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.
hmmm July 8, 2014
Ahmed Saleh: Keep your lame joke to your self and stop distorting my statement. What I said was if you and your radical friends (who are threatening to replace Eritrean national language to be Arabic and impose Sharia law managed to impose your will, there will be a back lash (just like central Africa.) If we can’t live peacefully without imposing our religion on each others, we will have to part ways.
rahwa July 9, 2014
extremism is an issue in Eritrea. sadly both Christian and Muslim extremism is on the rise. from what we can see here most of the commentators are trigger-happy people who don’t care about the consequences of their words.
aman July 9, 2014
Sikuf
Emodanber nemanyou eti metnkekta mekniatu melekika nestur eyekonen?
Pawlos July 10, 2014
Rahwa, You have to be a fair judge and treat both sides fairly. It seems one side that is the ahmed saleh team has been getting the special treatment that he never deserves. As they say, there is always two sides to a story or to a case. It is Arabian Islam that describes the African as a slave in history. The Europeans borrowed that label for the African from the Arabs. That is why it is foolish for any African to call himself a “Muslim”. All that Islam does in Africa is spill blood, turn brother against brother and take away the valuable holdings of the African by means of chiseling. There was no single instance in history where Islam did good to Africa. Here is the story of Islam in Africa : It saw, It came, It killed, It conquered, It plundered. Why would an African be named/called Mohammed, Usman, Mustaffa or Idris? For the pleasure of the Arab? Ridiculous. And only ridiculous people would advocate for an Arab language in Eritrea. The people of Pakistan, Afghan, Turkey and Iran are Muslims and probably pray and read their Kuran in Arabic but they never use Arabic language. Simply, it will never work or happen in Eritrea.
Hagherawi July 10, 2014
“Why would an African be named/called Mohammed, Usman, Mustaffa or Idris? For the pleasure of the Arab? Ridiculous. ”
Pawlos
Hate is crippling your mind.
Christians use biblical names and European names from Christian traditions, and all that has nothing to do with Africa or its indigenous cultures. Is the name Pawlos indigenous ?
Most of old common Christian names including those of the four evangelists are of Middle Eastern origin:
John or Yohannes is Hanna
Mark or Marikos is Morkos
Mathew or Mathios is Matta
Luke or Lukas is Luk
A lot of names are based on Biblical stories and many such names have either Hebrew or Greek or Kananian or Assiro-Babylonian or Persian or Arabic origin, that means they are neither African nor have anything to do with its heritage.
Only those whose mind is crippled with hate think they can draw cultural borders to protect something that is not their in the first place.
Pawlos July 10, 2014
Hagherawi, Hagherawi of which Hager and of which continent? Definitely NOT of our Eritrea or Africa. More hagherawi of the unknown Arab world or hagherawi of the Pakistani/Afghan talibans. My comment was meant only for native Eritrean and Africans.
The Muslim Tigrignas that is the ones from Tigray residing presently in Eritrea, when they can hardly come up with any difference to warrant a separate identity (say, as different ‘biher’),they have to entirely invent its to the slave master Arabs language and culture. Thus, the alien Arabic language is designed not simply because it puts a distance between the Muslims and the rest of the Tigrignas highlanders, but because that same traversed distance brings them closer to the Arab world. We can easily see how this search for Arab identity comes in the form of linguistic colonization, when one imposes an alien language (Arabic) on oneself, be it in naming or dragging a native language closer to it or even outright preferring it to one’s language. In short, it is all called identity crisis and we can describe the uprooted state of mind as simply “happily self-colonized”. BUT, never ever any chance for an alien Arab language or culture in our Eritrea. PERIOD.
Abdu July 10, 2014
Pawlos
Be little pawlos baby a small kiddy you don’t deserve response. You’ve been ignored ; bcz you have ignorant comment.
aman July 9, 2014
Rahwa
yeabyelay ezahaftay entadeyou koyounu mesleki kemzi zebahl mesla aloo ” entazay tenknekni menmisastdafani “
Ahmed Omer July 9, 2014
hmmm
look in seventies the idiot Commandous did crimes not less than Asiyas did against Muslim community in Eritrea to make their and your’s Haile Sillale ( Janohoy ) remember that your oncestors were fighting for Amharic and for so called Ethiopian Unity and their plan was clean up Eritrea from Muslim and Asiyas with his gang going on the same plan .
hmmm do not threat Muslim it is not happen to them more than happen before
Lemon July 10, 2014
hahahha Why is it the Tigrinya people want to impose their Tigrinya mother tongue on other Eritrean.
Lemon July 10, 2014
True story from Tesney
My Uncle went to get her Eritrea ID or citizenship in Eritrea, the officer that was serving my uncle told her to bring translator I do not speak Tigre and I do not have translator for you today, but thanks for that woman was behind my uncle on the queue said to the officer I can translate for her, the officer reply was I did not ask you to translate for her, my poor uncle got the shock of her life hahahah. anyway at the end my uncle got her Eritrea ID thanks for that brave woman great jobs sister.
From that day I believe Tigre is not recognised language in Eritrean government offices. Those people with PHD qualifications in Tigre, Bilen, Saho I will say hahahahah find another planet.
Hagherawi July 10, 2014
Lemon
If you approach a government office in Eritrea with a paper written in Arabic, they think you are looking for trouble. Fist the will advice you to get it translated, if you tell them this is something they should take care of, then they will throw the papers on your face. Few days later, they will pick you from the street not to be heard of after that. In case of Tigre they will tell you politely, sorry we don’t have someone who knows Tigre, but they will not jail you. The official language of Eritrea is Tigrigna. The diversity is celebrated only in dancing and singing, elsewhere out of 10 government jobs Tigrigna speakers get 9, even in places like Dancalia and Barka.
It is this situation that mainly has created ethnic resistance groups that want ethnic based federalism similar to that of Ethiopia. Unfortunately, we are a small country with very complex problems mostly created by us or rather some of us who seem nothing to lose if the country is heading to hell.
Paradiso July 10, 2014
You are working hard to belittle the proud Tigre language, as the inferiority laced Jabha leaders did by burning Tigre text books. People who are ashamed of themselves and their identity are not worthy enough to defend a proud nation, except to live as slaves of others that they see as their masters.
Ahmed Omer July 10, 2014
Yesterday one weddi sillas has been seen pretending as muslim in festival tomorrow onatherone in going to do the in mosque some of that hates have feelness of shame or imbaracement .
look when any single Muslim wants Arabic called Taliban Why they did not call Asiyas and his gang when support Ashabab in Somalia be honest one day in your live .
sikuf July 9, 2014
Antum sebat entay ekum delikumuna adi gedifna adi seb kinsefr, wellas kamzom gorebabti hagera ekum.kiykewun delikuma adi. Bejakum tejrmitna krmzeyngedif nfalet ena kelil eyu security zeybla hager eritra eya ab alem diletka kitgebra tickiel. Komzom gktobabti eta zikelelt b sudan b yemen b djibuty. B ethiopia zero hallewa
Genet-orginal July 9, 2014
Dear Fetsum
Your work is always educational.
On the current topic, I see people want to you to be “Politically Correct”. Tippy-toeing around issue, rather than telling it as we see it has been the pattern in the Eritrean society. What have we got for being “politically correct”? epic proportion of misery. The issue of religion/faith for the most part is very sensitive issue. On the extreme side of faith, for some people it is a life and death situation. Religion rules their whole being. Encompass every things: Including social, political, economical and cultural. Religion should remain personal. No body should be allowed to impose his/her personal faith on any one else. Unless of course one lives in a homogeneous society which people agree to live under religion rules. I read most of the comments and I see People are talking about religion underneath the language discussions. It seems like Religion is = Language. I don’t think it is true to say Religion is equal to language. Some group of people may want to conduct their religion or faith daily routine, in a particular language, that can’t be like saying Religion is equal to language.
There are many Muslim around the world who speak any language, but not strictly Arabic. The reason is they are not Arabs. They pray in Arabic language, but that doesn’t mean they have to use it in their everyday lives. For example, in Kenya there are many Kenyan Muslim; their languages are both Swahili and English. They haven’t demanded their religion language added to the everyday Kenyan lives. So, why are we, Eritreans want to complicate things for ourselves? We already have a boat load of problems that we can’t handle. I think it is fair to say, for the sake of our peoples’ and country’s survival, we need to get our acts together and admit Eritrea and Eritreans aren’t Arabs; We need to admit we are Africans with some Arab bloodline. Our Arab bloodline includes Muslin and Christan. In Egypt, there are Egyptian – Christian, they do their prays in Arabic, because they are Arabs. The notion of “I am Muslim, therefore my language is Arabic” is not going to work. But one can say “I am Muslim, therefore I pray in Arabic” Another example, It wouldn’t be fair to any one in Eritrea if Eritrean-Catholics say, “We are Catholics and we want to use Italian language to our everyday lives”. Then what? Let us separate the two different concepts of Language and Religion at all time. Otherwise they are being used as synonyms and making some people agitated. Thank You.
Genet-O
Hagherawi July 9, 2014
Sister Genet-O, the issue has to do with official languages in Eritrea.
Are you saying you support “Tigrigna-only” policy of GoE and the provisions of the first constitution of the country in which Tigrigna and Arabic were agreed upon as official are not acceptable to you ?. Do you fully understand what are the implications ?
Genet-orginal July 10, 2014
Dear Hagherawi
As far as I am concern, I care less what languages are official, as long as it works for all of us. of course I support any language to be one of the officials. I just don’t want to see people associating the Language issue with Religion. Any Language is a universal skill. By keeping the language issue completely apart from any Religion, you can assess how one can implement official language. We have to see the impact on the country’s economy. To implement multiple official languages, you need money and man power. I am not against Arabic language. I think it is a beautiful language. I wish I can speak with this language.
What I am saying is let us take the religion out of this language issue. It seem, our priority is off. In a democratic Eritrea, we can even vote on this issue, if we agree upon. Thank You.
Hagherawi July 10, 2014
Thank you Genet
I agree with all you said.
We need to have a secular system that accommodates our diverse cultures and keeps religion out of political equation.
Those who think Arabic language is a new thing being imposed by Muslim extremists are either not in touch with reality or are doing it to trigger unnecessary conflict. Tigrigna-only policy is one of Iseyas’ booby traps along the road to Eritrean genuine unity. Anti-Muslim attitudes that some openly express here calling them Arab slaves is totally un-Eritrean.
Mutual respect among Eritrean communities was exemplary and stood the test of time even when the enemy tried to divide people along sectarian lines to achieve its own objectives. I hope those with goodwill from all sides to come together and save the country before extremists silence them and take in their bloody hands the fate of the ailing nation.
sikuf July 9, 2014
Aman meliktey nistur eyu riesi teleka.
sikuf July 9, 2014
We.don’t care about kenyans just we have historty we eritrean muslim. So we are arab. No one ll stop us guys either you like or not.even we are speaking tigrigna.wich is forein language to us.
sikuf July 9, 2014
Tigrigna is foreign language in semhar,barka,sahil,denkel include half of the highlands of eritrea… for future better to make arabic and amharic.Our national language hahhhhha resahat tigrina b nebsa dew zeybeletsi n endamata kitihikim.
hmmm July 9, 2014
Rahwa: Shortly after the independence there were sings Isays was taking the country in the wrong direction, the killing of handicap patriots, the shelving of the constitution, the arrest of the minsters, the war against Yemen, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Sudan without consulting with the parliaments etc. those were clear signs. Likewise, some wise Eritreans try to warn us about the looming danger unfortunately most of them are now dead or dying in PFDJ dungeons. While these brave Eritreans sound the alarm, most Eritrean were dancing with Isayas. Only recently people realize how dangerous he is and start abandoning him. In fact there are some zombies still dancing with him.
Similarly, some of us now see a threat (worst than Isayas) is in the works by the diaspora Eritrean Muslim radicals. They have created Islamic political wings and they are openly declaring Tigrigha was imposed on them and they want to replace it with Arabic. They are also talking about the implementation of sharia law in lowland Eritrea. Some of us trying to sound the alarm and those radicals are trying to silence us. I am sad to hear that you are also telling us to stop discussing the issue. Are you one of them? or are you just a sleepy head who will not wake up until it is too late?
Moke July 10, 2014
lemon: because its a lingua franca, the language spoken by majority Eritreans on top with a majority native speakers. Its a matter of linguistic science not of emotionality.
hmmm July 10, 2014
The radicals aka Eritrean elite Muslims spew hate against non Muslim Eritreans using their propaganda websites like Awate.com. They are trying to divide our peaceful society by introducing a religious based politics as seen in Kenya, South Sudan and many parts of African countries. The radicals believe if our society is divided on Ethnic and religious ground, they will have the advantage of being leaders. This is intended to serve them, their families and friends at the coast of ethnic conflicts. These evils have to be confronted now. Those in opposition who are accommodating these radicals should distance themselves. They are messengers of devil.
Habibi July 11, 2014
It is amazing to see how many directions this discussion is heading to. I thought this is a forum of discussion between eritreans. Arabs must have their own website somewhere where those who feel like arabs could participate. Eritreans cannot be held responsible for those who tend to deny their identities.The country has more than enough problems of its own that it can’t entertain such a luxury of playing around with identities. There can be many languages under one religion in the same way as there can be many religions under one language. Mixing up identities has nothing to do with this. You can take any religion you want and you can pray in any language you want. It’s also up to you if you want to feel like an arab or american. But leave eritrea alone. Don’t come to tell eritreans that they are arabs or americans only because you feel like it. It might make you feel important because you are getting some responses and challenges here. But this shouldn’t fool you to the extent of believing that you are making sense. Eritrean muslims have always known who they are.