The National Scope of the Oromian National Academy

A first part of the interview of Mr. Rundassa Eshete, Chairman of the Oromian National Academy, has been published in the article (Forced Public March with Amputated Members Tied on Your Neck: Only in Neo-Nazi ‘Ethiopia’ / http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/61084), focusing mostly on his life experience in the jails of the tyrannical colonial state of Abyssinia, as well as his trips and studies until the moment he reached America. In the present article, we publish Mr. Eshete’s second part of the interview, which evolves around the scope and the deeds of the Oromian National Academy.

Interview with Mr. Mr. Rundassa Eshete, Chairman of the Oromian National Academy – Part II

- What is the purpose and the activities of the Oromian National Academy?

Rundassa Eshete – The Oromian intellectuals believe that the traditional Oromian Weltanschauung and Political System offers indeed genuine African solutions for some of the problems that democracy has had to face everywhere. Simply put, the Gadaa system of the Oromians is a literal blueprint for the democratic system the right patent of which is claimed by the Westerners today.

If tomorrow the Oromians manage to establish a free and independent country, the democratic Gadaa system will be fully functional as the best source of ideas and solutions of social, economic and political issues for the Oromians; actually, I believe that it would be ideal pool of concepts and solutions for the entire African continent and beyond. Several other African nations, for instance the Sidamas, have their own systems that are similar to ours.

Therefore, the Oromian National Academy was founded to promote the Gadaa system and the Oromo World View; we want to let people understand that systems like the socialism, the communism, the capitalism, and even the Western Democracy have reached their maturity age, after having crossed very different historical circumstances, and they have to undergo great changes to respond to challenges they currently face.

The social structure of the Oromian Democracy, which is the Gadaa system, and its underlying principles are part of the African Cultural and Historical Heritage as much as the Ancient Egyptian mummies and all the material remains of the Khammitic – Kushitic Antiquity; in addition, our sociopolitical system and the ensuing ideals are alive, vibrant and still stimulating people.

Contrarily to our system of democratic representation, the world is witnessing today is groups coming to power either by force or by forging election results, and illegitimately staying in power through use of all sorts of improper tricks, such as unsolicited and unapproved change of the constitution, etc.

For example, Meles Zenawi of Abyssinia came to power by force and stayed by using three variable methods, namely brutal force, change of the constitution, and alternation of position (he was first president only to then become prime minister which after the constitution change is the politically most powerful position). The same method has just been reproduced (with Medvedev and Putin) in Russia, a country that got rid of its communistic system only to become an unorthodox replica of the American democracy where things can be adjusted an readjusted on the spur of the moment

Contrarily to these systems’ inefficiency to address all possibly arising issues, the Gadaa system, its theoretical background and the ensuing values, approaches to daily affairs, and methods to deal with the various issues, they all consist in an inexorable pool of solutions, ideas, suggestions and thoughts to almost everything; issues that seem irresolvable find their solution within the frame of Gadaa, suffice it that one studies it attentively.

The Gadaa system not only encompasses the features of democratic governance principles but it guarantees for the Oromo nation the following:

* The law stands above all men.

* Accountability is the core value of leaders.

* The military power is subject to the National Assembly (Gumii Gayyo in Afaan Oromo).

* The supreme authority of the National Assembly is the norm.

* Seniority and equality is always respected.

* Limited single term of the elected leaders is a must.

* Secular governance, distribution of power across generations, and balanced polarization around issues are part of the Gadaa theoretical background (http://oromiannationalacademy.com/kaawo_new1.pdf)

"In this type of democratic system there is no monolithic "state", which crushes all power that is not hierarchically subordinated to it. Power is divided and shared. In Western democracies, this pattern of power sharing rests primarily on a territorial basis (federalism), on formal institutions that are functionally differentiated from each other (branches of government), and on the vast array of voluntary associations and organizations that form the foundation of political participation i.e. the civil society In Oromo Democracy power-sharing rests on the division of roles between four different institutions three of which cross-cut the nation along different associational lines and the fourth is all-encompassing" said Professor Asmarom Legesse, the author of Oromo Democracy.

- Afaan Oromo is by now taught in schools and universities in the province of Oromia; would you describe this as a positive development and achievement under the current federal system in Abyssinia?

Rundassa Eshete – The fact that Afaan Oromo is taught in Ethiopia is true. To begin with, the Tigray colonizers echoed the political programs of the OLF, soon after they controlled Finfinnee in order to avoid anomy from the part of the Oromians.

Sloganeering empty phrases, such as Oromia province and Afaan Oromo actually helped the Tigray to beat a heck out of Amharas who had been and still are hated by all the other subjugated nations and ethno-religious groups in the Abyssinian empire called Ethiopia.

This overwhelming, unequivocal and irremovable position of all the other nations and ethno-religious groups against the Amharas is due to the Amhara criminal conviction, unrepentant mentality, and unaltered tyrannical policy according to which every nation and ethnic group should abandon their historic language and adopt Amharic as their national language.

By sloganeering Oromia and Afaan Oromo, the ruling Tigray minority managed to pitch 40 millions of Oromians against 10 millions of Amharas buying themselves a time not only to rule but to loot the resources of the south that they have been incessantly shipping to their Tigray province during these past 17 years.

The Amharas who did not understand the divisiveness of the ruling Tigray minority policy continued supporting the unrealistic and at the same time criminal and racist idea that "to be successful, all the ethnic groups in the Ethiopian empire must change their names to Amhara names and speak Amharic".

This was disastrous for them; in fact, they were able only to dig a deep political hole for themselves. At the same time, the Oromo political organizations continued praying to America to put an end to injustices done to the Oromo nation. In fact, both failed so severely.

Of course, this failure provided the ruling Tigray minority with a huge opportunity to prolong they stay in Finfinnee, while demonstrating their hostility and animosity against all those whom they are afraid of. Furthermore, the ruling Tigray minority manage to extract illegally great financial benefit through the rule of the entire country, making of themselves millionaires. This of course happened at the prejudice of all the subjugated Eastern African nations.

In the process, the current Tigray rulers of Ethiopia who had been a small, sectarian pro-Albanian communist group, successfully aborted the Oromians’ identity, while fully absorbing American aid, military advice, and intelligence that enabled him to invade the Somali South. So, the sloganeering of names such as Oromia and Afaan Oromo needs to be reinterpreted through the correct examination of the Tigray political objectives in Oromia.

- What dimensions of the Oromo educational system are not allowed under the current regime?

Rundassa Eshete - The history of the Ethiopian Colonial Empire has been a story of lies and mischief. The so-called Ethiopia existed for only one hundred years but in the country’s Neo-Nazi propagandist schools, we’ve been taught that Ethiopia has a three thousand years of "history". The majority of the people spoke Afaan Oromo in Ethiopia, yet we are told that Amharic is the national language. The Oromians represent 50% of the country population but we were forced to believe that the Amhara and Tigray Abyssinians ‘are’ the majority. Tens of thousands of people have been jailed or killed but we are told that the country is ‘peaceful’. To have an Oromo personal name used to be considered as a crime but we are told that we all were equal.

Simply put, the story of lie about ‘Ethiopia’ has not ended by now, being thus stretched from Menelik to Meles Zenawi of Tigray and may even continue over the years to come. To day, the Oromians are afraid to speak their own language more than ever; the reason is the fact that during the Amhara monarchical rule, there was no Oromo organization, such as OLF. However, today, anyone can be labeled OLF sympathizer, and this is a good reason for the dictatorial Tigray administration to throw him to jail. The treacherous Tigray practices of our days involve phalanx tactics, as Tigray fifth column agents detonate explosives, label some nationalist Oromians whom they want to eliminate as responsible, and finally murder them for a crime that they did not commit.

In short, allowing the Oromians to be educated equals to increased potential threat to the Tigray power. That is why the overall situation conditions are not much better for the Oromians under the current tyrannical Tigray rule.

We will publish Mr. Rundassa Eshete’s third part of the interview in a forthcoming article.