On Abe Tokichaw’s ‘Meglecha’ (N.B. Abe Tokichaw is a satirist on the Neftegna TV station, ESAT – and has recently been airing his opinions about the #Oromo struggle and #Ethiopia in the form of a ‘Meglecha’ – Read it HereAbe Tokichaw,
The important thing is you have realized that knowing only a phrase/word of Afan Oromo (which you called Oromigna) is/was part of the oppression. I do not know any Amhara in Ethiopia who knows ONLY a phrase/word of Amharic. Thus, from this, it is clear that, while your Amhara friend is all equipped with his own national language, you, his Oromo friend, are only learning your friend’s national language, but not your own national language, which is Afan Oromo (Oromigna).
The fact your knowledge of Afan Oromo is limited to a phrase/word is no accident, but a deliberate policy of the successive Ethiopian regimes, which have denied Oromos the right to speak and write in Afan Oromo. Your lack of Afan Oromo is, therefore, the success story of “Ethiopianism” – you, Abe Tokichaw, are indeed the poster child of the ethnocidal policy of the successive Ethiopian regimes against the Oromo.
‘Ethnocide’ is the genocide against an ethnic group’s social fabric (its identity, its culture, its language, its peoplehood and its nationhood). In other words, ethnocide kills the person’s identity, and not the person. What has been killed in you is the Oromo language, the Oromo culture and the Oromo worldview, and these have been replaced in you with the language, culture and worldview of what they call “Ethiopia” aka the Amhara language, the Amhara/Tigray culture and the Amhara/Tigray worldview.
That means, your illness (i.e. oppression) in Ethiopia is not the same as the illness (i.e. oppression) of your Amhara friend. Your Amhara friend does not have to fight and die to preserve his language or culture because those have already been accepted as the “Ethiopian state’s” language and culture, but Oromos do need to fight and die to survive their language and culture. In other words, your illness is “national oppression,” but his illness is oppression because he is poor (maybe, in that case, it is a “class oppression”). Because you may also be poor like many of us, this “class oppression” is a shared oppression between you and your Amhara friend.
So, as you are giving support to your Amhara friend to help him and yourself fight the “class oppression” (which is a shared illness), I am definitely sure you are also asking your Amhara friend to help you heal your illness (i.e. your “national oppression” – since the fact you only know a phrase/word of Afan Oromo is no accident, but a deliberate policy of the past and current Ethiopian governments).
One such area for your Amhara friend to help you is to make Afan Oromo one of the official languages of the federal government — which is something you already support (crossing my fingers that you do support this policy proposal). Have you asked your Amhara friend to help you on this struggle? Have you written or aired your satire lobbying your Amhara friend for this position?
This will be beneficial to a future “Abe Tokichaw” (your children or grand/great-grand children) – that they know full Afan Oromo and will not be driving around in #Oromia with no knowledge Afaan Oromoo (language) or Aadaa Oromoo (culture) or Seenaa Oromoo (history).
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From the Editor’s Notebook
Gadaa.com
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P.S. – Abe Tokichaw, being Oromo should be about IQ of Oromo-ness, not just DNA of Oromo-ness. In this, I mean, your IQ (knowledge) about Oromo history(seenaa), language (Afaan), culture(Aadaa) and struggle (Qabsoo) goes a long way instead of just relying on your DNA to claim Oromo-ness. Your Oromo-ness is NOT just something given to you during birth, but something that will need to be nurtured in you after birth as well. It’s not too late for you to reclaim and nurture your Oromo-ness; there are countless Oromo freedom fighters who know a phrase/word of Afan Oromo just like you – they have died for the cause, and have been tortured inhumanly and imprisoned as they fight to get rid of the system that is forcing their national Oromo language, culture and worldview to go extinct.
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