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Eritrean Public Forum
Dallas Fort Worth
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Tel & Fax: 972-993-2021, X2535 Ending the year with a positive tone: a successful seminar with
Saleh Gadi On Saturday, December 28, the Eritrean Public Forum of Dallas and Fort Worth held a successful seminar with the publisher of Awate.com, Mr. Salih Gadi. The seminar was organized as part of EPF's ongoing public education campaign. Although, the main focus of the seminar was "the path to reconciliation", many pertinent issues were also discussed during the open session. The EPF-DFW is pleased by the turn out, diversity of the audience and the quality of presentation and professionalism of the guest speaker. EPF-DFW would like to thank Salih Gadi for his excellent presentation and thoughtful analysis of the state of current events in Eritrea. For the benefit of the public, we are releasing Saleh Gadi's opening speech in its entirety. EPF-DFW would also like to thank Mr. Asmerom Berhe of the Eritrean Independent Democratic Movement for honoring us with his presence. At the end of the seminar, EPF-DFW asked Mr. Asmerom to briefly address the audience. Mr. Asmerom briefly explained who is in the opposition and what it means to be in the opposition, the role of civic societies in regime change and democratization and his organization's platform and vision (EIDM).
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Saleh Gadi's speech (in Tigrigna & English) at a seminar organized by EPF-DFW lr smkD : k smkD K ]{q Xn};
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Country without an assembly; a gathering without an elder would never be reconciled
The lack of an assembly in our country is the cause for our disunity. Due to the absence of reconciliation and unity, we strive day and night to realize it. It is our main dream. Greetings dear brothers and sisters. I thank those who invited me to give a speech here. I thank you for the respect that you offered me. I deeply thank the members and leadership of the EPF Dallas & Fort Worth for this event. I thank you for giving up your day off to come here to listen to me. In todays Eritrea, if one is asked to give a speech in the state of affairs, choosing a subject is not a problem at all. If one chooses to speak of sufferings, there are plenty of them. If one chooses to speak of agonies, there are plenty of options to choose from. If one chooses to speak of oppression, there are stories that can fill books. I chose to speak of a subject that would look beyond todays Eritrea and a subject that would touch our lives in all aspects. Disunity Can Cost Lives I chose to speak of a subject that captivated me, long before I started to write on politics, in my childhood days. I chose to speak on the topic of reconciliation among Eritreans. Maybe, what I have to say might not be palatable for someone who believes in the One Heart, One People; we have always been united, we have always been reconciled banner. But I prefer not to be like the proverbial ostrich: to hide my head and sing feel-good songs while my other body parts are exposed. There was a curse that I heard in my childhood. I was hearing curses against the Ethiopian occupation: May they lack harmony! Though I somehow felt it was a potent curse, I never understood its meaning exactly. But soon enough, like many of my peers, I came to understand the magnitude of the risks that follow disunity: in the early seventies, disunity caused the death of hundreds of our youth. So disunity can cost lives! Disunity is not solely known for the loss of life it causes. Those who are spared also suffer of instability and poverty and are overwhelmed by anxiety. A proverb goes:
United bees lick honey
Disunited flies lick rotten meat Due to poverty, our people are nearly licking rotten meat. The lack of reconciliation has occupied the thoughts of our people and has crippled our resources and frozen our bodies and we are not able to move forward. Abel and Cain Misunderstanding and conflicts are natural. Humanity has inherited the habits of disagreement from the days of Abel and Cain. On the other hand, humanity has also inherited mechanisms to solve their disagreement. Eritreans have inherited mechanisms of conflict resolutionsand what a rich heritage. Rejecting the rich mechanism of conflict resolution; condemning culture and tradition and oppressing people and pushing them to live in the caves of Abel and Cain is not our heritage. We are not willing to go back in time to the days of Abel and Cain because of lack of reconciliation. Its our responsibility to solidify our unity with all our abilities because it is a guarantee to our existence. We dont have any other choice but to pay enough attention to the damaged parts of our unity and mend it. I hope my mentioning Abel and Cain will not give the perception that we have reached such a bad state of affairs with our unity. What I wanted to do was to explain that such disarray prosper under the system that is ruling Eritrea. A Covenant To Live Together So far, we have reached to a common understanding that the Eritrean people have a covenant to live together. It was also affirmed that the covenant among its people asserts that Eritrea will exist with its present borders and with all its territories. But we havent agreed on how to run our nation together. Though un-elected, the system in Eritrea is ruling Eritrea just like a private ranch, by being the sole authority to decide on everything and is pushing Eritreans to the brink of disaster and thus testing our unity. It is natural that social forces compete in any young and underdeveloped country. Since foreigners always governed Eritrea, we never had an experience in governing ourselves. The competition that is being waged in a time that is supposed to be that of nation- building should not be a reason for our demise. Competitions are characteristics of democracy. Human beings were always competing, long before they learned of democracy since it is a characteristic of life. Today, since we havent laid the rules for our competition, we are competing in an unorganized manner and we are developing wrong manners of competition. These wrong manners have developed their own destructive behaviors and have caused mistrust and are getting us further apart. They have become a damaging addition to the old unsolved issues. Our problems not only developed a life of their own and are hindering our lives, they are popping up in different occasions in different faces and are holding us back from advancing. This requires a combined effort to solve. Without reconciliation, however, we wouldnt even be able to accomplish a tenth of that. Reconcile With Whom? There are many people who, knowingly or unknowingly, consider reconciliation limited to political reconciliation. Treating national reconciliation as if it only concerns organizations and their leaders is undermining the sacred objective. Its obvious that since the Eritrean leaders and organizations come out of society, when they lean towards conflict or reconciliation, they influence a large segment of the people. Since we as a people tend to think within the organizational sphere and have not developed a habit of freethinking, we face many difficulties in taking care of our problems. It is difficult for us to think outside the organizational realm. It is this fact that gives the reconciliation of organizations and their leaders some importance. Had we developed enough civil and professional organizations and societies, we would have been able to think freely outside the influence of partisan organizations. If organizations and leaders reconcile, it doesnt mean the people have reconciled; and if they disagree, it doesnt mean the people have disagreed among themselves. The political decisions of organizations influence the national reconciliation positively or negatively; but it is not a substitute to national reconciliation and national dialogue. The political organizations are either instigators or main actors in the problems that are hindering reconciliation. Again, I beg you not to construe my speech to mean that all organizations and all leaders are anti-reconciliation. Currently, national reconciliation is demanded in its religious, geographical and ethnic levels. The lives of our people is confused with different rivalries: Highland vs. Lowlands; Christian Vs Moslem and ELF Vs EPLF. All that demands reconciliation. But the highest demand is the demand to reconcile with our conscience. Source of Disunity I believe that the cause for the disunity among Eritreans is the current regime. Sixty-years ago, wise and effective leaders struggled and brought a solution to the problems of disunity that faced our society then. Todays leaders have decided to weaken the solutions reached sixty-years ago and arbitrarily and unilaterally interpret the solutions reached through tough struggle, as per their whims and moods. They played with our old wounds, which are now bleeding again as if pierced with a sharp sword. Risks that accompany disunity are hovering over our heads as a frightful dark cloud. How do we arrive to reconciliation? Our maladies would not be remedied by being timid and bashful. There is no woman who goes to a doctor to give birth and then refuses to take her clothes off. Our maladies should be stripped naked. It is the malady of all of us and we should avoid mistrust and address our maladies with responsibility. The Dimensions of Reconciliation A. Religious Christianity and Islam are not new comers to our country. In fact, they reached us long before they were established in the regions where they were started. Excluding the periods of the Turkish rule and that of Atze Yohannes in which there was religious favoritism, the two faiths have coexisted with respect. We have to ask why they have developed mistrust. We find the roots of the current mistrust in the politics of the forties. This could be because the leaders of the time were using the tactics of holding people captive to advance their politics by using religion as a tool. (For more details of the history of the period, I recommend Aynfelale, a book written by Alemseghed Tesfai.) In leading the struggle to emancipate the Tigre from the hundreds of years old yoke of serfdom under the Shimagle, Ibrahim Sultan used Islam as the main ideology for his campaign and for mobilizing the Tigre. Later on, when the fate of Eritrea was being determined, he managed to rally the combined force of Moslems behind the block that demanded the independence of Eritrea. This force of Al Rabita, caused the Christian segment of our population to feel threatened. On the other side, we cant find anyone like Qeshi Dimitros the faithful servant who contributed the most in building the Unionist party. It is a known fact that the peasants of our country are very religious people. Threatening these faithful people that they would be excommunicated from the church, and that they will not receive (FtHat) on their death, and that their children will be denied baptism by the church is cruel: the peasants would prefer the ground to open up and swallow them than face such punishment. Such tactics and blackmail made many innocent people to rally behind the unionist party. Amidst the rivalry of Union versus independence, when Eritrea was in the brink of disintegration, there appeared a compromise solution and we arrived at the federation. The federation was later aborted and we arrived at full occupation. Then, the armed struggle was heralded and since there is always mischief around, mistrust continued. The outcome of which was realized when todays Eritrean ruler opened a new front, the effect of which is bleeding us to this day. That is, in brief, concerning the religious mistrust. B. Geographic We also have a rivalry based on Highlands versus Lowlands. The Highlands are populated by sedentary population while the Lowlands, with the exception of Gash Barka, are populated by pastoralist population. So far, all the authorities that ruled Eritrea and decided on land issues come from agricultural background with an agricultural value system. The authorities do not want us to talk about land issues, which are related to the Eritrean citizens rights. One can go to the Lowlands and can acquire land while the reverse is not possible! Since land issues are issues of the people, no organization should meddle with it; only an elected assembly of lawmakers should only handle it. We dont have to doubt that such decisions are risky for our future. This is one of the issues that is hindering our reconciliation. C. Political Affiliation Next, the meaningless rivalry that is hindering our reconciliation and bleeding us is the rivalry that is similar to whose side are you on sport competition: the destructive ELF versus EPLF rivalry. The differences between the two Eritrean organizational schools have never changed. This rivalry of the organizations deepened our differences and has damaged the rich experience and heritage of our people, which should have been a cause for our pride. We lived divided because of the organizations and today that division still continues. The experience of the struggle period is our pride and dignity; but it should not be a chain that makes us a crippled nation, limiting our advancement. We have to manage to get out of the ELF Vs EPLF trap. The current empty circle which is based on our history should be left the academia and research facilities and universities and on the books of the people with pens. D. Cultural Identity We need to reconcile with our traditions. In all the regions of Eritrea, our people have mechanisms for solving problems. Instead of developing the time-tested ancestral traditions and elevating it to the national status, the system of management that is corrupted due to arrogance and mal-administration is being imposed on villages and hamlets. It has become the cause for the destruction of the traditional systems and is badly affecting our coexistence. E. Conscience: Self-Reconciliation We need to reconcile with many issues; but first, we need to reconcile with our consciences. Our conscience must enable us to see the oppression that is going on. Todays Eritrea has become a place where citizens are deprived of their citizenship; those who burned their lives struggling could not return to their country; those who fled the rule of Haile Sellassie still continue to live in refugee camps; and a place where anyone who doesnt bow to the system could not have any of their rights protected. It is natural for those who are wronged to struggle against injustice. But reprimanding those who struggle to regain their rights is an act that can only come from those who are not reconciled with their consciences. Eritreans didnt start to struggle because they were not clothed; they didnt raise guns because they were hungry. Why then? The denied rights and disrespect for their dignity was the cause that drove them to the woods at the dawn of their struggle. Today, disapproving of the struggle for the lost dignity is similar to disapproving of the earlier struggle against occupation. I feel that this is a point that we need to reconcile with our consciences. We know that there are ethnic and religious segments of our people who raise many issues and complain saying they are wronged. It is the obligations of those who say that they are wronged to explain to other Eritreans who they believe do not understand their plight leaving it to others to discover it on their own is wrong; and those who keep silent while witnessing injustice should not forget their responsibility. We should understand that an oppression of any Eritrean is oppression against all Eritreans. We must struggle for national issues at a national level and our struggle should not miss its national context. For example, the Kunama people wage an armed struggle to rectify the wrongs perpetuated by what they believe is a traditional and economic oppression. On one hand, carrying out a campaign to belittle them instead of trying to understand their complaints and trying to find a solution for it, is wrong; and it will not take us anywhere. On the other hand, the Kunama people have to dialogue and communicate with the rest of us concerning their complaints. Since they are Eritreans, they could not have a problem that concerns only them; their problems are the problems of all Eritreans. Though I mentioned the Kunama problem as an example, we have many such problems that are testing our reconciliation efforts. Reconciliation: Creating Its Environment I touched on a few elements of our problems that I think are hindering our reconciliation. I urge you to recognize that I have only touched the problems lightly. Now please allow me to try to tackle the question of how do we arrive at a reconciliation. Reconciliation is not an exercise where a citizen brings another citizen to submission. Reconciliation is not a life where one is a master and another a slave. Reconciliation is not a seemingly green carpet that hides our taboos. Also, reconciliation is not a throne that could be erected by humiliating your compatriots. A reconciliation that doesnt guarantee the equality of all citizens is not just and could not last long. Reconciliation can neither be achieved by a simple handshake, nor can it be built with it. Reconciliation requires the purity of the heart. It means recognizing that those you hate and consider enemies even your blood enemies - are you partners. People reconcile with those who they are at odds with and not with those one agrees with because they wouldnt be in agreement unless they were reconciled. Reconciliation starts with the right attitude and with the spirit of forgiveness and it ends with that. Without the promise of forgiveness, wrongdoers would not be encouraged to confess and stop their hatred. Without forgiveness, it would be difficult to identify and explain the injustices of history from the injustices committed by individuals. At the same time, we would not be able to learn from our past so that we can benefit from the experience in our future. Eritrea has come this far through hard times carrying heavy loads of hate and injustices. In order to offload the heavy burden, we need to be ready to accept the confession of many people and to forgive them. We will not be able to reconcile until we eradicate the practice in which whoever holds to power defines what is wrong and what is right and where the powerful acquit themselves and incriminate their opponents. His Excellency Archbishop Desmond Tutu says: For those parts of our history where things didnt go as they should, were sorry. We cannot go back to rectify bygone history; but we shouldnt repeat mistakes we committed in our past. For the sake of reconciliation, Nelson Mandela, the African pride, forgave his enemies who burned his life in the dark by jailing him for 28 years. Though he had the power if he was bent on vengeance, he chose the path of reconciliation and saved his people and his country. We dont blame those who are engaged in a fight; we blame those who refuse to reconcile their differences and use the muscles of a nation to carry their acts of vengeance simply because they happen to be holding to power. South Africa, the home of Mandela is not too far from Eritrea; how I wish if we could learn a little of his wisdom. In one of his interviews with Hwyet magazine, (the issue called citizen Isaias and that attempted to go beyond usual questions on politics and told us about the person) even Isaias admitted that in his journey, he has done many things that bother his conscience but, within their context, were necessary. It is similar to what my friend Saleh Younis calls, let the mouse pass to save the oven orthe pot or something like that. Since reconciliation is about truth and forgiveness, it is not about killing of a mouse or of breaking an old oven or of building a new one. So far, the mouse is not dead; and not many ovens were saved. And the saved oven is not only cracked, but there is no dough to bake anything in it. Therefore, without truth and forgiveness, because they go hand in hand, people live in a life based on fear, lies and deception. Individuals live a split life: one personal and another of public life. Hzbawi Mekete: A Campaign To Kill Our Consciences To understand this, I can cite the activity carried out recently by the so-called educated in relation to the festivities known as Hizbawi Mekhete. In it, the so-called educated individuals, instead of advocating on behalf of the people and advancing the ideals of reconciliation, they chose to wear the anti-reconciliation mask; this is why I said we need to reconcile with our consciences. Some citizens, especially those we consider educated enough to know, prefer not to speak of the injustices, though their consciousness deplores it, with the pretext that the enemy might capitalize on it. When they act against their conscience with the pretext of denying the enemy a chance to use our problems for their benefit, then there is no mistake in saying that their conscience is run and controlled by the enemy. People should not put their conscience on the laps of those they consider enemies. Here we need to answer one question: who is controlled by the enemy, is it those whose conscience are controlled by the enemy or those who make noise when they see a mistake being committed? If we are to live a truthful life, we need to have our conscience judge issues based on their merit of being right or wrong. Conscience should not be blocked by anything. It should not be let sleep for any reason. It should not be made dysfunctional or sent to a distant place. It has to be alert and alive. The method of thinking and evaluating issues by a simple citizen and that of a politician or a soldier should not be identical. When a soldier goes to war, he is prepared to kill --though in his conscience he believes that killing is wrong. For example, during the cold war between the Eastern and Western camps (it still exists to some extent) there were many functionaries working in the fields of security and intelligence might be carrying acts that their conscience would not approve of but they had to do it for the benefit of a bigger cause and to protect the interest of their nations. A common citizen would never endorse such act unless the common citizen should think and act like a security or an intelligence officer. The campaign that was facing us in different names and is recently christened Hizbawi Mekhete is a campaign being waged to send our common conscience to sleep. It is an anti-reconciliation campaign. When common citizens lead and participate in campaigns that are in confrontation against the rights of a citizen and against logic, it can only be described as the death of conscience. If not, we wouldnt have seen common citizens witnessing injustices and apologizing for them sometimes by invoking the fear of the perceived enemy, and another time the fear of war by carefully packaging the injustices and trying hard to make them palatable. They defend the mistakes more than the organizations and politicians who commit the injustice. Some of our so-called masses have forgotten that they are the masses and have become the defenders of the narrow interest of the un-elected leaders and their tools. They have handed over their rights and killed their conscience. This is not an empty rhetorical accusation; there are ample proofs, which we witness very clearly in the resolutions passed by the anti-reconciliation campaigns. The campaigns are pushing the resolution that says: whoever is not inline with us (meaning inline with the PFDJ) will and should be ostracized. All know this. For examples, please check the resolutions that were passed in Sweden and other places. Reconciliation: Regaining Our Identity The current regime is a regime that weakens the citizen and violates their rights. A citizen whose rights are trampled upon might be weakened for a short time. Weakening citizens and pushing them into chaos is the method used by all oppressive regimes to elongate their stay in power. Any oppressive regime considers citizens rights as a payment offered against loyalty and obedience. By doing that, it succeeds in controlling those with weak conscience and aligns them against their people thus promoting anti-reconciliation behaviors. It is these wicked deeds that I tried to explain briefly that makes me assertively say that the current regime in Eritrea is anti-reconciliation. When a people unite, they own their history, which is the gist of their identity. Without reconciliation, there cannot be truth, forgiveness, history or even identity. Six years ago when I started to write advocating for reconciliation. People whose should know better asked, who do we reconcile with? and treated my calls as a material for ridicule. Reconciliation with so and so? Reconciliation with our enemies? Those were some of the questions the seemingly surprised asked. Since reconciliation is about the salvation of our nation, it is a victory that we realize through a struggle against the anti-reconciliation forces. Reconciliation is not a call made by the weak; it is a call that is made by citizens who can see the risks of disunity. This doesnt require extraordinary intelligence; it doesnt require superb intelligence and only those who knowingly wish to bury the ideals of reconciliation and unity wantonly dismiss its importance. Otherwise, it is a clear requirement that is understood by all. Our Flesh and Blood As there are forces of disarray in any country, our tiny force of disarray has been damaging and still continues to do so. There are those on whose veins run hatred and who are blinded and overwhelmed by narrow-mindedness who dwell on narrow organizational rivalry. Our people should not live in confusion and restlessness because of the hatred of a tiny fringe of our people and their rejection of the ideals of reconciliation. In my opinion, today the main force that has become anti-reconciliation is the system that is installed in Eritrea. When I say a system, I mean the infrastructure of rule. Those Eritreans who find themselves in that infrastructure, either by lack of choice or with the sole objective of survival and earning a living, are our blood and flesh. In opposing the system, there are a few who condemn all those who are in the system. Those Eritreans within the PFDJ are a segment of our population. Those who are condemned to exile in different places and cant set foot in their country are our flesh and blood. Although the system hides it, those who are bleeding each other in Eritrea are our people. And in the future, if situations are not resolved, we might be entangled in a more fierce conflict; and those who will be tools of the conflicts and be made to pay with their lives, are our people. However we condemn it, however we might condemn it, if we are not reconciled, the risk of more bloodletting is hanging over our heads and terrorizing us. Which is wiser: keeping silent now and looking into the risks later (because we would have to find a solution) or crying later (because it is too late)? How many opportunities have we missed? If we handled our affairs responsibly, wouldnt we have saved the blood that was spilled in the border war recently? Whose life was lost? Isnt it the lives of the poor whom we promised a better life? And now, who is childless when they have raised many? Who is suffering because no one would care for them in their old age? Who is suffering because they couldnt get anyone to dig their graves upon their death? Enough! Reconciliation. Reconciliation. It is important to know who would be exposed to sufferings and difficulties because of the lack of reconciliation. Those who are screaming anti-reconciliation slogans are safe. They will not be part of any conflict physically. Those who agitated for the border war in different ways are still alive; but those they pushed to the war have lost their lives in the thousands. Those killed couldnt even find a proper burial; their remains were scattered to the extent that the UN governments had to beg for their care. To conceal the number of their dead, both governments abandoned the remains to an extent that the remains were decreased to flushed white bones strewn in the desert. We dont wish to see such injustice repeated to our people again. We have to think for the poor parents who have been supplying their children to fire for the last fifty years. It is enough. I apologize, for you might have found my speech disturbing. Do we have hope? Yes. There is cause for hope. Eritrea, in spite of its poverty, can accommodate us all. Our country wishes to collect its children. Those in exile wish to retire in their country. We all wish to see the streets and neighborhoods we grew up in. We wish to walk on the ground for which our friends gave their life. We wish to shed tears of longings in our country. We are saddened when we see people who spend thirty and forty years of their lives for their country and are now condemned to exile. Why all that? There is nothing we couldnt solve if we sat and started a dialogue, in line with our traditions. There is no reason why we couldnt reconcile, agree and solve our differences. If we spread a message of love and reconciliation, I dont see any reason why reconciliation and unity cannot rule our country. You might ask for evidence. My proof is: from among the worlds people, show any people who fight, argue and discuss their countries problems like the Eritreans do! Such love for a country, though in different ways, is a blessing. It is an enormous energy. If we manage, coordinate and direct this energy and love for our country in the right direction for the salvation of our nation, there is no force in the world that would stand against it. Eritrea will reconcile and our difference can be solved based on truth and justice. Wherever we are, since we dont have any other alternative, sooner or later, we will embrace each other and reconcile. Respect for those who passed for their country
Gratitude to all who are concerned with their people Thank you
Dallas, December 28, 2002
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