Under the leadership of the ELF and the EPLF, the Eritrean Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s was heavily influenced by, and adopted, socialist principles.   And by socialist we don�t mean the benign ones practiced in Scandinavia but the brutal ones that were synonymous with Stalin, Mao Zedong, Castro and Kim Il Sung.    

This is undeniable.  What is open to discussion and interpretation is whether this sojourn through socialism/communism was (1) a necessary rite of passage that the Revolution and its leadership has long outgrown or (2) a life-transforming event that still affects the values and behaviors of the Revolution and its leadership.   We believe coming to grips with this will help us explain the actions of the leadership of the Eritrean revolution of the 1960s who, incidentally, are the same people now leading the PFDJ (as well as ELF-RC, EPLF-DP, Alliance, which is a subject for another day.)  The orchestrated  �hzbawi mekete� can then be understood within their proper context: PFDJ�s cyber Stalinism.   

That Was Then; This Is�Also Then 

It is an article of faith with most followers of the EPLF (now PFDJ) that the Front had rejected the values of communism in its second organizational congress of 1987.  To prove this, they point to the charter adopted at the time: (1) that it accepted, on principle, the role of free enterprise economy; (2) that it accepted, on principle, the values of political pluralism.   

But the record of the EPLF�and later the PFDJ�clearly shows that the EPLF Chapter of 1987 was not an ideological conversion or a repudiation of communism but a tactical move designed to win over Western support, in keeping with PFDJ�s supplementary ideology to communism, �pragmatism.�   The question of whether PFDJ is a Stalinist or a reformist group is easily answered by responding to one question: what does the PFDJ control and what is it willing to let go of? 

Economic Space: There was always a question whether the EPLF�s modified attitude towards free enterprise was similar to Lenin�s  �New Economic Policy� of tolerating modest private retail economy (which was adopted to get recognition from European governments) or to China�s more liberalized embrace of free enterprise.   Given its hostile attitude towards Eritrea�s business class and its insatiable appetite to completely dominate Eritrea�s fledgling free market, it is abundantly clear, by now, that the PFDJ is in the Lenninist/Stalinist mold.  Whereas the Stalinists �nationalized� the nation�s resource, the government (PFDJ) has outsourced this function to a �third party� (PFDJ.)  Through its Red Sea Corporation, the ruling class controls every Eritrean enterprise: agriculture, construction, transportation, banking, fisheries, mining, tourism, you name it. 

Political Space: After the arrest of the PFDJ Reformers, it became crystal clear that the PFDJ will not even tolerate PFDJ2, much less a political party with outlooks and beliefs that would offer real choice in governance.  The PFDJ doesn�t just want to control the government; it wants to ensure that no seed of opposition exists anywhere in Eritrea.  All expressions of opposition are either outlawed or severely discouraged.  Any sign of organized dissent�whether it is disabled veterans in Mai Habar, mothers of university students, university students, elderly mediators, and dissident politicians�has been dealt with very harshly by the government.   Like all communist tyrants the government terrorizes its people into silence or conformity and when the long-suffering people, fearing punishment, comply, their spokespersons tell the world that their government has the total support of the people.   Intellectually, what is the difference between a Saddam who claims that he has been elected by 99.9% of his people and an Isaias who claims that he has the support of 100% of his people?

Cultural Space:  A people who are economically destitute and politically powerless to do anything about it find consolation in their relationship with their God.  But even here, communist tyrants will not leave you alone because, with them, it is all about control.  They want to dictate your God and how you choose to relate to him.  Certain religions are tolerated and others banned.  Even within the tolerated religions, some activities are banned and others encouraged.  All major religions�including Islam and Christianity�owe their appeal to their authority in addressing the main political issues of social justice, social morality as well as peace & war.  In Eritrea, as in all communist dictatorships, the religious leaders have no moral authority over their �flock.�  With respect to social justice, morality, peace and war, they have only two choices: they can either be quiet or support the position of the government.   

Opposition & How To Deal With It 

Faced with an opposition that it cannot liquidate, disappear, arrest or send to the Gulag, what is a Stalinist to do?  The PFDJ loyalists offered a number of options.   Option One: forget the limitations of jurisdictions and go for the hard-core one-answer-fits-all Stalinist answer:  send assassins to kill them all.  In this regard, read the not-too-subtle murder advice of Professor Tseggai Isaac and Fitzum-no-last-name, both at Dehai.org (of course), who recommended that PFDJ kills us all.  Do it now before things get out of control, they advised.   Another variation is to have our host countries to do it for them�thus the strained attempts to link the opposition with Bin Laden.    Option Two:  Let�s just ignore them.  They are too few to matter.  By acknowledging them, we validate them.  They are too insignificant.  They are extremists.  The Eritrean people are far too mature to fall for their tricks.  Let�s move on without them. Chapter closed.   Option Three: let�s confront them. Let�s outnumber them; let�s intimidate them with sheer numbers.  Let�s marginalize them; let�s boycott them.   

Faced with this fork on the road, the PFDJ has come up with a hybrid response: the �hzbawi mekete.�  It has the following directives: 

(a)   Let�s confront them; but just so it doesn�t appear that we take their threats seriously, let the simulation and orchestration be directed by the �hafash wdbat��mass organizations--and not the party or the government.  (The Swedish PFDJ satellite has now defined itself as a non-political and independent �civil society� and, to prove its independence, it didn�t end its �megleSi� with the mandatory �Awet nHafash.�); 

(b)   Let�s reluctantly concede that they�the opposition--have some influence on some people.  But let�s characterize the influence agents and their subjects as very few, say, a �handful� and taint them by referring to them as Woyane agents.  If we reconcile with Woyane, it is OK; we will call them Jihad or CIA agents; 

(c)   But if we concede that they had some influence on the people, how do we reconcile that with the �maturity� and unquestioned loyalty of �hafash� who has already chosen us and will continue to choose us forever?  Answer: the masses just were not prepared for this new technology called the Internet.  They were ambushed.  That�s all; 

(d)   Let�s reluctantly concede that it is hypothetically possible to be a patriot and still be against the government without really saying that it is practically possible.  Since this possibility is only hypothetical, and not practical, and we don�t want to acknowledge that there are Eritreans who don�t support their government, we will refer to the dissenters as �the so-called opposition� or �those who claim to be the opposition.� 

The resolutions of each �hgdefawi mekete,� all have the same formulaic application, first patented in Sweden: 

We are not saying that it is possible to be a patriot and against the government.  If you are against the government, it is because you have been duped by the Woyane or their Eritrean agents.  Mind you, we don�t think there are that many Eritrean agents or even people they have influenced.  But, in the unlikely event that there are a handful people who have been influenced, now is your last chance to come to the Dembe, the warm PFDJ embrace.  We will forgive you; we understand it: it was the damn Internet.  But do it now, this offer may not be repeated again.

The result? A �most successful seminar� in Orebro, Sweden.  A victorious session in Rotterdam. A �comprehensive and victorious� meeting in Amsterdam.  A breath of fresh air in Seattle.  An answer to the meaning of life in Boston.  Etcetera, etcetera.  This is a variation of the �me�At Awetat!� which is hardly surprising because the PFDJ looks at everything in a military dynamic: win, lose or take prisoners.  In that regard, we can soon expect the generals of the �hzbawi meKete� to declare to us that they have recruited converts from the opposition.  Of people who were duped and have now joined their dembe�the Dembe of Injustice and Oppression. 

The Devil Made Me Do It 

In the sixtieth, there was an American comedian named Flip Wilson who had a popular TV variety show.  He had a skit with an alter ego, named Geraldine, who would get into all kinds of problems and get away with it by using a sentence that later became a popular catch phrase--The Devil Made Me Do It� It wasn�t her fault; it was the devil.  

That has become the slogan of the PFDJ: The Woyane Made Us Do It. 

Let�s look at the PFDJ of the 1990s.   Here�s a party that had the goodwill of a huge population of Eritreans including many ELF supporters who said, �it has brought us independence; all is forgiven, let�s give it the benefit of doubt.�   Many Eritreans named their first-born boy �Isaias,� and those who went to Europe and the United States for training actually came back. Government employees stayed employed, notwithstanding temptations from foreign countries.  It was the favorite African government of many European countries, the United States, the western media, human rights organizations, the World Bank and the IMF.  

Now, let�s look at the PFDJ.  Everybody who can get out is getting out: students, soldiers and civil servants.  It has seen the resignation/defection of Haile Menkerios, Hebret Berhe, Dr. Assefaw, Adhanom Gebremariam, Tesfai �ChegaE�, Dere�e Debas, Endrias Habtegiorghis, Abdella Adem, Younis Omer, etc. etc.  It is despised by the people.  (We can�t prove this but we are sure that, in Eritrea, there are significantly more 3 � 10 year old children named �Isaias� than there are 1 or 2 year old.  We hope we haven�t gotten the people in trouble and there won�t be a new awaj about naming children.)  The government regularly makes the list of dysfunctional governments by every watchdog group: Amnesty International, RSF, CPJ, Human Rights Watch.  It has been criticized by the European Union and the US State Department for its human rights record.    

Intellectually honest people would ask: Could this have something to do with the fact that there is no peace in Eritrea; that, for the last ten years, members of Eritrea�s army have been facing death in Somalia and Congo (as �consultants�), in the islands of the Red Sea, in Ethiopia, and in Sudan? 

Could this have something to do with the fact that there is no justice in Eritrea: for the last ten years, and even earlier, people keep disappearing and being jailed without charges? 

Could this have something to do with the fact that there are no tangible steps towards returning power to the people: with the government arbitrarily suspending constitutions, postponing elections? 

Not a chance.  According to the hzbawi meKete people it is the fault of everybody except the government.  It is the Weyane.  It is the Weyane agents.  It is a conspiracy of foreign countries.   

A First: PFDJ Declares Defeat  

Remember, just a few months ago the PFDJ was saying that those who oppose the government are condemned to exile for the rest of their lives. They boasted that the �book is closed� -- mezgeb teAtsyu-- those who oppose the government are not Eritreans anymore. They ruled out any dialogue, reconciliation or debate with anyone.  Meanwhile, they saw their membership dwindle by the day and the coffers drying up. They couldn�t explain why people just wouldn�t support a dictatorship and contribute to the elongation of the people�s suffering. 

Now, it seems, reality has confronted them. They are begging �the lost sheep� to come back where they belong: to the bosom of the PFDJ. The sharpest tongues and articulate representatives of the PFDJ School, people like TM Negassi are now admitting, �it is natural to have a difference of opinion and still be Eritrean.�   TM is now lecturing against the evils of civil war.  This statement, while welcome, would have been considered a blasphemy a few months ago.  After all, TM Negassi was threatening us with civil war--�BareE lebeda,� he called it: fires and brimstones�if we won�t behave.    

Last year, an Eritrean with a dead conscience, the hapless Abdulkader Hamdan, accused us at Awate.com (asmarino wasn�t declared enemy then) of having received so much funds--we don�t even remember with how many zeros--from the Weyane and that we had opened �a big office in Los Angeles.� We offered the poor Abdulkader Hamdan everything that we own in that imaginary office (we reserved the right to hold the imaginary Mercedes Benz and the Lexus cars) and, advised him that just because he had received funding for his little newspaper Voice of Eritrea from PFDJ, he was acting like all whores who have to console themselves by thinking that all women are for sale.  Incidentally, the PFDJ has, as we predicted, discarded Hamdan and his little paper. 

The same accusation, lacking any sort of creativity, has been recycled again: this time by Bereket Feday Neguse (it is saved in Shaebia.org in a folder named HaTewil, short for Habtesselassie Tewil, the IT Director for PFDJ Inc.) and this time, the new enemy Asmarino.com is included.  Bereket accused us of being part of a 2.5 million (didn�t say if that was in dollars, Nackfas or Birr) campaign against Eritrea. This purse string and Awate�s agenda is prepared by �Tigrayan [Ethiopian] intellectuals.�  The ever eloquent PFDJ apologist, Bereket Feday Negus (Berket Avenger of The King), was repeating, almost verbatim, as usual, what the PFDJ King had claimed in his New Year's (?) or May (?)  or September (?) national addresses: there is an orchestrated media (he used technological, just like his boss) onslaught and psychological warfare against Eritrea (read PFDJ). The Avenger concluded by giving PFDJ�s writers and readers a class on cyber-warfare 101.  

First, we thank Berket Feday for admitting that this website and Asmarino.com have defeated the mighty PFDJ propaganda arsenal. 

Second, we don�t know if Bereket Feday Neguse has been misled into believing the lie of 2.5 million funding or he considers lying part of the arsenal in the psychological cyber warfare.  This is consistent with another paradox.  The PFDJ can�t make up its mind on which ethnic stereotype to affix on the Weyane: backwards, novice, greenhorns (�we know them; they don�t know us�; �we taught them everything they know,� �they can�t govern Ethiopia�) or devious, cunning and shrewd (�they are plotting against us�, �they are behind G-15, G-13, CISE, etc�, �they are responsible for all the negative press against Eritrea.�)   The PFDJ employs both: when it wants to assure people that it will prevail militarily, it uses the former; when it wants to raise funds and create a police state, it uses the latter.   We know how its underestimation of the Weyane (�let them go catalog shopping for weapons�we are ready��) cost us in the war.    Now, we are being told that Eritreans are so deaf, so blind and so mute, that they can�t hear, they can�t see and they can�t speak unless the devious Weyane is operating all their senses. 

Question: If it is all about resources, how could awate.com and Asmarino.com  (the number 1 and 2 Eritrean websites) win the cyber war when there are so many pro PFDJ websites, three of them fully funded by the government? How could we win a cyber war if we are facing an army of full-time and salaried PFDJ writers who are constantly creating exclusive mailing lists and coordinating their work? What kind of "technological advantage" do Awate.com and Asmarino.com have over people who invented the Internet: the United States? Were the State Department, the EU, Amnesty, HRW, CPJ, etc conned by us? 

The answer is so simple: we have truth on our side. And when you are equipped with truth, nothing can defeat you.  

When you tell lies, when you try to deny what everyone knows, no amount of cyberwarfare can save you.  When you deny that there are prisoners in Eritrea; that Eritreans are the only people fleeing their country from our region; that our nation is economically paralyzed and psychologically damaged; that we have become the laughing stock of the world due to the irrational actions of the PFDJ; that the image built with so much sacrifices has been sullied; that Eritrea has become a pariah state without a constitution, a free press and legal representation, you will lose.  The only question is about timing: just ask all the former tyrants of the world.   

The Way Out 

When confronted with an oppressive government that will not yield to public opinion, Eritreans have many legitimate means to apply pressure and bring about change. Those of us in Diaspora�whether it is people who are agitating for change or those who are going to extraordinary lengths to pretend that all is well�are engaged in  diplomatic, informational and financial squabble. In this regard, the forces of change are engaging the government and its supporters in the sphere of public opinion.  We are telling everyone who will listen about the ugly behavior of the Eritrean government; the world is responding by condemning it, castigating and by withholding financial resources.   We are winning; our "hgdefawi mekete" are not only losing, they are complaining that this peaceful tool is not a legitimate means to fight your government.  In the campaign to inform and to suppress information, the forces of candor are winning.  

If the Eritrean people were blessed with an enlightened government or an intellectual class that understood the lessons of history, these pressures alone would suffice to bring about change.   So far, despite the momentum of the forces of change, this hasn�t happened in Eritrea: the government is as entrenched and as belligerent as ever. 

We are afraid, at some point, another tool with questionable effect and legitimacy�violence�will be considered by the long-suffering Eritreans.  No Eritrean in his right mind would advocate violence because regardless of the high-mindedness of the causes espoused; it is the Eritrean people�the child, the mother, the bystander�that will be victimized by the crossfire.  In the end, whether this is a legitimate price to pay for freedom and dignity is a question that can only be answered by Eritreans in Eritrea: those who bear the brunt of the government�s abuse.   What is sad is that the belligerent actions of the government and its supporters make it more likely that the Eritrean people might answer, as they did 40 years ago, in the affirmative when asked: is violence a legitimate method of regaining your right? 

Even now, we say there is a window of opportunity for this to be averted.  And we invited all Eritreans�friends and foe of the government�to think creatively to spare Eritreans further bloodshed.   

Ramadan Charity 

We have a Ramadan feature where we insist on finding something nice to celebrate.  This time, we didn't have to try hard.

The EPLF-DP took two important steps in one month.  First, it agreed to work closely with MDC and now they have taken a clear stand regarding the Alliance. The latest statement by the EPLF-DP regarding the recent misunderstanding between the ENA and the ELF-RC is a welcome surprise. We commend the EPLF-DP for the mature and responsible statement. Such responsible gesture that goes beyond petty partisan interest and look into national interests goes a long way towards giving morale to our people. We register our appreciation to the positive statement and we encourage all Eritrean organizations and civil societies to follow their path. We further encourage all concerned to look into ways of converging with other organizations.

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