I was and still am one of the proponents of the right for the different ethnicities in Ethiopia to study and work in the languages of their choice, while still acknowledging the importance of one unifying language, and to develop their respective cultures. I feel that that is the only way to make the millions of Ethiopians feel at home in their own country, not to mention respecting their basic rights. There of course are many more reasons that can be cited in support of this. (Note: I am not claiming most Ethiopians study in the language of their choice at the moment. In many cases, it is simply imposed by the politicians.) However, never did I think the use of a unifying language would be eroded like it is at the moment.
When non-Amharic speaking regions started using their respective languages in the early years of the EPRDF, they still kept Amharic at least as one course, because it is the national working language. I was confident that that will be good enough to teach the children the language they need to compete on the national level, so were the many people around me. We thought the balance will always be maintained. But we were wrong. To begin with, for example, in Oromia, Amharic is thought in schools starting at 5th grade for one period only. By 5th grade, most kids are 10 years old; in Ethiopia, the majority are older than that. Secondly, as almost every other subject in schools with poor infrastructure (as almost all public schools in Ethiopia understandably are), the lessons are given carelessly. In fact, the Amharic lessons might be given even more carelessly as part of a greater purpose, so I learn. So, Amharic is learned too late and too little in that part of our country. (I assume it is the same in the other non-Amharic speaking regions. But I will just speak about Oromia since my information is from there.)
Today, the children don’t speak Amharic and even those who do don’t know how to read or write it. I thought that was natural and they will learn as they grow. I am wrong again. Stories of recent high school graduates having to beg older people (graduates of Amharigna days) to fill out job application forms in Amharic for them, of recent university graduates unable to properly fill out Amharic forms by the Statistical Agency during the census, etc…are just too numerous to ignore.
These stories raised my concern and started to make me think about the different implications of what is happening. Why are children being raised to be marginalized? How is a child from Oromia going to compete on the national level when he grows up? How could he get a job in Gonder, Hawassa or even Addis Ababa? If he wants to go into politics, how is he going to be able to communicate with people of other regions to create a winning coalition? And where does this leave Ethiopia? How could a country exist when her citizens of different regions don’t even speak the same language and don’t understand each other?
It appears that people of the ruling party, specifically in the OPDO, know precisely what is happening and want it to happen. A friend’s friend recently had a conversation with a ranking OPDO official on the same topic. She suggested to the official about the need for a common national language and how teaching the children more Amharic won’t be harmful. Apparently, the response was, and I paraphrase, “what makes you think we want a common language let alone teach it? And what Ethiopia are you talking about? The one Minilik cooked? Yes, we want some who are fluent in Amharic, English and other languages for diplomatic purposes, but we don’t want all our children to be fluent Amharic speakers.”
When some people suggest that the EPRDF intends to take apart Ethiopia, it is usually a subject of ridicule for some who insist that the EPRDF is only interested in power and its just that they would do anything to hold onto it. And when some call the EPRDF “anti-Ethiopia”, they are accused of being devoid of reason and labeled as people who just love to call everyone that doesn’t agree with their politics anti-Ethiopian. I am not going to say this or that one is right, but have realized that I must consider those claims. On the issue at hand, it appears the policy of the ruling party is that ‘states teach their children whatever they want, and if that means avoiding a common language, so be it. And if that results in the disintegration of the country in the long run, so what? Even the constitution provides for the right to self-determination until secession, right?’ This is clearly dangerous from my point of view (being someone who wants to see Ethiopia continue to survive as a united country).
So, how did OLF become part of my topic for this post? Well, some people confidently say that the OLF is a useless organization who is doomed to get old and die in exile/jungle. They say considering the number of the Oromo people in Ethiopia, it should have been able to garner enough support to have won its war by now. But in a country where a party supported by less than 10% of the population controls the national government, OLF, claiming to represent 45% of the population, is out there in the jungle accomplishing little to nothing.
If you ask me: one of the accomplishments of the OLF when it came into Ethiopia with the TPLF was to help in the implementation of the current language situation in Oromia. If the current situation in Oromia continues and the future generation speaks and understands nothing other than Afan Oromo, it is parties like OLF that are going to benefit. In the meantime, the OPDO continues to harass and imprison Oromos on suspicions of being OLF members and sympathizers and advertises for OLF even in areas it was not popular. What happens when you, your family member or your neighbor gets attacked for something they are not? You start identifying with it! Call it the preparation for the victorious entry of the OLF, if you will. Sooner or later, that is where things are going.
For those of us who love the country called Ethiopia, we can do a lot in trying to fill the gap left by lack of a common language. I recently heard a child in Oromia uses the words terrorist and Kinijit interchangeably. There is no wonder in that as the government holds the monopoly over most of the media available to people outside the capital. But we must ask ourselves, what are opposition parties like Kinijit doing to challenge that monopoly and feel the gap? I understand that regional party representatives are expected to take care of publicizing the party and its stands in their respective languages. But in resource deprived countries like Ethiopia, specially at a time when opposition party officials are not even allowed to do their jobs, the leadership should not have such expectations. Instead, they should give out interviews on VOA Afan Oromo, VOA Tigrigna, etc…Other radios that broadcast to Ethiopia must consider diversifying their programs to include at least the major languages. The leaderships of such parties must make available their press releases and announcements in all the major languages. Print media should diversify and break the monopoly the EPRDF holds in the different regions.
In general, parties like Kinijit must invest in reaching out to the different regions in their respective languages if they intend on winning their hearts. This has become a matter of practicality. If you don’t speak their language, you simply do not reach them. Kinijit should not take the support it received in 2005 for granted and continue in the same path. It must go more distances in fighting not to concede an inch to the EPRDF and parties like the OLF.
