Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Oromo Intellectuals to Demolish Colonial Academia

Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis

Following two earlier articles focusing on the problems ensuing from the colonial – tyrannical educational system in Abyssinia, and on the noxious role of criminal European pseudo-scholars, who try to eternalize the illiteracy, the ignorance, and the lack of National Historical Dogma among oppressed nations (intentionally, viciously and inhumanly strangling their last hope for Independence and Self-Determination), a great number of readers of various ethnic and religious backgrounds wrote to me to ask me to continue denouncing by name facts and immoral perpetrators.

As I wrote about Abyssinia and the lack of sufficient educational infrastructure in that dreadful tyranny, more particularly focalizing on problems Oromo nationals face when contacting European academia in order to pursue postgraduate and/or doctoral studies there, I will come up with some suggestions about ways to contravene this nefarious situation by young Oromo students and intellectuals. The same is valid for other oppressed nations of Abyssinia, and other tyrannized African peoples that have illegally and inhumanly been prevented from National Statehood, National Cultural Heritage preservation, and National Historical Dogma. Behind the aforementioned terms, it is clear that what is meant is Government, Ministry of Culture, and (National) Academy of Letters.

The Ogadenis, the Sidamas, the Afars, the Bejas, the Nubians, the Berbers, the Furs, the Nuers, and many other oppressed, depersonalized and dehumanized nations of Africa and Asia are equally concerned with my suggestions. What is good for the Oromos is necessarily pertinent for them as well.

It is high time that the criminal, antihuman and bestializing work of the Colonial Powers and their substitutes and representatives takes a Dead End. By using these terms, we refer to any country whereby the academia, the intellectuals, and the diplomats follow, imitate, reproduce or do not properly denounce and reject The Mission Barbarisatrice of France, the Ultimate Focus of the Colonial Evil.

Measures to demolish French Dogmas and Practices of Cultural – Intellectual Colonialism

Measure 1. Cultural Emancipation

The National History of every oppressed people must become a prime matter of concern for every political party, front of liberation, and similar organization. It is of seminal importance to realize that National Independence and Self-Determination has almost no value if the people, the nation that achieves this goal does not possess the means and the tools of viewing, envisioning, perceiving, studying and narrating (for both educational and cultural – national purposes) their National History independently of any biases mounted in (by) other countries, particularly those involved in their pre-Independence status.

All struggling for national Independence political parties and fronts must form either independent bodies or attached associations of Cultural – Educational concern and endeavours. The body should be named in an ostensibly relevant way, and must focalize on the following rudimentary tasks:

Write down your own language!

A. In case the national language is not yet written down, as is for instance the case of the Soqotri, the language of the Nation of Soqotrans, who live in the island of Soqotra off the Somali Horn of Africa, and communicate in a language that originates form the Ancient (Pre-Islamic) Yemenite languages, it is top priority for them to establish a system of writing and introduce it among their people.

Eradicate illiteracy!

B. In case the national language of the struggling for Independence people is already written by means of a scripture, it is essential that the Cultural –Educational association of the political front engages first in a radical battle to eradicate illiteracy, targeting an average 90 to 95% literacy rate for the still oppressed people. Any method chosen should certainly best fit the local environment and the social system in place.

Establish a Comprehensive Linguistic Thesaurus!

C. In parallel with the battle to eradicate analphabetism, a committee must be formed and drastically mobilize local people to voluntarily participate in the preparation of, and help establish, a Thesaurus of the National Language, let’s say a complete Afaan Oromo – Afaan Oromo dictionary with grammatical and syntactical addenda like synonyms, antonyms, manual of Grammar, and manual of Syntax. All dialectal forms of language, idiomatic localisms, and particularities in linguistics and phonetics must be meticulously collected and written down.

This should be a first guarantee that no imperialist attitude would ever be expressed from the main dialect speakers over the linguistic minorities contained within the same people, and that equal importance will be given to all.

Establish anAtlas of National Heritage

D. Furthermore, another committee must be formed and energetically involve local people in order to write down an Atlas of National Heritage, involving analytical classification of all the existing Oral Literature, from popular songs to fairy tales, folklore narratives, local wisdom, plus expressions of Social Life from collective professional activities in the field, the village or the forest to social events like marriage, birth, funerals, etc. Particular importance has to be given to activities related to communal administration and social / patriarchal hierarchy, and all related terms, conditions, deeds, events, customs and practices have to be written down in extreme details. In case there is an individual, national religion, other than the main world religions, or a particular local variant, tremendous importance must be given to the preservation of the religious literature, beliefs, and cults that are the only authentically relevant to the Nation in question; they must all be written down in the most minute details.

Measure 2. Independent Education – Seminars out of the Oppressing Government’s Control

As soon as the four branches of activities encompassed within Measure 1 start bringing results, a wide diffusion of the ensuing literature must take place in order to best educate all the members of the oppressed nation. Social schools must be formed – escaping totally the oppressing government’s control – to ensure that all the members of the nation get national education, strengthened with absolute and resolute rejection of the historical forgeries mounted by the oppressing state’s administrative mechanisms.

Measure 3. Basic Manuals for Independent Education

To better ensure the Measure 2 implementation, Measure 3 must be urgently introduced. The political parties and liberation fronts, and the attached Cultural – Educational associations must prepare basic manuals in their own language presenting the National History, the National Religion, the National Cultural Heritage, the National Language, Grammar, Syntax and Literature, and the Refutation of the Oppressing Nation’s literature, propaganda, and myths. All these materials will be of use in the educative seminars mentioned in Measure 2.

Measure 4. Grants to help form a National Intellectual Elite

The Cultural – Educational association related to a political party of liberation front must establish a Higher Education committee that will select a few young scholars and individuals for whom the oppressed nation’s parties, fronts and associations will manage to select grants to help them pursue studies abroad, better integrating them with the existing (if any) intellectual elite of the nation.

Measure 5. Identification of Friends and Allies

It will be essential for the aforementioned committee to identify the oppressed nation’s academic and intellectual friends and allies. This automatically means that the nation’s communal scholarship holding students will be sent to these institutions and academics to pursue their studies and researches.

Identification of Oppressed African Nations’ Academic and Intellectual Friends and Allies

1. Exclude Russia and China!

To start with, we have to exclude Russia and China that are economic powers built up on the exploitation of various colonized and oppressed nations, and as such they pursue immoral and inhuman policies of alliance with tyrannical regimes allover the world.

How would Russia and/or China help, let’s say the Berbers or the Bejas become independent, whereas at the same moment they oppress and tyrannize Chechens, Daghestanis, Yakutians, Eastern Turkestanis, Tibetans, Mongols, and so many other peoples at home?

2. Exclude Colonial Europe!

Then, all European colonial powers must be excluded, which involves France, England, Spain, Portugal, Holland, Germany, Italy, and Belgium – with the possible exception of individual scholars and intellectuals, associations, institutions and NGOs that are renowned for anti-colonial positions.

3. Consider Poland, Ireland and Scandinavian countries!

As far as countries are concerned, Poland, Ireland and Scandinavian countries may be better predisposed to help.

4. Contact countries-to-be: Scotland and Catalonia!

It would essential to count on and contact several countries-to-be, like Scotland and Catalonia; their political leaderships highly evaluate purposes of Cultural Heritage preservation.

5. African American circles can be of great help.

More valuable support can be gathered from all possible circles of African Americans, be they academic, intellectual, social, political or financial. The circle of Molefi Kete Asante is just one of them, and makes the link between the African American community and the enlightened humanists of our times, the Western Afrocentrists.

5. Mobilize the US Afro-centrist Intellectuals and Academia!

In the USA, oppressed African nations’ intellectual elites can also find support among the circles of the Afrocentrist historians, archeologists, ethnologists and anthropologists. University circles that support Martin Bernal’s approach of refuting 300 years of Colonial Historiography, as heralded in his monumental series Black Athena, can be of extraordinary help to African oppressed intellectuals whose nations have long fallen victims of colonial political machinations founded on the Euro-centrist forgery of History.

African National Independence means Black Athena.

It must be clearly understood that any African country, nation, people, ethnic group, academics and intellectuals who do not re-orientate their Education, Culture, Foreign Policy, Intellectual Life, Academia and Historical –Archeological Research, adjusting them with the Black Athena approach, has practically speaking no real future on this planet. Without adopting and incorporating the most determined and vibrant rejection of Euro-centrism and its derivative Greco-Romano-centric fallacies, no African country or people can ever dare be truly independent, dignified and respectful.

6. Interconnect with Independent and Conscious African Academic Circles!

Last but not least, oppressed African nations’ intellectual elites have to coordinate with Afrocentric African universities, intellectuals, academia and dignitaries. The University of Ghana for instance has long been a hub of African and Afrocentric studies.

Beyond the university circles, several individuals promoted an African viewpoint of the World History and can therefore be of help, the Senegalese Sheikh Anta Diop being just one of them.

It is essential to understand that what matters most at the present level is thought originality, not elaborate studies that are based on misconceptions emanating from a racist and inhuman ideological background. Certainly, one would not compare an African University to Heidelberg or Sorbonne, and certainly a French or German would be able to present their topic in a more methodic and concise way, but what is this reality good for, if the entire foundations of their thought, analysis, approach and therefore conclusions are viciously erroneous and actively inhuman?

Key to African Success: Denounce Euro-centrism!

With a great number of African peoples and nations being still enslaved and therefore deprived of National Identity and History, great expectations are perfectly justified as regards the fate of Humanities in the Black Continent, and consequently throughout the world. It all lies upon the oppressed nations’ intellectual elites, and their vociferous denunciation of the colonial gangsters of the European pseudo-universities.

That is why their political leaderships must understand that real Freedom, real Independence and real Self-Determination will not be achieved prior to their all-committed support of their young students and intellectuals. As there are more suggestions to make for the oppressed nations’ leaderships and intellectual elites, we will complete our approach in the next article.

Here, we will just specify the only extant possibility for a Successful, Free and Prosperous African Nation: it lies in their utmost repudiation of the Four Monsters upon which the European Mother of Harlots, their creator, has been academically borne over the past 300 years: Hellenism, Orientalism, Arabism and Islamism.

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