Lately, I have been asking Somalis and Cushites alike many questions, many of whom they didn't like. Because, they were quite outlandish to them. And their answers were equally shocking to me. They even had no idea of what I was talking about. I just could not wake them all up once and convince each one of them that Ogaden is inhabited by and belongs to Somalis, that it is not in Ethiopia, neither can Somalis ever be Ethiopians nor even the name Ethiopia itself ever existed.
So, I made sure I at least wrote something down in the hope that it will open their eyes to what Ogaden is, who inhabits it, where it actually is located, the situation in occupied Ogaden, what we have been demanding for so long now, who the colonisers are, where they came from, what their tools of colonisation are and the long sleep of our people - just so they can at least study this nation of occupiers, Abyssinia (now fakely rebranded as Ethiopia) - if indeed they needed to take what is rightfully theirs back and live and die free.
Ogaden
Ogaden is a Somali-inhabited territory that is illegally occupied by Abyssinia (fake Ethiopia). Ogaden, therefore, is located in Eastern Africa and never has it been in fake Ethiopia. When the rest of the African nations were breaking free from colonisation, Britain illegally handed over Ogaden to Abyssinia. One may argue otherwise forever, but that is the fact known to every human being, not animals.
The Situation in occupied Ogaden
The situation in occupied Ogaden today is by far the worst in Africa. There is a systematic genocide going on in Ogaden perpetuated by Abyssinia (fake Ethiopia) and sadly, it is our taxes collected by Western countries that is funding it. In fact, in one of the many articles written by one of the best Cushitic writers today, Nuradin Jilani, a Somali himself from occupied Ogaden, best describes occupied Ogaden and the situation its people have found themselves in as follows:
"Other than the ready-made propaganda aired on the ESTV and UniversalTV, the real situation in occupied Ogaden is that of a place under lock and siege, a place where independent journalists, human rights activists and international NGOs are either expelled or denied entry. A place where the local people live in abject poverty, destitution, and fear. The cream of the Somali society in Ogaden and its intellectuals are either in jail, out of the country, in exile, or killed. This has hardly been a region at peace for more than a century. In essence, occupied Ogaden is a place 'the man died', to borrow the phrase from Wole Soyinka."
What we have been fighting for
One may think that we are fighting for a fake peace - with strings attached - or for a road or a five star hotel to be built. But, truth of the matter is, we've been fighting for more than a century against Abyssinia not for those materialistic things, but rather for our basic rights; justice and freedom, nothing less, nothing more. And if Abyssinia shall not understand that sooner, we will keep fighting it for centuries more until we win our independence, God-willing.
Why fake Ethiopia and not Abyssinia?
First of all, Somalis and indeed other Cushites whose lands are illegally occupied and their people colonised for hundreds of years and counting by successive Abyssinian rulers should know that the name Ethiopia is fake and has never existed for Abyssinians.
Ethiopia is not many nations. It is a fake rebranded name that previously was Abyssinia to legitimise Abyssinia's conquest, expansionism and colonisation of the ever-sleeping Cushitic nations - Ogaden, Oromia, Sidama and Afar. Ethiopia, therefore, encompasses only Amhara and Tigray regions. And that is fact.
Dabaqodhi, Hostage or Criminal: Fake Ethiopia's confusion and the tools it uses to colonise
The word dabaqodhi is a Somali word used to call animals. One may ask, though, the following three questions, after which I will provide each question an answer:
- Why are humans labelled as such (dabaqodhi) and who is profiting from all this un-Islamic name-calling among Muslims? The answer is again, fake Ethiopia. Somalis actually coined the word, and Ethiopia sold it back to them, just like it sells Khat exclusively to them, to create more confusion among Somalis and colonise them mentally even more by dividing and ruling them forever.
- What should those who live under the illegal occupation be called? The answer is that, they are hostages, victims of a century old brutal colonisation. You would be shocked to learn that one can call his own mother a dabaqodhi, just because, like everyone else, she is a hostage to Abyssinia and says what she is told to say or choose between rape and a filthy jail called Jail Ogaden. Ya Illahi! This tool by fake Ethiopia, alongside Khat, has to really be stopped!
- What about the likes of Ina Iley (a mere colonial representative) who are used by Abyssinia to kill and subjugate their own people? Well, they are criminals. The answer is that simple. Anyone who kills another unless for a soul or for corruption done in the land or aids or funds those who commit those acts is a criminal, nothing less, nothing more. That is what they truly are. Thus, there is no need for the word dabaqodhi in our struggle. If anyone needs it, it is fake Ethiopia that needs it badly, for it is one of its best selling tools it uses to control our minds and cause confusion.
The long sleep of the Cushitic people
Ask an Abyssinian what their nationality is, and they will obviously tell you, they are Ethiopians, then ask them what would their Ethiopia look like if it was a democracy and they would tell you that there would be freedom and everyone's rights would be respected. Hmmm.. Now, ask them what their reaction would be had the people in Ogaden or even Oromia been given the chance to hold a referendum on gaining their independence like in South Sudan and the even more obvious answer you will get is - like one Netizen of Abyssinian origin told me just couple of days ago on Google+ after I had asked him the same question: "That day shall never happen, Muhammad. Not until the last one of 'us' is still alive".
Now surprised you may be, you would ask yourself, where is the democracy and the respect for people's rights this nation of colonisers often preach to 'others'? But, I'm not surprised. In fact, I was never surprised. Because, what that Abyssinian told me was not a secret. It is rather a shared belief from every corner of the occupation, Abyssinia (fake Ethiopia), which only consists of Amhara and Tigray regions.
But although I am not surprised by the double standards of Abyssinia, I'm worried by the level of ignorance of many of our people, both Somalis and other Cushitic peoples. They barely even know that they are colonised. And that saddens me to the core, especially when our people are in a long sleep and those who hold their land and people captive spit that out to your face for we never counted to them as no more than a mere property they own and whose fathers do about anything they wish.
"I freed a thousand slaves. I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves." ~ Harriet Tubman.
I really have nothing against any human being in this world, but I believe it is fair to question ourselves why would anyone leave their home and occupy ours and even worse rape, torture and kill us and our family members for centuries and when you finally ask them to leave in peace, they respond to us that they are building roads and schools for us. Is that not an insult in every single way? Am I not a fellow human being? Did anybody ask me whether I wanted a road or school built in my country by a foreigner who rapes my mom and sister, tortures my brother and friend, jails me and my intellectuals and kills my father and neighbour? Where is freedom? Where is justice?
Finally, in order to stop this madness by Abyssinia once and for all, I believe that all freedom loving Cushites and other nations alike should come together, unite and go bareknuckles with this tyrannical nation of occupiers that is disguised behind fake Ethiopia. Let us go!
The author, Moh'ed Hared is a Somali blogger, thinker, activist, anti-Khat campaigner and critic. He currently lives in the US and writes for http://occupiedogaden.
No comments:
Post a Comment