A long time ago, Signor Pascuzzi, an Italian man who owned a bar in an Eritrean town,  slept with his Eritrean maid. A few days later, the maid went to her village crying and complained to her parents that she was �deflowered� by her boss. The parents sued Pascuzzi for damages. The court granted the victim around 900 Birr in damages -- considered a fortune at the time.

A few years later, a Commandis who was too drunk to know he was drunk, knocked on Pascuzzi�s closed bar. Pascuzzi opened his window from the second floor and informed the soldier he could not help him because he would be violating the curfew laws. The soldier insisted that Pascuzzi open the bar and the two were engaged in a heated argument. The drunken soldier drew his gun, as did Pascuzzi.  Gunfire erupted.  The sober one won: Pascuzzi shot the soldier dead.  He was jailed, fined 2200 birrs, released and lived happily ever after.

Until his death, Pascuzzi was remembered more for his violation of the maid than for killing a soldier.    Rape in Eritrea, even during the Ethiopian occupation, was a huge offense.   That was our culture.  Now, let�s take a look at Eritrea under PFDJ. 

PFDJ�s Destruction of Our Social Fabric 

In any state, there is a direct relationship between militarization and prostitution.  In Eritrea, wide-scale prostitution started with the Italian militarization of Eritrea. To satiate the need of Italian soldiers, brothels popped in Eritrean cities.  �Madams� who recruited young girls to work as prostitutes owned these brothels. (The name �gual bdama� is a corrupted version of �gual madam,� a prostitute in a madam�s brothel). Wild Italian soldiers used to knock at doors looking for prostitutes shouting �apri la porta� (Open The Door!), later corrupted to �shermuTa aprire,� an insult common in tigrigna.

Under Haile Sellasie, with more militarization, the prostitution industry was tolerated and it was common to see whorehouses everywhere. Still, this was limited to towns and, outside the whorehouses, hookers were not heard of.   The Dergue militarized Eritrea completely.  For the first time in our history, women started to stand in street corners selling their bodies openly, a practice which until then was unheard of. The few who dared to show signs of going easy on the streets were branded �Contro-Muro�, an insult reserved to few in fewer towns. The rest of Eritrea was not aware such a body-selling practice existed.

The PFDJ took over from the Dergue and infinitely accelerated the trend. By militarizing the society thoroughly and using our children as cannon fodder, by emasculating our religious and traditional authority figures, the PFDJ has developed a culture of hopelessness and who-knows-and-who-cares-about-tomorrow attitude that winks at underage drinking, senseless partying, and instant self-gratification. They have so degraded and coarsened our culture that nothing is shocking.  Prostitution has become rampant and it has spread to regions that have never seen such an immoral act.

Then there are the bars. Bars are not places one visits to have a drink only; they are places of prostitution where girls advertising their bodies sell their bed-services to the customers between drinks. Such humiliating habits damaging to women, and society at large, were the prime targets of our revolution. Now it is a cottage industry in PFDJ�s Eritrea.  

Ethiopian occupation practice of allowing prostitution houses among family residential neighborhoods continues unabated. Bars, supposed to sell drinks, continue to be prostitution dens. Hotels and motels admit underage girls accompanying men, especially the "vacation Eritreans" who reside in the West.  Such practices are demeaning and dehumanizing to women; furthermore, they are targeting the sanctity of the most sacred unit of society: the family.

Prostitution is not tolerated in the most liberal societies let alone a conservative society like Eritrea�s, which wants to remove any stigma to prostitution and now calls whores �commercial sex providers.� What is the PFDJ doing to the country? Where will they stop?  Is it not enough that the AIDS epidemic has reached its most disastrous level and Eritrea�s youth are being victims of the merciless plague? The PFDJ�s solution is placing condom vending machines on every bar and public places.

Is Sawa A Rape Camp?

In addition to what we have stated above, consider the following facts.  It is a common complaint of every female veteran freedom fighter that the PFDJ employs a use and dispose policy.   It is common knowledge that all the egalitarian values that were developed in Sahel were quickly abandoned once they entered Asmara, with women tegadelti now expected to forget their �we are equal� teachings and accept the traditional role of a housewife.   It is also common knowledge that some of the male tegadelti (the yeka�alo), specially the officers, believe that having spent their youth in sacrifices, it is now their time to play and they have an entitlement to it.   In fact, some of the officers own bars and canteens, which, realistically, makes them pimps.   Add all these factors plus the development of a military government that hates institutions and relies on favor exchanges and it is not difficult to believe the tranformation of the Eritrean woman from the status of first among equals to a sex toy.   

Mr. Xavier La Cana�s article, which appeared on Australia�s �The Age� says that Sawa is a rape camp.    The reporter quoted a piece that appeared at Awate.com�s Gedab News and another article at Asmarino.com.  If that were all, we would understand the outrage and skepticism from the usual quarters, given their antagonistic relationship with these two websites, which they have branded "enemies of Eritrea" (read: �enemies of PFDJ.�)   That is the gual neger (the peripheral issue.)  But the reporter also interviewed (on video) an Eritrean whose sister died in Sawa in circumstances she believes were suspicious and he spoke to UN sources (plural) who referred to Sawa as �rape camp.�   That is the neger (the core issue.)    All their discussions deal with gual neger: who his sources are, how old he is, the intensity of his eyes, etc. It is possible, but not likely, that our sources and Mr. La Cana�s sources lied to him.   On the other hand, will the professional enablers consider the possibility that the story is true?  Would they believe the story if they spoke to a rape victim or would they dismiss her as a liar? Do they know that their government has named a commission to deal with these repeated allegations from Eritrean parents? Will they not praise the government when its commission reports it has meted out �swift punishment� of a �handful� or renegades?

We are not at all surprised by the-blame-everyone-except-the-culprit response of the �we support our government� Professional Enablers. What can we expect from people who called University students who were sent to WiA �spoiled brats�?  What can we expect from people who told the government "we don�t need any evidence, do whatever you want to do with your hostages?" What can we expect from people who refuse to want to know what happened to Eritreans deported from Malta? What can we expect from people who label a deed a mistake only when the government proclaims it so?

Saddam�s Apology

A couple of days ago, Saddam Hussein apologized to Kuwait for the naked aggression of the defenseless country he engineered ten years ago.  Kuwait was not amused; it rejected the apology.   This is not an interesting story and hardly any lesson is derived from it; what Saddam did is consistent with all dictators� habit of doing anything to stay in power.  But this got us to thinking: what do those who supported Saddam ten years ago think about his apology?  Governments like that of Yemen? How about the PLO? Do they feel betrayed?  Do they tell themselves, �we were right then; we are right now�?  Do they console themselves by thinking, �the apology is not sincere.  It is just a show?�

What will those supporting Isaias think ten years from now, when the lid on all his crimes is blown off?  What is the basis for their support now?   Will they continue to apologize for him, until he apologizes to the Eritrean people for declaring war on defenseless and unarmed people?  Will they say they did it all to defend Eritrea�s sovereignty and unity? 

�Defending the Sovereignty and Unity of Eritrea�

The above is the slogan organized by an extension of �hgdefawi-meKete,� better known as hzbawi-shefeTe. The speakers were Dr. Berhe Habte-Giorgis,  Dr. Asgede Hagos, Dr. Tekie Fessehatzion, Dr. Gebre-Hiwet Tesfagiorgis, Dr. Yacob Fisseha,  and Dr. Ghidewon Abay Asmerom. 

Thanks to the PFDJ, the words �sovereignty�, �unity� and �diversity� have lost all meaning.  

Talking in support of a government that cedes control of 25% of its territories is a perversion of the meaning of sovereignty. To support a government that tramples the sovereign rights of its citizens is to betray the hopes of the Eritrean people.  Talking in support of a government whose cynical ploys pit one Eritrean segment against another and one which is not beneath pushing ethnic and religious buttons to preserve its chokehold on power is nothing but lip service to unity.  As for diversity, well, this hzbawi shefete is no different than the rest: it is just a semi-circle pretending to be a circle. 

Nations invest on their children. Though indirectly, our nation has invested on our �educated class�.   It is hard to fathom: these intellectuals would never accept royalty in Eritrea.  If a king-want-to-be, claiming divine guidance, said he had a right to rule Eritrea and name his son a crown prince and heir apparent, they would think it absurd because they know sovereign power resides in citizens. Yet, they have no problem accepting a party that wants to rule forever, to create its dynasty and hand-select its chosen heirs, and in the process, silence all voices of dissent.  They know that if they were to steer the wrong way, they too would be subjected to the brutality of the police state because, in all likelihood, they know people who have been victimized by the PFDJ. 

Wittingly or unwittingly, they are accessories to the disunity and instability of the nation; they are the cause for its retarded development; they are the carriers of the culture of exclusion and disarray.   And they have chosen to apologize for a system that owes Eritrea an apology.   Soverignty means to accept that the people, not one man, are the sovereign powers.  Unity means to accept that all Eritreans, without exception, are equal stakeholders in the nation.   Diversity begins by acknowledging that a semi-circle, no matter how big, is not a circle, unless it accepts its half.

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