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Fetsum: Light inside the darkness of the Vaccaroian movement of unification; Part II

As we move on forward tackling the mysterious problems that stand in the way, I expect to be challenged in public from people concerned about the integrity of my last article so that the readers

As we move on forward tackling the mysterious problems that stand in the way, I expect to be challenged in public from people concerned about the integrity of my last article so that the readers can have a balanced view on the matter. “No Response” of course conventionally means admission to the accusations and better the response be prompt as a commentator said in the forum to be effective. The forum is waiting for response from the DC committee and I am moving on in the mean time. This is similar to attending or missing a court appointment and the judge passing the verdict in the presence or absence of the accused. There is an ugly culture inherited from the struggle in our society: ignoring accusations or discussing them in private instead of in public. This habit of opaque communication (non-transparent) is uncivilized and no more acceptable in our society and was visible when we challenged the MEDREK based on the accusations of Assenna. They did not respond publicly thus guilty of the accusations by default sagacity. I hope the DC committee will respond in order to avoid the consequence of SILENCE. Other than that I want to thank the Forum participants for their dedication to help the Vaccaro movement by tracing the problems within because this movement is our movement and we should take it personal enough to protect it from the enemies.
Vaccaro: ጸዋዒተይ ብዝያዳ ናብ መንእሰያትና ዘተኮረ ኮይኑ ነዚ ህዝብናን ሃገርናን ዘብርስ ዘሎ ገባቲ ስርዓትኣብ ምእላይ ቀላሲ ግደ ክጻወቱ ዝጽውዕ ኢዩ። ኣብዚ ዝካየድ ዘሎ ንናይ ኢሳያስ ኣፈርወርቅን ጉጅልኡን ካብሱሩ ንምእላይ ኮይኑ ብፍላይ ንመንእሰያትና ዝምልከተሉ ቀንዲ ምኽንያት ድማ ንሳቶም ናይ መጻኢት ኤርትራተረከብትን መራሕትን ስለ ዝኾኑን ነቲ ናይ ህዝብና ዝሓለፈ ዘሕብንን ዘኹርዕን ታሪኽና መታን ምዕቃብንክኽእሉ ዝሕግዝ ኢዩ። ከምቲ ናትና ወለዶ ዝኾና ኤርትራውያን ናይ ኣቦታትናን ኣቦ ሓጎታትናን ሽሞምንሽጎምን ዘልዓልና ንአብነት ከም ናይ በዓል ኣቦና ኢብራሂም ሱልጣን፣ ኣቦና ወልደአብ ወልደማሪያም፣ ክቡርኣቦና ዓብደልቅድር ከቢረን ኣያና ዑስማን ሳልሕ ሳበን፡ ወዘተ ሕጂ ድማ መንእሰያትና ነዚ ቅዱስ ሓልፍነትተሰኪሞም ኣብዚ ህዝባዊ ማዕበል ንጡፍን ተሪርን ተሳታፍነት ከካይዱ ይጽውዕ።
Comment: I always appreciated Brother Vacarro’s effort and dedication to change the Eritrean situation towards democracy needless to mention here that I found him to be very modest and transparent who does maximum effort to call and chat with individuals that come across his movement. Although his movement is still young, I have been critical on his capacity to effectively organize and the fact that he had not specified a precise direction or strategy by which he can take his mobilized followers to the next point of the resistance. The youth has been ready for a while now potentially mobilized enough (through the relentless Vacarro’s and Amanuel’s tours and speeches) to play its role given a concrete direction to follow. What is missing is leadership that can utilize the youth’s potential towards a specific target. You can emotionally unite people but you cannot accomplish your dream without a precise agenda. Agitating people for democracy without a democratic formula will not take anyone anywhere and that was what went on with the Vacarroian movement and Amanuel’s initiatives in the past: democracy in Eritrea without precisely specifying how! Setting aside Amanuel as a journalist-activist doing a great job in his capacity, I declared nothing would change in the youth unless Vacarro provides a strategy in writing! In fact to the contrary, repeating the same tone on unity without clearly showing people where it takes them has become monotonous and ineffective. We did our national responsibility during the struggle because it had a clear vision, which was for independence. We need to clarify the vision of this unity for the youth to take care of its part. Calling the youth to carry its national responsibility without showing it how and why cannot produce anything tangible. What is the youth expected to do without a guideline except indefinitely waiting and getting confused?
Proof: Commentators were rushing to say something about the movement at its early stage because the news was exciting and promising. As the days went by without a visible qualitative change in the messages (when it still was in the mobilization phase), however, people started to take it easy and now appear to have lost interest specially after the failure of his Committees all over the place (in the US, certainly) to collectively produce something worthy for the resistance. They did not help him positively because they did not prove being capable of exciting the people through their creativities minus Vaccaro’s instruction. This man cannot do everything by himself and cannot instruct the committees on what to do beyond the guidelines of his movement without suffering a serious metaphysical distress like that dude in Asmara. It is a crime for the committees to expect 100% guide from him; they should also produce on their own but this requires capacity, determination and confidence that are lacking in our situation.
Everything went back to where it was before his exposure and this reality has been reflecting on his tours and speeches. Vacarro had 26 commentators for his activity released on (3/25/2014), 9 of them for his release on 4/2/2014; 12 of them for his release on 4/16/2014. He cannot expect anything more than this without defining his focus and reorganizing his committees by vibrant individuals that can excite the people. Apparently, that is why the emotional attachment ‘of Eritreans with the movement and the initially accelerated involvement of people on Vacarro forums significantly declined in his latest Assenna episodes. You can relate this to momentum if you may! Please note that we still have the movement going okay but we cannot allow it to travel on the same track without taking the risk of stagnation. We want to see it changing the gear to challenge the next requirement in the line and we are willing to help the situation directly because this movement is our movement that we should not fail. Vaccaro is not the only person responsible for the movement’s healthy existence but we all are but we cannot help unless he uses his power to change the situation based on his tangible experience with the committees.
What appears to be correct from this experience was the fact that old ideas exhaust their capacity to excite people unless they show flexibility and adjustment subject to relevant circumstantial variables. The process decays after going from excitement to stagnation.Gideon expresses this in the forum as; “The overall struggle of Eritrea merits the building of a new way of life, and a new way of life requires a new ideology. It is very difficult to win support unless people relate to a specific ideology, principle and vision of an organization. And it is difficult to relate to an organization unless its ideology is clearly stated and debated and also put in a written form and made available to the ordinary people. Organizing along ethnicity or religion will have problem in mobilizing a modern society. Please continue with your positive and noble vision.”
Comment: Thank you for the input and I agree. If you travel without clearly defining your destination chances are you will return to the same spot at the end of your journey. The Eritrean resistance has been going around in this vicious cycle partly because of failing to specifically define its socio-political vision beyond overthrowing the regime. All the division between all the groups claiming to bring democracy in the country emanates from lack of clear understanding of democracy and democratic values by the actors in the pool. We have had religious and ethnic driven problems like in other similar society but the reason we have religiously and ethnically affiliated political parties within the EDA is because of failure to distinguish the difference between democracy as a concept and democratic values as its variable elements. We bypass prioritizing democracy for our religious and ethnic interests ending up working opposite to our visions of freedom and equality. Instead of focusing on resolving the root causes of our religious or ethnic grievances through democracy, we kill it by organizing parties based on them causing more problems for generations to come: This is like working against the remedy of your disease, folks!

But something important took place recently. Vacarro scored 66 commentators in his recent exposure at Assenna “ሃገራዊ ጻውዒት ንኹሉ ኤርትራዊ ደላይ ፍትሒ ካብሓውኹም ካቫ. ዶክቶር ተወልደ ተስፋማሪያም (ወዲ ቫካሮ)”. The question is why this many commentators now. The answer is because he came up with something different this time to re-excite the Eritreans into hope induced better participation. He at least gave a hint on his vision that includes the recognition of the opposition forces. He should now continue strongly building the movement in this direction and I am confident that he will succeed because he takes the initiative to call people for clarification instead of personalizing positive criticisms. This man is exceptionally down to earth and confident in this regard and we shall fix the problems together as soon as possible because we cannot afford the consequence.

Vaccarro’s effect on Amanuel Iyasu’s productivity:
Assenna has been the anchor of our communication in this experience and I one more time express my appreciation of the Website for giving us the chance to do what we have been doing through. My theory says that Amanuel as a strong supporter of the movement has done the best transmitting Vacarro’s messages without interruption while at the same time touring around to raise awareness on the democratic future of our country. But Amanuel is a journalist with strong sense of activism who concentrates on his specialized profession. He cannot fully answer questions from the public on democracy beyond its superficial fabric (brief or general). One needs to give him specifics in writing for him to confidently transmit the message in his tours and speeches given they were acceptable to the Diaspora majority through collective intellectual affirmation.
Vacarro should then first define his vision as he did this time for Amanuel to be more effective in his activities on democracy. Yet, Vacarro’s brief message needs to develop into a full-fledged material for Amanuel to do the necessary damage against the dictatorship and for the resistance overall to entertain its method of removing the regime by any means necessary including violence. Once we get our vision straight and the opposition forces accept it enough to unite under, we can do anything we want including removing the problem by force using the Eritrewan blood and sweat as in the past.
Apparently, the scholars should assist to close this gap and we should do it within this year through tight connection with Vaccaro and Assenna if possible. I believe this understanding can be established during his trip here for the Independence Day festival. Otherwise, it is natural for people to be confused on the efforts without our heroes showing something on writing. You cannot lecture and walk away leaving the audience floating on what the message has all been about: you must distribute materials as well for them to discuss and learn better in privacy.
ኤርትራውያን ምሁራትና ሓበንን ሃብቲ ሃገርናን ህዝብናን ኢዮም። ከምኡ ብምዃኖም ድማ ብቕዳምነትንመንእሰያትና ኣብ ምዅስኳስን ምእላይን እዚ ዘለናዮ እዋን ዝጠልቦ ዓቢ ጻውዒት ኣብ ርእሲ ምዃኑ ድማድሕሪ ናይ ኢሳያስ ኣፈወርቂን ጉጅሉኡን ምጉሓፍ ሃገርና ኣብ ናይ ምዕባለ ጎደና ኣብ ናይ ምስራዕን ምምራሕንእቲ ዝዓበየ ግደ ከምዘለዎም ህዝብና ብሃንቀውታ ይጽበዮም ከምዘሎን ሃገርዊ ሓላፍነቶም ከም ዝኾነን ክፈልጡይግባእ።
Comment: Nothing is news in this message: The role of scholars in society is more than obvious to talk more about. We have heard this from individuals in the lime light of the Eritrean experience throughout the struggle and beyond. What is lacking in our society is leadership to collect the Eritrean scholars for tangible productivity. The government and the entire opposition camp have so far been brain-draining the Eritrean society as if this was our culture. The opposition camp could not learn from the government’s failure because of this negation. Taken for granted that Vaccaro was hard working on his mobilization mission, he could not possibly follow all Eritrean activities in the world without a dedicated department of information. I don’t, for instance think Vacarro knows what some scholars are doing about the Eritrean democratic process, needless to say that his first priority was mobilizing the people. Although his representatives are responsible for the flow of information about important events, we did not see this taking place in the few activities conducted in our area. I did not hear anything from his representatives about his solidarity message in the recent EGS Symposium on transiting Eritrea from dictatorship to democracy where about 10 Professors participated, to use an event as a case in point; meaning that he was terribly misrepresented by his representatives. He did not necessarily have to know the activity with the volume of work he was doing in Europe but his representatives by their own initiative had no excuse for not representing him if not directly at least remotely through solidarity messages. What is their job then?
What is clear from the experience is that Vaccaro tried his best to mobilize the people to the point of having committees all over the place. I believe he ended his first phase successfully with or without their assistance. Immaterial whether he made it this far with or without significant contribution from his committees, the second phase of the movement as displayed in his latest message needs organizational adjustment to work. He cannot make it with the same committees based on experience. Therefore, what is needed now is organizational rearrangement to successfully navigate the second and most important phase of the movement in accordance with the latest proposal. In short Vacarro’s latest proposal needs different people to manage it. I feel like Vacarro used the efforts of people in his circle to mobilize Eritreans and he has to shift his focus into using the best independent minds in the Diaspora to successfully accomplish his latest proposal; transiting the society to democracy. It appears that the extremely hard working brother did not have a dedicated intellectual recruiting mechanism and that might not have been necessary for his mobilization efforts. But he desperately needs it now for his new proposal that signifies the movement’s entrance into a higher or the conceptual phase of its vision. He cannot do it with the existing committees.
For scholars to get involved though, they must see something in writing or assigned to do something needless to say that they must also be individually invited for a specific democratic oriented project. No one should expect the scholars to push themselves into the Vacarroian movement without invitation as some naïve individuals suggest. You cannot penetrate the concrete walls of the committees that appear closed for the intellectual community (based on my experience). I am confident that we can promptly assist him on this upon request. He will need;
a)     A group researching on who is who in the Eritrean scholastic dictionary and selecting the most influential ones for a specific project.
b)    Putting his strategy of democratizing the country on paper through their effort and disclosing it worldwide for discussion.
c)     Researching about on-going activities related to this subject matter and contacting the actors for unified input.
d)    Reforming his Committees without SIKIFTA based on the basis of productivity scale through activity report: The committees should show something to stay in the drama or move on for individuals that can do the job better.
ካብዚ ዘይፍለ ክኣ ግብራዊ ተሳትፎ ደቀንስትዮ ኤርትራ ከም ዓንዲ ሕቖ ቃልስና መጠን ብሰፊሑ ክቃለሳን ነቲዝሓለፈ ዘሕብንን ዘኹርዕን ቃልሰን ብዝያዳ ሓፍ ኣቢለን ኣበርቲዕን ክቃለሳ እምሕጸነን። ህዝብና’ውን ኣብ ጎነንከም ዘሎ ከረጋግጸለን እፈቱ።

Comment: This is a very productive suggestion that requires direct contact with vibrant Eritrean women around, specially with the recently formed NOW (Network of Eritrean Women) in Europe and helping it expand its voice internationally. It appears important now to utilize our women intellectuals in this mission and strengthen the Vacarroian strategy (he has now) ahead

ከምቲ ኣብ ዝተፋላለየ እዋናት ዝሓበርኩዎ ኣነ ናይ ስልጣን ህርፋን ይኹን ድልየት ፈጺሙ የብለይንኢለ ገሊጸ ኔረ፡ ሕጂውን መርገጸይ ንሳ ኢያ። ዕላማይ ነቲ ኣብ ውሽጢ ሃገርን ስደትን ዘሎ ህዝብናምልዕዓልን ምጥርናፍን ዝወሰድኩዎ

Comment: This does not matter to me as a person because there is no reason why he cannot run for power in future Eritrea. This clarification may be important to some people but there is something more important in the concept: solid organization with precise socio-political vision.
In conclusion, things appear more promising now and I thank brother Vacarro for everything he is doing for us. I will have the chance to meet him in person when he comes to DC during the Independence Day festivities and hopefully working out on ideas together about what is supposed to be done next. I expect a very productive interaction in between during the event and I think it will happen. We want to let the brother know ahead of his arrival to DC that we love, care for and support him enough to do everything we can within our capacity for the successful end of the movement. See you soon with the most important part of his message after my musical show on May the 2nd.

aseye.asena@gmail.com

Review overview
14 COMMENTS
  • Yohannes Teclehaimanot April 29, 2014

    Brother Fitsum your immediate and timely comments and ideas are very crucial for the efforts of wedi vacaro to proceed smoothly and effectively. I hope other eritreans will join and forward constructive criticism and suggestions so as the movement will achieve its primary goal of deposing the dictator.

  • wed eri April 29, 2014

    well said brother Fitsum!! slogan with out strategy will not achieved anything, As individual wedi Vacaro execute his goal what was missing delity fethi mobilizing the slogan into action.

  • Merhawit April 30, 2014

    Wedi Vaccaro’s movement is raw diamond: precious, but requiring cutting and smoothing in every nook and edge. There’s also the risk it might get hijacked by cynicists.
    It becomes imperative, therefore, that people like Fitsum should take their own initiative to boost the movement and not let its fate fall in the hands of cynicist philistines. What counts at the end of the day is the success scored through hard work and selfless voluntarism, and not short-lived populistic sophistry.

    • fetsum abrahamt April 30, 2014

      Merhawit;
      Can u please clarify ur last phrasing if u don’t mind so that we can understand the message?

  • let's think beyond our nose May 1, 2014

    Dear Fetsum,
    i see our focus is orienting to Vacarroian movement and Amanuel’s initiatives. in fact both have clear Vision plus feel deeply their peoples’ silent & loud cry, God bless them & others who are open minded God belss them too…

    As you said ” movement is our movement that we should not fail” you are doing your best and I agree with your following helping issues:

    a) A group researching on who is who in the Eritrean scholastic dictionary and selecting the most influential ones for a specific project.

    b) Putting his strategy of democratizing the country on paper through their effort and disclosing it worldwide for discussion.

    c) Researching about on-going activities related to this subject matter and contacting the actors for unified input.

    d) Reforming his Committees without SIKIFTA based on the basis of productivity scale through activity report: The committees should show something to stay in the drama or move on for individuals that can do the job better.

    So dear Fetsum for sake of you Eritrea introduce yourself to this kind of movement don’t wait to be invited we all are already invited.

    who think beyond his/her nose is qualified to be leadership…

  • Merhawit May 1, 2014

    Hi, Fetsum,
    all I had to say was based on ur article, and I was attempting, in my humble capacity, to forward some recommendations thereof.
    I could observe from your writing that u’re not satisfied, to say the least, with the work of the committees formed. The pedigree activist that u’re my dear Fetsum, and I mean this earnestly, it’d be only natural that u take measures you tend to be ncessary to keep Vaccaro’s movement thriving. This may include, in the first place, working as closely as possible with the committee members, and, if that doesn’t work, just summon ur own strength and that of ur peers toward achieving the objectives of the movement. I’m sure u’re aware of al this and my statement should only be viewed as reminder in that regard.
    Sorry that I didn’t paraphrase my stance more plausibly in the previous posting.
    Wish u all the best and till next time.

    • fetsum abrahamt May 1, 2014

      Dear Merhawit;
      I cannot work with the committee and I will never try it again. Enough patience is enough unless you want me to physically fight my way in with them. Too old to do that. I can not help Vaccaro with this commitee in between and he knows this by now. Neither do I expect any support from them from my experience. I have no resentment either because I have done my best to be productive on this issue through writing and I don’t share the emotional consequence of the problem with other Eritreans since I have been protesting from the start. Let Eritreans suffer the consequence for sitting idle allowing themselves to be directed by this committee. Good luck with that my dear Eritreans.

  • haqiyesar May 1, 2014

    We are not short of many chellatat writers, and for sure nothing will change on ground from the writing. How many articles have been written so far… volumes and volumes, writing is cheap make the words dance in pairs, in trios… ! I think “It is much more important to know what sort of a patient has a disease, than what sort of a disease a patient has”.

    • selamawit2 May 2, 2014

      haqiyesar, your comment automatically reminds me on hgdefs. they would be happy if there was no writing in this world. like in the middle ages the people wouldn’t read, so that the suppressor can keep their power…
      it is very simple: no writers = no readers = no education = people with NO rights

      who could want this for the eritrean people? not somebody who cares!!!

      • haqiyesar May 2, 2014

        Selamawit2,

        You reflect yourself as more caring about Eritrean than myself because I expressed my idea in few short sentences, my point is what change do we see by writing, someone writes others respond with pro,con,labeling, excluding,judging, and insulting … such pattern became a norm, then the subject is closed, another piece of writing pops-up the pattern of respond is like wise…

        • selamawit2 May 2, 2014

          haqiyesar, i am not judging you i just tell you wich association came to me when i read your comment. sorry, if i was far out.

          Do you know what the essential change was that effectuated that europe and its descendants hold the power and the knowledge of the modern world in their hands?
          the invention of the letterpress, my brother!

          or to give you an practical example: if there were no writers like Fetsum Abraham, Amanuel Eyasu, Genet-O, Mighty, Saleh, Meretse, Zufana (BTW: I miss you, sister!) and many others i would be just another european (with black skin and african roots) and wouldn’t care about the problems of my people.

          even if the output is not immidiately visible, we shouldn’t underestimate the power of the written word!!!

  • Af Milat Libi Yzareb May 2, 2014

    ‘Af Milat libi yzareb’kemzibhal’ wise articles, volumes and volumes also flows from highly educated (who is alert to learn from daily circumstance) person to the person whom able to enjoy the gift.

    So dear Fitsum I am glad to show you my appreciation & I assure you, your water is not flowing on to everstone…

  • Hazhaz May 3, 2014

    Here is the latest article from the one and only Yosief Ghebrehiwet. This article may answer some of the questions earlier posed by ato Fitsum Abraham.

    Disowning Eritrea: Owning the Regal Disease

    (II – Kebessa Eritrea’s Suicide Mission)

    By Yosief Ghebrehiwet

    April 30, 2014

    How is it possible for an entire people – and I have Kebessa Eritreans, in particular, in mind – to fail to see that they are heading to the edge of existential disaster, as they die in their tens of thousands in one war after another; as they perish in their thousands in the Arab Passage, in the Sahara Desert, in the Sinai Peninsula and in the Mediterranean Sea; as their women are singularly targeted for fighters and fighter-incubators, with all kinds of demographic consequences that these two entail; as their villages, towns and cities are being emptied of their most productive population group in epic proportions; as their youth are made to flee their country in their hundreds of thousands; etc? How is it possible for an entire people to blissfully march for half a century towards mass suicide, even as the tell-tale signs were there from the very beginning, given the alien nature of the mission that their elite had embarked?

    Lately, there have been five pull factors that have colluded to open the floodgates even wider than ever before for Eritrean refugees to flee their country and head north to Europe in mass exodus: …

    http://www.asmarino.com/articles/2072-disowning-eritrea-owning-the-regal-disease

    =====================

  • Efrem Mengisteb May 3, 2014

    I really appreciate your comments based on the vacaro initiative. You clearly pointed out what the next steps should be in achieving the entire goal of this popular movement that galvanised the majority Eritrean justice seekers.

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