I am very grateful for all my readers who sent me their comments, feedback and criticism on the last edition of Negarit (In Search of Moses). Today�s edition is inspired by some of the responses, criticisms and feedback. But one message, which had a profound effect on me was from a friend. It was an enlightening challenge for me to prove that I love my people. The message urged me to stay away from politics for a while and do something good for the people and for humanity. Here is part of the message: 

�Saleh, Let me challenge you. If you are for the people (I do believe sincerely you care about the people and you are entitled to your political opinion) why not assist us to help the people. This is not a criticism or an order but only a plea. EDF last month had a dinner in D.C. to have a Credit Union for women, to build a dam in Keren area, solar energy and books for a library. Next month (Dec. 16) we will have a fund raise for a solar energy �. I spoke with my friends who are politically in opposition of the government to support the people to provide a solar energy in the villages and they were very happy to hear that and they will be there in a big number.  I am challenging you to support the people through a fund raise in the Bay area. Any Eritrean is entitled to his own political opinion, in the meantime, there are not to many Eritreans who do not support the people. Please help in us to help my people, your people and our people.

By EDF, my friend means the Eritrean Development Foundation and not the Eritrean Defense Forces, although that deliberate confusion has its own story, better told on a different date.

One could wrongly consider the above message as condescending and paternalistic, but it evoked some soul searching: Am I not doing anything for my people? Is my friend the writer doing more for our people? Does one have to do what my friend is doing to get a stamp of approval? Am I really �entitled to [my] opinion�? And why is my friend challenging me? Would he approve if I stopped my activism for justice and instead got involved in feel-good projects that, in my opinion (which I have been entitled to) don�t address the core issues in Eritrea? What if we joined hands and helped our people, each in the way he sees fit? 

Breakthroughs can only come about by talking and I think I have come up with a breakthrough�

No Dialogue, No Breakthroughs

My favorite hobby is talking to people; I like gatherings. A few years ago when I first came to San Jose, I asked and found out that Eritreans hang out at the �community center� and a famous coffee shop which they called �enda Nigeria� because it was run by a Nigerian lady. I started to frequent the coffee shop to meet people. The discussion then was always about the border war. People asked me if I was a newcomer, �gasha dikha?� Some were friendly, others were indifferent and some were hostile. When I made a comment that was not well received by the group, a certain Eritrean from San Jose with the name K. jumped off and wanted to hit me with a chair. Every time I made a comment, most would be angry and shout combatively at me. I just smiled and ignored their hysteria and rage. This went on for months.

But one fine morning, the people found out about my public stand and they became more aggressive. They would spit in front of me, say things to injure me and became very uncivil and very insulting. I just ignored their temper tantrums and tried to reason out with anyone who objected to my views and who has the will to listen. The listening faculty was not admirable. They convinced themselves I was the enemy.

The only people who respected my right to dissent were three individuals: Alem, Gere and the late Isaias Estifanos who disagreed with me yet he was engaging and civil. One person, pastor Aregahegn, was extremely aggressive towards me. He once insulted me for being unpatriotic and an enemy of the Eritrean people. �You just repeat what the other enemies of Eritrea like the BBC say� is what he told me. I smiled at that one. Throughout, people I know continuously advised me to avoid going to where PFDJ supporters hang out because I was provoking them with my presence. I was not willing to be exiled from the streets of the USA by the PFDJ that exiled me from Eritrea.

Slowly, the people who hated my guts gave up- I am sure many came to understand my opposition to the oppressive regime even if they couldn�t declare that openly. Many of those who used to hate me with passion for my views became increasingly friendly. Even the pastor I mentioned is now jailed in Eritrea by the same government that he so aggressively defended. His crime? He is an evangelist. And I know he regrets his misguided stand back then. 

We have come a long way since the days of blind support and zealotry in defense of �mengstna�, the PFDJ regime. Many leaves have fallen from the withering PFDJ tree; the winds of freedom will soon sweep the hallow trunk. This is not a prophecy, it is the natural course of events.

A Joint Campaign With EDF

Since breakthroughs come about through dialogue, I am ready to join EDF�s campaign to send books to Eritrea.  In fact, I will make a pledge right here: I, the exiled Saleh Gadi, who has vowed to struggle against injustice until my last breath, hereby invite all my readers who love their people to join me in a worthy campaign to send books to Eritrea. I am publishing this appeal publicly and I will send a copy of this call to all the e-mail addresses that I have hoping that you will join me in this campaign.

The campaign is called �Sponsor A Prisoner Of Conscience�. Each one of you is being urged to sponsor a prisoner and send him a book that will help him or her in killing time and spreading knowledge. To this end, I am sponsoring six prisoners and I am sending them each a book. 1) To Idris Aba Arre I hereby pledge Abu Feras Al Hamadani�s classical Arabic poetry book 2) To Aster Yohannes I hereby pledge A Choice of Kipling�s Verse by T.S. Eliot 3) To the prisoner Mohammed Meranet, The Season of Migration To The North by Atayeb Saleh 4) to Petros Solomon I hereby pledge The Count Of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas 5) to the Pastor Aregehegn who I mentioned above, I hereby pledge the Holy Bible, and 6) To Abderazzaq Neberai I pledge Asukeriya by Negib Mahfouz.

Please send the name of the prisoner that you sponsor and the title of the book that you intend to send, to This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it . I have already arranged with my colleagues at awate.com, asmarino.com and farajat.com to jointly maintain and update the list of prisoners and the book titles donated to them. The campaign will run until January 30, 2007. Once we receive word from EDF regarding the logistics (where the books should be sent, etc), the cost of shipping the books to Eritrea will be sent to EDF.

On the inside cover of the books, please write the following:

1- To: (Name of prisoners)

2- Short Note: (your message to the prisoner you sponsor).

3- Your Address: (If you wish the prisoner to send you a thank you note)

4- Your Name: (please avoid pen-names)

5- Your Signature (please use dry ink, avoid pencil signatures)

I am hoping that this will be the first of many future cooperations with the EDF. I am also hoping that my friend will be instrumental in making this dream of mine come true. I am badly in need of a redemption to be in line with those who love their country.

Test of Conscience

At this point, some of you may be saying, �if I send a book, with a dedication to a prisoner, all the EDF/PFDJ has to do is to tear off the page and send the books to anybody but the prisoners.�  I have thought of both problems and I have a solution.

In addition to the books, I have decided to donate five disposable cameras which I will send to EDF so that they can take pictures while they deliver the books to the prisoners. The pictures will help motivate the Diaspora and the exilees to help their people. It will further serve as an example of how transparently the EDF deals with the PFDJ government, on top of showing people how their money was spent. The EDF claims that it is a non-governmental organization which ensures that donations reach their target; this will be a test for them. And there is a message for the PFDJ: If you Book�em at least giv�em books.

What about the possibility that they will erase, blackout or tear off the dedication page?

But that would confirm that Eritrea is a police state, like one of those nations where untold number of censors spend all their days tearing off pages from Time and Newsweek magazines and have a list of banned books.  Surely, EDF does not want to communicate to its donors that the books are going to a state that employs an army of censors with huge black markers? Like those nations that have people who wake up every morning and go to work where they flip through pages and pages of thousands of magazines trying to find something to blackout. They impose their individual judgments on what you should read and what you shouldn�t. At the end of the day, they go home, smelling of ink acetone, satisfied for having worked productively for the day and for accomplishing something in life.

It is not possible that EDF will employ censors with markers or will simply tear out the pages that have the message from the book. Because it would be dishonest to do so. But in case they did, first, they would be wasting a lot of time and second, that kind of work is the sort that haunts you for the rest of your life: there is a lonely prisoner who wants assurance that his compatriots love him or her, and EDF would be denying them that precious reassurance, which would a violation of its own mission. 

I am really glad that I had a dialogue with my friend that resulted in this breakthrough where all Eritreans, regardless of their political stand, can join hands to send something worthwhile�books�to Eritrea.  Unlike the last book campaign, the one raised for Asmara University, there should be no controversy here because nobody is saying there are no prisons or prisoners in Eritrea. 

So my dear compatriots, go through your boxes, your closets, your garage, the space under your bed, your second hand stores and buy the books. Think of the note you want to write the prisoner you are adopting, get your pens, compose your thoughts.  And I will tell you as soon as I hear from EDF�because if we don�t hear from them, we will have to send the books to a special address in Asmara, the address from which the order to arrest them originated.

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