Oromo Students Movement Needs Wise Leadership
"The leader is one who mobilizes others toward a goal shared by leaders and followers.” Gary Wills
Starting from the Second half of April 2014, we are hearing about the Oromo University student objection the new Addis Ababa City Master Plan which was prepared to annex ten town formerly administered under Oromia Special Zone Around Finfinne. This Oromo University Students movement got wide coverage on BBC, CNN, Al jezira and other major world media and mobilized Oromos and Oromo supporters living all over the world. The question that come to someone’s mind is that is this Oromo university students movement has wise and strong leadership which can lead the movement to intended goal or is it spontaneous like Ethiopian Revolution of 1974?
The movement of Oromo University Students is the movement for freedom from oppression and subjugation. It is a movement for justice and human right. As we learn from history, leadership is an essential feature of all freedom movements. Existence of leadership ensures the continuity and success of freedom movement where as the absence of leadership routinize the movement and delay the achievement of intended result. Not only absence but also weak leadership affects the freedom movement-it leads to failure and catastrophe.
A Leader is a person or organization represented by a person that leads others, who convince others to follow to achieve objective. The leader motivates the led or followers to move towards achievement of intended objective in the organized and coordinated way. The leaders shows the followers where to go (the destination) and how to go. Therefore, the leader should have the knowledge and the ability to lead.
As one can imagine, the ages of the overwhelming majority of these university students is in 20s. and may lack real life experience and accumulated knowledge on mass mobilization, managing internal and external influencing factors and leading such multitude number of supporters. Therefore, political organizations, community leaders, association leaders and others should weigh in and support this student movement. This is a critical time- either now or never.
Not only organizations and their leaders, but those of us who buy into this Oromo students movement should take action and provide more, material and psychological support. It is time to pool our resources to support this historic movement. As Plato said “ The heaviest penalty for declining to rule is to be ruled by someone inferior to yourself”. The time to sit in non-action and complaining that we are ruled by a minority should end. This is a time for action.
Furthermore, certain points need to be clear regarding the movement of these magnanimous Oromo students:
1. Oromo University Students respects the value of other students and ethnic groups- The objective of Oromo University Students’ uprising is to demand their right not to violate the right of others. As Plato said “ the objective of education is to teach us to love what is beautiful”. These university students are educated and in a better position to understand the beauty of Oromo value and the danger the New Addis Ababa master Plan brings to these beautiful values. The objective of the uprising is to reverse this imminent danger. Struggle to stop imminent danger from happening has nothing to do with violating the right of others or affecting the value of others.
2. Oromo University students struggle against injustice benefits all peoples in Ethiopia. As Martin Luther King said “ In justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” It beyond doubt that injustice is pervasive in Ethiopia. Unless we unite to stop this injustice from happening the perpetrators of injustice never willfully stop it. Therefore we need to leave aside our differences and coordinate our struggle against injustice, rally around Oromo university struggle.
3. Oromo people are peace loving and accommodating. As history tells us, Oromo movement of 16th century was successful because Oromo embraced all peoples who interested to peacefully live Oromo. As Nikita Khrushchev said “peaceful coexistence will win”. Oromo categorizes all persons or peoples into five, namely, father, mother, sister brother and yourself. This means everyone is member of the family. As far as someone is peaceful, regardless of his or her ethnic background, color or religion he or she is a member of a family. Oromo has not culture of discrimination and hatred. This Oromo principle should be maintained and used to create solidarity among the people in Ethiopia.
4. Compromising differences and reconciliation is Oromo culture. At this critical time we have to be able to work with everyone willing to support the struggle against injustice. We have to reach out to Oromo and non-Oromo political organizations, including OPDO. As John Dickinson said “ United we stand, divided we fall”.
Finally let me conclude my idea on this subject for today by quoting Nelson Mandela. “there is no easy walk to freedom anywhere and many of us will have to pass through the valley of shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desire.”
"The leader is one who mobilizes others toward a goal shared by leaders and followers.” Gary Wills
Starting from the Second half of April 2014, we are hearing about the Oromo University student objection the new Addis Ababa City Master Plan which was prepared to annex ten town formerly administered under Oromia Special Zone Around Finfinne. This Oromo University Students movement got wide coverage on BBC, CNN, Al jezira and other major world media and mobilized Oromos and Oromo supporters living all over the world. The question that come to someone’s mind is that is this Oromo university students movement has wise and strong leadership which can lead the movement to intended goal or is it spontaneous like Ethiopian Revolution of 1974?
The movement of Oromo University Students is the movement for freedom from oppression and subjugation. It is a movement for justice and human right. As we learn from history, leadership is an essential feature of all freedom movements. Existence of leadership ensures the continuity and success of freedom movement where as the absence of leadership routinize the movement and delay the achievement of intended result. Not only absence but also weak leadership affects the freedom movement-it leads to failure and catastrophe.
A Leader is a person or organization represented by a person that leads others, who convince others to follow to achieve objective. The leader motivates the led or followers to move towards achievement of intended objective in the organized and coordinated way. The leaders shows the followers where to go (the destination) and how to go. Therefore, the leader should have the knowledge and the ability to lead.
As one can imagine, the ages of the overwhelming majority of these university students is in 20s. and may lack real life experience and accumulated knowledge on mass mobilization, managing internal and external influencing factors and leading such multitude number of supporters. Therefore, political organizations, community leaders, association leaders and others should weigh in and support this student movement. This is a critical time- either now or never.
Not only organizations and their leaders, but those of us who buy into this Oromo students movement should take action and provide more, material and psychological support. It is time to pool our resources to support this historic movement. As Plato said “ The heaviest penalty for declining to rule is to be ruled by someone inferior to yourself”. The time to sit in non-action and complaining that we are ruled by a minority should end. This is a time for action.
Furthermore, certain points need to be clear regarding the movement of these magnanimous Oromo students:
1. Oromo University Students respects the value of other students and ethnic groups- The objective of Oromo University Students’ uprising is to demand their right not to violate the right of others. As Plato said “ the objective of education is to teach us to love what is beautiful”. These university students are educated and in a better position to understand the beauty of Oromo value and the danger the New Addis Ababa master Plan brings to these beautiful values. The objective of the uprising is to reverse this imminent danger. Struggle to stop imminent danger from happening has nothing to do with violating the right of others or affecting the value of others.
2. Oromo University students struggle against injustice benefits all peoples in Ethiopia. As Martin Luther King said “ In justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” It beyond doubt that injustice is pervasive in Ethiopia. Unless we unite to stop this injustice from happening the perpetrators of injustice never willfully stop it. Therefore we need to leave aside our differences and coordinate our struggle against injustice, rally around Oromo university struggle.
3. Oromo people are peace loving and accommodating. As history tells us, Oromo movement of 16th century was successful because Oromo embraced all peoples who interested to peacefully live Oromo. As Nikita Khrushchev said “peaceful coexistence will win”. Oromo categorizes all persons or peoples into five, namely, father, mother, sister brother and yourself. This means everyone is member of the family. As far as someone is peaceful, regardless of his or her ethnic background, color or religion he or she is a member of a family. Oromo has not culture of discrimination and hatred. This Oromo principle should be maintained and used to create solidarity among the people in Ethiopia.
4. Compromising differences and reconciliation is Oromo culture. At this critical time we have to be able to work with everyone willing to support the struggle against injustice. We have to reach out to Oromo and non-Oromo political organizations, including OPDO. As John Dickinson said “ United we stand, divided we fall”.
Finally let me conclude my idea on this subject for today by quoting Nelson Mandela. “there is no easy walk to freedom anywhere and many of us will have to pass through the valley of shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desire.”
No comments:
Post a Comment