Festsum Abraham

Remain in you cavity or resurrect to democracy through the ANSWER: part I

As you know, we Eritreans have been searching for a strategy that opens the door into the western community and international politicians in general that so far has been closed because of failure to produce it. Our communication has been reduced to events at home and elsewhere instead of getting to the point and producing the mandatory strategy that builds international confidence on the resistance on the question of democratizing the country. Lack of the strategy not only disallowed us to penetrate the international community but also has caused the disarray of the resistance elements that have been fighting the regime individually without tangible effect on the regime and the democratic upshot of the people. We simply had no written strategy to unite us and we could not internationalize our localized resistance as a result.

The struggle so far has missed wonderful opportunities to impact the world because of failing to develop ideas and working together to that effect mainly because of lack of said strategy. The visionless opposition elements have so far brought no new idea to entertain besides constantly preaching about the destructive nature of the regime, something every Eritrean knows by now. Yet, we are not attentively watching the resistance to find out its most determined elements that generate ideas because of failure to open the mind and gallantly involve to change the situation

Shouting for democracy and unity is certainly not a vision without a written substance that effectuates them, the reason nothing has so far been achieved in this regard. We have been wasting resources on exposing the overly exposed regime limiting our potential only to demonstrations instead of attacking the root cause of the problem by transforming ideas into kinetic realities.

The resistance has been infested with too many unfinished agendas everywhere; yet countless meetings here and there in search of a solution as if the concept of democracy and the transition of a society from dictatorship were new topics subject to research and discovery. We keep on meeting to discuss what we should do and philosophizing on something obvious and scientifically proven that even the accredited professors in known universities could not yet produce a tangible thesis to this effect. The concept of unity has been vandalized through superficial and indefinite approach without tangible proposals as to how to effectuate it. We are not concentrating on important matters at all becoming superficial doctors aiming at curing the Eritrean socio-political disease without the right medication. We have lost too many opportunities to date because of our personal problems that focus on choking each other for fame and attention to remain useless to our society and worthless to the international community. Every initiative has ended up dead at the end of the day to the bliss of the dictatorship.

The Vacarroian unification movement for example did not get genuine support from the opposition forces more than lip service to continue surviving after he passed away. This most vibrant movement that could eventually have produced the answer unfortunately died out after his departure because of lack of leadership, group-think and appropriate and timely response from the resistance’s localized political disorder similar to a promising plant dying out as a result of lack of treatment. Some of the Parties considered it a threat because he was trying to unify the people for democratic end. Let alone nurturing the movement, EDA was not even genuine enough to give him solidarity messages to the disgust of our people. The rest of us in Diaspora also failed to nurture it into a potent force that can alleviate the outstanding problem in the way of our society’s decent survival.

My testimony here is based on EDA’s silence about its participation in the event and I am not sure it ever did but I believe it failed to represent the Eritreans in the Somalia’s Presidential Inauguration that took place on September 10^th, 2012 after successful democratic process when the AU, the UN, quite a few African leaders and powerful international politicians attended it in Mogadishu minus the Eritrean President. It did not teach us anything to this effect for me to conclude that it blew the chance of attending the occasion on equal significance to all African heads of State that isolated Afwerki as the worst enemy of the Somalian people and their democracy. EDA’s most dominant groups were too busy unfairly managing the Eritrean politics to let the opportunity slide away.

The latest EGS Symposium for Human Right, Justice and Democracy in March 8, 2014 officially

declared to be focusing on “Exploring Possible Scenarios for Eritrean Transition to Democracy” failed to produce a single paper on the outcome after promising to produce something last August (about 5 months after its actuality) by about 10 professors that attended it with four of them in the panel.

The empty Eritrean chair in IGAD still remains vacant giving the resistance the best opportunity of at least representing the democratic quest of our people as an observer, yet in vain because of EDA’s ineffective leadership and unacceptable national agenda that failed to attract the international audience for assistance.

The dominant leaders in EDA have been too confined in their narrow outlooks to lose the priorities of the people and miss important international events that could help accelerate the struggle against the dictatorship. The opportunity of meeting giant international politicians in South Africa’s Mandela burial ceremony where many leaders attended minus Afwerki went down the drain without participation from any element of the resistance where we should have been there to take advantage of the moment introducing it and representing the people on the matter. EDA’s failure to do this shows how visionless and useless it has been to the Eritrean people.

The Alliance once more failed to diplomatically represent the Eritreans sitting all the years in Africa’s most politically active city, Addis Ababa; the home of AU and probably that of the strongest EU’s, US’s and UN’s representatives in the continent. It has nothing to show to attract their attention except killing our democratic spirit from within the resistance thereby becoming a laughing commodity of our neighbors and the international community in general, to the disgrace of the Eritrean people.

The Obama occasion last August (2014) that orchestrated the meeting on democracy between his administration and African leaders minus Afwerki passed without any involvement (direct or literal) from the resistance except individualist characters dedicated to develop their cult instead of nurturing the democratic question of the Eritrean people in unison, yet without any formal information to share about their “representation” with the people. None of the Civic Organizations could address the situation of our people in writing despite quite a few highly educated members in their composition let alone the corrupt EDA to consider the event’s importance to our struggle and perform its proclaimed representation of the people.

Lack of scholastic intervention: The Eritrean intellectuals have so far failed to save EDA from committing suicide by means of scholastic intervention. They passively saw the situation without contributing anything in its crisis, thereby causing the current situation to the sadness of the people. They further failed academically representing the society vis-à-vis international politicians and humanitarian organizations. Today, we see EDA at its weakest situation since it was born in 1999 because of this negligence by the rest of the elements in the struggle.

One takes Aspirin for a headache; a tranquilizer for depression and a society must accept democracy to exit from dictatorship only through written strategy simulated from other similar societies. If you think verbal strategy will cut it for you or should you think of dreaming to invent exceptional strategy for Eritreans that has never been tried elsewhere I wish you good luck but you will surely end up being in the same cavity you have been ever since you started infatuating with the resistance against the dictatorship. You will never resurrect from your graveyard by navigating the struggle without a written guideline for no one took you and will ever take you seriously even for a chat let alone for something substantial to society. Better figure out to challenge the enemy exclusively by your own without any international support, otherwise. Your struggle will continue being localized for there is no way to internationalize it without that critical element. If you cannot learn from your past experience, you will continue being where you are waiting for time to resolve your issues without your impact.

Many Eritreans have individually and in group tried to convince the US for support and the State Department has been open for them because the entire world wants to see the dictator go to hell. But I can bet that the telephone did not ring after the brief meetings with US officials, all of them ending up with embarrassing response called cold-shoulder. No crazy international politician or nation will consider your feeling without having something to read needless to say the international community better stick with Afwerki than accommodating verbal democrats for another chaos in East Africa.They know that lack of written strategy equates so said verbal democrats with the current dictatorship in Eritrea: two self-nominated democrats without vision or strategy. By failing to produce assertive strategy by which our society can transform to democracy, the resistance has so far not given the international community a better choice than sticking with the dictator, the reason AU contemplates assisting Afwerki to “improve the exodus crisis”.

PhDs don’t matter here only substance does. Verbal appeal has no place in the west, may be in Eritrea. You are good to return embarrassed without showing a written strategy which the Eritrean resistance so far, I repeat so far has been doing and been ignored as a result, I repeat ignored as a result by the west and international organizations as our concrete experience testifies. Eritreans will never get a chance to impress the west for moral and material support nor will they ever unite without the written document that they have been searching with LAMBADINA till this moment in time to only confront the wall at the end of the futile hallucination. Right now, we are stuck; our efforts did not produce the expected result. We are facing a wall with no chance to move forward. It is time to change the gear and exit from the monotonous beltway through the proper road that that society transforms to democracy.

From the forum:

Hagherawi: “Believe OR not there will be no Eritrea solution excluding PFDJ. EPLF did not only bring independence; it is still working for freedom, peace, and prosperity of this young country. ”

ሳረል ኣምያፕ: “ዝኸበርካ ብጻይ ፍጹም፡ ኣቕዲመ ንዚ ጽቡቕ ትሕዝቶ ዘለዊ ጆባእ ምባልካ ከየመስገንኩኻ ክሓልፍ ኣይደልን።
ቀጺለ ኣብ ብዙሕ ናይ ኤርትራውያን ጽሑፋት ከዝረኣኽዎ ኣብዚ ናትካውን ኣስተውዒለዮ።
ህግደፍ( ህዝባዊ ግምባር) ዋላኳ ኣብዚ ሕጂ እዋን ይበላሾ እምበር ኣብ ሃገራዊ ንጻነት ምምጻእ ዝዓበየ እጃም ኣበርኪቱ እዩ። እዚ ኩልና ዘይንኽሕዶ ሓቂ እዩ። ከምዝርድኣኒ national reconceliation ክበሃል ከሎ ንኹሉ ሃገራዊውድብ ወይ ፓርቲ ብልክዕ ዘሳትፍ ማለት ኢዩ፡፡ ስለዚ ንህግደፍ ካብዚ ውዕል ክንኣልዮም እንተዀንና መጀመርያ ብወታሃደራዊ መንገዲ ክንስዕሮምኣለና ማለት እዩ፡፡ እንተዘይኮነ እቶም ክንሰማማዕ ዝቐረብና ተቓወምትን ምሁራትትን ናይ ሲቪል ሊበርቲ ተዋሳእትን ኣበየናይ ባይታ ኰንና እና ውዕል ክንፍጽም።
ከዝርደኣኒ እቲ ክፍጸም ዝኽእል ዝኾነ ዴሞክራስያዊ ውዕል ንኹሉ ዘሳተፈ ክኸውን ኣለዎ።
የቐንየለይ።”

Response: I agree that it would be fantastic if the regime cooperates accepting the ANSWER (my proposal about ERITREA PEACE AGREEMENT) like dictator Charles Taylor did in Liberia vis-à-vis the Accra Accord and the struggle can try to involve it here as the best scenario in this situation but only if he cooperates. The ANSWER can certainly be modified to include the dictator for faster and better result but we should do it without him if he refuses, yet only if the Eritrean opposition camp realizes its importance and at least conditionally accepts it as the best and only strategy for forming a transitional government so far produced in our entire community. Prove me wrong and I will learn with humility but no Eritrean group or political party has ever come with a concrete strategy as such for me to remind you not to waste the opportunity and keep on riding in the belt way without exit like you have been doing so far.

Teclay: “If you let me to comment about today’s article. Theoretically it is good article but theories are created or formulated to be implemented on the ground by the ppl physically..So the Eritrean ppl is not on the ground: 1/3 is in the west,1/3 in the neighbors countries and 1/3 preparing to abandon the hell for good ,so even the one still in the country, his mind is not there but somewhere in the planet.
Liberian experience , it is difficult to implement in the Eritrean society ,first of all as i have said in the above physically is not there. Second Liberian nation building history and composition of the population is different. In my opinion the country is a failed state. We need to accept this fact but maybe we can save the society from extinction.”

Response: Eritreans are like Liberians, members of a third world society that live a third world style of existence. The term third world comprises underdeveloped societies in general because they have similar ways of life that differ from the western societies. Whatever you brought here as reasons to reject the ANSWER has no intellectual substance because there is only one way of democratizing a third world society under dictatorship with multiple opposition forces looking for change. We don’t have to be Liberians to use the method by which that society transformed into democracy but only to reconfigure it so that we can apply it in our society. The Accra Accord worked in Liberia (a third world society with dictatorship and multiple opposition forces like ours) and why cannot it work in ours with slight modification that considers the difference between our societies? I advise you to read it again and see that this ANSWER accommodates outstanding differences between the two societies while incorporating our unique social fabric and experience under this heinous dictatorship.
You can continue fooling yourself and procrastinating the remedy but you will never transform your society from this dictatorship without learning from other similar societies that did it with written intellectual substance. Neither God nor the human race can invent a special democratic process for Eritrea my dear people because the concept of democracy and forming a transitional government that takes society there remains to be a generic phenomenon common to all people in the world. Liver cancer in Eritrea and in Liberia requires the same medical procedures to heal no matter how different the two societies were needless to say that the issue of RACISM is universal as well. So this applies to the democratic journey of our societies under their respective dictatorships. The Accra Accord is a standard scientific product of the international mind that works for any third world country in our situation that you can never avoid without deciding to stay in the graveyard searching for your soul.

The biggest problem in this struggle is people like you that just reject ideas without counter ideas based on their individual understanding of the matter at hand. If the Liberian model does not serve as a basis for our democracy, can you provide an alternate solution to be intellectually fit on the subject matter on discussion? Can you specify its pros and cons vis-a-vis our situation? If you can’t, then do yourself a favor at least accepting the ANSWER on condition whatever your condition may be. No one denied that we are different from Liberians and this has nothing to do with the concept of democratizing a society under absolute dictatorship. This is really as simple as the fact that the concept of Science or Mathematics stays universal for the human race; so does the concept of democratizing third world societies under absolute dictatorship my case in point for now being Liberia and Somalia.

If you accept the concept of dictatorship s being universal then you must accept that the solution is also universal, otherwise you will remain localizing your mind within Eritrea with no strategy to attract international politicians only limiting your potential to discussing events and condemning the regime.

If democracy works in Europe why cannot it work in the US given the similarity between their societies (culture, education, technology, art, etc.) By the same token, if democracy worked in Liberia through transitional government, what make you think that a similar society (Eritrean) will not make it through its own version of strategy?

How can you save your failed state from instinction by rejecting the experience of societies that got out of failure through well-defined strategies as that of the Liberian? Can you please give us your strategy instead of rejecting ours without providing anything besides your feelings? Can you at least show us what the difference between the Liberians and us were and what won’t work from the ANSWER in specifics than trashing the workload with indefinite phrasing “Liberian experience , it is difficult to implement in the Eritrean society first of all as i have said in the above physically is not there. Second Liberian nation building history and composition of the population is different.”? Please get out of your trap and open your mind!

Gezae: “This model differs from the traditional strategic or realist approaches; that is international mediation [fetsum] presents in is characterized by an emphasis on interaction between the parties. The goal I think is not to offer solutions, but to facilitate communication between the PFDJ and genuine opponents and for them to come up with their own ways of resolving their problems. Even if direct communication between them is not possible, I would like the Doctor to add as a third party tries to communicate the views and concerns of the other party or parties to encourage direct negotiation and way for solving the long time problem will be a good try.”

Response: Thank you brother for conditionally considering the only available strategy in the market (will reverse this opinion upon material proof from any sect of our society) and suggesting something to improve it. This is what I expect from decent human beings instead of killing ideas without counter ideas at the expense of the society. We can all think about your idea but only if we entertain the ANSWER as potentially the only internationally acceptable academic material to date in our struggle for democracy with a room for maturity through transparent exchange of ideas.

Nebelbal17: “Dear Fetsum, First- please accept my warm greetings. Welcome brother!
Two weeks ago some of my friends and I had a very long discussion. For your surprise the essence of the discussion about what if we take the Liberian Process? It a heated discussion but friendly. Due to lack of detailed information I was with group who thought this might work. The reason or reasons that I had at that time was Liberia and Eritrea have clear differences, be it: politically, culturally, economically, experience..etc For so, I was arguing to come up with different solution, and in fact we went back home without having one as usual. Now, after I read your narrative line by line came to learn a lot. Apparently something is always better than empty hands. If photocopying as is not regarded, I’m sure a good part of it could be beneficial. “

Response: Well-taken and I am glad you considered revising your initial attitude of the matter instead of going home as usual without anything as has been the problem in this resistance and the reason we could not produce anything tangible so far. It will certainly work if we adopt it and nurture it to be a comprehensive solution to our problem but will die out like the Vaccaroian movement because of our failure to cultivate it for survival under any condition. If we cannot learn from those excruciating experiences, we are doomed to suffer the same tragedy as we have so far been monotonously doing in this resistance. You can kill this outstanding workload that can change your society and suffer the consequence of your illusion or take care of it to become the ultimate solution to your dilemma after developing it through group discussions everywhere. At the end of your exhausting experimentation, though, you will never cross the bridge without something like the ANSWER and one may put food in your mouth but cannot swallow it for you. Acolisecaleku beakmei miw-hat gin natka tara eyu.

Stay tuned to my comments on the prolific material On A SWIFT, EFFECTIVE AND LASTING SOLUTION TO THE ERITREAN NIGHTMARE!! – A Short Thesis on Strategy By Our Voice By assenna on May 16, 2015

 

Thank you