By T Stephanos, August 29, 2007
testifanos@gmail.com
People have been disappearing in Eritrea since the dawn of independence. Bitwoded and the Keren teachers are but few examples. Although the net of lawlessness was cast way before the 1998 war, the regime bared its fangs on September 18, 2001 with the arrest of former government officials and the shutting down of the emerging private press.
What unraveled on September 18th still continues unabated today. Anyone the regime dislikes - be it an octogenarian Patriarch of the Orthodox church, bright-eyed high school students or anyone in between– is abused and thrown in jail without due process. What makes this regime's crimes more heinous is that the incarcerated are denied visitation rights from anyone making it impossible to know if the victims are even alive. This is unfathomable in independent Eritrea because visitation rights where not even denied during the Dergue's rule.
Unless we force the regime to release those it unjustly continues to incarcerate, September 18th has the potential of rendering both Bahti Meskerem and May 24 th totally meaningless. But how do you force a mindless regime that seems to have no soul or heart to do anything good? First, we need to withdraw our support until it releases all the prisoners. If the will is there, the people and not the regime, has full control of how much support the regime gets. We owe it to our brothers and sisters who have so far been condemned to a miserable and voiceless life. Can we be their voice in this darkest hour where no light of freedom shines in so-called "independent" Eritrea?
At the very least, whatever support we are willing to give to the regime, it should be made conditional to the release of the prisoners. Mass imprisonment of innocent people, creating miserable conditions that make young people believe exile is the best alternative and intentionally creating a lawless environment on top of an otherwise law-abiding culture, will weaken even the strongest of nations. How can Eritrea be strong and viable when its people are terrorized, impoverished and under-educated?
As this sad day approaches, regardless of our political leanings, the innocent prisoners should remain on top of our minds. This wrong must be righted. Freeing the prisoners is a necessary first step towards Eritrea's healing process. Rallying for their freedom can and should be a uniting cause in order to reclaim a country that has been hijacked away from its rightful destiny. Let us reverse the damages done by September 18th so that Bahti Meskerem and May 24th will be worth celebrating.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Unfilered Notes: ERITREA AND TERRORISM
By T Stephanos, August 23, 2007
testifanos@gmail.com
The US is making noises about adding Eritrea to the list of terror-sponsoring states. Leaving the external component of this potentially hot debate aside and focusing internally for now, there is no doubt a terrorist regime rules Eritrea today. Regardless of the merits of the U.S. claim, this could be a good wake-up call for Eritreans of all stripes to do the long over due soul searching and start reversing our willingness to be ruled by remote control.
Before it became “independent” in 1991, Eritreans, by and large, were known for their dynamism, love of family and passion for education. They did relatively well in Ethiopia and other countries in business and the professions. This regime has now destroyed the family unit through endless militarism and exile. It has no respect whatsoever for age, wisdom, rule of law, education or institutions. Ironically, the only place on the planet where Eritreans are guaranteed to fail from realizing their dreams is in “independent” Eritrea itself.
FEW EXAMPLES OF THE REGIME’S TERROR TACTICS
1) People have been disappearing at the whim of the self-declared president-for-life since independence. When General Ogbe Abraha wrote to him suggesting it was time the regime mend its ways because people are beginning to complain, the “president” couldn’t’ care less about the more important matter of WHAT was being said. Typical of bullies, he only wanted to know WHO said what instead. Now we have thousands of politicians, journalists, religious figures and countless innocent citizens, including Ogbe (who is feared dead), rotting behind bars with no visitation rights even from family members. The message is cold and clear. The regime is essentially saying: ‘we show no mercy to 70 and 80 year olds, women, former comrades or students. So, shut up and do what you are told, give what we demand or you will meet their fate’. That is ruling by terror
2) One of the regime’s many embezzlement schemes forcibly collects 50,000 Nakfa from aging parents. Their crime? Their sons and daughters who are in their 20s and 30s - for whom parents have no legal responsibility - fled the country for a better life elsewhere. The regime uses conscripts as cheap slave labor with no limits on the length of servitude. Frustrated, they flee and the regime terrorizes their parents. Women have given birth in filthy prisons because they couldn’t come up with the embezzlement fee in time. In a country with no pension plans, the security of aging parents is typically tied to their children. But with their children forcibly conscripted, parents are often left to a life of poverty.
3) Even its “supporters” in the diaspora fully understand the regime rules by fear and fear alone. They see there is no freedom of assembly, no freedom of expression or freedom of any kind. In spite of their proclaimed support, they have refused to make Eritrea their home. No one should blame them for their instincts of self-preservation, of course. It is just that they do it dishonestly. By staying put in their adopted countries and keeping themselves and their children out of harms way, they have cast the only vote that matters thus nullifying any self-deceiving declarations about how much they stand behind their “government” and others don’t. Willingly trapped within the range of the regime’s remote control, the freedom to be oneself is surrendered.
It is both sad and funny when the never-elected “president” rambles on, often incoherently, about the lack of freedom in the U.S or Ethiopia and about how non-participatory their systems are. Those who are close to him should help him turn the mirror around to let him see the undemocratic and non-participatory images he seems to despise so much and is continuously trying to paint on others is actually more fitting to his own image.
Jam the regime’s remote control and turn the damn mirror around. Jointly calling for the release of the prisoners is a necessary first step in Eritrea’s healing process. Whatever the color of our politics, this is a humanitarian issue first and foremost.
testifanos@gmail.com
The US is making noises about adding Eritrea to the list of terror-sponsoring states. Leaving the external component of this potentially hot debate aside and focusing internally for now, there is no doubt a terrorist regime rules Eritrea today. Regardless of the merits of the U.S. claim, this could be a good wake-up call for Eritreans of all stripes to do the long over due soul searching and start reversing our willingness to be ruled by remote control.
Before it became “independent” in 1991, Eritreans, by and large, were known for their dynamism, love of family and passion for education. They did relatively well in Ethiopia and other countries in business and the professions. This regime has now destroyed the family unit through endless militarism and exile. It has no respect whatsoever for age, wisdom, rule of law, education or institutions. Ironically, the only place on the planet where Eritreans are guaranteed to fail from realizing their dreams is in “independent” Eritrea itself.
FEW EXAMPLES OF THE REGIME’S TERROR TACTICS
1) People have been disappearing at the whim of the self-declared president-for-life since independence. When General Ogbe Abraha wrote to him suggesting it was time the regime mend its ways because people are beginning to complain, the “president” couldn’t’ care less about the more important matter of WHAT was being said. Typical of bullies, he only wanted to know WHO said what instead. Now we have thousands of politicians, journalists, religious figures and countless innocent citizens, including Ogbe (who is feared dead), rotting behind bars with no visitation rights even from family members. The message is cold and clear. The regime is essentially saying: ‘we show no mercy to 70 and 80 year olds, women, former comrades or students. So, shut up and do what you are told, give what we demand or you will meet their fate’. That is ruling by terror
2) One of the regime’s many embezzlement schemes forcibly collects 50,000 Nakfa from aging parents. Their crime? Their sons and daughters who are in their 20s and 30s - for whom parents have no legal responsibility - fled the country for a better life elsewhere. The regime uses conscripts as cheap slave labor with no limits on the length of servitude. Frustrated, they flee and the regime terrorizes their parents. Women have given birth in filthy prisons because they couldn’t come up with the embezzlement fee in time. In a country with no pension plans, the security of aging parents is typically tied to their children. But with their children forcibly conscripted, parents are often left to a life of poverty.
3) Even its “supporters” in the diaspora fully understand the regime rules by fear and fear alone. They see there is no freedom of assembly, no freedom of expression or freedom of any kind. In spite of their proclaimed support, they have refused to make Eritrea their home. No one should blame them for their instincts of self-preservation, of course. It is just that they do it dishonestly. By staying put in their adopted countries and keeping themselves and their children out of harms way, they have cast the only vote that matters thus nullifying any self-deceiving declarations about how much they stand behind their “government” and others don’t. Willingly trapped within the range of the regime’s remote control, the freedom to be oneself is surrendered.
It is both sad and funny when the never-elected “president” rambles on, often incoherently, about the lack of freedom in the U.S or Ethiopia and about how non-participatory their systems are. Those who are close to him should help him turn the mirror around to let him see the undemocratic and non-participatory images he seems to despise so much and is continuously trying to paint on others is actually more fitting to his own image.
Jam the regime’s remote control and turn the damn mirror around. Jointly calling for the release of the prisoners is a necessary first step in Eritrea’s healing process. Whatever the color of our politics, this is a humanitarian issue first and foremost.
Unfiltered Notes: WAY FORWARD
By T Stephanos – August 14, 2007
testifanos@gmail.com
Observe any Eritrean gathering these days and one sees animated conversations that are stuck in a time warp. It is a machine that regurgitates old arguments to justify positions time has long deemed irrelevant. The interaction lacks curiosity and leaves little room to entertain new ideas or to listen to other points of view. For the most part, people are polarized at two extremes - those whose false sense of patriotism knowingly justifies tyranny and often condemn the victims of tyranny on one hand, and those who have simply given up because they don’t see any way out from the mess independent Eritrea has gotten itself into.
These extreme positions rule out the abundant but unexplored common ground that could unify the silent majority into taking long over-due positive action. No matter how small, positive action compounded through healthy participation of the vast middle can transform and has transformed societies before. There is no magic to this and is certainly not original.
BUT WHAT ACTIONS TO TAKE?
Just to mention a couple of examples, Berhane G/Negus, a good friend, has been courageously trying to revive a sense of civic responsibility among the once active but now dormant diaspora community. Elsa Chrum has provided hope and comfort to new Eritrean refugees in Malta and Libya. Berhane’s and Elsa’s civic activism, if we can support them to gain the necessary momentum, are encouraging developments because this is what is needed to empower individuals to take proactive action against injustice without waiting for someone to do something somewhere.
The endless incarceration of innocent Eritreans by the very first regime of post-independent Eritrea betrays the hopes and aspirations of the living and insults the legacy of those who paid the ultimate price. Unfortunately, we have become silent observers as old prisoners are forgotten and new ones added in alarming numbers. Since jailed former government officials and the countless others are in no position to speak for themselves, we, on the outside should stand up for them. If the regime cannot bring its victims to an open and fair court of law after six long years, it is time that its false charges are discarded and the prisoners freed immediately and unconditionally. With total lack of curiosity for the truth, the justification still given by the regime’s supporters is that the jailor must have found something against these innocent victims (gele reKibulom kKewn alewo).
The jailor, who is also the accuser and the judge with all the instruments of power at his disposal, continues to spew fabricated charges against the muzzled victims. The victims, on the other hand, have ZERO opportunity to speak in their defense. This disparity should give anyone with some sense pause but, sadly, it continues to fly right above the heads of the “gele reKibulom kKewn alewo” crowd. Where is the so-called legendary Eritrean sense of fairness and justice? We have let thousands of our brothers and sisters suffer for too long.
It is admirable and worth emulating to witness non-Eritrean friends of Astier Yohannes in Arizona speak out on her behalf repeatedly. Why is there not similar action by Eritreans from all corners of the planet? It is okay to support the regime if one sees good reason to do so. No problem there. But Astier’s case, and there are thousands more, makes it starkly clear that a line of trust has been crossed. If there is indeed genuine concern for Eritrea the nation, those who say they love this regime should be the first in line urging it to stop mistreating the very people they claim to care about.
Astier’s husband, Petros Solomon, has not been heard from for six years and family members don’t know if he is even alive. Their four young children had already lost a father and when Astier went back to Eritrea to be with them, she was taken away from the airport before she can even see her children who were eagerly waiting for her outside the gates. It has now been almost four years since she disappeared. Their children were thus made instant orphans without generating so much of a whisper from us. If these four Eritrean children, the thousands the regime continues to incarcerate and the thousands more who are voting with their feet to leave Eritrea, cannot live in dignity in their own country then what, one wonders, is the meaning of independent Eritrea?
I hope saying “supporters of the regime with a heart” is not an oxymoron. For those who are, there should be no sense of contradiction for you to initiate a movement within your circle of influence to Free Astier and the countless other victims. Your movement for justice and fairness can be initiated among your friends, places of worship or other gatherings. How about taking a poster that says “I support my government but I also want Astier to be free” to one of the regime’s events you attend? Unless one is supporting this regime out of fear and not out of conviction, taking such a step can only help Eritrea and even improve the regime’s imaged in the process. After all, what is geographic sovereignty if it does not also guarantee peoples’ sovereignty?
To others who are not doing much else besides talking, we can make freedom of the prisoners our primary objective. We can support the efforts of Berhane, Elsa and others to raise our voices in support of our brothers and sisters who are constantly being harassed by Libya. After making an arduous journey across the Sahara, Libya’s repeated threats to deport them back to Eritrea are criminal. We know what happened to the first set of deportees and we can expect no less from a regime obsessed with inflicting so much pain and misery on its people. We can add volume to Dr. Bereket’s letter asking the UN to stop the deportations. We can use the institutions in the countries we live in and urge them to intervene on their behalf. We can partner with Amnesty International and others to amplify our small individual efforts for greater impact.
So, there are small things people can do individually – such as letter writing, making phone calls, involving our representatives and the like. If energies are channeled appropriately big results are possible. But we need the discipline to stay away from the fruitless polemics that we are too familiar with. Focus on the prisoners and ignore all diversions. Civic activism, after reaching a certain critical mass can end up shaping the politics, as it should. Politicians are the ultimate opportunists. When and if we refuse to accept the role of docile subjects of any pathetic regime under the sun, the astute politician of the day will recognize that reality and only then will he or she treat people with the dignity full citizenship deserves.
Until it is absolutely convinced we have shed our self-imposed slavery for good, our current regime is in no mood to change its abusive ways on its own free will. The scattered and directionless opposition is waiting for something to happen and doesn’t seem to have a clue on how to make things happen. Which is all the more reason to strengthen civic activism at all levels as a potent medicine against abusive power – both for the present and for the future.
Although the players will change, the nature of power will not. This is not unique to our situation. History provides abundant examples that power, especially unchecked power, is always arrogant. This arrogance soon leads to incompetence and those two are a deadly combination for the survival of any country. One can plausibly argue that the regime’s arrogance and insecurity lead it to jail those with different or better ideas. By denying Eritrea the services of its able and willing citizens, the incompetence of the regime has finally bared itself for all to see. Reduced to its incompetent core and not having much left in its recycled bag of tricks, it is now squandering Eritrea’s meager resources to finance all sorts of armed groups – some who don’t even believe in the sovereignty of Eritrea. The totally opaque and obsessively secretive regime never had a transparent budget, the economy is in shambles and the list goes on.
An involved and demanding population that channels its energies through dynamic civic activism will never allow this insanity to take place. Such activism can be a very effective insurance policy against abusive power and we need this policy now more than ever. So, I urge everyone, including the regime’s humane supporters, to pick something that you are not happy with and start raising that issue in your circle of influence. Join other civil society organizations. Equally important, stop becoming an apologist for the regime’s crimes. Commit yourself to NEVER say “gele reKiblom kKewn alewo” until you find out for sure for yourself why so many continue to rot in jail.
And one sincerely hopes the spirits of “against all odds” and “never kneel down”, which not too long ago were used to describe the iron will of Eritreans, equally apply to a locally bred tyrant as they did to outside ones. And that, really, is the bottom line.
testifanos@gmail.com
Observe any Eritrean gathering these days and one sees animated conversations that are stuck in a time warp. It is a machine that regurgitates old arguments to justify positions time has long deemed irrelevant. The interaction lacks curiosity and leaves little room to entertain new ideas or to listen to other points of view. For the most part, people are polarized at two extremes - those whose false sense of patriotism knowingly justifies tyranny and often condemn the victims of tyranny on one hand, and those who have simply given up because they don’t see any way out from the mess independent Eritrea has gotten itself into.
These extreme positions rule out the abundant but unexplored common ground that could unify the silent majority into taking long over-due positive action. No matter how small, positive action compounded through healthy participation of the vast middle can transform and has transformed societies before. There is no magic to this and is certainly not original.
BUT WHAT ACTIONS TO TAKE?
Just to mention a couple of examples, Berhane G/Negus, a good friend, has been courageously trying to revive a sense of civic responsibility among the once active but now dormant diaspora community. Elsa Chrum has provided hope and comfort to new Eritrean refugees in Malta and Libya. Berhane’s and Elsa’s civic activism, if we can support them to gain the necessary momentum, are encouraging developments because this is what is needed to empower individuals to take proactive action against injustice without waiting for someone to do something somewhere.
The endless incarceration of innocent Eritreans by the very first regime of post-independent Eritrea betrays the hopes and aspirations of the living and insults the legacy of those who paid the ultimate price. Unfortunately, we have become silent observers as old prisoners are forgotten and new ones added in alarming numbers. Since jailed former government officials and the countless others are in no position to speak for themselves, we, on the outside should stand up for them. If the regime cannot bring its victims to an open and fair court of law after six long years, it is time that its false charges are discarded and the prisoners freed immediately and unconditionally. With total lack of curiosity for the truth, the justification still given by the regime’s supporters is that the jailor must have found something against these innocent victims (gele reKibulom kKewn alewo).
The jailor, who is also the accuser and the judge with all the instruments of power at his disposal, continues to spew fabricated charges against the muzzled victims. The victims, on the other hand, have ZERO opportunity to speak in their defense. This disparity should give anyone with some sense pause but, sadly, it continues to fly right above the heads of the “gele reKibulom kKewn alewo” crowd. Where is the so-called legendary Eritrean sense of fairness and justice? We have let thousands of our brothers and sisters suffer for too long.
It is admirable and worth emulating to witness non-Eritrean friends of Astier Yohannes in Arizona speak out on her behalf repeatedly. Why is there not similar action by Eritreans from all corners of the planet? It is okay to support the regime if one sees good reason to do so. No problem there. But Astier’s case, and there are thousands more, makes it starkly clear that a line of trust has been crossed. If there is indeed genuine concern for Eritrea the nation, those who say they love this regime should be the first in line urging it to stop mistreating the very people they claim to care about.
Astier’s husband, Petros Solomon, has not been heard from for six years and family members don’t know if he is even alive. Their four young children had already lost a father and when Astier went back to Eritrea to be with them, she was taken away from the airport before she can even see her children who were eagerly waiting for her outside the gates. It has now been almost four years since she disappeared. Their children were thus made instant orphans without generating so much of a whisper from us. If these four Eritrean children, the thousands the regime continues to incarcerate and the thousands more who are voting with their feet to leave Eritrea, cannot live in dignity in their own country then what, one wonders, is the meaning of independent Eritrea?
I hope saying “supporters of the regime with a heart” is not an oxymoron. For those who are, there should be no sense of contradiction for you to initiate a movement within your circle of influence to Free Astier and the countless other victims. Your movement for justice and fairness can be initiated among your friends, places of worship or other gatherings. How about taking a poster that says “I support my government but I also want Astier to be free” to one of the regime’s events you attend? Unless one is supporting this regime out of fear and not out of conviction, taking such a step can only help Eritrea and even improve the regime’s imaged in the process. After all, what is geographic sovereignty if it does not also guarantee peoples’ sovereignty?
To others who are not doing much else besides talking, we can make freedom of the prisoners our primary objective. We can support the efforts of Berhane, Elsa and others to raise our voices in support of our brothers and sisters who are constantly being harassed by Libya. After making an arduous journey across the Sahara, Libya’s repeated threats to deport them back to Eritrea are criminal. We know what happened to the first set of deportees and we can expect no less from a regime obsessed with inflicting so much pain and misery on its people. We can add volume to Dr. Bereket’s letter asking the UN to stop the deportations. We can use the institutions in the countries we live in and urge them to intervene on their behalf. We can partner with Amnesty International and others to amplify our small individual efforts for greater impact.
So, there are small things people can do individually – such as letter writing, making phone calls, involving our representatives and the like. If energies are channeled appropriately big results are possible. But we need the discipline to stay away from the fruitless polemics that we are too familiar with. Focus on the prisoners and ignore all diversions. Civic activism, after reaching a certain critical mass can end up shaping the politics, as it should. Politicians are the ultimate opportunists. When and if we refuse to accept the role of docile subjects of any pathetic regime under the sun, the astute politician of the day will recognize that reality and only then will he or she treat people with the dignity full citizenship deserves.
Until it is absolutely convinced we have shed our self-imposed slavery for good, our current regime is in no mood to change its abusive ways on its own free will. The scattered and directionless opposition is waiting for something to happen and doesn’t seem to have a clue on how to make things happen. Which is all the more reason to strengthen civic activism at all levels as a potent medicine against abusive power – both for the present and for the future.
Although the players will change, the nature of power will not. This is not unique to our situation. History provides abundant examples that power, especially unchecked power, is always arrogant. This arrogance soon leads to incompetence and those two are a deadly combination for the survival of any country. One can plausibly argue that the regime’s arrogance and insecurity lead it to jail those with different or better ideas. By denying Eritrea the services of its able and willing citizens, the incompetence of the regime has finally bared itself for all to see. Reduced to its incompetent core and not having much left in its recycled bag of tricks, it is now squandering Eritrea’s meager resources to finance all sorts of armed groups – some who don’t even believe in the sovereignty of Eritrea. The totally opaque and obsessively secretive regime never had a transparent budget, the economy is in shambles and the list goes on.
An involved and demanding population that channels its energies through dynamic civic activism will never allow this insanity to take place. Such activism can be a very effective insurance policy against abusive power and we need this policy now more than ever. So, I urge everyone, including the regime’s humane supporters, to pick something that you are not happy with and start raising that issue in your circle of influence. Join other civil society organizations. Equally important, stop becoming an apologist for the regime’s crimes. Commit yourself to NEVER say “gele reKiblom kKewn alewo” until you find out for sure for yourself why so many continue to rot in jail.
And one sincerely hopes the spirits of “against all odds” and “never kneel down”, which not too long ago were used to describe the iron will of Eritreans, equally apply to a locally bred tyrant as they did to outside ones. And that, really, is the bottom line.
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