OIN News
July 19, 2001

Thousands of Oromos from across the globe will be congregating in the Twin Cities for annual community conventions, academic conferences, professional seminars, cultural shows, and soccer tournament. The activity-filled events run from July 21^st to August 5, 2001. Despite numbering 30 million and accounting for over 50% of the population in Ethiopia, Oromos have been politically marginalized, economically exploited and culturally suppressed since the 19^th century under Ethiopian occupation. The Ethiopian state hoped to hide the huge Oromo nation, if not write it off the face of history, by destroying its language, culture and identity. However thanks to the potency of the human spirit, the Oromo is not only a vibrant society today, even under the shackles of tyranny, but also a rising force in the Horn of Africa.

Americans and the outside world hardly know about the suffering of the Oromo people. It is ironic that while American foreign policy acknowledges and tries to redress the grievances of the less than a million Kosovars, Macedonians and East Timorese, the distressing plight of the over 30 million Oromos subjected to brutal dictatorship by Prime Minister Zenawi of Ethiopia is little known until recently. Oromos have been resisting this unjust rule and denial of their fundamental rights for decades. The ongoing conflict has forced many to flee their picturesque and fertile homeland, Oromia, and seek asylum from persecution in continents. Minnesota is home to over 12, 000 Oromos. The hundreds who will be coming from as far away as Australia, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Canada this summer will boost this already staggering figure. Many more will also arrive from all the fifty states in the US.

In addition to affording homesick new refugees and long time residents of the US a chance to socialize and take pride in their unique Oromo identity, the annual gathering, going on since the early 1970s, helps to galvanize their efforts and raise their voice as a nation. For two weeks Minnesota will be bustling with various kinds of Oromo activity. While Oromo Lutherans (contact 612-337-0374) conduct a spiritual conference from July 19^th to 22^nd, Oromo Muslims (contact 612-338-5940) would do the same from July 21^st to 22^nd. The annual Oromo Studies Conference (contact 651-639-9001), which brings together academics, practitioners and professionals of all fields of study, take place on July 28^th and 29^th. On July 30^th the Association of Oromo Communities in North America (contact 612-340-0282) will be formally inaugurated to spearhead the effort to improve the overall quality of life of Oromos and address their increasing needs in their new homeland. ABO activists from Canada and the US will be conducting their Regional Congress (contact 952-493-5390) from July 31^st to August 2^nd. Oromo Convention 2001, which is organized by ABO and open to the public, takes place on August 3rd. On the evening of August 3^rd all major Oromo musicians and artists would perform at the University of Minnesota, Willey Hall. This year’s activities are organized slightly differently with the view to engage Oromos in substantive national issues and entertain them as well. The soccer tournament (contact 763-488-9727), which is increasingly becoming popular, goes from July 29^th to August 5^th. The matches are in the afternoons so that people exhausted by the conferences and seminars will have time to relax and cheer for their favorite teams.