Re: Oromo demonstration in Atlanta

No way would I equate the TPLF of Ethiopia with the OLF (Oromo, for those on
WSN who don't understand). I don't agree with the slogan
"self-determination" but I do believe in militantly opposing invasions by
imperialists; so I probably would disagree with the OLF leadership. There
are other forces among the Oromo; Ethiopia itself has many, many people with
combined ethnic backgrounds.   Many Oromo are also Amhara; many Amhara are
also Oromo!

But, TPLF has power and has instituted virtual apartheid in Ethiopia, and
imprisoned tens of thousands, destroyed the labor movement, etc. There are
even many Tigrayans who don't support them but are afraid to speak out. TPLF
certainly aren't Marxists or Leninists of the "Albanian" or any other
variety, despite whatever rhetoric they used in the past. In some ways, they
may be worse than the Khmer Rouge (Pol Pot). Of course they haven't killed
as many people (yet) but the Khmer Rouge came to power after U.S.
imperialism had destroyed much of the region and forced hundreds of
thousands to flee to the cities, whilch helped lay the basis for the famine
and deaths of which the Pol Pot regime played a role. And most of the Khmer
Rouge was not involved in the struggle in order to get rich. Don't
misunderstand -- I'm NOT defending the Khmer Rouge --only making the point
that TPLF is just a run of the mill gang of bandits that doesn't even have
the pretense of serving the people -- just raiding the treasury.


Alan Spector

===================================================




-----Original Message-----
From: alexy2k gerard <alexandragerard@hotmail.com>
To: WORLD SYSTEMS NETWORK <wsn@csf.colorado.edu>
Date: Tuesday, April 11, 2000 1:03 PM
Subject: Oromo demonstration in Atlanta


>
>
>
>The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
>
>                                 April 11, 2000, Tuesday, Home Edition
>
>
>Hello Alan:
>
>My apologies if i seemed carried away in my last email.  I suppose i was
>resenting the enmeshing of OLF, Eplf and TPLF all in one scale.  There are
>grades of evil and I believe the TPLF (the Tigrean minority)
>government in Ethiopia is particularly dangerous at this phase of the
>struggle for justice in the Horn of Africa.  I would say that the TPLF has
>all the potential and fanaticism of Pol Potism in the Horn of Africa.  In a
>perverse way, this impending tragic famine may provide the catalyst to
>expose them and give an opening to the various oppressed and muffled people
>of the region and the people of Oromia.
>Incidentally, the TPLF is a darling of the World Bank and is implementing a
>structural adjustment program for Ethiopia.  Never mind that it was the
only
>African "liberation" organization in the 1980s that espoused allegiance to
>Alabanian (Anver Hojxa) version of  Marxism-Lenninsm.
>
>Alexy
>
>
>
>SECTION: Local News; Pg. 2B
>LENGTH: 715 words
>HEADLINE: Ethiopians air problems in Atlanta
>BYLINE: Colin Campbell, Staff
>
>SOURCE: CONSTITUTION
>
>BODY:
>A demonstration of about 250 Oromo men, women and children from Ethiopia
>marched through downtown Atlanta Monday. It assembled
>within camera shot of CNN, passed The Atlanta Journal-Constitution,
>continued on to the state Capitol and tried, throughout, to call
>attention to what organizers call a growing pattern of human rights abuses
>by the Ethiopian government.
>
>The 25 million Oromo are the biggest ethnic group in Ethiopia, and one of
>the largest in Africa. They're certainly not the sole subnation
>claiming to be victims of their government and demanding greater autonomy,
>and in some ways their plight is a reminder of how politically
>confused and economically marginal Ethiopia has been for decades. Yet
>Monday's march also reflects rising concerns over several crises
>gathering in Ethiopia.
>
>Not only do many Oromo feel neglected and worse by the ethnic Tigrayan
>minority that runs Ethiopia; there's also growing concern
>around the world that Ethiopia's 3-year-old drought could break out into
>another killer famine. Meanwhile the bitter, wasteful border
>conflict between Ethiopia and its former province of Eritrea is as
dangerous
>as ever (some feel it may explode again soon) and recently the
>country has faced a new plague. More than a month ago, a huge forest fire
>broke out in the south. It has destroyed thousands of farms
>and houses, bared the land to erosion and threatened several already
>endangered species of mammals, such as the mountain nyala and
>Menelik's bushbuck.
>
>Atlanta's connection with all this is larger than Monday's march suggested.
>In addition to the 1,000 or more Oromo living here, there are
>also about 4, 000 Amhara, Eritreans and others who until a few years ago
>were all " Ethiopians." The biggest Oromo community in the
>U.S., about 10,000 strong, is in Minneapolis; yet here in Atlanta the
Carter
>Center and CARE take a special interest in Ethiopia, and Prof.
>Mohammed Hassen Ali, a historian at Georgia State University, is widely
>known as an Oromo scholar and activist.
>
>Most curious of all, according to a British scholar and Oromo sympathizer
>who recently visited Atlanta, the so-called Oromo Support
>Group (as distinguished from the armed Oromo insurgency in Ethiopia --- see
>www. oromoliberationfront.org) might not exist at all without
>the financial support of Atlanta's Oromo.
>
>A letter on Monday from the Oromo Community Association of Georgia to Gov.
>Roy Barnes (like similar letters the Oromo have sent in
>recent weeks to President Clinton, Vice President Al Gore and other
leaders)
>urged Washington to take steps against Ethiopian
>government abuses. Oromo activists assert that the forest fire --- which
has
>threatened Bale National Forest and drawn volunteer
>firefighters from South Africa, Germany and Canada --- was deliberately set
>by the Ethiopian government to deny sanctuary to Oromo
>guerrillas. (The Ethiopian government denies this.)
>
>Citing criticisms of Ethiopia by Amnesty International and other human
>rights groups, Oromo activists also are appealing to Americans to
>help stop the Ethiopian government from shooting Oromo students who've
>protested the fire, to protest Ethiopia's imprisonment of 165
>farmers who've been arrested for setting the fire, and to quit introducing
>settlers, "corporate farms" and foreign mining operations to the
>region where many Oromo live.
>
>The fire is said to have spread over millions of acres in Ethiopia's south
>and southeast. A Chinese news service reported recently that the
>fire had been snuffed out by rain and emergency aid. But I don't know.
>
>The Oromo in America are probably wise at this point to be amplifying their
>view of Ethiopia's troubles --- before more dramatic crises cry
>out for attention.
>
>More than 300 children are reported to have died lately from hunger-related
>diseases at a little place called Danan, in Ethiopia's Ogaden.
>The U.S. and Europe have pledged a million tons of food aid for the Horn of
>Africa, where the last rainy season failed just as Mozambique
>was being devastated by floods. Most of this food probably will be
earmarked
>for Ethiopia. But renewed fighting with Eritrea could cut off
>that effort, which even in peacetime will face the usual grim challenges of
>tardy food shipments, terrible roads and less than perfect
>government.
>
>GRAPHIC: Graphic
>ETHIOPIA AT A GLANCE
>Originally, the Oromo occupied most of the southeast part of Ethiopia, but
>by the 16th century they occupied all of southern Ethiopia,
>with some settling along the Tana River in Kenya.
>Area: 437,794 square miles, two-thirds the size of Alaska
>Population: 58.7 million
>Life expectancy: 45.5 years for men, 47.8 years for women
>Literacy: 35.5 percent
>Ethnic breakdown: Oromo 45 percent; Amhara and Tigre, 32 percent
>Chief export: Coffee
>Includes map of Ethiopia; inset map of Africa pinpoints the area shown on
>the larger map.
>Source: Encyclopaedia Britannca Online / ROB SMOAK / Staff
>Photo
>Members of the Oromo Community Association of Georgia protest at the state
>Capitol Monday the treatment their ethnic group receives
>in their Ethiopian homeland./ NICK ARROYO / Staff
>Map
>Ethiopia
>Includes map of Ethiopia; inset map of Africa pinpoints the area shown on
>the larger map.
>Source: Encyclopaedia Britannca Online / ROB SMOAK / Staff
>______________________________________________________
>Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
>