Egypt and its marvelous pyramids. China and its Great Wall. Agra and its breathtaking Taj Mahal�. The Seven Wonders.  Before they were relegated to an inferior status due to humanity�s technological advancement, the Seven Wonders were a marvel.  Though many do not know this, in the early sixties, the wonders became eight. Eritrea, I mean Keren, had the eighth wonder of the world: Palazzo Pascuzzi, the.

The biggest building in town was coming up. Though huge is relative, it was huge. Three floors - four floors if you count the spiral structure and Kidan�s (the maid) room on the terrace. From the spiral, you could see all the way to the horizon beyond MegareH to Rora Bet Gebru; you could see the Daarit confluence with the Anseba River at Tsebab. You could see the mountains of Bambi and the range of Aayg hills. To the north you could almost see Halibmentel and to the south, Shifshfeet and the dying gardens of Signor Ricco.

Signor Pascuzzi and Kidan: 1,000 Birrs

Pascuzzi had erected a landmark in the town.

Calm and serious, Pascuzzi was a loner who had no wife or children and almost no friends. But he had a brother who came from Asmera every now and then to visit him. Pascuzzi made fortunes, relatively speaking, selling onions to the wholesalers of Asmara. It was the days when Keren supplied over half the onion needs of the nation. At five cents a kilo, even the poorest of the poor afforded it. A truck-load, (Tigrotto) was transported to Asmera every other day. Pascuzzi�s onions sold for a few cents more, and he made a fortune that enabled him to build his landmark building: Palazzo Pascuzzi of Keren.

Kidan was a shy, beautiful young girl.  She was Pascuzzi's maidservant and lived in the terrace room, the fourth floor. Every maid envied her, because she lived in the most prestigious building in town. When her relatives visited, they would ring the bell and wait. She would open the door and chat with them outside the building: I do not think Pascuzzi allowed �villagers� to enter his building.

One morning, a group of policemen in a car arrived at the Palazzo, rang the bell and entered the building. A short while later, they came out accompanying Signor Pascuzzi who was handcuffed in huge steel bracelet that had nuts and bolts. The handcuffs were so huge they resembled the Denver boot. The police whisked Signor Pascuzzi away in their Landrover. Later, I overheard the elders talk: Ahsimuwa endyu! I found out that Kidan had accused him of taking her virginity. 

The Onion Man was not kept in jail for long; he was let free on bail the same day, but was ordered not to leave town. Pascuzzi, who traveled to and from Asmara on a daily basis, now stayed put in Keren. It was rumored that Kidan�s relatives were standing guard somewhere on the Keren-Asmara highway; they were waiting with guns to get him. But the standoff didn�t take long. A short time later, Pascuzzi stood in the commissariat court in front of a judge and was sentenced: compensate Kidan with 1000 Birr, and go free. He solved his problems with Kidan�s family and he started to travel again and resumed transporting his Onions.

Signor Pascuzzi and Commandis: 2500 Birrs

Soon after, Pascuzzi opened a bar in the ground floor of the Palazzo, a store that was never used since the building was finished years ago. Though there was a dusk-to-dawn curfew in town, the bar was doing good business thanks to the officers from the large contingent of Tor Serawit and Commandis army units.

Not for too long!

One night, hours after businesses had closed at curfew time, a drunk Commandis soldier knocked at the Pascuzzi bar. The Commandis soldier kept knocking and making noise. Pascuzzi looked down from his bedroom window on the second floor and told the soldier to leave because they could not open the business for him; but the Commandis insisted the bar be opened for him so that he could have some more drinks. Apparently, an argument developed and insults were exchanged. Then, the Commandis pulled his pistol and threatened Pascuzzi who brought his shotgun and brandished it as well. Moments later, shooting started. The Commandis missed and his bullets landed on the window frame but Pascuzzi's bullet went through the chest of the Commandis and killed him instantly. Pascuzzi was taken to prison in handcuffs and I don�t remember for how long he stayed there. But at the end, he went to court and I think he paid 2500 Birr blood money and the case was settled.

Later on, when the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia decided to open a branch in Keren, the Bar was moved to a different location on the ground floor and the bank was located in its place.

And the first bagman of the bank was Tekie Beyne, the ex-governor (now frozen?) of the National Bank of Eritrea.

Last time I visited home, Pascuzzi�s Palazzo was run by the PFDJ; and I saw the mark of the Commandis bullet that missed Pascuzzi. In addition, I briefly met Tekie Beyene, who used to run the Commercial Bank and was now running the PFDJ Bank. I also observed many things that led me to conclude the PFDJ was assuming the role of Kidan and serving the Weyane; and when what happened to Kidan happened to them, they asked for compensation from the Eritrean people. Then they assumed the role of the drunk Commandis and started threatening the people who, unlike Pascuzzi, are not able to defend themselves.

The courts that judged Pascuzzi are not there anymore. All of that aside, what made me remember Pascuzzi and his onions is the sad news I heard last week. Eritrea is no more self-sufficient in onion production. Here is the alarming news: Eritrea imported four containers of onions from Egypt! Moreover, let alone onions, a produce no one ever thought Eritrea would ever import, there is an acute shortage of gasoline, sugar and medicines.   Our womenfolk are crying, and it is not from the onions.  And the PFDJ will use the same approach: first it will deny that there is a shortage, then it will say that the shortage is due to the businessmen (and we know who those people are, don�t we?), then it will tell us that onions are�like Taff�overrated and who needs them anyway?

Where Are The Memher Tsahaies?

That being the sad situation back home, we have another problem. We have a despicable situation.

The situation I see around me triggers memories about Memher Tsahaie whose immortal words ring in my ears: �asmaE al-kelam we Afham alzereba�. Six or seven years ago, I briefly wrote about Memher Tsahaie; and I got many responses. I think he is living in Holland. Today, I felt like remembering him again. I felt like heeding his advice, his orders rather: �asmaE al-kelam we Afham alzereba�. Listen to and understand the talk. We need to listen to what is being said and understand it. Furthermore, we need to understand what is not explicitly said but insinuated. We are witnessing a lot of �nlebam amtelu nAsha derguHalu�. The wise will certainly understand but talking to the not-so-wise is different; it needs to be spelt out. What am I saying? Many things.

Lately, many Eritrean political commentators, we witness, have nothing else to analyze and comment on except regionalism and sectarianism. They have run out of topics and came out with a new term: sub-regionalist. Wasn�t regionalist exotic enough? The age-old divide-and-rule was long practiced by the Haile Sellasie government and now by the PFDJ government. Worse, some within the opposition are using that method to come to power on the ashes of the PFDJ. I will cite an example.

A few days ago I read a PDF Tigrigna file posted on one of the websites. �Clever�, I thought. Then I changed my mind; evil and mischievous was what it was.

I heard a new political term- thti awrajawi. What? Mind you, not regionalist but, sub-regionalist. One wonders, �do I care about regions to be interested in a sub region?� Those who didn�t understand what chauvinism meant, here it is. Explained. Naked. When people start to hate with passion, their hate spreads like wild fire.

Thanks to the Kebbessa feud, the meaningless �men teshome� feud, and the genealogy microscopes, we now know not only who is who, but we know who comes from which village and who comes from another. Whose mother hails from Tigrai and whose father is �second class� citizen! Everyone knows the origin of all political players, be it in the opposition or the government. We know the origin of almost all the political leaders of the PFDJ and the opposition. We know who is from Akele Guzai and who is from Hamassien. We know who is from Seraye and who is wede arbaa and who is wedi sessa and who is wedi million Amet. We know who is wedebat and who is wedenat and who is wedisebeyti.

I even know that I have been stripped of my citizenship: there are several people who tell us Jeberti are not citizens and �You will someday be deported�to Tigrai� they say. Overall, we have heard nothing about the Eritrean ethnic groups that we don�t know as much about.  We have heard nothing about Afer; I have heard a lot about their land and about Assab, the port city that is to some more important than its people, the Afer of Denkalia. I have heard a little about the Kunama but a great deal about their land that is constantly looted and grabbed.  A lot of talk about land, to the exclusion of any talk about the inhabitants of these lands.   The smell of chauvinism is too foul to miss.

Where are the Memher Tsehaies of our time?  As a child, I went to school where Christians and Moslems were taught separately. Class start time; break time and go-home time were roughly twenty minutes apart for Christian and Moslem children. They made sure that we never met. The few enlightened teachers and parents struggled hard to reverse this issue. Around 1966, we as children were put together in one classroom not due to the struggle of the few patriots but because of another unjust proclamation. Arabic and Tigrigna were dropped to be replaced by Amharic. Classes of children, who grew up separated was the type of class that Memher Tsahaie inherited in his PE class. And he was up to the challenge.  That his famous words-- asmaE al-kelam we Afham alzereba�were partly in Tigrigna and partly in Arabic, was not coincidental. 

Memher Tsahaie would line us up in the small playing field. His rules were clear and strict. He shouted his instructions: �Line up in-two; one Christian and one Moslem�. If he discovered kids from the same faith lined together, you could see steam coming out of his ears like a boiling kettle. Then after commanding us �ATTENTION�, as a no-nonsense General, he would start to inspect the lineup and shout his famous saying several times: �asmaE al-kelam we Afham alzereba�. Upon hearing that, we would explode in laughter. Stop. Attention. He reminded us that when one is on attention, one should not move even if a snake crawls over his leg! A Snake? He cannot be serious. However, thanks to God, no snakes came to try us out.

You see, I have a close friend from those days; he lives in Canada. The bond between him, influenced by Memher Tsahaie, and me has lasted decades; and it will go on. The last time we met, we reminisced and laughed about the old days. We agreed that we need to have one thousand Memher Tsahaie's to teach the basics of respect among citizens�especially among the lost Diaspora crowd who think they own the keys to heaven and to the throne of God.

Now, it is even below what Memher Tsahaie struggled to preserve, it is now regions. So far, some people are engaged in a regional track race to an imaginary Traguarda, a finish line. This was written on the wall, three years ago.

The current ethnic bashing and regional segregation has its foundation in the attitudes of the Capo and his foot soldiers who try hard to adapt his character and attitude. But that ugly attitude stopped being promoted in stealth. Starting 2001, it was not camouflaged anymore. The arrest of the members of the leadership of the PFDJ, though they hail from different regions and religions, was presented as if they belonged to one region. The insult �Telquyat� become synonymous with a specific region. Then, a mouthpiece of the regime, TM Negassi in his notorious line, openly called on Mesfin Hagos appealing to his regional affiliation: �wedi maekel endikha, entay nab�om wesedeka�. A short time later, when Semere Kesete escaped from prison, the sectarian groupies in Dehai started to say: �he looks wedi debub agame�. The operatives of the regime became louder in their condemnation of ethnic and regional groups and the ball didn�t stop rolling until now.

If one expects people to be insulted and do nothing about it, one needs to be educated on human nature and reaction. Wisdom demands that people be restrained and forgiving; but many times, that is easier said than done. Such things should be confronted when they start. Watching silently for the destructive energy to build and then call on the victim to restrain is a bad judgment at best and hypocrisy at worst. The worst thing is that some elements are bent on developing the insult in a politically wrapped (and warped) logic. I only hope they would come to their senses and stop the nonsense because, good old village knowledge teaches us that any action has an equal and opposite reaction. That reaction, and the bad action that started it, would be a total waste of resources and a deadly poison to the nation. A little wisdom is helpful.

Back to the article I read.

The writer went to great length to tell his readers the origin of all the leaders of the opposition organization that he wanted to paint as �sub-nationalists� and he didn�t say a word about the origin of two organizations that he obviously was advocating for. Now that is not only dishonest, it is mischievous. But is there anyone, anyone from the Kebbessa, who doesn�t know the origin of all the leaders? I doubt it. Obsession. Practically though, the groupings can only be defined by the radius of the circle that includes the villages of the leaders. Some radiuses are shorter than the others. The main message is: cut it out. It is evil, it is not honest and it is not working.

The political organizations have a responsibility�the highest one, as far as I am concerned�to emulate Memher Tsehaie and ensure that the membership of their organizations are as diverse as Eritrea itself.  If they are ethnic-based organizations, then they need to make an effort to reach out to other organizations to talk, to discuss, to explain, to negotiate.  It is easy to settle for �explanations� why your organizations are predominantly from this group but exclude the other.  Try harder.   The issue is almost always with the message and not with the groups that you have failed to attract.  A simple example: Six years ago, Dehai.org was what it is now: its writers are overwhelming from one region and one religion of Eritrea.  When they were asked why that is the case, they explained that there is a �digital divide�: a polite way of saying that one region, one religion knows how to use the computer, the other doesn�t.  Other websites (including Awate) came in and demonstrated that there was no such thing as a "digital divide."

I have utmost belief that most problems can be solved if people talk about them.  But you can�t talk to people if you don�t know where they are and what their language is and what their priorities are.  Those who silently watch injustice, oppression and wage vulgar insults campaigns against others should better learn from history. Leadership has the responsibility to set the tone: if they could address one another cordially and respectfully, then their followers will follow the pattern.  If they choose the pitched language of sarcasm, isolation, then their followers will follow that note as well.  That is the case with every political organization, including a school.  Memher Tsehaie understood it...

...Eritrea's history of tolerance really is not the Eighth Wonder.  But it was impressive.  But it wasn't seemless: it took the effort of our wisemen, our village elders--sheiks, keshis, memahran, community leaders, shmagle, etc--and our rich cultures to create it and sustain it.  With the village elders emasculated and their institutions all but destroyed, it is up to the political leaders to make a more concerted effort to safeguard it.  Now, more than ever, we need to  �asmaE al-kelam we Afham alzereba.�

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