This is a translation of a letter by Bekele Gerba and other Oromo political prisoners secretly smuggled out of Kilinto Prison on 30th of August 2016. The original letter is in Afaan Oromo.
In the soon-ending year, we have lost huge numbers of our young children, tens of thousands have been
imprisoned while the whereabouts of several others still remains unknown. We had
recently announced a three-day national mourning to pay homage to the lives
lost, to which the public gave an exceedingly positive response. This has left
our adversaries in a state of shock and, needless to say, it has us beaming with pride. We appreciate the huge sacrifices you have paid and
your courage to
stand alongside the people. Please accept our gratitude and respect for your
selfless acts.
If we
listen to one another, stick up for each other and stand in unison, it should
not take long before the collective humiliation we are subjected to comes to an
end. And it must end! We ought to continue to stand together and listen to each
other to get rid of the ‘snake that has wrapped itself around our necks’ and
gain our freedom. With that underlined, the ongoing sad state of affairs has required
us to issue a new set of calls.
As you
already know, killings have not stopped; mass incarcerations have continued
unabated; ambulances obtained with relentless appeals for aid from foreign
governments are now roaming townships to nab and transport the youths to
detention centres, in a manner falcons prowl the skies waiting to strike on their
prey; mothers are shedding perpetual tears over the loss of their sons and
daughters; and, with or without the mention of the Addis Ababa Master Plan, authorities
have not ceased evicting the Oromo from their ancestral lands. In complete
disregard of our demands that those who mercilessly massacred our young
children be brought to justice, Prime Minster Hailemariam Dessalegn has sung
their praises on national TV.
Also, in a
meeting held from 24-28 August 2016, the EPRDF Council discussed the border
dispute between the Tigray and Amhara Regional States and passed a resolution
to resolve the issue. The Council, however, entirely shunned the topic of
the Addis Ababa Master Plan despite it being the most contentious issue of the
past one year, the cause for loss of numerous lives and, surprisingly, in spite
of it essentially being a boundary issue like that raised in the Amhara region.
That the Council failed to even mention the AAIDMP reveals at least three things:
1st. It lays bare that the government considers the incessant killings to date as
acceptable and indicates that a decision has been reached to continue along
this course in the future.
2nd. It shows that those in positions of power view the mounting outcries for
justice as nothing more than a nuisance and exposes their belief that people are
powerless to effect change.
3rd. It is a conclusive proof that the Oromo do not have a genuine representation in
the EPRDF coalition and that there is no one that stands for the interests of
the Oromo within this administration.
At the
moment the so-called leaders of the country and their lapdogs are preparing to
celebrate the arrival of the New Year with much fanfare, self-indulgence and profligacy
with wealth they have stolen from the people through the years. How are the
rest of us planning to welcome the New Year? If early indications are anything
to go by, it is evident that the situation that our people are in will
continue to remain the same next year. We
have absolutely no reason to dress for the occasion, to over-indulge in food
and drinks, to wish each other a ‘Happy New Year’ and to blissfully join the
chorus of celebrations outdoors. Being part of such merry-go-round would be as
good as desecrating the graves of our fallen youths. To engage in festivities
while being in servitude will only diminish us in the eyes of others and does
not look good on us at all. Who does every penny that we spend empower? And
what do they do with it? The same money that we spend goes into purchasing the
bullets with which security forces gun down our fellow young men and women;
finances the construction of prisons where our children are kept; strengths
those in power and delays our freedom.
Hence, our
resources need to be redirected to supporting our fight for freedom. We must
stop handing a stick to our enemies and begging them not to hit us with it at
the same time. We should not spend a penny if it means that it will impede our
struggle. It is about time that we showed
what we are capable of to this government that considers us toothless and has
completely ignored our right to be heard. There are plenty of ways with which
to put pressure on the fiscal base of the regime. Thus, in the name of the
Oromo who have paid the ultimate price fighting for our freedom, we call on you
to express your civil disobedience in the following forms in the five days prior to New Year.
1. Market Boycott
Historically,
periods of holiday celebrations have been times where our people would wilfully
agree to their own economic exploitation. This has been going on for ages and
needs to stop. From the moment you hear about this call, join hands in refusing
to take your produces to the market and in avoiding any purchase of goods. To draw
on experiences from the American civil rights movement, we can take inspiration
from how Rosa Parks’ arrest for refusing to give up her seat led to a boycott
of city busses for 381 days by black Americans in Montgomery, Alabama. We should
also note that Mahatama Gandhi had employed a civil disobedience tactic of
boycotting British clothing before eventually leading his people to freedom. As
a people facing humiliations rivalling these, we should put our resources to
better use instead of squandering them. Hence, we should refuse to take our
grains, khat, coffee, cattle, honey, butter and other produces to
the market altogether , and avoid the purchase of goods, clothing, food and drinks (from
businesses benefiting from and supporting the regime).
2. Ethio-Telecom Service Boycott
Let us for
a moment imagine the amount of money we spend on any given day, particularly on
a holiday, making phone calls to friends, participating in long chats and conversations,
dedicating songs, asking and responding to questions, wishing each other ‘happy
holidays’ and fulfilling our other communication needs. Let us now assume that
at least 15 million of us have daily expenses of this sort and proceed to estimating
the amount of money we add to the coffers of the state telecom provider as a
collective unit. For a people seen as ‘subjects’
rather than citizens in the eyes of the state, this is not a judicious use of resources
at our disposal. Money spent in this manner is one that the government will potentially
use to acquire the next batch of bullets or to reward our own killers within
the military. We should also remember that intelligence officers secretly tap telephone
communications, which prosecutors present as evidence against our youths whose
lives have been reduced to a trip from prisons to courts and vice versa. Therefore,
we call on you to boycott Ethio-Telecom except in circumstances where an
emergency situation may arise which requires you to make a phone call.
3. Commercial Bank of Ethiopia
(CBE) Service Boycott
If we use
other private banks instead of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia for our banking
needs, we can reduce government revenues to a certain extent and weaken its capacity
to exert control. We also call on those in the diaspora to use alternative ways of sending remittances home than making transfers to CBE accounts. Let’s boycott CBE!
4. Lottery Boycott
One of the
ways in which the government augments its financial strength is by targeting your
very own pockets through the sales of lottery tickets that come in different shapes and sizes. Therefore, we call on everyone to boycott the purchase of national and
bingo lottery tickets.
5. Transport boycott
From 1-5
Pagume 2008 (6-10 September 2016), we advise the public to stage a sit-in
strike and to avoid the use of transport services: cross country busses, taxis &
three-wheelers and vehicles transporting goods and passengers from the countryside
to towns and vice versa. If the need to travel arises in these five days, we
urge you to walk where possible or stay at home with your families. Also, we kindly
call on private fleet operators and vehicle owners to show solidarity with the
people.
As you are well aware, we have not utilised civil disobedience techniques widely and
to the fullest extent in this country, considering that the sacrifices from this form
of resistance appear to be smaller by comparison. We may not like an old outfit
for the New Year- especially when one can afford a new one- but let’s
wash our old wardrobe or even patch it up if necessary and don it for the day. It
may feel strange to welcome the new year without chicken stew, an assortment of traditional
food and lots of drinks but change has to start now. What is expected of us is
rather effortless in the grand scheme of things: to curtail our excessive needs;
to liberate oneself from cultural and societal pressures; and to become an active,
politically conscious and purpose-driven member of society. It is not a new
thing to have to pay sacrifices to gain one’s freedom and nobody is going to
hand it to us on a plate. We need to earn it! While what our people have done
in unison this year is historic, we must not let up until such time that we have
completely removed the oppression hanging over our heads. Such a concerted
economic civil disobedience will continue to be part of our future struggle and
the youths have a responsibility to inform the people the rationale for adopting
this form of struggle.
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