Wednesday, August 17, 2022

Oromo Instigators and the Amharic Language



Of course, Beshir doesn't speak Oromigna, the language predominant in her film Faya Dayi.

"I’m fascinated by form and language" she declares in the interview I quoted in my previous post on what is next after Faya Dayi

I said at the end of my piece:

Oromo youth need to speak Amharic in order to be fully Ethiopian. This is the reality, and the practicality. PM Abiy, son of an Oromo father and an Amhara mother, speaks in Amharic on all his functions, and speaks Oromigna AND Amharic at Oromo-centered events when he visits local regions (and I think he also speaks some - minimal - Tigrigna). I would say that ALL Ethiopians speak Amharic, and their local, ethnic-based languages, but only the Amhara speak ONLY Amharic. The Ethiopian society is based around the Amharic language.
 
Here's an article at Addis Standard, an Ethiopia-based online journal which discusses the problems of Oromigna-speaking Oromo youth having difficulties in various societal problems, including "not getting job opportunities" and taking it on a racist/discriminatory angle. What else is there when practicalities are ignored?

And right on schedule, it is the Face Book literati, which I have declared have bases outside Ethiopia which instigate, on an international level, that are instigating these discontented Oromo youth and increasing the friction in their communities. 

The Addis Standard article, posted on August 16, 2022 says (I wrote my articleBeshir's Follow-up to Faya Dayi an Esoteric Discussion of Language on August 15):

He [an Oromo job-seeker] believes even though his name is not explicitly an Oromo name there are some indicators such as his birthplace and language that could have hampered his chance of joining the company.

I still stand with my statement that Amharic is the lingua franca of Ethiopia. Without knowledge of Amharic, these Oromo youth reduce greatly their ability to participate in the country's economic enterprises. 

Someone has to tell them this.