Talk:Bale revolt

Problems with this article

@Whoopsawa This article and the sources cited has neutrality issues, the most ridiculous claim is that 700,000 people were killed during this war is very much fringe and widely exaggerated. there is no additional sources supporting this theory. the source cited "Oromia and Ethiopia: State Formation and Ethnonational Conflict" is not reliable, the summary states "Jalata examines why the reorganisation of the state failed to change the nature of Ethiopian colonialism." This is obviously a biased source and should not be presented at face value (see WP:BIASED) you also cited [1] which is a self published source and not independent. In the infobox it describes the outcome as being the pyrrhic victory but this is disputed in pg 178 of [2]. محرر البوق (talk) 20:31, 29 May 2023 (UTC)

It actually says 700,000 causalities, not killed. Regardless I agree on that point but its the only source I found that had any figure for losses during the revolt. The self published source has been removed.

Page 178 of Marcus's book does not disputes a pyrrhic victory. The page you cite reads: "The Oromo remained unconvinced, and in early 1967 the army, now two brigades strong, had little difficulty in pacifying the rebellion in Sidamo. Bale, however, was a different case, and the soldiers had to coordinate with the air force in order to destroy flocks and deny water holes to the Somalis. By early 1970, the rebellion sputtered out, and the emperor visited the region to inform the people that their taxes would henceforth be invested in development projects."

Unless I missed something nothing I read here disputes Gebre Tereke's claim that "The Oromo and Somali were thus able to wage a guerrilla war for over six years before they were suppressed in 1970. The government had won a pyrrhic victory;" Whoopsawa (talk) 00:11, 30 May 2023 (UTC)

Furthermore while claim of bias has merit, "Oromia and Ethiopia: State Formation and Ethnonational Conflict" fits the wiki standards for a reliable source. The (WP:BIASED) you referred me to explicitly states "...reliable sources are not required to be neutral, unbiased, or objective" The author Asafa Jalata is an accredited Oromo academic who cites "The Bale Oromo Uprising of the 1960s" paper by Gemachu Beyena for the Bale revolts casualties, so there is a supporting source in his work. Whoopsawa (talk) 02:36, 30 May 2023 (UTC)

@Whoopsawa I just feel like we should acknowledge the bias in that source, that's all. If I find another source stating another figure would you mind if I replaced it? The source says that the government had little difficulty in pacifying the rebellion, although Gebru Tereke is highly reliable so if he made that claim then I will not dispute it. محرر البوق (talk) 23:39, 1 June 2023 (UTC)

It's definitely not an objective source but its the best I could find. Feel free to replace the casualty count in the infobox if you find another figure.

As for the pacification of the rebellion it's a bit confusing because Marcus talks about Sidamo then jumps to Bale. He writes, "...the army, now two brigades strong, had little difficulty in pacifying the rebellion in Sidamo. Bale, however, was a different case.." Whoopsawa (talk) 00:55, 2 June 2023 (UTC)