#OromoProtests

Videos Chronicle How Fear Got Defeated by Oromo Protests in Oromia (Dec. 9, 2015 to Jan. 4, 2016)

Note that the Part-1 of this video series covers the period of the Oromia-wide Oromo Protests from November 29, 2015 to December 8, 2015 – which was posted earlier here. The following set of four videos chronicles the period of the Oromo Protests from December 9, 2015 to January 4, 2016 as the Oromo Protests against the Master Plan continue into a third month and into the new year.

Oromo students in particular, and the Oromo public in general, have been protesting against the Ethiopian Federal government’s Master Plan to evict millions of Oromo farmers around the Capital, Sheger, and other major towns in Oromia, and transfer the ownership of the land to investors affiliated with the government. The Ethiopian Federal government’s response to the demands of the Oromo protesters has been militaristic over the last two months; according to media estimates, more than 130 Oromo persons were killed, more than 2,000 Oromo persons were wounded, more than 35,000 Oromo persons have been imprisoned, and more than 800 Oromo persons have disappeared over the last months – all for peacefully protesting against the Master Plan (or for being suspecting of protesting against the Master Plan) – and this violence of the government has continued to date. In many of these cases, the government’s actions are random as it uses terrorizing the public into fear and submission as a means of ruling over them without their consent. The heavy violence that the Ethiopian Federal government has been willing to unleash on the Oromo civilian population, however, seems to turn the Oromo public into unshakable determination for the protests – rather than into fear and submission. No conscience mind can tolerate such level of violence – including those ordering these atrocities and those carrying them out; that is why – in recent days, some members of the Ethiopian government’s police and military apparatuses have joined the popular Oromo Protests against the Master Plan and against the violence of the Ethiopian government on the Oromo people (see attached photo here).

In the following video clips (recorded by amateur citizen journalists all over Oromia), some scenes will be disturbing as they show the heavy violence the Ethiopian Federal government has used to terrorize the Oromo civilian population (viewer discretion is advised). The video clips show how fear was defeated in Oromia through peaceful (nonviolent) means; since this Ethiopian government came to power without the consent of the people (and sustained itself in power through many cycles of electoral frauds over the decades), “fear” was the only element that it had used to oppress the people “mercilessly.” The Oromo protesters are demanding that they want a government that fears and respects its citizens – and earns their consent, not a government that uses its military to terrorize its own citizens into fear and submission.