In the last few days, several people sent me e-mails displaying their exhilaration about the unrest in Addis Ababa which they considered a sign of "the imminent demise of the Weyane." Then some of them challenged/asked me to write about the unrest. Many of my correspondents assumed the whole Eritrean opposition is so fearful that the Weyane would collapse! I don�t know why what happens in Ethiopia should be our business when we are dealing with our own oppressive regime that needs to be dismantled. But to the Eritrean extremists, it is never about Eritrea and that is why many activists didn�t seem to agree with the pseudo patriots on anything related to Ethiopia since the 1940s. Yet, these same people, forever obsessed with what goes on in Ethiopia, these same people who bleed more for the dispossessed Ethiopians than their own disenfranchised Eritreans, dare to tell us they love Eritrea more than we do. That�s ayn awta.

Notice how the supporters of PFDJ are excited about the ups and downs of Ethiopian politics; notice how they are all excited about the Ethiopian unrest because it serves their purpose. Their message is that elections are violent and that is why they decided to avoid it. Not to have an election is a dictatorship�s only election.

We have fascists aspiring to build a self-centered exclusionist movement to see an Eritrea where their paranoid outlooks and parochial prejudices become normal. These are the extremists within the Habesha stock � Ethiopian and Eritrean alike. As many observers mentioned, in the end, the recent Ethiopian-Eritrean conflict might boil down not between Isaias and Meles alone, but between extremist Habeshas from both sides of the border fighting for supremacy with a major goal of bruising the rival�s ego. This might be a shocker for many; but enough was suppressed, let the beans spill.

The recent activities of the Ethiopian opposition in Addis Ababa, and the reaction to it might shed some light. I choose to comment on the Ethiopian elections based on the strategic interest of Eritrea; as an observer without meddling in Ethiopian politics simply because I am not Ethiopian.

The problems of Ethiopia and Eritrea boils down to centuries-old rivalry among the Habesha groups of Tigrgna and Amhara. When Eritreans focused their struggle against Haile Selassie�s Amhara chauvinism, it was obvious that an Amhara peasant in Menze or Wellega had nothing to do with our oppression: the ruling class, used that cultural vehicle to oppress us and we targeted our fury against it. The same chauvinism is at play now: it is a rivalry among the elite of the Tigrai and the Amhara of Ethiopia- the majority of the population, the Ormos and the Somalis apparently have no major hand in what is going on in Ethiopia.

I am scared of the traditional Ethiopian opposition; I am equally worried about our Eritrean Opposition To The Opposition (OTTO) movement, whose defining feature is its aggressive chauvinism and nativism. Like the Weyane soldier trying to conduct police duty, our OTTO are always overarmed and lacking in judgment because, despite all their claims to the contrary, they cannot see beyond their regions and ethnic identities.

The pattern of thought of the nativists within the PFDJ and OTTO are exactly alike. Here�s a question: if our nativists can analyze the Ethiopian politics from an ethnic prism, and our PFDJ "patriots" spend enormous amount of time analyzing Ethiopia from its ethnic make-up alone, and since the make up of the Eritrean society is just similar to that of Ethiopia, do you have any doubt in your mind that they do their analysis of Eritrea exactly through that prism, yet pretend that they don�t? When they call the Ethiopian government a "minority" government, do you think they are referring to its popularity or to the ethnic makeup of the TPLF? Conversely, when these same people (the nativists within OTTO and the PFDJ) tell us that the PFDJ has a "popular" support and the Eritrean opposition do not have popular support, do you have any doubts that they mean: the PFDJ has the support of the highland Eritrea and the Eritrean opposition does not?

Hardly noticeable outside the Eritrean highlands, the awraja rivalry is a big thing in the Kebessa region. Since ancient times, feudal and war lords ruled based on regional powers. Regions were building and destroying alliances with the Ethiopian and mainly Tigrayan lords and kings to preserve their power. Many were simply vassals while a few had a governor�s autonomy. The current regime knows this very well and builds its social manipulation strategy on it; other chauvinists use this as a lethal weapon. Again, an observation of the social and regional makeup of the regime and its supporters, and the opposition, reveals astounding (not surprising) results.

A week ago I was talking to someone who is related to Abraha Kassa. I jokingly commented that some Eritreans "democratic activists" have unearthed proof that Wedi Kassa is not Eritrean. Are you, I asked him, related to him from his mother�s or father�s side. He was enraged and asked me "who are these democratic activists?" I had to introduce them to him.

The people in question are 100% Eritreans made from 100% Eritrean clay and molded to beautiful faces- a godly design reserved for Eritrean noble extremists only. They don�t like anything that doesn�t resonate with the "PEOPLE" because they know exactly what does. They are so sure when they talk of the "people" � it is rumored that they are delegated by the people and they have huge rolls of parchments that carry the signatures of every Eritrean man, women and child. They are good people whose only objective in the struggle is to be appointed immigration officers once the oppressive regime is dismantled (if they cannot replace it, that is). Then they plan to build three concentration camps and confine people to the camps based on how far their ancestral line goes inside Eritrea- of course, on the father�s line because the village norm dictates women do not have equal birthright as men do. Then, they think Isaias is Isaias because he is not "full blooded Eritrean" whatever that means, but they imply since he might have some Tigrayan blood in his veins, he is not as pure as the Eritrean Aryan race of the nativists, and that is why he is a dictator.

Another person who is being stripped of his Eritrean identity by the nativists is General Philpos. I knew the man a long time ago, when we were both in our teens. I don�t know how he developed into a man and what traits that I know of him he still keeps. I know that he is an important pillar of the oppressive regime. However, to question his Eritreaness based on some ignorant assumptions makes me sick to the stomach. Whether you like the man or not, he is Eritrean and I am sure, he has given the country more than all of the medieval nativists combined. My political difference, and my disapproval of what he is doing, has nothing to do with his ancestry. The watch thieves might not agree with this.

We have among us people who believe they are the Eritrean version of American Indians, the indigenous people of the earth, while the rest of Eritreans came to Eritrea on horse backs shooting at everybody. You can see their noble blue blood through their dark black skin. The rest of Eritreans do not have blood in their veins let alone blue colored blood because apparently they descended from the conquistadors!

Do you see the nativist rascals and how they think? If an Eritrean can trace his ancestral line say, 200 years somewhere in a rocky village he is more Eritrean than someone who can only trace his for 150 years. And if one can only trace his family line in Eritrea for only a century, too bad, he is not Eritrean. Mind you, those are dark skinned Eritreans who proudly consider themselves English, German, American and Dutch thanks to the democratic countries that hosted them. There is absolutely no legal, political, moral or logical ground for thinking that way. The chauvinists and nativists take present Eritrean statehood and want to revise the history of the people to fit their current political designs by superimposing the present on the past and then consider the present as the beginning of the past. In a way, it is like stealing watches!

The Ethiopian opposition has considerably increased its influence on Ethiopian politics; no doubt because it has gotten rid of many of its own nativist elements. But it wanted to grab it all and couldn�t wait to build on its success. The opposition leaders, by their impatient campaigning damaged a hopeful democratic experience which might have been an example for the people of the region. The ruling party, after having presented itself as a party committed to the democratization of Ethiopia, had a knee jerk reaction when the opposition started to throw allegations of vote rigging. Giving access to ballot boxes and banning demonstrations do not go hand in hand; in my opinion, that ban was ill advised. Instead, in my view, the government should have allowed anyone to demonstrate and if any mob misbehaved, it should have been confronted with a combination of police force and legal action to bring anyone who encourages lawlessness to the courts. It is sad that people died. That being my view, I feel sorry for the way things turned out on such a splendid experience- it is a scar on the democratic aspirations of the whole region.

I don�t wish anti Eritrean forces to come to power in Ethiopia- and that is only a wish. Because if that happens and resulted in its natural manifestations, the boring "We will retake Asseb" slogan, I am sure Eritreans would decide to repeat what they started in 1961- and I don�t wish that either. I like to see the Ethiopian political development as a healthy test of democratization. But, let�s remember, we are still in Africa, where misinformation, disinformation is more abundant than information:

Back in 1991, after my layover in Addis, I finally headed for Eritrean, in a four-days ordeal to reach Asmara: a combination of a plane, a rented fifty-years old Landrover, on foot and three different buses. Going out of Asmara was even worse- two weeks of waiting. When I finally made it out by chance, on a plane that came with a body for burial, I returned to Addis to find a crowd demonstrating. I stopped to ask one of the demonstrators about the reason for the demonstration: "the Weyane sent all Ambessa Busus to serve Eritrea while Ethiopians are suffering from the shortage of buses," he replied. What? Ambessa buses in Eritrea? I wish it was true because I wouldn�t have been stranded there for lack of transportation.

With hundreds of thousands of unemployed youth, rampant poverty, a chunk of the city dwellers living as beggars and prostitutes, any stupid moron can incite a mob and create a crowd- most of the time, forming crowds is the hobby of the unemployed. The �Ambessa Bus� crowd believed the lie fed to them by some agitator and were reacting emotionally.

Crowds that move in the struggle for a democracy should be law abiding- unless, like Eritrea there is no law in the land. The ability to demonstrate and influence the change of your government is indeed a blessing. On the contrary, in a dictatorship, there is neither correct expression nor right of expression- and the people do not have watches to check the time!

The droves of the PFDJ are good at screaming when they are hurt. I heard their screams reflected in their personal attack against Biniam, the founder of Eritreana.com; now I know he is hurting them bad. Such cries are the approval ratings- if they don�t attack you fiercely, it might be that you are not doing enough struggle.

To Biniam: In the story above, consider the girl as the PFDJ (naturally). Keep your watch and use the microphone to whip them insane.

Raise your left hands: "Awet Nhafash"

You gamble - if you do gamble at all- on a table covered with a colorful felt cloth. In your imagination, while you hold the playing cards, the queen of hearts jumps out and the king of spades jumps out and chases the queen. And you, the Boy, you think you are the jake, the Ace, and every passing woman is the queen that jumped out of the hand of cards between your fingers, rejected the King, and is dying to throw herself on you to pay homage to your greatness. Apparently you had too much fuel. Never mind that. Around the trenches, the Aces are doing the dancing ritual. The trumpet is silent and yet they dance. The drum is silent and yet they dance. But the dust is not silent and is suffocating the onlookers. Waving it off your face with your hands is not going to help. The dancing Aces will create more dust and the real jack cannot take it anymore. Even the morning star is screened by the dust and is not helpful for getting direction. I think you should wait for dawn when the morning sun is shy; and when the sun shines, you should start your own dancing rituals- that is what is expected from you after the night of the bright moonlight.

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