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Eritrean Revolution Day: Salutation and Analysis

Continuous change and improvement is a fundamental theme of a country’s revolution.  If the people’s living and working conditions fail to improve, it is time for a second revolution.  A good example is the recent

Continuous change and improvement is a fundamental theme of a country’s revolution.  If the people’s living and working conditions fail to improve, it is time for a second revolution.  A good example is the recent Sudanese revolution.  The French revolution, as the first public uprising, is remembered for its emphasize on the fact that all human beings are born free, equal in dignity and rights and its promise to continue the uprising until all the people’s demands for justice were met.

That is why on the Revolution Day, September First of every year, Eritreans have to review their achievements and disappointments in their fight against injustice.  It is also a day to assess the ongoing struggle against the tyrannical rule and to find out how to raise every Eritrean’s foreknowledge of the tyrant’s plots before he strikes a second attempt on the Eritrean sovereignty and independence.  Recently Eritreans have come to know that very few Eritreans had knowledge and spoke of the tyrant’s hidden agendas and the potential treasonable plots during the liberation era, expected to be hatched post-independence.  However, the Eritrean people were never prepared for the harsh facts that the Eritrean tyrant had put the word “transitional” [government] open to misinterpreting it as “transition” of Eritrea back into Ethiopia.

The day also calls on all pro-justice Eritreans to condemn those, be it local or external actors, who are on the side of the tyrant helping him to turn the Eritrean Revolution into a tangled deception where the tyrant is equated to the state, herding the entire population to serve him like a king.  As well, it is a day to salute those who are standing on the side of the Eritrean people at the time the tyrant’s betrayals have driven national feeling from shock to indignation.

Indeed, the first and foremost salutation goes to those pro-democracy elements within the Eritrean police and military forces whose sleepless eyes are watching the next moves of the tyrant following his rampage of betrayals on the Eritrean independence and sovereignty.

Revolutionary salutation is also due to the members of the organized opposition groups, ‘enough is enough’ movement and civil associations for keeping the Eritrean people’s hopes alive by injecting and disseminating Eritrean concerns and problems.

Revolutionary salutation is un-skippable to webmasters of the pro-Eritrean people websites, cyber political-activists and social media participants for raising awareness and playing the role of campaigners and foot-soldiers of the voiceless Eritreans thereby wheeling the pro-democracy forces to loud their voices against the tyrannical rule in Eritrea.

Lastly, the Eritrean Revolution day salutation goes to all those who helped and are helping the Eritrean refugees to find shelters ensuring that the refugees are cared for and felt safe.  As well, the salutation is due to those who are working day and night to mobilize resources to meet the needs of the refugees by getting the host countries’ authorized personnel involved in the refugees’ care with a focus to improve the refugees’ living conditions and protect their rights to better healthcare and education.

According to some Eritreans, it is a dishonest and unfair to disregard Minister Fozia Hashim’s courageous decision, inconsistent with the regime’s practice, to allow the two sides to sit together under one roof and to let the pro-people side bring their concerns to the floor.  Bringing the two sides, namely: the pro-tyrant and the pro-Eritrean people, to sit under one roof and listen to each other are believed to have created conducive climate for reconciliation between the two.  Indeed, that courageous decision deserves commendation and the praise is due to Minister Fozia Hashim and Higdef members in Dallas, Texas.

How Eritreans are Interweaving the Tyrant’s Political Culture into Theirs

The Eritrean tyrant does not accommodate different opinions.  Lately, he even went farther to labelling those who hold different political opinions as to be belonging to one regional area of Eritrea.  For years the tyrant has been exercising and practicing his policies of exclusion of those with different opinions.

For years, from the start, it has been the tyrant’s style of leadership for him to be surrounded by yes-men rather than listening to those with different views before reaching his final decision.  To the tyrant, different opinion implies criticism of him.  Indeed, the tyrant believes that those whose opinions excel can establish credibility and drive him out of attention.

Since different opinion is considered a political problem by the tyrant, he selects his yes-men and refines them through elimination.  Those who struggle with the imposed change and fail to become among the best yes-men expose themselves not only to further elimination but also to jail in accordance with the tyrant’s confidentiality measures to protect his secrets.

The elimination practice ended up the tyrant with the two Yemanes and Hagos Kisha.  It is said that the tyrant’s comfort-zone appears to have been defined that its confines to only include those who share his ancestral lineage.

Could the chosen comfort-zone be the best fit for the tyrant’s hidden agendas to be carried out safely and successfully with no risk of failure?  Similarly, the chosen comfort-zone could be a requirement of the terms for the secret dealings with the external actors who protect and guarantee the continuation of his authoritarian regime.  It goes without saying that the tyrant’s comfort-zone is also good for the secret agreements with the new Ethiopian Prime Minister, as well as for the tyrant to enjoy unchallenged power in striking compromises on the Eritrean sovereignty.

The chosen comfort-zone appears to be working for the Eritrean tyrant who continues to feel safe and secure so long his secrets are and remain in safe hands until his plots are successfully hatched.  On top of the tyrant’s comfort-zone, many Eritreans believe that the strategic local of Eritrea is a blessing to the tyrant and a curse to the Eritrean people.  It was not for nothing that the State of Qatar got into protecting the tyrant by bribing all the neighboring countries.  Even after the tyrant left Qatar to join its enemies, the State of Qatar never disclosed the reasons for its past choice and as to why it poured billions of money to protect the Eritrean tyrant.

Many Eritreans condemn the tyrant’s political culture.  The accusers of the tyrant designate his comfort-zone-ism as non-Eritrean.  As a matter of fact, the whole system, including Higdef members, is infused with the culture of comfort-zone-ism in their everyday politics.

The tyrant made it clear in the year of 1991 that he was for the same feather politics, when he declared that the just freed Eritrean country would accommodate no other political party other than his.  And when he felt threatened, the tyrant walked away from those he took the journey of liberation with, the G-15, because he saw that the best way to protect his interest was through comfort-zone-ism or same feather leadership.  The tyrant’s chosen comfort-zone-ism made ground for his one-man rule with the support of cronyism, nepotism, and systematic control of the country’s economy/politics.

The culture of comfort-zone-ism appears to have effect on every Eritrean.  When tragedies, even worse than those of the colonial days, reemerged under the tyrant’s rule, most Eritreans started to feel uncomfortable to discuss their concerns with any Eritrean.  That led them to comfort-zone-ism of their own, replicating the tyrant’s culture, which gave them comfort to openly share ideas and plans with close ones. Realizing that comfort-zone-ists are into practice of alienating or not treating other people equally on the account of being different feather, most Eritreans are now condemning those who have embraced or are practicing comfort-zone-ism.

Political Affiliation by Principle or Comfort-zone

The purpose of multiparty system is to allow each party to bring alternative solutions to the people’s representatives’ floor.  The parties are supposed to compete and not to compliment.  As such, political parties are not necessarily required to get along.  In fact, their difference is their way of contributing towards the country’s checks and balances.

The products of the political parties are challenged by the people, the voters.  The voters, in turn, take pride in the process of “from the people, to the people” and feel connected through their issues discussed at the level of the representatives and the decisions made by the representatives to protect/advance the interest of the people.  The representatives, on their part, feel woven together by the threads of their resolutions and decisions to serve the people.  All such excitements are absent in the Isayas’s Eritrea.

Yet, it is weird to see some Eritreans resorting to comfort-zone-ism in their political activities.  Could it be due to weakness of reasoning power or the awaited power struggle or that their fear made them surrender to the Isayas’s style of leadership?  Such choices are making the struggle to end the tyrannical rule in Eritrea difficult.

The lack of clearness of what a nation is and the fear to deal with the fact that a house is for a family only while a country if for the whole population is leading the comfort-zone-ists to resolve their fear in their own way.  Yes, an inclination or way to only replicate Isayasism-like rule after the tyrant is gone.  It should be remembered that Eritreans have learned with supporting evidences that one-heartedness and one-mindedness in political party ends up in a tyrannical and one-man rule.

Indeed, the one-hearted and one-minded single party of Isayas was/is set to excluding and rejecting people with different political opinions.  In place of the dysfunctional single party, Eritreans should have a multiparty system that accommodates different political opinions, ensures rights to free affiliation, and encourages religious, regional, ethnic, tribal and cultural diversity.

No one is blindly condemning all ‘isms’ including regionalism, tribalism, village-ism, ancestral-ism, etc.  It is the Eritrean people’s current understanding that ‘isms’ promotes hateful rhetoric and is becoming source(s) of all types of conflicts.  Through specific ‘ism’ few Eritreans are seeking to strengthen their ethnic group power and that is leading others to follow suit.  When people exercise their ethnicity to empower themselves and exclude others it turns to become ethnic conflict, as learned from the current Ethiopian politics.

The Eritrean tyrant has already caused untold damages.  It is worth mentioning that the tyrant’s latest betrayals to compromise the sovereignty of the country and to neutralize the Eritrean identity served as a wake-up call to the fact that the Isayas’s comfort-zone-ism made Higdef, the single party, non-existent allowing the tyrant to surprise Eritreans with unexpected plots.  That wake-up call made immediate Eritrean people’s reaction necessary, shooting the Eritrean tyrant with the worldwide “enough is enough” demands.  In the face of all hurdles, what every Eritrean now needs is to participate in giving space to all other Eritreans to join hands in reclaiming the Eritrean dignity and respect and in facilitating healing and inclusion.

In celebration of the Eritrean Great Revolution

Mamino

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

aseye.asena@gmail.com

Review overview
14 COMMENTS
  • k.tewolde September 15, 2019

    ‘That led them to comfort-zone-ism of their own, replicating the tyrant’s culture,…’ indeed,using the same outdated tools to beat the tyrant at his own game,and he smirks with his usual sarcasm and fires one of his lines..’IZI DA’A NATEY SHITAHRA INDYU’..>>>>> The people have come a long way,the grassroots revolution is taking a foothold,the new generation is moving away from the tribal politics and those characters who stagnated the opposition by becoming a flip coin of the tyrant,the atmosphere reminds me of that September of many moons ago—the resurrection of the old glory,the olive branch,simply put,’the word “transitional” [government] open to misinterpreting it as “transition” of Eritrea back into Ethiopia.’ Mamino, you can’t paint the canvas better than that.Thanks.

  • Woldegabriel September 15, 2019

    Dear K.Tewelde
    I appreciated you perceptive comment on the article until you damped it by thanking the author for a single word (phrase)

    • k.tewolde September 15, 2019

      Any political literary contribution that exposes the tyranny and injustice in our homeland should be applauded and thanked and that includes your constructive and insightful posts dear Woldegabriel,we should foster this culture of political conversation because it sure beats the divisive and authoritarian monologue that oozes from adi halo.It is the fundamental ingredient of building democracy,to listen,tolerate,respect….what the other person has to say and appreciate their contribution even if you differ from them.

      • Woldegabriel September 16, 2019

        Dear K.Tewelde,
        Does it mean whoever condemned isayas or his system should be applauded irrespective of the ideas he,/she is sowing? Should the substance of an article be measured by quotable words or the messages conveyed? Shouldn’t we caution/alert readers to interrogate ideas that may derail us from our goals? Shouldn’t we be vigilant to read between the lines for any misguided, intentional or unintentional narrations that may take us one step forward and three steps backward? Let me cite ONLY two controversial examples that one needs to digest. First, the author offered his foremost salutation to the armed and security forces. Really, is it navity or intentional. What have they done when Eritrea us being obliterated? Or is the imposter mobilizing or cajoling our support for his planned next adventurous war (another woyane excuse). Yeakel again!! We know the impostor cannot live without war. Second, the Yeakel movement has been the imposter’s biggest headache. Hence, the Fozia Trojan horse was dispatched to create a rift among the Yeakel movement. Propagating split within the ruling party is illusionary wishful thinking directed to dilute the resolve of the people’s movement. The leopard never changes its spots/colors.

      • Tsehaye September 21, 2019

        Dear K. tewolde,

        I am not sure if you truly believe in what you said in your last statement about the fundamental ingredients of building democracy, but could you please remind the tragic ዑሱብ to do the same. Thanks,

  • tewelde Gebremariam September 15, 2019

    It is mind boggling as to when will the Eritrean elites learn the difference between wlqe melaki, on one hand, and Kedae/ Kahadi/ Traitor/Genocidal, on the other, and apply the appropriate term on the impostor isaias afewrq. Need I remind them that indiscriminate use of words is like haphazardly shooting in the air in the vain hope that the bullet will, all by its own, find the target, and therefore, applying a correctly chosen words can land some one in the victory lap, and a wrong choice, in the agony of defeat.

    The impostor isaias afewrk’s admission and confession plus his premeditated and complete economic and social deprivation has brought on the people Eritrea over the thirty years are crystal clear embodiment of his being Kedae/kahadi/ traitor/Genocidal, whose motive/hidden agenda is to annex Eritrea to tigrai as he did to Badme in 1985.

    I wonder, why then are the Eritrean elites shying away from stating the obvious, I mean shying away from calling him Kedae, invoking the glaring reality on the ground ? why are they gravitating and hiding behind ambiguous terms, such as wlqe melaki, which can mean either benevolent or malevolent dictatorship, with the clear implication that the dictator is genuinely native, which the impostor rejected.

    Some foreigners unwittingly likened the Eritrean situation to North Korea. Little do they understand that the Eritrean situation is brought about by the impostor not as an end in itself but as a means to realize his hidden agenda, while that of North Korea is to preserve the family dynasty and communism.

    The other difference between North Korea and Eritrea is: while the Eritrean economy, military and society is purposely decimated , the North Korean economy and infrastructure development is vibrant relative to the stringent sanction put by UNSC, and its military might has achieved world class Nuclear power.

  • Woldegabriel September 17, 2019

    Dear Tewelde Gebremariam,
    You have been raising a very fundamental issue that could radically change people’s perception of the ongoing struggle, but for many people it takes time to grasp and internalize an idea/concept. It would be a great service if you could come up with a Tigrinya word for “imposter” which would save us from the monotone “dictatorship” that really doesn’t define isayas. (Note_ I don’t support kedae because presumes he is one of us.)

    • k.tewolde September 17, 2019

      Indeed Haw Woldegabriel,we tend to get used to saying and doing things a certain way, it is like the theory of Pavlov’s dogs.I might sound like a broken record,but I am quoting myself from way back at 14 y/o in the field training camp,’he doesn’t behave and act like us ,he is not one of us.’,it was a pure instinct of an Eritrean boy soldier.The first thing the impostor did upon joining ELF,he mastered the Arabic language and blended in,pay attention how he salutes the Sudanese military brass and dignitaries,he leans over and touches their right upper chest where the heart is with the palm of his hand and they reciprocate which was a common way of greeting among ELF fighters.He is a typical prototype of a spy,a Trojan horse,a well equipped operative,a camouflaged vector who carries a deadly disease…..until time started shedding his cover.I don’t have a name in tigrigna but he deserves one. One thing for sure ,he is anti everything that is genuine Eritrean,he abhors Eritreans even those who fluff his pillow,he is done with his decades old covert mission,he is putting the finishing touches overtly.

  • Woldegabriel September 18, 2019

    Dear K. Tewelde
    Thank you very much brother

  • rezen September 21, 2019

    “…quoting myself from way back at 14 y/o in the field training camp,’he doesn’t behave and act like us ,he is not one of us.’,”

    Hi k. tewelde,
    I am not sure this note will reach you but ‘hope’ is my second name.
    It has been quite a while since you heard from me.
    It is a. Long story — but not my fault or desire…
    But don’t worry, I follow you with each and every commentary you make.
    I also remember our commitment to meet in Asmara for tea and sandwich. It is our privilege dream that NOBODY can deny us.
    The quotation from a 14year old kid amazed me when I first read it quite a while ago and will always be stored in my mind. It is an extraordinary ordinary observation/vision.. THE END for now.
    .

    • k.tewolde September 22, 2019

      Hi rezen,hope whatever the issue is,resolves in your favor,expecting you to get back into the conversation soon along the ones we miss so much like Simon,G.,meretse and company…..don’t underestimate the power of this dialogue box,million thanks for those who provide it.

  • rezen September 22, 2019

    YES, YES, YES to >>> Quote: ” don’t underestimate this dialogue box, million thanks for those who provide it.” Unquote. And may I add two words i.e. “UNRESERVED RESPECT” to each other in our honourable and democratic dialogue if we ever to achieve the goal we long for, seemingly for time immemorial.. It is up to each and every ERITREAN. Less than that we will be trumpeting in the wilderness. THANK YOU VERY MUCH, k. tewolde.

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