"MEDEMER" OR "MEDEBER"? (Thesis, Antithesis)

(Assefa Tefera Dibaba, PhD, Indiana University, USA)

Dear Readers,

In my view, in my last article titled #ETHIOPIAandOROMIA”: #Ethiopianism, The #NeoOfficialNationalism, and the #OromiaFirst! Trend,” I argued for the thesis that, A HISTORICALLY UNDEMOCRATIC AND CORRUPT SYSTEM CAN NEVER BE DEMOCRATIC UNLESS IT REFUTES ITSELF AGAINST ITS FOUNDATIONAL VALUES AND ITS REPRESSIVE INSTITUTIONS (media, police, finance, court, military, and the crony capitalism—its life-blood) ROOTED IN NON-DEMOCRATIC ETHOS. For example, the reason why America is not a democratic nation is that inherently America is undemocratic—it is founded on non-democratic institutions: SLAVERY, INDIANS’ REMOVAL ACT (MANIFEST DESTINY), and the JIM CROW. Hence, to borrow Audre Lorde, for the master’s hammer will never dismantle the master’s house, we may only bash holes in his house temporarily! Believe and not, that will not change the structures! 

Whether the reality which motivated my article deprives it of objectivity and a fair reading, it is for the reader to decide. However, I should admit that I cannot write a paper such as this out of a nostalgic desire simply to return to the past. I write to analyze the social structures we live in without isolating them from the historical reality in which they are embedded. I make an attempt to give important insights into the direction in which our society is moving and the situation in which they are temporarily caught. 

And, equally important, i cannot write to analyze such a situation in a spirit of detached neutrality—a situation that originates from a history that informed me and the people I come from, a situation that stifles the fulfillment of human potentialities.

My purpose here was to call upon my people who, instead of sitting and seeing the situations of pain and conflict to which they have been exposed, the unfortunate mishaps, chose to face the suffering and challenge the repressive system and now to address our political elites who seem to oversimplify the problem. 

I strongly believe that the Oromo people have lived through a lot of hardships like other peoples in the country. Among other such misfortunes the peoples suffered include war, recurrent famine, impoverishments caused by successive regimes, forced migrations and internal displacements, to mention but only some of the social evils the Oromo lived through as a collective shared experience over the last 150 years. 

I also believe that most of the problems of/for the Oromo do not spring from the same sources as that of the Tigre and Amhara peoples who were not targeted by the successive Abyssinian ruling classes for their ethnicity and to suffer forced evictions, conquest, looting of properties, and indiscriminate mass killings simply for being Amhara or Tigre. 

Thus, I live to write and to critique as a poet, educator, and scholar focusing on analyzing both the cultural and political works of the local people I come from and whom I know well. 

So, is it my fault (is it a fault, anyways?) to be borne Oromo and in Oromia? Or, coming from a society where it seems gloom and despair still retain a firm grip, is it JUSTICE to ignore the dehumanizing situation, overlook the people’s dreams being stolen, pay no attention to the historical grief of loss? Or, is it fair to chant #MEDEMER as a biblical truth, leaving no room for those who may choose as well #MEDEBER (DISILLUSIONED/DISENCHANTED) as if by one’s own free will? In other words, “MEDEMER” is an integrationist view that emanates from the belief that, without “MEDEMER” the Oromo cannot be themselves but destined to remain strangers in the territory in which they live, hence, “MEDEBER”. Jean Paul Sartre explains this dire human condition (I choose to call “MEDEBER”) in the phrase “RATHER DEATH THAN....” to illustrate his countrymen’s situation during the Nazi occupation, and their ultimate choice in the face of adversity. 

I cannot afford to ignore the fact that every period in history produces one specific idea which sweeps over every other thought to become predominant itself. As if nothing happened to this people for over the last 150 years or so every successive ruler came up with a catchword such as Minilek’s “Civilizing the Nation” (Hager Maqnat), Haila Selassie’s “We the People,” Derg’s “Ethiopia First!”, Woyane TPLF’s “Renaissance,” and now, “Medemer” has become the rule of the day, post-globalization, when the disintegrationist Brexit, Frexit, and America First! agendas took the world with surprise. 

It would be an oversimplification to attribute the #OROMIAFIRST! trend—the view proclaimed by few but shared by many—towards pessimism, nativism, or separatism. The “OROMIA FIRST! trend” is not an obscure move out of undisciplined emotionalism, abandoning reason and yielding to impulse. It is a commitment to one’s self, to one’s authentic existence, a decision not to be kept in a bracket once again, and not to accept the fate of estrangement in one’s home. If we (the Oromo) go astray from this route once again, from the path that we think right and in our best interest, if we falter again instead of setting the unequal historical relationship in a specific period of history, seeing it as rooted in the human condition, and if we fail to settle the dilemma of “ETHIOPIAN-NESS” & OROMIAN-NESS) and direct the people’s attention toward building democratic institutions in line with our own values, cultural works, and vision, and to solve the problem once and for all, that failure will be our own fault and is a grave mistake that impacts generations to come.

My explanation of the dire situation of the people, the unequal relationship, the historical grief of loss, and the way forward, although right in emphasizing the historical aspects, some Abyssinian scholars (and their allies) still stand stout with their disregard for the sacredness of the human person. They do not realize even the rise of alienation which have broken in upon the lives of the YOUTH—the present generation of #QEERROO & QARREE who chose to die in order to be heard. 

Many ethnic groups, Amharas and Tigres not exempt, have found their own lives portrayed in the QEERROO-led revolution, which advanced, I believe, today’s OROMIA FIRST! trend. 

I cannot call back the spirits I have already dismissed. Call it bad or good omen, they stand at your gate to haunt you, hypocrites.

Adieu!

NOTE:

ETHIOPIA & OROMIA:

“Ethiopianism,” The “Neo-Official-Nationalism,” and the “Oromia First!” Trend
(Assefa Tefera Dibaba, PhD, Indiana University)
http://eecopoetics.blogspot.com/2018/07/ethiopia-oromia.html