Talk to any people in colonial situations, they’ll tell you they’ve no shortage of collaborators, opportunists, wanna be colonialists etc. It’s a feature of colonial systems that’s universal—that’s what we have with the leadership in power in #Ethiopia in the name of Oromos.

This class of people have been key to imposing & managing the Ethiopian empire on conquered peoples land from its inception. They are there to facilitate plunder, murder & control over previously sovereign peoples. Those in power today are part of a very long tradition. #Ethiopia

Each conquered nation in #Ethiopia has its class of colonial administrators & these roles are passed from one generation to the next, the same way freedom movements are. These two groups must be seen in parallel to understand the dynamics of liberation struggles in #Ethiopia.

A lot of people look at @AbiyAhmedAli & can’t understand why he is overseeing the murder, detention & torture of thousands of ordinary #Oromo people. It’s simple: he wants to be the new colonial administrator & the Oromo want their long awaited freedom, hence the contradiction.

When you look at the brutal killings, sexual violence, torture, mass detention of ordinary people, anti-Oromo campaigns on the state broadcaster & other media, all of it is supposed to accomplish one thing: defeat the Oromo desire to finally live as free people on their lands.

The violence is intended to frustrate the people into giving up struggle & accept their fate to forever be ruled by colonial administrators, rather than leaders of their own choosing. The colonial chiefs have a lot at stake, they will fight fiercely to maintain subjugation .

So, that’s where we are. A people determined to be free, who have already fought off one dictatorship only to have another one arise in its wake. Yes, for now, the colonial chiefs have the entire state power in their hands & seem to have the upper hand. But, for how long?

@threadreaderapp unroll