A sweeping and deeply critical opinion piece published by Ethiopian news outlet Borkena on March 23, 2026, authored by Professor Girma Berhanu of the Department of Education and Special Education at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, has sparked significant discussion among Ethiopian scholars, diaspora communities, and political observers. The piece offers a comprehensive and unflinching analysis of what the professor characterizes as the rapid deterioration of democratic governance in Ethiopia, and draws alarming parallels between the country’s current political trajectory and the mechanics of historical fascism.
A Framework Borrowed from History
At the heart of Professor Berhanu’s argument is a critical engagement with political theorist Jason Stanley’s influential book, How Fascism Works, which identifies fascism not merely as a historical regime but as a living set of political tactics used to seize and consolidate power. Berhanu contends that nearly every mechanism Stanley describes, the deliberate manipulation of historical truth, the vilification of intellectuals, the cultivation of fear and conspiracy, the dismantling of democratic institutions, and the normalization of social hierarchy, is not only present in Ethiopia today but is increasingly becoming a defining feature of the political order under Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
The professor argues that the Ethiopian government has systematically replaced factual reality with politically convenient falsehoods, silenced critical voices, and weaponized identity politics to entrench a single group’s dominance over the country’s diverse population. He describes the regime’s behavior as neither accidental nor temporary, but as the product of a coherent and calculated political logic — one that prioritizes the concentration of power over national unity, democratic participation, or the protection of human rights.
The “Finfinnee Reclamation Framework” A Blueprint for Ethnic Domination?
One of the most explosive elements of Berhanu’s article is his detailed scrutiny of a controversial policy draft reportedly circulating within government circles, the so-called “Finfinnee Reclamation Framework.” Positioned by its proponents as a restorative justice initiative for indigenous Oromo clans, including the Tulama, Gullallee, Ekka, and Gelan, the document reportedly calls for the sweeping transfer of political authority, economic power, and land rights in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s federal capital, to Oromo stakeholders.
According to Berhanu, the framework draws inspiration from highly questionable international models, including Dubai’s “Sovereign Host” governance approach, Malaysia’s Bumiputera affirmative action policy, and what is described as a Trump-style “America First” philosophy, all adapted into an explicit “Oromo First” agenda. In practice, this would mean prioritizing Oromo individuals and businesses in government employment, public contracts, and investment opportunities, while millions of non-Oromo Ethiopians, including the Amhara, Tigrayans, Somalis, Gurage, and others, would effectively be sidelined and marginalized within their own national capital.
The professor rejects the “restorative justice” framing outright, describing the framework as a brazen power grab cloaked in the language of historical redress. He argues that Addis Ababa, as the federal capital and a city historically belonging to all Ethiopians, cannot be legally or morally converted into a single-ethnic enclave. Drawing on the economic fates of Hawassa, which lost its regional significance after the creation of the Sidama regional state, and Harar, which critics compare to a Bantustan for its extreme exclusionary character, Berhanu warns that applying such a model to Addis Ababa would be catastrophic, triggering economic collapse, mass displacement, and deepening civil unrest.
Oromummaa: Cultural Revival or Ideological Coercion?
A significant portion of the article is devoted to examining Oromummaa, an ideological and cultural framework rooted in Oromo identity, collective consciousness, and the aspiration for political self-determination. Berhanu is careful to acknowledge that proponents of Oromummaa frame it as a project of cultural revival, historical reclamation, and political empowerment for a people who experienced genuine marginalization under previous Ethiopian regimes.
However, he argues with considerable force that in its more radicalized and state-backed articulations, Oromummaa has crossed a dangerous line, becoming an exclusionary, coercive, and hegemonic ideology that actively seeks to delegitimize and erase the cultural, religious, and historical identities of Ethiopia’s non-Oromo populations. Citing the work of researcher Desalegne Birara, Berhanu points to documented patterns of cultural heritage destruction, the marginalization of Semitic historical memory, and the symbolic elevation of the traditional Oromo belief system of Waaqeffannaa at the expense of Ethiopia’s deeply rooted Islamic and Christian traditions.
He situates Oromummaa within a broader comparative framework, drawing structural — though not literal — parallels to the political theories of Carl Schmitt’s “friend versus enemy” logic and the totalizing ideologies described by Hannah Arendt. The concern, Berhanu stresses, is not cultural expression itself, but the transformation of identity politics into a state-backed instrument of domination that silences dissent, erases diversity, and normalizes the exclusion of entire communities.
Ethnic Federalism: An Engine of Division
Berhanu also delivers a sharp critique of Ethiopia’s foundational system of ethnic federalism, introduced in the early 1990s under the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). While the system was sold to Ethiopians and the international community as a progressive model for managing diversity and empowering historically marginalized groups, Berhanu argues it has instead institutionalized division, rewarded identity-based competition over civic cooperation, and created a zero-sum political environment in which communities view one another as rivals rather than fellow citizens.
He draws uncomfortable but pointed comparisons to South Africa’s Bantustan model under apartheid, arguing that much like that discredited system, Ethiopia’s ethnic federalism fragments society while creating the illusion of autonomy. The result, he argues, has been fertile ground for ethnonationalist movements, including the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and historically the TPLF, to exploit structural grievances for political gain, often through racialized narratives that frame Ethiopia’s social landscape as a conflict between “Cushitic” and “Semitic” populations.
Berhanu warns that such narratives carry profound dangers, echoing some of the most catastrophic ideological constructs of the twentieth century, from the propaganda that fueled the Rwandan genocide to earlier episodes of racialized political violence. He calls for Ethiopia to urgently reconsider its political architecture, arguing that moving toward a more inclusive, genuinely civic model of governance is no longer merely desirable, it is a matter of national survival.
The Amhara Crisis and the Three Tiers of Victimhood
Perhaps the most emotionally charged section of the article concerns the situation facing Ethiopia’s Amhara community, whom Berhanu describes as the primary victims of systematic violence, cultural erasure, and international neglect. He introduces a three-tiered framework for understanding victimhood in the Ethiopian context.
The first tier is direct victimization, the mass killings, forced displacement, destruction of religious and cultural sites, and suppression of language and identity that Amhara communities have allegedly endured, particularly in the Oromia region and other parts of the country.
The second tier is narrative manipulation, the process by which certain ethnonationalist actors portray themselves as the aggrieved parties, obscuring or denying the Amhara experience while reframing the conflict in ways that shift blame and absolve perpetrators of accountability.
The third tier is what Berhanu calls international or “psychic” victimhood, the tragic invisibility of these atrocities on the world stage. Despite credible reports of mass graves, large-scale displacement, and documented human rights abuses, the suffering of the Amhara has failed to generate the international attention or political response it arguably demands. Berhanu draws a sobering parallel using the words of playwright Bertolt Brecht, noting that when violence becomes routine and relentless, the world often falls silent, and it is precisely that silence that allows atrocities to continue unchecked.
He also introduces the deeply alarming term “Amharafrei”, a deliberate echo of the Nazi term Judenfrei, to describe what critics characterize as a sustained campaign to eliminate Amhara presence from Oromia and other regions, through what he terms historicide, ethnocide, and linguicide: the systematic destruction of a community’s history, culture, and language.
A Call for Accountability and Global Action
Professor Berhanu closes his article with a call to conscience, not only to Ethiopian society and its political leaders, but to the international community. He argues that to observe these developments without condemnation is not analytical neutrality, but willful blindness. He stresses that the convergence of propaganda, ethnic exclusion, institutional erosion, and targeted violence is neither coincidental nor reversible without deliberate and courageous intervention.
He remains, in his own words, driven by anger, and by the belief that justice is still possible.
Source: Borkena — “Fascism at Work: Propaganda, Conspiracy, Lies, Hatred, and Incompetence in Ethiopia” by Professor Girma Berhanu, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Published March 23, 2026.
