They denounced the liars and toadies and yet must lie and suck up with the worst of them if they had any hope for survival. Goitom and Estifanos were in better physical condition and had to take care of a half-paralyzed comrade and equally had to handle the ELF-EPLF syndrome of political division and hate -a political infight inside Alem Beka!! Maybe some of us are born with a protective mental coating like a coconut seed, that prevents from piercing the tender brains but that allows us to fool ourselves, until our last breath. The infight was all about the misconception of the whole and its parts, nothing to do about democracy or class struggle, but Eritrean brothers divided by politics were not able to get along and help each other even when they were one inch away from their death bed. Despite all the facts Goitom and Estifanos underage and fragile at that time, they toughened it out and their bravery and endurance brought order to chaos. They became teachers and nurturers inside the prison. They gamely defeated the organizational myth that Tegadelti have to hate their rivals in order to be accepted and to fight well. Goitom said "you can change reality to your benefit as far as you understand it."

As usual a go-slow approach attitude placed me on the back chairs of a reflective and educational meeting sponsored by the ELF-RC last month in Oakland. Goitom and Estifanos, Alem Beka, x-prisoners turned academicians in the US, have already started combing deeply but meticulously through their memoirs of the notorious prison. Goitom crafted a stunning descriptive biography that is chronological and weaved together referential narratives and droll crosshatched writings to create layers of meaning. The rich personal experience throughout the Alem Beka years were often captured in their intense afterglow and endurance of the x-prisoners and are wrought with all the grace of an intellect.

Goitom bore through the core of the identity question, a puzzle that pervades our political experience. One could define that experience as a hardheaded mentality that is saturated with its own makeup and cannot take anymore, and therefore cannot change or develop. Comparable to a Peter Pan case -the tale of a boy who refused to grow. But Goitom didn�t dwell in this pessimistic categorization. He said "people could grow, develop and change if they are able to make their own decisions by themselves. and not wait for others to make decisions for them." If a person could identify and decide that �A is A�, �B is B�, �A is not B� or �A and B� cannot add up to �A� especially in the world of politics, it is a quantum leap to growth. The article to follow, the whole and its parts, is triggered by these premises.

There is something I need to mention in passing which is analogous to Goitom�s exposition. Any revolution�s internal struggle, the intellectual dissenters are the target group. They are the ones that suffer first, because their thinking does not stop on the sensual or perceptual level. This level of thinking is endowed by God to both animals and humans equally. Among other people the intellectuals do a quantum leap to the conceptual level of thinking and consequently see and weigh out things on their own way. In a political struggle, power hungry leaders do not like this intellectual stance or challenge and they try their best to arrest people�s thinking by any means (fear, intimidation, torture or persuasion) to that of the animal level -the anti-conceptual.

Having done so leaders are free to make uncontrolled and unaccountable decisions as well as create blind followers who wait decisions to be made on their personal lives by others. In the name of nationalism and patriotism, the present leaders did regard the divide between an individual right and organizational or leadership might as an arcane barrier to unity and development. Hence, they fabricated a myth -the nation is the organization and the organization is the nation, followed by the organization is the people and the people is the organization; etc. The individual has no play, no say, is regarded as an inconsequential non-entity or just a number. His individual freedom and right are regarded as divisive and has to be crushed. That�s what they did. However, the Eritreans have learned. Despite all the instruments of fear and terror put in place to crush individual freedom, the present leadership wished but are not able to arrest our people�s thinking to that of a beast. Our people are saying the time is ripe enough to raise some of the serious questions about the blurry line separating the right of an individual from the might of the leaders -or even from politics itself. They have come to the conclusion that the conceptual relationship between an individual, an organization, or a government has to be defined, for the purpose of protecting and respecting the individual�s democratic rights.

The Eritrean Independence Day. The summation of all the parts that played to make the whole. Every Eritrean soul rejoiced and was energized by showering victories. The prison doors cracked open and gutted their contents out. Prisoners broke their chains and hooted Freedom! Freedom! The opposition group congratulated. Even the doomsayers applauded. Watching this euphoria climbing sky high, the Eritrean people were told, this (i.e. the EPLF) and only this political body, is the whole as well as its parts. People still reveled momentarily and applauded only to find out that the idea was falling apart, even before the applause died down. Let alone the frozen constitution even the most revered and boasted off EPLF Charter, which endorsed political pluralism and multi-party democracy was put asunder and became like a shattered dream whose pieces can hardly be remembered.

The whole is made up of its different parts in any system, be it political, economic or spiritual. It is an incontestable universal truth that no political power can defy. The leadership�s lack of statesmanship skill was evident when they shrugged off this conventional wisdom.

But there were the whistle blowers. There were the oppositions that said NO! NO! -this idea will not work out and will lead the country to doom. They were right in the beginning and they have proved it to be more right now than ever. They persistently made an open plea to the government to introduce political pluralism, to stage national reconciliation in order to heal the wounds of the armed struggle, to give priority for the establishment of peace and political stability before any undertaking. They pointed out the whole has to be inclusive to all its parts to maintain equilibrium. The leadership said NO! NO! The government rebuffed by saying politics is over -now it is time for economic reconstruction. The wealth of Eritrea is its human resources, says the leadership, and we have to train and utilize it to reconstruct a nation that is in ruins. EPLF is the people and the people EPLF. Any kind of politics at this time is divisive. The whole population one way or the other but specially the young generation and the middle aged were turned to motion for this purpose.

The young generation of the 70�s and the ones of the 90�s had similar fate under the same leadership. The 70�s were and the 90�s are haunted by the cults of dead bodies and the moribund ideologies, which is still pervasive in the operation and alive in the thinking and mind of the present leadership. In the 70�s it was not about ideology, even now it has nothing to do with it. It is not for national prosperity or for the countries economic stimulation for development, but is used as a main tool for maintaining political control and power. The motto is the young have to learn to obey and conform by any means before it gathers momentum to rise for change. This undertaking required a revisit and revival of the "Revolutionary Culture" of the 70�s.

Those of the 70�s in the EPLF had to pass through the horrors of "Revolutionary Culture" (a direct copy in form and content of Mao�s "Cultural Revolution", that ushered an era of political silence, terror and purges) and the challenge of national struggle. The 90�s under the same leadership have to face a worse scenario. They have to face the National Service and Maatot (another replica of Mao�s Great Leap Forward -an era that dipped China into the worst economic failure and disaster) and a Turf War which is disguised under the name of national sovereignty and patriotism and initiated one way or the other for the purpose of staying in power. Now the boundary case being in a deadlock, the further the boundary question is not resolved, the better for the leadership, or so they think. Still to this date this leadership is claiming in its meetings, the "Revolutionary Culture" of the armed struggle to be its guiding principle for its policy and knee-jerk proclamations without any shame or remorse. The "Revolutionary Culture" is, however, a counter culture. Its worst negative impact is on the family and of course on the cultural heritage of the nation. The Eritrean family now is completely broken up, made dysfunctional and practically non-existent and our culture is considered as a no-culture by all standards of the present leadership. If one doubts there is no functional family unit in Eritrea, I say the evidence is a phone call away. As for our culture being treated as a no-culture, I would suggest one to watch patiently and observe critically the yearly Independence Days celebration taped in videos, especially those during the early and mid 90�s.

Besides hanging on to and practicing the relics of Mao�s Criticism and Self Criticism in the EDF front lines at this moment, the revolutionary culture did come into play to inject a new culture for the �Hadas Eritrea�. Shrouding it with new imagery and symbolism and getting rid ***image1:left***of any old indigenous culture is paramount to the finishing touches. According to the leadership, the country is not blessed with any cultural heritage or heroes and therefore they saw a Sheeda as a monument complimented by a Tortoise to be fitting. What kind of inspiration can a symbolism of a Sheeda and a Tortoise bring to the young or the old? The message is clear as we are cautioned by philosophers that answered prayers are sometimes curses. Be careful what you wish for, they say. If all the Hafash Tegadelti were praying for a monument of a Sheeda to symbolize their sacrifices and achievements or their cultural pride and heroes -What a curse!! What a bad omen!! This may not have come from them though, but definitely from a xenophobic �artist� who considers Eritrea as a hotbed eternally surrounded by hostile foreign enemies, and the young and able bodied has always to be ready to the discomfort of the Sheeda to defend the country.

Putting a Kalanshikof (AK-47) on the side of the Sheeda or hanging the Sheeda on the AK-47 neck would complete the monument and its message would become obvious, blunt and more simpler to uncode especially for the generals who adorn it with admiration and yet cannot figure out what the artist mean. As for me, a Sheeda is a symbol perpetuating a military culture. The Eritrean �Van Gogh� must have gone crazy and need to be chained before he comes with another bizarre imagery that leads to disaster. Van Gogh was nuts but his paintings were sane and superbly inspiring. The symbolism and imagery we use to define our history and cultural heritage cannot be a Sheeda!! Isn�t that weird!! A Tortoise!! who cannot even win a race of dead animals. The saying about the Tortoise in a marathon race goes like this and is quite fitting to the present leadership -"a tortoise in a race who thinks he has beaten up all the animals he passed by, bumped on his way against an idle rabbit hanging around playfully; the tortoise stops to ask about the situation of the race. "What a race!! The animal kingdom�s? That was a quarter of a century ago. I read it in history books. Don�t you have any concept of time?", said the rabbit. The tortoise exclaimed, "all of you are cheating!! How about all the animals I passed by and beat?" The rabbit said "they were all dead bodies Torti!!" And left him among the dead bodies screaming "I won!! I won!!"

The Eritrean people have lost numerous energetic heroes in the 70�s because of this oppressive political culture of silence, disappearance and purges. A culture that cannot tolerate anything out of its control, has not only to silence and purge the young who voice their opinions, but it has tried to encircle and annihilate a whole functional organization -the ELF now in exile. This "Revolutionary Culture" of fear and terror is still alive and is in full swing and operation in everyday life of the Eritrean citizen now as it was in the 70�s. In the National Service and the Maatot, almost half of our population has embarked into almost a decade of forced labor but has ended up no better than the victims of Mao�s Great Leap Forward. However, the raw facts of life has rewarded them by making the intention of their leaders bare naked. And they cannot be cheated again.

The Eritrean government�s attempt to negate the principles of pluralism is a typical example of a whole losing its parts. The leadership has made clear its stand point blank since its inception, and can be regarded as a whole that has a zero-tolerance to its parts. The whole government can also be considered like a working man that tries to perform a task, but suddenly finds half his body parts in chains and cannot do anything except to idly sit down and twiggle his fingers indifferently. Our government is trying to perform with its half-dead body parts because its leadership has been busy in a self-eating process. It could be said at this time, if the leadership turns around to play the notes of political pluralism, we all have to shoot ourselves. It has reached to the point of no return and any attempt to reform or salvage it is like having a pipe dream or like trying to stimulate and revitalize a dead nerve. So much irreparable damage has been done on our people that it has finally realized its own inevitable demise is not so far away; and has totally convinced itself neither introducing political pluralism nor maintaining the status quo could save its stay in power. As far as this leadership is concerned, pluralism has been a sweet talk, and democracy a ten letter word.

There is another side of the Eritrean political spectrum, however, which does not yet seem to grasp genuinely the concept of the whole and its parts, -and like the present government has always been in discord with itself -i.e. the oppositions. they have remained weak and ineffective, because the different parts have not yet figured out how to make up a whole. But the concept of a whole is not sameness; it is an entity where the different parts are in equilibrium and harmony. Maybe as some put it, each part of the oppositions is claiming the position of the whole; but haven�t we learned from the present government�s historical blunder? The result of this political posture is visible in front of our nose -endless human suffering!! We don�t want a repeat of this. The opposition needs to listen to the Eritrean peoples outcry and act accordingly to tackle the present. They should make a whole whose parts are cemented by common grounds and save our people from total disaster. The wounds that we inflicted to ourselves and that have caused us so many human lives and sufferings are still repeated over and over again. We know the annals of history are full of stories of revolutions and wars that purged, tortured and disappeared dissenters as well as ordinary people. The Eritrean armed struggle or oppressive government cannot be different. We need to stop ruminating on its discontents and start to approach our present problem in a tangible and feasible way.