The war on Oromo
On 20 January 2017, Workinesh Degefa took the women's title at the Dubai Marathon. She finished the race in 2:22:36 to win the Gold medal.
After the race, spectators gave her the old and outlawed Abyssinian flag which is also the preferred flag by Ethnic Amharas, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and worshiped by many Ethiopians almost with the same revere as the holy bible. Degefa refused to hold the flag and looked for the official and current Ethiopian flag, for which she faced a litany of assault and backlash as she refused to hold the old Abyssinian flag.
The Ultra right wing extremist site zehabesha.com called her refusal "a shameful act". Its followers said she is a "traitor, idiot and a disgrace" they reminded Workinesh how "the flag should deserve all the respect in the world next to God". Some called her "ungrateful" claiming "she owe her freedom to {their} forefathers who gave her the freedom fighting under the umbrella of the flag". Others used derogatory and racial slurs calling her "G***", a term which has similar connotation with the word Nigger in the west. One Zehabesha.com follower added "the G*** has legs to run but no head to think". Degefa is an Oromo Athlete who is running for Ethiopia. She has won several competitions. "On April 21, 2013, she won the Yangzhou Jianzhen half marathon in 1:08:43 h. In 2014, she won two semi-marathons - in mid-March the Lisbon half marathon in 1:08:46 h and on 17 May the Gothenburgsvarvet with 1:10:12 h. In 2015, she won first the Prag half marathon in 1:07:14 h in March and in May she repeated her success from the previous year at Göteborgsvarvet in 1:08:13 h"
on February 7 2017, another athlete Genzebe Dibaba broke the world 2000M record in Sabadell. Dibaba finished the race at 5:23.75, to break the 19 year old world record which was set by Gabriela Szabo in 1998. Dibaba, too, is an Oromo athlete who is running for Ethiopia. She is one of the Dibaba sisters - Athletics' royal family which includes Tirunesh Dibaba, and Ejegayehu Dibaba - all world class Oromo athletes.
After Dibaba broke the world record, spectators gave her the same kind of flag which they gave to Degefa. Dibaba refused to hold the flag and the backlash reactions were no different. The derogatory insults and furry followed.
All these vile assault against these world class Oromo athletes come with a background of yet another outright and degrading insult on the entire Oromo people which was broadcasted by the Ethiopian Satellite Television - ESAT, a Diaspora based Opposition media platform which claims to be "the Eyes and ears of all Ethiopians"
On 22 January 2007, this diaspora based media outlet broadcasted an episode titled "WHO ARE ETHIOPIANS’? by Prof. Haile Larebo". The one and half hour segment went on and on about the dominant interpretation of Ethiopian history through the perspective lens of the satellite television. The guest, a highly celebrated individual among the ultra right wing Ethiopian extremists for his berated attack and vulgar insult of the Oromo, tried to explain who the Oromo are, whom he said are "refugees, outsiders and shepherds" - to which the ESAT host nodded in agreement; and referred to the ethnic group as "G***", refusing to use the name Oromo.
The satellite station faced backlash for airing such derogatory remarks. As a result, it released a public relations damage control statement saying "the views expressed in the segment was not the station's". However, even for releasing such a PR damage control, the station's base supporters continued to demand ESAT apologize for the guest and widely defended the guest, whom they called "a hero, an intellectual with integrity and a smart person" - for insulting an entire group of people using racial slurs.
Yet again, all this propaganda and info war on the Oromo comes at a time when tens of thousands of Oromo have been massacred by the current regime for demanding their civil and human rights, which makes it even absolutely clear that in Ethiopia, there is an insidious, ugly and ruthless war - in broadcast and bullet, being waged to destroy the Oromo from right center and left.









