Testimony: I saw two sets of the president’s latest interview available at MESKEREM and ignored them because of the deceptive and monotonous pattern of his speeches. I had no time for that BS nor did I have the courage to see that boring mustache on that miserable face. Let me comment on his speech without listening it: it was ridiculous!
ኣምባሳደር ሃና ስምኦን: “ኤርትራ ናይ ፖለቲካእሱራት የብላን፣” : ኣብ ኤርትራ ናይፖለቲካ እሱራት የለውን ክትብል ኣምባሳደር መንግስቲ ኤርትራ ኣብ ፈረንሳ ሃና ስምኦንክሒዳ።እታ ኣምባሳደር፣ ኣብ ኤርትራ ናጽነት ፕረስ የለን፣ ፖለቲካውይን ሰልፍታት’ውን የለዋን፣ሓደ ፕረዚደንት ን25 ዓመታት ብዘይምርጫ ኣብ ስልጣን ኣሎ..ንዝብል ዝቐረበላ ሕቶ ከኣ፣ ኣብኤርትራ ካልእ ህጹጽ ጉዳያት ስለዘሎ ምርጫ ንምክያድ ኣይፈቕደልናን’ዩ። ኩነታትና ኣብዝፈቐደልና ምርጫ ክንገብር ኢና ክትብል’ያ መሊሳ።”

Comment: A little chubby but beautiful face comprising sexy eyes, nose, lips and seductive ears in my opinion unfortunately this was not about sexology. I think she can be very good for a very short time entertainment needless saying that I would have considered a private meeting with her if I were the President and chances are he did it considering his extra active penis through the years. Only for that purpose would have I used the poor woman but certainly not for politics or diplomacy.

In this opportunity I will share my views on few important developments as they happened and understood to be. It looks vivid clear that the struggle for freedom and democracy in our country has moved a step forward reaching a pinnacle stage of exit from the endless confusion we experienced since 1999, specially during the last few years. What is going on now in the resistance from philosophical points of view? What is the political mood nowadays? What really is new compared to our past experience?

There is certainly something new in my opinion! Unlike any other time in the past, our intellectuals in the resistance have today produced two complementary political philosophies to Asmara, meaning two distinct strategies exist today from that sect of the society to the blessing of our people: Medrek’s obscure Top-Down and OUR VOICE’s clear Bottom-Top venues of relief. People are keenly learning about the two strategies and writers writing about them keeping the momentum rolling hopefully to a successful end.

To this effect; Yusuf asks; “Dear Fetsum: I wish by next time you teach us the difference between the two philosophies (bottom-up & top-down models)”.

The answer to me from practical point of view is exactly in how the Medrekites and OUR VOICE respectively want to do the job. We now have concrete realities that we can use to describe the two concepts of challenging the enemy and their respective consequences on the Eritrean society in the long run.

Mederkites do not believe in consulting the people about their political future, they just assume the ultimate responsibility of overthrowing the government without the people’s mandate, written material and any explanation as to what would take place next. If you allow someone representing you without your mandate, chances are you will have to listen and execute any order from above without questioning the integrity of authority like what is taking place in the country right now. There is no guarantee for society to experience democracy, freedom or justice here although they may take place eventually. Only regime change is guaranteed in this situation and nothing else, needless to say that another dictatorship is highly possible and may be the only immediate consequence of this destructive political philosophy! Politicians in this category are dangerous, greedy, rigid, arrogant, dull, outdated, forceful and dictatorial.

Mederkites have proven the symptoms in many different ways. They are not transparent to our grievances. They keep on doing their political adventurism without involving the mass. They decide for the people in closed doors and have the gut to meet international politicians on their behalf without any contact or information exchange before and after the associated events. They tried to selectively unite EDA’s most reactionary forces without the representatives of our minority groups contrary to the INCLUSIVE doctrine of democracy. This was a backdoor policy through which they plan to grab political power with the most backward, fanatical and ethnical politicians in the opposition camp. The way they have been acting practically tells the opposite of what they have been saying about themselves as being facilitators with no interest on power. You don’t try to do this without focusing on centralized power after the dictatorship, of course through another dictatorship. You only create a good environment for the political parties to compete for power through genuine democratic election if you really are a facilitator of democracy in the country.

They are too rigid and arrogant to chat with and to collect other democratic forces in the pool because they think they deserve leadership and don’t have to do it. They don’t respond no matter what people say about and how they pressurize them to work or openly debate with other groups. This is exactly how the dictator acts like because he thinks he should only decide for the people. Instead of challenging Assenna and OUR VOICE in the open like Vise-Versa, they just ignore everything and do their thing even going as far as meeting the Ethiopian Prime Minister without any prior notification and contact with the people. Yet, they did not provide information about what was discussed in between on our behalf. It appears like NATNA AKAIDA ALENNA GIDEFUNA type of expired Shabia bullism that we suffered for a long time needless to say that they are dull, outdated, impractical and not exciting at all.

Negusse: “ቕንዕናን ሐቕን ግሉጽነትን ካብዘይሀለውን አቐዲምኻ ዝገበርኻዮ አሚንኻ ንሕዝብኻ ይቕረታ ሐቲትኻ መንምኻንኻ ካበይ መጺኻ ናበይ ኢኻ ምስ መን ኢኻ ?እዚ ኹሉ በዳሂ ሕቶታት እንታውነትኻ ዝሕብሩ እዮም።መድረኻውያንግን ነዚ ኹሉ ሕቶታት ክትምልሱ ብመጀመርያዕዩ ገዛኹም ክትሰርሑ ይግበአኹም።መድረኻውያን ድማ ሐቒእንተልዩኹም ሸንኾለል ከይበልኹምን ብትዕቢት ከይሰኸርኹምን ንዑ ምስ የሕዋትኹም ቐኒዕኹም ስርሑ”

Genet-orginal: How do I know what they are going to do, after they become in control of our country? I can’t imagine, if any Eritrean will allow anyone to get hold of our people and beloved nation’s destiny without our consent and input. Not again! Nofree pass free. It is all about honesty and integrity. Our people deserve people with honesty, integrity and who treat them with respect and as their lives matter. The requirement is minimum: Just talk to us. It is our lives and our nation. We matter.

Solomon Seyoum: I am damn sad that the Medrek’s resources- whose sources is still undisclosed, while we still have a right to know- is not used for a good start of an effective grass root movement in USA, Europe, etc. (Grass root movement is second to none; this must be repeated nth time- until Medrek get the message) I am also sad that Medrek seem not to have learned the 10 to 15 years history of the opposition, that is full of confusions, splits, new experiments, etc. ( I don’t understand the aim of the meeting with Ethiopian leaders; such meeting should have been held once the opposition has put its house in order.)

OUR VOICE: “ኣብ ኣስመራ ንዘሎ ገበነይና በላዕሰብ ካብ ሱሩን ጉንዱን ምእላይ: መድረኽን ካልኦት መሰልቶምፖለቲካዊ ጉጅለታት ኣብ ኤርትራ ለውጢ ንምምጻእ ካብ ላዕሊ ንታሕቲ ዝጸዓን ፖለቲካዊ ሞደል ይጥቀሙ። እቲ ሞዴልእቲ ንነዊሕ ዓመታት ተፈቲኑ፣ ፍረ ግን ኣየርኣየን። ቅድሚ ሃገራዊ ረብሓ ናይ ስልጣን ሕሳባቶም ስለ ዘቐድሙ፣ ምሉእስምረትን ስምምዕን ክፈጥሩ ኣይከኣሉን። ብኣፎም ብዛዕባ ስምረትን ሓድነትን ብዙሕ ይዝምሩ፣ ኣብ ውሽጦም ግን ኣብውድድርን ህልኽን ዝመልኦ ኣብ ናይ ስልጣን ቁሩቁስ እዮም ዝነብሩ። ውጽኢቱ ከኣ፣ ውድቀትን ምብትታንን ምድኻምንኮይኑ። በዚ ኣገባብ እዚ፣ ወላ’ውን ዲክታቶር ብባህሪ ይኹን ብኻልእ እንተልገሰ፣ ብኻልእ ዲክታቶር እዩ ክትካእ።”

In retrospect, Bottom-Up philosophy is the exact opposite of the other. This strategy is built on the foundation of the people. The forces that successfully lead the process all the way to the top through democratic elections and the ultimate individuals that survive different stages of the hike to reach the pinnacle where the political leaders are finally elected directly come from the basic foundation of the PYRAMID. This strategy guarantees democracy, freedom and justice because it allows the people to choose their leaders giving them the ultimate power in the nation. The power of the executive branch of the government is limited and balanced and checked by the people’s parliament under the constitution. An elected president only stays in office until the constitutionally imposed term is over, re-elected or moving on otherwise for the next winner in the ballot.

Moreover, what is the difference between the dictatorship and each of the philosophies on the table? In reality, the regime’s dictatorship originated from TOP-BOTTOM political philosophy because neither did the people elect it nor do they have freedom and justice in the country under the constitution. One man or a group of individuals lawlessly dictates power in this situation like in today’s Eritrea. Therefore, Medrek’s TOP-BOTTOM philosophy is similar to the dictatorship at least at political foundation level of the topic. It advocates for POWER TO THE KING! One man may have the ultimate power at the end of the day in Medrek’s political vision although other things may also take place to the contrary. The Bottom-Top strategy, however does not allow this mess to take place because it is a mass-based democratic process that fundamentally believes in POWER TO THE PEOPLE

What are the implications of our actions and how do they affect the Eritrean people as a unit? I think the answer to this question is crystal clear from our experience. A mistake here will certainly bring another dictatorship like our unconditional conformism produced the dictator out of the struggle for independence. I don’t believe the Medrekite strategy to Asmara will get us there to begin with for it was tried by our old and selfish politicians that lead the political parties in Addis. They just don’t have anything to show for me to believe otherwise. Nor do I believe they have close contact with their old comrades inside the country to change the situation in unison for the most distinguished characters of the struggle are now philosophically divided with one sect fully benefiting from the dictatorship and the other sect living a refugee life all over the place. The two old comrades are today enemies that cannot work together anymore. Therefore I cannot buy what the Medrekites have been talking to this effect for I cannot expect individuals like Wedi Efrem et al to work for the people anymore after contaminating their hands with Eritrean blood and filled their pockets with the Gold money. These are old fighters who chose to be criminals in relation to the people that will request justice against under the rule of law when everything is over. We have a case with them because they are part of the system. Therefore I cannot depend on the Medrekites to help our situation unless they join the grass-root movement with the rest of the people. So far, however, they have become obstacle to democracy to the blessing the dictator, God knows who finances them to be that! Can you believe their arrogance ignoring the entire intellectual class for their very shallow and selfish ends? Can you believe doing their thing without written strategy? What may the difference here be between them and the unaccountable dictatorship that lived isolating and undermining the Eritrean intellectuals as much as he could?

In conclusion, it is Either OR for us the Eritrean people who must now choose one of the philosophies depending on what we want after the disposal of the dictatorship. For those who don’t care about the future beyond removing the dictator, either of the philosophies may be good to adopt, though I really think that Medrek’s way of doing things will not change anything in Eritrea. It doesn’t have the elements necessary to change the situation; no documentation, contact with and respect of the people, transparency, modesty, etc. But for those who only want democracy and a constitutional government, the only answer is Bottom-Up philosophy. We need to be careful at this critical moment for our decision decides our future one way or another. As per me, I have chosen the Bottom-Up strategy because I want democracy to flourish in the country after this regime dies. I wish you luck on yours!