1. "I submit to You that if a man has not discovered something he will die for, he is not fit to live." Martin Luther king.
2. "Time is on the side of the oppressed today, it is against the oppressor. Truth is on the side of the oppressed today, it is against the oppressor. You do not need anything else." Malcolm- X
3. "It is no use saying we are doing our best. You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary." Winston Churchill
4. "Do not be afraid to challenge the pros, even in their own backyard. Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier." Colin Powell
Our intellectuals are challenged to be willing to put their careers on the line on behalf of principle. Otherwise our public will dismiss them as grandstanders. If they want the ownership of an issue, they have to do more than bluffing and express their moral convictions towards our people. They have to make risky decisions and prove they have the courage to their conviction.
This courage is displayed by two slightly divergent approach of conflict resolution presented by Dr.Taddesse and Seyoum Tesfaye. I read both, well articulated essays and tried to fit them each other. Unfortunately both essays repel to each other at one point. Two core issues which demand debate of the public and are crucial to our future discourses. The idea of "forcing a dictator to a table" a political hypothesis approached by Seyoum Tesfaye and the idea of " removal of a dictator" highlighted by Dr.Taddesse, at least, the public has responsibility to deliberate these issues.
Even though it is productive to use the politics of diplomacy to approach the current political differences in the Eritrean body politics, we can not neglect to over see the nature of the regime in Asmara. I beg to differ to the notion of " forcing a tyrant dictator to the table" articulated by Seyoum Tesfaye, the rising star in politics of diplomacy. Seyoums intelligence can not over look the arrogance and insatiable desire to stay in power by the dictators. Nor does history witnessed otherwise. However, I tend to believe Seyoum's politics of diplomacy is so imperative to form strategic alliance and strategic implication of responsibility in relations to the opposition forces and civic societies in particular and the Eritrean people as whole in general. If Seyoums remark was to aware the opposition both inside and outside not to limit their focus to the removal of a dictator only, but to come up with a realistic platform to reconcile the realty, then, yes and is well taken.
Seyoums analysis also fail to connect the different phases of the discourses and misguided policy of the regime soon after they grab the transitional power. Instead he chose to make a partial departure and dwell his analysis to impart his logic as how our dangerous national crises cascades from post- September 18, onward.
To attempt and account the current political debacle solely attributed from post- September 18, intra-party crises, is to disregard the inherent " cause and effect" of the ever expanding pre-September misguided policy of the regime. How do we tend to forget the gestures of exclusion and intolerance, the desire to resolve inter and intra political difference by force, the instinct of chauvinistic behavior of the ruling regime which were quite obvious that does not require a magnifying words of expression. Again Seyoums intelligence can not bypass the political synapse that connects the pre-September and post-September events. Despite this fact, his thesis is so powerful enriched with wisdom purely centered to strengthen the positive and minimize the negative impact. Seyoum is calling to all enlightened Eritrean compatriot to create a new program and coalition to incorporate and reflect to a new mode of thinking. Yes, Seyoum is absolutely correct to change the dimension of our thought. We need to constantly change approach to fit the evolving situation, stay creative, flexible and disciplined in pursuit of our goals.
The Roadmap
Dr.Taddesse is admired not only to his contribution in exposing the totalitarian regime of Asmara for the last two years and his recent focus on conflict resolution, but he is also admired by his vigor undiminished energy derived from his conscious instinct to the struggle of empowerment of our people and salvation of our beloved nation. Dr.Taddesse also did not walk to our political complexity without constructive criticism ,especially in his first roadmap during post-September 18 intra-party crises of EPFDJ. In his first roadmap he was quick to appropriate the responsibility of "Take care government" to G-15 known as reformers without weighing the prospect of our political dynamic. The spontaneous cleavage of EPFDJ and the birth of unorganized G-15 at the beginning ,prompt to many of our intellectuals to believe this group will reinvent themselves to lead us on the war for democracy. It was obvious the good doctor was supporting to this school of thought at that time. In the course of time, it did not take him to read, that the EPLF-DP the then G-15 could not fill the slot of the political structure of "take care government". What makes him a courageous man with a sense of mission and assertion of sincerity was ,revoking his own stand on the EPLF-DP and coming with a new roadmap defined and supplemented by a flow chart.
When Dr.Taddesse dispatch this new roadmap in the internet media to all "visionary and enlightened Eritrean compatriots "as he put it, albeit, one has to see the gravity of intellectual interaction in the conflict resolution of our political quagmire. Our intellectual failed to do so and remained silence with the exception of Dr.Ogbazghi Yohannes. In any case the fragile nation is still deteriorating and sinking at a fast pace.
An insert to the Roadmap
In my previous article "Contesting and protesting against the unbridled power," I mentioned the critical need of creating a "contact group partners". These groups are so important to shuttle diplomacy channels among the various organizations and civic societies to bring into a broad cohesive resistance force. The "contact group partners" must be formed from civic society who do not have any political affiliation in order to bestow trust from the public and the existing oppositions. Therefore Dr.Taddesse must replace " democracy team player" by "Contact group partners for the simple reasons "a democracy team player "can have a political affiliation by definitions.
Rearrangement
National reconciliation is not one event but a process which might start at the national conference and will continue beyond the stage of "free and fair election". It is a process of healing the deeply wounded Eritrean spirit of the political organization in particular and the public in general. The idea of reconciliation has no the literal meaning of arbitration in this case, but a political one. It is a political process which requires compromise and acceptance. It is a process of finding a ground work of agreement to work together as a people. Hence reconciliation start at the national conference when we begin to transfer power to the people and continue to strengthen as we go through all the stages in the flow chart. If Dr.Taddesse could agree, we can move the box "national reconciliation" up to the left side of national conference connecting by two reversible arrows to show the interplay of the two concept. from the "National reconciliation" we can draw also a broken line arrow to "welcome democracy" and to "a free and fair election" to show the continuity of national reconciliation through all the process in the flow chart. In this way the public could be helped to understand national reconciliation not as one event but as a process. I concur with Dr.Taddesses roadmap to democracy and prosperity as presented with the exception of the two minor arrangement in the flow chart.
Dr.Taddesse appealed to the notion of the greater good. He did not simply frame his initiative as one contrived in order to advance someones interest but rather from the standpoint of public interest and authentic conflict resolution. |
