First, a true story for some perspective. From their school days, my
brother remembers Jemil as a gentle fellow who stayed out of trouble. Then
Jemil’s never-to-be-messed-with line was crossed when a popular Ethiopian general
slapped him in a public place in Addis sometime in the mid-1990s. Jemil went
out, came back with a gun and killed the general on the spot. No heroism or justification is intended here, it is only a statement of fact to illustrate people have breaking points that drive them to take action - rational or irrational.
Contrasting this with the indignities Eritreans have been experiencing under
the very first regime of their own, it appears there is no limit to the
suffering Eritreans are willing to endure. It started with the persecution of
Jehova’s witnesses and we did nothing. Meeting no resistance, the regime kept
upping the ante making persecution of other religions, disappearances,
killings, confiscations and now, human trafficking part of Eritrean daily life.
There is even a joke that goes along with this reality, where Isaias
asks God to give him another country to rule over because Eritreans are too
docile and boring. “No matter how badly I treat them”, he tells God, “they refuse
to fight back”. God denies the request telling him since there is no limit to
your cruelty and no limit to how much your people are willing to suffer, you are
perfect for each other. But don’t lose hope just yet – remember Forto 2013 or the 450 who busted out of the
hell you created for them in Wia1?
A Squandered First Chance
1991 was supposed to be a great beginning when wide-eyed optimism and
contagious positive energy were abundant. Then, in what can only be described
as delight in cruelty, a feudal system took over and reversed everything back
to the Dark Ages. The big bright dreams are gone, consumed by the darkness we
all helped create – literally, considering the frequency of power outages.
There is a long history of tegadelti
-- those we took to be among the most fearless and daring -- getting
slapped by the bully-in-chief or smashed by whiskey bottles and simply taking in
the indignity with bowed heads. In some cases, the stories go, while they were armed.
It is an image that is hard to reconcile. How is it the very one we were led to
believe was ready to die to bring freedom to others, fails so badly to fight
for his own? Worse, those so abused turn around to unleash their own cruelty on
others. And unbecoming of their ‘courageous’ past, they only retaliate down --
against people who did them no harm. According to Asmara’s hyper active rumor
mill, even the acid-tongued Naizghi Kiflu took a bottle to the head but
continued to do the dirty work for his abuser and went on to play a key role in
the disappearance of his former comrades. But there is no honor or mercy in
bully land and Naizghi probably got the worst of it - both when alive and dead.
Which begs the question, whatever happened to Eritrean manhood?
Eritrean womanhood has not fared well either. The Eritrean mother used
to be THE icon of fairness and
compassion. Now the sharp tongue that used to lash out heavy doses of ‘mergem’ (curses) against bullies and
those who broke social norms, is tamed to uttering cultish ululations.
There are exceptions of course, but too few to make THE needed difference
because by the only measurement that matters, the bully is still in charge. And
bit by bit, our first golden opportunity slipped away. While Ethiopia accepted
reality and moved on - with a peaceful power transfer to boot - we remain stuck
in the mud unwilling to move on. That is the unpleasant story of our first big
chance. 22 years later, 1991’s optimism is a fading memory. But it can’t and
shouldn’t end there. Now what?
The Second Big Reset
At long last, the voices demanding change are getting louder and
stronger. Gone are the days when the regime’s propaganda was consumed so readily
and thoughtlessly. It is good to see the regime’s inner circle crumbling. Who
would have thought Ali Abdu, Eritrea’s liar-in-chief, would abandon the regime?
In ‘screw the science’ bravado, he even told us his idol actually “breathed with
his knees”. Then came Forto 2013. Now there are reports Negash Afwerki, Kisha’s
deputy, may have also jumped ship. Who is next?
A second big reset (1991 being the first) is about to unfold and the
day of reckoning will come, one hopes, sooner than later. However, the culture
of banditry and lawlessness the regime has created won’t be easy to reverse
quickly. So, what to do to make sure our second chance is not wasted like the
first? No question there are better ideas but here are a couple that come to
mind.
Start Breaking the Silos Now
Silos take away the advantage of leverage. Eventually, you end up getting isolated and
weak, like Eritrea’s situation today. Call it the arrogance of success (1991)
but we got blinded by our bombastic “uniqueness” and went out of our way to
alienate everyone. Isaias had his tirades against the UN, OAU and African
dictators (for being too soft, it now appears). I remember Girma Asmerom arrogantly
stating how the world will soon see that we are different from other Africans
(and it still makes me cringe today). And boy did we show them? Unfortunately,
we did so in ways we never imagined – by plunging Eritrea to the bottom of the heap.
And as we ran out of external enemies, we just as quickly invented internal
ones. The silos multiplied. Religious and regional differences we thought we
had overcome got reincarnated. Believing this group or that group is the new
enemy, the number of opposition groups mushroomed – often incoherent and very
antagonistic towards each other forgetting the pink elephant in the room, as
they say. Finding no opportunities
within, a large segment of the population - the segment that is more likely to
demand and bring about change left and continues to leave. The sense of
Eritrean-ness 1991 made possible has been seriously eroded and will have to be
stitched back thread by thread.
We got too busy arguing which group or sub-group has it the worst – always
debating which group’s cup is half full or half empty. And since all this is
done in the isolation of our self-imprisoning silos, no one has bothered to
join hands to fill the cup.
To break these silos, it is going to need very deep soul searching by
everyone – at personal and organizational levels- to re-evaluate ALL previously held assumptions and
belief systems. Some to discard and the good ones to double up on.
Nurturing an Inclusive Culture
The regime understand power very well. And since power concedes
nothing, the regime also stops at nothing to maintain it. To that end, the
regime’s culture of exclusion first gave us the tegadalai vs gebar (intentionally
meant to be demeaning) divide. It was
routine practice for gebars to be
excluded from relevant work-related meetings in their own departments. Not
surprisingly, trust between the two plummeted as intended. The divisive
negative tone slowly expanded to other areas where, very often, people are
declared non-Eritrean for views they hold that happen to be different than ours.
Some so-called deqbats, for
example, say Isaias hates Eritrea because he is not Eritrean, which besides
being false, is simply unproductive. He never was anything else. Even using the
lowest standards of honesty, we know Hagos kisha lived his whole adult life as
an Eritrean. For me, denying him that would be inhuman. Is his role negative? Yes,
but how is that different from the equally destructive roles played by the
likes of Alamin, Wuchu, wedi Gerahtu, Ali Abdu, Dr. Woldeab Isaac etc (we all know the list is too long). That is why the identity question is always a
non-starter. It tries to solve a problem that doesn’t exist and shifts focus
away from the real ones that must be addressed.
We also know many Ethiopians fought and died for Eritrea. They did more
for Eritrea than many so-called Eritreans -- especially the loud mouths who
trumpet the identity card so callously. Here is Haile Kugne’s example2 (goes well with long walks). Honoring
them for their contributions, besides being the right thing to do, will also
help deepen a much needed culture of inclusion.
Haile tells his interrogator the only way he will be silenced from
voicing his opinion is when he is dead. Strong character and strong ideals like
Haile’s is what was missing and what we are going to need to make Eritrea’s second
coming as successful as it can possibly be.
Maybe then, Eritrean children, like other children around the globe,
will have the opportunity to unleash the power of their imagination by doing (this3). That is what is at stake with the second big reset
– a new Eritrea at peace with itself and its neighbors, where no devil has the
power to limit the future of a child or other citizens ever again.
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