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God, in His infinite wisdom, gave us three types of memories: sensory, short term and long term. Sensory is fleeting; short term lasts seconds and long-term may last a lifetime. We receive, we record, we retrieve. But most of the time, and thank God for this, we forget. For without the ability to forget, we would lose the ability to be sane, and even if sane, to prioritize, and our lives would be haunted by the trivial. That is God for you. And humans? We are imperfect: we forget what we should remember and we remember what we should forget. The result is that, often, we keep making the same mistakes, over and over, because we have forgotten the lessons.
Take the case of our opposition. Asked to describe it, a good friend of this column said that it reminded him of fights of our scandalous variety of women back home. It is different with men, of course, because tradition allows them to take it outside and have a fistfight. But traditionally (unless the PFDJ changed that too), women in Eritrea, even scandalous women, do not, unlike men, engage in fistfights. What they do, and this was very rare (unless the PFDJ changed that too), is to express their disagreements in a crescendo of ever escalating put-downs, sarcasm and vicious verbal assaults that often degenerate into questioning the honor of the other. ane diye sebout endamatei zeitu?? This is followed by a period of avoidance until a mediating team with some authority intervenes (we know the PFDJ changed that) and restores peace.
The state of Eritrean politics is at the level of ane diye sebout endamatei zeitu?? with the adversaries always questioning one anothers patriotism and, most damaging of all, with no capacity for resolving conflicts. Adversaries remain adversaries for life: they go their separate ways, each convinced beyond a shred of doubt that they are right and the other is wrong. No amicable divorce. No compromise at all. And as the Arabs would say, ya rayH ketir fedayH if you must leave, bruise your partner fiercely.
We forget the obvious. Heres what is obvious. Yes, Isaias Afwerki is a patriot. Yes, Abdella Idris is a patriot. So is Herui T Bairou; so is Ahmed Nasser; so is Seyoum O/Michael; so is Tewelde; so is Quernelios; so is Shengeb; so is Mesfin Hagos and so is every leader of every Eritrean movement who is struggling to bring about a peaceful, just and democratic Eritrea. To believe otherwise is not only a disservice to the individuals involved but to the thousands of people who placed their trust in them. But because the culture that was developed during Eritreas armed struggle prized ideological purity and organizational loyalty above all else, we have allowed ourselves to accept the fiction that some are more patriotic than others.
Patriotism is a pre-requisite to political leadership but, obviously, it is not the sole criteria. If that were the case, we would have no problem with Isaias Afwerki. Patriotism is a minimum requirement: to aspire to lead, a politician must also have a vision, a record of achievement and, just as importantly, be willing to view himself or herself as an ordinary citizen who must compete, openly and fairly, for the vote of the people he or she aspires to lead.
It is here that Isaias Afwerki has failed. And it is here that the opposition, who aspire to correct this failure, are failing too.
If the Eritrean people fault Isaias Afwerki and his front for his failure to amicably and peacefully resolve conflicts, they cant find relief in the opposition because it has failed to inspire them that it would be able to resolve conflicts amicably.
If the Eritrean people fault Isaias Afwerki and his front for secrecy, they wont find relief in the opposition because it, too, is secretive always disclosing information when it is either too little or too late;
If the Eritrean people fault Isaias Afwerki and his front for refusing to consult with the people (not just party members), they wont find relief in the opposition because, it, too, is paternalistic and only meets with people to explain but not to listen.
And so on.
The ELF-RC is perfectly within its rights to give any number of reasons for why it is hesitant to re-join the Alliance. It is not pleased with the manner in which the October 2002 session of the ENA was held. It is not pleased that Mr. Herui T. Bairous membership in the Alliance coincided with his elevation to Secretary General. It is not pleased with two important sub-articles of the Alliance Charter. Membership in the ENA is voluntary and the ELF-RC is perfectly within its rights to choose to withdraw. In fact, it doesnt even have to give a reason for withdrawing; it can simply say that it chooses not to join the ENA. This is the case so long as (1) the positions advocated by the leadership of the ELF-RC are reflective of the membership of the ELF-RC and (2) the decision is taken expeditiously.
A rejoinder that we hear often is this: if you are not a member of the ELF-RC, what business of yours is it whether the above conditions are met? Who do you think you are pretending to know more about our membership than the leadership does? Why do you put demands on the ELF-RC and not on the ENA: are you biased?
Regarding the accusation of bias, we are used to it by now. The PFDJ calls us Weyane; some within the ELF-RC suspect we are with the ENA; some within the ENA think we are with RC; and some within the Jihad movement think we are PFDJ infiltrators. By this logic, we wouldnt be surprised if the Weyane think we are with the Sidama Liberation Front.
We are, by default, considered part of Eritreas opposition movement and, whether we like it or not, the opposition is as strong as its weakest link. We at the Awate Team do not consider the ELF-RC as one of many opposition organizations; based on its history, its contribution, its diversity, its principles, we consider it a major player with a decisive influence on the direction of the opposition movement. We dare say that of all opposition movements, it is the one that most reflects Eritreans diversity. And so, yes we admit it, our expectations of the ELF-RC are considerably higher than those of others.
As the organization undergoes its trials and tribulations, we hope that it will be able to shape its problems and show leadership. The problems facing the Eritrean people are bigger than the egos of personalities or the interests of organizations. We hope the ELF-RC recognizes that the fate of the opposition does not hang on the well being of its organization. We hope it reaches normality and stabilization expeditiously and we hope that whoever emerges or remains as the leader of the organization is a unifying force who will unify the front and focus on reforming and enlarging the opposition fold. We wish the ELF-RC a fast recovery for the sake of its grassroots. Happy Festival.
A Vacationing Visit The government media (we know, that is redundant) announced that President Isaias Afwerki is on a working visit to Italy. In this working visit, he was accompanied by his family which looks remarkably like a vacationing visit. Dont get us wrong, we dont begrudge the President taking a vacation; it is well deserved. It must be exhausting to arrest half the nation and starve the other half. In fact, we wish he would have a permanent vacation. Nor do we ever write about families of politicians: the Eritrean opposition generally refrains from talking about the families and ancestries of our politicians. (Something Dr. Mussie Misghina forgot to include in his hilarious comparison of Eritrean and Ethiopian opposition.) We do think it is fair game to point out that the alleged non-corruption of Isaias Afwerki is, like most things about him, a myth. By definition, tyrants are corrupt: a lesson that most tyranny-fans learn belatedly. In an interview with NPR during the first Gulf War, the otherwise smart Edward Said, who admired Saddam Hussein because he was secular, said that Saddam Hussein is many things but, unlike the Gulf Sheiks, the one thing he is not is corrupt. Similar false attributes have been showered over many other monsters including Fidel Castro and Muammer Qaddaffi. Whether Isaias is financially corrupt or not has not been proven, and, therefore, because we are not disciples of PFDJ, we must assume he is not. In PFDJ land, the reverse is true: unless you have proven your innocence, you are presumed guilty. PS: You will never get a chance to prove your innocence and therefore, you are guilty until Isaias decides you are not. What cannot be disputed is that Isaias is politically corrupt. By that, we mean he is not subservient to law; he expects the law to be subservient to him. In this particular case, the President is, as reported by Gedab News, traveling to Italy with his family. The shortest distance between Girma Asmerom and the Internet is through his Dehai functionaries and two messengers have excitedly refuted this report. One of them, a well-meaning (but, regretfully, a senile) person, wrote as if he is a doing a field report from Sawa. This was, as we will explain below, what the Arabs would call, yekaHelha Amaha someone was trying to apply a mascara to beautify the eyes and ended up blinding them. Good intentions, disastrous results. The other, who is the only journalist on Gods green earth to root for the arrest of journalists, cried attaboy! This one invokes an Amharic saying: yeqotun awerd bla: yebbtwan talech dropping what is under the arms while trying to reach over for another. Apparently, the good ambassador could not reassure them that "Awate Is Lying!" when they asked about all the reports that Gedab broke including the arrest of Aklilu Solomon, the arrest of General Habtezion Hadgu, the freezing of Ambassador Andemichael Kahsay, the arrest of Ibrahim Saeed, the arrest of Ambassador Ahmed Ali Burhan because all those people are mere citizens who can be discarded. What was important to the two zealots was the reputation of Isaias Afwerki: Did He Travel With His Family??? That is the price of political corruption: the reputation of one man is more important than the life and liberty of the citizens. To refute our report, one wrote that the president is only traveling with his young children, and not his conscription-age child. What the old man does not know (and one which he can confirm for himself not by calling Girma but his own family back home, if he has any) is to ask if the government allows children, yes children, to travel out of the country. The sad fact is that Eritreas travel restrictions are even worse than those of Saudi Arabia. In Saudi Arabia, the travel restriction is on women: they must be accompanied by men (husband or relatives) and, in the holy sites, the restriction applies to people who are not Muslims. In Eritrea, people (except the excluded elite) cannot move without moving permits, within their own country. For example, if our investor friend wanted to travel to check what happened to his enda TeHanit, he needs a menqesaqesi. As for leaving the country, people of certain age group, including children, cannot get exit visas. Children are held hostages until their parents return. Unless they are the presidents children or well-connected PFDJ Generals. Then exceptions are granted. And that is the definition of political corruption: one law for one elite group; another for the masses. |
