OromoAffairs.blogspot.com
By Gumaa Guddaa*
Oromo National Identity
Before answering whether Oromo people can be Ethiopian it is necessary to examine the difference between being Oromo and being Ethiopian in the first instance. Oromo national identity refers to the identity of the Oromo people, the representation of their country Oromia as a whole, encompassing its culture, traditions, language, and politics contrary to the Ethiopian discourse that tends to present Oromo national identity as part of the multiple identities that the Oromo people enjoy with the greater Ethiopian identity.
The Ethiopian identity on the other hand means different things depending on if you are Abyssinian or not. For an Abyssinian the term Ethiopian means the same. For the rest, however, Ethiopian is filled with ambiguity and dissonance. This confusion emanates not only from difference in cultural and ethnic identity, but also from politics. The political history of Ethiopia for the non-Abyssinians is nothing but exploitation, subjugation and cultural genocide. The current Ethiopian regime has raised the stake further from cultural genocide to real genocide that one Oromo social scientist dubbed it as ‘the final solution’. read more
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