December 8, 2015
Along with few friends, I make very modest monthly contributions to encourage
the work assenna.com is doing. I do this with the spirit of “if I cannot lead,
at least I should support those who do”. And there is no doubt assenna.com has
been relentless in the fight against the regime that is oppressing the Eritrean
people.
Overall, assenna is doing a necessary job and deserves the support of all
justice seekers. And that is why I will continue my modest support. But I do
have my disagreements with some of its approaches and I felt this recent
article1, does not
advance the cause of justice that assenna.com itself has been a central part of.
For me,
1)
Succumbing to mockery and inflammatory language disempowers
us all. We have been doing this for over half a century now and it hasn’t
worked in our collective favor at all. As a result, Eritrea has lost its best people
fighting against itself than against any other enemy. Isn’t it time to overcome
this destructive culture?
2)
Ruling each other out only provides comfort to
the regime we all claim to be fighting against. Why would we need over 30
political parties otherwise? Some are even rumored to have single digit
membership.
3)
The tone with which we express our disagreements
is crucial. The wrong tone, encourages more divisions and discourages those
sitting on the fence from joining the struggle for justice.
“But what Amanuel said is the
truth”, some may argue. As I heard someone wise say once though “if the truth
is used as a sword”, what good is it? If we use “OUR truth” as a sword -
and not as an instrument of enlightenment as it ought to be – all we will have
left is a mess of bodies with severed limbs; unable to push off a feudal regime
that should have been dead a long time ago.
Like many, I have my disappointments with those who cannot tame their unproductive
egos. But I would much rather take my revenge with my vote later. For now, we
need everyone to do their part – no matter how small – in ridding Eritrea of
its worst enemy.
Some argue – plausibly - if we don’t weed out the bad apples now, what
guarantees do we have they won’t come to power and mess things up again? If we continue
to rule each other out with such speed as we have done so far, nothing. But hoping
we have learned enough from half a century of petty infighting, there is a
better way we can choose to adopt.
1)
Let’s cooperate now, even with those we don’t
agree with, and make sure we vote later. This does not mean we don’t criticize
each other now. But let’s do so without personalizing things or by resorting to
inflammatory and condescending language as this piece did. Better to challenge ideas
with better ideas.
2)
We have been shouting to point out the wrongs others
are committing for over five decades. Unfortunately, that has not gotten us
anywhere. We need to show why our way is better by example. If that is done consistently,
people will hopefully remember it and cast their vote for you or buy your
newspapers later.
3)
The objective should be to create a future
Eritrea with leveled playing field where no one is above the law. If we truly
stick to that, then it will be a battleground of ideas. That would be a huge
success because people with better ideas will be more likely to win. If the
ones with bad ideas win, it would have meant that we didn’t stand up against
injustice together again. And history will have repeated itself, as it has for
over half a century already. And the shame will be on all of us. Again.
Human life is the cheapest commodity in Eritrea today. Does such a
country have a right to exist? Not until those who claim to be justice seekers
start creating broad alliances that can speak with unified voice to transform Eritrea
into a place where human life is the most precious commodity instead.
At times, our ignorance (or is it callousness) knows no limits. I had
the pleasure of meeting Dr. Daniel Rezene recently. By far, I found him to be very
passionate about the cause of justice – intelligent, humble, articulate
and uplifting. Yet, instead of embracing his inclusive message or presenting better ideas, it is sad to
see some have succumbed to ugly ethnic divisiveness. For me, I can’t think of
Eritrea without also thinking about Woldeab Woldemariam. Do we really not know
our heritage?
The point I am trying to make here is similar to this blog
from a year and half ago2 where Medrek and assena where at odds
then as now. A year and half later, I was hoping we will have been
wiser.
I hope, in its promised second piece, assenna's tone will be better
than the first.
1 http://assenna.com/%E1%88%85%E1%8B%9D%E1%89%A2-%E1%8A%A4%E1%88%AD%E1%89%B5%E1%88%AB%E1%8D%A3-%E1%88%88%E1%8B%8D%E1%8C%A2-%E1%88%B5%E1%88%AD%E1%8B%93%E1%89%B5-%E1%8B%B0%E1%8A%A3%E1%88%9D%E1%89%A0%E1%88%AD-%E1%88%88/#comments
2 http://unfilterednotes.blogspot.com/2014_04_01_archive.html
