The Intellectual Bankruptcy of Hizkiel Gebissa (parts I and II)
The Intellectual Bankruptcy of Hizkiel Gebissa Part I: Peddling Ethnic Hatred
By Gemechu Aba Biya
In an interview on August 1 with Semeneh Biafers of Walta TV, Hizkiel Gebissa makes many deceitful statements, as he has done in the past. It’s time to take him to task. He describes himself as a public intellectual dedicated to defending human rights in Ethiopia. But a glimpse of his interviews, speeches, and writings reveal that the man is neither an intellectual nor a human rights advocate; rather, he is an intellectually bankrupt and dishonest imposter. To fully expose his bankruptcy and dishonesty requires several pages, probably a book. Instead, I’ll choose a few examples to illustrate my point.
Officially, Hizkiel is described as a professor of Liberal Studies (whatever that means) at Kettering University in the US but he calls himself a professor of history. He published his PhD dissertation as a book in 2004, Leaf of Allah: Khat and the Transformation of Agriculture in Harerge Ethiopia, 1875–1991. I suppose, this makes him an expert in the production, distribution, and consumption of khat in Harerghe. I am not interested in reviewing his scholarly contribution on khat; I would leave that to the experts in the field. My concern here is his consistently divisive, offensive, and untruthful statements about the political situation in Ethiopia, currently and in the past.
Although his academic expertise is limited to khat, he presents himself as an expert on Ethiopian history and the political economy of countries in the Horn of Africa. Unsurprisingly, his knowledge of Ethiopian history and political economy is demonstrably superficial. In a rare display of honesty, when asked by Semeneh about the ethnic background of emperor Menelik, Hizkiel responded that he does not know. Yes, it is true he knows little about Menelik or the history of Ethiopia.
Since Ethiopia’s history is outside his academic field, he can be forgiven for his scant understanding of Ethiopia’s rich history. The issue is not the deficiency of his knowledge—that is a given; rather, it is his ostentatious pretensions, his deliberate distortion of facts, his fabrications of stories, and his fallacious arguments to advance his extremist nationalist agenda.
In all of his interviews, he describes himself as a public intellectual dedicated to defending human rights in Ethiopia. Is he? A public intellectual is an individual who is distinguished for his or her scholarly work and is engaged in advancing a just cause, whether it is economic, environmental, political, or social. In the US, there are some well-known public intellectuals; for example, Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Edward Said, and Cornell West.
We may disagree with their politics, but we all admire their dedication, consistency, and scholarly work. It will be unfair to compare him with them. But it’s understandable how in the la la land of extremist nationalism, an intellectually mediocre imposter can become a star. In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king, as the saying goes.
A human rights activist consistently and meaningfully defends and promotes the human rights of all individuals in Ethiopia, irrespective of their ethnicity. Human rights activists often pay personal sacrifices for defending human rights violations; for example, being imprisoned. Talk is cheap. It is difficult to call Hizkiel a human rights activist. First, there is no evidence that he has contributed anything substantial to promote and protect human rights in Ethiopia. Second, he has paid no personal sacrifice for defending human rights in Ethiopia. He was teaching at Kettering while many human rights activists in Ethiopia were being tortured in jail.
Third, his activism was at best limited to producing pamphlets or making speeches that denounced the TPLF government, selectively. Whenever the TPLF government violated the human rights of the Oromo people, he was quick to denounce the government, but when the human rights of non-Oromos were violated he was conspicuously silent. Human rights activists don’t discriminate between victims of human rights abuses.
Fourth, under the Abiy government, his stand on human rights abuses are appalling. When the mob that came out to welcome his boss Jawar Mohammad to Shashemene hanged an innocent young man upside down on August 13, 2018, Hizkiel chose to keep quiet. The victim was a non-Oromo. When followers the OLF and Little Ayatollah massacred close to 60 non-Oromos in Bourayou on September 17, 2018, once again Hizkiel chose to be silent. Instead of denouncing the massacre, he condemned the coverage of the news as an anti-Oromo propaganda campaign.
Following the massacre, when the authorities in Addis Ababa arrested thousands of innocent youth and put them in a military camp, again he chose to keep quiet. When 800,000 Gideons were displaced at the instigation of extremist Oromo nationalists in June 2018, Hizkiel kept quiet. Once again, he characteristically denounced the efforts to raise funds for the victims as a propaganda ploy to discredit the Oromo people. He has yet to denounce the perpetrators of ethnic cleansing. Can such an individual be called a human rights activist? No way, not even by a khat addict.
His selective denunciation reflects his ethnicist division of the Ethiopian people between “us”, the Oromos, and “them”, the non-Oromos. A prejudiced activist cannot claim to be a human rights activist, even if we take his denunciation as activism. He is an ethnicist charlatan.
A human rights activist, even a self-proclaimed one at that, who by his silence indirectly sanctions massacres, mob hanging, mass incarceration, and ethnic cleansing acquiesces to the crime. He is an enabler of crimes against humanity.
A human rights activist works with the other fellow activists to advance a common cause, but Hizkiel attacks other human rights activists in Ethiopia who disagree with him politically. He disparages non-Oromo activists who defend the rights of the citizens of Addis Ababa to elect their own mayor directly. He calls them hoodlums who engage in political terrorism. His condemnation demonstrates that he is a political operative masquerading as a human rights activist.
Not only does he engage in selective denunciation, he spreads ethnic hatred. In most of his political discussions, interviews, speeches, and writings he instigates conflict between Amharas and Oromos. In an essay that appeared on Ethiomedia on October 20, 2016, he lists (by quoting another author) ethnic slurs directed at the Oromo more people supposedly by Amhara people, as an example of how the Amharas have oppressed, marginalized, and dehumanized the Oromo people for more than hundred years.
In the eyes of many Ethiopians, as Donald Donham keenly observed, the “Galla were pagans. They were uncivilized. Ye Galla chewa ye gomen choma yellem (it is impossible to find a Galla gentleman as it is to find fat in greens) or again Galla inna shinfilla biyatbutim aytera (even if you wash them, stomach lining and a Galla will never come clean).” In one Amharic expression, Oromos were equated with human feces: “Gallana sagara eyadar yegamal” (Galla and human feces stink more every passing day). In another, even Oromo humanity was questioned: “Saw naw Galla?” (Is it human or Galla?).
What was the purpose of listing these ethnic slurs? Why stoop so low? The khat expert knows the purpose well: it is to create resentment, animosity, and hostility among Oromos against the Amhara people. But what he should have realized is that ethnic, racial, or regional slurs are not unique to Ethiopia. They are ubiquitous elsewhere as well. Still, intellectuals don’t resort to using slurs to bolster their arguments.
I can list many Oromo ethnic slurs directed at Amharas, Keffas, Sidamas, or Somalis, but that will not strengthen whatever argument I am making other than fuel hatred. Individuals like him who resort to using ethnic insults lack the intellectual capability to provide evidence-based arguments to support their dubious claims.
A sound argument based on verifiable premise, supporting evidence, and logical conclusion requires no emotional embellishment to convince its listeners or readers. The appeal to emotion indicates once inability to produce sound arguments. An individual who claims to defend human rights does not repeat offensive ethnic slurs. The use of ethnic slurs to advance a political agenda is unconscionable, objectionable, and deplorable. A sane individual will not use ethnic slurs in any argument, unless one is under the influence of khat.
Human rights activists don’t incite ethnic violence, but Hizkiel ’s stock-in trade is inciting conflict, particularly between Amharas and Oromos, as I have shown above. Here is a more recent example. In September 2018, appearing as a prop for Jawar as usual on OMN TV, he announced that there is a political party that is dedicated to exterminating the Oromo people. The message was loud and clear: The Oromo people should be ready to fight against the impending onslaught. This story was fabricated to incite violence between the Amhara and Oromo people.
The shameless Bekele Gerba repeated the fabricated story. To his credit, Marara Gudina repudiated the story. A man who fabricates such a story cannot be human rights activist. He is a fraud. He is a criminal. Had he told a similarly manufactured story in the U.S, he would have been prosecuted for hate speech and put in jail. The khat expert has less integrity than that of a khat (drug) dealer. The sooner people realize his duplicity, particularly journalists, the lower the chances of people being duped by his deceptive, divisive, and conflict-inducing statements. May Allah help the author of the Leaf of Allah to come to his senses.
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The Intellectual Bankruptcy of Hizkiel Gebissa Part II: The Plan to Destroy Ethiopia Gradually
By Gemechu Aba Biya
Whenever Hizkiel Gebissa is asked about secession, he equivocates, but he is a committed separatist. He just doesn’t have the decency, integrity, or honesty to say it openly. He tries to cleverly camouflage his separatist intention, while actively working with like-minded individuals, groups, and political organizations to dismantle Ethiopia gradually, steadily, but systematically.
In 2016, he, along with Tsegaye Ararssa, and others co-authored the so-called Oromo National Charter. The charter was intended to be a precursor of the constitution of an independent Oromia, much as the 1991 OLF-TPLF charter was a prelude to the 1995 EPRDF constitution, but because of bickering among the various political parties and opposition from academics, prominent individuals, and ordinary Oromos, the charter could not be approved as planned. This story was reported by Tamrat Negera, an Oromo journalist.
To bolster the proposed Oromo Charter, Hizkeil Gebissa and Jawar Mohammed suggested the establishment of an Oromo Transitional Government and an Oromo army. (See the letter addressed to them by the concerned Oromos). That too fell apart when the various groups couldn’t agree on the people who should lead the implementation of the plan. Some individuals, including Hizkiel, suggested to appoint the Little Ayatollah as the Supreme Leader of the Supreme Council, much to the chagrin of the supporters of Dowd Ibssa. (No, I didn’t make up the word Supreme Council. Check the link). He has not yet repudiated his separatist proposals.
Today, Hizkiel pretends to support a united and democratic Ethiopia, while making speeches, giving interviews, issuing statements, and plotting with others to advance Oromia’s separation. He has never taken an unequivocal stand on national unity. Every time he is asked about secession, he tries to be too clever by half by saying that he supports “self-rule” for the people of Oromo, which can mean an autonomous region within a united Ethiopia or an independent Oromia.
Equivocation on secession
In 2016, when someone asked him about secession, he feigns to be incensed by the question:
“To be sure, no one Ethiopian group has the moral authority to administer the litmus test of loyalty to Ethiopia. It is unfathomable that Oromos have to answer such questions especially in the wake of the sacrifices the young generation of Oromo have been paying to liberate Ethiopia from tyrannical rule.”
The false indignation is intended to divert attention from the question. Yes, in case Hizkiel has not noticed, some Oromos, including his boss Jawar, are so disloyal to Ethiopia that they have publicly vowed to destroy it to create an independent Oromia. He pretends to have never met a separatist Oromo.
Second, the question of secession was addressed to him personally, not to all Oromos. We know that the vast majority of the Oromo people oppose separation from Ethiopia because they realize that separation will be disastrous for the Oromo people and because they are patriotic Ethiopians as well. As usual, Hizkiel, like his fellow separatists, relies on hyperbole, mendacity, and stealth statements to advance Oromo separation. (For instance, Asafa Jalata the OLF writer falsely claims that Emperor Menelik killed five million Oromos).
If fake outrage, hyperbole, and emotional manipulation are not enough, he tries obfuscation. Hizkiel obfuscates by saying , “The issue of secession, for instance, was basically settled when federalism was chosen as a solution and secession was enshrined in the Ethiopian Constitution as a right in principle.”
This is the kind of non-answer you expect from a slimy, duplicitous politician, not from an honest, truth-seeking academic. Someone who cannot give a simple “yes” or “no” answer to a simple question obviously hides something.
Although he lacks the integrity to say that he supports secession outright, there is enough indirect evidence from his statements and actions to conclude that he is still a separatist. When he was recently asked about article 39 of the constitution at Mekele University on July 11 , he responded that he supports it. It is most unlikely that an individual who supports national unity can in clear conscience also support article 39, unless he is a separatist. Just as you don’t buy a car, unless you intend to drive it, you don’t endorse article 39, unless you hope to invoke it one day.
To be sure, I recognize Hizkiel’s right to support separation, but what I detest is his dishonesty, sleaziness, mendacity, and hate mongering against the Amhara people to advance the separation of Oromia.
Further, he endorses the confederation of ethnic states that has recently been proposed by supporters of the TPLF to replace a sovereign Ethiopia, revealing his secessionist aspirations. Appearing on Tigray TV on July 13, Hizkeil gleefully asserts that the Killils are ready to separate and the process of Ethiopia’s dissolution is underway.
He points out that the Killils have their own constitution, their own police force, their own army (special forces), their own flags, and their own presidents. He could have also added that Oromia and Tigray have their own ethnic national anthems as well! What is missing, he contends, is international recognition only. And that can come easily once a referendum, requiring a simple majority vote for separation, is held. He can’t wait to see that day.
Defending the constitution
Hizkiel defends the constitution vigorously. One wonders why he bloviates so much when defending the constitution, both its content and the process by which it was drafted and approved. The reason is simple: the constitution, written by the two separatist political organizations the OLF and TPLF, was conceived to destroy Ethiopia. He must share the same objective.
The constitution created the Killils, ethnic enclaves, with huge imbalances in the distribution of resources, economic power, and political influence, an unworkable federal arrangement in the long run. It enshrined secession. It undermines Ethiopia’s national identity. It created indigenes and non-indigenes within each Killil who are subject to unequal rights. It includes provisions that incite continuous conflicts in each Killil. (Kebeles demanding to be woredas, woredas demanding to be zones, and zones demanding to be Killils, and Killils eventually demanding to be countries).
Because of these and other features, the constitution fosters perpetual political crises and the eventual collapse of Ethiopia. Nobody could have designed a better constitution than the OLF-TPLF constitution for a country to self-annihilate. And this is the constitution that Hizkiel defends as being perfect for Ethiopia. Indeed, it is a perfect constitution for the destruction of Ethiopia.
That’s why separatists like Hizkiel threaten violence, bloodshed, civil war whenever you suggest to change the constitution. This is intellectual bullying, the hallmark of someone who has no valid arguments to defend a tenuous position.
If the constitution provides the legal framework for the separation of Oromia in the future, then the ground political work must start now. The separatists are working to gradually dismantle Ethiopia, with the apparent connivance of the Abiy government.
Hizkiel, Jawar, and Bekele are now collaborating closely with the TPLF separatists. They have formed an unholy alliance with the former oppressors, torturers, and killers of the Oromo people. Hizkiel used to condemn the Woyane regime incessantly for its crimes against the Oromo people, but on August 7 he denies ever using the word “Woyane”! Come again? A cursory look at his video clips over the last two decades shows he has profusely used the word “Woyane”. The man a pathological liar.
Two years ago, Hizkiel was telling us the alliance between the Amhara and Oromo people, deeply rooted in history, was essential for a united, democratic, and prosperous Ethiopia. Now, he tells us that the alliance was simply tactical and that there can never be a strategic alliance between the two people.
The strategic alliance, he argues, should be among the Cushitic people of Ethiopia, under the hegemony of the Oromos. That has been his long-held position. This means, when he was preaching the alliance of the two people, he was lying all along. Now he wants to con the Cushitic people of Ethiopia, but they know him well enough not to be duped.
The man tells consistently contradictory stories, depending on whether he is speaking in Bale or Mekele, in Amharic or Afan Oromo, on Amhara TV or OMN TV, on Tigray TV or on Walta TV. In Harar, he was advancing Oromo hegemony; in Mekele, he denounces it. On Tigray TV, the thieves are the EPRDF leaders; on Walta TV, no it is the TPLF leaders. And so on. Which is the true story?
For Hizkiel, truth is some kind of play dough to be arranged into different forms, patterns, and shapes; to be packaged, labelled, and sold to a particular audience. The man has a serious problem of credibility, to put it politely.
The great expanded Oromia?
The current configuration of Oromia is not economically conducive for an independent Oromia. To be viable, it must incorporate the SNNPR. To that end, Hizkiel and Jawar have been agitating for the fragmentation of the South not because they support the constitutional right of the people in the South, but because a divided, fragmented, and weakened South will be easy to dominate, to Oromize, and to eventually incorporate into Oromia.
When Hizkiel and Jawar assert that Oromia is composed of different “nations, nationalities, and peoples”, they are not referring to the Amharas, Gurages, Tigrayans, and other ethnic groups living in Oromia today. They are referring to the people of the South. Hizkiel wants to fragment the South but plans to expand Oromia by incorporating Addis Ababa, Dire Dawa, Shewa, the South, Wollo, and substantial areas of the other regions. Unless you’re a separatist who dreams to establish a Great Oromia one day, why would you want to expand Oromia?
Further, he relentlessly attacks Ethiopia’s national identity, spews ethnic hatred against the Amharas, strategizes to weaken the Amhara region, advocates the Oromization of non-Oromos, and instigates political crises by raising wedge issues (think of Finfinen Kegna and now Wollon Kenga). None of these advance national unity. In fact, they are designed to kill Ethiopia by a thousand cuts.
I doubt if the strategy of gradually weakening Ethiopia to destroy it, while strengthening Oromia economically, politically, and militarily to make it an independent country will work because the Oromo people are beginning to realize the treachery of people like Hizkeil and Jawar and that separation is a mutually destructive option for all Ethiopians.
There is no guarantee that an independent Oromia would remain intact, given the cultural, political, regional, and religious differences of the Killil. Still, we have to be vigilant about intellectually dishonest individuals like Hizkeil who pretend to support national unity while actively trying to destroy Ethiopia. It’s our duty to expose such political hacks, charlatans, and carnival barkers.