In October 2001,  I wrote "Kem Sebom" after I heard about the arrest of my father.  That was two years ago.   730 mornings, 730 days, 730 nights.  He has two kinds of days: either he is relatively healthy, which means he is in prison or he is relatively unhealthy, which means he is  at Halibet Hospital.  He has no visitation rights, (that is part of the punishment)--not even from his Yeka'alo son or his Warsay son. 

Nor is this an exceptional story---far, far from it.  "Kem sebom"--just like any other--is meant to signify that his story is no different from that of every Eritrean family.  Wait a minute, in fact he is considered one of the lucky ones because at least his family knows where he is and how he is.   Praise be.  There are other Eritrean families who are even less fortunate: they have no idea where their loved ones are, or even if they are alive.  Over the weekend I heard from the brother of one of "Keren teachers" who was arrested in 1994; when I asked him, "any news?", he responded, "they told my mother if she even asks about him, they will haul her in, too."  His mother is about 80 years aold. 

And, they had to suffer this pain not just for two years but, in some cases, for ten years.  3650 mornings, 3650 days, 3650 nights.   In some cases, maybe even more...

This is the government that some of our compatriots pledge their "unconditional support" to.  This is the government that some of our friends turn their blind eye to.  National security, Weyane, etc, etc.

In South Africa, Isaias Afwerki--the one person who mentions "treason" and "spies" so casually; the one person who, as the Chief Commanding Officer should be tried for treason for his gross negligence during the Third Offensive--equated his treatment of citizens with America's treatment of those housed at Guantanemo Bay. Ha ha. Ever since, every zombie and every cult member has been mumbling "Guantanemo Bay."  Girma Asmerom has a meeting coming up and if the question of those arrested comes up, you are guranteed the Guantanemo Bay comparison (and some Amharic expression) followed by Girma's unique ability to make himself the hero of every story. 

Of course, the United States does not have a single American citizen (not even a naturalized citizen) in Guantanemo Bay.  All are foreigners, most arrested in Afghanistan--"enemy combatants."  The one American citizen who was arrested in Afghanistan, and the one naturalized citizen who was suspected of carrying a "dirty bomb", had legal representation, even in the post Patriot Act America.   In contrast, the Eritrean government has arrested its own citizens, trampling all their rights as guaranteed by a constitution they helped draft: rights such as due process, legal representation, explaining the charges against them in their own language within 48 hours, or as soon as possible thereafter. 

To the average PFDJ zombie, there is no difference between an Eritrean citizen and, say, Colonel Bezabeh.  All that separates them is an accusation by the government.  If the government charges, you are automatically guilty.   The government has God-like qualities: "Be, and it is."  

This government has declared war on the people--against defenseless, unarmed people.  Unable to convincingly argue that it has defended the nation against armed enemy forces, it is trying to wow us with its skills on how to defend the nation against unarmed citizens.  After the fiasco of witnessing Eritrean police refuse to beat their own mothers during the University of Asmara demonstrations, it understands that the Eritrean people won't be cruel against their own, so it has devised a cynical strategy that bodes ominously for the unity of Eritrea: in Asmara and the highlands, the police/security forces are from ethnic groups that don't speak Tigrigna, meaning there is no chance at all that the old lady they are about to whip is related to them, so whip away.  The reverse is applied in the lowlands. 

It has banished a whole generation of the youth to the wilderness, in mind-numbing activities, an exercise practiced by all the experts of the prison industry: killing the spirit and the hope of those detained.   The youth won't be demobilized because the border is not demarcated.  "How wise the president was not to demobilize them, see what the Weyane are up to?" retort the zombies and the groupies.  They never tire of insulting Eritreans: if there was a clear and present danger to the republic, the Eritrean youth mobilize themselves within hours, as they did in previous wars.  A demobilized Eritrean Army can be mobilized within hours, particularly when he is 25 kilometers away from the enemy.   No, they are kept, and kept occupied in rock-smashing and trench-digging activities-- all activities which are, not coincidentally, performed by prisoners of war--because the Warsay are prisoners of Isaias. 

The banishment is not limited to those enlisted; it extends to all those who are nearing enlistment age.  In the United States, children with discipline problems are sent to military academies so they can be shaped up.  When we were kids, our mothers used to say that it would have been ideal if so and so's child, a youth with a discipline problem who has exhausted his parents patience,  "collegio teteESewela."   That is what the Isaias military junta has done: all the youth were treated as if they are potential discipline problems and have been sent to Sawa High School, where they are being taught excellent nation- building-skills like when to sleep, when to wake up, when to eat, when to study.  A factory of drones.   From this factory, all the ones who have shown unique "leadership skills"--the class clown, the class bully--will be either sent to the PFDJ Cultural Troupe or the PFDJ Security Apparatus, respectively.

The PFDJ rules by fiat, with most of the fiats with a built-in safe system: they are set to expire within two weeks.  After this period, they are reversed without explanation.  There is no organizational congress, no meeting of the national assembly, just the ministers attending a seminar--"heated debated"--by the Capo, who then go on tours to repeat, verbatim, what they learned from the Capo. 

Look at the disitegration of the ELF-RC, look at the notices of the grassroots, look at the meetings of the alliances, look at the fights.  Look at the chaos in California elections. What a circus.   Ha, ha.  Look at the contrast with the PFDJ: such discipline, such vision.  But look again.  Read the arguments within the ELF-RC.  They all had to do with what was said, what was done at this first ordinary meeting, this congress.  All meetings held and attended to.  It is what democratic institutions do: they meet, they fight, some get elected, some get demoted.  It all looks chaotic, it all looks messy, but that is the genesis of democracy.  There was no chaos in Mao's China, Stalin's USSR, Hitler's Germany and Saddam's Iraq.    Some look at the opposition and say, "this is our alternative?!" and stick with the PFDJ.  Let's look further. 

In the choice between the alternatives, between the opposition--broadly defined to include political parties and civil society--and the PFDJ, one needs to consider the following:

The opposition is dynamic, constantly changing and evolving and attracting (and shedding) people voluntarily.  The PFDJ is a dying organization, suffocated by its rigidity and can only coerce people to join it.  Its "youth" are mirror images of the senior leadership: supremely arrogant, ignorant and in love with themselves;

The opposition is learning--reluctantly--that power belongs to the people and they have to constantly prove that they have earned the right to lead.  The PFDJ thinks it is entitled to rule by virtue of the fact that it "created a free Eritrea";

The causes the opposition identifies with--democracy, justice, equality, free enterprise--are those that are associated with peace.   The causes that the PFDJ identifies with--mobilization, militarization, state of emergency, permanent hostilities, fear, spying, sacrifice, moving permit, gffa--are those associated with war. 

In short, the opposition is the party of peace, of democracy, rule of law and of change and the PFDJ is the party of war, authoritarianism, and atrophy.   In the contest for the heart and minds of the Eritrean people, the opposition would clearly win....but only if takes some bold and immediate steps:

(1) Headquarters:   You cannot advocate the virtues of vegetarianism while headquartered at a butcher shop.   If you do, you are going to spend half your time explaining why you are at a butcher shop.   The opposition must pack out and move out of Addis Ababa to Sudan.   Please, please, please, we don't want to hear about how the ELF-RC used to be there for decades, etc, etc;

(2) Medium:  The medium of choice is radio.  Those of us who write on the internet and write in English have completely different audiences--the Eritrean intelligentsia and the foreigners that are considered influential.  Somebody needs to speak to the Eritrean people in their own language and that is radio;

(3) Message: There is no holy tablet anywhere that says that Ethiopia is our enemy.  The TPLF is the enemy of the PFDJ and the PFDJ is the enemy of the TPLF and the Eritrean land and the Eritrean people are just a stage and props in this bloody drama of egoes.  Externally, the only enemies Eritrea has are those who do not want us to exist as a state: those who question our history; those who use childish arguments about not having a port.  Internally, the only enemies Eritrea has are those who refuse to acknowledge its people as citizens who have rights and those who believe that its children should perish in endless wars;   

(4) Mode:  The mode of struggle must be peaceful.  There are several reasons for this: first, and importantly, Eritrea has had too much bloodshed; second, the person pointing a gun at the opposition is in most likelihood some conscript who has been forced to do the bidding of the war-mongering government; third, we do not ever want to give any organiation the opportunity of ruling over us just because it has the most guns.   Here, many can give plenty of examples as to how, in the Third World, the opposition is not taken seriously unless it has shown the capacity to kill and maim (the peace agreement in Sudan, the amnesty invite in Uganda, etc.)  Nonetheless, if armed confrontation is to receive popular support, the people must first be convinced that peaceful struggle has been exhausted.  Far from being exhausted, it hasn't been effectively waged yet.  

(5) National Conference:  There has been a great deal of preparatory work towards this end--arguments advance by the Alliance, the ELF-RC, the Kassel Conference and the EPLF-DP are all worthwhile.  The details should be left to those who are experienced organizers.   The most important thing--in my less than humble opinion--is not who is inviting, who is being invited or even what to discuss or what to aim for.  The most important thing is that all organizations that are invited must be democratic organizations.  Meaning, not only must they espouse democratic principles, they must be practicing it right now.  If they are not, it means they are not ready and should wait for the next conference.

Since October 2002--for a year now--we have heard and read volumes of stories about what happened in Gondar, in Addis, in Khartoum, in Kassel, in Frankfurt.  While these were disheartening, they need to be seen within their context of Eritrean history: they are significant in that they are the first cases of peaceful divorces.  In the bad old' 60s, 70's and 80's, all of these differences would have been followed by assassinations and liquidations.  Moreover, we hope the opposition has learned from this experience one lesson: you cannot operate in secret as secrets have a way of leaking.

So now everybody has unloaded years of bad karma and omens. 

People say that people get the governments they deserve...but we certainly don't deserve the Isaias Afwerki government.

People say that we deserve better than the opposition we've got.  Well, who is stopping those who say that from forming their own opposition groups? Civil society?  Do they hope to bring about change without being organized?  How?

If pressed, I am sure Dr. Habte would prefer Seyoum Ogbamichael to Isaias Afwerki; I am sure Seyoum would prefer Herui T Bairou to Isaias Afwerki; I am sure Weldeyesus Amar would prefer Ahmed Nasser to Isaias Afwerki....

In my opinion, all of these "life-time strugglers" are Eritrean assets.  Sure they have their human failings--mistrust and suspicion topping the list--but they have the experience and the willingness to struggle.  That is not an asset that should be marginalized or dismissed.

Eritrea is being held hostage by a sadistic prisoner and it is time for our opposition--experienced in rescuing hostages--to rise up to the ocassion.

Given that, it is time to move foreward...because we want to hear not of Gonder and Addis and kassel and Frankfurt but of Asmara and Keren and Massawa and Agordat...Remember "Eritrean Salvation Above All Else?"

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