I was looking on Google Maps to see what businesses had been listed on their newly updated maps. To my surprise, I found that at the end of my block is the Washington, DC office of the Oromo Liberation Front.
The Oromo Liberation Front, or OLF, is an organization established in 1973 by Oromo nationalists to promote self-determination for the Oromo people against what they call “Abyssinian colonial rule“. It has been designated a terrorist organization by the Ethiopian government, but I have been unable to find what the United States Department of State considers this organization. Aside from an office down the alley from me in Washington, D.C., they also operate an office in Berlin where their Amharic and Afan Oromo radio stations broadcast.
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YouTube Video of Teabaggers Having A Rally On Astroturf
|| 9/16/2009 || 6:43 pm || 1 Comment Rendered || ||
[Watch on YouTube]
Last Friday, on the evening before the Taxpayer March On Washington, a large group of teabaggers, patriots, small-government conservatives, and libertarians staged a rally at CityCenterDC, the site of the old Washington, DC Convention center. Little did they know they were standing on Astroturf.
Astroturfing is a word that describes political, advertising, or public relations campaigns which seek to create the impression of being spontaneous “grassroots” behavior. Being that the Taxpayer March on Washington was promoted heavily by Fox News and other conversation media organizations, it was far from being a grassroots mobilization. So when I realized the demonstrators were actually standing on astroturf, I decided to make this short video to highlight the irony of the spectacle.
Related Taxpayers March on Washington, DC Entries:
– Photographs of Friday’s Opening Rally of the Taxpayers March on DC at CityCenterDC
– Photographs of Friday’s Opening Rally of the Taxpayers March on DC at CityCenterDC
– Photographs of the Taxpayers March on Washington [PART ONE]
– Photographs of the Taxpayers March on Washington [PART TWO]
– Photographs of the Taxpayers March on Washington [PART THREE]