Qeerransoo Biyyaa
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Articles by Qeerransoo Biyyaa
August 22, 2009
If in your country academic freedom and the freedom of expression are guaranteed or respected , please pay attention to this article for you may not know what you have taken for granted. I recommed you read the comments at the end of the interview carefully and see the mindset and the war of words among opposing groups of people on issues. The comments are very revealing of the enormous amount of intolerance that exists in the current Ethiopian empire between the opressors and the opressed or more blantly the colonizer and the colonized peoples in Ethiopia. The support for and brutal verbal attacks agaisnt Dibaba symoblizes the harsh conditions under which Oromo live for expressing their scholastic and artistic views.
July 15, 2009
This article tries to generally explore the nexus between conflict and climate change and vice versa in Africa. In so doing, it uses US President Barrack Obama´s Accra speech as a point of entry. It cites concrete examples from some Horn of African countries and localities.
"Africa gives off less greenhouse than any other part of the world, but it is the most threatened by climate change. A warming climate will spread disease, shrink water resources, and deplete crops, creating conditions that produce more famine and conflict," stated Barack Obama in his first speech to the sub-Saharan Africa as the President of the United States of America from Ghana, Accra.
July 06, 2009
As an exiled Oromo living in the United States, I understand and appreciate American people's celebration of the Independence day. Beyond every glamorous celebration, there are always heroes in any free society, who sacrificed their lives, property, knowledge and skills for freedom and justice.
June 14, 2009
This article will propose the creation of a three-state solution to the political standoff in Ethiopia. The creation of a three-state solution will undoubtedly end Abyssinians colonialism and ethno-racism in Ethiopia and in the larger Horn of Africa. This, in turn, will contribute to enduring peace and development in the region.
May 06, 2009
Action Professionals Association for the People (APAP), a non-governmental organization, has released a new pollution and impact assessment report for rivers Akaki and Mojo in Oromia, Ethiopia. Based on laboratory analyses of toxic industrial chemicals in the river waters and clinical data of people affected, the APAP study reveals that the two rivers are the most polluted water bodies on earth by any standard. The report says the pollution of the rivers have put the lives of an estimated 150-200,000 rural population in peril. Industrial chemicals, heavy metals, organic pollutants, which are said to severely impair water quality, have been discovered in the waters. The rivers under study were once sources of fresh, clean and safe drinking water for thousands.
April 30, 2009
I wanted to look at what Obama folks have accomplished to solve the African policy conundrum in their first hundred days in office. Practically, nothing. I am not aware of any major campaigns by the African Diaspora or African interest groups with the exception of Save Darfur Coalition that had agenda for the President in an effort to hit the ground running. Rather a whole host of expectations that the Obama people would be favorable in their approach towards African issues; hunger, poverty, HIV/AIDS, corruption, democracy, regional peace and stability etc. that are not addressed. There is no doubt that the financial meltdown and the many challenges Obama has inherited from his predecessor has overshadowed his African and other policy initiatives [IV]. But it seems to me that the no-drama Obama team could have done a lot better if they moved "swiftly and quickly" as they have promised us - the enthusiastic supporters.
April 26, 2009
The International Oromo Youth Association (IOYA), an umbrella organization for Oromo youth around the the world, marched in Washington DC, protesting Ethiopian government's toruture and kilings directed against the Oromo people and other non-ruling populations in South Ethiopia. The demonstrators highlighted that Ethiopia has passed laws criminalizing the activities of human rights and civil society organizations throughout the country.
April 20, 2009
Most elite athletes who have made Ethiopia globally famous come from the extremely repressed Oromo people of Ethiopia. Their winning credits usually go to the same repressive regime that leverages the athletes' victories to build Ethiopia's national image in favour of the ruling ethnic group.
April 06, 2009
The Horn of Africa has recently seen renewed interest from several competing global economic powers including China, Russia, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Brazil. Part of these nations´ attraction to the region seems to be the region´s richness in oil, minerals, overseas farmlands, its being an ideal arms deal and piracy destination, as well the strategic importance of the region for military purposes. For these reasons, the Obama Administration has every responsibility to synchronize US policy and interests in the region with democratization and stability.
Experts on the Horn of Africa in the fields of conflict resolution, international affairs, history, global studies and politics have analyzed the scenarios of US policy under the Obama Administration at a conference organized by the Oromo Studies Association (OSA) in Washington D.C, Howard University.
March 22, 2009
Americans and the rest of the west must start to be outraged by the mismanagement of their donated tax money in Africa. Literally, African leaders are rewarded bonuses for their evil deeds, just like the CEOs of the AIG. The western public needs to respond with the same outrage to funds that have been rewarded to Ethiopian and Sudanese leaders, with no effect on the hungry and destitute millions.
March 13, 2009
The pleasure of seeing one's language go global has been what, I think ,made the voluntary translation a huge success for Google. Often, poor people have dovote hours and years of translation for Goolge without compensation. Imagine marathon human translators in Africa, making sacrifices for Google and themselves. Within countries, I have witnessed groups competing to make their own languages go global and technological on Google.
March 06, 2009
In Oromiya regional administration, west Shawa Zone, government forces killed Wondimu Damana, a 12th grade Gedo High School student. The soldiers also injured Belay Motuma and another female student.
February 26, 2009
The focus of this piece is to highlight how the selfish, unethical, and eco-hostile Euro-Arab ´investment´ in collaboration with tyrannical and genocidal Horn of African regimes is leading to apocalyptic and irreversible disasters on the environment, human lives and wild lives.
January 21, 2009
Television pundits and reporters have approached Obama´s presidential speech from almost every angle, but I feel that pundits glossed over a part of his speech, where he warns dictators, perpetrators of genocide across the world. The lines from his speech I quoted above mean a lot to the people of some African countries, suffering under brutal dictatorships and ethnically motivated ongoing genocides and exclusions from national economies and benefits of citizenship.
January 03, 2009
If the visionary founders of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) such as H.M Haile Silassie of the Empire of Ethiopia, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana and General Abdul Nasser of Egypt etc., who were also deeply rooted in African philosophy and politics of liberation, were to watch over the recent African Union (AU) leaders, would they ridicule and scoff at them for letting the continent fall apart in front of their eyes?
December 21, 2008
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere," Martin Luther King Jr.
I have a reason I started my article with a famous quote from Martin Luther King, the icon of African-American Civil Rights Movement. The quote captures for me the essence of what the mainstream western media such as the BBC fail to do when they give imbalanced coverage of political and economic crises in two equally despotic African nations, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia. I am more interested in why Zimbabwe makes more headlines than Ethiopia, while famine and conflict are hitting millions of people that can exceed the total population of Zimbabwe in Ethiopia. Why do media like the BBC get obsessed with holding Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe responsible for the economic crises, cholera outbreak, but fail to hold his type Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia responsible for the famine and the conflict in Oromia and the rest of Ethiopia? What is in Zimbabwe that attracts western media that is not in Ethiopia? I will try to answer some of these questions and leave others to you to ponder.
November 27, 2008
The past weekend, the Oromo community in Washington DC deliberated on a number of issues: gross human rights violation of the Oromo people in Ethiopia and in East African countries, internal affairs of strengthening the coalition amongst Oromo opposition parties to challenge the regime and lobbying western governments to discontinue supporting the Ethiopian regime.
November 12, 2008
While we know that Oromo hip hop and spoken word art are widely spread and well known to the Oromo youth in the Diaspora, it is hard to tell how these forms of arts are likely to be received by the older generation of the Oromo Diaspora and population at home. While some youth in urban areas will have some idea about rap music in Oromia, the older generation and the village folks will not have any idea weather this genre is a song or not. Regardless of anticipated resistance to this genre, Oromo hip hop artists must realize that they are doing excellent jobs in effectively communicating messages human rights advocacy that help in the search for justice and freedom in Oromia .
November 01, 2008
At the event Tahiro was showcasing and explaining his spectacular work of art to the audience. Tahiro considers himself mainly as a digital science artist. He classifies his digital arts into three: design, abstract and nature. He explores various subjects in the areas, including global warming, forests set on fire in Oromia in Ethiopia, space exploration arts of the moon and mars. "I view my artwork as my ultimate discovery," said Tahiro.
October 28, 2008
Wayessa spokes about the importance of films to encourage cross-cultural commutations and understanding amongst parties in conflict. He stressed that this film will provide an opportunity for ruling Ethiopian groups to look at themselves from the point of view "others" construct for them. He envisions the film to serve the transcendental purpose of awakening humans from the dangers of narcissistic self-obsession that has been the tradition for far too long.
September 18, 2008
Amidst the already rampant gross violations against media and media workers, Ethiopia selectively removed the only Oromo language television broadcast off air on September 12, 2008.
Sources from Finfinne (Addis Ababa), speaking on conditions of anonymity for fear of reprisal, said that police barred several dozens of journalists and staff from entering the premises of Ethiopian Television and then put them under custody. The exact number of journalists and staff under arrest is still unknown. However, one source said their number can be 40 to 50, while another source said the number of those arrested and put under surveillance could reach 60. These journalists and staff were immediately told they were fired.
August 28, 2008
In this article, I will accomplish one simple task of showing how political organizations which prefix the words "Ethiopia´´ and "Unity" to their names engage in conspiracy and counter- conspiracy campaigns against others who do not have those prefixes. This is the anti-thesis of their ostensible goals of bringing about unity, democracy and justice in Ethiopia. It is worthwhile to do so because these political organizations are spreading confusion and misinformation to the international community as well as to the nations and nationalities they claim to represent. These confusions and the divisions within Ethiopian political organizations have made it difficult to create a viable and genuine alliance between organizations representing different groups. It has also made it difficult for donors, the international community and continental supporters to rally behind these organizations.
August 25, 2008
The president of Macha and Tulama Association (MTA), Mr. Dirribi Bokku, who came to the United States, Minnesota, to make a keynote address at the 22nd Oromo Studies Association annual conference, exposes assaults against himself and the Civic Society Organization (CSO) he is leading. Bokku is also the author of a new Oromo book "Ilaalcha Oromoo" (Oromo View), which is a guide to the traditional African Oromo religion "Waaqeffannaa".