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An Inclusive Definition of “Who is an Eritrean?” – By Our Voice

An Inclusive Definition of “Who is an Eritrean?” By Our Voice Global Eritrean Democratic Grassroots Movement (GEDGM) “OUR DESTINY IN OUR HANDS!” One of the requirements of conducting a successful grassroots election with the purpose of swiftly forming a people’s Baito

An Inclusive Definition of “Who is an Eritrean?”

By

Our Voice

Global Eritrean Democratic Grassroots Movement (GEDGM)

OUR DESTINY IN OUR HANDS!”

One of the requirements of conducting a successful grassroots election with

the purpose of swiftly forming a people’s Baito and a Global Eritrean

Leadership Council for regime change is inevitably the formulation of a clear

definition of “Who is an Eritrean?”

This is a thorny issue that leads to a lot of debates and arguments because

there are diverse and sometimes even conflicting interests in the matter.

There are, in fact, some groups and identifiable persons who have tried to

implicitly narrow the definition in such a way that it refers only to their own

group or perhaps even to themselves personally – suggesting that they have

the exclusive right and authority to decide on what happens to the country

and people of Eritrea. We say that this should never be allowed to happen

because it is divisive, grossly unfair and extremely dangerous.

Why is it extremely dangerous? We refer you to the work of the German

sociologist and philosopher Jurgen Habermas. A harmonious and viable

society can exist only when all its citizens become stakeholders and

beneficiaries of it in a fair and equitable manner. Otherwise, the citizens have

the right to rebel and demand their rights and abolish the exploitative

oppressive system.

Thus, the excluded will and should use every means at their disposal to fight

back overtly or covertly to regain their rights as the situation demands. When

they lack power, their disappointment and grudge will still be there but they

may not show it for obvious reasons. But, they will still remain full of anger

and resentment waiting for their time – kem zitedegole hawi. Such excluded

masses of people are, in fact, the major causes of bloody uprisings, civil wars

revolutions and mass killings in the process. Indeed, the excluded have caused

the collapse of many armies and empires in history starting from ancient times.

As a case in point, we shall give an outline of the Battle of Thermopylae in 480

B.C. Greece between the alliance of Ancient Greek city-states led by the

Spartan King Leonidas and the Persian Empire of Xerxes I. The Persians had

an army of about 100,000-150,000 men whereas the Greeks had about 3,000-

7,000. The core of the Greek army was about 300 Spartans. The Greek

strategy was to prevent Persian advance into the mainland by blocking the

enemy army advance in a narrow coastal strip with an overhanging

inaccessible cliff and finish them off one by one. The standoff and battle

continued for several days in favour of the massively outnumbered Greeks. In

short, the Persians were trapped. However, the Greeks were betrayed by a

local resident called Ephialtes of Trachis, who revealed to the Persians a small

path up the cliff that lead behind the Greek defence lines. This enabled the

enemy to outflank the Greek forces, smash their rear guard and defeat them.

King Leonidas and all the 300 men and others were killed in the battle. It was a

complete tragedy for the Greeks.

The point is, why did Ephialtes of Trachis betray his country and people to such

effect? They say that he was a deformed individual with disability which in

ancient Sparta would have led to his infanticide. He was spared death because

his parents took him away to another place. But, he still was bearing the social

disapproval. Thus, he had a grudge to settle – the grudge of exclusion and

humiliation. A bribe offered by the Persians might have also been another

factor, but he never took the bribe.

Look also at the perceived betrayal of the Italians by some of their native

subjects in Eritrea. The expropriation of land in Eritrea by the Italians and the

racism, exclusion, exploitation and humiliation of the natives made many

young Eritreans escape to Ethiopia and turn against the Italians such as Abraha

Deboch and Moges Asgedom and Dr Lorenzo Taezaz. Other Eritreans like

Awalom Berhe, while pretending to work for the Italians, worked hard to

cause the defeat of the colonial army in the Battle of Adwa by misleading the

Italians and giving correct details about the invading Italian formations to the

Ethiopians.

In short, the lesson we can draw from this is that mistreating, excluding,

exploiting, humiliating, name calling and inflicting pain on any citizen or group

or taking their land may rebound and damage us severely to the extent that we

may even lose our country as a result. To a large extent, what we have just

said may explain the weak and failed states around the world where there is

turmoil – such as Somalia, Nigeria and some countries in the Middle East and

other places. It is dangerous, and we should not let it happen to us.

Where there is a serious feeling of exclusion, unfairness and oppression, it is

very easy for those who want to create trouble to put in their seeds of social

rupture and let them grow – as in the proliferation of bacteria in open wounds

gradually forming gangrene. We know that there are political and religious

extremists (we shall not name here) waiting in the wings to exploit our disunity

and areas of dissatisfaction. We should be proactive and not allow them to

take root in our midst.

This is why we are advocating the emergence of a NEW ERITREAN SOCIETY

which is democratic, equitable and fair to all – not only to the majority or few

interest circles – but to all its people regardless of ethnicity, language, region,

religion, race, gender, family background or occupation. We want to

contribute our share to creating such a society where every Eritrean has a say

and a stake – and a sense of belongingness than to no other.

Every Eritrean should understand that he/she has the birth right to expect, ney

demand and get protection and succour from his/her society and state.

Otherwise, the system will have failed, and it has to be changed in that case.

There is no excuse.

In Eritrea, the outgoing PFDJ regime has created a lot of unhappy and

excluded sectors of the population which it has failed to care for. As a result,

we have a big population of refugees (roughly about 1-1.5 million from a small

country) all over the world, including big refugee camps in the Sudan and

Ethiopia. The new state of Eritrea has to quickly own these refugees and

repatriate them with sufficient provisions and opportunities in collaboration

with the international community. To pave the way for this possibility, all

these refugees and indeed all Eritreans should take part in the forthcoming

grassroots elections. But, we need to first know clearly who can participate in

the elections and who cannot.

Here is then the moment of truth: “Who is an Eritrean?”

We suggest the following eight provisional criteria:

1. All those with Eritrean passports and identity cards

2. All those who participated in the liberation struggle

3. All those born from an Eritrean father and Eritrean mother

4. All those whose father or mother is an Eritrean

5. All those born in Eritrea and spent their formative years there

6. All those who lived in Eritrea for over five years and are committed to

the country and people

7. All those who are married to an Eritrean and who remain in a stable

relationship for five years or more

8. All those who are committed to the wellbeing of the people of Eritrea

and who have made significant contributions to the country

On issuance of citizenship, all candidates shall swear to uphold the Eritrean

constitution and defend the interests of the country and people of Eritrea.

It should be made a treasonable serious offence to exclude, malign,

disrespect, insinuate, undermine, humiliate, backbite or discredit an

Eritrean who fulfils any of the said criteria on the basis of race, ethnicity,

family background (history or genealogy), religion, language, occupation,

superstitious beliefs, etc. It should also be a treasonable serious offence to

deny or try to deny any Eritrean who fulfils any of the said criteria from

exercising his/her full rights as a citizen like any other Eritrean.

The reason why such offences should be considered as treasons, or crimes

against the State of Eritrea and not only against the individual victim is

because such crimes damage OUR UNITY and the very fabric of our society

by pitting friends, neighbours, colleagues and compatriots against one

another – thus creating fear, mistrust and enmity. A viable and harmonious

society is not possible under such conditions. Therefore, they should not be

allowed.

This is the only way we can create a forward looking, civilised, prosperous,

advanced, confident, united and strong society that can effectively

compete in the world and is at peace within itself and its neighbours.

aseye.asena@gmail.com

Review overview
90 COMMENTS
  • k.tewolde August 10, 2015

    MERHABA! VOICE. The only and the right way of looking at Eritrean , and Eritrean nationalism. Looking at it any other way will be distorted, and devastating to our common good.I like to quote ex. President Bill Clinton on American nationalism, ‘ America is a beautiful idea, it’s a magnificent concept………it is definitely not a set of people with certain look.’ Let’s all tap on our national treasure, i am not talking Bisha gold, the intellect behind OUR VOICE , thanks again.

  • Baduri himedin August 11, 2015

    OUR VOICE-ERITREA, it is really promising to steps that you are following, we all are with you our brothers and sisters!!

  • Wedi Meriet August 11, 2015

    Hi Voice
    It is really good idea to what you stand for but we want to know you, we need to have faith in you.
    When we find out that you are not the other side of the coin then we will follow you.
    So, you need to come out from the harbenation.
    Di not be like medrekawian

    • asmeret August 11, 2015

      Wedi Meriet be-afraid.

  • Natnael August 11, 2015

    “Who is an Eritrean?” will definitely not be a major hindrance. Our struggle for Liberation has supported the communist ideology that [theoreticaly] fights the so-called ‘opium’ of a society: religion, region and race. Therefore I don’t think that the phenomenon ‘Eritreanism’ will any more be a problem. If we look at the ‘Hadas Eritra’-concept of DIA, there are so many questionable people in his government and the Eritrean people has supposedly no problem with for example Hagos Gebrehiwet & co who have taken key positions even since the GEDLI time.

    From my point of view the main problem is, BETRAYAL of our demands from 1960s – a free and liberated Eritrea. We paid too heavy for that and the realisation has now met only some of the requirement we defined in our sense.

    Therefore we have to be honest, open and courageous enough to redesign our Requirement/demands now to meet the realities, especially concerning the historical and cultural aspects. People who don’t respect or keep in mind their past are condemned to have no FUTURE. I mean these are the main factors that realy drag us backwards. A harmonious and just society exists only when we handle all these weaknesses thoroughly.

  • merhaba August 11, 2015

    I fully agree with the above, I can imagine a lot of people having difficulties with this broad description of who is an Eritrean, particularly since quite few with doubtful background are the main culprits sustaining the barbaric regime in Asmara. However I was surprised for instance in Meskerem they are attacking viciously this guy including denying him his Eritreaness. what is their driving motive, where do they take the right to declare this tough statements against fellow human being and some one who calls himself an eritrean ( I don’t know him, soo googled him and in you tube he was giving a lecture and called himself I am eritrean) I may agree or disagree with is politics, however neither me nor anyone else has the right to say he is not Eritrean. If I deny any one the right of citizenship when arguing on behalf of another and democratic and inculusive eritrea, I am becoming the same like the dictator himself, who is denying the basic right to all of us.

  • Tesfamariam B. August 11, 2015

    Dear Our Voice, I very much hope that you are not a Political organization yet! Because most Political organizations are there only for power grabbing. They talk and give a banal remark and statement. That is it and no detail. For-instance EPDP believes on decentralized unitary governance (DUG). If you ask them what kind of DUG, they haven’t any clue. However, I wish you all the best for your bold and positive start.

  • Hilbub August 11, 2015

    The issue of the nationality is sorted out by the constitution not by individual opinion. We cannot compare ourselves with that of the developed world such as the USA. Even America has been built by suppressing the native Americans. Eritrea has indeginous people and families of migrant backgrounds and residents. For example now we have thousands of Indian teachers in our country, does that mean they should be given Eritrean citizenship? If yes, then every African can have it too. However, this is not an easy topic, but it can be resolved after the amendment of the ratified constitution of 1997.

    Regards,
    Hilbub min adu rema!

    • Bokrezion August 11, 2015

      Hilbub, what is so special about Eritrean citizenship? Eritrea should be happy if the Indian teachers were to ask for citizenship. Some of us have different European Union citizenship but at the end of the day they mean nothing as you are always treated as second class citizen to the main dekebat.

      • asmeret August 11, 2015

        bokrezion you missing the point nobody said Eritrea is especial but don’t you see who the Eritrea leader are who left our country without running water and electricity and so on…, Don’t forget Eritrea is 3rd world country.

      • Genet-orginal August 11, 2015

        Bokrezion
        It is only special to Eritrean.

  • A H August 11, 2015

    ትሕዝቱኡ ቁምነገራዊ ይመስል ግንከ ካብ መን ንበል፡ ትሕቲ መሬት ተሓቢእካ ረቂቕ ስልቲ ከይትጥቀም የሰክፈኒ፡፡ ምምስራት ሕቡእ ሰልፊ ደማሲሱናዩ’ሞ ካብ መሕቢእኻ ተቐልቀል፡ ኣእዳውካ ብትሕዝቶኻ፡ ዘርጊሕካ ኣጋይሽካ ትቐበል፡ ምህርትኻ ሕፈስ፡ ዘሰራሕካሉ ሕፍስቲ የሕሊፍካ ኣይተሃብ ይብል በዓል ተስፋ።

  • Mulu August 11, 2015

    Our Voice,
    Well done and well defined about Eritreanism. But please define my worrying concern about
    How can the problems of Eritrea be the entire PFDJ when most of the PFDJ are themselves
    victimized by Isaiasism? Lets not have the old backward of ‘tiHim zibele yitaHagom’ attitude. Fair treat to everyone.

  • kemal August 11, 2015

    It seems nice and inclusive of many segments of the Eritrean societies, but I don’t see any mention of sexuality. Should the Eritrean constitution be inclusive of not to discriminate an Eritrean based on his/her sexuality. I hope many of u understand me what I am talking about….
    Peace !

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