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PFDJ and the Lampedusa Tragedy

PFDJ and the Lampedusa Tragedy Two months on and the aftershock of the Lampedusa disaster still continues to reverberate across the Eritrean society. Eritreans were the Victims, survivors and ultimately the orchestrators of the forced migration

PFDJ and the Lampedusa Tragedy

Two months on and the aftershock of the Lampedusa disaster still continues to reverberate across the Eritrean society. Eritreans were the Victims, survivors and ultimately the orchestrators of the forced migration that led to the disaster.

Although this is not the first of its kind it did attract the attention of many in the international community including the EU and the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, Pop Francis. This could be the probable reason why all members of the Eritrean Community in the diaspora including those who have been supporting the regime and the primary engineer of all this misery for the last two decades were touched by this man made tragedy.

Yes, Eritreans outside of Eritrea have reacted to this tragedy in the strongest terms possible.  Those who have been opposing the dictatorial regime have called for the down fall of the dictator louder than ever before in the many candle light vigil that were held in memory of those perished throughout the western world. This time the Leaders of Eritrean religious institution both Christian and Moslem have played their role to an extent that was never seen or heard before.  Even the Eritrean National Television was forced to serve some truth (and for once get slightly closer to its strap line of ‘serving the truth’) in a dramatic a U turn move in information management.

The incident was also very instrumental in exposing those who hold the totally untenable position of supporting the regime against their own better judgment; they were caught between their human needs to do the right thing by their fallen brothers and sisters and their non-human needs to pander to dictatorship.  The surest sign of damage to their humanity was actually evidenced by those who were not shy to go out dancing even as the world watched aghast the corpse of their countrymen, women and children was waiting boxed in nameless coffins only identified by numbers in an airport hangar so far away from home.

On the other side of humanity many finally decided enough was really enough and cut off from the regime in response to the call from their conscience: A well-known business man Dr. Tewolde Tesfamariam (Wedi Vaccaro) called for the immediate stepping down of the dictator and his clique and to let the people elect their own leaders. Wedi Vaccaros’s call was unique in the fact that he is the first one to make such a direct call to the dictator in public domain from the many who have cut ties with the dictator after serving him for so long.

The trend of cutting ties off the brutal regime was non more dramatic in the defection of Wedi Tikabo, subsequently dubbed Eritrea’s Bob Marley. Inevitably the above two and many similar acts are inspiring others to take similar actions causing the regimes support to shrink like never before.

The distinct messages of unity, from the two individuals have also played its part in changing the balance of power between the opponents and supporters of the regime. The Hadnet meetings called by Wedi Vaccaro were attended by unprecedented numbers in the opposition. The single song that was release by Wedi Tikabo on November 17, the day of the Washington DC Hadnet meeting got sixty thousand Hits in less than 48 hours.  This is a testament to the effective role the two individuals played at a time when the call for change in Eritrea is more prominent than ever.

The challenge for the opposition is growing enough to accommodate these and other similar efforts from many who are ready to finally do their share for change in Eritrea.

The petition from the G-22 in regards to this tragedy is also good news to the opposition which is exposing the YPFDJ and PFDJ supporters as they resort to making more nonsense noises in response.

In his article titled “The Real Cause of the Color Revolution” published in the Journal of democracy, political scientist Lucan Way mentioned the strength of the ties authoritarians have with the west and strength of the incumbent regime’s autocratic party or state as the two primary factors that affect the stability of authoritarian regimes.  In his essay he clearly explained that regimes like that of ours who have weak or almost no link with the west but a strong and dominate party in the nation have the possibility to stay for longer than those who have strong ties with the west and a country where there are opposition parties and civic organization. However, in our case this time around one from these two pillars that have supported our dictator for so long is being tested and that is the strength of the PFDJ party. It seems to me that the party is at its weakest and is does not stand a chance of returning to what it used to be. Hence, we ought to take advantage of this exceptional opportunity and make its inevitable downfall a reality.  We need to work hard in creating strong positive ties with the international community and ensure that any support for the regime is countered.

Therefore, it is the responsibility of every one of us to either maintain the momentum or even better to contribute to its increment and realize the removal of the dictatorial regime in Asmara. Otherwise, as newton’s first law of motion states if we fail to create a force that changes the direction and speed of the mad man’s system he will be there for more years.

 

Ghezae Z Kidane

aseye.asena@gmail.com

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4 COMMENTS
  • Kiflom December 3, 2013

    Thank you Ghezae. You have raised very crucial issues. The problem I have realized during the last 18 years is that people do not want to act because of the fear factor nad because a lot of them have already some wealth to preserve. This include those which went out early and before the “liberation”. The youth is left without guidance, no theoretical knowledge except what it reads in Hadas Eritrea as well as no experience. The balme must also rest on the older generation which didn’t want to participate in real action. Indeed, one may not blame them for the first 10 years. However, after 2001 everybody of them should take responsibility for the death and the fled of the youth which is sacrificed with no gain. “DE-QI-NA” has no validity. They have seen what they did to their children and then to them. A lot of the older generation died early in the 1998, 1999, 2000, etc because of betrayal and the deep feeling that left its mark. I lost my father in such a way. I lost my brother in an operation executed by the same old EPLF fighters who made their life stay up to now sending the youth to hell. The only solution now, as you said , is to stand together and act, act, act with no remorse.I support ad endorse your statement and call, “Therefore, it is the responsibility of every one of us to either maintain the momentum or even better to contribute to its increment and realize the removal of the dictatorial regime in Asmara. Otherwise, as newton’s first law of motion states if we fail to create a force that changes the direction and speed of the mad man’s system he will be there for more years.”

  • hailu December 3, 2013

    Eritrean Defense Minster Sebhat Ephrem’s Wife Claim Asylum in Norway and Get Free Medical Treatments (Abuse of Asylum System by Shabbia Leaders)
    Post a reply
    Postby atsie » 01 Dec 2013, 08:43

    Eritrea: Defense Minster Sebhat Ephrem in Sweden

    Sunday, 01 December 2013 03:37 berQi

    General Sebhat Efrem, the Defense Minister of Eritrea, has arrived in Sweden three days ago. The reason for his visit, be it official or private, is not known yet.

    It is to be known that his wife has been getting medical attention in Norway after having asked for and secured asylum status in Norway.

    We will update you of any new developments.

  • Tsigabu December 3, 2013

    Thank you Ghezae for the wonderfully written article with timely observations and suggestion. The last point of your article should be stressed and act upon by everyone working towards democratization of Eritrea. This is best time to bring our resources together and galvanize our people to oust the evil system.

  • Zeray December 3, 2013

    እቲ ንዓይን ንዓኹምን ዝፈጠረ ኣምላኽ ከምዚ ይብል፡
    ነህምያ 1፡ 9
    ናባይ እንተ ተመለስኩምን ትእዛዛተይ ከአ እንተ ሓሎኹምን እንተ ገበርኩምዎን ግና፡ እቶም እተዘርዉኹም፡ ኣብ ወሰን ሰማይ እኳ እንተ ዚህልው፡ ካብኡ ኽእክቦም እየ፡ ናብታ ስመይ ኣብኣ ኺሓድር ዝሓሬኽዋ ቦታ ድማ ከምጽኦም እየ።

    ትሕት ኢልና ምስ ኣምላኽን ሰብናን ብኑዚዜ ዕርቂ እንተ ደኣ ዘይገርና ዝገደደ መቕዘፍቲ ከይመጸ ኣይተርፍን እዩ። ኣብ ውሽጢ ዘለዉ ህዝብና ኩሎም ዕጡቓት እዮም። እንተዘይተኻባቢርናን ብሓልዮት ሕውነት ናብ ልብና እንተዘይተመለስና ወይልና። ካህናት ነንሓድሕዱም ዝናቖቱሉን ዝጻረፍሉን ግዜ ኢና ዘሎና። ቤተክርስትያን ናይ ዕርቅን ሰላምን ክኸውን ይግባእ። እግዚኣብሔር እንተደኣ ኣኾሪናዮ መቕጻዕቱ ከቢድ እዩ።

    ኣምላኽ ዘየኽብር መንግስቲ ፍጥረቱ ውን ኣየኽብርን እዩ። ኢሳይስን ተኸተልቱን ምስ ፍልስፍናኣኦም ካብ ዓድና ክወጹ ኣለዎም እንተዘይኮነ መርገሞም ክልክመና እዩ። ይልክመና ውን ኣሎ።

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