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Eritrean Popular Movements towards Inclusive political participation and representation

By Fesseha Nair The struggle from dictatorship to democracy depends on its ownership expressed through its meaningful participation to affirm this it needs democratic institutions and campaign strategy and grand strategy. The goal of the struggle

By Fesseha Nair

The struggle from dictatorship to democracy depends on its ownership expressed through its meaningful participation to affirm this it needs democratic institutions and campaign strategy and grand strategy. The goal of the struggle from dictatorship to democracy is clear to remove the dictatorship from its deep roots and system and lay foundations for democratic system and democratic society.

Looking to the Eritrean Movements struggling against dictatorship in Diaspora the main challenge was to unify the Movements under a grand strategy including all political, civic and individuals.

The struggle from dictatorship to democracy is not similar like the struggle for national liberation from colonialism and occupation.

In the past 17 we have seen many national dialogues and conferences held by political and civic organizations but all were not sustainable and successful. This article will try to provide an overview of the process pursued in the past( Akaki- National Dialogue, Wasa National Dialogue for democratic change) and the one raised by the EPDP and the late of meeting of Kenya- Nairobi.

During these 17 years of struggle for democratic change in Eritrea the Eritrean Opposition in Diaspora couldn’t achieve structured participation but encountered multiple challenges internally and externally but still there is hope that one day they will come together and achieve more in the coming future. To achieve this the opposition forces require along-term commitment from all its members in order to guarantee the sustainability of all forces regardless of their political affiliations.

The Eritrean Opposition in Diaspora campaign strategy has been against each other for the past 17 years being aware of this failed strategy the opposition must direct their campaign strategy against the dictatorship, strengthening participation by all forces for democratic change, through greater participation we can win our peoples’ legitimacy. Through the campaign strategy the opposition can gain a keener understanding of the struggle from dictatorship to democracy and enhance their cooperation providing them more precise and unified message to the Eritrean people inside Eritrea. Let us promise not to campaign against each other, for example, the social media has been an instrument for defamation and blackmailing against each other let us stop this and direct the campaign strategy against it.

The Eritrean Forces for democratic change in Diaspora have tried gradually to build up alliances and coalitions but all were not sustainable and successful. We have learned many lessons during this time why these alliances and coalitions were not successful.

Building alliances and coalitions are democratic instruments in the struggle for democratic change but the Eritrean Opposition still need to learn the importance of these instruments.

The Eritrean Opposition in Diaspora have not succeeded to lay a grand strategy winning the dictatorship in Eritrea and laying foundations for democratic change inside Eritrea.

Laying grand strategy is the most important instrument to be established to remove the dictatorship and lay foundations for democratic change.

If the call of EPDP for national united platform is out of shared lessons learned they must first assess the past experiences of unity attempts inside themselves and with other compatriots for democratic change. Building national united platform needs a long-term commitment from all the parties involved and I hope EPDP will take this initiative and revitalise this process still we couldn’t achieve.

 

 

 

 

 

aseye.asena@gmail.com

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14 COMMENTS
  • Araya Debessay July 28, 2017

    Dear Fesseha Nair,

    Let’s hope the day will soon come when all the Eritrean opposition parties realize that their ability to end dictatorship in Eritrea is only when they unite. I understand there is a meeting planned by the opposition groups that will take place in Ethiopia soon. If this planned meeting is going to be successful, all opposition parties, regardless of the differences among them should unit to come up with a leadership group who can speak for all of the opposition political parties with one voice. I understand the Ethiopian Government is putting pressure on the opposition groups to unite. And I hope they take this advice to heart and do what is the right thing to do.
    In addition to the unity of the opposition political groups, what we also need is grassroots-based global leaders who will speak on behalf of all the justice-seeking Eritreans in the Diaspora. This process is underway as evidenced by the success of Justice-Seeking Eritreans in the UK. It is my hope Eritreans everywhere will follow the footsteps of their Eritrean brothers and sisters in the UK as a step towards electing legitimate Global Leaders who will work with the leadership group of the political opposition groups and democratic forces inside the country to end dictatorship in Eritrea.

  • senkam July 28, 2017

    Opposition, political parties ? ? ? sounds like a thing of the 2000’s. Eritreans have moved past it; by passing it. It is similar to a business that advertised ” coming soon” to be opened and never happened, While its billboard sign is still posted.

    Community level organizations are becoming the thing of the day. Representations take bottom – up structure than the traditional top-down system that quickly morph into dictatorship in nearly all of African society experiences.. We should focus on building and strengthening grass root movements to engulf the entire Eritrean community worldwide and set on to work together without the worries of “competition for power” that holds the so called “opposition/ political parties’ to standstill, and as a result made it redundant by default. The last 15 years people have expected some gains to be made towards discarding tyranny, which is the sole cause of our misery. Nonetheless, as the author of the article indicated, political parties were invested fighting for supremacy. Over time people realized these elements have failed them and has sought for life without them. i.e. alternative paths of struggle. This is where organization at local level came into being. Now instead of hoping something new will sprung out of the same political parties because someone is putting pressure on them (it is not even self initiated or inner calling), let’s do our own assignment. Let’s reach out communities and campaign the benefits of assembling under the grassroots movement. And, construct a democratically linked network of communities that utilize effective coordination and communication amongst themselves to pursue their cause at an accelerated pace. If such structure is stabilized it can be utilized by anyone deemed for the good of the people.

  • Danilo July 28, 2017

    Unity must come from individual grassroots interest, and if they do ,the so-called opposition movements too. But, we must forget ethiopian Balilla. We don’t need else except unity.

  • k.tewolde July 28, 2017

    ‘The struggle from dictatorship to democracy is not similar like the struggle for national liberation from colonialism and occupation’,Fesseha Nair.That is the kernel of the article. HGDEF and the so called opposition political parties are stuck in the past.They are still wearing shida and khaki shorts and navigating through the political hills and ravines of yesteryear and facing each other with outdated rhetorical weapons at the expense of a nation slipping into oblivion.When you are faced with this kind of dead end scenario,like senkam stated,’…alternate paths of struggle..’ that is where the GI approach comes to light.This hypothesis did’t come out of the blue,it is a road map that was carved out of the minds of seasoned brothers and sisters who has been there through it all,it is a mirror that reflects our past failures and points us in the right direction,what a gift!! from our own.Lets honor it,act upon it,lets respect those who are showing us the way,lets respect ourselves.Doing the opposite is downward spiral,absolute futility.

    • k.tewolde July 28, 2017

      In other words, it is the the Obamacare (ACA) for the justice seeker,it will save millions of lives.If we have amendments to offer the it is an open podium.Lets roll!

  • amanuel July 30, 2017

    Lets stop talking about opposition parties. Some of them do not even have a single member after the founder who is also the only member of the party died years ago.

  • andom July 30, 2017

    Opposition parties? Where are they.they do not exist! Inside or outside.

  • Zekarias July 31, 2017

    The only remedy for poor Eritrea and Eritreans is from God’s ‘mercy medical party’.

  • meretse July 31, 2017

    መጀመርያ ሰላም ንዅሉኩም !!!
    ቅድሚ 500 BC ዝነበረ ቻይናዊ (Confucius) ኣቦ ነንሕድሕድካ ምክብባር ዝመስሎ የሎን። ናይ ነንሕድሕድካ ምክብባር ባህሊ ዓንዲ ማእከል ሕይወትና እንተዘይ ጌርናዮ ወደቕቲ ኢና ክብል ኣስተምህሮ ሃበ። ሰማዒ እዝኒ ከኣ ረከበ። በዚ መሰረት ሃገረ ቻይና ክሳብ ሕጂ ምስ’ዚ ኩሉ ዕልቕልቕ ህዝባ ብሰላም ክትነብር ትረኤ።
    ንሕና ከም ህዝቢ ካብ እቲ ሓቀኛ መንገዲ እንብሎ (..the road that leads to virtue) ዘላገሰና ንመስል። ናይ’ዚ ጠንቒ ከኣ ንሕሉፍ ግዜ ኢና ግዜ ነሰክሞ። ህያብ እቲ ዝሓለፈ ግዜ ዘይወግሕ ለይቲ (…endless night) ኮይኑ። ብኡ መጠን ከኣ ተስፋና ደብዚዙ ዝብል ሪእቶ ውሑድ ኣይኮነን።
    እዚ ዓይነት እምንቶ’ዚ ከኣ ኣብ መንጎ እቲ ቅኑዕ መንገዲ ዝብሃልን / መራሕቲ መገዲ ኢና ዝብሉን ዘይምትእምማን ኣሕድሩ። ሓው ንሓዉ ኣብ ምግጋይ ኣእትዩ ፤ ብኡ መጠን ሕልሚ ሓለፍቲ ህግደፍ ተፈቲሑ።
    ሕልሚ ሎሚ ህግደፍ ናይ ቀደም ……… ባህሊ ህዝቢ ካብ ሱሩ በንቒሮም ክድርብይዎ እንከሎው ብዘይ መተክእታ ኣይተጓየዩን። ነቲ ነንሕድሕዱ ብፍቕሪ ዝነብር ዝነበረ ህዝቢ ከምዘይትኣማመን ጌይረሞ። ባህሊ ክዳን ሕ/ሰብ ኢዩ። ክዳኑ ቀንጢጦሞ ናቶም ነጸላ ኣውዲቆምሉ ። እወ። ግን ንሕና ከ እንታይ ንገብር ኔርና? መልሱ ዳርጋ ክንዲ ቁጽርና ስለዝኮነ ነነብስና ንሕከክ ኢለ ምሕላፍ ይሕሸኒ። ነታ ተሪፋትና ኣላ ንብላ ግዜ ግን– ምክሪ ዙ ሺ (Zhu Xi) ንሕብረተ – ሰቡ ዝሃቦ ጥቅሲ ለጊሰ ክሓልፍ —
    “ዓይኒ ማይ ዘይብሉ ማይ ደራቒ
    ሱር ዘይብሉ ኦም ወዳቒ ”
    መንእሰይ ሰራውር ሃገር ኢካ ። መንእሰይ ዓይኒ ወሓዚ ማይ ኢካ ኢዩ፡ ስለዚ ኩሉ ኣብ ኢድካ ኢዩ !!!!

    • Daniel August 2, 2017

      Ato Meretse
      Indeed, very matured and wise comment from you dearest brother.
      “Ewe, gin niHina Khe entay nigebir nerina”??????Please give us the answers????
      Thank you again and please continue to to share your vast kwowledge and wisdom.

      • meretse August 4, 2017

        Dear Danie,
        First thanks for your positive comment. Re: … gin niHina Khe entay nigebir nerina”?????? Mis d’qas keyteba’esena

  • meretse July 31, 2017

    ይቅረታ
    ዓይኒ ማይ ዝይብሉ ወሓዚ ደራቒ
    ሱር ዝይብሉ ኦም ወዳቒ

  • Danilo August 1, 2017

    Meretse, che bella figura! Presentazione eccellente, espressamente bravo, e molto educato. and, more and more generous to whistle on our ears. not only that, you know also to hook right words on the head. Thank you!

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