Those like the Spartans who concentrate on the one and ignore the other in their education turn men into machines and in devoting themselves to one single aspect of city's life, end up making them inferior even in that.

Aristotle 

Sparta was a militaristic state ruled by the homoioi, a warrior élite, and propped up by a population of slaves. Its boys, were taken from the arms of their mothers at young age to be indoctrinated with the Spartan code of death or glory. (at this point the author would like to note that any similarity to a state prsent or past is intentional!). Their state institutions and system of education were designed for the purpose of creating these superbly-trained soldiers.  Literacy was not a part of Spartan education, for reading and writing played no role in a soldier's life. Nor were the arts a part of Spartan training. In fact, the arts--with the exception (feel free jingoistic jingles) of martial music-, were considered a positive hindrance to the development of military virtues. What was valued was silence, stoicism in the face of suffering (siniKa minkas malet eyou!), and speaking briefly and to the point (suq kinibil siedimeretsna…ziAynetu!).

In her book ‘I didn’t do it for you’ Michaela Wrong talks about the experiences that shaped the EPLF’s Spartan warrior culture and its “rigidly puritanical lifestyle,” out of which sprang both its military prowess and its intolerance for difference.“ a mentality that was created in an era that served a purpose of the era… the very thing that earned the gallant tegadelty an admiration across the society but sadly also the very thing that earned the EPLF leadership a mythical velour that has enabled them to fly in the face of convention and reason… it served a purpose and we condoned it as that purpose was also our purpose… and now with the painful slow realization of the root to all that is rotten in Eritrea… I often wonder if we are really justified in wagging our finger against this nature of the EPLF….

What I am absolutely convinced of, though is the irresponsibility of those who are trying to drag Eritreans back into the era of that isolation and detachment…and feckless of those who have chosen to extricate themselves from Sparta and yet have adopted a Spartan rhetoric without addressing the ridiculousness of their mismatched Ideology…. From YPFDJ through to OEA etc it is not difficult to find organizations that on the one hand want to be so outward looking and outside world savvy whilst they tell you biqiltsimna hijiwin…. ‘We need no one and no one wants us!’ and ‘we are accountable to no one’….

By the same token they make sure that they (and their kin and Kith) stay as far away from ‘self reliant’ Eritrea for 50 out of 52 weeks a year (and for the two weeks they make sure that they are ‘self reliant’ curtsey of the subsistence they have shipped into the country… everything including the kitchen sink!), whilst they retort the virtues of our government’s endeavor towards food security….

…and if you happen to ask about the young people who are wasting the most productive years of their life minding abandoned trenches… there are plenty of pot bellied middle aged fathers of teenage sons and daughters destined for Western universities telling you that with so many enemies vying to control us Eritrea has no choice but to maintain such a large army and the young people in Eritrea (unlike their own sons and daughters!!) have a ‘historical duty’ (tarikawi halafinet) fulfill as the guardians of a nation that can relay on no one…..

It is a bit like watching those puzzles you can change the legs or the torso to give you a mismatched person…. (e.g. a doctor with briefcase and a farmer’s Wellington boots…)…. When the shiny young people of YPFDJ say these things it is even more disconcerting ….’ab sawa kedna kulu tsbuq eyou… the young people there are so amazing that they dig holes and shift rocks four times their size with their bare hands…because Eritrea doesn’t want foreign machinery as this is too expensive and we don’t get any aid! and I participated in a cultural fashion show… and gained a lot of inspiration for my fashion designing course… I am going to design a collection based on the tribes of Eritrea for Milan next year! and then the president came and congratulated us all on our success! You people in the opposition don’t know what you are talking about because you have never been to Eritrea! And you hate kubur President because he is more handsome than you! He is so gorgeous he can feature on my cat walk! ’ or something to that effect…. I call them Spartans without boarders…. They live in the outside world whilst at the same time singing the praises of PFDJ's Spartan ideology

Incidentally Spartans were not the only inhabitants of Sparta city… infact the majority were the helots who were, an unfree population group they were; slaves or "between free men and slaves". Tied to the land, they worked in agriculture and economically supported the Spartans. Because they were perceived as a threat to Spartans, they were ritually mistreated, humiliated and even slaughtered. (again any similarities to a situation current or past is probably intended!)

Finally and perhaps more tellingly a prominent admirer of Spartans and their ideology was one Adolf Hitler who In February 1945, told Martin Bormann (Head of the Nazi Party Chancellery and private secretary: ‘‘And if, in spite of everything, the Fates have decreed that we should once more in the course of our history be crushed by forces superior to our own, then let us go down with our heads high and secure in the knowledge that the honour of the German people remains without blemish. A desperate fight remains for all time a shining example. Let us remember Leonidas and his 300 Spartans! In any case, we are not of the stuff that goes tamely to the slaughter like sheep. They may well exterminate us. But they will never lead us to the slaughter house!’’…I am sure Her Hitler is not their only fan but I wonder if any Spartan like community elsewhere has ‘Spartans without boarders’ like we do?