Remembering Obbo Mardaasaa Raagga JooteeNational heroes and heroines are always remembered for the past contributions to their national cause. The late Mardaasaa Ragaa Jotee who passed away on October 30, 2012, was one of the brave Oromos who had fearlessly engaged in the national struggle and made enormous sacrifices in the name of freedom.

Remembering Obbo Mardaasaa Raagga Jootee
National heroes and heroines are always remembered for the past contributions to their national cause. The late Mardaasaa Ragaa Jotee who passed away on October 30, 2012, was one of the brave Oromos who had fearlessly engaged in the national struggle and made enormous sacrifices in the name of freedom. Throughout his life, he stood up firmly against all forms of repression and subjugation in general and the Abyssinian (Ethiopia) colonialism, in particular. As a conscious Oromo nationalist, Mardaasaa decided to participate in the Oromo revolution while he was attending university in Boston, MA in the early 1970s.
Mardaasaa’s motivation to fight injustice and domination stems from his own deep knowledge of Oromo historical struggles, as well as his family’s generational resistance to the barbaric Abyssinian empire builders. Like his grand-father, Jootee Tulluu and his father before him, and the Oromoo hero, his uncle whose name he adopted as nom de guerre was a fervent Oromo nationalist who uncompromisingly rejected colonialism in Oromo land and vehemently upheld Oromo tradition and identity until the very last moment of his death.
Mardaasaa was one of the early members and organizers of Union of Oromo Students in North America, the first independent Oromo organization to be formed throughout the United States and Canada.
Strengthening the foundation of the organization and pushing the struggle to continue Mardaasaa was elected as Editor in Chief in the organizational structure newly formed. He had served in that position for a long time with care and dedication. Mardaasaa had contributed lots to make TOAK an internationally known organization of its kind.
Mardaasaa was one of those Oromo that struggled by all means which seemed convenient to them filled with sprit of nationalism, determination and sincere commitment. All activists of his time stand witness that whatever direction he takes Mardaasaa’s ultimate objective was to empower his people.
Mardaasaa always expressed his wish as to live in a free country where human rights is respected. To probe if there is a way to go into his country through the west he had joined some forces and gone to the Sudan. But conditions did not become conducive as he thought and so he had to return to America and try some other means.
Mardaasaa shared his deep knowledge of Oromoo history and struggle through different Journals and papers. In that way he helped in introducing Oromo history and struggle to be more accessible to all that read.
In the past years he had been commuting to East Africa to help refugees that were dislocated from their countries as a result of political crises in the homeland. It is also to be remembered that he used to express his ideas through manifestoes he issued at different times.
His sincere commitment to liberate the Oromo nation stands high and shines in the history of the Oromo national struggle. He will be remembered as an organizer, honest, loyal to his people, and a man of integrity and principle.
From the compatriots