Visit the new AsenaTv Website

https://asenatv.com

Wedi Vacaro in Stockholm

Stockholm 14 December, 2013 Wedi Vacaro in Stockholm Saturday the 14th of December, 2013 was a day where Eritreans in Stockholm in particular and Sweden in general showed their contempt to tyranny and dictatorship in Eritrea. This

Stockholm 14 December, 2013

Wedi Vacaro in Stockholm

Saturday the 14th of December, 2013 was a day where Eritreans in Stockholm in particular and Sweden in general showed their contempt to tyranny and dictatorship in Eritrea. This was prompted by the incredible energetic inspiration of Wedi Vacaro, Dr. Tewelde Tesfamariam who has been crisscrossing around the world starting in the Americas and coming to Europe with his first stop in Stockholm where ordinary people these days are busy preparing and shopping for the Christmas holydays and the shops are fully decorated attracting people from all walks of life. This important event I believe will be disseminated from appropriate channels but here follows my take of the event.

The meeting was scheduled to start at noon and the two halls (*Palme and Katals hall at ABF Stocholm, at Sveavägen 41, down town Stockholm kindly offered by the Social Democratic Party of Sweden) were almost full of Eritreans yearning for change at home, Eritrea i.e. Many of the attendees were people tiered of HIGDEF’s deception and who had written of the possibility of democratic changes in Eritrea due to the weakness, inability and squabbles of the opposition. It was obvious from the outset that people needed to see a fresh blood, an apostle if you like who would tell them the cruelties perpetuated by higdef as they are i.e. in plain and simple language. I believe Wedi Vacaro appealed to the people’s emotions and a conservative estimate of ca: 400 attendees testify to that.

The message from Wedi Vacaro started after a minute of silence for remembering Eritrea’s martyrs and an introductory short presentation of the program from the organizers. He started by apologizing for his involvement or being part of EPLF and PFDJ (which I believe was unnecessary). He urged others to follow sue i.e. His main message was:

  1. The group holding power in Eritrea now is not governing but just temporarily and illegally administrating. An administration they acquired by brute force. And due to their brutality, we have lost our precious tradition and culture. In fact, many of these pfdj gangsters are not Eritreans (Eritrea does not belong to them; Eartra aytmilketomn eya). We should be proud to acknowledge our origin of birth villages and Awragas, there is no reason for us to be shy. Only the Nazis used to numerate their Jews victims. “We are not from zoba hade or zoba klete, we are proud deki Senhit, Seraye, Semhar or Akeleguzay” and so on.  Thus we need to educate our youngsters and children, our proud tradition before it is too late.
    1. Sweden has turned out to be the main source of propaganda and finance for pfdj and that’s why I decided to start my European tour here in Stockholm. We need to stop the pfdj annual festivals starting from the coming year. We can achieve this goal only and only if we organize ourselves in community organizations irrespective of our political and party affiliations. He said, “My sources inform me that in the near future, the pfdj has plans to issue new passports and identification papers”. We should in no uncertain terms reject these and tell the pfdj gangs to relinquish power in favor of the Eritrean people. Wedi Vacaro shared his experience concerning the meetings he conducted with the international community like the United Nations, US State Department and many others. Apparently, the world community is well aware not only of the brutality of the regime but also of the weak support the Eritrean opposition parties enjoy from their own people. Thus their recommendation was for all Eritreans who aspire for positive change and democracy in Eritrea, first to acquire not only the popular support but also a united front of all Eritreans who are planning to topple the dictator in Eritrea (a prerequisite for democratic change).
    2. This part of his speech was concluded by the necessity of establishing strong and united community in Sweden and communicating with all Eritrean communities in Europe and around the world who would have been organized in the same manner. Out of this organized community, a couple of knowledgeable preferentially lawyers or other able individuals should be elected to represent Sweden and they in turn would form a committee who would represent all Eritreans around the world to communicate with the world communities like the European Union, USA, African Union and the United Nations. He informed that this kind of community organizations has started in North America and would like to see similar activities here in Europe. Only and only, when and if we are united and organized can we defeat the brutal regime in Asmera.
    3. On the legal issues, Wedi Vacaro noted that the precious tradition and respect that the Eritrean people prides itself on its churches and mosques as well as in its elderly people should be safeguarded and preserved before the pfdj gangs totally dismantle it. This is not achieved by killing the dictator even if it could be done easily. The issue is that of dismantling and eradicating the pfdj system. The question of compensation from the Italian colonial era has been totally neglected and as a consequence not a single Eritrean (soldier servant of Italy) has been offered any retirement or other form of financial support, while Libya has got its rightful compensation. We therefore need to include lawyers in the would be committee to represent us and speak for our rights.  Concerning the Eritrean flag, Wedi Vacaro had to say the following: the green blue red with a yellow olive leaves belongs to Isayas, and not the Eritrean people (by the way, I have never seen a yellow olive in my life). The legal Eritrean flag is the blue with green olive leaves issued by the united nations and until the Eritrean people decides by democratically conducted elections, the old flag should be the country’s symbol. On the issue of the G15, Wedi Vacaro had to say this. The G15 demanded that the constitution be implemented and the country governed by the rule of law. Unfortunately for them and for Eritrea, they did not get the support from the people and the army (tegadelti) which they desperately needed. Actually; they were betrayed not only by the traitor Sebhat Ephrem (currently Eritrean defence minister) but also by the Eritrean people and the army. The army mutiny led by Wedi Ali had similar demand as that of the G15 but they also were betrayed and thus could not succeed in what they set out to accomplish.

The turning point that triggered much anger from me and the Eritrean people all over the world was the tragedy that occurred on the Mediterranean sea shores of Lampedusa last October where ca: 360 Eritrean youth and children lost their lives fleeing from their homeland.  A homeland, which would no longer accommodate their safety and their day to day life. TV ERI would refer them as African illegal immigrants who had the bad luck of having their boat capsizing just a few miles out of Lampedusa, Italy. A president worth the name would not only come out to the media but fly to Italy which by the way is only four hours from Asmera, and be part of the common Eritrean grief. We all know that this never happened and it shows the contempt the dictator has on the Eritrean people.

Next, sometime was offered to the brilliant Jytte Guteland of Swedish Social Democratic party (previous chairwoman of the Social Democratic Youth association, SSU) who is aspiring for the position of European parliament elections taking place in May 25, 2014. She urged us all to exercise our democratic rights and vote on that day in order to influence the composition of the European parliament and make sure that this democratic body be directed by democratic forces. In a similar message, the Eritrean born member of parliament Arhe Ahmednaca (Social Democratic Party) revealed that he is up for the coming Swedish election (September 2014) as number five in Stockholm county which to my understanding implies that we are almost certain he will be elected and represent us for the coming four years. Mind you he never asked for our votes but he was anxious that we all vote whichever party we would like except for the racist party of “Sverige Democraterna”. A quality which should be appreciated, and hopefully appeal for all Eritreans and other nationalities in Sweden to use their rights to vote. Here in Sweden, and I believe in all other democratic countries in the west, “foreigners” have the tendency of staying on the couches instead of moving their “asses” (my emphasis) and go for voting. Isn’t that we want to happen in our bereaved country anyways? Then we should exercise our rights and vote, at least we can teach our children the traditions of democracy. Arhe reminded that the Social Democratic Party had been overwhelmed by the pfdj supporters, now the tide seems to shift to our favor and the SDP leaders will not dance on the pfdj festivals anymore. He finished his brief and concise talk by reminding us that if we exercise our rights and vote on the EU parliament, we will make sure that the parliament is NOT dominated by the extreme rightists and racists. This would benefit us Eritreans living in Europe and also Eritrea, because it would be persons like Jytte whom our elected representatives would be appealing once Wedi Vacor’s popular upraise succeeds and a professional committee if established.

Finally, I would like to summarize the main points of Wedi Vacaros’s massages as follows:

  1. A united and strong Eritrean community in all countries where Eritreans reside is a necessity and prerequisite for democratic changes.
  2. Peaceful and democratic movement is a prerequisite for change. No need for arms against our own brothers, sisters and children.
  3. No intervention from our neighbors should be tolerated.
  4. We need professional individuals who would represent us Eritreans to communicate with the international community.
  5. We would have chosen a temporary committee who would organize another meeting if time had been on our side. This problem was solved by shouldering the responsibility of organizing another meeting (where Wedi Vacaro promised to attend) unanimously to the original initiative takers of this meeting.
  6. The event was broadcast live on Smerrr TV and there was little time for questions. Wedi Vacaro answered all and without going into details, I believe the answers were covered in what is told above.

My opinion on the Wedi Vacaro initiative is the following : It was a very inspiring initiative which opened the eyes of many Eritreans who had totally given up on changes. Hope to see the momentum continue as some wise and experienced Eritrean hero expressed it to me whom I met after the meeting. How are we supposed to organize when we are not organized and have different political addresses would be tough issue to resolve, since organizing is a prerequisite for success and since we fully well understand the futility of non-organized activities? Deep in my heart I believe that every Eritrean is distressed by the bandit PFDJ and change is around the corner if we stand together and say enough is enough.

Apologies and reconciliation should be the first on the to do lists in the coming democratic Eritrea once the dictator is gone. There is space for all in the opposition where ever they come from. Is it possible to defeat pfdj without organizing ourselves?

Time will tell.

Vacaro_SH3Finally, I would like to add that the meeting was accompanied by the great singer and guitarist Tekle Abraha (Zerai Deres) our Bob Dylan if you will to the tunes of Bob Dylan; “Song of Freedom” and “The times They are Changing”.

Thank you Dr Tewolde Tesfamariam, Wedi Vacaro!

Thank you to the organizers of this important event!

Glory to the Eritrean People!

H.Michael T.berhan, Stockholm

aseye.asena@gmail.com

Review overview
20 COMMENTS
  • david December 16, 2013

    WHY ARE ERITREAN PEOPLE SCARED OF TEGARU. YOU KNOW TEGARU HAVE FOUGHT FOR ERITREA FROM DAY ONE. BEFORE ERITREA WAS CREATED BY THE ITALIAN, TEGARU USED PROTECT THAT PART OF THE WORLD. IN FACT, ISAIAS AFEWERKI’S FAMILY MEMBERS RULED AND PROTECTED IT. AND, NOW ISAIAS HAS CALLED HIS PEOPLE DEMHIT TO PROTECT ERITREA ONCE AGAIN FROM DESTRUCTION. SO, PLEASE DON’T BE SCARED AT TEGARU THEY ARE SMART AND STRONG PEOPLE LIKE ISAIA. THEY WILL PROTECT OUR COUNTRY FOR US , SINCE WE YOUNG MEN HAVE LEFT OUR COUNTRY BEHIND.

    • Tewelde T. December 16, 2013

      Eritrea to Eritreans and Tigrai to Ethiopians where it belongs to! HGDEF is a safe heaven of Tegaru leadership:
      1. Isayas Afewerki
      2. Hagos ghebrehiwet
      3. Yemane Monkey
      4. Yemane Charley
      5. Alamin Mohamed Said

      These are the top 5 with identity crisis who believe in HGDEF asareligion, and who has formed HGDEF as a safe heaven.

      Anti Eritrean nationalism and advocy of universality and one party ideology. This is their new Eritrea,
      Hadas Eritrea, and not the traditional or cultural Eritrean nation of Higi endaba and Baito. Isayas believes as if he has invented Hadas Eritrea the current fiasco and dares to call Eritrea my daughter -Gualey- instead him weda (her son)
      Incredibly awful and dangerous vision! I believe he is purposely trying and working to cleanse dekebat Eritrawian for the sake of his inferiority and is surrounding himself by his likes and opportunists. God willing The day seems to come closer!

      • david December 17, 2013

        hi tewelde,
        i bleive you are miss using the word DEKEBAT. if you know you history dekebat of eritrea are tegaru like isaias, hagos, yeman, ect. people from tembien that are known as hamassien like isaias are the dekebat. before eritrea was created by the italian it was called bahri negash and bahri negash blongs to tigary, afar, tigre, bilen, kunama, and saho. most importantly you need to study where your parents came from. eritrea is no longer for the loser italian dogs like you. eritrea has the right owner demhit.

  • Dawit Meconen December 16, 2013

    Viva Dr. Tewelde, keep it up, we are behind you. But while you spread the message of hope and the demise of the impostor, Isaias Afewerqi and his inner gangs, wide to every corner of the world, you must also develop your initiative into strong organization that can endure any set back from anywhere.

    And please,beware that death from the Killing Squads of the impostor may be hovering over your head; many intellectuals of your caliber, pre and post independence, were gunned down by Isaias Afewerqi, the tigrai conspirator, just for the same reason you are working to achieve. I am not sure where the General, the squalid Sebhat Effrem is, but it is not impossible that he may be contriving for your death.

    Of course, you must protect yourself and I hope those who are travelling with you are keenly aware of the possibility, but since some times it is impossible to guard oneself from a sworn killer, such as this impostor, you must build your movement into strong and solid organization as soon as possible.

  • rezen December 16, 2013

    “He started by apologizing for his involvement or being part of EPLF and PFDJ”

    The above quotation is from the above report.

    The statement evokes a cardinal question and possibly learning grief for the entire population of Eritrea.

    Eritreans have gone to 30-year war with their eyes wide open and their hearts ‘eloping’ to their imagination.Eritrea sacrificed over three-hundred thousand souls with a devastated country for a cause they thought they imagined and understood. For that blind belief, they gave ‘blind cheque’ of their lives to those who preached the forthcoming of independence, liberty, freedom, equality, justice, prosperity…. All along the agenda of the smart -alecks — whether those who met in Cairo, Egypt (1961) or at Alla, Eritrea (1969) — had different respective ideas of their own. In short, Eritreans were betrayed by their own children who idolized and adored them like Saints.

    Now what and where? Needless to say, but it worth repeating one thousand time, that Eritreans must first and foremost be sober from emotionality; learn from the ugly recent-past history; and determine where their down-to-earth interest lies. If not, the destiny of Eritrea will be determine by external forces based on the interest of the interdependent world.

    All the halloboola about: “pride, valor, courage, determination, superiority,…… that some people consider as their inborn virtues of their own sector is as destructive as the 30-war suicide itself.

  • Yonas December 16, 2013

    I feel we’re going backwards when we talk about what flag is right, regions, etc. Instead of unity this sounds like more division. I’m coming to realize why the State Department thinks the opposition doesn’t have much support. We fail to understand is our biggest issues are our beliefs. We need to change.

  • oromay December 16, 2013

    I really donot understand the real meaning of message number two. Are you trying to pursue the principle of nonvoilence struggle with war mongering regime?. Change doenot happen by wishes and begging the guy to step down. If you donot have strategic plan to hit the central node of the regimes pillars…..mainly the security apparatus, how on earth are you expecting change to come up?. To weaken your initiative s, the regime sympathizers aready started similar hidden agenda the so called reform. The teformists cannot change their behavour as a loepard cannot change its spots.

  • oromay December 16, 2013

    I really donot understand the real meaning of message number two. Are you trying to pursue the principle of nonviolence struggle with war mongering regime?. Change doenot happen by wishes and begging the guy to step down. If you donot have strategic plan to hit the central node of the regimes pillars…..mainly the security apparatus, how on earth are you expecting change to come up?. To weaken your initiative s, the regime sympathizers aready started similar hidden agenda the so called reform. The teformists cannot change their behavour as a loepard cannot change its spots.

  • monicasalguero December 16, 2013

    Dr.Tewelde Kulu xahrekum Amlak Yetehaweso ab Awet dma yebxehayo.

  • Tamrat Tamrat December 17, 2013

    Dr. Twelde Tesfamariam! Please come to Norway and make the silent and oppressed People free from the demon of pfdj. Here eritreans are live like in Asmara. They are afraid of pfdj at home, in Church, Mosque, Schools, refugee campls (here are the worst because these People are voulnerable specially the girsl and the Young ones). Come Dr.even it is like making a speach in Asmara. Come on to Oslo the home of abuse and extortion of pfdj. Save the People from thta little devilish Office which collect Money for oslo and asmara pfdj tuges. Come and save to clean the office of the consula from abusing ethiopians who mangaed their permission to stay in norway by saying they are eritreans. These girls must sleep for getting documents from that little devils’ house. Come the name of Eritrea is tarnished by 4th greader know everything so called pfdj politicians. Come on Dr. come on.

  • dekibat December 17, 2013

    Dr Tewelde,
    Just march forward, together with you we have attacked PFDJ base Dejen in scandenavian countries one of the most fearful base.
    the entire all eritrean awrajatat will be behind you because you are the true wedi-abat and since you are too old no one can accuse you of power thirsty.You are doing it for us, for your people, for your children. More imprtant we need to form a government in exile and convince the west that we are the legitimate representative of our people and then take over HEGDEF embasies all over the world Just like what happened to Libyan embasies before the fall of Gadafi. But most of all military activity and deplomatic assault has to go hand in hand. I am not saying this lightly because even with military assualt, The dictator going to use the sex slaves of sawa girls and boys as human shield, but we left with no alternative except to persue the miltary action along with deplomatic recognition is vital as we can be armed without restriction or sanction. Finally every oposition should stop quarreling and work with Dr tewelde at least temporarily to eradicate the brutal dictator once and froever. We should not be surprised that some opostions are sent by the dictator to cause us to split and confuse hence to elongate the dictatorial blood sucking vampire life, just egnore them.”HOYONA ZEYBELE KABANA YEFELE”.

  • Truly Truly i say to you December 17, 2013

    ኣንቱም ሰባት! ከምቲ እስራኤላውያን ኣብግዜ ጸበቦም ናብ እግዚኣብሔር ኣብዘእውይሉን ኣብዝተማህለልሉ ዝነበሩሉ እዋን በብግዚኡ ነብያትን መረህቲን እናተንሰእ ካብ ጸበቦም የናግፎም ዝነበረ፣ ነኣና ኤርትራውያን ከኣ ክትቅበልዎ እንተደሊኹም፣ እነሆ ኣምላኽ ንሕዝባና ሃልዩ፣ ብቃልሲ መሪሁ ኣብ ዓድና ከእትዉና ዝኽእሎ ብቁኣት ርሕሩህ መስተውኣሊ መራሂቲ ከም ነብይ ሙሴ፡ ንዶክተር ተወልደ ተስፋማርያም (ወዲ ቫካሮን) ንተባእ ተጋዳላይ ሃውና´ ኣማንኤል እያሱ´ከኣ ከምቲ ቕዱስ መጽሓፍ ዝገልጸልና ሙሴ ብጸሎት ምስ ኣምላኽ አናተራኸበ ንሕዝቡ ንዘምጽኣሎሞ ዝነበረ መምሩሂ ወዲ ነዌ እያሱ´ከኣ ነቲ ካብ ሙሴን ኣምላኽን ዝተዋሃቦ መምርሂ ነዚ ሕዝቢ ብግብሪ መሪሕካ ኣብቲ ዝድለይ ሽቶ ተብትጽሆም ንስኻ ኢኻ ተባሂሉ በቲ ዝተወሃቡ ቃል ክዳን መሰረት፣ ምስ ሕዝቡ ብጽኑእ ተቃሊሱ ብኣወት ናብቲ ተስፋ ምድሪ ከምዘእተዎም፤ ብሃቂ ከምቲ “ሽም ይመርህ፡ ሽምዓ የብርህ” ዝተበሃለ፤ ኣማንኤል ወዲ እያሱ ከም ሽሙ ንሕዝባና መሪሁ ናብታ ተስፋ ምድሪ ንከእትው ብትብዓት ከም ነብይ እያሱ( ጆሽዋ) ተበጊሱሎሞ፣ ሃዬ ደቂ እሥራኤል ኣብኩሉ ዓለም ምስተበተነ ሕዝብኹም ብሃባር ንምቅላስ ተበገሱ። እግዚኣብሔር ነቲ ኣብላምፓዱዛ ዝፈሰሰ ንብኣት ናይኣዴታትናን ናይ ኣቦታትናን ርኢዎሎ´ሞ፣ ስልዝድግፈና ዓወትና ናይግድን እዩ።

POST A COMMENT