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Letter to the Editor: The Oromo Banner is a Symbol of Identity, Hope and Prosperity
In a letter to the editor of ethiomedia.com on December 11, 2015, Tedla Asfaw laments the absence of the Ethiopian flag in the Oromo solidarity marches and asserts that flag-waving Ethiopians should support the protestors only when the Oromo cease to carry “their own flag.” As should be expected in a mass demonstration, people show up carrying many different flags to express themselves. This development should not be decried but rather embraced an opportunity for mutual understanding.
The writer starts off from two erroneous premises. First, he assumes the Ethiopian national flag or the Sendeq Alama is such a pure symbol of freedom, equality and unity has always signified the same meaning to all peoples of Ethiopia. Second, he asserts that the Oromo banner is a harbinger of a future Oromia Republic. He is historically uninformed, which makes his pronouncements appear sanctimonious.
To start with the first error, the official green, yellow, red tricolor of Ethiopia is ancient, nearly universal, and perhaps derives from the colors of the rainbow used by humankind everywhere. Ethiopians have shown attachment to the colors in three pennants (triangle shaped strips) at least since the 16th century. The national flag was first established as the Ethiopian Sendeq Alama in 1897, significantly one year after the Battle of Adwa, when the pennants were united into the horizontal stripes that we know today. The flag bore the first letter of the emperor’s name in Geez script. By 1900, the flag hoisted at the Grand Palace sported St. George slaying the dragon on one side and coat of arms named the “Conquering Lion of Judah” on the other. It was designed expressly to symbolize “victory over our enemies” for Menelik and his followers. It represented defeat, humiliation, and subordination for the conquered people. This Ethiopian flag certainly was not a symbol of freedom and equality of all Ethiopians.
The 1931 Constitution affirmed the horizontally-stripped tricolors with an imperial coat of arms named the ‘Conquering Lion of Judah’ holding a staff topped by a cross with green-yellow-red stripes. The flag signified that Ethiopia was a Christian nation, though obviously more than half the population was non-Christian. This too was not a pure symbol of unity and equality for all Ethiopians.
In 1974, the Derg removed the crown and replaced the cross (to make it acceptable to non-Christians) with a spear and renamed the lion ‘the Lion of Ethiopia’. Between 1975 and 1987, a man and a woman facing each other and representing the working class held above their heads a hammer and a sickle In 1987, the People’s Democratic Republic of Ethiopia introduced an emblem signifying the socialist ideology of the Derg. During the transitional period, the official flag was a simple tricolor. The 1995 constitution put a new national emblem into the middle signifying the character of the state as a federation of peoples, nations, and nationalities. Many Ethiopians disapprove of this flag, arguing it is the “woyanne” flag. Obviously, there is no consensus as to which “Ethiopian flag” is the authentic flag.
Turning to the second error, the Oromo tri-color, symbolizing the Oromo nation, is black, white and red. Today, it is the national flag of the Oromia regional government. This is an ancient flag, rooted in the history of the Oromo and other Cushitic-speaking nations. It may be the Oromo banner, which highlights the Odaa (sycamore) tree, the premier symbol of Oromo culture, fertility and inclusive democracy, on a field of horizontally-striped red and green with yellow sunburst and red star in the middle that Tedla Asfaw finds offensive. Among the Oromo, the banner has always been a symbol of prosperity (green), hope for a new season of freedom and equality (yellow), and sacrifice and heroism (red). Indeed the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) popularized that banner when it adopted it as its emblem but the OLF itself was careful not to expropriate it as its sole trademark by referring to it as Alaabaa Oromia (the flag of Oromia).
Interestingly, the meaning of the Ethiopian flag is exactly the same as the Oromo banner. I hope that Tedla Asfaw, a veteran organizer of demonstrations and a pro-democracy activist, has the good sense to support the goals of the demonstrators and what the banner actually represents to those who carry and wrap themselves with it. If, however, the condition under which Tedla will support the Oromo protests against a bloodthirsty regime is the abandonment of the symbol of prosperity and hope and the erasure of emblems of Oromo identity, prospects for unity with diversity are slim. The new generation of the Oromo are fighting and dying precisely for the freedom, equality, and prosperity that the flag represents.
If Tedla wants to acknowledge their protests against injustice and join the struggle, the responsible solution is to bring the three-colored Ethiopian flag to demonstrations around the country to support the gallant protestors who are in the arena facing death rather than live under tyranny. Fortunately, many Ethiopians have no time for his kind of vacuous debate about intangible issues when more important issues are at stake now and for generations to come. The Ethiopian national flag and Oromo banners appearing together in demonstrations across the globe signals hope for a new beginning through genuine openness and understanding.
Professor E. Gebissa teaches at Kettering University in Michigan.
Source = Ethiopia Media