The following is a statement from the Oromo Community of Ireland.
The Oromo Community of Ireland celebrated the 2013 Oromo Patriots’ Day by renewing their commitments and promises to the fight against Abyssinian colonization. Members of the community, their children and supporters came together last Sunday on the 14th of April 2013 to proudly remember and praise the Oromo patriots who selflessly dedicated their lives and their families, and sacrificed their lives for their people. The speakers and members remembered and praised the brave Oromo nationals who fought the enemy, who lost their livelihood, and who opposed the tyranny against their people – and faced death-, life- and long-sentences in the enemy’s notorious prisons set up for such purposes.
The members of the Oromo Community of Ireland stressed that they did not have the hearts and minds to forget the lives of the Oromo patriots who had fallen in Ethiopian prisons, and who died fighting against the occupiers. We remember them with the highest possible respect, dignity and praises. Nothing in our lives can be greater than respecting their mission and carrying their emblem until the success of their dream and wish for their people comes to fruition. We condemn those individuals and groups who went against the will of our people, against the history of the great Oromo nation. We condemn those who praise such turncoats as they were the hands of our enemy. Equally, we condemn groups whose plan is against what our heroes and heroines had fallen for, but are trying to make use of our patriots for their wrong and evil purposes.
We understand and accept that the Oromo nation is colonized more than a century ago, as our history and the lives of our people indicate. Thus, we believe that the only way out of slavery is fighting the colonizers, not negotiating with them to stay under them. It is understood that no single nation dare to stay under slavery, and this is can not be special to the Oromo people. Our past history shows that there were Oromo individuals and groups who fail to understand or wrongly understand the history and the lives of our people, and try to distort, and weaken the Oromo quest for justice and freedom. These groups only bandage the sore lives of our people and never can be the cure for the history of colonization and slavery on our people.
The scar of slavery and colonization can only be cured by freedom, not by any other. History can only be made, not defined. Thus, we cannot redefine our history to fit our purpose. Rather, we need to make another history that corrects a wrongly done one. A clear definition of colonization and what has happened to our people in the past tell us that we, Oromos, were colonized and are still in the colony of the Abyssinian force. Today, this is no better or different. We cannot deny or rewrite this fact of the past and the present. Today, only few Oromos, who have not come across the history or who have a poor understanding of history, mix the histories of Oromo and Ethiopia. The slaves who built the Egyptian pyramid were not Egyptians, nor are Oromos, who build Ethiopia, be taken as Ethiopians.
We, the Oromo Community of Ireland, therefore, stand by those groups and individuals who speak and act according to our history, and deeply condemn and stand against those who speak and act in accordance with the plans of our enemy. We never forget our beloved and respected heroes and heroines. We continue to teach our children to know and to be proud of them. We reinstate our promise to their plan until it is accomplished. Our praises, appreciations and respect go to our heroes and heroines who lost their lives for their people; to those braves in Oromian forests, mountains and valleys fighting the enemy; to those who are languishing in Ethiopian prisons; to those who had fled their home country and are suffering in foreign countries; and to those who had lost their loved ones in the fight for the Oromo people.
The Oromo community of Ireland appreciates and praises all members of the Oromo communities around the world who are celebrating our real heroes and heroines. Together, we can change our dark history – the history that rocked our integrity, our humanity and the fabrics our nationhood. Our promise – we never negotiate with the colonizers to live with until we defeat them.
Oromo Community Ireland
Ireland, Dublin
oromocommunityireland@yahoo.ie