Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
August 25, 2008
In a previous article - Call for an All-Oromo Constituent Assembly, I referred to several critical problems that appeared in the daylight during the recent developments among the Oromo leadership. I expanded on the lack of willingness for Dialogue. In this article, I intend to focus on another – equally critical – problem.
Many widely endorsed Oromo intellectuals and academics attested a latent or blatant tribalism in the developments in question. Whether tribalism exists and shapes the Oromo political life or not is a matter of subjective judgment. By this I don´t want to deny the existence of the phenomenon, but I want simply to underscore the fact that every reference to tribalism is purely a matter of interpretation.
To some, one type of behaviour is an expression of tribalism; to others, it is not. When we limit the issue to the subject of the extent of the tribalism, for some, it is minimal, but others consider it as tremendous. How to deal with the phenomenon, and the possible interpretations of it, while keeping a close eye on forging a unitary, all-Oromo or pan-Oromo, approach? How to deal with an issue that for some may have gone unnoticed but others never dared admit its existence, although they knew about it?
To deal with the issue of tribalism in Oromo politics – either it exists or not – we must find another name for it, a descriptive formula that will help develop a serene approach to the overall subject.
What may be the essence of tribalism?...Read more
Many widely endorsed Oromo intellectuals and academics attested a latent or blatant tribalism in the developments in question. Whether tribalism exists and shapes the Oromo political life or not is a matter of subjective judgment. By this I don´t want to deny the existence of the phenomenon, but I want simply to underscore the fact that every reference to tribalism is purely a matter of interpretation.
To some, one type of behaviour is an expression of tribalism; to others, it is not. When we limit the issue to the subject of the extent of the tribalism, for some, it is minimal, but others consider it as tremendous. How to deal with the phenomenon, and the possible interpretations of it, while keeping a close eye on forging a unitary, all-Oromo or pan-Oromo, approach? How to deal with an issue that for some may have gone unnoticed but others never dared admit its existence, although they knew about it?
To deal with the issue of tribalism in Oromo politics – either it exists or not – we must find another name for it, a descriptive formula that will help develop a serene approach to the overall subject.
What may be the essence of tribalism?...Read more
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