#OromoProtests A Call for Economic Boycot Measures against TPLF

#OromoProtests A Call for Boycot Measures

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Building on its gains so far, the Oromo protests movement is entering a new phase.The unrelenting killing and brutal repression of the regime continues unabated. This is calling for a change of tactics.

Accordingly, the Oromo protests is now calling for a week long, nation-wide boycott of markets and trade activities in this holiday season (of Ethiopian new year and Eid el-Arafaa).

The week chosen for this campaign is a week of intense economic activities in Ethiopia. By boycotting the market and all trade exchanges for a week, this boycott campaign aims at crippling the economy of the regime. This will also demonstrate that it is Oromia and the Oromo that shoulder the heavy brunt of the country’s economy. It will also help distinguish between businesses that stand with the people’s demand for social justice and those that stand in support of the terrorist regime.

Accordingly, starting from Pagume 1 2008 to Meskerem 2, 2009 EC, there will be a nation-wide campaign targeting the economic power of the system by disrupting, through boycott, of all business and trade activities in Oromia including Finfinnee. The objective of this campaign is to weaken the regime’s capacity to oppress the people by crippling its economy.

As we all know, this is a holiday season. It’s a season of new year celebration and of Eid -AL Arafaa.

No one needs a reminder that the year that is coming to an end, 2008 EC, the year of trial and tribulation for the Oromo people. It has been a year of intense and bitter struggle. It has also been a year of huge sacrifices made in defense of our rights and in resisting a terrorist regime and it’s killing machine.

For Oromos and other oppressed peoples in Ethiopia, the year was no ordinary year. This holiday season therefore is not a holiday season like any other. It is not one in which we spend time just enjoying ourselves, having fun, and being merry. It is a season of remembering our fallen heroes, our martyrs, and all those who are in pain from injuries, those who are in the regime’s military detention centers and prisons, those whose whereabouts is unknown, those who grieve because they lost loved ones into the struggle. It is a week of quietly consulting with each other about the future of our struggle and ways of strategizing for the inevitable victory.

Consequently, during this holiday season, we shall take the following measures:

1. Our farmers shall refrain from the usual act of providing the following products/items and/or commodities that are in demand for the holiday season:

A. Grains (xaafii, barley, wheat, etc);B. Honey, coffee, butter, and other dairy products;C. Cattle (sheep, goats, bulls, heifers, etc)D. Poultry products (chicken, eggs)E. Others.

Households are advised to purchase food items that form part of basic necessities (such as salt, flours, etc) in time, preferably in the week before Pagume 1.

2. Our business people and our traders shall refrain from delivering the above mentioned items to the markets of big cities such as Finfinnee and to the consumers thereof.

3. Any business person and/or trader who violates this call for boycott shall be taken to be standing with the TPLF regime. As such, their activities shall be interrupted. Their travels to and from the cities shall be disrupted.

4. During this week, all Oromos, urban and rural alike, shall not be spending any money or time by going to restaurants, cafes, bars, places of buying and chewing chat (mana barcaa).

Everyone shall be staying at home–with family, friends, relatives and neighbors–remembering our martyrs and deliberating on tactics and strategies for the effectiveness of our struggle in the days to come.

They may also choose to spend time in their chosen places of worship (churches, mosques, temples, etc) to pray and meditate, to consult and reckon with fellow travelers of their faith.

As indicated above, these are tough times. Tough times demand tough measures commensurate to our challenges. This campaign week, because it is holiday week, is a time of heavy economic activity in the country.

The campaign’s modest goal is to hit hard on the economic activity of the week by a simple act of boycotting the wanton consumption and provision of products needed thereof.

This is done in order to weaken the regime’s economic power deployed to repress our people. It is also done to identify businesses and traders that side with the people’s just causes and those that stand in support of the regime’s imperative of killing and brutal repression.

We call upon all other justice-loving people to join our people in this campaign. We will also call upon them to understand, to pay attention, to bear witness, and to respond to this appeal to conscience.

Justice shall triumph.