Towards Election 

For us, the common people, the only true way to democracy, human right, constitutionals, rule of law, prosperity, unity and utmost stability of Eritrea is through election. No more, to believe to the propaganda of the revolution. We had enough, of sweet promises of democracy, humane right and etc. We don�t forget the broken promises of vanguard fronts and revolutionaries. I am in a position, this time, not to follow to decorated slogans of democracy, humane right and others. Now, I want to put my soul, in a believe of fair election only. In other words, I am waiting to see election to be conducted in Eritrea. I want to see elected  representatives of the Eritrean people, deliberate issues concerning the Eritrean people and pass resolutions to guide the Eritrean people to the best of all democracies, humane right, rule of law and etc.  I want to see the Eritrean government to take the upper hand and became the best promoter of democracy, humane right, constitutionals, rule of law and etc. I believe that, unless and other wise, the Eritrean government delays contra the opposition groups the above mentioned notions , the Eritrean government is not less concerned than the opposition groups who self appointed as advocates of democracy, humane right and etc. 

The road towards election is not going to be expected to be an asphalt road. That we have to forget it. Let the road be rough as the road towards Zagir (my village), but it is going to be sweet to reach to the Eritrean election, like the delight I got when I reached Zagir, last year, during my vacation in Eritrea. Now, the question is; will it be possible to conduct fair election with out freedom of press? This article is about freedom of press. 

It is going to be, nearly one year, since the private presses in Eritrea closed. With the closure of the private presses, followed the jail of the editors and journalists of the private presses. I call, this event, a black history to the freedom of press in Eritrea. I was completely saddened and still feel crushed when it comes to the above mentioned episode of the closure of the private presses. 

I don�t have wealth in this world except my children and the reading habit I acquired from my child hood. I used to read pamphlets during the armed struggle of the Eritrean revolution in a very risky way. I read almost the magazines, Fitsametat, Sagim and other pamphlets of EPLF. Taking in consideration, the privilege I enjoyed reading EPLF scripts, I am forced to ask, why the Eritrean government took that action, still do not give me comfort. It is irony, still I support the existence of the Eritrean government and I wish the Eritrean government to exist in future as well. I wish to see the detained journalists to be released and they to be allowed to continue their work. Saying so, now, I want to start my analysis by forwarding a simple question. 

Does the Eritrean press deserves a sentence of closure? You can save your answer. But for me, if the answer is, yes it deserves to be closed, then I say it is executed. If the answer is, no it does not deserve to be closed, then I say it is assassinated.  The following is an analysis to lead us to the answer to yes or no to the question: Does the Eritrean press deserves a sentence of closure? We are going to look at the birth, growth, decay, rebirth, growth and decay of the Eritrean free press. 

The Eritrean press was born during the British administration and flourished with healthy growth within the same period. The Italian colonialism of Eritrea, let alone to allow freedom of press, it didn�t allowed even a proper education. With the arrival of Kingdom of Ethiopia to Eritrea, freedom of press decayed as well. The worst happened during Derg. Freedom of press, reborn again after independence of Eritrea. The Eritrean government was positive to freedom of press and tolerated openness and accepted even negative criticism for the time being. September 2001, all of a sudden, freedom of press decayed. That is where we are now. 

One question worth mention here is, does the Eritrean press acted fairly using the opportunity of the given chance of freedom of press at that time. In my observation, that worried me, that time, of the presentation of the private presses was comparatively equal with the worry I have now about the presentation of Awate.com. No body, needs magnifying eye glass, to read, the news and comments appearing at Awate.com. This web site is stretching out of proportion even to the length prompting blood shed to happen among Eritreans. Though it is obvious that Awate.com has hate to the president, the unmoral and unethical presentation, in blackmailing and defaming the Eritrean government is, I say, not to be awarded as the gift of freedom of press. Generally speaking, there is no fairness in Awate.com. 

The lack of fairness, less concerned to the security of the land, and the sensational presentation of the private presses in Eritrea, led the Eritrean government to worry about the security and well being of the nation, Eritrea. In my opinion, it is this worries, that made the Eritrean government, be panicked and took the 11^th hour decision. It was tragedy to the freedom of press. I didn�t liked it, still I don�t like it and I pray for the well being of the journalists. I beg the Eritrean government to be merciful to release them. 

The closure of the private presses in Eritrea, doesn�t mean the complete closure of freedom of press. Today is year 2002.  The internet solves the problem of freedom of press. If you look to the presentation of NeHarnet and Awaate.com, thanks to the closure of the private presses in Eritrea, they are presenting to us, unconfirmed and very terrorizing news and comments. If the private presses in Eritrea would have been existed, they would have made self censorship to present confirmed and reliable news and comments. Therefore, in my opinion, by the closure of the private presses the most loser is now becoming the Eritrean government. Because, the web sites, that are out of control of the Eritrean government are taking advantage to present news and comments according to their wish. 

Yes, it is true that, at the infant period of the freedom of press, a certain amateurism of journalism to exist. And that is how it starts and develops to professional journalism. I think, this weakness, of lack of professionalism, in the private presses, could be improved and develops by short courses of journalism and by introducing strong ethical measures. But, closing it and detaining the journalists is a set back to Eritrean civilization. The consequence of the closure of the freedom of press is negative. Creativity diminishes and the belongings to the free society disappears. It is bad sign of a failure of creating modern society. 

Finally, I want to conclude by raising a question, does the Eritrian press deserves a sentence? 

God bless Eritrea 

Tesfamicael Yohannes 

Oslo, Norway

EDITOR'S NOTE: We would usually not smile about such wild "throw everything and something will hopefully stick"  approach the writer uses. This we thought deserves two things:

1- Challenge: "This web site is stretching out of proportion even to the length prompting blood shed to happen among Eritreans". Where and when is our challenge!

2- Begging for an explanation of a new logic: "The closure of the private presses in Eritrea, doesn�t mean the complete closure of freedom of press." Is it 20% closure? 30%, 80%? We don't know how the writer measures the "Closure of the private Press[es]". For God's sake, the whole crowd of journalists, editors and reporters are rotting in jail since one year, 366 days as of today. Can we say they are not completely jailed? They are 60% jailed? We doubt that the sympathy shown to the jailed reporters is genuine; we suspect it is political correctness. The true view of the writer regarding Freedom of Expression can be found in his sentence that goes, "the web sites, that are out of control of the Eritrean government are taking advantage to present news and comments according to their wish." Everyone knows the fate of anyone who ends under the control of the government of Eritrea: Jail. We apologize for not asking permission from "The enemy of the Press" known as "government of Eritrea" before publishing our articles. We also apologize in advance: we will not ask any permission in the future. Finally, we are sad, this was written on the Sep 18, the day the jailed are remembered.