. But no one parallels the educational, financial and political muscle of the Jewish community in the United States par excellence.
It seems the North East has the highest Ethiopian concentration where Ethiopian cab drivers, churches, restaurants, and exiled politicians are an everyday scene. The Los Angeles Metro area, Minneapolis- St Paul Metro area, Seattle and Atlanta (GA) also boast significant concentrations of the Ethiopian Diaspora.
Three things strike you about the Ethiopian community. First is the sheer absence of any franchised civil or political influence of the Ethiopian Diaspora on local (city-county) or state politics in America. In a country where communities found organizations that promote the welfare, rights and opportunities of their members, one cannot mention of any such organization in the Ethiopian context.
Second is the tendency to cling to folks from home that blocks any cross-cultural learning or un-learning from others in the country. I am ambivalent about this phenomenon. While many argue that such bonding would help foster togetherness and a sense of solidarity between Americans of Ethiopian origin, I suspect that it leads to an incestuous state where people are not opening up and embracing vital and progressive values from the wider public. It deters interest, motivation and curiosity to even explore the history, culture, and politics of the very country that hosted our folks from home. Add to this what Samuel Huntington once called the ‘lone country syndrome’ of Ethiopia where finding culture kin nations is a challenge.
Third is a phenomenon that I call the ‘ethnicization of everything’. Politics has always been the main stay of the Diaspora where even its geographical landscape is delineated by ethnic features. States and neighborhoods are ethnically profiled. Public places like restaurants and pubs are frequented by members of this or that ethnic group. Even more, supra-ethnic or supra-national institutions such as religion are ethnically profiled. This holds true for almost all ecumenical unions i.e. Orthodox Tewahdo, Evangelical or Catholic unions. Even Christ, whose teaching and appeals were fundamentally universal, is ethnicized and localized! As the old truism goes, service hours are the most segregated times of the Ethiopian Diaspora.
Ethnicization is coupled with another phenomenon-the balkanization of every union. Iqqubs, iddirs, religious sororities and fraternities, fellowships, congregations or even book reading clubs are on a permanent state of fissure. I have an incident where a congregation of less than 20 members was torn asunder due to personal fracas. A visitor from home commented a few days back saying “we have become a community that neither lives together nor apart from each other.” This reminded me of Fromm’s apt characterization-a ‘sadistic-masochistic bondage’.
What could possibly reverse this order (for I believe it should be reversed)? Perhaps the answer is not in party politics at all! We may need some kind of cultural renaissance as was the case of the Harlem Renaissance during the 1920s and 1930s-a time where African American playwrights, artists, painters and journalists flourished reflecting on the life of Blacks in Jim Crow South and the North East. It was that cultural awakening which later evolved to become a note of defiance against racism in the form of a civil rights movement and in the persona of a rare figure to spear head it- Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.
Perhaps we need an Apollo Theatre, a new genre of music (as in Jazz), new ethos and fundamentals that ‘awaken the genius and mend the soul’ of our broken fabric. In the words of Langston Hughes, “Let the rain kiss us. Let the rain beat upon our head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing us a lullaby.” Otherwise, in the words of Maya Angelou, we are a people that “Prejudice is a burden that confuses our past, threatens our future and renders our present inaccessible.”
You are my man. That is what we are, this is what we do and this is what we will always want do and be. We need such new thinkers that can help us creep out of the small box. Yes you are right everything is politicized and ethnicized. We could not move as a group which actually hinders our progress. We, as a community, are the porest performers to given our community size. Let me give you an example, a good number of Ethiopians proud themselves for living/ working where neither ethiopians nor other non ethiopian blacks live or work and still choose to come to ethiopian churches. What a paradox….
Thanks a lot i strongly suggest you keep posting such provocative and awakening articles
@mike: You’ve made a very poor analogy. You may have to ask what religion stands for. For you it may be a hobby, for many it’s not.
Dere,
Yet another piece after being missed for a while.I like your piece…but the guys,scholars or writers you quote in your articles are little known….plus there is no reference on how i can read about them…say for eg.you cited Fromm’s ‘sadistic-masochistic bondage’, who is he,when did he say that?in which book? all these need to have been in your piece.This is not to discredit your article but…cause i wanna read you between the lines and read what this bondage is really.
Coming to your article….you raised a fundamentally hilarious trajectory in the spontaneous discourse of multicultural and acculturation discourse. This discourse is timely for the Ethiopian Diaspora to ponder upon.
Here in the EU country that i am in ,these issues that you raised are practically evident.In this small nation that i am in, though there are good number of Ethiopians that are highly educated ,none of them are seen franchised in the local politics or any decision making issue.
All ethnic minorities have their own association that represents the community and polls fund and resources to the development of the community and their own people at home. Surprisingly,its us Ethiopians who have no association so far.
Your third point of Ethnicaization of everything is also negligible here…Oromos,Tigres and Amara’s use their own supra-ethnic and national institutions.Eriterians selectively blend with Oromo Ethiopians than the other ethnic groups.
What worries me is not what is going on now but what will happen with the third generation culture (our grandchildren)born in the Diaspora.How will they handle these there problems.
Perhaps,what you recommended about using cultural renaissance as a means of reversing the problems sound to me have emerged from your recent readings about the Harlem Renaissance. I feel that is not just strong enough.What we need is a healing.A justice .A reconciliation.Maybe some form of conflict And most importantly a radical medication of the domestic politics back home that is reflectively causing those three things in the Diaspora.
Ato Derese,
I can read your vehement wish of having and keeping your Unitary Ethiopia by demonizing nations in the Horn region as something “ethnic”, which you think has got less value than your “nation” Ethiopia. It is interesting to read you trying to use your profession and your english language proficiency to promote this vision: Unitary Ethiopia. It will take you yet 3000 years till you will swallow the fact that Oromo is a nation with its own nation-state called Oromia, which necessarily is not part of your Ethiopia! Have a good time to digest this fact in your all life. Galatoomi.
@*abachew
Let me start by commenting on the name you opted to use. From your writings I have a feeling that you are someone who is probably well educated and well mannered as well. The alias you selected however is highly improper to say the least. Why do you want to piss on anyone?
Coming to your observation and remarks about Derese’s article I think we should not expect bloggers to give us a reference of the books and articles they use in their blogs. This is not an academic institution and if we are interested to pursue the subjects raised in more detail it should be up to us to look it up on the internet or in the library.
I live outside of Ethiopia but not in the US and I only visit there once in a while so I can’t really speak about what goes on among the Ethiopian community in the US. However I agree both with you and Derese that the Ethiopian diaspora is a highly polarized community. Now my question is ‘is this a reflection of repressed polarization in Ethiopia or is it a result of freedom of expression enjoyed in the west?’ I believe answering this question would also help us find the solution. If we don’t observe such severe polarization in country why do we see it when we are out. I would very much like to get your as well as Derese’s reaction on this.
Final point. I don’t agree with the point you mentioned about ethnicization of everything being negligible. What exactly do you mean. Where I am living the Orthodox church is practically divided between those who oppose and support the government but this applies only for non Oromos. Many Oromos dont even want to attend the Orthodox church because they consider it part of what they are told by the Oromo elite to be the Abyssinian colonizers system. I stand to be corrected but I think this is also the sentiment among the majority of Ormos in the US. How could do you say ethnicization is negligible?
I take objection to your assessment that the life of the Ethiopian Diaspora is dominated by ethnic politics. This simply is not true. I have live in a number of places in the US including Washington DC my current residence. I know the Ethiopian community very well but restaurants, places of worships and in general the social space is not ethnicized. This is not to say that there are not groups who advocate or try to recreate the ethnic based enclaves. The main stream is not there. I urge you to pay more attention to the community structure
Derese,
hopefully the following article about Nigeria will help you underatand why colonialists like to denigerate African nations as tribes and ethnies and why nation-based-federation is important:
“….There is a conviction that I believe must have come from an illusion even among many of our politicians and political thinkers. The conviction is that the 1999 Constitution is well-meaning and is capable of leading Nigeria from underdevelopment to development, if it is given to good leaders. Those with such convictions subscribe to the philosophy undergirding the existing unitary constitution that it is possible to create a Nigerian persona that is devoid of ethnic consciousness and special needs engendered by their cultural values. This conviction is not surprising in a country that has adopted the philosophy of miracles in secular matters. If a Nigerian persona happens miraculously, Nigeria will be the first country of its kind in the world. People in the United Kingdom still identify themselves as Welsh, Scottish, Irish, and English men and women in the 21st century to the extent that even the United Kingdom had to embark on the policy of devolution of powers and responsibilities to Scotland, Wales, etc at the time that makers of Nigeria’s current constitution were taking more powers from the nationalities in the states to the federal government. The postmodern age has engendered globalism and at the same time it has strengthened the politics of identity. It is not fortuitous that the United States after centuries of the policy of assimilation and the metaphor of the melting pot has accepted the metaphor of the salad bowl, the principle of unity in diversity. Switzerland, Belgium, and Canada are three countries with populations far smaller than that of Nigeria and a political history much older than Nigeria’s. Yet these countries are doing much better economically, socially, and technologically than Nigeria and they are more united than Nigeria, despite their adoption of a system of a federal system of government. Just as Chief Enahoro once observed, Nigeria is not going to lose anything by encouraging its citizens to add the privileges of Nigerian citizenship to that of the various ethnic nationalities to which they belong. Obafemi Awolowo’s theory that if a country is unilingual and uni-national, the constitution must be unitary and if a country is bilingual or multilingual, the constitution must be federal, and the constituent states must be organized on linguistic basis is still as valid today in Nigeria and in most countries of the world as it was when he popularized it over half a century ago.”
Here is the whole article: http://www.nigerianmuse.com/20100328060933zg/opessays/the-nationality-question-imperative-for-national-restructuring-by-prof-ropo-sekoni
Here comes an interesting piece of work! Dear Derese! u said it very well! I have been abroad in many occasions and tried to come to some characterization of the ethiopian community, the Diaspora! You made a persfect observation that what they need less of political unity and more of consensus among themsleves. Ethiopian Diaspora communities elsewhere in Europe are divided beyond recognition. They are not able to form a unified community; elsewhere we here them angered by east Europena new comers to take cleaning jobs from their hands or the Sri Lankan ones…
Then—-there is a syndrome..of any kind..
Then they need to sit down and make clean sheet of their houses..the basics..the bottom lines…before one grand schema of thinking as one…at higher level is sought..
One thing this article would obtain is shear of crticisms…Every body would say NOoooo we are always ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!But is it????????
Derese,
thanks for initiating this discussion with your precise article!
Hundahore,
galatoomi for posting the article in which the European colonialists and their servants (the Abyssinian colonialists) denigirate African nations such as Oromo as the less valued “tribes and ethnies”. For the article is too long, here is the important part you wanted us read:
“…At the beginning of Nigeria’s political history, there was a deliberate effort on the part of colonialists to demonize what we are referring to in contemporary times as nationality or ethnicity. British colonialists and anthropologists deliberately referred to the nationalities they met in Nigeria as tribes, even when the population of the Yoruba at that time was close to the population of the English and certainly much more than the population of the Welsh, the Irish, the Scottish in the United Kingdom, and of the Dutch in Netherlands, the Danish, the Swedish, Finnish of the Nordic countries, and of the Flemish and the Walloons of Belgium, to name a few. British colonialists did not at that time view tribe for what it denotes scientifically but for what it connotes politically for their own goals. They defined tribe not as a human group existing before the development of or outside of states, in contradistinction from the scientific definition of tribe, in the words of Akin Akiwowo, as any people numerically larger than the community to which members of an extended kinship belongs but that possess a common name, language, culture, eponymous origin, and live within a certain geographical territory. Akiwowo’s definition of tribe is similar to the universal definition of ethnicity as a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage that is real or assumed—sharing a heritage that may be based on common ancestry, kinship, religion, language, shared territory. Furthermore, the definition of ethnicity is also not far from that of nationality, which is seen by social scientists as a people having common origins or traditions and often comprising a nation.
The purpose of these definitions, as boring as they might be to the audience, is not to get involved in a hair-splitting argument about the superiority of nationality to ethnicity or tribe. My interest is to show that groups of peoples with diverse languages, customs, religions, etc had existed in what became Nigeria in 1914 centuries before the arrival of Frederick Lugard, and to show that the haste of the British colonialists to establish the Nigerian State and make it more attractive to pre-colonial nationalities made it necessary for them to inferiorize pre-colonial Nigerian states by saying that the new Nigerian State created by Lugard in 1914 was the first state in this part of the world. We must also note that state refers scientifically to a set of governing and supportive institutions that have sovereignty over a definite territory and population. To most British colonial policymakers and all Nigerian military rulers, the Nigerian State was the only entity that should matter in the building of the new Nigerian State created by Lugard, and the more the building of the Nigerian State is done at the expense of pre-colonial nationalities, the more chances, Nigerian military dictators and their civilian supporters in the last fifty years believe will Nigeria have to attain unity, even if the unity is at the expense of the country’s ethnic diversity, as Enahoro once observed. Almost at the risk of repetition, it is necessary to summarise the political history of Nigeria, if only to establish the basis for the importance of nationality for the structure and re-structuring of Nigeria….”
Dereje,
I find your notes very insightful. For all I know, the Ethiopian society at home is not as divided and fragmented on every feature imaginable as is the case in the diaspora. I can’t help thinking that if the diaspora living in one of the most advanced democracies in the world fail to preach and practice tolerance and the common good, we might not be able to put the blame on to the ruling elite in Ethiopia. It is sickening to read from prominent Ethiopian diaspora intellectuals effectively identifying the government of the day with the state of Ethiopia. To be honest, I am very concerned not about treating this ailment of the diaspora but more about protecting the folks at home from being infected with this extremely infectitious disease. One reason we need a government at whatever cost!
Derese
Thank you for raising this issue. Some of my observations:
-Origin matters. Like many diaspora communities, the Ethiopian diaspora can be distinguished based on origin(conflict, forced exile, elective emigration etc). As Cohen said, origin creates a myth that is a basis of identity formation in diaspora communities. Ethiopians who migrated to the US in 1980s, owing to persecution and conflict back home and the “DV diapora” have different conceptions of the homeland and their relationship to communities of the host country. The jokes each group tell about the other envelop these differences in identity formation.
2. Generational differences are real. Assimilation to the host culture depends on several factors(skills, language, cultural protection….) Although it is not as linear as some propose, I say that there are generational differences in assimilation process.
3. Technology is becoming very important. Ethiopia is turning into a transnational concept as a result of the rapid development of communication technology(particularly the internet). The digitalization of diaspora has effects in identity formation and social mobilization. Note, however, that I am not a techno-determinist. Just suggesting that technology makes some things(institutions, organizations, actions) easier to pursue.
I agree with some of the observations you noted. But the reality of Ethiopian diaspora seems much more complex if one takes these factors and more(economic status, education…)
@Ogina,
Five countries in Eastern Africa (Kenya Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi) will have a free movement of capital, labor and goods effective 1st of July in the framework of EAC (the East African Community) and are planning monetary union by 2012 and evetnual political union. And people like you still dream about a non-existant supposedly sovereign nation created for you by EPRDF, EPLF and their cronies in their undying dream of not wanting to see a country named Ethiopia.
I believe the author’s article has nothing to do with unitarism in the present day context of globalizaton. When are you going to wake up from your dream?
If you have a problem with the name Ethiopia, it can be changed to something else to be agreed upon, but if you continue lamenting the way you are doing instead of pooling our resources togther to oust these thugs that survive through divide-and-rule, they are here to stay and will be there for generations, I assure you.
Kilakitu,
what the EAC now doing is exactily similar to the vision of the ULMs (Unionist Liberation Movements) like OLF, it is the anti-thesis of your Amhara UCMs (Unitarist Colonialist Movements). EAC’s political Union is not against the right of all nations and nationalities in the region and doesn’t denigrate the nations as something tribe or ethnie just like you people are doing against nations in the region called Ethiopia.
The Tigrean HCM (Hegemonist Colonial Movement) of Aite Meles Zenawi is in power because of you unitarists still praying the mantra of the pre 1991 era, instead of joining the Killil FDM (Federalist Democratic Movement) like the AFD and MEDREK.
You like it or not, the vision of ULMs will prevail and we will have the common market and the political union at least in the Horn or at large in the whole Africa, which will be build on the rock of Oromia free from both the British type Tigrai colonialism (which allows the subjected nations to use their language at the lower level) and the French style Amhara colonialism (which wants to assimilate the subjected nations as much as possible).
Oromia will be free from these two domination systems of Abyssinia at least in a form of Oromian Autonomy within Ethiopian UNION of free nations (the vision of OFC) or at best in a form of Oromian Independence within African Union (the vision of OLF). Is this painful or pleasant for you?
As far as i know most of you who comment as Oromos here are not Oromos!!!! We know who you are!!!So do not spin the Oromo issue to your agenda.They can speak for themselves.OK
Derese, the your topic was significant. Reading Milton Bennet’s Developmental Model of Inter cultural Sensitivity,1993 ,elucidates the process of adaption to a new culture.
He describes six stages in this process of sensitivity:Denial, defensiveness,minimization,acceptance,adaptation,and integration. I advise you all to go and read the book in details but from my analysis the Ethiopian seems not to go through any of the stages.
Aite *abachew,
why didn’t you call your name ** for this is what you are doing here! How do you know that people who write Oromo concern here are not Oromo? Do you mean Oromo people are not as such concious enough to discern the Tigrean HCM (Hegemonist Colonial Movement) and the Amhara UCM (Unitarist Colonial Movement) from the genuine FDM (Federalist Democratic Movements) like OFC and from the legitimate ULM (Unionist Liberation Movement) like the OLF? You like it or not, it is not as such hard to identify and to differentiate these four movements (the ULM, the FDM, the Tigrean HCM and the Amhara UCM)from one another!
To Oromboona
Ha ha ha ha
In the first place *abachew and **bachew are completely different names.Try to lightly and gently pronounce my name…then you will get the real meaning of my name …OK
2.”Do you mean Oromo people are not as such concious enough” is the most used kind of invalid paternalistic ‘logic’ by the Zenawis’.
3.You are fool. hahaha you don’t even know that you commented with two different nick names in this same wall maybe you are disguising yourself.First you commented by the name ”Ogina” and then with ”Oromboona”. Just check your comments above and you will say oh that is a weak woyanee style.
4.One thing you are good at:acronyms! well done lad.ULM,HCM,UCM ,FDM and so on. hahahah
5.To boil it down,the crux of my hearsays is that most of the people who in this cyber world , exultantly speak about,for and to Oromo issues are by default or empiricism are not Oromos.That is a truism.They feel that the Oromo issue is a best tool to divert the poltico-freedom struggle of united Ethiopians. But i tell you Sir, this strategy of free Oromia,Non EThiopianism,anti-Abysianianism, Amhara coloniastion and the bla blas are now laughable by the Oromo’s mass.Just got out from your doorsteps and talk to one Oromo Ethiopia….you will definitely know that the short lived fake and misguided discourse of anti-Ethiopian ‘move’ has evaporated once and for all.
Oromos today are not like they used to be in the past 18 years,where they were used by the TPLF’s for the extension of their period.
*abachew,
what is killing you is not the acronym, but the power behind the ULM and FDM of oppressed nations against the HCM and UCM of you non-democratic Habehsa elites! Ke masaaq alfeh mefendaat tichilaleh!
Ogina
As far as I know, EAC is not made up of ethnic/lingustic groups but nations as we know them in their standard definiton. I have no problem with organizations like OFDM that promote the unity of people, no matter in what form. I even have no problem with OLF, as I believe that they are only misguided souls who naively believe that the EPLF model will work for them in the next 40 years. The EPLF model worked in the past because they had a Trojan horse by the name of TPLF.
We are now in the age of globalization and we need to change with the times. What I am saying is that our lack of unity because of perceived differences along ethnic lines is preparing us for more years of victimization by the thugs who run our country. Let’s first respect each other, then respect each other’s views, and then talk. I believe it’s because the EAC member countries have talked, and in honesty and goodwill, that they have achieved this.
OMG, look how dirty and stupid the repsonses are to this well crafted article. I think most of you who write such bad things are I think less successful in your life and is a reflection of that .
I am currently living in the US and before that I was living in both Addis and Nazareth and I have so many ormo young and educated friends and I dont think they are so nagative about the concept of Ethiopia. But I saw this, the more successful you are in your life the more susceptable you will be to more negative things.
So the problem with the Ethiopian diaspora is also the same. Most of the diaspora does not even have a good life in here by the american standard becasue of the fact that initially , when they come here , most of them thinks that comming here by itself is a big thing. For example let me share one joke which I heared recetnly, “if habesha eats ejera and siga, buys a phone card and calls relatives back home then he/she thinks that life cannot get any better”.
So I personally do not worry about the exrimly ethnically divided dispora here( By the way what derese has raised is really correct). The reason that I am not worried is because, I really belive that one who does not even manage his/her life cannot be a good citizen to shape the future of the nation. However there are few successful and positive people from all ethnic group who give value for living together based on mutual respect, and it is in this group of the diaspora that we have to invest our time to shape the future of Ethiopia.
God bless Ethiopia
Some correction in my previous response,
….”the more successful you are in your life the more susceptable you will be to more negative things … ”
should be changed with ….
…”the less successful you are in your life the more susceptable you will be to more negative things ….”
Kalikitu,
first of all there is no any African national group in EAC, who colonized or dominated other nations as the two Habesha nations (Amhara and Tegaru) did and are still doing in the Ethiopian Empire. All nations in the EAC were colonies of Europe and they got rid of the colonialists so that they are now in a position to forge political union.
To come to such union in the Horn region, we have to get rid of both the Hegemonist Colonial Force (HCF)of Agew-Tigray elites and the rival Unitarist Colonial Forces (UCF) of Agew-Amhara elites, who are just crying and trying to come back, not necessarily struggling for the genuine freedom and democracy. Both OFC and OLF are struggling to get rid of these colonial (domination) forces in order to foster a political UNION similar to that of the EAC on the grave of the hitherto Habesha system of domination in the current Ethiopian Empire, be it in a form of Oromian Autonomy within Ethiopian Union (the vision of OFC) or in a form of Oromian Independence within African Union (the vision of OLF).
Merew,
good for you that you met and have friends from the “successful” Oromo both in Adama and Finfinne, who “don’t support both Oromian Autonomy within Ethiopian Union and Oromian Independence within African Union”. Enjoy your fantasy, I will not dare to take it away from you. With such denial, you better comfort yourself, instead of facing the coming bitter reality! This is good for your health!
I wonder if the three are typical features of the Ethiopian community as a whole. Do you observe the same attributes in second-generation Ethio-Americans? I believe that Ethiopians are not more guilty than any other first generation immigrant in any other country. To some extent it is a way of minimisation transaction costs. No reason to reverse it, therefore.
Nice that the name of *abachew is changed!
Here is the whole article: http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/printFriendly/166446
We have to be very careful when we call for unity, it may be too much to ask.There are sizable diasporas who never been few miles away from his/her birthplace before leaving Ethiopia, some even never visited Addis when they were in Ethiopia. People from Gonder, Tigray, wollega went abroad via Sudan. It’s obvious to imagine that these folks picture Ethiopia as their village but bigger. To make things worst, our education system is not good at enhancing our understanding of different languagues, culture and religion in Ethiopia. The first time I heard different language spoken was when I went to university, you can imagine what I would thought of other ethnics if I left home earlier.For economic and other reasons, we don’t have the habit of visiting different parts of our country and even when we visit we ignore to appreciate the local culture,to get familiar with it.
I don’t see any problem in ethiopians preferring to get along with their ethnic, what is dangerous is when we try to denounce others when they start to socialize with others. However I have to admit that we don’t learn much from others if we are protective and not ready to be out of our comfort zone, then it will be only change of place with the same mind set and experience. It’s when we see Asian trading stocks, we can do the same, other wise we keep sending money home to buy taxi when there is attractive investment opportunity in the host country.
Ogina,
It seems to me, from the tone of your argument and the barrage of acronyms you use, that you are out with the sinister purpose of trying to inculcate a new form of ideology of your own making in some naive peoples’ minds. Your ideas are half-baked, your vocabulary highly inflammatory, and obviously unbecoming of an intellectual worth his salt who is concerned with his country’s destiny.
Honestly, what are you doing on these forum?
If there are some genuine Oromos on this forum, I would like to say that this is where we can discuss our future. Let’s exercise intellectual honesty. Come up with the real issues of immediate concern, which is how to get our freedom back.
Unless Addis Neger tries to work on poisness messages from TPLF supporters who always tries to be smart by playing ethnic politics , like being a concerned Oromo man, this site will untimately be changed to a site like AIGA FORUM .
Even big organizations like CNN wont post comments if they dont meet cetain standards or if they are in violation of the principles of the organizations.
Well talking about oromo as an oromo is good but talking about the other guy as an Oromo hater is bad. Ethiopia is a nation for all the people and a respect for Ethiopia is for all the people including those who were born to be Ethiopias but later or after hearing some nasty ethnic politics have changed to haters of ethiopia.
Addis Neger, opening a blog site does not mean that allowing every nasty word to be posted. Well only if you want your site to develop otherwise more free minded people will avoid visiting your site because you are alrady hijacked by TPLF people who acts like concerned oroms. Look at this article , it was a wonderful article but is now busted by the dirty ethnic comments.
Deal with it.
Kilakitu,
I think I have given adequate answer to your arguement, in which you took EAC as an example to oppose the move of the Unionist Liberation Fronts in contrast to your mantra of Unitary Ethiopia. What irritated you here? The solution forward is just you UNITARISTS give up your mantra or accept Afaan Oromo as the only federal working language in the Unitary Ethiopia you want to foster. Genuine solution is of course that you right radicals give up your position, the left extremists postpone their vision of dismembering Ethiopia and all agree on the middle ground of forging a TRUE Killil Federation! I know it is bitter for you unitarists to swallow such a compromise!
I am sorry to say but this is pathetic. What about your mantra of accepting Afaan Oromo as the only language. You also require the ‘unitarists’ as you would like to call us to give up what we stand for but you are prepared in return to only postpone your agenda of dismembering the country. Well this certainly is not a compromise and you will not get nothing of the kind. OLF has tried this now for how long five decades? And they are very far from achieving it now than when they started. They have practically started more orl less at the same time with the Eritreans and look where they are and look where OLF is (claimng to represent the largest ethnic group in the country). Ask yourself why OLF is a dimal failure. Ver simple. Because they are trying to lead an agenda which is rejected by all but a few elite in the diaspora and probably a few more at home. What the majority of Oromo want is to get what they deserve in their country Ethiopia. No more or no less than anybody else.
Mesfin,
Regarding the Oromos..In my opinion, most of OLF’s aims has in fact been achieved. The basic reason OLF fighters picked up guns like all oppressed peoples across the World was to bring about improved living conditions for the large Oromo people and in the situation of the time that could only be realized by outright independence of the region since the excessively monarchical and ethnocratic regime of Hailesellasie and the military Junta of Derg were in no way prepared to concede those basic yet necessary rights of Ethiopian peoples. But after Derg has been removed from power by EPRDF, a group with very similar visions and rationales to OLF, there was no reason to demand secession as long as the reasons that necessitated it no longer existed. I say OLF achieved its visions because of the relative cultural and political freedom the Oromo people are enjoying today compared to other nationalities who had no strong liberation movement like OLF. The only reason that is contributing to the failure of OLF, I believe, the inability of some of its leaders to adopt to changing situations.
I wanna thank Derese for his valuable contributions in creating awarness among the Ethiopian community. i appriciate the way u see things and i also believe that u have a good heart.
I think we need a cultural, relegious and political revolutions inorder to moveforward and come up with a solution. The key issue is understunding what is the major problem which inhibited us not fix our political social and economic setbacks.
Thx
Ato Derese and other members of the Admin,
why did you delete the 7 pro-Oromo important posts? Is this the type of democracy you are preaching for? Thanks for making Oromo to know for what you do stand! Enjoy your discussion among each other! ADIEU! Galatooma!!!
Aite Dejenie,
you just tried to tell us one simple message: Unitary Ethiopia with Amharinya as the only national language so that you will be sure of Amharinizing ALL in to the pool of Amharic speakers! Well done! But be sure to that Oromo people will accept your Unitary Ethiopia only and only if you accept Afaan Oromo as the only national language of the empire! Agree? Common sense is of course to limit Amharinya to only Amhara national area, Afaan Oromo being the national language of Oromia and we all nations in that cursed Abyssinian empire have English as our common international language. Then no Oromo will have problem with such Ethiopian UNION on the grave of the hitherto Abyssinian Empire!
I mean Aite Tsehay!
Ato Tsehay,
dismembering the Abyssinian empire is already a programmed fact, take it only 1 year, about 10 years or as long as 100 years. The left radicals can’t give it up, they can only pospone it as a tactical solution (settling for the TRUE Killil federation temporarily). Swallow the bitter fact!
Aite Mesfin,
you like it or not OLF just did its marvelous irriversible work. Afaan Oromo and Biyya Oromo are the realities on the ground. You just live with the fact to see an Independent Oromia with flourishing Afaan Oromo in the near or far future!
Wake-up! People.
Stop highlighting the differences, while you are living a misserable and poor life.
First thing comes first. Which are basic necessities. If you can’t remember them because of POLITICO-CANCER discussions and mentalities; they are: food, shelter, cloth, air and water.
QUESTIONS FOR US;
1) how many of us we eat healthy, quality and variety balance foods to keep us safe and healthy?
2) how many of us we cover our naked body with beautiful cloths or are we dressing pant down life is withdrawn like—?
3) how many of us we own total mortgaged paid House(s)? Do we live in high-class secured area or—?
4) how many of us we quinch our theristy with clean water and selected fruit drinks? and
5) how many of us we breath fresh air or we live on where their is quality and non-poluited air?
Do we have all the above mentioned from #1 to #5? Are we fully satisfied by them?
If your answer is yes for the above two questions, now it is the right time to discuss your dam politics.
However, we might ask ourselves that we can not have those five basic necessities until we get our political questions answered, well, that is depend on where we live and how we think.
*Remember, I SAID, FIRST THING FIRST.
Can anyone tell to Nazret.com, why they are not posted some of 100 % ETHIOPIAN v.good comments?
Some of my comments have mesaages for Ethiopians who were being misleaded or didn’t get the right informations before and after they left their Country.