Oromo struggle pioneers embrace Ethiopian struggle for justice & democracy

SEATTLE – Pioneers of the Oromo nationalist struggle have mapped out a new path that embraces the struggle of all oppressed Ethiopians for social justice and democracy.

In a statement released to the media on Friday, the Oromo Democratic Front (ODF) emphasized that the destiny of the Oromo people has never been different from the destiny of the rest of the Ethiopian people. The ODF underscored that the interests of the Oromo people are equally shared by the rest of the people of Ethiopia. In a nutshell, the statement said:

“We also believe that the economic and security interests of
the Oromo people are intertwined with that of other peoples in Ethiopia. In
addition, their geographic location, demography, democratic heritage and bond
forged with all peoples over the years make it incumbent upon the Oromo to play
a uniting and democratizing role.”

The ODF called on various political organizations, including the ruling party EPRDF, to join forces that would guarantee durable peace and stability in the country.

Following is the full text of the ODF Declaration:

We, members of the Founding Congress of the Oromo
Democratic Front (ODF), announce the launching of a new Oromo political
movement that advocates justice for the Oromo and all other nations in
Ethiopia. The founding of ODF ushers in a new phase in the Oromo nationalist
struggle with the objective of working for the transformation of the Ethiopian
state into a truly democratic multinational federation equitably owned by all
the nations.

We are launching this new movement cognizant of the fact
that Ethiopia has been, and remains, the prison of nations and nationalities,
with the Oromo being one of the prisoners. Today in Ethiopia, domination, repression,
discrimination, eviction, denial of religious freedom, humiliation and
exploitation of the Oromo and other nations and nationalities have attained new
heights. And this needs to come to an end. It is to contribute to this end that
we are launching a movement that advocates freedom and justice for all
individuals and nations.

Our advocacy of justice for all individuals and nationals
is motivated by the universal principle that struggling for justice for oneself
alone without advocating justice for all could ultimately prove futile because
“injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” 

We also believe that the economic and security interests of
the Oromo people are intertwined with that of other peoples in Ethiopia. In
addition, their geographic location, demography, democratic heritage and bond
forged with all peoples over the years make it incumbent upon the Oromo to play
a uniting and democratizing role.

By taking this proactive and inclusive stand we are
heralding the re-articulation of the Oromo struggle for self-determination as
the advocacy of justice for all Ethiopians. This measure does not imply the repudiation
of the struggle waged to date by the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) but rather to
build on its achievements and to open a bold new forward looking chapter.

We remain convinced that the struggle for
self-determination by the Oromo and other oppressed nations is still legitimate
due to the persisting imperial character of the Ethiopian state, which has been
stubbornly lingering  even after the
exercise of political power has  passed
from one ruling elite to the other.

Ethiopia’s enduring imperial legacy can be put to rest,
once and for all, by transforming the present Ethiopian state into a genuinely
democratic multinational federation. To this effect, we are struggling for the
implementation of those principles and processes that would transform all the
subject peoples of the Ethiopian state into the empowered citizens of a common
federal state that fairly serve their interests, guarantee their collective security,
and reflect their diverse identities.

This stand of our movement contrasts with the policies of
the ruling party as well as those yearning for a return to the previous
political order. It also contrasts with the stand of those seeking to implement
self-determination in an exclusivist and statist sense.

We are convinced that the TPLF/EPRDF’s policy of aspiring
to indefinitely remain in power as a vanguard party, which serves as the sole
guarantor of “revolutionary democratic unity” while practically subverting the
exercise of democracy and federalism is unjust and unsustainable. In fact, this
course could culminate in the type of horrendous bloodshed that took place in
the aftermath of the breakup of the former Yugoslavia.   

We are similarly convinced that the aspiration to revive the
pre-1991 policy of working to achieve upward homogenization by forging
Ethiopia’s diverse communities into a single Amharic-speaking nation through
coercive cultural and linguistic assimilation is unlikely to be realized even
with major bloodshed. This approach, rather than instituting democracy, would
further exacerbates inter communal conflicts and thereby becoming antithetical
to harmonious coexistence.

Contrary to their lofty pronouncements, the elites that
succeeded in ruling Ethiopia to date are fundamentally the same in treating all
the inhabitants of the country, including the people, from which they originate,
as mere subjects rather than citizens and stakeholders in state affairs. The refusal
to recognize in principle and uphold in administrative practice the citizenship
rights of all Ethiopians, foremost among which is the right to freely
participate in determining how the state is structured and governed, sits at
the center of the political contention in Ethiopia.

The elite groups that have ruled Ethiopia to date,
despite being locked in a fierce rivalry and antagonism, are also united in
presuming that they have the right to set the conditions that members of other
societies have to fulfill in order to participate in the country’s political
life.

One of the conditions set by the previous dominant elite
is the disavowal of the language and cultural rights of non-Amharic speakers in
exchange for their individual rights and liberties while the current ruling
elite is violating the individual rights and freedoms of these societies while
pretending to uphold their cultural and linguistic rights. Taking all of the
above into consideration we here under propose and struggle for the following
principles and process that would usher in a new era Ethiopia’s history.

On Structuring
Ethiopia as a Federation

We start from the simple premise that the post-1991
policy of structuring Ethiopia as a federation of its diverse nations is a move
in the right direction. The adoption of this policy is attributable neither to
the ill-intensions nor generosity of the TPLF but became mandatory as a
response to the mounting pressures of the struggles for self-determination by
the Oromo and other oppressed nations.  

The OLF played an active role in proposing the
restructuring of Ethiopia into a multinational federation as a means to end the
injustices stemming from the imperial character of the Ethiopian state.
Unfortunately, implementing a genuine federal order completely contradicted the
present ruling elite’s aspiration of emerging and permanently remaining as a
new dominant group by simply stepping into the shoes of those that it replaced.
We now stand for correcting the aberrations resulting from the abuse of the
federation as a policy of domination by the present ruling elite.   

Federations serve the purpose of facilitating the
simultaneous exercise of self-rule and shared-rule and become necessary in
order to reconcile unity with diversity. In the present political dispensation,
however, communities exercise neither self-rule nor shared-rule but have been
enduring the TPLF/EPRDF’s tyrannical rule for more than two decades. The ruling
party directly and centrally micro-manages all communities by pre-selecting its
surrogates that the people are then coerced to “elect” at elections that are neither free nor fair. Ending this charade by enabling all
communities to elect their representatives in fair and free elections is the
only way of finally putting Ethiopia on a path to democracy, stability, peace,  justice, and sustainable development.

On the Struggle
for Self-Determination

The official title of Ethiopia has gone from the Empire
of Ethiopia to the People’s Democratic Republic and to the current one of
Federal Democratic Republic. Despite some of the changes that accompanied these
name-changes, the custodians of the state behave as if the country is their
imperial inheritance. Consequently, the struggle for self-determination by the
Oromo and other oppressed nations remains legitimate.

On the Exercise of
Self-Determination

We aspire to build on the positive aspects of Ethiopia’s
current federal set-up. However, to make the simultaneous exercise of self-rule
and shared-rule possible it is necessary to remove the procedural and
substantive shortcomings that stand in the way of democracy and federalism.

This can be accomplished by exercising self-determination
in a multidimensional fashion whereby subject nations, in due course, freely
elect delegates to their respective state and central constitutional assemblies.
When this process is completed, the present “holding together” type of bogus
federalism will be transformed into a genuine “coming together” variety. 

On the Issue of
Unity

There are those who perceive themselves as the sole
defenders and definers of Ethiopian unity. We reject such a stand since the
essential precondition for unity is the emergence of a community of empowered
citizens. As we have witnessed for more than a century, invoking a common
history, culture or language has not guaranteed unity.

We similarly reject the present ruling party’s
presumption that it serves as the sole embodiment and defender of the so-called
“revolutionary democratic unity.” Such a system has ended in disaster
elsewhere. We also disagree with the ruling party’s illusory expectation that
the promotion of economic development would serve as an alternative source of
unity in the absence of democratic participation.

Consequently, we propose and struggle for the alternative
of deliberately forging constitutional patriotism by inaugurating and
entrenching societal commitment to their shared and separate political
institutions as the more promising and enduring uniting factor.  We believe that it will be this commitment that
will bind the diverse nations into a united political community willing to
protect these institutions from internal and external enemies.

On Citizenship
Rights

In order for the present subjects of the Ethiopian state to
be transformed into empowered citizens, all their citizenship rights must be
recognized and respected. In situations where the simultaneous exercise of
self-rule and shared-rule needs to be upheld, citizenship also needs to be
entrenched at both the national homeland and federal levels. The bundle of
rights that make such a layered enjoyment of citizenship is as follows: 

Civic rights; that is, the freedom and inviolability of
the person, freedom of expression, freedom of religion, equality before the law
and prohibition of discrimination on the basis of gender, race, origins, nationality,
ethnicity, religion, etc.

Political rights; that is, the right to vote and stand
for public office, as well as freedom of assembly, association, and
information.

Social rights; that is, the right to work, equality of
opportunity, entitlement to health services, provision of free education of a
high standard to the extent that the resources of the country allow.

Cultural and language rights; the right to take pride in
the redemptive aspects of one’s culture, the right to publicize one’s particular
history and the right to use one’s language for education, administration,
commerce, and the provision of judicial services.

On Disentangling
the Private Sphere from the Public

The elite that have dominated Ethiopia to date have fused
public and private institutions in order to advance and serve their partisan
and sectarian interests. This shall come to an end by turning all state
institutions into the common servants of all regardless of their political
allegiance and national identity:

The civil service shall be overhauled in order to end its
subordination to the ruling party.

The military shall be transformed into a neutral defender
of all by enacting a concordance model of civil-military relations.

The intelligence services shall not be used for monitoring
the political and private activities of citizens.

Public media shall come under the supervision of a
neutral public authority that oversees their work of providing education,
entertainment, and information.

On Economic and Social
Policy

The regime’s economic and social policies leave much to
be desired. Its economic policies have exacerbated inequality, eviction from
ancestral lands of indigenous populations, and environmental degradation. Its
social policies have created deterioration in educational standards, health
disparities and massive youth unemployment. In addition, its interference in
the exercise of religious freedom has created unwarranted social tension.

The ODF stands to correct these lopsided policies and upholds
inclusive, balanced and sustainable development aimed at curbing growing
inequality, protecting the environment, and advancing the rights of indigenous
peoples, and promoting employment. It would promote a mass education policy
coupled with the development of technical knowhow and scientific progress.  The ODF would also promote a health policy integrating
health education, prevention, cure and care measures. Furthermore, it respects
and upholds religious freedoms and equality.

On Mobilizing
Stakeholders

We believe that a country-wide movement sharing the
preceding vision, principles and policies is indispensable for propelling
Ethiopia forward and ending the current political paralysis. To this effect, we
will exert all efforts in order to pull together as many advocates and
promoters of the interests of diverse social sectors as possible in order to
popularize and refine the principles and processes that would transform
Ethiopia into a genuinely democratic multinational federation.

A call to all
Oromo Organizations and Groups

We believe that ending more than a century old
subjugation of our people should be of a paramount interest than dwelling on
trivial political wrangling. The prevailing condition of our people demands the
Oromo political organizations and groups pulling together our efforts to
strengthen and consolidate our struggle to achieve our people’s national
aspiration. Thus, we call upon all of you to join hands with us in
strengthening our camp to intensify our legitimate struggle and put an end to
sufferings of our people.

A Call on
TPLF/EPRDF

We call up on the ruling regime to reconsider its
ultimately counterproductive policy of aspiring to indefinitely stay in power
by fanning inter communal and interreligious suspicion and tension. We call on
the regime to join us in articulating and implanting policies that create
sustainable stability.

A call to International
Community

The ODF calls on the international community and all
other friends concerned with the suffering of the Ethiopian people, to stand
with us in implementing our vision and proposal of transforming the Ethiopian
state to bring peace and sustainable stability in Ethiopia and Horn of Africa.

 Freedom and
Justice for all!!

Founding Congress of the Oromo Democratic Front (ODF)

March 27, 2013