Fetsum: From the Forum II
Fetsum: From the Forum II Quote of the moment: Try to go deeper than your emotion; to effectively flow with the universal motion. Stick with the goodness rather than your pride; by challenging your unfairly polluted mind “The Berber
Fetsum: From the Forum II
Quote of the moment: Try to go deeper than your emotion; to effectively flow with the universal motion. Stick with the goodness rather than your pride; by challenging your unfairly polluted mind
“The Berber Spring was a period of political protest and civil activism in 1980 claiming recognition of theBerber identity and language in Algeria with events mainly taking place in Kabylie and Algiers. The background was marked by two decades of harsh Arabization measures instituted by the Arab nationalistFLN dictatorship government, which refused to recognize Algeria’s Berber identity and banned the Berber language altogether. The Berber Spring is traditionally dated as beginning on March 10, 1980 with the banning of a conference due to be held by the Kabyle intellectual Mouloud Mammeri at Hasnaoua University in Tizi-Ouzou. A critical point was the coordinated arrest of hundreds of Berber activists, students and doctors on April 20, sparking a general strike.”
Comment: We are living in a world where people are fighting to stop linguistic dictatorship on portions of societies that want to live with their own native languages and cultures. The Berbers in North Africa are fighting for freedom of using their language and culture against the state policy of ARABIZATION on their community. They want to replace the imposed Arabic culture with their own. The Eritreans cannot escape this predicament vis-à-vis the Arabic language that took the highest cultural and linguistic stratum of the society unjustly and illegally suppressing all other Eritrean languages except Tigrigna. Freedom from external forces including colonialism by default includes freedom from external cultural and linguistic dictatorship. We did not fight to replace our culture with your Arabic but for total freedom to use ours in all aspects of the Eritrean life!!
“Since the dismantling of the one-party FLN system in 1989—followed by abortive democratization andcivil war—a few of the demands of the Berber Spring have been met by the state, and the Berber language is now a national language of Algeria. However, this is still distinct from Arabic, which remains the official language, and many other points of contention remain.”
Response: The people win at the end of any struggle for freedom and equality in a society. The Algerian Berber community at least has demonstrated this fact as we can see from what happened in Algeria. Their struggle succeeded in making their language a national language although Arabic is still the official language in the country. I believe the fate of Arabic in Eritrea will be similar to its fate in the Berber community of Algeria at the tail end of the struggle.
“Berber Spring 2011: Since January 2011 massive Berber activism re-emerged in North Africa in the wake of the Tunisian revolution and the overthrow of the Tunisian president Ben Ali, in what Berbers sometimes call the Berber-Arab Spring. This time, Berber activists were much more active and vocal on the streets of Morocco and Libya compared to Algeria”
Comment: Dictatorship is a sprinter that lacks the stamina to travel long distance in society. It runs short of breath at a point in the go. We are witnessing this truth from the free-falling Eritrean dictator. We see this taking place now all over the North African countries where the Berber community has broken the chain of fear to challenge the Arabic culture imposed on by replacing it with their own. The misplaced Arabic linguistic dictatorship over the Tigre, Saho, Kunama, Bilen, and the rest of our languages will be history for the same reason sooner or later. The Eritrean people will overcome any external dictatorship in their society! The Arabic language imposed on the Berber communities of North Africa will collapse in view of fairness like the fate of Arabic in Eritrea. No one can procrastinate this course of reality except the unjust like you and time!!!
Kemal Omer: “For the author of the article- though he seems to have some “weqar” (add the word to your vocabulary of sawra, shabia, feshilu, hujum, ta’leq, tumuh etc) the content of his article full of insults of Eritrea Muslims tell a different story. He and the few of his likes are telling us to just forget about Arabic and go along with higdef’s Tigrinization of Eritrea. The rest is just a BS. Now the likes of the author are telling us Muslim, ” Why do you need Arabic when we made Tigirigna the official language for you. One last point “pleas have some respect” !!
Response: You are not ‘Eritrean Moslems” but only a Moslem!! Should you consider my opinion an insult, please direct it only against you and your likes like Noor: leave our Moslems alone because you are a menace to that Community!!I just academically presented our situation vs. the Arabic in relation to the entire Moslems in the world. I told you that you are the only Moslem group that has a special attachment to Arabic based on research and you feel I was anti-Islam because you don’t want to admit this TRUTH. Islam has nothing to do with your confusion; Sir. You offend the society with your linguistic dictatorship and cry out your crocodile tears claiming victimized about the reaction of your victims (the entire Eritrean society). You think I insult Islam because I challenged your dictatorship but we know that the entire Moslem community rejects your love affair with Arabic because of the Koran. You are the one that disrespects the Eritrean Moslems because you undermine their native languages for Arabic, yet without being an ARAB. You can entertain your slave mentality as much as you like but don’t tell our Moslems to slave for your Arabs. Neither will the Arabs accept you as their equals nor will Eritreans buy your BS that has the potential to destroy the society. Please experiment your slave mentality in privacy; your Arabic flip flopping between your self-imposed culture/race and your real self in your imagination and dreams.An integrated person challenges issues with reason but a weak man like you cries it out emotionally. Your weird connection to Arabic is only your problem that has nothing to do with Islam or Moslems; thus stop talking about them and concentrate on your own debacle.
For your “pleas have some respect”, the answer is I cannot respect you more than you respect yourself!! If you decide to be a slave then I will call you a slave in respect of your choice.
Kemal Omer: “You believe Arabic is a foreign language to Eritrea. It may be so for you but not for me. The problem with the ethnocentric Tigrigna is they think we are all one and the same. The reality is we are not. Once we recognize this simple fact then we can talk. You speak and use Tigrigna and I respect your choice. I use Arabic, Tigre or what ever language I fancy and you respect my choice. Where is then the problem. While you are at it how about apologizing to us for insulting us and calling us “self-humiliating”. That is not a way of conducting civil discourse.”
Response: Yes Arabic is foreign to Eritreans and you cannot prove this otherwise. Why are you preaching your unique philosophy here instead of challenging me based on reason to my presentation? I gave you research oriented data to challenge your misunderstanding of ISLAM but you come here with nothing but emotion to indirectly express your defeatism. This is not about your sentiment or any sort of empathy to your self-inflicted wound; not about you or me but about society. Your exclusive choice or mine does not represent the people; only you or me. No one was against your individual choice as long as your keep it for yourself. Use whatever you want because that is your right but no Eritrean should be allowed to import a language and dominate our original languages for any reason including religion. You cannot say you want this or that for everyone to practice without being anarchic and taking off from our realistic sociological values; needless to say that it has dire consequence in society years down the road to be discussed in the process.
The problem here is that you want to do this and in fact it has been done already as we chat about it today illegally and unfairly. I am not trying to dictate my language in the society: Tigrigna became the official language because it was native and spoken by the majority. Consistently, Tigre deserves the same attention in Eritrea for the same reason (native and popular) not because it is more prestigious that our other languages. The problem is that you want Arabic to dominate our languages including yours just because of the Koran. This should never take place in future Eritrea should fairness get a chance to solve the problem.
It is only fair for you to respect my Tigrigna in exchange for my respect of your Arabic, but none of us should insist making a language a national language unless it was native and spoken by the majority. This is the difference between you and me, meaning that you don’t respect our languages (Eritrean) in favor of your favorite language (non Eritrean) without being a member of the Arabic society.
If you are an Eritrean, you know you are an African Blackman, a Nigger to the Arabs. If you are from a different ethnic group than Tigrigna, you may controversially say that you were not similar to the people from the Tigrigna ethnic group but if you are a Jeberty; can I ask you few questions? Please disregard if you are not!
How are we different other than religion or how are you culturally different from the Tigrignas precisely? What are your original roots precisely? What precisely is the language of your ancestors that by default should be yours? Are you sure your idea resonates in the minds of people from your ethnic background and can you prove it statistically? Are you willing to pay the consequence of this in future generations?
Now, accepting’ your idea that we were different, can you please convince me why Arabic should be the supreme language in Eritrea? Should our difference justify Arabic’s supreme linguistic status in Eritrea and how may you relate this to the different Eritrean ethnic groups? Do you believe Eritreans were the only people that relate Arabic with the Koran unconventionally? Why is this so and how may people that don’t understand this unique practice swallow it just because you insist without substantiating it through concrete examples in other societies? Are you sure you are not anti Eritrean Moslems that are dignified by their indigenous values in taking this position? Do you believe a lot of Jeberties conceptually disagree with your artificial exceptionalism? Do you believe that your ancestors were enslaved by the Arabs like other Eritreans did? If so, why don’t you get out of your slave mentality?
People that read me in the past know that I have no problem apologizing for anything and let me apologize now for what I said and please forgive me. But I apologize ahead for declaring and believing that people who don’t respect their values are self-humiliating.
wintuy: “Arabic in Eritrea was choice of the ppl. Why do the christian habesha hate the arabs yet love the italians it all boils down to islamophobia”
Ibrahim: “Please, don’t deprive citizens from their rights and give yourself the right to choose for them according to what your whims dictates. Eritrean Moslems have chosen Arabic language and you no right to negate it if you really believe in democracy. You don’t know the history of the Eritrean Moslems; Eritrea is composed of two cultures: Axumite Christian Culture and Islamic Arabic Culture. “
Response: Imposing unpopular and non indigenous language in society is not democratic but dictatorial. Telling Eritreans to accept their black race is not non-democratic because they are. Democracy should be based on reality and not on personal feelings my friend. I am not depriving anyone from choosing their language but rather rejecting their idea of imposing it on me. You are not asking to use Arabic and nobody ever stopped you from doing it: You are telling us all to use it because you like it. Now who is depriving others their native language: You or me?
Apparently, people have the right to hate Arabic and love Italian but have no right to impose either one in the society. You love Arabic beyond reason and why are you against people loving Italian? Why are you threatened by people who love Italian more than Arabic and why is this your business to the point of associating it with Islamophobia? Should I consider your infatuation with Arabic as Christian-phobic as a matter of consistency? Can people peacefully grudge a little with the Arabs for having enslaved East Africans without being classified as Islamophobic?
Considering that the only time in history that the Eritreans voted for something was during the referendum, can you prove that Arabic was our choice? Do you have any relevant research oriented data before reaching this conclusion? Can you please separate your subjective opinion from the objective reality and stop assuming people follow your unconventional idea because of their religion?
Arabic whether understood by majority Eritreans or not is not native and thus should stay a foreigner when it comes to the national language. Your wrong assumption does not give it the legitimacy to oppress our native languages. Arabic cannot unite us at all and in fact will cause tons of problems ahead specially for our Moslem population (will discuss this in the conclusion). It is already drugging our resistance against the dictatorship!! We need to find a solution from within our values without importing Arabic to dominate our languages.
eritrean mahdi: “Arbic is our common language for eritrean muslim.”
Answer: You are hallucinating on your private agenda? Islam and the Koran are the only connection between Arabic and Moslems from other ethnic groups and the rest of the Moslem world. Why do you want to be different and on what rationality?
Back Burner: “The Eritrean government said 50% of Eritrean population are muslims and they do not getFriday off (public holiday) but the Tigrinya people do get Sunday public holiday not fair at all. I remember the people of Gerset did ask the school principle of Gerset that they want to take their kids to the mosque on Fridays, the principle answer was the government did not give me the authority to give the studentsFriday off but I will let your kids go home at 9am on Fridays. 95% of Gerset people are muslims still do not get Friday off amazing.”
Response: Now you have a case for all Eritreans to fight back in getting this bias straight. These are legitimate issues for us to deal with and every Eritrean should fight for the right of our Moslems taking off on Fridays for ritual practice in Arabic because what the government did was absolutely unfair and anti-Eritrean assuming the information was correct.
Awash Arba: “You poeple are the last society who colonized by the backward Ethiopians.Just entertainig to READ.Still reapting the fake history.”
hmmm: “Whether you call it colonialism or illegal occupation, the Ethiopian government manipulated self serving Eritreans to override the federation agreement and illegally re-united Ethiopia with Eritrea. That is what lead to the 30 yr struggle for independence. After sacrificing > 100,000 brave Eritrean and as many as 500,000 Ethiopians, we earned our independence and freedom. It was hard earned freedom and nothing can reverse that. “
Response: There is no fake Eritrean history for our history was confirmed through our sweat and blood. By the way, I assume you are Ethiopian may be from the central portion of the country. We were there first before you; we are your roots whether you like it or not. Your language Amharic was derived from Tigre or Tigrigna (the original children of Geez), thus we are the people that should teach you your history and tell you whether you were fake or not. do you understand this? A child cannot teach his parents the history of their roots so you need to listen and learn from us instead of trying to teach us about our roots and identity.
hmmm: “I feel Weyane is #2 enemy of Eritrea next to PFDJ. They are working day and night for the demise of Eritrea. They illegally occupied our territory providing PFDJ a cover to continue holding our people hostage. In the mean time, Weyane opened its boarder wide open encouraging kids as young as 8 yrs to walk in unaccompanied. As if that is not enough, they are now trying to start ethnic conflict in Eritrea by putting together a fake rebel groups using some of our ethnic identity like Afar and Kunama. So I believe Weyane and those who are promoting their agenda should be rejected.”
Answer: I respect your opinion Hmmm though I don’t agree with you completely and thank you for respectfully expressing yours without the tendency to dominate my thoughts. I certainly watch the Weyanes closely because I don’t think all Tigreans welcome the nationhood of Eritreans and I believe some Tigreans are a threat to our sovereign existence. Only a fool can bypass this reality. I, however, strongly reject the notion that they created fake rebels out of the Kunamas and the Afars to disturb our unity. These rebels have causes that must be addressed by all of us Eritreans. The Weyanes may try to play dirty politics through them as they do through the rest of the opposition forces in their country but the truth remains that there are a lot of untold stories that deserve good Eritrean ears about the grievances of the two ethnic groups in our society. I believe the two minorities have issues with the rest of the Eritreans that should be resolved through transparent communication and respect. I believe at least the Kunamas are the most dedicated Eritreans that want to democratize their country and live peacefully with the rest of us if we pay attention (please disregard the Afars here because I have yet to research about). I believe through research that the Kunama democratic party is the most democratic oriented party in today’s EDA political pool. I will substantiate this statement in my next articles for all of us to discuss after we exhaust this topic and I am sure you will be surprised about what has been going on between the Kunama democratic movement and the dictatorial parties in the EDA (the destructive Kebesians (Christians and Moslems) and the opportunists in the rest of the society). To give you a clue, I have found the Kunama democratic party as the most civilized and progressive Eritreans in the EDA pool again minus the Afars (must research this first and we will see). I feel I am very well represented by the Kunama party in so far as nationalistic confidence and true sense of democracy were concerned.
hmmm: “Kemal: I can live with what you said. But that is not what the other writers with Muslims were writing. They are openly pushing Islamic agenda. I fear that they may try to impose their religion on us. They will start out by making Arabic the national language of Eritrea (which is what they have been saying in this forum). So what would be next? the implementation of Sharia law? “
Response: this grievance is valid in my opinion. The exceptional treatment of Arabic in our society because of the Koran is contradicted by all Moslems in the world for one to be suspicious of what may come next. I believe Sharia law is supported by the few individuals that want the supremacy of Arabic in our culture. I cannot imagine any Eritrean supporting the Sharia without being unjust and chronic male chauvinist that ridicules and oppresses women without provocation. I cannot see this happening to our girls and will fight for their rights like any other peace loving Eritrean. The struggle to equalize women and men in Moslem societies is already active by Moslem Feminists in Palestine, Soudi Arabia, Iran, Nigeria, India and other societies needless to say by Feminists in the western countries. The issue of Eritrean women is certainly an international issue of feminism that we cannot avoid any more. No issue of a portion of society should be monopolized by men of that society because it is human rights issue that all members of the society should deal with. The Eritrean girls from our Moslem family are our kids that we must protect from the barbaric verdict of fanatic Moslems (mutilation, stoning, etc.). We should never allow this to happen to our kids whether the parents want it or not because parents don’t have the right to abuse their kids in democratic and civilized countries. A society must protect its citizens equally and that is what we will fight to do.
Kemal Omer: “The formula for peaceful co-existence is simple. We respect your choice and you respect ours. The talk of imposing Islam and Arabic on you Christians by the Muslims is ill informed. It is the Tigrigna who are imposing on us their language and value system. If you are a fair minded person you should speak against what is happening now to Eritrean Muslims.”
Answer: I agree but who am I and you to feel representing our respective ethnic group without mandate. I don’t think the Tigrignas were imposing their language here compared to what few radical Moslems did with Arabic in our country. Tigrigna is legitimate because it is Eritrean and the language of a big chunk of the society where as Arabic is an unconventional NATEBA to Eritreans imposed by radical Moslems. I have no problem with glorifying other Eritrean languages to replace Tigrigna for a national language, but where do you put Arabic and in what context? I am free minded enough to acknowledge the existence of oppression against our Moslems in Eritrea (similar to the experience of other ethnic groups) and I condemn it. But the people that impose Arabic in our society are rather the ones that must be fair enough to revise their outrageous and unconventional dictatorship in my opinion. Would you be fair enough to see this, my brother?
Kombishtato: “Ibrahim writes, “Please, don’t deprive citizens from their rights and give yourself the right to choose for them according to what your whims dictates. Eritrean Moslems have chosen Arabic language and you no right to negate it if you really believe in democracy. ”This was a response long addressed in this forum by many others: Anyone has a right to use any language to communicate, I have no problem if you use Mongolian let alone Arabic, Amhraic or Italian, a language across from the Red Sea. The issue is that you have no right to push any alien language in Eritrea as a Legal Language of the land by burning Eritrean languages. The main word here is legal, as I can not use Tigrinia or Tigre the legal language of Sudan, Sweden or Saudi Arabia. Arabic language is not Eritrea’s legal responsibility. Arabic language is the legal responsibility of 22 rich Arab nations. Eritrea’s main legal and natural responsibility is primarily to worry about its own languages.
Who gave the so called “Muslim elites” the right to burn Eritrean languages? Did the Tigre, Kunama and Afar people give a binding legal permission or consultation under a democratic process to these Jeha “elites” under Jebha’s Baathist Arab “democracy” to burn any Eritrean language? Why are you throwing the word “democracy” in the life history of an undemocratic and fascistic Baathist Arab Organization group? Are you asking Eritreans to” respect the wishes” of some inferiority laced fascist servants to burn Eritrean languages?”
Response: The expression may be a little e motional but true for the most part.
Talking two languages in meetings
Do you really believe we can be part of the ever advancing universe with this practice while already lagging so much behind in everything? I do feel like we are killing our time and essence with this unconventional and unheard of practice and I don’t think we can survive as a nation because we cannot develop to catch up with the universe accepting this unique method of communication. I urge people in support of this backward practice (Christians and Moslems) to teach us its advantage in our society. I also urge them to explain why we are the only nation doing this to ourselves and the reason the rest of the Moslems in the world don’t do it. What may be the reason the few radical elites insisting on this unique practice in Eritrea? Are we better Moslems than the rest of the Moslems in the world accepting this partial and destructive privilege in Eritrea and only in Eritrea? Is fear of each other or respect for each other that makes us do this primitive practice inexistent in other societies?
Whatever the reason may be, I suggest we Eritreans in Diaspora practicing this weird communication style should resist the dictatorship and resolve the matter democratically. We should vote within our communities whether to continue this impossible to understand practice or get it over with by selecting a communication language for our meetings. Let us fearlessly reject domination by the few destructive elites from now on instead, dealing with this situation democratically. Those in Arab countries may choose Arabic if they want but my choice is English at least for communities in English speaking countries clearly understanding that this can only be decided by the majority in democratic ambiance. We, however, cannot continue with this absurd situation without destroying our society’s essence of time and productivity.
Question for all participants of this forum: Do you think the Eritrean communities should vote on their respective communication language for their meetings or continue alternating between Arabic and Tigrigna for the same?
The consequence of imposing Arabic on the Eritrean society: The dangerous sword waiting ahead:
hmmm: “I fear that they may try to impose their religion on us. They will start out by making Arabic the national language of Eritrea (which is what they have been saying in this forum). So what would be next? the implementation of Sharia law? or demanding everyone to convert or face a sword? This voices need to be dealt with right now before it is too late. We don’t want to wait until a Muslim man take power like (central Africa) to learn how he will behave.”
Response: To your information, Arabic has been a national language for decades in Eritrea. This reality has been one of the main problems in the struggle and yet is a major problem today that stood in the way of unity in the opposition camp. Our resistance for peace and democracy has been weakened by destructive forces from the two major religions in our society: Radical Moslems and power mongering Christians. As a result, EDA as of today has been inefficient and impotent vis a vis solving our collective social problem. The Radical Moslem and opportunist Christian leaders of the opposition parties have equally produced a totally useless resistance within the Alliance thereby elongating the dictatorship at home that is about to fall apart without their effective contribution. I will discuss all this in upcoming articles ahead but a grievant from a minority ethnic group within the EDA says that “Those Islamic organizations [within the EDA] used some opportunistic but secular organizations like Sagem, EPD of Adhanom Gebremariam, Eritrean Federal democratic Movement-EFDM, the most arrogant and ultra Islamic movement of Bashir Ishaq, the corrupt and amorphous Jeberti party, the Eritrean Nahda Party and finally the obsolete and retarded Husen Khelifa led Eritrean liberation party. These are the usual core forces of the EDA that are accepting or expelling Eritrean opposition organizations. These are the core elements which have ganged up against DMLEK, to expel and suspend from the EDA and the Eritrean National Council for Democratic Change-ENCDC“. I feel things like this must be shared with every Eritrean as a matter of information because knowledge is power. I entertain this information as a foundation or a motivation for more research about the EDA without taking a clear position on and I advice my readers to entertain it without bias.
About 15 years after the EDA was formed in 1999, the source says that “five organizations are outside of the grand coalition, waiting the declaration of the [remaining] organizations which are in meeting. DMLEK, ERDF EMDJ, ESNF, and EPDP are the ones divorced and forced to divorce from the grand coalition [because of the EDA’s dictatorial and undemocratic leadership].” The EDA according to this information is disintegrating as a result of dictatorship and mixing up religion with politics barely surviving today with about 11 weakly bonded parties that have been wasting time on their personal differences.
As you know, every action has a reaction. Love affair with Arabic cannot exist without a reaction from the Eritrean people as a matter of the law of DUALITY. Whether we like it or not, hmmm’s grievance and fear is the result of the few radical Moslems’ pushing the matter beyond necessary. One has to understand that this dictatorial act IS NOT ONLY LIMITED IN DIVIDING US but also has the potential to make the non-Moslem Eritreans insecure enough to entertain a united front with the Christians south of our country for defense. Eritrean Moslems identifying with the Arabs through the Arabic language and working hard to impose SHARIA in a portion of our society are risking the unity of highland Christians with the Ethiopian Christians against them in the long run. This dictatorship may end up dividing the country to the total disadvantage of our Moslems endangering them few generations down the line. Do you know that Arabizing our country will threaten our peaceful coexistence with the Christians from other countries of the region beyond the division it would create between us? Do you know that this can create religious affiliated war between us and our neighbors; and destroy our communities all inclusive? Is this what you want to do to your kids and the rest of the society?
A wise Eritrean Moslem cannot do this without taking the risk of messing up one’s community in the future. Infatuating with the Arabs cannot exist without the Christians infatuating unity with Ethiopian Christians for self defense. Why should an Eritrean Moslem create this kind of tension and jeopardize our Moslems and the society in general by giving the Radical Christians (unionists) a chance to react in such a way instead of concentrating on national unity by respecting our national values? The cost of Radical Islam is Radical Christianity that may agitate the Christians looking south bound for survival. You cannot relate to the Arabs by empowering their language in Eritrea without risking a strategic relationship between the regional Christians in defensive reaction. A radical Moslem is therefore a hazard to all Eritrean Moslems, the Eritrean society at large and certainly to our peaceful coexistence in the region. We need to stop mixing religion with politics leaving the matter to our religious leaders or get ready to face the dire consequence. The Radical Moslems (few elites) in Diaspora including in the opposition camp that use religion for their selfish ends should be unanimously rejected for the decent survival of our society within and peaceful coexistence with our neighbors. The few destructive elites from both sides must be equally resisted and isolated for the sake of a decent and peaceful society ahead.
Now here are my questions to those Eritreans that want to politicize religion in the resistance by at least supporting the supremacy of Arabic in Eritrea:
Does your strategy stop at making Arabic the supreme language in Eritrea or you go as far as supporting the application of SHARIA in our Moslem communities?
noor: “This stupid eritrean christian will never go along Muslim people so we should decide to have our own separate Islamic state to distance from their evil way of life.”
Response: I don’t think we can live with people like you and go ahead making your own Arabic state somewhere in the area with few dictators and illusive individuals in the society. The few power hungry anti-unity Christians and Radical Moslem elites in the opposition camp can join you for a rendezvous in one of the Eritrean islands. You may as well reproduce each other because you are very few in number. Can both of you leave our society alone in exchange to NUKRA (an island in the southern RED SEA part of Eritrea) for your independent nation? You are so few in number anyway and this island should be enough for you to live your dreams on without our resistance. I chose this island for you because Mengistu Hailemariam had erected a boat factory in, thinking of making an Ethiopian access to the sea out of it towards the end of the struggle. You can use the boats to enjoy the Red Sea with your likes simultaneously discussing your national issues with the two languages in question, thereby proving to be the most democratic elites on this planet.
Question to Noor, Omar and the few in their state of mind: Do you have a problem with your sexual confidence that may trigger your tendency to violently attack the Vagina in retaliation? Are you fascinated by dismembering the clitorises of baby girls like your savage Christian comrades because of your sick male chauvinistic outlook of life? Are you a pervert pedophile obsessed with busting young virgins like your psychologically sick brothers from the Christian communities at the excuse of Islam that has nothing to do with this savage crime? Are you going to take advantage of Islam into marrying four women, using them as sexual objects because of your abnormal sexual fantasies and chronic interest in dominating the women of your community? Are you afraid of women’s sexuality like your Christian counterparts for you to illegally suppress their freedom at the convoluted excuse of religious obligation?
In conclusion, there are major developments in the resistance of the Eritrean people from within the country that we should invest our time on. I will concentrate on them from now hoping this topic will be exhausted in this forum. Let us work to move forward by correcting our mistakes and focusing on our common interests to be a civilized society and to efficiently defend Eritrea with solid unity. Let us exit from our identities and religions to have a balanced view on the Eritrean question. Let us stop religiously and ethnically personalizing Eritrean matters and open the heart to accommodate national matters on the merit of their substance.
Don’t be taken for a ride by the opportunist individuals that don’t mind destroying your society for their personal benefits. Reject the few destructive elites that have been the pain of our society and the cause of our current suffering without hesitation. Remember that the challenge is no more the regime in Asmara but stopping the few selfish elites from injecting their poison to materially benefit at the expense of you!! Open your hearts and break the unnecessary rules imposed on you by your elites to feel each other’s love and compassion. Down with the negative forces in the EDA and long live the democratic zeal of the people.
Kemal Omer July 4, 2014
Comments 1:
Came to this discussion forum hoping (and assuming) there is meaningful and rational dialogue, at least from the presenter. Unfortunately the presentation itself is a thinly veiled islamo-phobia convoluted with a healthy dose of irrational anti-Arab bias and prejudice that borders racism. He claims that he has presented a scholarly (academically) presentation. There is nothing scholarly in his presentation that has an insulting title. He was requested to apologize to Eritrean Muslims for insulting them and calling them “self humiliating”. Instead he runs his fingers with more insults. Being rude and less than polite as he was with his writing would not have been a problem (could be a cultural issue) if the discussion has substance in it, but it is the same old logic of “wala tinfer tiel eya”.
It seems in this forum there is either deliberate distortion of the Eritrean history, particularly to the issue of the Official Languages from the part of the presenter and some of his readers, or there is a colossal ignorance of the ABC of recent Eritrean history. Which ever the case may be, what evident is the hysterical hate, bias and prejudice against any thing Muslim and Arab. To set the tone to what it should be in a civil discussion here will follow a few points that may benefit the uninformed but I doubt it if will be of any use to the Hawaria of Essayas.
continued in comment 2
Kemal Omer July 4, 2014
Comment 2 (continued from comments 1)
The main assumption and thesis of the presenter on the issue of Official Languages is “Arabic is being forced on the Eritrean Muslims by a small group of Muslim elite who do not respect their own languages” (in his words, “if you do not respect yourself how can I respect you”).
Contrary to what he says and try to deceive his readers by repeating baseless and false statements the historical truth is the issue of the duality of the Official Languages in Eritrea was settled 62 years ago by the first ever elected national assembly and enshrined in the Eritrean Constitution of 1952. Here is Article 38 of the 1952 Constitution:
THE ERITEAN CONSTITUTION AS RATIFIED
11 TH September, 1952
ARTICLE 38
Languages
1.Tigrigna and Arabic shall be the official languages of Eritrea.
2.In accordance with established practice in Eritrea, the languages spoken and written by the various population groups shall be permitted to be used in dealing with the public authorities, as well as for religious or educational purposes and for all forms of expression of ideas.
continued in comment 3
Kemal Omer July 4, 2014
Comment 3 (continuation of Comment 2):
As presented in Comment 2 the Official Language issue in Eritrea was settled in 1952 and enshrined and voted upon and ratified by the national assembly:
ARTICLE 38
Languages
1.Tigrigna and Arabic shall be the official languages of Eritrea.
2.In accordance with established practice in Eritrea, the languages spoken and written by the various population groups shall be permitted to be used in dealing with the public authorities, as well as for religious or educational purposes and for all forms of expression of ideas.
A few facts about this constitution may be fitting here:
THE ERITEAN CONSTITUTION AS RATIFIED
11 TH September, 1952
CHAPTER I.
STATUS OF ERITREA
ARTICLE 2
Territory of Eritrea
The territory of Eritrea, including the islands, is that of the former Italian colony
of Eritrea.
ARTICLE 4
Legislative, executive and judicial powers
The Government of Eritrea shall exercise legislative, executive and judicial powers with respect to matters within its jurisdiction.
ARTICLE 8
Eritrean Citizenship
Persons who have acquired Federal nationality in Eritrea under the Federal Act
(Section A, paragraph 6 of the General Assembly Resolution 390 A (V)) and have been granted Eritrean citizenship in accordance with the laws of Eritrea shall be citizens of Eritrea.
ARTICLE 16
The principles of democratic government
The constitution of Eritrea is based on the principles of democratic government.
ARTICLE 39
Creation of an Assembly representing The Eritrean people
1. Legislative power shall be exercised by an assembly representing the Eritrean people.
2.Members of the assembly shall represent the Eritrean people as a whole, and not only the constituency in which they are elected
.
ARTICLE 45
Electoral High Commission
1.An electoral High Commission consisting of three persons appointed by the Supreme Court established under Article 85 shall be responsible for supervising all electoral proceedings (including the compiling of electoral rolls), and for preventing or putting a stop to irregularities.
2.The High Commission shall appoint, in each constituency, from among the electors of that constituency, a representative to act under its authority.
3.The said representative shall be assisted by an advisory election committee,
consisting of members chosen by him from among the electors of that constituency. As soon as an election period had been declared open in accordance with the law every candidate shall be entitled to be represented by the committee.
4.The implementation of the present article shall be prescribed by law.
You can read the whole document for yourself and educate yourself.
Continued in comment 4
Kemal Omer July 4, 2014
Comments 4 (continued from comment 3):
Now Mr. Aristotle you have two choices – either (1) accept this established fact that Eritrea has two Official Languages – Tigrigna and Arabic- enshrined, voted and ratified by a democratically elected assembly under the supervision of the UN. On the UN supervision of the elections if you refuse to accept that as inconsequential and the work of colonizers then by the same logic so would be the UN supervision of the national referendum on independence of 1993. (2) argue that you do not recognize the Constitution of 1952, in which case neither Tigrigna nor Arab are the Official languages of Eritrea. If you oppose to Arabic as an official language based on this law then by default you also oppose to Tigrigna as an official language, and as a consequence oppose to this national consensus that was reached at in 1952 (i.e. before 62 years).
But the ethnocentric he is, he follows a twisted logic and tries to split Article 38 into two parts – accept the Tigrigna part and deny the Arabic part. But as the saying goes you cannot eat from two maadi.
The 1952 Constitution is part of the history of the evolution of Eritrea as a nation state. Had it not been for the andenet party whose slogan was “Ethiopia wey mot” we would not be here today, 62 years later wondering how to go forward.
continued in Comment 5
Keren July 5, 2014
What “established fact”? Isn’t your so called “choice” made by people who saw them selves as Arab slaves and inferior to the Italians culturally and linguistically to be close to the Arabs?
This was decided right after the British liberated Eritrea from Fascist Italian yoke. This was the time the elite Muslims saw themselves inferior after many years of Italian colonial rule. This is not the problem, the problem is the present elite Eritrean Muslims still see themselves and their heritage as inferior after lying to many young Eritreans to “free Eritrea”. People who see themselves and their values as inferior are not expected to accomplish any thing in history let alone to build a worthy nation.
You will never be able to create any worthy identity on borrowed Arab identity except to broadcast yourself as worthless.
Kemal Omer July 4, 2014
Comment 5 (continues from comment 4)
The issue of the Official Language (Article 38 of the 1952 Constitution) did not come out of a vacuum. It is not like a few Muslim and Christian men who happen to be member of a certain mahber have sat down at bar Empero have a few makiatos and coffee and said, “OK guys, let us go and be done with this stupid thing”. The dialogue between the different peoples and constituents of Eritrea extended for nearly ten years from the day the Italians in Eritrea were defeated by the British in 1941 to the day the British left Eritrea in 1952. For ten years our grandfathers and fathers discussed how to constitute Eritrea. Do we want to be independent (The independence block)? Do we want to unite with Ethiopia (mahber andenet)? Do we want to partition Eritrea (partition party)? Do we want to call back Italy (pro-Italia)? Our grandfathers and fathers discussed and argued for over ten years what sort of government they wanted, what languages to make official, what kind of education system, what type of economic system, what about the ownership of land, the rights of citizenship and a host of other equally important issues that a nation on the making addresses.
Finally for factors, some of our own making and other imposed on us by the new international reality after WWII, we were put in a federal arrangement with Ethiopia, out of which came the 1952 Constitution. We had the federation with Ethiopia for nearly 10 years until it was illegally abrogated by Haile Sleassie in 1962. The federation failed mainly because Haile Selassie was (like Essayas and the ethnocentric elite) against Article 38 of the Constitution. It contradicted his Amharization agenda of Eritrea. Haile Selassie (Like Essayas) did not like any constitution. So what happened next? The Eritrean people revolted and declared armed struggle to bring back our democratic rights that were enshrined in the Constitution and we aspired for even more – national independence this time, because we could trust Ethiopia no more (like we don’t trust Essayas and his hidgef and their hidden supporters today) and we fought. Our national journey to national independence was not smooth and we had to go through countless hurdles some of our own making others imposed on us from outside. And it all came to an end in May 1991. But the likes of Essayas do not tell you the whole story. For them the struggle for national independence did not start in 1941 (yes 1941) but in 1971 at Ala when Essayas established his selfi-netsanet. They do not want you to know how we came to where we are today. And most of all they do not tell you about Article 38.
Continued in comment 6
Keren July 5, 2014
Did Eritreans die to respect their own values, or, did they die to protect alien Arab values in their own land? Do you think Eritreans see themselves just like you as an Arab appendix attached somehow to a Rashayda or filthy savage Arab in Saudi Arabia? If this not the case, why did you run away to the Christian West of California, Australia and Great Britain?
Kemal Omer July 4, 2014
Comments 6
Of course the whole thing of saying the making of the Official Languages in 1952 is the work of colonialist (now changed into the work of a few Muslim elite who are self-humiliating) is the making of Essayas Afwerki as clearly stated in his manifesto “nehnan alamanan” and practiced by higdef and preached by few ethno-centric Tigrigna. Essayas does not recognize Article 38 or the Constitution that contained enshrined it. In fact Essayays does not recognize any Constitution, not even the one he wrote himself, which they now call the Bereket Habte Selassie constitution. Have you ever wondered why the Bereket constitution was silent on the issue of the Official Language? Essayas, higdef and the other ethnocentric Tigrigna are allergic to any Official Language and scared of the fact because it contradicts their agenda of the Tigrignization of Eritrea. The problem with them is they don’t seem to learn from history and from their neighbors with out going very far. The Amharization of Ethiopia (Oromia, Harar, Tigray, Afar etc.) failed after 100 years from the time of Menilik to 1991. So will the Tigrignization of Eritrea will fail.
Today if you accept the other ethnic groups as equal compatriots we will be able to build a democratic nation or else we will have wasted another sixty years to come back to Article 38. The little they know is the demand of Arabic as a second Official Language of Eritrea is the demand of all Eritrean Muslims, enshrined in our first ever Constitution ratified and voted for by our first ever democratically elected parliament. We demand now and will demand in the future that Article 38 be part of any future constitution of Eritrea.
end
Hagherawi July 5, 2014
“Tigrigna are allergic to any Official Language and scared of the fact because it contradicts their agenda of the Tigrignization of Eritrea. The problem with them is they don’t seem to learn from history and from their neighbors with out going very far. The Amharization of Ethiopia (Oromia, Harar, Tigray, Afar etc.) failed after 100 years from the time of Menilik to 1991. So will the Tigrignization of Eritrea will fail.”
Kamal Omer
Iseyas and his regime are dismantling Eritrea by dividing the country along ethnic and sectarian lines. The current campaign against Eritrean Muslims and insults to Islam is part of their strategy to speed up the Somalization of they country and eventual breakup. Eritrean Muslims need to work with moderate and nationalist Christians to save the country, as they have always done in the past. The Tigrigna ethnic supremacists (a small but vocal group with fascist mindset) have the support of the regime and their dream of Christian Orthodox dominated Eritrea in not new. In fact that is the main reason they have banned the various Protestant denomination. Unfortunately, some in the opposition camp seem to have bought these destructive ideas, that first came in the open in the notorious manifesto of Iseyas know as “We and our aims” about 44 years ago.
Anti-Arab propaganda in Eritrea and Ethiopia, historically has been used to intimidate, suppress and isolate Muslim communities in both countries. In case of Ethiopia it has been an official policy of the monarchy to consider a Muslim a second class citizen of “a Christian island”. But in recent years the government has recognized a few of their basic rights in exchange of getting their votes to keep away from power Amhara nationalist parties like 7 Ghinbot who are openly anti-Tigreyas and threaten the Federal system introduced by them.
Eritrean Muslims need to help build a just and egalitarian system by joining hands with nationalist force from other communities. To sideline those Tigrigna ethnic supremacists with fascist ideology who seem to be laying ground for destructive ethnic conflict, we all need to put Eritrea first.
Kemal Omer July 5, 2014
Hagherawi wrote:
“Eritrean Muslims need to work with moderate and nationalist Christians to save the country, as they have always done in the past.”
Agree. There is no other choice than to work together to defeat the chauvinists and ethnocentric behind-the-curtain hegdefites who deny the rights of the other ethnic groups.
hmmm July 5, 2014
The problem with them is they don’t seem to learn from history and from their neighbors with out going very far. The Amharization of Ethiopia (Oromia, Harar, Tigray, Afar etc.) failed after 100 years from the time of Menilik to 1991. So will the Tigrignization of Eritrea will fail.”
Hagerawi: Ethiopia didn’t change the official language of Amharic. Where did you get that idea? The Ethiopian govt introduced ethnic policy that helped them divide the society and rule it much like what colonial powers did. But they were not stupid enough to replace the national language of Amharic by Tigrigha. Had they done that, it would have angered the population and Weyane would have been wiped out of Ethiopia. On the other hand you radical Muslims of Eritrea are trying to push the agenda of making Arabic an official language of Eritrea. So what you saying is in the future Eritrea the president will address the population in Arabic 🙂 my friend if you push this agenda and all Eritreans are aware of this, I think it will be the end of Muslims in Eritrea (similar to what happened in Central Africa.) We won’t entertain radical Muslims to run us out of our country.
Hagherawi July 5, 2014
“So what you saying is in the future Eritrea the president will address the population in Arabic 🙂 my friend if you push this agenda and all Eritreans are aware of this, I think it will be the end of Muslims in Eritrea (similar to what happened in Central Africa.) We won’t entertain radical Muslims to run us out of our country.”
hmmm
You said:
” .. I think it will be the end of Muslims in Eritrea (similar to what happened in Central Africa.)”
hmmm, be aware !!! you are on record for calling to commit genocide against Eritrean Muslims.
Is this really because Muslims want have the language of their preference as official beside the Tigrigna or there is something else ???
hmmm July 5, 2014
http://challenge901.blogspot.com/2011_02_01_archive.html
http://challenge901.blogspot.com/2011_12_01_archive.html
http://challenge901.blogspot.com/2012_05_01_archive.html
check out those links. Is that your blog Hagwerawi? denying the existence of Sinai victims and accusing Dr Alganesh and Assena for falsifying the whole thing? It is amazing indeed. Whoever own this blog must have a link with those Rashida Muslims that are working with Bedouin Smugglers to kidnap Eritrean youth.