There were times, not too long ago, when only a hand full of people was registering their complaints against the unruly government of Eritrea. At that time, these few were labeled either as hallucinated individuals imagining horror stories that did not exist in Eritrea at all.  Or, they were treated as if they were driven by sheer hatred towards the government and were out to tarnish its image. Moreover, they were considered power hungry or people aiming to settle a personal vendetta. In all cases it meant liars and those who were hate-ridden. One case and point, among many, is how a number of people attacked their fellow Eritreans in defense of Peter Worthington, Toronto Sun's columnist. All sorts of attacks were targeted at an individual who objected to Peter Worthington's assertion that Eritrea has no political prisoners, in his column of December 27, 1998, "Needless war engulfs a unique African oasis ... but hope for democracy, stability and security still alive". The writer argued that it is bad enough that political prisoners are imprisoned without any due process of law or even an acknowledgment from the government, but to hide their dilemma on top of that was beyond cruelty. The idea behind the objection was also to suggest to Eritreans that it was not in the best interest of Eritrea for foreign journalists or any other to cover our ills. If only it was possible to live in a dream we would all have liked to accept Mr. Worthington's assertion. However, it is not so. Such cover-ups further encouraged the government to add more to the list of prisoners and to the sufferings of the Eritrean people. Today, there would be much more to object to Mr. Worthington's particular column concerning Eritrea and its leadership. Read it for yourselves. Isaias has done a good job in misleading people who don't know him and those who want to see only what they want to see: a country blessed with a leader of grandiose achievements and vision in the whole of Africa and even the world, without holding him responsible for anything. The sad thing is that this huge blunder was at the expense of others including the opposition. To seduce its supporters, the government drew a line deciding who is an Eritrean and who is not depending on whether one criticizes it or unconditionally supports it. It divided Eritreans at random into outsiders and insiders in hopes to forever polarize our people. Families and friends have practically been divided into victims and victimizers. Little did we know or accept that we were all victims. Therein lays Isaias' strength. Thank God, these days he lost that too.

As it has been said by many time and again, since then the government has gone to the deep end.  That place where no one can save it by any means of defense. Isaias' criminal nature has been exposed, since it spilled over to journalists, students, the elderly and even his ministers. You name it, you will find all sorts of people in prison. He is to be pitied; he can't help who he is. That being the case, people are no longer obeying him in his madness. The only option he now has is to harass people under his thumb, people inside Eritrea. Now, that the government is collapsing, it even fears its own shadow.

What is the lesson in all of these? How can our people protect themselves from such a system in the future? Citizens should not relinquish their power and allow one person or party to decide what is good for them, as if they were under age children. One way to do that is to constitutionally ensure they have assurances that their political choices and civil liberties are respected; a government where leaders will be accountable to principles and standards set forth in the Constitution. As they say, unity in diversity.

There are great nations which consciously promote opposition parties in order to protect their liberties and interest by checks and balances. They know a government in power is not fond of having competitors, because it sees them as a hindrance to its unlimited power. These nations also benefit from being able to sift the truth from the debates and proposals disposed for their consumption by the competitors. It is similar to having competitive shops. Who in their right mind would want to otherwise have a single store in their vicinity? Our situation is different, almost unique, in that sense. In contrast, we make excuses as to why the constitution has not been implemented and political pluralism is banned.

The lame excuses were: First, there was reconstruction; then our people were uneducated; then the war with Ethiopia; then our people are hungry and democratic rights don't go down well with roasted grains and only God knows what else. Until recently, we have been destroying dissidents and oppositions groups alike; far from promoting them. I guess it could be our inexperience at governing ourselves. By the way that brings me to the opposition. I have read a lot of notes blaming the opposition as having failed the people of Eritrea. I believe every concerned Eritrean needs to think back and see how he or she contributed to the weaknesses of the opposition groups and accordingly take responsibilities. The opposition might have failed us in some ways; for example for not consolidating their fronts and not rallying their followers enough. For that, they deserve to be criticized. However, it is only fair to acknowledge that we failed them too. They survived on sheer determination and deep patriotism; otherwise we never afforded them any material or even moral support. We never answered their call or heeded their warnings as to what was looming over Eritrea in the hands of PFDJ. The public gave them deaf ears.

Furthermore, many even believed the fiction that the opposition groups don't exist and those who encountered them acted callously, if not violently towards them. Our eyes and hopes were fixed on the government. In fact, we blamed opposition members for not denouncing their respective organizations, thereby their democratic rights and their conviction on multi-party democracy. They were summoned to surrender to the government individually, now that Eritrea secured its territorial independence. We even went as far as handing them over to EPLF's security squads when we could. How wrong we were. With this type of support, the government was able to get away with describing dissident individuals and organizations as a threat to national security rather than as political forces. Even those who�s history and experience was closely tied with the ELF, turned the other way. As Mr. Hurui Tedla Bairu stated in the 2001 ELF-RC's festival, thanks be to God for the persistence of the opposition and the existence of the Alliance. He was right.  The opposition fronts despite being scattered all over the globe remained resolute and continued their democratic struggle against all odds.

I might even venture to say that they made it possible or paved the way for individuals or newly formed organizations to move freely in the Diaspora. If it were not for the opposition, it would have been much harder today.   Having said that, all is not lost; we have much to hope for. Maybe that is the price that needed to be paid to get to where we are today. We are heading to the direction of those nations where power lies in the hands of citizens and where we too will have the means to choose for ourselves, thus the title, "Encouraging Times".  It is so; because we have embarked on the first step. We are expressing our views and exchanging ideas freely. We are much more tolerant towards each other in our discourse. Different political and public interest advocacy groups of dedicated individuals are forming with new ideas and insights.  Peaceful demonstrations, seminars and debates are being conducted to heighten public awareness as well as to share and solicit solutions. Petitions are being written in numbers on behalf of the unfortunate and many more positive steps are being taken. I am glad to say, Isaias is almost without friends, thus useless. He is left with those parochial elements who refer to leaders, scholars and former veteran fighters as Weyanies, criminals, traitors or defectors today. If these are the only supporters he has been able to retain, Eritrea has come a long way for these are words of the desperate and the ignorant. Besides, people understand and accept reality at different levels and different paces. The important thing is that we are slowly but surely crossing the line that the government drew for us to never dare cross. Our number is increasing by the day. We are moving towards harmonizing ourselves and our nation to reap the benefits of our unity as much as the government exploited our people by means of disunity.

The challenge now is not the shortage of support or persuading people to see things for what they really are for the majority have come to find out the mental and physical injures being committed on our people. The challenge is consolidating the resources of the democratic and just individuals and groups, so that they become stronger and more effective forces. Talk to your diehard EPLF neighbors and friends and you will for the most part be pleasantly surprised. Many will look you right in the eye and say something to the effect that, how wrong they were; they didn't think it was going to turnout this way.  They thought they were helping their country and people.  Every time they saw you, they didn't think of you as a human being, but a devil; they never thought they would sit with you and talk to you in this way.

Personally, at that point logic gives way to my heart; I feel compassion and I don't think about placing a blame for that would be living in the past.  Instead I somehow want to share the burden, the responsibility and give them a hug and say it is OK. I let them know that it is very gracious of them to openly share. Then we separate with �Let's chat again over tea or coffee.� In my opinion, one need not encumber such persons with direct or implied accusations such as where they have been, what kind of view they have held in the past or what they said in 1900-and-something.  Instead appreciate that they have come to understand and willing to fight the same fight as you are.

It does not however mean that we have to forget the past. It means we have to live in the present while at the same time remembering the past. The present should be used not to lay blame but as a bridge between different stages of the past and the future, in order to enable us to evaluate where we went wrong, where we stand and where we are going. Perhaps, it is hard to evaluate without somehow making someone feel uncomfortable.  However, one way to do that while minimizing adverse effects is for politicians and other individuals to share their past with their people. That makes a huge difference in building trust among people. Anyone who is ready should be able to join hands, irrespective of where he or she has been, but bringing facts out in the open.

Nothing is worse than hiding the truth. To think that our people can't handle the truth and to pick an appropriate time for when they will understand the truth is making the government a role-model. Public support is vital in any national endeavor, but a lasting support can only be earned by being honest. It is wrong to pretend to be above the people with whom one expects to take a national journey. Lastly, if we support our democratic forces as vigorously as we created the monster in Asmara, Eritrea will be in a very good shape. The difference is being on the side of good versus evil.

Respectfully,

Freweini Ghebresadick