The Best Eritrean Writers Write At Awate.com

If you think that the title is an empty boast, we invite you to read what passes for “articles” at the other less enlightened websites. 

Let’s just take one example of a “PFDJ intellectual,”  Dr. Tesfa Gebremedhin.  We don’t know the man and, for all we know, he could be a wonderful human being, the salt of the earth and potentially a Nobel-laureate.  We are using him as an example only because his product is considered a representative sample of what passes for a “nationalist” or “patriotic” writing in PFDJ’s Eritrea: full of omissions, collusions, half-truths and plain hypocricy.  In his “The People’s Hanqewta in Eritrea,” the good doctor recites Eritrea’s “history” (what Yosief Gebrehiwet calls “reaction-oriented approach to history” of the then-the-Italians-came-then-the-Ethiopians-then-independence variety which presents Eritreans as possessing no history worth telling other than their reaction to foreign invaders).  This “history” is then followed by a campaign-speech for the PFDJ: how their work has been nothing short of miraculous (“outstanding and phenomenal” is how he describes it) and that the people’s longing (“hanqewta”) is that we display unity and co-operation.   He is open to a dialogue on how to do this but, “please, I still do not do politics because I am not intending to promote or support any political agenda and I have no desire to dwell in some petty political dialogue. Thank you and God/Allah bless you.”   Well, God/Allah bless you, too, Dr but what is “political dialogue?” And isn't your article promotion of PFDJ's "political agenda"? Is it called politics only when one disagrees with the way the government is running/ruining the country but it is “hanqewta” when one effusively praises it?  

No matter: that is them; this is us.  In this issue, we pay tribute to our outstanding writers by including excerpts from their contributions.  This is the best of Awate.com.  It features excerpts from (sorted by first name): Abraham A; Abraham (New York); Adhanom Fitwi; Alem G; Ali Abdu; Andemariam Ogbu; Beyan Negash; Burhan Ali; Efrem Kahsai; “Events Monitor”; Gabriel Guangul; Ghezae H. Berhe; Gherezgheir Bekit; Habtom Yohannes; Hageraweet Yassin; Hagos M Habtemariam; Haile Gebre Egziabher; Halaw Gedam; I. Aman; Isayas Mehari; K.G. Kahsai; Milkias Mihretab; Mskr Aini Debub Africa; Misghun Samson; Mogos Tekeste; Mohammed Ahmed; Mussie Ephrem; Mussie Goitom; Paulos Natnael; Sami Tesfay; Semhar; Seyoum Tesfaye; (Dr) T.A. Taddesse; Tesfab Sahle; Tzeggai Yohannes; Wedi Kifle; and Yosief Gebrehiwet.

We have included only articles by independent writers.  Advocacy articles on behalf of organizations do not appear in this issue.  Nor are articles in Arabic and Tigrigna included.

And, oh yes, the January 1, 2003 semi-annual tribute issue did not mention one writer who apparently has a lot of readers.   He (Hummed Osman) and his readers made their feelings known.  We don’t want to repeat that mistake; in fact, we begin this issue with that little reminder which was a curiously prophetic warning…

We close by thanking all our writers and readers for helping this website remain the vibrant medium that it is: a meeting place for political dialogue and proposing solutions for what ails Eritrea.

Awate Team

1. OK, Here’s Your Name

2. The Government: The Politics of Fear, Lies & Loathing

2.1. You see, tyrants and dictators, though evil, lethal and harmful, are children in essence and to the core, and at times they have their bright side.... they amuse us! If you have any doubt on what I am saying right here, ask yourself why dictators, throughout history, are always fond of issuing silly decrees which every school boy knows that they will not be followed; they are children, though fatal most of the time. They are funny and like children they are a source of humor at many times. Where does Nehemiah get his raw material for his humorous cartoons in awate.com. Yes, dictators are irrational, but children are also irrational. The only difference is that dictators are lethal beside their childish nature, a combination that suits few hyenas in the shape of ruthless men thirsty for riches and control. You still don't believe that dictators are childish and ridiculous? Then, here are some more instances and examples from history. For few years in the twelfth century, Egypt was ruled by a comic tyrant, Al-Hakim bi amrillah Al fatimi. This tyrant issued many decrees during his two yeas rule. One decree was the one by which the population of Egypt were banned from cooking and eating a popular vegetable, the Jew’s mallow (mlukhia)…. There is also the story of Gaius Caeser (Caligula) who, according to Suetonius the historian, imposed his horse on the senate of Rome as the head of the senators, and ordered the senators to behave accordingly….Idi Amin, also had, publicly, one day to sit on a sedan chair carried on the shoulders of four white men, a symbol of reversing the order in his country. Jean Bidel Bokassa, a proven cannibal and an ex-soldier of the French army in Indochina, and who came to power in the republic of Central Africa through a coup de etat, decided to be Emperor Bokassa and in the way transform his country, the republic of Central Africa into the Empire of Central Africa. His vision of coronation was that of the coronation of Emperor Napoleon of France. Fulfillment of his dream cost his impoverished country hundreds of millions of dollars spent in a single day. Aren’t these stories, sad as they may be, a source of humor? And if the case is so, is it not that it may be that there are people who have seen the ban on Amharic music as humorous? Why then the pollster of Awate.com saw the matter along a line of varying shades starting from strongly agreeing with the decree, to strongly oppose to it? Where is a person like me, who sees it highly humorous to express his opinion? – Burhan Ali, “Our Evil Child”, 1/14/03

2.2 Almost all dictatorial regimes have something in common. Their objective is to stay in power as long as possible. They use repressive methods to oppress the people, like imprisonment, torture, terror etc. All dictators have common behaviour. They are cowards and cruel. They don't like to give up power to the people easily, because, mostly they are afraid of prosecution of their past crimes. However, some countries brought a solution to this complex problem. They asked their dictators to step down peacefully with paying price: granting immunity from prosecution of their past crimes. Indeed it is a high price. But it worked. One of the examples was Ghana. My fellow Eritreans, what do you think if we use this method to shorten the suffering of our people?  - Adhanom Fitwi, “Mr Mugabe Steps Down; Why Not Mr. Issayas?”, January 17, 2003

2.3 One thing dictator’s always miss though is a people’s resolve to connect with their honorable past. By the very nature of their arrogant behavior, dictators are programmed to underestimate threat. Issaias Afwerki is no different. – Mohammed Adhmed, “Shame On Us”, May 31, 2003

2.4 Afwerki’s inner circle, who are an integral part of his N’hnan Elamanan conspiracy, together with the ever subservient Mulagatin, who play a dirty role of bitching & snitching on others, serve as an invaluable security network to shield the regime, some would say. But then, this is a cutthroat politics, this PFDJ thing, and a dog-eat-dog world, if you will. People who get appointed one day only to get frozen the next day, and end up in jail the day after, can hardly be relied on as security shields. They have no morals in the first place, they have no values, and deep down, this is very clear to them as much as it is clear to the dictator himself. If the dictator relied solely on these people to protect him, he would have been history long time ago.The army has a good grip on the country, others would say. But which army are we talking about here? Is this the disgruntled army that is largely made up of forced conscripts, and is made to fight useless & wasteful border wars? Is this the army, which gets slaved around to work on PFDJ thugs’ personal projects when it is not busy fighting useless wars? Is this the army that is so disrespected by the so-called commander-in-chief, that even the names of the war dead are shamefully announced at the dictator’s leisure & convenience? The army may lack an organized, independent minded group at the officer level, which is crucial for any rebellion against a tyranny, but at the rank-and-file level, the resentment at the dictator & his PFDJ thugs can hardly be contained. If the dictator & his PFDJ thugs were to be overthrown today, you can bet your knuckles on the fact that no tanks or armored vehicles are going to roll into our cities and towns coming to their aid. So what is it then that Issaias Afwerki is doing so different & so well which is helping him avoid the fate of his long-gone peers?    Nothing…yes, absolutely nothing!  - Mohammed Ahmed, “As The Nation Waits For Its Dictator,” July 31, 2003

2.5 Comrade ISAYAS for sure is bored to death by these ignorant worshippers…Imagine your wife/husband boyfriend/ girlfriend saying –I love you, I love you a million times a day! For sure you will be fed up, jaded and even hate such a boring parrot in your life. Won’t you? The great leader of the kingdom of HIGDEF is an intelligent and a much more sophisticated person, and he knows well that all these ALSAHAFS and HASHAKUS are fake opportunists (TEBELETSTI) of the lowest caliber.  The dear leader knows more than anybody else that they are pretending and lying when they say time and again-“you are great you are special O leader with out you… etc.” He is not a child or a teen-age girl where one can mislead and bamboozle easily by showering sweet words and phony praises.  Commander Isayas knows more than you and me that these HASHAKUS and ALSAHAFS are with him only as long as he is in power and as long as they benefit from his regime (REBHA).   They aren’t and they never were, pro-Isayas and the PFDJ horde out of conviction, dedication, commitment or philosophical reasons.  God forbid If some thing happens to the great leader tomorrow, our HASHAKUS and ALSAHAFS will be the first to deplore and denounce him before anybody else!!!!! From GUAD Colonel Mengistu’s regime to Saddam Hussein’s   Fascist realm history is full of very important lessons about despots, their cronies and of course their pathetic defenders. – Milkias Mihretab, “The PFJD’s DNA Freaks”, June 18, 2003

2.6 Needless to state, Isaias is frozen in time when it comes to enforcing his will by sheer force. He is the same old, same old! His mindset is anathema to the very act of progress, or going forward. Politics, rational thinking, effective communication, the art of persuasion, the rule of law and democracy do not even exist in his vocabulary; they are foreign languages to him. Let’s give the devil his due. Relatively speaking, his old sweethearts, the Weyanes, are busy playing real politics in Ethiopia. At least, they have welcomed many of their opposition groups from the Diaspora. They hardly mention his name in their major speeches and interviews. As a learning organization, they do not even have time to respond to his soliloquy. After reading Isaias’ speech, they probably borrowed Rhet Butler’s understandable statement (from Gone with the Wind) to say, “Frankly Isaias, we don’t give a damn!”  - Dr. T.A. Tadesse, “Where Is The Beef, Mr. Isaias Afwerki?”, June 19, 2003

2.7 The ultimate goal of all dictators is to get the full loyalty of their subjects.  Sometimes that can be earned by the love and respect that the masses hold for their respective leaders.  But, given the dictators' inherent distrust for almost ever body else (except themselves), this venue is not something that they are willing to put their trust on.  This is because respect and love are behaviors that are VOLUNTARY in nature, and therefore not reliable as methods that would invariably illicit loyalty from the people.  You cannot force one to respect or love you; even if you work very hard for it, there is no guarantee that at the end of the day you will get it.  The inherently paranoid and totalitarian nature of dictators have no room for the uncertainty that comes with loyalty that could only be made available through love and respect; they would rather find a means that is full proof in that it leaves no room for doubt.  For a means to be reliable no matter what, it has to be able to elicit loyalty involuntarily, so that it could be had at anytime the dictator asks for it.  This condition is met by FEAR.  It is then sheer terror that dictators mostly depend on to get loyalty from the masses. Unlike love and respect, fear can be elicited INVOLUNTARILY at any time the ruler feels it is needed. – Yosief Gebrehiwet, “Patience of the GoE and the Tortoise of Gelalo”,  June 9, 2003

3. The Opposition: The “Politics of Hamster on a treadmill.”  Do some shopping, mow the lawn, and, oh yes, fight for Eritrea…

3.1 Our super heroes love us so much that they will do the breathing and thinking for us. Why should we worry when we have so many saintly political leaders with magical crystal balls at their disposal. The truth is that our future has become another ordinary chore on their to do list. Thanks to them, tactical outflanking and maneuverings have been given greater importance and elevated to sterile motions with out advancing the ordinary citizen burning desire for peace, democracy and liberty. The lack of measurable positive result seems to have become inconsequential. The politics of hamster on a treadmill is unproductive and in the end  self- defeating. Meanwhile the people’s agenda is orphaned and headed to a free fall. On the opposite corner stands a destructive and ruthless government bent on breaking the character and will of the Eritrea people.  At the helm of this home grown tyranny is a quintessential tyrant, a junior Stalin, willing to drown all sensibility and sensitivity just to cling to power. In the authoritarian logic and theology of tyranny what matters the most is welding and molding power. Damn the nation! - Seyoum Tesfaye, “Our Political Leaders Need To Go To The Wilderness”, 2/7/03

3.2 There is a new Eritrean battlefield. The old authorities or masters of old ideologies of ‘just follow orders’ and who, somehow, managed to put a veil on the future of the next generation have been exposed.  So deep in the quagmire they themselves created and helped to establish, they have lost their own sight in even keeping their own long-term interest.  The short term is getting shorter. A new battlefield is set for the new Eritrean generation to chart its own future with or without the help of the old. The squeeze that didn’t make sense at all in the first place, has finally settled to this. – Gabriel Guangul, “Eritrea: A Freshly Squeezed Common Sense”, July 21, 2003

3.3 Nothing could be more devastating to any movement or opposition than self-doubt. If you don’t feel that you have what it takes to carry out your mission, then you might as well get out of the scene. If you are waiting for some kind of a strategic balance, then probably you will be waiting for a long time for a change that may or may not come. By then, most of the opportunities which exist now may disappear, and you may find yourself back to where you started.  When shaheed Hamed Awate started his movement, he didn’t wait for a strategic balance with the enemy….The ENA has much more to work with now, than what Awate had in the past. Unprecedented support among neighbors, a disgruntled captive army ready to jump ship, a bruised & humiliated populace ready to explode… what more can it ask for? The ENA’s ability should not be measured by how many soldiers it can enlist or by how many helicopters it owns now. It should rather be measured by its ability to build on the existing environment for change, its ability to make its military presence felt, and its ability to show Eritreans that they do have an alternative & that if they don’t like what they see at the hands of the PFDJ, all they have to do is just walk a few miles from their towns to be able to join its ranks, just like in the old days.  – Mohammed Ahmed, “The ENA Should Make A Move Now”, 1/18/2003

3.4 Disgruntled? I am. Member? Not I.  Potential member? Right On! Then again, every Eritrean is and should be considered a potential member as far as any organization is concerned. Provided the organization has a competent leadership that creates a conducive atmosphere for inclusion and participation. Inclusion with no preconditions or barriers, and active participation that is encouraged by the free flow of ideas from every level and direction. The sad experience in the Eritrean political makeup and practice is the sense of entitlement and an elitist mentality that pervades at every strata of the organization. Card carrying members -versus- nonmembers, etc. What is more insulting is the same set of leadership that helped create the present predicament tries to test our memory. Is this not the same leadership recycled in a different set up that is equally responsible for the demise of ELF in the 70’s and 80’s? Is this not the leadership that failed to beat the despot in his own game of bluffs and deceptive public relations for the last 30 years? Is this not the same leadership known for its arrogance and incompetence that failed to do its homework and fell into the “traps” of its political rivals in Adis Abeba? The list is endless....Am I Sad? Yes. Shocked? Not at all.  Why? At the risk of repeating myself and many others, “it is hard to expect a positive progress and change from the same people doing the same thing for so long”. As people we need new leaders with vision and courage. Courageous leaders with vision are capable and willing to take a calculated risk to stimulate and encourage real change within their own organizations.  It is time for you to give up power. It is time for you to leave the stage with grace and dignity. It is time for you to prepare us for a smooth transition of power to a younger (meaning new) generation of leaders. We are the People. We are entitled to have capable and wise leaders. You have done enough damage already by way of your immature leadership style. It is time to mend old grudges and acknowledge your shortcomings. What a better way to do that than exit quietly into history. – Wedi Kifle, “The Road Less Traveled…”,  July 21, 2003

3.5 May be, despite my churlish and feeble attempt at Swiftian satire and mockery, "Nigisti Saba" really had had 'Igri Adgi'. What do I know? you can never know. May be, the icons (like Ahmed Nasser) and legends (like Hiruy Tedla) are still our Mosses and Aaron, respectively. Respectfully. And here is the rub: the real folklore that passes for fact is it is up to the feckless and senseless cyber opposition which is the problem –big time- itself to solve the problem.  – Ghezae H. Berhe, “Olalla! Olalla!”, June 27, 2003

3.6 In the introduction in the same book, “Road to Serfdom,” Milton Friedman, says  “To understand why it is that “good” men in positions of power will produce evil, while the ordinary man without power but able to engage in voluntary cooperation with his neighbors will produce good, requires analysis and thought subordinating the emotions to the rational faculty.  Surely that is one answer to the perennial mystery of why collectivism, with its demonstrated record of producing tyranny and misery, is so widely regarded as superior to individualism, with its demonstrated record of producing freedom and plenty.  The argument for collectivism is simple if false; it is an immediate emotional argument.  The argument for individualism is subtle and sophisticated; it an indirect rational argument.  And the emotional faculties are more highly developed in most men than the rational, paradoxically or especially even in those who regard themselves as intellectuals” The appeal of the EPLF-DP therefore is to the emotions of the past, the nostalgia of youth, and the alienation of new immigrants in a world that is still perceived as un-absorbing and un-assimilating…. Their attitude towards the Eritrean problem remains the same. “Tell us what you think, we will let you know that we like it, and we will think about it and we will accept it. Yes, voting will follow later. In the meantime, in almost the same words as the PFDJ, help us get attention and membership.  The fees are not that important, we have friends in high places.  The rest (the utopia that is Eritrea) will follow.”         – Mussie Goitom, “Complaceny In Time of Crisis: The EPLF-DP”, June 7, 2003

3.7 The most important point is, the demand of our people. If the opposition organizations and parties are struggling for the interest of the people, what is the demand of our people then? Honestly, our people are not crying for organizational or party programs and principles. Their voices are for a national salvation. They are suffering from a cruel regime. A regime his daily job is arresting innocent people and terrorizing citizens. Our people are bleeding. If there was a free meeting in a free place, their voices is clear and loud: Please you can implement your organizational or party programs and principles later on, but now release us from this terrible system! As the present regime came to us with principles and programs on paper and we have benefited from it nothing except misery, we don’t believe anymore in false promises. Principle means for us just give us freedom and we will decide which principle and program the most beneficial for us is.  The old style  “make a principle and die for it”, does not work any more. Nowadays the principles are the people. If a party dies, another party can be created and if a government is overthrown, a government can be formed but if people are vanished they cannot be replaced. The century we live in is an era of sharing power with others. If one wants to engage in governing the people, one has to negotiate with the others just in a give and take system (enkan haban). – Adhanom Fitwi, “The Need For A National United Front and the Dilemma”,  May 7, 2003

4. The PFDJ Intellectuals: Of Coin-Tossers & “Debtera Mekete”

4.1 The dictatorship in Eritrea is not short of cowardly domestic ombudsmen either. Mr. Amanuel Sahle is one of its loyal embedded contributors on the cyber edition of its mouthpiece Shaebia. This legendary self-censoring columnist has lately started to run out of "non-political" themes for his articles he has turned into a parody of himself. In his April 12 article Mr. Sahle writes: "Frankly speaking we Eritreans don’t have official horror stories...". In his April 26 article our "cultural" columnist asks: "Where have all the cowboy films gone?" Dear Mr. Sahle, if you want to hear an Eritrean horror story all you have to do is pick a family, any Eritrean family. They will tell you their horror stories, alright. And if you once in a while feel like catching a cowboy flick, pick an Eritrean nightclub and you will run into the dictator’s own cowboy Naizghi Kiflu. ;If you are feeling lucky you may even get to see the real bandido.  – Abraham A, “My Own Private Ombudsman”, May 20, 2003

4.2 Certainly it would have been more favorable to me had my name appeared in a list of only the philosophers, doctors and educators of the so called “hizbawi mekete”, because in such a list, for sure, I would win. The reason is that while the mekete's greatest doctor will win over me in his ability to lining, rowing, and queing  the alphabet into an elegant English essay without content, I would win over him because of the content I would write with an English less  organized. Clearly expressed, the mekete debtra would write English without content and I would write content without English. Readers at all time will prefer an essay of content than essays which are nonsensical and meaningless; after all, who would prefer an empty balloon to a rag bag filled with precious gems. Words are more than often created to bear meanings but it is also possible to create words with no meanings, the evidence is clear for all to see. For me and the majority of others, bare truth is far more of use than an elegant lie, and that is why I can beat the spin doctors of the “hizbawi mekete”  even if they have all the academic credentials and titles of the world, for it will still be without content. The great sufi and poet Jelaladdin Rumi said almost the same when he wrote: THE AIM OF A BOOK MAY BE TO INSTRUCT, YET YOU CAN USE IT AS A PILLOW ALTHOGH ITS OBJECT IS TO GIVE KNOWLEDGE, DIRECTION, PROFIT. Burhan Ali, “Heavy Handed Awate.com”, 1/5/03

4.3 In a nation, full of mystery and paradox, Tegadalit Aster Fesshazion is a traitor and Sophia is a hero?  In the kingdom of “shefatu”, Mike Sium is a nationalist and Hamid Himd is a Weyane agent! I dream and aspire to live in the real Eritrea of Ibrahim Afa, Wedi hembir, Mussie, Awate, Kebire, Berhe Tsada, Hakito and all countless heroes and heroines. I don’t like the Eritrea of liars, robbers and killers who hijacked the entire nation. I don't want to live in the Eritrea of Hagos Kisha and Abraha Kassa. The Eritrea of Zara and Sawa, the Higdefite kingdom where millions of people are brutalized daily. Let it go to hell a million times!!! Until the real Eritrea is born where justice and rule of law governs, until the day where Eritrea belongs to her people I will keep  'My eritrea' in my heart. – Milkias Mihretab, “Eritrea’s Alsahafs”, May 8, 2003

4.4 When experience, for instance, kept in rearing its ugly head on us, time and again, in how governance of a nation was wrong headed our natural instincts for optimism, our aspiration, our desire and dream, bequeathed us in clouding our judgment, thereby, leading us to ignore symptoms of bad governance. When one of the widely known  first casualty of freedom of the press, some seven years ago, Ruth Simon, languished in prison for three years because she reported contradicting Issayas Afewerki’s statement, the majority of Eritreans in Diaspora chose to look the other way. Could that have been due to inexperience by the freedom fighters turned government representatives not knowing how to govern? According to the trans-posted article where experience it claims gave us unity as people, then, by logical extension inexperience should lead us to be weary of some serious blunders, one would think? – Beyan Negash, “Experience, Dreams, Nightmares…”, July 21, 2003

4.5 As the great Russian author Alexander Solzhentsyn said, your spirit and psyche is clearly abused, and re-abused beyond recognition by the atheist regime. One can tell how racist, ill mannered and undignified you are. It is not difficult to see your chauvinistic and bigoted attitude from your uninformative writings. Readers can clearly see and tell the extent of your bankruptcy and vanity. HIGDEF’s campaign, experiment and evil scheme of bankruptcy and abuse is really doing well and congratulation Sirs, Amanuel, Biniam, Issac… for your successful completion of courses (HIGDEF-101) 1-HOW TO DISCREDIT AN ERITREAN, WHO OPPOSES HIGDEF’S DAYTIME ROBBERY AND CRIME 2-HOW TO BE A MEEK AND DOCILE SLAVE TO HIGDEF AND THE TERMINATOR OF NAKFA- Well done brothers and keep up the wicked job, YOU MAY TAKE HIGDEF 102 now.  Dear Mr. Amanuel Tukue, what is Eritrean psyche according to you? Do you mind if I ask you? Is it being quiet while you are subdued and abused? Is it being shamefully beaten like donkeys an Eritrean psyche? Or Is it being ZRUF TIW LDI” to quote brother Solomon Yikealo’s beautiful poem” qalifies one to be an Eritrean. The Eritrean psyche and morality and sense of justice is not what I know and been taught. Eritrea and Eritreans are under the most undemocratic totalitarian regime Africa has ever seen. Today, an Eritrean has no right whatsoever, EITHER POLITICAL OR SOCIAL OR RELIGIOUS. What kind of Eritrean psyche are you speaking then Herr Amanuel?  - Milkias Mehretab, “The Abused, The Bankrupt”,  June 27, 2003

4.6 Ali Abdu does not only snuff the lights out of himself, but he is also hell bent to snuff the lights out of every individual in Eritrea, so that PIA could shine without any interference from those annoying little lights - i.e., in total and complete darkness.  In this effort, Ali Abdu is being helped from two sources. First, there are the die-hard supporters who are emulating him in that masochistic art of self-effacing.  And second, there are the "moderates" who are more than willing to lower their lights whenever they perceive a threat to the "sovereignty" or image of "Eritrea".  The "surgical approach" that is being applied to video clips and some few nagging facts in our memories have a slippery slope effect:  once started, it has a tendency to careen out of control until the very self, that happens to be involved in the act of erasing, erases itself.  So every act of erasure in one's historical memory comes at the cost of the self itself.  Thus, what we are witnessing in this Orwellian revisionism is nothing less than the inversion of the whole logic of sacrifice:  individuals are not being asked to make sacrifices for the common good of society; rather, it is society itself that is being asked to sacrifice for the sole "good' of one individual! – Yosief Gebrehiwet, “Kalat bweki Kelem”, June 3, 2003

4.7 I was most shocked to learn that you did not even touch the subject of human rights issues. The imprisonment of scores of Eritreans among them former government officials, journalists, elders, religious leaders and other innocent Eritrean just to mention a few. Don't you think these above mentioned individuals and especially the tagadelty that if added their total time in service to Eritrea for independence plus is more than 450 years these are only the top officials, deserve the benefit of the doubt after wasting both their youth and adult life in independence struggle that on their behalf strongly demand from the government of Eritrea that they are either brought to proper court of law with proper representation of their choice or be freed. Isn't it yours' and every other able Eritrean's responsibility to protect our people as per the advice of the martyrs? Why is it that no matter what happens to the defenseless people of Eritrea that you support the Dictator regime? Isn't the Eritrean government accountable to its people? How do you interpret loyalty?   - I. Aman, “Eritrean Intellectuals Who Are Out Of Touch”, January 1, 2003

4.8 If you truly believe holding Eritreans who fought for their country for many years this long without presenting concrete evidence in a court of law is acceptable, then all the years you lived abroad and all the education you mastered for so many years are rendering useless.  A couple of things I want to say to you and I want you to listen carefully:  first and foremost, the economic advising you are giving to Issais is really not working, because our economic condition is getting worse not better.  In fact, to tell you the truth, Issais was doing better without your advising.  Goods in Eritrea are getting more expensive year after year; it is now harder to economically advance in Eritrea for Eritreans, because of continued government bureaucracy and taxation; and basically, economically speaking, no major success has been achieved since your name has appeared as an economic advisor to the president.  My suggestion to you is to either start speaking your true convictions regarding our people’s continuous suffering under this brutal government or just stick to your bad economic advising as before.  Another suggestion would be for you to get out of this mess and come back to the U.S. and just live with your conscious clear of any guilt and lead a happy life as you used to.  I know it is hard to get out from the kind of mess you have involved yourself: something that started as an innocent venture to help your people has now turned into associating with a criminal Junta.  Get out with your dignity before it is too late!!  The more you stay there the harder it will be to explain your guilty association later. – Misghun Samson, “A Message To Woldai Futur,”  July 23, 2003

4.9 I remember one ultra–liar and pretender, a guy named Tefera Endale, who was a party member and administrator (governor) of the then Sidamo region. In the meeting of the ruling ESAPA party in 1988, comrade Endale made the following spectacular lie and drama. He said that the exterminator leader of the Dergue gang, Mengistu was a handsome, cute person, but he became, unattractive and ugly for the sake of the revolution! GUAD LIKEMENBER IKO LABYOTU SILU NEW INJI INDET YALU SHEBELA NEBERU. Many in the hall were shocked and struggle to keep their laughter to themselves. Even GUAD LIKEMENBER was a little bit flabbergasted by this super-liar and extra large pretender. History is full of pretenders and political con artists who are willing to sell anything just to live or get some favors from the strong man at the helm. – Milkias Mihretab, “The PFDJ’s DNA Freaks”,  June 18, 2003

4.10 From historical facts of this regime, DIA never repeated what it says twice. Keep lying to the poor Eritrean people and the world and continue that way as long as you have puppets working for you. Also if the GoE was honest of its accusations of the administration why did it deny the present Bush Administration's accusations that Eritrea's human rights record was deteriorating? How long will you and your DIA continue to deny things? How long are you going like this before you stop and ask the Eritrean government is wrong. Also there is a very BIG misconception that if anyone is against the dictatorship government in Eritrea that you are automatically against Eritrea. THAT IS PLAINLY WRONG! You can be against the bad regime in Eritrea and still love our mother country. Isayas is an individual, but Eritrea is a country. Two different things. If Eritrean ex-officials talk against the government they are a threat of National Security, if local free press releases anything that is against the Eritrean government that it is working for Woyane. If Eritrean government officials defect in protest of what the regime is doing to our people then they are called pro-Woyane and kedaat, hasusat, etc. So where is the truth? At least some of those opposing the DIA have to be right, or the Human Rights Watch is right or the international media is right or the Western nations and the U.S.A are right. Therefore, if you compare between these above-mentioned countries, NGO's, News Media, senior government officials (former officials) and the GoE who do you believe or who seems more credible. The answer is definitely NOT the Dictatorship in our country Eritrea.  – I. Aman, “A Rebuttal To Sophia’s Article”, 1/22/03

4.11 So far, President Isaias had been playing heads-I-win-tails-you-lose with many Eritreans, opposition groups, distinguished Eritrean leaders and citizens. When he perceives others are not doing his bidding and not dancing to his tune, he declares they violated the law. When he himself is working against, and contrary to the fundamental law - it is the law. Unfortunately, TM Negassi is comfortable flipping the coin. – K.G. Kahsai, “Pernicious Effusions of TM Negassi”, August 4, 2003

4.12 From the “cultural exceptionalists" to the authoritarians who believe the world community should not suggest, leave alone demand, that they democratize and follow rules of law, have used the “exception” card as an excuse to entrench their political power and deny the people their legitimate right to govern themselves. This trait has been more pronounced among African and Asian tyrants. They refuse to accept that the basic principles of democracy and self-governance have universal applicability. The tendency to confine democracy’s relevance to the Euro- centric culture and go on a wild goose chase trying to manufacture some kind of indigenous ideology that will be a substitute for modern democracy has been tested and failed to deliver any appreciable result. - Seyoum Tesfaye, “The Path Is The Agenda”, 8/14/2003

4.13 You see how different we are – my God! We are indeed different. We have been subjected to the most grotesque abuses that no one can endure, and yet we are too shy to even raise an eyebrow. Even when the dictator is out of the country, everything stays for him the way he left it. Innocent prisoners of conscience are kept under miserable conditions, forced conscriptions are at full swing, g’ffas, round ups & tortures are conducted with high efficiency;  demonstrations, strikes or uprisings on the other hand, are totally unheard off.  It is true, we can’t find solace in self-loathing, but for whatever it is worth, the truth must always be told.  – Mohammed Ahmed, “As The Nation Waits For Its Dictator”, July 31, 2003

4.14 It must have been this confused, seemingly dementia-induced, writing of the self-proclaimed "Hafash" that arose the irk of a dehaier who unleashed the dogs on Fisseha. While the whole world knows Eritrea has detained scores if not hundreds of people, without charge, without any due process of law (of the land, i.e., Eritrean law), including dissidents of the ruling party, elders in their seventies and eighties, and 19 journalists of the subsequently banned private/independent press for over eighteen months since September 2001, this zealot shamelessly and witlessly tells his readers that "there is NO Political Corruption in Eritrea." What else is political corruption if it is not refusing to abide by the law of the land, by the rule of law, and by the ratified constitution? All those dictators and tyrants of the past 40 years in Africa, without going far from home, have one thing in common: they refused to abide by the rules of the land, they detained and/or murdered opponents without the due process of law, and refused to hand power to the people until they were deposed by the power of the gun perpetuating the vicious cycle that we see in Africa today. (Check the new about Liberia!) The vicious cycle of coup d’etat, guerilla warfare, and civil wars to unseat one dictator or another continues.  – Paulos M. Natnael, “There is NO political corruption in Eritrea?!”, August 1, 2003

5 Enemies, Enemies, Enemies Everywhere

5.1 There is something miraculously inexplicable about the sudden sprouting of these spy-cells all over the newspapers.  Not only did the subversive acts began to take effect overnight - after the day of "capitulation", where a whole new disease called "defeatism" was to be discovered -, but they also took place simultaneously, as if the dreaded mysterious enemy was using one remote control to activate all of them at once.  We all know that during the war all of the private newspapers were following the GoE line scrupulously, almost word for word.  So how is it that they suddenly mutated into the cancerous cells that the GoE claims they have turned out to be?  Or were they all along sleeping cells, waiting for the right moment to strike?  How is it that all of them coordinated their acts of subversion to a point of perfection? Then there is this overwhelming web of interconnections, with spy-cells as its nodes, that has been mushrooming all over Eritrea (and abroad), that fantastically includes: the G-15, the G-13, university students, journalists, mediating elders, subversive elements in the army, the American Embassy (which recruited two of its employees), the CIA, the Clinton administration, the Italian Embassy (with Ambassador Bandini as a master-spy - a class on his own), Susan Rice, Anthony Lake, the Woyanies, regionalists, defeatists of every ilk, etc. Even the fertile mind of Agatha Christie can never come up with such an ever-encompassing intrigue full of suspense and mystery.  So how is it that the enemy was so reckless as to involve all of these elements in one single mission, where a failure at one of these nodes would definitely spell disaster to all the other nodes? – Yosief Gebrehiwet, “Spies? Blame It On The Language”, April 22, 2003

5.2 TM Negassi queries of who is accountable for the current predicament of Eritrea. Unashamedly, he tries to find an alibi for those in power by trying to indict people who had no power on the execution of the last war.  Still more, he brings the baggage of  'defeatism' – a leftist jargon on his continuous accusations. Does TM Negassi know that defeatism, as a risk-averse, is a state of mind and not a crime in any democratic country? Crime is an act or intent to damage a person or property. 'Defeatism' was a common accusation by Stalinists and Maoists on opponents who positioned varied alternatives on how to manage the risks of war and peace. Milosevic of Yugoslavia last invoked the term through a new decree. According Milosevic's defeatism decree, if a Yugoslav citizen stated that: "Serbia is not capable to fight NATO and the consequences of an engagement will be grave to Yugoslavs; let us try a diplomatic solution" - it was considered a crime. This was a travesty to humanity and the Yugoslav people, and in actuality, the 'defeatists' were correct. For fairness, at least Milosevic put the term into a law and people were not accused retroactively.  Does TM Negassi know that the Eritrean criminal code does not have an article against this term? If patriotic Eritreans are being accused for 'defeatism', shouldn't President Isaias also be indicted for another leftist jargon 'adventurism'? It goes without saying, the Eritreans accused of 'defeatism' are innocent; otherwise, the Eritrean Government would have brought them to the dock in broad day light very long time ago. However, accountability cannot be determined by one side having the freedom to be vocal and the other side forced to mute. Had it been allowed, an independent Eritrean Commission investigating the dossiers, facts and listening to all sides with equal rights can easily determine who is accountable. – “Pernicious Effusions of TM Negassi,” K.G. Kahsai, August 4, 2003

5.3 Many replied to the article, from the Ambassador to foot soldiers of PFDJ. However none of them disproof his finds with facts except to accuse Nicholas D Kristof is anti Eritrean, woyane stooge, and paid writer. Nicholas D Kristof a Harvard graduate and a winner first class honors at Oxford University on a Rhodes scholarship is a respected journalist and Pulitzer and George Polk prize Award winner. It is not new bashing journalists when rogue governments can’t control the media as they did in their home country. I am sure many of us remember Jonathan Dimbleby, the famous British journalist who exposed the wollo famine in 1974 through his documentary film. Derg at first regarded him as a hero and his name became a household name. He was applauded, paraded and also received a citizen ship award. What Derg missed was Jonathan Dimbleby was not doing them a favor he just doing his journalistic duty. Shortly, he became a trusted western journalist in a communist nation and traveled to Ethiopia frequently. In the late 1977 and early 1978 the film camera that took the gruesome film shots of Wollo famine also took the horrific, cruel and atrocious act of red terror. To Jonathan as a journalist and as human race this was cruel and despicable act. The Wollo famine was natural adversity and negligence. The red terror, however; is cruel, barbaric and brutal and no comparison in any fashion with a natural disaster and neglect. He went to the mayor of Addis-Ababa, who was then one of the engineers of red terror and asked him about the crime they are committing and the promises they are breaking he told him in point blank that is legal and justifiable to take a free action against reactionaries. Jonathan didn’t stop to think what his new friends might say in regard to the film about to show. Mr. Dimbleby risked his life his privileges and jeopardizes his job to show the world how cruel in human red terror is. After the film broadcast to British public the derg went eccentric, exactly what PFDJ are doing now, however; the one time hero becomes a sell out and banned not to set his foot to Ethiopia again.  – Ali Abdu, “To Defend The Indefensible”, June 23, 2003

6Orwell, Kundera, etc: Life Lessons and clues From Art

6.1 Another favorite scene that is repeatedly shown on Eri TV is that of Issayas dancing with young performers in the Asmara Stadium to the rhythm of ‘shamaye shama’ by Elsa Kidane and Abdu Yousuf – I gather on the occasion of the 1998 Independence celebrations. Now what really struck me this time was the fresh editing that has recently been done on this clip. At the end of the original video, as Issayas and his bodyguards, return to the podium, while the music is doing the customary ‘d’rrb’ beat, there are images of other dignitaries, including some that are now behind bars. Particularly notable was the scene of Haile Durrue enthusiastically moving his shoulders and clapping to the tune. This clip was frequently being shown on Eritrean TV even after the jailing of the G-11, surely an irritating reminder of those comrades-in-arms of DIA now in jail. But not anymore! … The record has now been set straight – and this historical mistake is rectified! In the ‘corrected’ video clip the picture briefly fades into total darkness, and then cuts back to the same dancing ‘Wedi Afom’. In a skillful application of the ‘surgical approach to history’ certain unwanted episodes have been expertly sliced out. A few problematic personalities wiped off the archives. There were no Sherifos or Durrue’s in the 1998 celebrations. Maybe they were on mission abroad, or … . In fact, those scenes are only a figment of the imagination of a few feeble souls (sympathizers of the defeatists) whose patriotic credentials are questionable, or those who are not sophisticated enough to understand the dialectics of history. You said Petros Solomon? We never heard of him (bokhri eznei!). Keckia who? We don’t know anybody by that name! [Pause] These people never existed, stupid! – Events Monitor, “Another Classic Case of Orwellian Revisionism”, May 28, 2003

6.2 As I was reading these paragraphs [Another Classic Case of Orwellian Revisionism], I was particularly struck by the uncanny similarity that this incident has with an event that Milan Kundera, the great Czech writer, repeatedly mentions in his novels.  This event took place in one of those darkest hours of Czechoslovakian history.  In his novel, "The Book Of Laughter And Forgetting", Kundera writes: "In February, 1948, the Communist leader Klement Gottwald stepped out on the balcony to harangue hundreds of thousands of citizens massed in the Old Town Square.  That was a great turning point in the history of Bohemia.  A fateful moment of the kind that occurs only once or twice a millennium. Gottwald was flanked by his comrades, with Clementis standing close to him.  It was snowing and cold, and Gottwald was bareheaded.  Bursting with solicitude, Clementis took off his fur hat and set it on Gottwald's head.  The propaganda section made hundreds of thousands of copies of the photograph taken on the balcony where Gottwald, in a fur hat and surrounded by his comrades, spoke to the people.  On that balcony the history of Communist Bohemia began.  Every child knew that photography, from seeing it on posters and in schoolbooks and museums. "Four years later, Clementis was charged with treason and hanged.  The propaganda section immediately made him vanish from history and, of course, from all photographs.  Ever since, Gottwald has been alone on that balcony.  Where Clementis stood, there is only the bare palace wall.  Nothing remains of Clementis but the fur hat on Gottwald's head."   - Yosief Gebrehiwet, “Kalaat bwerki Kelem: The Collaborative Effort To Forget It All”, June 3, 2003

6.3 The idea that a collectivist idea of empowering government with increasing economic control (and in Eritrea also political control) would inevitably lead not to utopia but to the horrors of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy is at the heart of F. A. Hayek’s “Road to Serfdom.” With thousands starving, the youth thrown into a perpetual slavery of the military, civilian infrastructure destroyed to make way for PFDJ shops, policemen and henchmen first killing others and then disappearing themselves into the oblivion of countryside Eritrea, its women veterans and the young abused, the Special Court (just like the SS) with its arbitrary justice and so on is only symptomatic of the Eritrea born out of the marriage of convenience to communist ideas in the 60’s and 70’s. – Mussie Goitom, “Complacency in time of crisis: the EPLF-DP”, June 7, 2003

6.4 The party rewriters have tried to do as you warned us in Nineteen Eighty-Four. They have been trying to sell us Slavery as Freedom and War as Peace. Their Thought Police have tried to commandeer and pilot our minds. Our Little Big Brothers are frustrated for your message has been heard and understood by the children of the people. Our defiant spirit is in tact. This is your birthday gift from people who love freedom. Thanks, Teacher. Your advice has been heard around the world…even in our small corner. Do you mind if I ask you, “Have seen Kafka? How about Camus and Fanon?” Please tell them that all is not lost. Humanity has a long way to go, but it is not as dark as it once was.  – Seyoum Tesfaye, “Homage To An Anti-authoritarian writer,” June 26, 2003

6.5 Buredan was a French philosopher who, in the context of proving his point on free will, imagined an experimental ass which was hungered and equally thirsted and then let loose at equidistance between simultaneously visible pool of water and a hay of grass. The philosopher argued that the ass would certainly die of both hunger and thirst, because if it decides and starts to go for the food it will be pressed by its thirst and memory of the water in the pool- now that the food is within its grasp- and so it re-evaluates its decision and reverses it and starts to go back to the pool, and in the way to the water the hunger presses -now that the water is within grasp-causing it to again reveres its decision and starts going back to the pool and so on and so on until it dies of exhaustion without satisfying its hunger nor quenching its thirst. - Burhan Ali, “Heavy Handed Awate.com”, 1/5/03

6.6 In the movie, "Papillion", some desperate convicts - sentenced to a life time or long years - manage to escape from a much dreaded island-prison.  On their way to a free world, they unexpectedly land on a leper colony (remember that at this time there was no cure for leprosy).  The convicts soon come to a realization that if there is to be any remote chance for their mission to succeed, it would have to be through the help of the lepers, there being absolutely no other way.  For this to materialize, it is essential that the convicts show the proper "respect" to the lepers - something that the lepers are very sensitive about (for obvious reasons).  Realizing this, the leader of the convicts does the unthinkable:  he firmly shakes the hand of a leper.  A refusal, or a hesitation to shake his hands, or even a half-hearted handshake, would have ended in a disaster.  There is no doubt that the convict realizes the risk of contagion; but he has to do it, for that handshake is the only available ticket to freedom…. It is no secret that the US has been looking for bases in the nearby areas - Middle East, the Horn of Africa and East africa - from which it would be able to launch its war against Iraq.  There has been some reluctance from the Arab world to let America use their land for this purpose, especially if the war is not going to be endorsed by the UN.  As a last resort, America (especially the Pentagon) has been eyeing strategic places such as Assab and Dahlak as bases for possible military use.  But, so far, the State Department's policy remains as follows:  Eritrea has to be absolutely avoided until all other options has been exhausted.  As in "Papillion", it has to be an absolute must for the US before it would be willing to shake the hands of our leper. – Yosief Ghebrehiwet, “Rumsfeld Shaking The Hands of a leper?”, 1/2/03

6.7 "The comparison is with John Milton," says British historian Ben Pimlott. "Was he attacking Christianity [in 'Paradise Lost']? No, he was attacking certain Christians. It's the same with Orwell -- he was attacking specific socialists, not socialism. There was a deeply questioning, restless but socialist mind at work. All those right-wingers who worship him should be reminded who he really was." After PFDJ's failure to overstep post-coloniality, its stumble into the list of failing organizations, its eventual arrest by the Leviathan Titan-the state machinery, its development of a tumor called a Droit-Phobic-ness, (I hate laws), its frequent resort to its historical successes than present failures-usual symptom of aging and ailing seniors, its willingness to use more of the threats than the wits, more of the coercion than conviction, more of jails than the courts, more of jailors than judges, its stoic resistance to self-correct (self in persons, both natural; organizational, never helps itself), we wept all over the place; the covers, the borders, the pages of our used to be farm; knowing our farm won’t produce honey, and milk, democracy, homecoming, and justice; Bltug and Kazmier (I love Kazmier by the way). Not any more. But only chains and tears. And, Banana (it is slippery, don’t trust it). Too much Banana. With Yohana. – Ghezae H Berhe, “Whose Paterfamilias Was He?”, July 7, 2003

7. Dreams, Introspections, Common Sense: Life Lessons From Life

7.1 Let me make it simpler, at the risk of breaking my own word. Is the world fair? No, it is not. BBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.
Do you get it? Ok, let me explain. If we agree that life (the world) is not fair, and it should have already been agreed upon that Eritrea is not material enough to influence the direction of the tide, then what else is there for Eritrea to do beside shaping up and getting with the program? It is very simple. Directionally speaking, he has two role models – Meles Zenawi or Saddam Hussien – he is certainly somewhere in the middle of these two personalities. He can now choose which way to go because there is no third dimension. I realize I need to expound on my point a little more Ethiopia is getting food aid and Iraq is getting ready to be pounded. That puts Eritrea smack down the middle…. What annoyed me the most was her insinuation that the Embassy will be tracking names of donors. As a result, I have asked her to pass my name as a very willing supporter of my country and people that are facing starvation. I have asked her to transfer 10% of the value of the bond money that is 10-months over due to the fund for the starving. I am not being sarcastic in face of starvation and death. I am, however, saying that I have been feeling disrespected by the government for not delivering or communicating with me regarding the status of my 0% bond. As a result, I am not going to write another check. So, again, just like their mismanagement of their relationship with the donor community, they have mismanaged their relationship with their fellow citizens. Thus, negatively affecting the people in need. Is it fair for me to have done that? No, it is not? But again, we have agreed, I thought, not to ask anything about fairness. Life is not fair so don’t look for it. – Hagos M Habtemariam, “Dreamland for the naieve”, 2/19/03

7.2 Remember what he has done to the university students in “Wia” (the students voluntarily stopped their study to foil Weyane’s Third offensive just two months before that). Was she expecting him to admit that he is systematically monopolizing the Eritrean economy through the Red Sea and other PFDJ's affiliates while at the same time impoverishing the people and killing the dynamic and flourishing private sector along with its forthcoming foreign investment? What has he done to in response to the heartbeat of Eritreans inside Eritrea? Has he ever sought any idea from Eritreans before he took actions to implement them forcefully? Can anyone disprove that this person is doing everything only for his ego and the interest of friends? Was this what we were fighting and struggling for? And was this what our brother and sister paid for with their precious lives?..Travel to Sawa and other military stations in Eritrea and ask your sisters there what is going wrong. Ask the truck drivers in Massawa, ‘who is monopolizing the transportation system in the country?’ Ask any passerby, ‘who owns more than 38 companies that has became a breeding swamp for corruption in Eritrea?’ Ask of their love and commitment to Eritrea and then ask them about the regime that claims to be right all the time. Ask any employee of the ministry of finance or any international entity how the country’s meager income is allocated. Ask if Eritrea has a budgeting system? Ask the mothers of martyrs if they are not discriminated in Halibet Hospital. Ask the gallant Warsay if they sit in the same meeting with Yikaalo and whether they are being discriminated.  Ask them if they have been asked to pay for the un-calibrated, broken or lost, yet, substituted from enemy Kalshnikov in fierce battles. Ask them how old the AK-47 guns they used were when they faced the Woyanes who owned brand new equipment and supported by air supremacy. The questions are many and I am sure Yemane will not dare to answer any… - Sami Tesfay, “The Leopoard Never Changes Its Spots”, April 2, 2003

7.3 Now, imagine - per impossible - this surrealistic scenario where a "community" is held above and over its individual members.  In such a spooky scenario, the "community" attains a life of its own, totally detached from the lives of its individual members.  Within such a world, it is easy to see how the culture of martyrdom would take a sinister turn.  One who is being asked to sacrifice for the sake of the community would have to do it with the full realization (at least, implicitly) that his sacrifice might never do good to the individual members of his community.  As a result of this moral inversion, an evil world would be made to emerge:  the "community" would be made secure by making everybody insecure; it would be made affluent by wiping out individual riches; it would be made assertive by making its members docile and easily complying; it would be made independent by making everybody dependent; and so on.  Within such a convoluted world, the individual would have to be made dispensable for the community to "thrive".  Now replace, if you will, "community" with "Eritrea", and you will end up having a pretty good picture of the tragic scenario that is right now unfolding in our nation. – Yosief Gebrehiwet, “The Continuous Deferral of Civil Liberties”, July 1, 2003

7.4 Is this asking too much? What is too much about simple rights of jailed citizens? If jailed citizens are not brought to court, how can WE TELL these citizens are wrongly arrested or rightly arrested? How can we tell the GoE is not lying? If ordinary citizens (young or old) are kept in prison for almost two years without any flicker of hope of seeing their day in court, what would we feel if WE WERE IN THEIR PLACE? Or what would we feel about these who shun these ugly truths? We should feel something, because if it can happen to them, it can happen to everyone even you, dear reader. The weirdest and absurdist thing of all is that when you ask these questions, you are charged with anti-Eritreanism and most likely end up not getting the same rights you claimed for others. That is way too different than the story of oaks as told by men. Eritreans are justice lovers and seekers if not by their nature (since we are merely human beings, 'deki T'SheAte Werhi') by their historical experience nonetheless. The proverbs and myths chronicled throughout the ages testify to paying the due homage to the pre-eminence of Justice and Truth. "Ya'E! Ayfalkan...." "AgeB! AyGd'n...." found their way from the "Tslal DaEro" through the sands of time to modern day parliament Palace. From the loud to the hushed. They found their way through.  – Ghezae H Berhe, “Introspection: Addendum To Ibrahim Berhan’s Ruminations”, June 2, 2003

7.5 The real problem though is our in-ability to connect with our fallen heroes & heroines, who left us a solid legacy of courage & sacrifice, yet we fail to see it. We could have built a society that lives by example & inspiration, we could have drawn on this legacy to face any challenges, be it a homegrown thug or an outside threat, yet we fail to connect to our rich history. It is a shame to see that we act like drifters, with no sense of direction, we go where the wind takes us.  Our collective will, which at one point was the foundation of our struggle, is now curtailed by a mere thug & we have no say in almost anything that affects our lives. One would have expected that a people who have sacrificed so much, a people who have shed their blood & tears to secure a better future, would have never allowed for anyone to even think of disrespecting them, let alone to desecrate their ideals. Cold-blooded murders take place in PFDJ prisons, we hardly seem to notice. People languish in jails for years on end, yet we get used to the abuse. Our kids perish in useless wars, we don’t even get a chance to say goodbye. It is a shame to see that we allow these things to happen to us, it is a shame to see that we fail to follow the path of our martyrs. Issaias Afwerki’s meticulous & persistent plan to put a big gap between our people & their rich history was not a simple act of distaste for what they stood for, but rather a deliberate plan concocted to deprive them of any strength, pride & inspiration they might draw from their heritage. Rendering them weak & condemning them to complacency would have been an impossible task, he figures, if their history wasn’t wiped out bit by bit. With no history to draw strength from, they will have no “sense of belonging”, an invaluable ingredient for his evil agenda.  – Mohammed Ahmed, “Shame On Us”, May 31, 2003

8. Eritrea: A Report Card – Land of 7 and 6 and Gahtelai and WiA

8.1 If the Woyanies were to successfully plant a spy in the president's office, that spy couldn't have done a better job than advising PIA to undertake all the blunders he has so far committed…: either he is TOTALLY IRRATIONAL that he could hardly see what the consequences of his actions might turn out to be; or he is COLDLY RATIONAL, but dead set to destroy the nation for grudges that he holds against the Eritrean people (that perverse intention needn't be conscious at all).
I have never seen or heard of such a lop-sided situation where so much is being asked of a people - please take into consideration the endless sacrifices the Eritrean people has been asked to make - and so little of a leader, and yet the leader refusing to make the most benign token gestures of concession, even if the very survival of his regime and his nation depends on it! If that is true, then we could say, without any exaggeration on our side, that PIA is the GREATEST LIABILITY that Eritrea has ever had! – Yosief Gebrehiwet, “Demarcation First, Reform Second?”, 7/28/2003

8.2 Oh…Oh, No, not that kind of bomb. This bomb you can find it in every corner of Eritrea- in universities, high schools, clubs, coffeeshops, bars and in front- lines. It’s the bomb that is ticking in our country. Over the next short period of time it will explode in ways that will change Eritrea for good. WHY? Quite simply, because of the SAWA GENERATION.  This generation is sick being mistreated and watch the nation go dawn hill every second. Their blood boiling point is approaching. They are frustrated to live in a country with the lowest freedom score, which includes political rights, a voice of the people, independence of the media and accountability of the government. Furthermore, the economic structure and political system is fundamentally bankrupt and in desperate need of urgent and sweeping reforms. It’s all about the young generation feeling trapped in a country with almost no jobs and no opportunity to realize their potential or shape their own future. They’re furious with this government and who, can blame them with a rational mind. – Efrem Kahsai, “Eritrea Has The Bomb”, June 30, 2003

8.3 On April 2002 I tried to bring to the attention of the Diaspora Eritreans political community a yearly report generated by the New York based Freedom House, which presents an annual evaluation of 192 countries' degree of political and civil liberties. The best numerical designation any nation can get is 1 and 1, that is to say the people of a nation with this designation have the maximum political and civil liberties. Inversely the nation that has a 7 and 7 designation means the citizens of the nation are living in total absence of political and civil liberties. Last year Eritrea had a 7 and 6 designation. This year is no different. It still has 7 and 6….. In this category we find Burma, Cuba, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Turkmenistan.  There is not a single comparable African government that has exhibited such total disregard for the most basic principles of human right and rules of law like the present Eritrean government. … Once again the total bankruptcy and disillusionment of the present national leadership is vividly exposed in the president's latest interview.  Pure travesty. A study in desperation and insularity. It is true what they say: you cannot nail Jell-O. No substance, all fluff and disjointed excuse and then more excuses.  Piles of words but not one inch closer to the reality and most of all to the truth. How low will the nation have to sink before the leadership will relinquish this discredited path?  What kind of vanity drives this kind of  absurdity? Nowhere in his extended interview does the imperial president take a degree of personal responsibility for the glairing national calamity. He is the saint, the victim and the betrayed at the same time.  – Seyoum Tesfaye, “Back to the Land of 7 and 6”, 2/21/03

8.4 What is the point here, Dr. W. Futur?  It is almost like saying –15 degrees centigrade is better than –19 degrees when the required temperature is +18 degrees.  And in reality, the temperature outside is +30 degrees and rising. You, as a representative of your government, have admitted [just like that] that ‘you’ put people in jail [just like that].  As for the massacre… you just said it yourself.  It will come out in full detail – all in good old time. It is not about double standards.  It is about communication skills and abilities in looking after your peoples’ interest.  Perpetual throwing of ‘guilt’ at a potential donor doesn’t help indefinitely.  It has a use-by-date stamped on it and it becomes deadly beyond a certain date.  As we all know, we don’t give money to arrogant or over-zealous beggars.  We might give once or twice to avoid the incessant pestering but not everyday.  Some beggars do have good manners or skills – you know. – Gabriel Guangul, “Where is Eritrea: At Liberty To Commit Human Rights Violations?”, 3/31/03

8.5 A nation that is militarily thinly stretched, economically strapped, diplomatically outflanked, politically isolated and internationally forsaken is a nation with an imminent SECURITY THREAT in its most potent and urgent sense.  The dispositional roots of this threat can be easily traced to the above mentioned erratic, abusive, arrogant, irrational and misguided misconducts of DIA and the culture of violence in which he has been thriving….Hence, it won't be an exaggeration if we claim that DIA, doubling with the Woyanies, is ERITREA'S GREATEST SECURITY THREAT.  Therefore, if we are to confine ourselves to what we can possibly do to bring a lasting peace to Eritrea, the removal of the dictator should top that list. – Yosief Gebrehiwet, “The Hazards of Demarcation Without Normalization”, 8/25/2003

8.6 Just imagine this: The Eritrean officials handing the family members the death certificate along with the share holders certificate from Asmara Brewery Factory. Imagine a priest receiving such a certificate prior to giving the Sunday church services. Imagine even further a shaikh receiving two certificates - one for martyrdom and the other for becoming a share holder to the Brewery factory that the Eritrean government thought was the best way it should bestow an honor to its dead; from so many monopolistic exclusive holdings that it has - it chose to dispense one third of its ownership to the families of the martyred from this particular beer making factory. Is this a new epitaph Eritrean governement wishing enshrined in a form of a bottle beer in the minds of Eritreans who are grieving? What would the priest’s ceremony be for that day when remembering the martyrs? What would the Imam’s khutba be this Friday? That Eritrea’s sons and daughters were martyred but they were compensated for it adequately by receiving a share holding that would generate alcohol which will help get men in the cities inebriated to their wits ends. Could the government not see the ramifications of such insensitively asinine move? The blood that was spilled on behalf of Eritrea is being regenerated into a bottle to which mankind uses to get drunk. Each time one goes to a Bar for an after hour drink, what’s one supposed to think? That the revenue from that bottle is going to the families of the martyred. There is nothing more insulting than giving a Muslim an income generating mechanism in which the sales of alcohol is involved - it is one of the core no-nos that’s frowned upon with disgust, despise, dejection and rejection. It wasn’t enough that families were dealing with the deadly blow they received in the form of merdie and now they have to deal with this other deadly blow that wants to crush their spiritual convictions. When these kind of insensible moves come from one’s own government that ought to know better, what’s the poor family to do? Simply accept insult to injury. Here is a death certificate Eritrean mothers and fathers and a certificate of insult is also attached to it. Now go ahead and get inebriated so as to help increase the revenue to which you are a share holder? I mean for crying out loud please have some sensibilities! – Beyan Negash, “A New Martyrdom Epitaph, PFDJ Style,” June 25, 2003

8.7 That night, truckload upon truckload kept on coming and unloading their human cargo every half an hour or so. At about 1 a.m., the room was so packed with people that those who arrived in the last batches had no place to stretch their legs let alone lie down. They had to spend the night and part of the next day standing – some of them literally on one leg. How that night was survived is a chronicle of the human suffering that this wretched country is going through. Among the 700 or so souls packed in that room, there were those who kept coughing all the time (spending a few nights in that place lying on a bare floor without proper clothing or blankets is a sure way of catching the most horrible of ailments); those who were asthmatic and seemed on the verge of collapse; a man who was in great agony suffering under the pain of his kidney condition; one epileptic who had a sudden attack, and yes, a mentally ill young man who spent the whole night talking to himself. A whole panorama of human anguish. When some inmates tried to convince the guards outside to allow the person with the kidney problem to see a doctor, they received only threats that they would be severely punished if they didn’t stop those pleads (helicopter kt’essera ikhin!). Several others never stopped cursing those who were causing this misery. Most of all, I can’t put out of my mind that pale face of a young frail man who seemed to be asthmatic and kept murmuring between bouts of violent coughing … “aaH tetsawitomlna!” [they pulled a fast one on us!] I couldn’t help but think all night about what makes a government do all this to its own people. To lash out with such vengeful and ruthless aggression, with such brutality against the very ordinary people whose only crime was that they submitted to every demand it had been making! It was beyond any comprehension!… The next day, I came to realize that there were people who had spent four or five nights in that place and many of them had started developing all kinds of conditions – from severe cold to back, joint and muscle aches, to stomach problems. Some had simply collapsed under the impact of harsh conditions, starvation and stress – hopelessly lying on the bare floor as if waiting for the inevitable. (The only daily ration was one piece of bread, a cup of water, and sometimes a cup of tea at around five in the afternoon). That day I could also see the broad spectrum of age groups that my fellow inmates represented – ranging from mere teenagers to people in their middle age…. spent another night under the same conditions. I was released on the third day after my employer intervened. Those who were not lucky enough were later sent to Metkel Abet north of Gahtelai where they were kept for several weeks in the harshest of conditions. Several deaths were reported in the first few days of detention there, mainly due to the extreme heat, exhaustion and lack of food and drinking water.  – “Events Monitor”, “Two Nights Before Gahtelai”, June 9, 2003

9. Awate.com: Heavy-handed, merciless, ELF-ers, icon-makers, etc, etc.

9.1 Awate.com is addicted, it seems to me, to heavy handedness and mercilessness, qualities acquired at the time that goes back to the beginnings. When their website was launched, it was launched like a cannon ball that ripped and opened an irreparable hole in the wall of silence imposed by the brutal dictatorship on our proud people. It was not a single cannon ball that they had, for a salvo of cannon balls followed.  Awate.com, one can rightfully argue, was born with only cannon balls in its arsenal. No daggers, no muffled pistols, or any kind of the category of small arms is known in the land of Awate.com. – Burhan Ali, “Heavy Handed Awate.com”, 1/5/03

9.2 Why his Team (Awate Team) still revere the Eritrean Alliance, with full knowledge of TPLF involvement in many facets of the despicable organization (army training, funding, media access, access to Eritrean lands occupied by Ethiopia, and even earmarking and picking the leader of the movement, A la' Hiruy, (a legend! no! don't laugh! our legend)- half a century later “Ne’boy Kemerqo Iye”- is in your face contradiction which can safely be attributed to occupational hazardousness of former ELFites who though could get themselves out of ELF, couldn’t get the ELF out of themselves. Why