In this episode, Odaacity creators Siyade Gemechisa and Ayantu Ayana reflect on the ongoing protests in Ethiopia, media coverage, lack of decisive action by Ethiopia’s international allies, and the possibilities of local, indigenous knowledge in helping us imagine possibilities for social justice at such a critical time. 
Please listen and send us your thoughts on Facebook and twitter at @theodaacity.

For a background on the #Oromoprotests please see the following links:
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Human Rights Watch interviewed over 100 people including victims and government officials to document the extent of the crackdowns and brutal killings on the street of Oromia https://www.hrw.org/report/2016/06/16/such-brutal-crackdown/killings-and-arrests-response-ethiopias-oromo-protests

Upworthy.com provides a good background information on the protests http://www.upworthy.com/what-ethiopian-runner-feyisa-lilesa-risked-with-his-olympic-protest

This article provides an argument for why the protests are about deeper issues that have lasted for decades http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/09/africa/ethiopia-oromo-protest/

Addis Standard provided one of the first and few first hand accounts of the towns where protests took place. Here’s the experience of three towns near Addis Ababa.
http://addisstandard.com/oromo-protests-defiance-amidst-pain-and-suffering/

Washington Post’s editorial: Ethiopia’s regime has killed hundreds. Why is the West still giving it aid? http://goo.gl/hXz4Qa

A Generation is protesting in Ethiopia, long a U.S. ally
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/13/world/africa/ethiopia-protests.html?_r=0
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OdaacityE01- #Oromoprotests: Beyond the Headlines

The antagonism between Ethiopia’s two largest ethnic groups, the Oromo and the Amhara has been a subject of great interest to scholars, activists and politicians, particularly over the last 25 years. In the wake of recent protests sweeping across Oromia and the rest of Ethiopia, one of the key points of discussions has become the issue of interethnic solidarity.

We’ve seen Images of protesters in places like Gonder and in parts of Oromia showing solidarity with each other. In the aftermath of growing solidarity between these two groups, we ask what does it mean to practice a transnational solidarity in the context of on the one hand an authoritarian state and on the other existence of antagonistic nationalisms between Ethiopia’s largest groups?

For this conversation Ayantu is joined by artist, researcher and community organizer Fayise Abrahim and Human Rights scholar at the London School of Economics Awol Allo.

Here is the audio for Awol’s complete lecture on Competing Nationalisms in Ethiopia https://goo.gl/aBnmhN

OdaacityE02 - Solidarity Beyond Antagonistic Nationalism

In this episode of Odaacity, we change direction a bit from the previous episodes and lead you through an exploration of Oromo diasporic identity. What is belonging? How, as immigrants do we form our identities far away from the places we were born?  Is there room for multiple narratives of Oromo identity, and if not how will we expand and cultivate new experiences in new lands and cultures into the evolution of Oromo identity in an ever-growing diasporic community?

Please listen and send us your thoughts on Facebook and twitter at @odaacity. Or email us: theodaacity@gmail.com
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References and Links:
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's TED Talk, "The Danger of a Single Story": 
https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?language=en
Third Culture Kids:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_culture_kid
W.E.B. Dubois, "The Souls of Black Folk":
https://www.amazon.com/Souls-Black-Dover-Thrift-Editions/dp/0486280411
Hua, Diaspora and Cultural Memory, 2005
Paul Gilroy "Nationalism, History and Ethnic Absolutism ":
http://hwj.oxfordjournals.org/content/30/1/114.full.pdf

Odaacity E03- Identity and Belonging in Diaspora Part 1

The recent massacre of more than 500 people in Bishoftu, at the hands of the military, during the annual Ireechaa celebration has sent a rippling effect of anger and frustration not just for Oromos living inside Ethiopia but throughout many parts of the world in the diaspora.While friends and family members in #Oromia resist the centuries old system of the oppressive Ethiopian enterprise, how can the Diaspora community contribute to a sustainable and justice- driven resolution process? And how does the diaspora community find purpose and belonging from inside the experience of a kind of limbo, while wrestling with the notion of identity and continuity and preservation of the self? These and many more questions are discussed in this episode of Odaacity.

Check out our guest's, Soreti Kadir, work here: 
Twitter: @soretik, @inourownwords
Instagram: @intalbarentu, @inourownwords

Please listen and send us your thoughts on Facebook and twitter at @odaacity. Or email us: theodaacity@gmail.com

Odaacity Podcast