 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Arsii Oromo Political and Military Resistance Against the Shoan Colonial Conquest (1881-6) Part 1 by Abbas Haji, Journal of Oromo Studies, Volume II, 1995
Introduction Perham's (1969) statement above, which has become classic, reflects the prevailing conception of traditional historiography on which much of modem official imperial history is founded, deliberately or not, confuses restoration with colonial conquest, and colonization with internal (civil) war. This imperial ideology is based on the myth of three thousand years of history that Ethiopia was always united, that the whole of Eastern Africa belonged to Abyssinia, and that the peoples who inhabited these regions were their subjects. In fact, it was the Oromo (or their country) who were most affected by this myth as Menelik claimed the "country all the way south to Mombassa" which seems to have corresponded to some Amhara legends of Oromo’s country of origin. It was on the basis of this false assumption that Menelik wrote the famous circular of 1891 to claim "historic territory" and colonial power status in the "Scramble for Africa" although no one, neither politicians nor scholars took this conjectural letter seriously at that time. It was for the same reason that some imperial ideologists considered other nations and nationalities in the country, the Oromo in particular, as "outsiders". The invention of "strangers" and "subjects" was nothing more than a continuation (prolongation) of ancient legends, myths and pseudo- historical traditions about Oromo origin, including the name "Galla" as they were fabricated and developed by the clergy for politico-ideological gains. This gave rise to a widely accepted notion and distorted image of the Oromo society, even among some academic circles who depended on (or were influenced by) these sources. On their part, some scholars belonging to such circles contributed to the development of ethnocentric conception of history and scholarship as the following terms of Professor E. Ullendorf indicate: "The Galla had nothing to contribute to the civilization of Ethiopia, they possessed no material culture or intellectual culture, and their social organization was at a far lower stage of development than of the population among whom they settled". According to Perham, who uncritically took up the official myth, the destiny reserved for the Oromo was extermination or expulsion. This implied that the Oromo were emigres, and it was in the face of the incapacity of the Abyssinian state to entirely exterminate or expel them that they had to be incorporated. In this context, it was a matter of cultural as well political and territorial incorporation. The conquered peoples were denied their identity, culture, and history. What Perham wrote was taken up by some of her followers who tried to develop the same point differently in order to advocate, in one way or another, assimilation. In so doing, they provided ideological support for the imperial regime and the modem politico-intellectual elite who always claimed that they were building a nation. Not only did they make superficial comparisons between the social organization of the peoples forming the empire which led them to establish a hierarchy of culture and psychology, but they also came up with a crude idea to justify the domination by one ethnic group over others, leading to the subordination of different cultures to chosen imperial codes. The classification of cultures implies explicitly or implicitly the acceptance of assimilation. Furthermore, the philosophical root of assimilation, although the term may have various meanings depending upon the context, is closely related to the concept of hierarchy of cultures: there are "higher" and "lower" or "weak" and "strong" cultures. Others consider imperial domination and the destruction of identities of nations and nationalities as a process of "nation- building", an euphemistic term for assimilation?. The paradox is, however, that they claim that Ethiopia is an empire in the formal sense of the term", and at the same time justify or forecast the advent of coherent nation-state from a multinational empire based on the single "ethnic core," the Amhara identity. If Abyssinia, with its Christian state on the northern plateau, has a long and continual history of many centuries, then modem Ethiopia which is three or four times bigger than traditional Abyssinia with its borders and its tens of nations, nationalities and peoples, came into being as a result of brutal military conquest which was facilitated by the collusion of interests between European imperialism and internal Shoan colonialism during the second half of the last century. Here our major thrust is not to discuss the themes we raised, but rather to examine the process of Shoan colonial expansion which started in the first half of the last century, with the conquest of a great majority of the Tulama. The Oromo conquest and incorporation was accomplished by the Abyssinian state under Menelik during the last quarter of the 19th century. This particular study is dedicated to the resistance of the Arsi Oromo against Shoan colonialism in the 1880s. This war of conquest and the local Arsi resistance were of vital historical importance for the following reasons. First, it represented one of the most bitter anti-colonial struggles in the Horn of Africa. The long years it took and the human and material losses it provoked largely exceeded that of Adwa which was fought between Ethiopia and Italy. It even led to atrocities and mutilations which none of the contemporary European colonial powers practiced in the Horn of Africa. Second, from Oromo historical point of view, the massive mobilization and fierce resistance clearly indicate higher organizational and military capacities of the traditional Oromo society under its socio-political system, namely the Gadaa. Third, the failure of Menelik’s force to defeat the Arsi for more than five years reinforces the thesis that without the collusion of the Shoan and Italian colonial policies and without the encouragement or understanding of other colonial powers, Menelik would not have won the war nor would he have been in a position to dominate the south in general and the Oromo, in particular. Moreover, Arsi resistance has turned out to be instructive in the sense that when and where the Oromo groups avoided internal conflicts and remained united, they did not lose any war against their adversaries and they were a hard nut to crack. It is worth to compare the Arsi with the Tulama who became weak through internal wars and were used one against the other, and then against other peoples in the south by the Shoan kings. Last, but not least, the sacrifice of tens of thousands of fighters and martyrs in defense of their dignity and freedom seems to have become a rallying point, a symbol of ancestral struggle against domination and a source of inspiration in the quest for the political identity of the Oromo nation. We will, therefore, see how and why the Arsi managed to resist for such a long period by taking into consideration the social organization and the conception of war in Oromo society. We will briefly analyze the quality of military and political leadership of the resistance through three important leaders. Finally, we will briefly examine the major war engagements, their effects on Oromo society and the carnage perpetrated by the Shoan state, as well as Arsi memorable victories. Origins of Arsi Strength One has to ask why and how the Arsi succeeded in mobilizing such a large fighting force for many years and successfully resisted Menelik who easily defeated Italy in a single battle? A variety of factors, in fact, were involved. The first had to do with their unquestionable demographic strength. The extension of Arsi territory and the number of the people who belonged to the Arsi social universe was more important than one could imagine. For the Amhara and foreign observers, the Arsi had been reduced to the smallest province between the Awash and the Shabale River in Ethiopia. But actually, the Arsi constituted the largest single branch of the Oromo nation which comprise a good half of the Ethiopian population, and above all the largest national group in east Africa covering practically the whole territory between the Tulama and the Somali, i.e., a large part of the Rift Valley up to the Guraghe country, around Shashemene and Awassa area, the Arsi-Bale regions, western Hararghe and eastern Sidamo. It is not surprising, therefore, that they managed to raise between 100,000 and 1,000,000 fighters against the colonizing force according to some sources. The second important factor which enabled the Arsi to put up armed resistance to a degree unknown among the conquered societies of the south, was their remarkable internal peace and unity. Like their neighbors, the Borana, the Arsi did not wage internal war. They even claim that once upon a time, they were not supposed to kill another Oromo, the Guji or Karayyu, etc, since their ancestors took a Kaka Oromoo (Oromo oath) not to kill each other. This important fact, however, was forgotten with the test of time. So, in fact, periodic fighting with their neighbors had been frequent and some time bloody. Internal Arsi conflicts, however serious they may have been, never led to war and military confrontation, nor to retaliatory measures; they always settled their conflicts through arbitration and reconciliation even up to the present day. The Arsi were divided into two relatively localized sociological, but non matrimonial moieties which in turn were sub-divided into named and politically independent Gossa. All these Gossa, both of "pure" Oromo origin (Arsi) and the "Hadiya," the adopted pre-Oromo population during the Oromo migration and the subsequent centuries claim that they descended from the same mythical founding father (Arsi). Beyond this myth of common descent, all these Gossa, except the Qaallu and the clans called Miisee who observed strict matrimonial interdiction, are tied to each other by a complex web of marriage alliances. In brief, they saw each other as kinsmen or allied; the absence of internal armed hostility was a key factor in their confrontation with Menelik and his predecessors. On the other hand, where the Oromo were divided, they were easily used one against the other, as in the case of the Tulama who became an instrument of Shoan expansionism by enrolling as soldiers and military commanders, the best known being Gobana. On this point, one could quote a Shoan source itself:
The same author concluded, "The internal war of the Tulama weakened the Galla and strengthened the power of Amhara". One of the unknown aspects of the Arsi struggle was their clear understanding of this policy of divide-and-rule as it was adopted by the Amhara at early stage and their quest for pan-solidarity beyond their social universe. Naturally, the most concerned by this pressing call were the Tulama clans who enrolled in Ras Darghe's army who ruthlessly suppressed the fierce resistance of the Salale before becoming the butcher of the South. So they called upon Salale soldiers to desert him and to fight together against their common enemy, the Amhara. But it was unlikely that this desperate call for alliance and solidarity would be accepted, partly because most of the combatants in the Shoan army used to be recruited by force from the defeated Tulama clans. In effect, the Shoan authorities forced every defeated group (clan) to raise a contingent of fighters, in the form of tribute which were used against other Oromos. Secondly, the booty from the south and the promised reward in land after the conquest might have appeared more attractive than the claim of "common descent and common culture." Likewise, Ras Gobana’s name was very popular among the Arsi who sang in his praise and asked him to stand by them instead of the Amhara by reminding him his origin. At one point they naively believed that he would arrive and rescue them. What they did not understand was that Gobana, whom they called Gobe, had already made his choice and embraced the Shoan cause. So, they were forced to count upon themselves, although some Guraghe, the Chaha under their leader known as Bachi Sabo, were said to have fought with the Arsi against Ras Darghe. During the conquest of their country in the second quarter of the last century, the Arsi did not develop another form of political authority other than the Gadaa which functioned according to its own logic and ideals. The Gadaa, of course, was not a centralized system and there were many independent Gadaa areas. However, in spite of this apparent fragmentation, the Gadaa provided a very important pole of interaction and cohesion for the Arsi society. In effect, there was an institutional mechanism bringing these Gadaa centers together according to a fixed calendar, ideally every eight years, at Chaffe (traditional parliament and a very important laboratory of Oromo Democracy) where important decisions concerning political and cultural life were taken legislation, amendments of laws, administration of justice, etc.). To the Chaffe, one has to add the institutional pilgrimage (Muuda) every eight years to a common religious head (priest) in Bale, Dallo, undertaken by the delegates of the outgoing Gadaa class and Gossa representatives (Jila). The Qaallu institution and its head as the guardian of tradition and values remained the symbol of their unity, identity, and peace in particular, whereas the Gadaa-Chaffe guaranteed the process of democratic representation-participation in political life and the harmonious functioning of Oromo society. Finally, the Arsi had another institutional mechanism called qitte (democratic assembly) where the members of the same Gossa or different Gossa gathered, discussed and decided by consensus on issues of common interest. For instance, during an emergency, in this case during a war, it was the qitte (assembly) which decided on the common stand of all Arsi Gossa. All this would suggest that Menelik and his predecessors faced in the Arsi a formidable and united fighting force. Last but not least was the conception of war and the place it occupied in the social organization of Oromo society. The Oromo are said to have been warriors par excellence and the Arsi cannot be an exception. In particular, the latter were reputed to be formidable combatants and, perhaps, that was why they used to be known under the name of Waranticha (the Warriors). Bahrey himself called them Waranticha in his genealogy of the Oromo and considered them as the fifth descendant of Barentu (Eastern Oromo). The warrior nature of their society won them, therefore, the respect of their immediate neighbors including other Oromo groups like the Borana, themselves distinguished fighters. All observers of the Oromo underlined the vigorous nature of the Oromo, and even after the dramatic transformation of their institution at the end of the last century, the warrior ideology persists until the present day. The following observation of P. Baxter could be applied every where in the Oromoland:
This was possible partly due to the Gadaa system and partly because of the prevailing competition of prestige between Gossa and individuals in the domain of war. Except for the Qaallu who do not belong to the Gadaa system, all Oromo were organized under the Gadaa where male children were initiated, and passed through different and successive Every eight years and recruited for ritual, military and political responsibility according to their biological age and generational model (afurtama abbaa-40 years that separate the father and his son in the Gadaa cycle). In particular, before assuming politico-judicial responsibilities, the age-set between 16-24 and 24-32 were expected to distinguish themselves militarily as junior and superior warriors, respectively and transmit memorable victories to the future generations. The transition from 4th to 5th grade was marked by a grandiose ceremony in which war would become a ritual obligation for the Gadaa classes and successful warriors celebrated these rites of passage with special honors and continued to enjoy great prestige when they were in office, throughout their lives, and even after death. The second factor which contributed to the preservation of warrior ideology was the custom of Farsa (praise) and Geerarsa (war songs). This was an institutional mechanism whereby a hero sang of his exploits and successes in public gatherings, particularly where different Gossa met. In the absence of the hero or for dead heroes (ancestors), it was the duty of their kinsmen or descendants to repeat hymns and praise in their glory:
For example, when a member of a given Gossa repeated his Farsa (praise), a member of another Gossa had to respond by praising the achievements of his kinsmen both living or dead. Otherwise he would feel inferior in status and prestige. It is not impossible to evoke heroes from the mother's side. The Gossa with prestigious past were more respected than others and their descendants tried to maintain this reputation. Like the men, women were imbued with the warrior ideology; they sang on the occasion of different ceremonies in praise of heroes or to ridicule men reputed to be cowards. One can say, therefore, that the objective of war among the Oromo was above all, a search for glory and fame, and the transmission of their honorable name for future generations although material gains from the war cannot be excluded. The attempt of every generation was not only to keep up the distinguished names of their ancestors, but to do better and to add a chapter to the collective memory of the Gossa. Perhaps, it is in this perspective that one can appreciate the chronology and tempos of early population movements and particularly those the 16th century, according to successive Gadaa grade. In brief, every male child was prepared for war and confrontation with enemies when and where necessary. Nevertheless, peace remained a pervasive concept which was repeated in all rituals, including those of Gadaa and Muuda. In some cases, war was imposed whenever there was no alternative except killing and dying to protect one's dignity, freedom, family, and property. The classical example of an imposed war was the Shoan war of colonization, which this article will analyze in more detail.
|
|
|
