TWO MONTHS AGO TODAY:
WE LOST HAACAALUU HUNDEESSAA!
On June 29th, 2020, the Oromo nation lost one of its finest musical giant, whose indomitability surpasses fear of any kind.
He always shows up with a marvelously gifted voice and organically minted melody! Undeniably talented and bitingly expressive, he sang existence and hope into the oromo and friends of the Oromo for the last decade!
The forms and contents of his works are phenomenal! Stellar! Revolutionary! He and his works are sealed for an imperishable eternal legacy!
That was HAACAALUU HUNDEESSAA ! A 34 years old man- a father of three beautiful souls! An Oromo, who loved, lived and left his life for the Oromo! He gave his ALL! To the Oromo!
The twist of fate that ended Haacaaluu’s life wasn’t just an incidentally hate-filled act of private assassination! It is one that is hegemonic, deeply embedded, unreadable, undetectable structural violence of Ethiopian State and it’s militant culture against the Oromo nation and it’s sons and daughters!
We lost Haacaaluu to that kind of assassination! On June 29, 2020!
One week before he was gunned down, Haacaaluu spoke to the Oromia Media Network. Live viewership of the fateful interview of Haacaaluu was one with an all time high-24k live viewers.
In the interview, as he always do, Haacaaluu fearlessly and unflinchingly summarized the state of political perplexity and national uncertainty in Ethiopia.
Two major problem he articulated: First, he pointed out the questionable political willingness and interest of PM Ato Abiy Ahmed in resolving Oromo demand for equality and justice; second, he unblinkingly told the OMN journalist that he “walks and lives with death everyday in the City of Finfinnee”- not knowing when he gets killed.
In the interview, Haacaaluu characterized his enemy and the enemy of the Oromo as the repressive political system that fetches it’s ideology from the historical Neftegna system. It is the system that has its roots in the emperial System of the country known for its asymmetrical land governance and flagrant injustices.
With the Prime Minister Ato Abiy Ahmed coming to power with a preponderant political vision of restoring Imperial Ethiopia, the system seems to have regained a considerable grace in the country’s political practice.
Maddened with the turn of events in the country, Haacaaluu said word by word in interview: “Diinni uummata Oromoo kaleessas, har’aas, boruus nafxanyaa dha.” Meaning: “Neftegna was yesterday, today, and tomorrow the enemy of the Oromo people.” The link to his OMN interview is available everywhere on social media and on Internet.
Haacaaluu also told the journalist the story of an Oromo peasant called Siidaa Dabalee and how Menilik (the emperor who started the repressive Neftegna system a century ago) stole his brave Horse (Farda Siidaa Dabalee). The Oromo peasant was from the nearby sub-city of Galaan.
Haacaaluu had referred to this historical facts in one of his mellifluent revolutionary songs in the past.
Haacaaluu was assassinated exactly a week ago after he gave the interview. He was gunned down in Galaan area, where the Oromo historical figure Siidaa Dabalee hailed from.
Two months into his assasination, the Oromo people are yet to see some sort of semblance of justice. No crime scene had been preserved. No autopsy was conducted. No independent investigation was set up!
He was rushed to a burial ground by the government forces with no formal send-off!
Would we be lucky one day to see the real killers of Haacaaluu stand justice?
We haven’t only lost a magnificent singer and songwriter; we also lost a musical dexter and masterful, and an Oromo national character whose revolutionary songs will continue to serve as songs of redemption for a web of an interconnected oromo social and political consciousness!
REST IN ETERNAL GLORY AND ETERNAL POWER!
Henok Gabisa
New York
August 2020
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