�Force, if unassisted by judgment, collapses through its own mass� 
                                                     Horace, Roman Poet, 60 BC.

When the Reformers went public and published their open letter, the leader of Gang of One (G-1), the Illegitimate President Isaias Afwerki (IPIA) alternated between calling them an empty barrel and calling on the people to judge the developments (hzbi yfredom.)

When AlHayat interviewed IPIA, he repeated the same thing, �the people will judge�. Bewildered, the interviewer asked, �If the meetings of the National Assembly are not held, how could the people judge?�  Like a broken record, IPIA kept uttering the same reply �Let the people judge.�  It looks like the people are judging.

Dr. T.A. Taddese Vindicated

A few months ago, Dr, T.A. Taddesse conducted a poll whose results were reported by Awate.com.  Without evidence (no polls, no elections), the G-1 supporters had been saying for years that IPIA has the support of the �overwhelming majority� of Eritreans.  This was mostly on the strength of glowing reports from superficial Western reporters and the fact that IPIA has a �charismatic personality.�  In his survey, Dr. Taddesse found that �90% of the participants claimed the political culture in Eritrea at the present time is driven by a state-sanctioned culture of prohibition; only 10% feel choice is the order of the day with respect to the political culture in Eritrea�. He also found that �84% of the participants believed the political culture in Eritrea encourages �groupthink�; only 16% believed the political culture encourages free thinking.� No wonder the supporters of G-1 went ballistic.

Last month, this website invited its readers to cast a no-confidence vote on the way Eritrea is being governed.  Over 700 people did just that. Considering the ostracizing, defamation and punitive acts that the Eritrean embassies engage in after they receive the �Hasot� from the Eritrean �community centers� and other self-appointed vigilantes, the vote was significant: Eritreans were shedding their fear and paralysis and telling the government: we are judging and we don�t approve.   In a highly orchestrated campaign, the government has been trying to generate �unconditional support� letters from Eritreans�the usual corners--to drown out the genuine judgment of the people.  

Currently, our sister website, Asmarino.com is conducting a poll which survived a cyber version of the PFDJ�s patented chair-throwing exercise (sabotage) to demonstrate, once again, that the G-1 is supported only by the fearful and the misled.  Typically, the pro G-1 gang is casting dispersions on the methodology of the poll.  Is there any doubt in your mind that if the results were reversed they would be hailing it as proof positive that IPIA is still beloved? 

The above is the "hzbawi frdi� that Isaias Afwerki asked for. And he has it.   Too bad the reporter didn�t ask IPIA the follow-up question: �And after they judge, if they judge that they don�t approve of your work, what will you do?� Would he abide by the decision of the people?  Of course not.  Why?  When IPIA says �the people� he, like all authoritarians, really means �me.�  I am the State and the State is me.  Thus, when he says, �let the people judge� what he means is, �let me judge.�  And after judging, let me execute and you, the people, your job is to applaud my decisions. 

It Is December: Do You Know Where Your Election Is?

It is December 3.  According to the last official proclamation of the government, Eritrea was scheduled to have elections NOW.   In the last twelve months, the certitude of the election has shifted from definitely to probably to possibly to not a chance in hell.  How did this come about?  

The thing that has to be remembered is that the schedule of the election was decided in the September-October 2000 meeting of the so-called National Assembly (the last session of the legislative body) after it was put on the agenda by the group that later came to be known as the Reformers (G-15.)  This was done over the strong protest of the G-1 who recited the usual litany (Woyane, bread, demarcation.)  After they had passionately argued against scheduling the election, it was IPIA�s turn to speak.  Of course, we will have an election; he lectured his flunkies, pulling the mat from underneath their feet.  And I will appoint my good friend Sherifo to put together a committee that will draft the law on party formation.

Back at the President�s Office, he shared the joke with his aides and instructed the loyalists to accelerate the demise of the G-15. Within months, the G-1 were busy circulating the �Discussion Paper: Woyane�s Third Offensive, etc� (The Brainwashing Manual) which was, in reality, �Decree: The Case Against The Reformers.�  A month later, IPIA�s good friend, Sherifo, Eritrea�s Quasi Number Two (�Quasi� because dictators never have a deputy with any power: they are too mistrusting) was unceremoniously fired, his committee�s work (which was completed by January) was �adopted� by the �G-1� who then �slo-mo�ed� (turtled) the process for the last eleven months.  The rest is history�shameful history.

For an election to occur, the logistics dictate that the draft electoral and party formation laws must be ratified (by an un-representative Assembly that never meets), the Press Proclamation must be revised (with the journalists in jail and the private press closed).  Moreover, the PFDJ probably wants to have its oft-delayed organizational conference because, as they threatened in the Brainwashing Manual, they have to �purify the political environment� just before the election.   It is still possible for the G-1 to have the sham elections (1 week of ratification of the laws, followed by three weeks of campaigning) because it is an election of �independents� (not �parties�) and, as we said in a previous issue, don�t bet the farm on it.

What will the supporters of G-1 say if IPIA cancels the election?  What will they say if he goes forward with the election?  Don�t worry: they have already formulated, in their heads, why both decisions make perfect sense: it is because the decisions will have the good fortune of having been conceived in the brains of IPIA.  Why have freedom with all the chaotic confusion and responsibility when you can have a life of dependency where somebody else does all the thinking for you?  This way, you can enjoy the undemanding thrills of childhood even if you are sixty years old.

Shaebia.org: Wholly Owned Subsidiary of G-1

"..The tangled web that we weave when we first start to deceive". Deceit is the key word.  The PFDJ thinks it is in a mess due to its weaknesses in the field public relations.  Other than that, everything is dandy in Eritrea -- seriously, the PFDJ genuinely thinks everything is all right in Eritrea and that citizens are doing great; of course, "great" being relative, there is some truth to that.  But the fact remains gloomy: in today's Eritrea, anyone faces the risk of being jailed and forgotten about.  The PFDJ can even dispose its loyal servants as easy as a napkin -- we will not say anything about its opponents.  The problem with the PFDJ is not its alleged PR weakness; it is its corrupt structure and arrogant nature that doesn't have the courage to own its blunders. Shaebia.org cannot undo any of the blunders.

Shaebia is Arabic for �Popular.� Launched on May 24, 2001, the website that is named after the political party had nothing to report on one of the most newsworthy events of the party�the G-1 vs G-15 feud�for three months proving, definitively, that the party has been completely hijacked by one man.  Shaebia.org talks about the absence of debate but does nothing to encourage debate because, in a debate, unlike in a �seminar�, everyone has the podium and the microphone and it would have to defend many of its indefensible acts.  The website is nothing more than a cyber branch of the President�s Office.  

When Shaebia.org was launched, Dehai.org had undergone some design changes.  The home page of Dehai disappeared only to reappear as Shaebia�s homepage with some minor changes.  The template was the one used by Dehai.   Mr. Ephrem Tekle, one of the Administrators of Dehai (an administration who, contrary to the charter of Dehai, has a non-expiring term) is also the technical director of Shaebia.org and the one who registered the website.  This is not news: it is publicly available information.  

Awate.com has uncovered new information that, in the tradition of Shaebia.org, we could call an �expose� or a �secret cell.�  But we won�t.   We will share with you, our readers, what Shaebia.org won�t: its defacto masthead.  Consider it our �menfeq� present to the readers of Shaebia.org since November 24^th was the website�s six-month anniversary.  Here are the major players of the website:  

Editor In Chief:       Yemane Gebreab, whose official job is PFDJ Political Director and Presidential Advisor (a prestigious title whose job description includes being berated by IPIA when he is in a bad mood, which is often) as well as the occasional usurper of the powers of the National Assembly on issues dealing with elections.   Yemane Gebreab approves all the feel-good materials you read about buses and washing machines being assembled and government ministers being disassembled and stories being dissembled.   You can send him all your letters of appreciation for making you feel so good: he receives all e-mail sent to the website. By popular perception, his job title is �Wild Card�.

Presidential Office Liaison: Yemane Gebremeskel (Charlie), whose day job is Presidential Office Spokesperson, where he comes up with ever-creative responses to inquiries by human rights organizations about how, according to Eritrean law, citizens could be detained for up to 28 days without charge--give or take ten years.  His Shaebia.org job is to make the website the shortest distance between IPIA and his adoring fans by compiling reports from embassies and ministries and the occasional exposes and Shaebia �reportage�. By popular perception, his job title is �PFDJ Houdini of Words�.

Arabic Section:       Dr. Ahmed Hassen Dehli, the head of the Eritrean Center for Strategic Studies, whose day job, as it was during the Eritrea-Yemen dispute, is to represent Eritrea in the UN Demarcation Commission that will rule on the Eritrea-Ethiopia border dispute.   His Shaebia.org job: to reluctantly and with much protest translate Tigrigna articles to Arabic.  (Unfortunately, having labeled most Eritreans who are proficient in Arabic as fifth columnists, the Front is lacking in skilled manpower in that area.) By popular perception, his job title is �Actor in The PFDJ Muppet Show�.

Media Monitoring: Zemehret Yohannes, Director in Ministry of Information.  Shaebia.org assignment: to recruit potentially pro-G1 writers from Dehai and Asmarino and the �community centers� and encourage them to write for Shaebia.org.  Himself a frequent ideological traveler (from ELF to Saghem to EPLF to PFDJ to G-1, he is an expert at spotting writers and artists who are �flexible� and is not beyond offering promises of RAIMOC awards and escorted tours of the G-1 estate known as Eritrea.) By popular perception, his job title is �PFDJ�s Intellectual Il Padrone�.

Diaspora: Dr. Ghidewon Abay Asmerom  and Elias Amare.  Two true believers who once penned a �more PFDJ than PFDJ� article recommending that the G-1 should be even more hard-line than the draft electoral law proposals suggested.  Among other things, they recommended that the Eritrean military should not be excluded from politics; that the PFDJ should continue with its domination of Eritrea�s economy and that political pluralism should be delayed until PFDJ is good and ready to let others into its playpen.  By popular perception, their job title is �Simply Dehai�s E & G�.

Tigrigna Reports: Mussie Girmay and Yohannes Keleta: two innocents who grew up in the Revolution School In Sahel and who find many of their colleagues in jail or exiled.  By popular perception, their job title is �The Victims�.

Typist: Eden Tesfai (?)

In what is believed to be the second phase of shaebia.org�s plan, the very gifted Elias Amare is now stationed in Asmara where he is hosted in a furnished villa (courtesy of taxpayers) with a wireless Internet connection. He is expected to replace Mr. Yemane Gebreab as the editor-in-chief and to send heartwarming dispatches from Eritrea in a political arena where the Amical Cabral slogan will be severely tested.  

There you have the names behind Shaebia, or The People�the people, the Shaeb, according to the G-1, being indistinguishable from IPIA.  We provide the details on this �secret cell� because you have a right to know on who is writing what using your name.  Those of you who are expecting �debate� and articles that advance the Eritrean yearning for reconciliation and justice and those who expect commentary that does anything more than serve as publicity stunts for the G-1,  find a more hopeful exercise, like looking out your window to spot flying turtles.

We know what you are thinking: you are a one-sided website; by what authority do you criticize those who choose to tell their side of the story?  First, we don�t claim to speak on behalf of the Eritrean people, as Shaebia.org does.  Second, we have repeatedly invited the supporters of the G-1 to say their piece at Awate.com.  In fact, we made this offer  to Ambassador Girma Asmerom: that we would reserve a column for anyone who wants to articulate the G-1 position.  No takers yet.  No wonder: who would want to defend the malpractice of the G-1 in an open forum?

The First Private Bank In Eritrea?

We saw an announcement about the formation of �The First Private Bank� in Eritrea. The announcement invites investors to become founding members of the bank. It further announces that it would raise Nackfa 50,000,000 before it starts operations. We don�t know who the initiators are and, given that the company is private, it doesn�t owe anyone (except the shareholders) any disclosures.   However, given that the information was disseminated by G-1 activists and given that the Red Sea Corporation (RSC) has a bad habit of monopolizing the economic life of Eritrea and forming tens of affiliates, and insisting that the price of admission to Eritrea�s �free� enterprise is coerced partnership with RSC, we have to assume it is affiliated with the PFDJ.  We urge the �Augaro Bank� to come up with clarifications stating whether it is in anyway affiliated with the Red Sea Corporation or with any other PFDJ owned entity and what facilities they are getting from the government. We also urge them to announce the names of the founders of the bank.  Failing that, we will assume that it is a Red Sea affiliate and we will call for its boycott.

This is in line with our goal of �Starve The Monster:� if the PFDJ is to relax its arrogance, it must have a motive to do so and money is the only language it understands. We shouldn�t be acting indifferently when the un-elected government is jailing our senior citizens, our journalists, our students, our historical figures and generally ruling using fear and intimidation.

Ramadan Charity: The Established Opposition

This is a continuation of our series in response to people who say, �Take a break from your wailing and give us some good news.�  It is the segment where we search far and wide to find something to celebrate.  

One of the bitter outcomes of the Eritrean Revolution was that for decades ideological and power struggles pitted brother-against-brother in violent spurts of civil war.  It is natural for people to harbor ill-feelings and blame the other for all the ills: it is so universal that psychologists have a name for it: the �fundamental attribution error� or �self-serving bias.�  In essence, this basically says:  when things go right, it is because we are wonderful; and when things go wrong, it is the other guy�s fault. (And you thought that was the �PFDJ Doctrine�)  Actually, it is a basic survival instinct that allows us to look at ourselves in the mirror and sleep without nightmares.