Haacaaluu’s December show did just this. As soon as he occupied the stage, the scene immediately felt magical. His opening greetings – “ashamaa, ashamaa, ashamaa” – electrified an audience who understood his use of the traditional Gerarsa repertoire and its unconscious grammar. As he strode lion-like around the platform, he evoked a rare outpouring of exuberance in his adoring audience. And speaking at a moment in which the Oromo protests had been building momentum for over two years – and, unbeknownst to the crowd, just months before one of their own would become chair of Ethiopia’s ruling coalition – Haacaaluu repeatedly asked the audience Jirtuu (“are we here?”), driving everyone justifiably nuts.
oromo
Olympic Marathon silver medalist Feyisa Lilesa speaking About Killings of Oromo Protesters in Ethiopia
this whole episode makes me ill and it’s going to get worst before it gets better. i remember once a confrontation of sorts at university of washington between the oromo students and the amhara students. was a sad day then as is now
good piece here on how ethiopia govt exploits the african union for its own evil purposes. death to big negroes
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Nonetheless he felt he had to speak out. “[The] Ethiopian government [is] killing my people. So wherever I stand, [I stand] with Oromo protest anywhere because Oromo is my tribe. At this time, any people, all my relatives in prison, in prison. Daily I worry, I worry…If you talk, you write [about the protest], they kill you. So I stand with Oromo protest anywhere,” Lilesa said.