How are extremists created? Is a person born an extremist or made to be one? What is extremism? Could one�s extremist be considered the pacifist of another? How do we arrive at a middle ground? What is a middle ground anyway? Is it possible that �extremists� may consider their stand a middle ground? How does all that fit in the Eritrean context? Who defines extremists and on what basis? Is the one who takes a pre-emptive strike and brands others �extremists� a moderate? Are the PFDJ leadership moderates or extremist? How about their opponents and adversaries? What is the yardstick for measuring extremism? No simple answer!

Qualified experts can explain the development of extremism better. What I know is that the word extremism in itself raises the eyebrows of so many. Even �extremists�, who might not be aware that they are being perceived as such, might be shocked. Extremism in itself is not a pleasant term. It is negative and destructive. However, some people undergo a gradual transformation. They travel fast from timid to half-timid-half-extreme and finally to extremists while we watch in awe. How do we stop extremism from overwhelming us more? How do we stop the extremism that is engulfing us?

It is obvious that many of the Eritrean problems are associated with extremism. I believe that it is all solvable. Unfortunately, the will (and the consensus) to solve them is not yet strong enough.

On top of the natural extremists that we were cursed by their emergence within us, many more �extremists� were created because of the absence of dialogue and arrogance. Now, Eritreans are lost between natural extremism, acquired extremism, promoted extremism and imposed extremism. All destructive to the highest degree.

With that eminent destruction looming over our heads, no cosmetic surgery is going to secure the well-being of Eritrea � nothing! What we need to do is eradicate the causes of our differences once and for all so that extremism doesn�t find a fertile ground to grow more. We need to build a solid base from which we can set ourselves loose to fly and catch up with the civilized world that has left us behind and is not even looking back to check where we have reached. So far, we are terribly left behind. We need reconciliation. We need to heal our wounds and not squeeze and bleed it more and more. We cannot reject each other forever. We need to reconcile if we are to continue to exist as a nation. Nothing short of a reconciliation process is going to do the trick. A National Reconciliation Congress. And if we do not succeed in washing off the stains on our hearts and sanitize our wounds in that congress, at least, together as a family, we can all agree on how to go about the healing process. We need to sit in one place and talk. Eritreans need to understand each other�s viewpoints. We can be proud by reaching to each; we should be ashamed for rejecting each other.

We all know that we only have each other to lean back to. Anyone of us can be arrogant and reject his opponent. Anyone can build power to scare his opponents with. The weak of today could easily be the powerful of tomorrow. In the process of the muscle flexing, the poor country suffers. Enough has been wasted. We need to agree to respect the rights of each other. We need to recognize the fact that no one is the guardian over the Eritrean people but the people themselves. No Eritrean should be a self-imposed father and treat Eritreans as if they were all underage who might hurt themselves. The people deserve respect and deserve to get their earned rights. Eritreans should not be incited to reach at each other�s throat just to satisfy the insatiable egos of paranoid leaders. Eritrea cannot be held hostage to the paranoia of its leaders. Those who have been dividing this humble people for decades should be stopped by whatever means it takes. It is the responsibility of all patriots to make sure that any anti reconciliation move is confronted with determination.

I am of the belief that all the ills of Eritrea are in its bad governance. The nagging and ugly debates and arguments, that we witness, is all derived from the politics of arrogance and ignorance. Therefore, I believe that all extremism would be eradicated the moment our political life gives rebirth to itself in a new form and shape. Our political culture has become an extremist example of exclusion and intolerance.

Throughout the last half-century, we were victims of political strife and disunity which has taken its toll on us. Arrogance was always at the core of our dilapidated culture of tolerance and dialogue. Arrogance was a major contributor to the state of disarray that we find ourselves in. It is solvable. I believe it is solvable. But we need to pinpoint the problems that might stand on our way.

We never complained because we are poor. In fact, we get angry when people tell us that we are wealthy when we know we are not. We never complained to nature because our Deserts are not meadows and our mountains are not arable plains. We love them just the way they are. We never disliked our color, our looks or our culture- we adore all of that. Telling us that we are this and we are that is a cheap method of ego-massaging and I don�t know why some would like to flatter us with lies that are not even remotely related to honesty. We are not the elect of God. We are just like any other miserable people walking the surface of this planet. As a people, the feeling of pride in what we are should not blend in the borders with racism and arrogance. We are diverse; we are colorful. We are noble people; we must be humble.

Deep inside, we know that we are inflicted with a malady. We were blessed neither with a government that unites nor with an opposition that is creative and dynamic. Eritreans failed miserably in achieving reconciliation. Each one of us has played a destructive role in getting us to where we find ourselves today. Those who messed up made a grave mistake. Those who watched silently made a bigger mistake. Those who encouraged the mistakes made a blunder. We should have known better. We shouldn�t have been fighting on issues that we thought we agreed upon in the fifties. The mind of our leaders was nostalgic for the squabble of the forties and fifties; they took us on a three hundred and sixty degree turn. Back to the forties.

On the eve of Independence Day, all Eritreans (with the exception of those who gave up on the liberation of Eritrea and didn�t believe it has happened) were euphoric. The heartbeat of the nation was all pounding with excitement. Euphoria, Happiness and festivities everywhere. We though we bid the evil goodbye. Goodbye disunity, good riddance subjugation, welcome to the era of dignity and respect for human rights. All positive and hopeful.  We serenaded: embrace me mother Eritrea, I want to die in your arms. Alas, they messed up unforgivably. Yet, lets be optimistic. �It can be fixed� is what most of us thought. It can be fixed with time. To this effect, many offered their helping hand to the new government to clean house and set Eritrea on the right track. Skeptics smiled from afar. It turned out the skeptics were right. There was no need for all of that. Eritrea can accommodate all its children. It is welcoming. It is longing for its children to come home. No one should be denied the right to be in his country. That is a crime. Lets wake our conscience up!

People were pushed to the edge. And giving up on the system that placed itself in the center and followed a paternal imposition of its will on Eritreans, they drifted further and further apart. Agonies continued. Miseries worsened. What went wrong? Our leaders become extremists and in the process encouraged the culture of extremism. The political culture of Eritrea became anti-dialogue and exclusive. Eritrea was divided into two groups of citizens: the accepted and the rejected. No one gives up on his country and what we see around us is the message that no one gives up that easy.

What is the solution? If there is a listener, solution was on the table for a long time. It is Reconciliation. It is the will to sort out things in a civilized manner and iron our differences in a responsible way. The government is situated in a position to sponsor such a move. But alas, it is becoming intolerant by the day. It has ruled out anyone who is not loyal to its rule and anyone who it already condemned to the list of the rejected�almost half the Eritrean population. Who wins? Who benefits from this irresponsible policy of rejection and exclusionist attitude? Certainly not Eritrea or Eritreans. And we are still in ground zero. Not a single step towards reconciliation. That is the core problem of this Website with the Eritrean government.

Reconciliation is a strong foundation and the proper launching pad for anything that Eritrea needs. We believe that anything that is laid on a weak foundation is condemned to crumble. However, as many reasonable people, we supported the drafting of the constitution hoping it will take us towards rule of law and justice. We even supported the comical debate of the draft hoping that the concerns of the people will be considered in the final draft. It didn�t. Yet, a constitution is better than no-constitution and we went along. We went along reasonably until we stopped and asked, �wait a minute, how far do we follow as dictated?� The answer was a blow in the face. Is it  right that the PFDJ leadership to act as a leadership of foreign occupying power? 

Since independence, proclamations are abundantly shaping Eritrea as if it is a private holding of a single party. The PFDJ leadership has no mandate to meddle with our culture, tradition, property and the way we run our life. That is the task of a representative government. The PFDJ leadership should not reinvent Eritrea whimsically. No. The Hagoses and the Yemanes and Zemhrets are not authorized to reengineer the Eritrean society as they wish. They have crossed all lines of decency. They must stop.

The Eritrean struggle for self-determination was an expensive ordeal. Eritreans expected a reward equal to the sacrifice if not more. The deal now is very unfair, Eritreans deserve more that this treatment as a serf. In the struggle, we erred and we messed up many times. Everyone has his share of the mistakes and that is for history to judge and for politicians to find a way to reconcile with that past. The eras of the ELF versus EPLF should be left behind. What we are dealing with now is a single-ruling party on one side and all the opposition, in their different colors and orientations on the other side. Legality dictates that no one should be given a chance to judge his adversary. If so, they are all condemned beyond salvation because each has a story against the other�the adversary. Eritrea should not be forced to bleed in settling old scores. Lets show our love for our country. Lets be true to ourselves and acknowledge the need for reconciliation.

We can do our country and society a service if we advocated for the rule of law where the supremacy of the law would have the final say. Anything beneath that is a call to anarchy and the rule of the powerful over the weak. That would be a call for an unjust social life. We need reconciliation and all of us must struggle and exert pressure to achieve it. In doing so, we might be forced to identify those standing against Eritrean reconciliation and try to convince them about the benefits of reconciliation. If they would stand on the way of reconciliation in their usual inimical attitude, we must struggle against them until the call for reconciliation comes our loud and victorious. What powerful entity in its right mind would reject its brethren unless the entity is� well, against reconciliation?

We believe that a few radical extremists who are dividing the Eritrean society commandeer the PFDJ. It is being used as a tool for all sorts of manipulations by a few. The �four-hundred card-holding membership is not empowered. I believe they cannot possibly condone the actions of the PFDJ bosses. The Defense Forces are the muscle of Eritrea and not the muscle of the bosses. We are against the activities of the PFDJ in rejecting reconciliation, which we are sure, neither the Army nor the card-holding membership or the general populace condones. We are against the rule by. Our criticism is directed to those who have the final say within the PFDJ and those who are not bold enough to tell them �wrong�. And we hope they correct their attitudes.

Finally, lets �Hail Reconciliation�. Reconciliation on equal footing... and not reconciliation between the victor and the vanquished. The old era of partisan squabbles should be left behind. We call on all levelheaded members of the PFDJ to work towards reconciliation. We call on all democratic forces within the PFDJ to deliver this country to the safe shores. We call on them to end the misery of the people. We call on them to initiate the healing process of old wounds. We call on our defense forces to be the vanguard in safeguarding the Eritrean sovereignty as it has always been. We call on all opposition elements and organization not to loose hope and always extend their hands in peace. We call on all our people to pressure for reconciliation. We are all Eritreans and we all have equal stake.