Ethiopia: Open Letter to Meles Zenawi on anti-Oromo AAU book
To: Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi
Prime Minister's Office
PO Box 1031
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
By Dereje Ragassa*
I am writing to you to express my concern about the disturbing news of the sale of anti-Oromo textbooks in Addis Ababa University (AAU). It is alarming to hear that AAU has recently allowed the distribution of books written by Professor Getachew Haile quoting the 16th century Abyssinian Monk Abba Bahrey who dehumanized Oromo people, our culture and history.
Oromo people worldwide are aware of this distorted and Abyssino-Centric account of Oromo history in which we were labelled as "barbarians" and "newcomers" who invaded Ethiopia. Professor Getachew's attempt to revise history to fit his politics and to justify Bahrey's accounts, including the use of "Galla," is an insult to the intelligence of Oromo scholars and Oromo people worldwide.
Bahrey is one of the most bias African "historians" who started writting his book about the so-called "History of the Galla," by shamelessly claiming he is writting about Oromo history to show Oromo people's "zeal to kill people, and the brutuality of their demeanor." The republication of such books and AAU distribution is an insult to Oromo Ethiopians in Addis Ababa Univesity (AAU) as well as to millions of other Oromos who make up the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia.
Oromos worldwide see Bahrey's dehumanizing account of Oromo people written for his Amhara and Tigray audience as similar to the typical dehumanizing portrayal of other historically oppressed people, including colonized Africans by Europeans, massacred Jewish people by the Nazis and the nearly exterminated Native Indians by the Euro-Americans. All these aggressors used such dehumanizing descriptions and illustrations of the indigenious people as "uncivilized" and "sub-humans" before they conquered, killed or colonized them. Such anti-people and anti-peace textbooks and documents should be immediately removed from all universities and libraries in Ethiopia! Especially in this time when Oromo people in every corner of Oromia are finally free to write and publish books about their own history using their own language and alphabets, we do not need the return of politically motivated, intolerent and Abyssino-centric Amhara/Tigre writers who write only for the purpose of inflaming Oromo people and causing hate and violence.
A country that desperately needs a healing from past mistakes and injustices brought upon Oromo people should not recklessly allow extremists to spread their venom. The new generation in Ethiopia should not inherit the anti-Oromo propaganda and stereotyping way of thinking that preceded the Amhara conquest of Oromo land in particular and that of the majority of other Ethiopians in general.
Once again, it is another shame that such anti-Oromo activities are occuring right under the eyes of the so-called Oromo People's Democratic Organization (OPDO) "ruling party" in the capital city of Oromia. On Behalf of Oromo people worldwide and on behalf of Jimma University (JU) Oromo students, we demand a public apology from AAU and the Ethiopian government.
CC: Prof. Andreas Eshete
Office of the President
Addis Ababa University (AAU)
P.O.Box: 1176
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
CC: President of Region of Oromia
Mr. Abadula Gemeda,
P.O. Box 10176
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
CC: Ambassador Dr. Samuel Assefa
Embassy of Ethiopia
3506 International Drive N.W.
Washington D.C. 20008
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*The
views expressed in this letter do not necessarily represent the views of Jimma
Times. Dereje Ragassa is a Jimma University (JU) Alumnus living in the United States and he can be reached by Derejeragassa [@] yahoo.com
RELATED DOCUMENT
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
|
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
|
