Struggling to Struggle: The lack of national Consciousness
(By Najat Hamza)
(By Najat Hamza)
The tale of two Oromos between those of us who live in the diaspora and those in Oromia when it comes to understanding the common enemy. The revolutionary consciousness of Oromo people in Oromia is exemplary and inspiring. They have been emancipated from the strong hold of internal colonization and freed their mind. The direct result of this emancipation is the peaking of national consciousness. The idea that our shared identity, language and culture as bases for building unshakable unity through action. Oromos in Oromia understand as they acknowledge their shared heritage, they also share common enemy from East to West and North to South.
Oromo people in the diaspora also share this heritage and the burden of the struggle to some degree. The difference is we do not endure direct harm from the struggle and thus engaging in counterproductive actions at times. All Oromo people need to understand the business of liberating Oromia is not a private matter but a collective one. We need all the initiative, all the ideas, all types of organizations if the core principle is freedom. We always talk about the number of our population and the diversity of our regions. Our diversity in culture, ideology, and organization is a source of our strength not of weakness.
Revolutionary consciousness is the bases of revolutionary action (). The first step is to know what we are fighting for and the second is to know how to fight for what we believe. The martyrs of revolutionary struggle will be remembered but the revolution remains. It is bigger than anyone of us, it is about securing a future we do not live in. Revolution is sacrificial by nature.
We must develop a sense of revolutionary consciousness in the form of responsibility and shared suffering. We must remember that our actions, words, efforts and/or lack thereof has direct result in the struggle for liberation. We must catch up with our brothers and sisters in Oromia. We all have roles to play and each role has an impact. If we all carry our own weight in this fight, we can accelerate the end to the bloodshed.
“If you assume that there is no hope, you guarantee that there will be no hope. If you assume that there is an instinct for freedom, there are opportunities to change things, then there is a possibility that you can contribute to making a better world.” Noam Chomsky
We must share the same vision of the possibility of Freedom and stop wallowing in daily semantics. The idea of liberation is not mortal, we are. If it was we would not have carried it from generation to generation. We just have to make sure we do not pass it on to the next generation. The next generation should only remember the struggle for liberation in their history books not as lived history. There is only one people called “Oromo” who live in “Oromia” fighting for “liberation.” That is it. Those of us in the diaspora must choose to contribute positively or help by not inferring. It is now or never!
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