Liberation of the Oromo Nation and the Restoration of The Gada System
We explore the complex struggle of the great Oromo nation against the European-dependent predatory colonial hegemony of the Abyssinian Neftanyaa, structural oppression and the epistemic violence of the most brutal out law village Chieftains emerged in the region in 19th century.
They emerged out of centuries of turmoil , anarchism, butchery, and chaotic era that was know with the ornate name called “Zemen Mesafint” means the “Era of Princes”, a plagiarized myth of a third-hand translated from Hebrew folklore The Book of Kings version myth to Geez local language. Among them, Tewodros around Gonder reigned from 1855 to 1868); Yohnannis of Aksum (reigned from 1872 to 1889), Menelik of Ankober reigned from 1889 to 1913.
Modern scholarship estimates that Yohannes of Aksum to have been between 60,000 and 80,000 combatants, supported by tens of thousands of camp followers composed of regional levies from Tigray, Begemder, Gojam, and Wollo as he marched to Metemma where he was killed. His death finally paved the way for the centralization under Menelik, the underdog of Tewedros and Yohannis.
After his death The disfranchised soldiers of Yohannis had joined with Shale Mariam ‘Menelik’ who promised them land by evicting Oromos, slave etc once they accomplished their dirty mission of killing and occupation (akeeteme). It is from here what was know as Ketema of the settler creole Amharic language name that mean, the mission is accomplished was given to a turf billeted to the fanatic illiterate gun carrying killer hordes settlement Garrison, such as Finfinnee, the heart of Oromia, renamed to a Childish Name “Addis Ababa” at the central Plateau of Tuulma Oromo,
The dependent predatory settler Näftenyaa Empire was born by the Gun-bearing Conglomerates of the illiterate fanatic killer Militsa, the dogs of war of from Ankober to invade Oromoland committing genocidal war crimes and the whole south from 1865 to 1913.
Focusing on the Organized Oromo National Liberation Front (ONLF/OLF) and the broader nationalist movement, the study argues that political, economic, and territorial liberation cannot be achieved without the foundational process of decolonizing the self.
Centuries of settler-colonial subjugation and cultural assimilation have generated deep-seated internalized colonial mentalities, epistemic alienation, and fractures within the Oromo collective consciousness. By examining the psychological dimensions of subjugation alongside the ontological recovery rooted in the indigenous Gadaa democratic system, this paper demonstrates how psychological emancipation functions as an essential, non-negotiable prerequisite for structural self-determination, sovereignty, and the restoration of Oromo self-governance.
The Anatomy of Abyssinian Colonialism and the Oromo Predicament
The contemporary Ethiopian state is structurally and historically rooted in the late 19th-century Abyssinian imperial expansion, orchestrated by Menelik II with the collusion of European colonial powers. This expansion violently incorporated diverse independent nations—most notably the Oromo—into a centralized, quasi-nominal empire.
Unlike standard European overseas colonialism, Abyssinian colonialism was contiguous, settler-colonial, and assimilationist. It operated through the imposition of alien linguistic, religious, and cultural norms, accompanied by the systemic expropriation of ancestral land (qallad , siiso, etc system) and the reduction of the indigenous Oromo population to serfdom (gabbar).
At the core of this imperial project was the systematic dismantling of the Gadaa system—an indigenous, egalitarian, socio-political, and economic democracy that governed Oromo society for centuries. The suppression of Gadaa was not merely an administrative shift; it was an epistemic catastrophe designed to eradicate Oromo history, philosophy, and worldview (Safuu).
Centuries of this hegemony have forged a complex apparatus of domination comprising structural, political, economic, and cultural vectors. However, the most insidious legacy of this historical oppression is not merely material dispossession, but the colonization of the Oromo mind. Following Frantz Fanon and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, this paper posits that physical liberation is inherently tied to psychological liberation. Therefore, the struggle spearheaded by the Oromo liberation movement must confront and dismantle the internalized coloniality of being, knowledge, and power before authentic structural liberation and the full restoration of the Gadaa system can materialize.
Decolonizing the Mind and the Oromo Experience
To understand the trajectory of Oromo nationalism, one must engage with the theories of decolonization articulated by scholars such as Frantz Fanon, Albert Memmi, and Walter Mignolo. Fanon, in The Wretched of the Earth and Black Skin, White Masks, demonstrated how colonial regimes maintain control not merely through police and military force, but by installing a sense of inferiority, cultural inadequacy, and self-hatred within the colonized.
In the context of the Oromo, the Abyssinian state deployed a three-pronged strategy of subjugation:
Linguistic and Cultural Erasure: The prohibition of Afaan Oromoo in administration, education, and public life, coupled with the imposition of Amharic as the sole medium of legitimacy.
Religious and Epistemic Subjugation: The denigration of traditional Oromo cosmology (Waaqeffannaa) as backward or pagan, replaced by state-sanctioned Orthodox Christianity or Islam, which were historically weaponized to legitimize Abyssinian cultural supremacy.
Historiographic Distortion: The portrayal of Oromos in official state historiography as late-arriving “invaders” rather than indigenous inhabitants, effectively alienating the Oromo from their own time, space, and historical agency.
This epistemic violence produced what can be termed the “internalized Abyssinian gaze”—a psychological state where the colonized Oromo subject views their identity, traditions, and political aspirations through the distorted lens of the oppressor.
Decolonizing the self requires a radical epistemic break from this internalized hegemony, rescuing the Oromo collective memory from the archives of the imperial state.
The Structural, Political, and Economic Dimensions of Oromo Liberation
The Oromo national liberation struggle, historically crystallized through the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), emerged as a direct response to this totalizing oppression. The movement seeks liberation across four critical fronts:
Structural and Political Liberation: The dismantling of the unitary, ethnically hegemonic state structures that perpetuate domination. For the Oromo, political liberation is defined by the right to self-determination, up to and including independence, or a genuinely voluntary, multinational federation based on democratic consent rather than imperial coercion.
Economic Liberation: The reclamation of ancestral lands (Biyyoo) expropriated by successive regimes, from the imperial era to the contemporary dispossession under the guise of “development” (e.g., the Addis Ababa Master Plan). Economic justice demands the restoration of land rights, resource control, and the dismantling of agrarian hierarchies established by settler colonialism.
Cultural and Linguistic Liberation: The reclamation and elevation of Afaan Oromoo as a dynamic language of science, technology, governance, and literature. Cultural liberation involves the public celebration of Oromo identity, rituals, and arts, reversing decades of enforced assimilation.
Epistemic Liberation: The rewriting of history from an Oromocentric perspective (Oromummaa), reclaiming the agency to produce knowledge about Oromo society, philosophy, and socio-political systems.
Oromummaa and Gadaa: The Ontological Basis for Self-Decolonization
If decolonization of the self is the prerequisite for national liberation, what is the alternative paradigm that replaces the colonial mindset? The answer lies in the revival of Oromummaa (Oromoness) and the restoration of the Gadaa system.
Oromummaa serves as the modern ideological and cultural glue of the Oromo national movement. It is not merely an ethnic identifier, but an inclusive, emancipatory consciousness that transcends regional, religious, and generational divides. It represents the psychological turning point where the colonized subject rejects the imposed identity of the Abyssinian periphery and embraces a sovereign, dignified Oromo subjectivity.
At the institutional heart of Oromummaa is the Gadaa system—recognized by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Gadaa is far more than a system of governance; it is a holistic philosophy encompassing:
Egalitarianism and Democracy: Power circulation every eight years (Luba transition), preventing authoritarianism and tyranny.
Checks and Balances: Division of power between legislative, executive, and judicial bodies (for example, the Hayyuu and the Gumii Gadaa assembly).
Environmental Ethics (Safuu): A deeply ecological worldview that regulates human interaction with nature, emphasizing sustainability, reciprocity, and intergenerational responsibility.
Human Rights and Conflict Resolution (Jaarsuma): A restorative justice framework prioritizing societal reconciliation over retributive punishment.
The restoration of Gadaa requires an internal revolution. To practice Gadaa values today, Oromos must consciously unlearn the authoritarian, patriarchal, and hierarchical political behaviors inherited from centuries of Abyssinian imperial rule. Decolonizing the self means purging political culture of vanguardism, sectarianism, and factionalism, replacing them with consensus-building, transparency, and accountability rooted in Gadaa philosophy.
Challenges to Decolonization: Internalized Coloniality and Contemporary Realities
The path to decolonizing the self is fraught with internal and external contradictions. Decades of psychological conditioning have produced complex anomalies within the Oromo political landscape:
Elitist Assimilation: Some members of the Oromo elite, integrated into the machinery of the Ethiopian state, have historically acted as conduits for reproducing colonial domination over their own people, prioritizing state-centric power over national emancipation.
Fragmented Consciousness: Regionalism, religious polarization (between Waaqeffannaa, Islam, and Christianity), and tactical disagreements within the Oromo liberation struggle are often amplified by external state actors using a “divide-and-conquer” strategy. These internal divisions are symptoms of incomplete self-decolonization, where colonial categories of identity continue to fracture collective solidarity.
State Co-optation and Violence: The contemporary Ethiopian state continues to oscillate between nominal accommodation and brutal suppression of Oromo political expression, utilizing state apparatuses to criminalize Oromummaa while promoting a sanitized, state-approved multiculturalism that strips Oromo nationalism of its sovereign political content.
Overcoming these challenges necessitates a sustained pedagogical and cultural movement. Decolonization must move beyond elite political discourse and penetrate grassroots communities, educational institutions, and youth networks.
The liberation of the Oromo nation from the historical oppression of the Abyssinian empire cannot be reduced to a mechanical transfer of political power or territorial acquisition. As this paper has argued, structural, political, and economic liberation are inextricably bound to the psychological and epistemic emancipation of the Oromo self. Centuries of settler-colonial subjugation have sought to alienate the Oromo from their history, philosophy, and democratic heritage.
By engaging in the radical project of decolonizing the mind through Oromummaa and reclaiming the philosophical and institutional framework of the Gadaa system, the Oromo nation lays the essential groundwork for authentic sovereignty. True liberation requires not only the dismantling of external imperial structures, but the simultaneous eradication of internalized colonial mentalities.
Only through this dual process of internal decolonization and structural transformation can the Oromo nation fully realize self-determination and restore the democratic promise of Gadaa to the Horn of Africa.