Diasporas as Agents of Political Change: The Role of the Oromo Diaspora in the 2015 Oromo Protest in Ethiopia

Abstract

Diasporas are significant actors in the international political arena. By leveraging the human and financial capital in their possession, operating in a more open political space, and enabling access to information and communication technologies, the diasporas are well-positioned to contribute to socio-political change in their respective places of origin and settlement. This article aims to understand the role and influence of the African diaspora in the political affairs of their homeland, taking the caseof the transnational political practice of the Oromo diaspora and their involvement during the 2015 Oromo protest that propelled political change in Ethiopia. It does so by examining how the new identity of the educated Oromo youth developed and contributed to the emergence of a vibrant diaspora community committed to bringing about democratic change in their homeland. The article further discusses how the expansion of transnationalism and the Internet interacted with the politicized ethnic identity of thenew generation of the Oromo diaspora to reframe and organize the popular protest against repression in their homeland. The article is based on primary and secondary data collected through interviews, focus group discussions, and social media analysis. This article shows that the diaspora's involvement in homeland politics contributed to the diffusion and scale shift of the 2015 Oromo protest, transforming it into a transnational human rights agenda. It further explicates that the Oromo protest brought about harmony and political solidarity among multiple ethnic identities and political views of the Ethiopian diaspora to challenge the regime in their homeland.

Keywords

• diaspora
• oromo
• ethiopia
• ethnic identity
• transnationalism
• social mobilization