User talk:Kinini

== MISSION OF FRONT FOR INDEPENDENCE OF OROMIA (FIO) ==

Our mission is to dismantle the Ethiopian Colonial system and liberate the people of Oromia that is languishing under this cruel Abyssinian colonial oppression and replace it with the just system in which the right of the people of Oromia to self- determination is fully recognized and realized. The right of every Oromian to life, liberty, and prosperity shall be restored. Freedom shall be for all citizens of Oromia.

Founders of Front for Independence of Oromia (F.I.O)

== I .HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION ==

The end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century mark the commencement of a new era in the history of the Oromo people. For around this period, their way of life was undergoing a qualitative change. A sedentary agrarian mode of existence was fast replacing nomadic pastoralism.

A change in the social and political life of the Oromo people had inevitably to follow in the wake of this change in the mode of existence. The indigenous "Gadaa" system of social and political life that had contributed to the civilization of the Oromo people was coming apart as it was proving to be incompatible with a sedentary way of life.

The usurpation of some "Gadaa" offices, especially the office of the "Abbaa Duula" (Minister of War),was evidence of this disintegration of the degree of democracy represented by the "Gadaa". In many parts of Oromia, selfish and ambitious "Abbaa Duulaas" (or Abbaa Bokkuus")were starting to emerge into lifelong warlords as precursors to feudal lords. The assumption of the title of "Moti" (king or ruler) by some of these usurpers in some western parts of Oromia, is an example of this tendency. So during this period the Oromo way of life was being transformed from semicommunalism to feudalism. Had it been left to itself, it would have been possible to envisage to culmination of this process in the formation of a single Oromo feudal state. However, external causes interfered with this natural development and imposed feudalism from without.

During the second half of the nineteenth century-the time that historically corresponds with the declining of the Gadaa system and the rising of feudalism- the scramble for Africa by European colonialists was moving into high gear. However, because of the intense rivalry between the European colonialists and their fear of clashing with each other, and, above all, because of the participation of an Ethiopian delegation at the Berlin Conference for the partition of Africa (1884-5), direct colonization of Abyssinia became less fruitful and a new strategy was designed to colonize the adjacent African territories indirectly through different puppets. This was the process in which the Ethiopian dependent empire-state came into being

Accordingly, the British took up Yohannes of Tigrai while the French and Italians supported Menelik and gave him all-round assistance to bring all these territories under his control. Using modem weaponry, military advice and intelligence supplied by his European overloads, Menelik II managed to expand to the rich and fertile Oromia and other adjacent territories. The exploitation of the human and material resources of the newly colonized territories in return helped Menelik to triumph over the other candidate - Yohannes of Tigrai - and enabled him to unify Abyssinia and assume the title of King of Kings. In short, the collusion between Ethiopian colonialism and world imperialism began at this historical juncture. Having in mind the repeated humiliations suffers by his forefathers at the hands of the Abbichu Oromo (who foiled their attempts at further southward colonization); Menelik knew that one more factor was necessary before he could, with confidence, recommence the wars of colonization which Sahle Selassie and his descendents had continued, following in the footsteps of their forebears. This decisive factor was the cooperation and the collaboration of key Oromo warlords. The ripening of the conditions for feudalism in the Oromo society and the struggle between different Oromo feudal lords in the Oromo society was to make such allies easily available. Some among the Oromo leader-like Gobana, Kumsa Moroda and Jote Tullu - were completely taken in by Menelik's deceitful designs and fully cooperated in the formation of a united federation of Oromia and Abyssinia, which was, of course, betrayed by the Amhara ruling class later on. However, history resounds with the gallantry with which the Oromo people fought against the colonizer.

Armed with primitive weapons, and disunited, they gave anti-colonial resistance of Arsi-Aanole in which thousands of heroines and heroes were amputated their hands an breasts, Calanqo, Abbichuu,Gulal1e, Metaa, Maccaa, Booranaa, Wollo, Dhumuugaa Guji, Karrayyu and so many other clashes including the heroic resistance put by the Worji Oromos that left the enemy with bitter memories.

At the end of Menelik's wars of annexation, the area of this empire had expanded extensively and people with various backgrounds had become colonized. So the defeat of the Oromo meant the defeat of all oppressed peoples of the empire as well. Indeed, the defeat of the Oromo strengthened the roots of feudalism even in the community of the oppressor nation. By constantly holding the specter of their oppressed classes, the Amhara feudal lords have succeeded in maintaining their people in abject misery there by the harmonizing antagonistic classes. In addition, they have continuously striven to inculcate a sense of superiority in their people and hence to create a false image of themselves so as to divert attention from the harsh realities of poverty and backwardness. Therefore, the origin of the misery that has been imposed on the people under the sway of the Ethiopian Empire will not be realized until and unless this colonization is negated and all oppressed nations are liberated.

Ever since their colonization by the Amhara ruling class, the heroic Oromo people have waged a relentless struggles to rid themselves of the dual burden of exploitation by feudalism and imperialism. To mention but a few peaks of this struggle:

(a) the Raayya Oromo uprising of 1928 could be crushed when the Royal Air Force were called in from the British colony of Aden. (When they rose, again in 1940, the same imperialist forces were again utilized to force them into submission.)

(b) In 1935, the Western Oromo Confederation was established under the chairmanship of Habtemariam G/ Egzabher,and an application was made to the League of Nations for its recognition as a state.

(c) After the defeat of the Italians, the Oromo citizens of "Addis Ababa" and’ Harar province petitioned the British Government for an independent Oromo state. However, the British Government did not pay any heed to the demands and, instead, restored Haile Selassie to the throne. In the mean time, the heroic Oromos of Guma, Limu, Illubabor revolted against the design of restoring back Haile Selassie to power.

(d) The Maccaa Tuulamaa patriotic Oromo political movement gained great popularity before it was finally ruthlessly banned in 1967; its leaders hanged off, others exiled.

(e) Eight years of guerilla struggle in Bale needed the aid of Israeli explosive experts, British Army Bridge and road builders, and American Air Force advisers on precision bombing to withstand the insurgents. Later on due to the negotiation initiated by the regime, the international situation, the banning of Maccaa Tuulamaa patriotic association and above all due to the problem of geopolitics of Oromo revolution the war came to an end temporarily in 1970. At this historical era a significantly high political movement among the Oromo students gained momentum. Among various papers published regularly Voice of Oromo against Tyranny, is worth mentioning. The historic resolution passed by the Oromo University students with regard to Sugar Coated chauvinism embodied in the "Zemetcha" demonstrate that our students have reached highest level of national awareness.

The struggle of the Oromo people reached its uppermost level of achievement under the leadership of OLF in 1991 at the end of the collapse of Ethiopian military junta regime. However, like every other struggle the Oromo struggle has gone through ups and down to get to its destination.

Nevertheless, the down turn drive under the opportunism that infiltrated the OLF leadership after the death of the founding fathers and continued unfaithfulness to the cause by the current OLF leaders has brought our nation to its knee and made the future of our nation darker than ever. In defiance to this capitulationist and defeatist trends and political conspiracy to liquidate the struggle for national liberation genuine Oromo nationalist have started to look for option and better alternative to save our nation from intended sale out by OLF leaders. As a result of this we have taken historical responsibility to continue the cause for which our beloved comrades fell. We stand in union with the freedom loving people of Oromia and as of now build one national organization that can not harbor regionalism, religion, Ethiopianism and that shall only harbor those dedicated Oromo nationalists whose dreams are to see free Oromia.

The Mission of Front for Independence of Oromia is to dismantle the Ethiopian colonial system and build FREE INDEPENDENT DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF OROMIA on its ruins.

'''II. A BRIEF MANIFESTO'''

The Political position of Front for Independence of Oromia on the universal principle of selfdetermination.

F.I.O recognizes the principle of Self-determination as universal in its content. In other words, the right of people to self-determination up to independence applies to all nations and nationalities in the world including the Abyssinian nations themselves. Neither is it privilege to any nation nor is no nation exception to this fundamental tenet of our organization. Our guiding motto is “no nation can be free if it oppresses other nations.”

For F.I.O, individual and group rights are universal, impartial and indivisible. Therefore, for us, the rights of people to self-determination, democratic and human rights are one package. Additionally, we respect international laws and conventions that do not negate our basic rights as an individual and as a people. F.I.O is an abotitionist organization. Retentionism is diametrically opposite to our principle. In other words, we do not accept the policy of capital punishment. No one shall be punished by death. In this, we are fully committed to the abolitionist principle of Amnesty International and Human Right Watch and exercise it in post-independence Oromia.

Self-determinations answers the” what and the wherefores” of the Oromo national liberation struggle.The ultimate goals of the short range and long-range objectives: economic, social, cultural and political objectives fall under the conceptual category of self-determination. Self-determination can be utilized and can be applied in different shapes. Different political and social groups understand different things when talking about self-determination.

The blatant exponents of old Abyssinian nationalism understand and interpret the concept of selfdetermination as the disintegration of the Abyssinian national indivisibility, territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Abyssinian state and therefore phobic to the concept in its all forms.

The leading exponents of the Abyssinian social democratic chauvinism under newly hypocritical manifestation – ”Revolutionary democracy” fight against self-determination by the name of selfdetermination. They recognize the concept in words and fight against it in deeds. They wrote it on the country’s constitution only for propaganda tricks. They tragically turned the concept into the apologetics of the Abyssinian newly emerging colonial class and agitated for and against the principle.

As a matter of principle F.I.O does not overrule the possibility of DEMOCRATIC UNITY with other peoples and nations. Again as matter of principle and practice we firmly believe that a genuine democratic unity is not possible under Abyssinian colonial system and it is only possible after its total eradication. Hence, this makes the roadmap to a genuine democratic unity cruciatingly tortuous. For us, the roadmap that takes our nation to a genuine democratic union is “from disunion to union.” Not otherwise. For we believe that a genuine democratic union is the result of voluntary union of FREE and EQUAL nations.

'''III. on the Questions of the relationship between National Policy and the Right of peoples of to Selfdetermination,Referendum and Forms of State Organizations'''

1. Self-determination Defined

Self-determination answers the question of the essence of Oromian national liberation struggle. The Ultimate goal, short-range and long-range objectives: political, economic, social and cultural objectives fall under the conceptual category of self-determination. Self-determination can be utilized in different shapes. Different political and social groups understand different things when talking about selfdetermination.

For Front for Independence of Oromia the right of the people of Oromia means the independence of Oromia. No more, no less.

The Blatant champions of Abyssinian national chauvinism understand and interpret the concept of selfdetermination as “ethic politics” and regard it as a total disintegration of the Abyssinian national sovereignty, territorial indivisibility and the sovereignty of Abyssinian state and, therefore, phobic to the concept in all its forms. Presently the neo-naafxanya organization known by the acronym “CUD” is a stereotypical representative of this reactionary and chauvinistic political line.

The leading exponents of the Abyssinian social democratic chauvinism under a new hypocritical manifestation of “revolutionary democracy” fight against a genuine self-determination by using a hypocritical hullabaloo of self-determination. They recognize the principle in words and fight against its essence in deeds. They wrote it on the imperial constitution only for propaganda tricks. They tragically turn the concept into the apologetics of the newly emerging Abyssinian colonial ruling class and agitate for and against the principle.

The Abyssinian newly emerging social democratic chauvinists led by EPRDF utilized the principle of self-determination as a tested weapon of usurping power from the hands of the rival Abyssinian ruling class led by the defunct military dictatorship. As soon as they took power from their former rivals, they started agitating against this principle under the cover of the Ethiopian unity to justify their notorious war of genocide against the Oromo people and other oppressed nations and nationalities. As the ardent champions of democratic revolutionary nationalism Front for Independence of Oromia, not only understand the concept of self-determination as means the political independence of the oppressed nations and nationalities but we are also committed for its practical application unconditionally.

According to our interpretation, the right of Oromo people to self-determination means only the Oromo people itself has the right to determine its own destiny. That means no one has the right to forcibly interfere in the life of our people to destroy our nationhood and other institutions to violate our habits and customs to dismantle our democratic socio-political institutions by waging war of genocide against our people.

In other words, the right of Oromo people to self-determination means that the Oromo people can arrange its life according to its own free will. First, the principle of self-determination is diametrically opposite to the Charteristic or constitutionalistic trend, which strives to determine the destiny of the sovereign nation (Oromo) bargaining in joint colonial parliament. Secondly, neither is it determining the fate of our people by replacement (representation) nor jointly determining our future with colonial megalomanias.

The Oromo people have the rights freely to determine their own destiny. They have the right to arrange their lives as they see fit, without of course, trampling on the right of others like Abyssinian colonial jingoes

2. The Relationship Between Self-determination, Referendum and the Form of State Organization

To facilitate the better understanding of the current divergent political and ideological lines in the Ethiopian colonial Empire and the scenario of Oromo national liberation struggle, it is very essential to clearly distinguish the basic difference between the above related concepts of Oromo Struggle for national independence-the underlying difference between self-determination, referendum and forms of state organizations.

Different political groupings and organizations consciously or unconsciously confuse the difference between self-determination and referendum. Basically, the difference between self-determination and referendum is the difference between principle and mechanism. Whereas self-determination is an end, referendum and form of state organization are means to an end.

3. Referendum Defined

By definition, referendum means a direct popular vote to determine the most important and the most controversial issues of a nation. Referendum is interchangeably used with the word national plebiscite. As a tested democratic mechanism, referendum does not stand on its own. That is to mean it is derivative by its nature. It is directly related to the question of the form of the struggle for national liberation. When the form of the strategy of national liberation is selected to be peaceful in nature, then referendum can be utilized as a democratic mechanism in legalizing the process of independence.

However, under the Ethiopian colonial system which is diametrically opposed to democracy, an attempt to recommend referendum as a means of resolving national contradictions is equivalent to political hallucination. That is why we are strongly against the old guards of Shanee Gumii agenda for peace and fundamentally irreconcilable with their infantile and premature proposal of referendum as the means of solving our problem. By its very nature, we firmly believe that, referendum cannot be the cause for independence but it’s the outcome of the dismantling of colonial bureaucracy. Referendum is nothing but de jure of the defacto independence.

4. Types of referendums

There are two categories of referendums in relation to the question of national independence: Confirmative referendum and self-rule referendum. As history testifies, referendum can be utilized by both centrifugal and centripetal social forces. But the outcome depends on the strength of the competing forces. For instance, in Morocco and Canada the colonial classes misused referendum to confirm their annexation over Saharawi Arab Republic and the province of Quebec respectively. This is a typical example of a confirmative referendum ever known in modern times. The referendum, which was conducted in Eritrea, was a typical example of self-rule Referendum

5. Prerequisites of Internationally supervised Referendum

Internationally supervised referendum depends on the following factors:

5.1 The total defeat of the colonial class and the eradication of the colonial bureaucracy 5.2 The high level of national consciousness of the voting subjects. 5.3 The accuracy of a national census 5.4 The pressure of international democratic forces

The above-mentioned factors are the most necessary and sufficient preconditions to carry out a self-rule referendum. At the absence of these preconditions a national plebiscite will never escape the danger of intimidation, vote rigging and confirmation of colonial rule over the conquered people. Besides, one has to keep in mind that the colonial class loses no opportunity in changing the demographic composition of the colonized peoples by the resettlement of the conquistadors. Therefore, we are categorically opposed to the May 2000 the so-called OLF agenda for peace that was proposed by the revisionist Shanee clique without taking these factors into account. With this basic understanding of the differences between the principle, mechanism and form of state of Oromian national liberation struggle Front for Independence of Oromia declares the following political principle and theoretical vision.

6. On the Question of the Form of State Organization

By definition the form of state organization neither is principle nor is it mechanism. It is the shape or the mode of manifestation of organization on which any state is structured. The main state structures known to the history of state organizations so far are the following: 6.1 independent states 6.2 confederate states 6.3 Federal states 6.4 Regional autonomous states 6.5 National areas 6.7 Unitary states F.I.O considers confederation, federation, regional autonomy, national area and unitary states as forms of union within the framework of the Ethiopian colonial Empire whereas an independent state is a form in which disunion manifests itself in post-independence Oromia. As a matter of principle, F.I.O do not recognize intra-Ethiopian forms of state organizations and we never recommend as durable solution to the Oromo question. On the contrary, we unswervingly oppose the Ethiopianist, liduidationist and revisionist tendencies and lines among the Oromo nationalists that propose these forms of unions as durable political solutions for the Oromo question. However, we do not rule out the possibility of the formation of union states after an absolute eradication of the Ethiopian colonial system by using an internationally supervised referendum. On the whole, the Front for Independence of Oromia regards the question of referendum and forms of state organizations as subordinate and secondary elements in the process of decolonization. On top of this, we categorically reject the federalist tendency of the old guards of Shanee-Gumii that downgrades the question of total independence of Oromia either to referendum or to federal form of state organization.

'''III. PREAMBLE'''

WHEREAS the struggle of the independence of Oromia must be promoted i.e. Oromians must struggle for development, progress and national liberation so as to occupy their right and honorable place among the nations of the world;

RECOGNIZING that the inevitable victory over colonialism comes as the result of a strong, qualified,effective organization and leadership that unswervingly stands for the total liberation of Oromia;

NOTING the current OLF leadership preoccupation with democratizing Ethiopia, premature power rivalry, opportunism, apitulationism, defeatism, and political intrigues of dividing and weakening the organization and OLA;

WHEREAS the people of Oromia must be united, organized, consolidated and mobilized against colonial and national oppression;

UNDERSTANDING the indispensability of a principled, dedicated, organized, determined and disciplined national revolutionary democratic organization and a visionary leadership that rallies the cross-section of the people of Oromia to total liberation and independence;

AND WHEREAS a resolution was passed by the conference of the interim and organizing National Council of Front for Independence of Oromia or F.I.O authorizing the founding and establishment of the FRONT FOR INDEPENDENCE OF O ROMIA;

We therefore assume the historical responsibility of laying the foundation of FRONT FOR INDEPENDENCE OF OROMIA effective of as today October 19, 2005. Kinini (talk) 16:15, 8 August 2008 (UTC)