Tedla Asfaw
I just finished , "Ye Burka Zimita" by Tesfaye Gebrab a book that came out more than ten years ago currently posted on pdf file and became a hot item in our Eedn community. Those who put it on Internet without getting the permission of the author should apologize and the thousands who read the book on Internet should send a check to Ato Tesfaye Gebrab voluntarily any amount they choose.
Let me said from outset that the book I read and completed few seconds ago on Internet is a book to be read by all Ethiopians. The "Historical Fiction" of "Ye Burka Zimita" is a book that narrates Oromos abuse in the Arsi surroundings under Emperor Menelik administration, "Hager Makenate" which is still going on under the name of "self determination" by Meles TPLF.
Like all military subjugation of people, "Hager Makenate" , in most countries brutal wars fought to dominate people, and "Ye Burka Zimita" narrates that and we shouldn't attack the writer and blame him for the loss of innocent lives in the surroundings of Arsi following the takeover of Addis Ababa eighteen years ago by TPLF for which many blamed the writer for his part for inflaming the situation. The writer explained himself on the VOA Amharic interview recently for millions of Ethiopians back home an we should take his word.
The book, Ye Burka Zimita, has many characters, Anole Wako the uncompromising young Oromo and his compromising lover/sister, Hiwone Wako, but the big character in this book is the late Hayalome Araya. Hayalome was the "peoples man" and the secret way of releasing Anole the man that led "Yeburka Massacre" after he was cornered in the hills of Arsi to escape to Asmara and continue his "rebellion" as OLF or as Hayalome said to convert Anole to join the TPLF Oromo wing is still debatable. It is the known TPLF tactics of instigating fights among communities and be seen as a honest broker or judge.
Military and civil power by TPLF and its Oromo wing, corruption and womanizing destroyed the "liberation struggle" as was elaborated by many characters on the book . Many connected with the regime are filthy rich, replaced their wives with young Addis Ababeans and Ethiopia divided in to few millionaires and millions of very poor people. Like the farmers surrounding Arsi, the whole Ethiopia looks quite for now and some foreign experts even telling us that Ethiopia is even more stable than USA.
However, the contempt and the arrogance of the regime is not a recipe for stability. To bring real stability, change and hope we have to be open to our past and present and not be a prisoner of it . We have a common proud history and also shameful past. Unelected leaders, unaccountable to their people have brought great harm to the masses and we should talk about it honestly.
I am asking fellow Ethiopians to read, "Ye Burka Zimtia" in open mind and take it for what it is, "Historical Fiction".We have read similar books on native Americans and black Americans experiences.However, this generation of Americans, White Americans,native Americans and Black Americans, learn from the past and move on and not wasted their time debating history that should be left to historians. .
