Toxic Nationalism

There were two good articles in awate.com published in late August I wanted to piggyback on. Hopefully, this is still relevant. .

Referring to the discomfort Yosief's writing generated among some readers, Gebrehiwet Andemariam's thoughtful article titled "The Peril of a Convoluted Argumentation" urges us to "swallow our pride and move on" as a way to create more productive dialog. This is indeed good advice and good medicine against the prevailing toxic nationalism that continues to condone injustice in the name of "sovereignty".

Yosief is, no doubt, an out-of-the-box writer who refuses to be confined to what is safe or popular. His brilliantly argued ideas can shake the core of previously unquestioned assumptions. I don't always agree with Yosief. But agree or not, I find pleasure in the refined nuances and the unexpected turns his brilliant mind enlivens its arguments with. Any attempt to silence him and others by attacking their person, as Gebrehiwet warns, instead of challenging their ideas with better ones is a huge mistake. Doing so will only add more proof-points to one of Yosief's well-written articles titled "Equality By Subtraction" – which should be required reading, especially for Diaspora Eritreans.

In today's Eritrea, equality is maintained at misery levels by continuously taking away ("subtracting") rights and freedoms. Education is devalued and professional accomplishments are "subtracted" until a doctor, a teacher or an architect is reduced to a mere "gebar" (lowly tax paying subject) in the lingo of the regime's elites. Professionals whose services should be put to better use are forced to do menial and meaningless work where they are ordered to dig ditches only to fill them up later. They are often locked up without charges and forgotten, creating equality through misery that no human being should be subjected to.

In today's Eritrea, families who successfully supported themselves and educated their children for decades by working endless hours in neighborhood shops and other small businesses find themselves seriously marginalized. Their self-reliant nature is now "subtracted" to poverty levels through unfair competition from regime owned shops that don't pay taxes or pay fair prices for business inputs. Hard-earned money that was once very productive in the hands of families who managed it responsibly is now squandered to support corruption and cronyism. What, one wonders, do the regime and its supporters believe is being accomplished by the willful destruction of families who - through hard work and grit - competently cared for and educated so many before?

In today's Eritrea, one of the regime's despicable practices includes jailing aging parents until ransom money is paid; yet another way to "subtract" from the already precarious financial health of struggling families. If toxic nationalism was not getting in the way to justify such criminal behavior, the regime would not have dared to take such action to begin with. And when it did, it would have been forced to return every penny embezzled in this manner to its innocent and rightful owners. It is impossible to put currency to the regime's empty "self-reliance" slogan when its repeated actions continue to sap the life blood of previously self-reliant people like no parasite can.

In today's Eritrea, the regime is actively destroying centuries-old culture that valued family, education, honest work and respect for one another; only to replace it with a culture of arrogance, destruction of the family unit and reckless adventurism where people are sacrificed without ever entertaining alternatives on how to protect them first. The regime's shoot-first policy has been sacrificing young and old without justification. Yosief aptly puts it this way: "a cause doesn't become a justification because you die for it; its justification should be established prior to the sacrifice".

The second article by Daniel G. Mikael titled, "God Save Us from those who Love their Country", also caught my eye. Like Daniel, I too cannot see why any sane person still supports this regime unconditionally. Daniel does an excellent job of articulating what misplaced "love of country" can do to justify any crime. To expand a bit on Daniel's points, I doubt very much if conscious love of country is driving the support. A country is not a government and it certainly is not one person. In an environment where people are reduced to "disposable creatures" (as Yosief puts it) with absolutely no voice to talk back to power, there is a pervasive idiocy among Diaspora Eritreans that unashamedly sees Eritrea and the abusive system that has hijacked it and its constitution as one and the same. In its most ridiculous form, Eritrea is equated to the very person who has transformed it to a wasteland of no institutions and no laws. You point out his monumental failures and you just insulted the country. Countries "loved" this way usually don't fare well.

His last interview with AlJazzira is a clear case of how absolute power has corrupted absolutely again. His pointless and incoherent responses shifting to irrelevant issues of Americans missing their breakfast and food shortages in Egypt and, according to him, lack of democracy and freedom everywhere else except, apparently, in Eritrea was painful to even watch. Incapacitated by delusion of grandeur, he seemed more concerned about poor Americans and continues to show no interest in addressing Eritrea's problems. What makes this particularly tragic is seeing many in the Diaspora, including many with the highest levels of education the world has to offer, simply parroting the same suffocating propaganda. Hope and optimism were so pervasive in this once promising nation. The AlJazzira interview shows the regime has essentially extinguished both.

Things have gone this far in such a short time because the toxic nationalism people have so far been unable to shake off (where country is "subtracted" to the level of one person) has gotten in the way of people's good judgment. This sort of irrational nationalism can be very destructive as seen in Zimbabwe, for example. As he shreds the country's fabric to pieces, Mugabe claims success with the obscene justification that he is standing up against the West. When a country is ruled by slogans, the thinking process gets seriously clogged. Instead of coming up with solutions to problems, this sort of corrosive nationalism can only be counted on to come up with more meaningless slogans to cover up previous failures.

In Eritrea, regime supporters are quick to mention that roads, schools and clinics are being built as justification for their support. This is really an empty statement because I have yet to hear anyone who denies these things are important. It reminds me of Bush saying "you can't talk me out of freedom being a good thing"(doubtful that anyone even tried). The question is at what cost are these roads being built? What goods and services do they carry? Do they encourage vibrant commerce and tourism or are they mainly serving the regime's suffocating control over everything? Who is building them? Are the schools centers of learning or military boot camps? Why is the only university in the country closed? Why are the "colleges" that supposedly replaced the university administered by the military?

Why is Eritrea's most productive segment of the population leaving in such huge numbers? Some brush this off by saying there will always be people who leave their country of birth – not an honest response really. On per capita basis, Eritrea must be among the top countries in the world, with the biggest exodus of its vibrant population segment. On honest reflection, it is easy to see that people are leaving for reasons far and beyond "normal" migration. They are fleeing a system that devalues their lives. They are running away from slave labor and a bleak horizon where they can't see opportunities for a brighter future. People leave with passports in their pockets during normal migrations. To the contrary, these new refugees are leaving by taking huge risks, crossing borders while fully aware of standing "shoot-to-kill" orders. Many have actually been shot while trying. These people are not leaving as part of "normal" anything. They are running for their lives, running from real conditions that are snuffing out peoples' hopes and aspirations.

So, what to do?

Gebrehiwet's advises us to be less defensive and to get out of our box; to start over. With two hands clasped together as a prayer icon, Daniel, I think, is asking us to pray first; which is a good thing. But also, to wake up from being "hypnotized zombies", to stop the mindless support for what has turned out to be a criminal system.

To carry on a bit further on their points, I would add the following. With an open heart and clear mind, try to listen to the people who made it out by going through improbable routes – with many dying along the way. You will learn how thugs (literally) are given unquestioned powers by the regime's top brass to do anything they want to anyone. No questions asked. They can take anyone to prison with instruction to prison guards to just "hold" their victims (axneHaley).

Although physically in prison, these victims are intentionally not registered. When a loved one fails to come home, families typically fan out to all the known prisons. Prison personnel open the register and inform relatives their loved one is not in the register. In other words, that victim just stopped to exist. As unbelievable as this sounds, some get "lost" for years because the one in whose name the victim is being "held" never came back to clear the matter. As a result, many continue to rot in jail, some die and some are murdered. It now appears Mohammed Hagos, a decent and intelligent man I had the pleasure of meeting on several occassions when I was living in Eritrea, has become one of their latest victims.

You will hear about the countless 5-square-meter cells where people are packed like sardines for months and years. They will tell you how incredibly difficult it is to even turn on your side. You will hear about awfully unhygienic conditions, with ever present stench of human waste in the packed cells, which makes one wonder how in the world did they ever manage to live through it to tell their stories. Listen carefully when they tell you about beatings they endured while hanging upside down from tree branches and other limb twisting torture techniques meant to break their spirit.

Perhaps there is a Darwinian element to it, but the ones I have come across or know about clearly show how miserably the regime failed in making a dent in their spirits. Their spirits are high and they are ready to pursue their dreams with bountiful energy. You will see the same people who were forced to aimlessly waste their lives under a repressive system coming alive in an environment that gives them hope and opportunities. Many new arrivals have excelled in school (a few I know with PhDs in hand) and at the work place -- same people, just different environments. Why are these admirable qualities crushed and not allowed to blossom in today's Eritrea?

Some in the Diaspora regurgitate the regime's failed propaganda saying the ease with which America accepts these Eritreans proves the CIA is encouraging them to leave their country. Two points: America would be absolutely stupid not to accept such intelligent and energetic individuals. These guys are at the prime of their lives and America gets the full reservoir of productivity they have to offer without paying a penny for it. Secondly, a more thoughtful response should have been if the CIA is encouraging them to leave, what is Eritrea doing to keep them? And who told Eritrean students in South Africa to get lost because Eritrea can get talent from Asia? Hopefully, people remember it was not the CIA. The "dear leader" contemptuously tells people to get lost, and with the same forked tongue disingenuously declares Eritrea's primary wealth is its people. Toxic nationalism blinds one from seeing such glaring contradictions. Instead of being outraged by the duplicity, Eritreans abroad normally cheer like "zombies".

Before uttering the first word of support for the oppressive regime, one ought to try to put oneself - even just for few fleeting seconds - in the shoes of the innocent victims for a change. Imagine you are the one disappearing, the one being tortured and locked up in the filthy cells, imagine you could have been Mohammed Hagos. Before saying anything about the roads, think about the villages that are hollowed out of their youthful energy. Before you praise the regime for building clinics, demand that Dr. Fitsum (the only psychiatrist the country had), and the countless innocents rotting in prison be freed immediately. Yes, building roads is a good thing. But wouldn't it be better if they were built without slave labor and with better quality. And why not in an environment where people's dignity is given the utmost respect and priority? And why not in an environment where hard work and honest means to earn a living are recognized and rewarded?

Once the questioning process starts, once the process of empathy starts by putting oneself in the shoes of victims, once you start asking why hard working Eritreans are being pushed off their decades-old means of livelihood by corrupt regime businesses, then the much needed healing process can take hold. If one person at a time stands up for what is right, it is another nail into the coffin of injustice and misery. Only then, can the country be saved and improve its chances of revival.

Unconditional support given to such a regime essentially negates the very freedoms we all enjoy in our adopted countries. This includes the positive personal experiences of the regime's supporters themselves – experiences and freedoms they cannot have in today's Eritrea. Here is the irony: in rare but unguarded moments, even the most rabid supporters refer to their beloved regime as a "use and throw" system. How strange that while many fight slavery valiantly, others just can't seem to snap out of an enslaved mindset - even after experiencing freedom. This is not a case where ignorance is bliss.

To borrow Daniel's point again, let's stop being zombies. Although toxic nationalism disingenuously plays the 'sovereignty' card, sovereignty is exactly what is being compromised. Eritrea, like Zimbabwe, is much weaker and less viable as a nation today precisely because the very people it needs to ensure its sovereignty are imprisoned, killed or told to get lost. It is time to abandon this failed mind set. It is time to unblock hearts and minds – to think and to be humane.