Ethiopian Podcasts
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The poet Caalaa was sitting in the cell next to the journalist Martin Schibbye at the police station in Addis Ababa. He is tortured daily. Caalaa escapes for her life and ends up alone in a wintry Hälsingland.
During Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson's time in a cell at the police station in Addis Ababa, they could for several days see how prisoners were picked up at the rest yard from an underground part of the police station. The prisoners squinted at the bright light and were in poor condition. At night, screams were heard from the neighboring cells.One of those who shouted was Caalaa Hayiluu Abaataa, a young poet from the Oromo people who was imprisoned and tortured for his regime-critical poems. Martin threw a pack of Ethiopian "Nyala" cigarettes at him at one point and communicated via hand signals when the guards did not see them.
When Martin was released, he never thought he would see Caalaa again. But in December 2012, he received a friend request on Facebook from a refugee camp in Sudan. It was Caalaa who had fled.
The situation in the camp was terrible, friends of his had been killed by Ethiopian security services and gangs of traffickers operated in the camps. He feared for his life and felt that he had escaped from the ashes of the fire.
"I am coming to Sweden" he suddenly writes to Martin one spring day in May. He has been accepted as a quota refugee and he will take a course under the auspices of the Swedish Migration Board and then fly to Sweden. When he lands at Arlanda, Martin meets him and has since followed Caalaa's life as a quota refugee in Färila in Hälsingland. Now begins his real challenge.
#Obs:
The documentary The Boy in the Cell Next door is made by Martin Schibbye in 2015Support the Show.
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Prof. Asafa Jalata Department of Sociology, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA.
Abstract
In his book, Brian J. Yates (2020) overgeneralizes the experiences
of a few Oromo collaborator individuals from the Tulama and
Wallo Oromo to the affairs of these Oromo groups. It claims that
the Tulama and Wallo Oromo participated in the construction of
the modern Ethiopian state between 1855 and 1913 and, in the
process, became Habasha by abandoning their Oromo culture and
identity. If the colonization of peoples would transform the
cultures and uniqueness of the conquered peoples, today, the
entire world population would have become the English and the
French by rejecting their respective cultures and identities. But
colonialism only creates collaborative classes from the dominated
population groups to use them as intermediaries to facilitate the
exploitation and oppression of the subaltern groups. The Tulama
and Wallo Oromo case is not different. The Oromo intermediaries
from these Oromo groups were assimilated to the
Amhara/Habasha culture and state to promote their interests and
the interest of their colonial masters at the cost of the Oromo
masses. By using the critical and political economy analytical
approaches, this review essay debunks the claims that the author
of the book makes by ignoring the history, culture, and identity of
the Oromo people, which have been suffering
under Habasha colonialism in general, and Amhara colonialism in
particular, for more than a century.
Keywords
Tulama and Wallo Oromo, Oromia, Gobana and Menelik, Habasha, Competing
Nationalisms, Oromo, Amhara-Tigray, The Manz/Shawa Kingdom, The Ethiopian
Colonial State
Share and Cite:
Jalata, A. (2021) Review Essay: Are the Tulama and Wallo
Oromo Habasha?. Sociology Mind, 11, 125-146. doi: 10.4236/sm.2021.114010.
1. Introduction
The author alleges that the Northern Oromo, namely the Tulama and Wallo
Oromo, became Habasha through cultural and political interactions with the
Amhara kingdom of Manz, northern Shawa, by abandoning their cultural norms
and Oromo identity and formed the modern Ethiopian state between 1855 and
1913. His specific objective is to liberate the Tulama and Wallo Oromo history
from Oromo nationalism, which mobilizes the larger Oromo society. By including
them in the Habasha peoplehood or community, Yates claims to reject ethno-racial
categories that essentialize Oromo and Amhara histories and undermine the reality
of “the multiethnic Habasha cultural community in creating modern Ethiopia.”
The author criticizes Ethiopian studies for using ethno-racial categories and Oromo
studies to silence “the Northern Oromo groups who played a role in creating
modern Ethiopia.” By rejecting the concept of ethnonational or ethnic categories
such as Oromo, Amhara, and Tigrayan, Yates defines the Habasha as a cultural
community. However, Yates does not explain how the relationship between the
indigenous Oromo and the expanding Amhara gradually emerged and evolved into
conflict, series of wars, colonization, and contradictions. He considers the Tulama
and Wallo Oromo as raw material from which the Habasha constructed their
peoplehood, nation, and state. If, as he claims, both the Northern Oromo and the
Amhara and Tigray ethnonational groups, which he calls the Habasha, jointly
constructed the Ethiopian state, why has this state continued to entirely reflect the
Amhara culture, identity, language, and religion? Or did the Oromo culture,
identity, religion, and language lack the substance needed to construct a state?
Yates focuses on the biographical narratives of Oromo collaborators such as
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Today our guests are Dr. Baaroo Dheereessaa and Dr. Torban Hundee. They are both Oromo nationalists and intellectuals who took the time to discuss what Oromumma means and what vision and mission Oromuma has. They define Oromuma and what could we achieve with Oromummaa vision?
In addition, they discussed immensely why the #Oromummaphobia has spread daily and has become one of the most burning topics in the Ethiopian Empire now a day? Oromummaa had long been targeted in the hostile history of the Abyssinian with the Oromo nation to undermine the values, culture, language of the Oromo and attack the identity of the Oromo in general.
Now Abiy Ahmed, the incumbent Ethiopian Prime Minister, dreams of restoring this kind of hatred and propaganda against the Oromo identity. Oromumma has become his daily agenda and duty to dehumanise as he controls the media and uses the people who glorify his evil deeds.
Stay tuned and check out our excellent program for today.
Caalaa Hayiluu is hosting this program, and it is indeed interesting to listen to our distinguished guests.
Everyone is invited to listen. If you like our podcast and would like us to continue broadcasting this type of program, do not hesitate to support our Podcast. Below is the PAYPAL link to help us.
https://youtu.be/qFEMwCAF73c
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The Mecha and Tulama Self-Help Association (Oromo: Waldaa Wal-gargaarsa Maccaa fi Tuulamaa) was an Oromo political and freedom social movement in Ethiopia. The movement was primarily based in Bale, but was active in other regions as well (including Finfinne).[1] The organization was accused of committing acts of terror by the Ethiopian government, in hopes of suppressing the Oromo National Movement that was developing at the time. The Association was established by Oromo nationalists like Mamo Mezemer, Haila Mariam Gemeda and Alemu Kitessa.[2]
https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/4f3f96cb2.pdf
Gumaataa dhalootaa, guduunfaa irbuu, damboobsaa dhalootaa!
Seenaan of ilaalleedha. yookn bishaan gabateerraa tahuu dha seenaa ofii dagannaan!
https://www.facebook.com/chala.hailu1?__cft__[0]=AZVqs5x6GsPEwS5hZFxZ-2ae7ngC8ZLDyd98bsHGXD6A6Sr0Hi9P1C6ftomEB3uohhAoxA7YgGUs_4yHLphF-02y3kLmsgwCqlkrgy5PaqqFQ6lYG2l90rUUouFMX7s-AGFFTiItiiykSLayBG2yeF5CaIgGF-0bfaaQOls2Ff-MCn2fLt8pLDPEn-x8l0SObHk&__tn__=-UC%2CP-y-R
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“We are here because you were there for us. ''
We're not sure if this song was officially released or has been leaked. Still, we found it interesting and well worth listening to our hero who was murdered by Ethiopian security forces or someone who works for the government.
Hacaaluu never left, he always stays with us in our hearts.Support the Show.
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MALTUU FI GUMGUMA GABRUMMAA''
(The wanderers and their murmurs of oppression)
I wrote this short story in 2014 when Oromo students protested EPDRF's #AddisAbabaMaterPlan, the plan to evict Oromo farmers from their land around Addis Ababa.
When the students got angry and decided to be the Oromo farmers' voice in the streets and protested, they were killed by security forces in daylight at various universities.
The main idea of writing this short fiction based on the fact that happened in Oromia came to my mind after speaking to some students at #Madawalabu University in the Bale Zone in the regional state of Oromia.
I wrote it when one of the students was shot dead and died after being taken to Shashemene Hospital. This short fiction based on the actual events can be like echoes and pain from families, friends in the neighbourhood. I tried to think about the situation in Oromia. I shared the sadness and despair with families who sent their children to universities and received the bodies.
As I try to dig deep into the communities, this short story also tells how the regime's spies went deep into families and made them talk and gossip about the authorities. After speaking with them, the spies reported the people to the administration based on what they said against the government.
This short story tells how Oromo students were shot side-by-side in the streets by Ethiopian Ethiopian regimes. Simultaneously, it speaks loudly about their courageous, determination and readiness to fight Ethiopia's colonial rule to benefit their people to their last breath. It aims to glorify the ultimate sacrifice that the Oromo students made for the Oromo nation's freedom. I believe their story of brave deeds must be written in ink and remembered by the generation to come.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyvqOmmhmJI&t=4sSupport the Show.
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'' IMALTUU FI GUMGUMA GABRUMMAA''
(The wanderers and their murmurs of oppression)
I wrote this short story in 2014 when Oromo students protested EPDRF's #AddisAbabaMaterPlan, the plan to evict Oromo farmers from their land around Addis Ababa.
When the students got angry and decided to be the Oromo farmers' voice in the streets and protested, they were killed by security forces in daylight at various universities.
The main idea of writing this short fiction based on the fact that happened in Oromia came to my mind after speaking to some students at #Madawalabu University in the Bale Zone in the regional state of Oromia.
I wrote it when one of the students was shot dead and died after being taken to Shashemene Hospital. This short fiction based on the actual events can be like echoes and pain from families, friends in the neighbourhood. I tried to think about the situation in Oromia. I shared the sadness and despair with families who sent their children to universities and received the bodies.
As I try to dig deep into the communities, this short story also tells how the regime's spies went deep into families and made them talk and gossip about the authorities. After speaking with them, the spies reported the people to the administration based on what they said against the government.
This short story tells how Oromo students were shot side-by-side in the streets by Ethiopian Ethiopian regimes. Simultaneously, it speaks loudly about their courageous, determination and readiness to fight Ethiopia's colonial rule to benefit their people to their last breath. It aims to glorify the ultimate sacrifice that the Oromo students made for the Oromo nation's freedom. I believe their story of brave deeds must be written in ink and remembered by the generation to come.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyvqOmmhmJI&t=4sSupport the Show.
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This poem was written two days later after Hacaaluu was murdered by Ethiopian security forces. It is meant to commemorate Haacaaluu's good deed and bravery
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