| Reaching Out |
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| Written by Berhan Hagos | |
| Sunday, 31 August 2008 | |
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The leadership of EPP and EDP are showing us that the political paranoia created by Isayasawiyan is just a political ‘midingar’. With a little amount of ‘reaching out’, we can reconcile our political differences and build the
-------------------- Reaching Out It is probably telepathy. I had settled on the above title a couple of days ago to reflect on current opposition politics when another article titled ‘Reconciliation’ appeared on opposition website. I debated whether to change the title but chose to stick to it because it best characterizes the current opposition politics. After a couple of months of absence, it is difficult to pick a topic to resume my writing campaign because so much has transpired during this time. For this article, I will simply outline some of my observations. By the
An ancient song: By the
Looking across into a land that seems never meant be, My parents sacrificed their lives so I can live in peace, But the darkest period in our history has descended upon us, Governed by a den of hyenas, Our own with no compassion, empathy, humanity, fairness, The privileged few who live in luxury, While I and thousands others prohibited from feeding our wives and children, Forbidden to take care of my ailing uncle and his wife, Who lost all their three children for glory and freedom of
Unable to feed my family, Forbidden to take care of my wife, Forbidden to tuck my son into bed, What am I to do labouring through 13 years on slavery campaign, While the privileged few enjoyed their lives, I wiped my tears off my face, Washed my face with the water of
Turned my face towards South, It was a crisp sunny morning, With a fresh breeze hitting my face, I looked into the uncertain world that awaited me, But I knew, finally, that for good or bad, My destiny belongs to me, I started to run, Took two steps forward, and stopped, I wanted to look back, I couldn’t let go, I resisted the urge, I started to run again, picking up speed Into an uncertain world. National Security or Mass Exodus The most lethargic reason for maintaining young Eritreans in perpetual bondage is to safeguard the national security of
If this isn’t by itself a threat to Eritrean national security, what is? It is also interesting to note as the old saying goes, ‘the dog barks after the hyena had cleaned house and left’. During the peak conflict with Woyane, PIA was making jokes at Woyane while
Those who defend
EU’s Development Aid to
We are told that EU intends to proceed with development aid to
But EU’s development aid to
The Declaration of Human Rights bans any form of slavery, which is not just defined by 19th century treatment of blacks or thousands of years of white slavery of being tied to physical chains and “owned” by a master. The fact that some Eritrean servicemen receive pittance every month doesn’t change the definition of slavery. Rather, slavery is any act that violates the rights of humans to act according to their own freewill. This freewill can’t be taken away at the whims of a dictator or individuals who are pursuing their self-interest or who are burdened with their own dictatorial paranoia. As commendable as International Criminal Court is, its main sponsor, EU, must begin by cleaning up its own house by upholding international declarations it has signed. Excuses are slippery roads which EU can’t afford to embark on if it wants to play positive role in bringing about change in the world. In my view, EU should proceed with economic or development aid to Eritrea, but under the strictest condition that EU adheres to the Declaration of Human Rights in undertaking these slavery projects, lest one day it itself becomes a plaintiff in ICC. Western Support for Eritrean Democratic Cause As Ms. Senait Yohannes lamented in her article, Western officials tell Eritrean opposition groups and individuals that more Eritreans in Diaspora must get involved in opposition activities in order for these foreign officials to help
But this is idle chatter! Reality check says that despite our desire for Western support for our cause, there isn’t much that Western governments can do to bring about political change or reform in
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These are only some of the worst offenders along with
So what do we expect from Western government knowing fully that they are powerless in bringing about change against determined dictators?
Wisdom is reserved not for those who can attain and retain power, but for those who know when to quit. The latest example is President Pervez Musharef of
Case in Point: From
The West opened a Pandora’s Box by unilaterally recognizing the independence of
What does this mean for
‘Kab Seb Zitetsebeye, Bidewu Beleye!’ There can’t be a wiser saying … and Min. Haile Drue reflected this 8 years ago. What should be our primary motive for our campaign in Diaspora? Over-expectations bring fatigue if expectations are not realized within the timeframe we expect certain events to take place. It is for this reason that the manner with which we frame our expectations plays critical role in our opposition stamina against the regime. If we wake up every morning expecting the regime to fall that day, soon we will tire out, leading us to resignation, which will in turn weakens the opposition movement. Instead, we should wake up every morning telling ourselves that our struggle to free PFDJ’s hostages and to bring change in
These brave men and women could have lived like the rest of us [Livin' la Vida Loca] by paying lip service to a dictator. But their conscious wouldn’t allow them to see their
Some countries such as the
As irritating as Isayasawiyan are, we should ignore them. PFDJ festivals have been abandoned by the adult Eritrean population in Diaspora and are barely a night out for Eritrean teenagers whose attendance at these festivals is more a reflection of their search for identity than support for a dictatorial regime. Closer observations reveal that PFDJ festivals have failed to achieve their objectives, and we shouldn’t give them any more weight than what they are – utter failures. The tragedy in Diaspora politics isn’t that too many people don’t understand the sophisticated machinery of dictatorship, but the lack of empathy, which is to put oneself in somebody else’s shoes. If we can’t think from the heart, which we all are endowed with regardless of our backgrounds, everything else is lost. Best Opposition News The ever growing rapprochement between EPP (ex-ELF-RC) and EDP is probably the biggest news in years of political opposition. What started out as a merger or reconciliation of ELFNC-EPLFEPM into Eritrean National Salvation Front (ENSF) is now shaping up into a solid footing with the latest news. For those who understand the significance, this rapprochement is probably the most earth shattering news that has gone with little expression of enthusiasm within the opposition camp. We now find out that the venomous hatred that we witnessed for years was only skin deep – its political wound didn’t heal for lack of reaching out. The leadership of EPP and EDP are showing us that the political paranoia created by Isayasawiyan is just a political ‘midingar’. With a little amount of ‘reaching out’, we can reconcile our political differences and build the
For all our self-righteous opinions, nothing is more enduring than “reaching out”. Sustainable progress can only be achieved when we pursue inclusive politics. No amount of steel and concrete can make up for “reaching out”. Solid nations are built on ‘reaching out’. We must reach back in order to reach forward. We can’t simply bury the past, but must first acknowledge it. Eritrean struggle for independence from the forties onward must be correctly reflected in our history, in our symbols and in our institutions. There were no organizations that failed, but organizations that had to evolve. One organization wouldn’t have succeeded without the lessons learned from the previous organization. The dynamic nature of organizations requires that one dies and another born – just like living creatures, or at the very least evolve beyond recognition, with new ideas and new people. For clarity, certain processes can live but organizations themselves must evolve – through one process or another. It should be etched in our brain that life is about evolution, which requires constant change. Failure is when we stop to evolve – when our thought processes constipate. You can’t implement 1950s ideology, no matter how packaged, abandoned by every country in the world in 2008. The world has evolved! Life is all about managing contradictions. There is good and bad, day and night, hot and cold, bitter and sweet, love and hate, man and woman, smart and dumb, happy and sad, idealism and realism, life and death, etc… Success in life is about managing these contradictions. Physical contradictions can’t be changed, e.g. man and woman or life and death, and thus one is forced to manage it. However, emotional and other non-physical contradictions are grey areas that we must manage. Is the pursuit of happiness the ultimate goal? Or should we simply avoid sadness? In pursuing happiness, are we enticing sadness with it? How do you live comfortably in the grey zone? Politics is probably the greatest grey zone we live in. It is already complex enough to manage one’s own internal contradictions. A society is the aggregate of all individuals managing their own internal/personal contradictions. Politics is about aggregating all these contradictions. Those who can’t reconcile their own personal [internal], esp. political contradictions can’t reconcile aggregated contradictions of societies. They become part of societies’ problems rather than its solutions. At the aggregate level, no one will argue that the most important task in building a sustainable democratic system of government is to establish institutions. But would institution alone bring about a sustainable democratic system? In reality, institution is about group decision making process similar to a committee where no one is accountable. Decisions are slow and everyone wants to take credit for other people’s work while passing off all the responsibilities and blames to the next guy. The contradictory form to institution, or group decision making, is an individual decision maker – a leader. One without the other will skew the contradiction into one direction leading to a disaster. In other words, the grey zone is found when institutions are designed to control a single decision-maker who must lead a nation with a bridle in his/her mouth. One without the other courts a disaster leading to pendulum politics leading eventually towards dictatorship. Eritrean opposition politics has tendency to be self-righteous. Of course, every political party in the world wants to project the image of righteous cause. But the difference among the prudent ones and idealist ones is the ability to understand that politics thrives in the grey zone and thus one must be able to reconcile “what is” to “what should be” – call this pragmatism or prudent politics. It leads to backroom compromises – reaching out. Hatred, anger, grudge and bitterness have no place in politics. This is politics’ occupational hazard one must accept in order to avoid clouding one’s judgment in a world where one is forced to continually reconcile contradictions. As the old goes, ‘if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.’ We need politics that doesn’t love too much, and doesn’t hate too much, lest we cloud our judgements. We don’t need those who hate and express their endless anger in their self-righteous politics, but need those who are able to manage us through the grey zone without violating our fundamental values. It is about pragmatism and prudence! The first thing I examine in any political organization is the key decision maker. It doesn’t matter whether that organization is registered as 1234 Inc. or 9877 Inc. If a political organization doesn’t have a publicly known key decision maker, then it doesn’t belong in the political sphere. Without a leader who is willing to step forward and become personally accountable for the actions of its political organization, we will have shadowy organizations whose functions can only be counter-productive to our cause. It is always difficult to hold institutions directly accountable, but is much easier to hold a key leader accountable. As contradictory as it may seem, political opposition with obsessive ‘idealist’ tendencies aren’t playing positive roles at this juncture in our struggle. Extreme ‘idealism’ or even ‘realism’ at the other end are each contradictory forms that are poisonous in themselves. These positions should be used only as push-pull factors to find a balance within the grey zone of blended political ‘idealism and realism’. Even the grey zone isn’t static (stationary) at one point, but must move around within dynamic factors. It is for this reason that we must assess and reassess our political positions everyday to reflect the realities of dynamic world. In my view, Mr. Mesfin Hagos remains the most important and key figure within the opposition camp capable of reconciling the contradictions we face within the political grey zones. He is one of the most experienced and pragmatic leaders within the opposition camp, and in fact, within the entire Eritrean politics. We can only succeed against the regime when we allow our trusted opposition leaders to operate within that grey zone at their own discretion. Don’t second guess every morning in the comfort of one’s home! Human history is replete with examples of why we can’t hit two birds with one stone and that we can’t have our cake and eat it too. If we agree that bringing change is the most critical task at this time, then other concerns will become lower priorities. In contradictory world of nature, we can’t have it both ways. “United we stand, divided we fall!” We need leadership that is able to operate within the grey zone of our history, our current predicaments and our antagonists. I believe that the key leaders of the major opposition political parties are increasingly becoming more comfortable operating within the grey zone; able to reconcile the deep contradictions that we can learn from rich human history. Of course, sometimes political judgment appears to be a tad in short supply within the opposition camp, but again, an ounce of live action is better than a pound of self-righteous politics in the comfort of one’s home. Political judgement is like a ‘guessing game’. If you ask two people to guess a number between 1 and 10, and if the first person guesses 1, it would be stupid for the second person to guess 10. Instead one should say 2, thus occupying the entire spectrum from 2 to 10. Similarly, PIA has been guessing 1 or 2 due to political quagmire, and the opposition has a tendency to pick 8 or 9. Why not usurp the entire spectrum by picking a number [i.e. political position] that usurps the entire political spectrum? That is pragmatism! As we are witnessing in the American presidential campaign, the key issue isn’t about concrete and steel, but political judgement, because everything else follows good political judgement. More bits and pieces … The Socio-economic Quagmire From time-to-time, I come across Eritreans who tell me how well
I have come to understand that many relate how well the government is performing to their own personal performance. If the individual never owned a house, he/she impressed if the government builds even one house. If the individual owns three houses, he/she is impressed when the government builds more than three houses. We tend to compare how well a nation is managed by our own tiny world around us. We forget that a government isn’t judged by one or two expensive houses it builds, but how it can meet the housing needs of tens of thousands of young Eritreans who reach the age of adulthood every year. We lack the mental capacity to aggregate the needs of tens of thousands of individuals and how this regime has failed to meet these needs. The ten or twenty million
OBAMANIA Isayasawiyans (PIA) have gone into political schizophrenia. They tell us they support Obama without understanding what he stands for. They can only support Obama in their state of political schizophrenia – two diametrically opposed beliefs for same underlying principles of change, accountability and transparency. We want change we can believe! We want politics that builds bridges, NOT walls. 1. Obama stands for change. Isayasawiyans are as allergic to change as one can get. In the words of Obama’s during his acceptance speech, (at around 7 minutes, CNN)
We are a better country than this! We are tired of broken promises and failed policies of PIA To all Eritreans, I say, “Enough!” 2. We want a change we can believe, where ‘Awet N’Hafash’ is what it should be, justice and equality. It means farmers are able to sell their crops to the highest bidder, and not be stripped off their crops by force and sold at cheap prices to Isayasawiyan army officers at Nfa 1,500 per quintal while the rest of the population is forced to pay Nfa 7,500 per quintal for teff. Enough! 3. Nobody is interested in YPFDJ, XPFDJ, TVPFDJ, NOPFDJ, MAYBEPFDJ, SUMMERPFDJ, FESTIVALPFDJ or any other meeting of so-called PFDJites. What counts is the real PFDJ/EPLF? If PFDJ/EPLF truly exists, why not call a meeting of the Central Committee or (even better) Congress of PFDJ? Why ‘tiwuywuy’? We demand this meeting be held immediately! Enough! 4. Shabait.org has taken a cue from one of PIA’s interviews and has anted up its propaganda machinery. But this is the ultimate exercise in futility. The question remains, who is the audience? Shaebia.org can plaster its website and others with articles but it doesn’t change the fundamentals one bit, a. Domestic audience is too busy lining up for bread, kerosene and other basic necessities while its breadwinning members are idling on PIA slavery campaign, modeled after
b. Diaspora Eritreans have largely abandoned the regime. The irony of Diaspora politics is that those who must send money to
c. Foreign governments, and foreigners in general, will heed to reports from Amnesty International, CPJ and other international organizations and won’t bother with Shaebia.org. So who is the audience for Shaebia.org … convincing the convinced? What a waste! On this 47th Year of the start of our struggle, this article is dedicated to my good friend, Joshua http://www.lulaband.com/?q=audio/play/14 http://www.lulaband.com/?q=audio/play/93 We are firmly holding your torch in our hands until the torch reaches its destination! The Struggle keeps changing its form, but it is always there! Berhan Hagos
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