The past couple of weeks has been more difficult than ever. We have lost one of the greatest Oromo singer, songwriter, activist, and revolutionary in Hacaalluu Hundeessa. He crafted songs and melodies that made sense of the angst in us and put a fire under our bellies and prepared the entire nation for revolution, and we did. He pumped our sense of pride and made us feel alive, hopeful, and fight on. But Abiy took this irreplaceable giant, brilliant son, and the conscious of the nation away from us.
Abiy didn’t only kill Hacaalluu, but he also imprisoned our Jawar Mohammed and countless many other political and civic leaders to his newly built gulags. By killing Hacaalluu and imprisoning Jawar, he effectively declared the war of distraction on the Oromo nation. Let there be no doubt about Abiy’s intentions- he wants the Oromo nation to be a subservient to his neo-Nafxanyaa cousins and to rebuild Ethiopia of yester years.
War is declared on us and we should clearly and unequivocally stand together. Our first priority should be to free our leader Jawar Mohammed and other political leaders. Jawar Mohammed and his platoon Qeerroos are the ones that bulldozed the TPLF regime from power two years ago and paved the way for the current brutal gov’t. Jawar went home to be among his people almost two years ago. He was asked numerous times about his safety after his return home. His answers always was, “I am among my people that I trust and I will die defending them right here”. He kept his promises and never flinched once and stood taller than anyone and unequivocally articulated our people’s yarn for freedom and justice. After all, he got there with the resilience of our Qeerroo martyrs. He taught us to be grounded in the core principles of Oromumummaa and protect against charges of those wanting to derail us and against those Bilixigiina criminal entrepreneurs of deception that are desperately planting the seeds of regionalism, religious differences, and ethnic hate.
Jawar always placed the mission first: Oromo Frist. I think it is worth reminding ourselves what Jawar meant to our nation and to our struggle. My intention here is not only to highlight how much we appreciate him and love him and who Jawar really is and what drives him to be selfless and work 24/7 for our cause, but also to remind each other that we should be fighting for him 24/7 for his freedom. Jawar is and was a formidable intellectual and is a soldier of our nation. He led his platoon Qeerroos remotely to victory. He still commands millions of young Oromo Qeerroos. His prominence amongst his people is unparalleled. He put his Ivy League education not for his personal gains, but for freedom of our nation. He graduated at the top of his classes from not one but two Ivy League colleges. He was never phased by the glamour life he could have had has he perused lucrative careers with his education, but instead went to work for our people. He worked for us 24/7 and now is our turn to work even harder to get him out of Abiys’ gulag. He was sleepless for us in our dark days providing leadership to his Qeerroo brigades; it is our turn to return that favor and stand for him and demand and fight for his release.
Remember, Jawar was never commissioned to lead the Oromo, but he took it upon himself because he cared. The love for his country and his sense of freedom and justice is what forever heightens his conscious and that became his life. He is courageous, loyal to the service of his country, duty bound and selflessly serve to liberate his people with honor, respect, and integrity. Jawar always said he will never accepts defeat and surrender. This should be our motto as well. As Jawar was workaholic when it comes to the duties of our people, we shouldn’t expect any less from ourselves to work day and night for his freedom. Everyone knows Jawar is loyal to the cause and those who were lucky enough to work with him know what drives him and marvels at his dogged loyalty to our people and adherence to the tenets of honor, integrity, fairness, and truth. He compassionately approaches the young and the old with immense patience. He wholeheartedly embraced and lived for the founding and guiding principles of Oromomummaa and for justice for all marginalized communities in Ethiopia.
Jawar’s reach is beyond Oromo causes. He has championed the cause of all and especially for those marginalized communities with the same fate as Oromos. He never asked for anything in return and it is time for all marginalized communities to stand for him and fight for his freedom as well. He made the cause of every oppressed nations and nationalities of Ethiopia his cause. He believed in the principles of Martin Luther King Jr. “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”. He is a leader like no other with millions on his side that is taking the bull by its horn guided by the Gadaa principles of liberty, equality, humanity and justice for all. He made us proud and we are lucky he is one of us.
Jawar always said “I will never be silenced, quit nor will I give in to cowards”. What drives Jawar is the brutality of Bixigiina and Abiy Ahmed. He sees and listens to the voices of our people’s call for freedom and he could not shield himself from the brutality that is being perpetrated against our people in Oromia by Abiy’s and his Bixigiina monsters. He sees countless of our people and other marginalized community members gunned down every day by Abiy’s security forces while holding a peaceful demonstration for justice and freedom to live in their own country. Abiy wants to silence Jawar for good. We all know if Jawar isn’t in Abiy’s gulag today, he would have avenged our brother Hacaalluu’s killers. He is calling upon all of us to stand in unison and demand justice for Hacaalluu. He is calling upon all us to rise up and do something to the cries of the innocent souls being murdered by Abiy that is haunting him in the dark, underground, and cold prison dungeon cell.
Jawar is never afraid. But it was quite emotional for me and I believe for many of you to seeing him in handcuffs by the same people that he helped usher to the top position to lead the country during the transitional period. But it also resolute us to never back down. It was the wanton carnage of the TPLF that gave birth to Jawar. It is the killing of our people and the yearning for justice and freedom that gave birth to Jawar. Abiy’s cruelty is even worse like no other. The forced disappearances, torture, abject poverty and the displacement of our people reached a new height. Our existence as a people and as nation is under serious threat. If this doesn’t bog our conscious, what will? Jawar gave us the tools and showed us how to topple despotic regime. He built a simple platform for us-OMN, and used it to advance the nonviolence alternate means of freeing the nations of Ethiopia from the clutches of Wayyannee. He showed us how to virtually connect with one another and with other oppressed people to be one, and against our common enemy. Abiy want to silence that voice and we say NO and never and ever. Thanks to Jawar, we now have the tools and the know-how. Jawar released many from the clutches of the former enemy, we can get him out of Ashagree’s gulag.
Jawar will never leave his people in the dark and we should do everything in our power to get him out. We owe to him as he owed to his people when the going was tougher. Our conscious should not allow us to rest while the likes of Lencho Batii and many other diaspora hyenas for whom he fought for their return home are collaborators of the Ashagree regime and chase after our people. The least we can do: let us stand shoulder to shoulder now and get our Jawar out of the Ashagree gulag and set ourselves free for once and for all.
Freedom and justice for all!!!
Nagaya waliin!
Redwan Hamza
