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Fetsum: On the latest EGS Symposium for Human Right, Justice and Democracy (Final)

Fetsum: On the latest EGS Symposium for Human Right, Justice and Democracy (Final) Once again, I thank Assenna for helping us to communicate with each other in this media. This is my last or the third article

Fetsum: On the latest EGS Symposium for Human Right, Justice and Democracy (Final)
Once again, I thank Assenna for helping us to communicate with each other in this media. This is my last or the third article in the series reminding you that I did two related articles in the past. Please enjoy it!
One of the panelist scholars taught us five necessary factors for transition to democracy that were missing in the current Eritrean experience: Political society (parliament, election, etc.), civil society (political parties, etc), Beaurocracy (division of labor; one man decides everything), economic society (none there because of State monopolized economy) and rule of law (There is no rule of law that structures the nations socio-political structure with reasonable autonomy (affects every social life)). The only time the government talks about rule of law according to the panelist was on Badme affair, none otherwise.
The totally destroyed social and economic fabric of our society make the role of intellectuals an urgent requirement that must interfere to help the situation. With all the criteria for transitional government missing in the country, the only hope appears to be the Diaspora in my opinion. Our intellectuals therefore have a huge assignment waiting for before it is too late.
The need for a Community center in DC: An activist from DC addressed the symposium of the need for erecting a community center here in DC Metropolitan Area, where the majority of Eritreans lives in. The only center here is that of the regime’s and our people have no other place to socialize and communicate with each other. This topic is not new to DC activists where we discussed it several times but failed to do. I don’t know how the EGS can help the situation.
Other than that, a DC activist Alex softly asked the intellectuals to please guide the youth in this resistance. It was visible from his facial experience how sincere he was asking them to help. Please allow me to give my formal respect to two activists in the meeting: Alex and Bereket, organizers in DC area for getting us here through hard work and dedication. I formally apologize in this occasion for my confrontation with these individuals in the past on the question of leading the resistance efficiently. I still believe that mistakes were done in the past because they did everything on their own without consulting other activists in the area; thereby missing few important opportunities I don’t want to discuss any more. I hope we have all learned from our mistakes and shall improve our relationship as a result. This struggle cannot succeed without groupthink and the involvement of all activists in a given area. We have seen this from experience and we don’t want to commit this mistake again. We have to upgrade the resistance by doing more than demonstrations against the regime and we need the involvement of activists to entertain different ideas and creativities to succeed. The group’s mistake in this regard has caused us many problems and delayed the forward movement of the struggle in a sense while its extreme hard work and determination have gotten us forward this far, in contrast. Thank you very much for everything you did for us and I love you!
In the progression, I reminded the crowd about the upcoming meeting in August between Obama and African presidents minus Afwerki and the opportunity created as a result for the resistance to show up big during the event: the fact that there is enough time for the intellectuals to do something tangible (written material to distribute, massive demonstrations, etc.) to attract the attention of the leaders in the occasion. I further reminded the hall about the empty chair (Eritrean) waiting for us to fill during the occasion if we work harder together in the coming four months. We should change the mentality “I don’t think they will accept us from past experience” to “we will make them accept us through material substance”. The assumption may be true but only if it can be proven. Acceptance does not come easily and it requires continuous effort to succeed. We need to do our homework and see what happens instead of giving up with pessimism irrespective of the result.We cannot use cynicism or negative assumption to avoid responsibility but should rather improve our approach to reverse the situation by directly challenging and overcoming the reasons that caused rejection from the US and keeping on trying until we crack the walls standing between the west and our resistance. The fact remains that this homework should be done before the Obama event (more than 4 months ahead) whether it produces result or not.
In my opinion, as I briefly shared them in the symposium, the EGS should do the following:

a)                  Taking the assignment of combining the different topics discussed by the panelists and using them to develop a collective output as a foundation for designing a transition formula in accordance to the Eritrean situation or reality.
b)                  Taking the initiative to study other societies such as the Liberian and Somalian that went to democracy through transitional governments and modifying their internationally accepted transitional formulas to accommodate the Eritrean reality. We may need to modify 20-25% of theirs taking into consideration the similarity of our society and theirs to successfully finalize ours in writing.
c)                  Squeezing out a concrete Eritrean Transitional Formula from ‘a’ and ‘b’ made by EGS.

d)                  Sharing the preliminary product with other Eritrean social scientists, debating on if necessary into arriving at a final product that we can present to the international community for acceptance and assistance. I would send it individually to all opposition groups in the resistance including Vacarro and the Websites for open discussion universally if I had the authority to do so.

e)                 Using the same product to challenge the opposition forces individually in public.
In conclusion, the symposium was educational like class lecture on democratic transition of a society from different academic angles. The panelists and the audience came on their initiative from different cities to educate us and EGS management did an excellent effort to effectuate the symposium successfully. The environment was very friendly and optimistic, needless to say that we took advantage of it introducing each other and exchanging addresses for future relevance.
I believe the EGS is working hard at this time to get something from the symposium. The worst scenario will be sleeping on this and cutting it short ineffectively because our issue is not something you lecture on and move away. It at minimum requires reducing the knowledge transmitted there to practice because we are already late as it is and cannot afford to just discuss things and leave. Our society has suffered enough because of the government’s brain drain policy that we cannot afford further draining it in the absence of the its sabotage and interference. This time we are responsible for our condition!

Although all of them did well in presenting the topics and the crowd attentively listened and participated in the discussion, none of the panelists heavily argued about the urgency to start forming a transitional formula from the opportunity. I did not hear a specific step forward taken by the management (may be it has one that it did not tell us) and the event was concluded without clear homework ahead. I think I heard that it will meet again in August but I didn’t understand what for and why until that far (about 5 months) and what the EGS is going to do during the next 5 months. Taking into account Assena’s interview with the group, it looks promising that EGS will be on the issue more intensively than ever from now on.

I found Professor Araya Debessay being the champion of the symposium in my rating. He was the most practical intellectual in the crowd. The Professor strongly reminded the EGS family to create something concrete from the effort. He said that international attention was after all a derivative of showing up with something visible; and that mobilizing the mass, articulating issues, and developing linguistic communication were factors for success in this challenge. He clearly addressed the need for preparing a solid democratic substance before the government collapses because our future depends on what we do today! I left the scene wishing to be in his classes to see this man doing his intellectual damage into his students. I certainly have confidence on his capacity to play a big role in making the symposium successful and I am more than willing to help should the need for that exists. As it stands now, I have already started close communication and exchange of ideas with the modest professor who can change the Eritrean situation at the leadership point of our intellectuals. I am sure I will work with him until we save our society through democracy and you will stay informed about this combined effect at Assenna from now on.
As one of the panelists said, we should immediately start researching on internal and external resources, empowering the united front; communicating and expediting legal action in order to succeed diplomatically. END

aseye.asena@gmail.com

Review overview
10 COMMENTS
  • Meretse Asmelash April 3, 2014

    Dear Fistum,
    Thank you for keeping us update about the EGS. I believe this is very detailed information and will help readers know better about the EGS and its future activities. With all due respect to the EGS meeting and its outcome, I still have a problem understanding why the group wanted to take six to seven months till the next meeting. Can I suggest that the dark times of the country and its urgency was once again failed to be addressed properly on the table? You can never win a war (an enemy) if your movements are slower than his. Day in day out people are suffering, dying, going into prisons, leaving the country, etc and you have the luxury to count your steps in months.
    Dear Fistum,
    Thank you again for having a courage to talk about members of the EGS Symposium. It is always good to know the strengths and weaknesses of any meeting let alone such an important one. At the end of your paragraph you seem to appreciate Professor Araya Debessays’s role. From your few words I have come to know him better. I hope he will lead the initiative faster than its current speed now.
    Dear professor Araya, this is your time, your time to lead, your time to show us some actions, your time to be real, your time to be serious, your time to use the current time appropriately.
    Last but not least, if it is only about words as usual and no action, no one is impressed by different words usage in which he/she wasn’t present. Intellectualism often compared as a light against the darkness. Let us witness and say finally “The light has come into the darkness”, and the darkness has gone. Professor Araya, and others thank you for your commitment.

  • MightyEmbasoyra April 3, 2014

    ንአቶ ፍጹም ዶ ሓቦ ክንብል
    ንሱኳ ከይደኸመ ክጽሕፍ ዝወዕል

    ንዐና ክምህር
    ነዞም ደናቁር

    ታተ ከብለና
    እንተ ተረዲኡና
    ዋእ! ንሱኳ ዘለዎ
    ሃየ ሃየ: ንዑ ሰዓብዎ
    አጆኻ በልዎ
    ንሱዶ በዚሑዎ

    ጅግና ዝበሃል ከመይ ድዩ
    ኣብ ኲናት ጥራይ መዓስ ኮይኑ
    ድፋዓት ጥራይ ዘፍርስ
    ጸላኢ ዝድምስስ
    ዶስ: ታንክታት ዝሕምሽሽ

    የግዳስ ንሱውን ኣይተረፎን
    ካብ ጸላኢ ምጥሓን
    እንተኾነ፡ ናይ ሕጂ ጂግነንቱ ብጎነጽ አይኮነን

    የእዳዉ አብክንዲ ጸላኢ ዘራጽና
    ቀለም ተዓጢቀን፡ ጸረ ድንቁርና
    ረብሪበን ከንቅሓ ንዓና
    የግዳስ፡ ተሰሚዕና
    ኣበይ ከ አጥረዮ ዝኹሉ ቊንቊኛ
    እንግሊዝ አይትበል ምስ ትግርኛ
    ናይ ቃላት መውስቦ
    ብርቱዕ ከተንብቦ
    ከመይ ጌሩ’ዩ ‘ኸ ዘላግቦ
    ኣቤት! የብል
    ንዘስተውዕል
    የተባብዐካ ድማ፤ ከም ናቱ ክትክእል

    በል’ስከ አቶ ፍጹም: ምጽሓፍ አይተቋርጽ
    መሃረና ደኣ፡ ከነጉድል ዓመጽ
    ብፍልጠትና: ጸላኢ ክንቆረጽ

    ስእነት ገንዘብ አይኮነን፡ ዝኸፍአ ድኽነት
    ‘ታይ ደአ፡ ናይ ኣእምሮ ጉድለት
    አዝዩ ትሑት ፍልጠት

    ቀንዲ መሳርሒ ናይ ኢሳያስ
    ንህዝቢ ኤርትራ ንምድቋስ
    መጀመርታ፡ ድሌት ፍልጠት ምድምሳስ
    ሓንጎል ህዝብና ብምልማስ

    ርእስና አድኒኑ ሓንጎልና ከደንቁር
    ትምህርቲ ኣናሽዩ፡ ከምዝጽላእ ምሁር
    ሽዑ፡ ከምድሌቱ ከዳናግር

    ስለዚ፡ ፍልጠትና ሓፍ ክብል
    ሓንጎልና ከይድስክል
    ማይቲ ሓውኻ፡ መሃረና እብል!

    • waEro April 3, 2014

      A great one.

      • waEro April 3, 2014

        Almighty
        You are in deed Almighty.

        • MightyEmbasoyra April 4, 2014

          Thanks for the compliment, waEro!

    • fetsum abrahamt April 4, 2014

      Dear Mightty; what an artistic talent! it hit me deep in my bones brother but this too much love beyond I can handle: love you

      • MightyEmbasoyra April 4, 2014

        Likewise, Ato Fitsum!
        This is nothing compare to what you are contributing to our beloved country. Keep it up!

  • Meretse Asmelash April 4, 2014

    ክቡር እልማይቲ
    ዝኮነ ነዊሕ ጉዕዞ ዝጓዕዝ ብርኪ ዕጽፍ እንዳበለ እዩ። ሰባት ንከምዚ ዝበለ ሓጺር ዕረፍቲ ትንፋስ ምምላስ ይብልዎ። ኣብታ ትንፋስ ዝመለሱላ እዋን ግን ንዝመጽእዎ መንገዲ እቲ ዝነውሐ ንዝተረፎም መንገዲ ከኣ እቲ ዝሓጸረ ጌሮም ንምግማት ሳላ ዕላልካ፣ ሳላ ዛንታካ፣ ሳላ መስሓቅካ፡..ነዛ መንገዲ ዝገደፍናላ የብልናን እናበሉ መገሸኦም ይጥቅልሉ ኔሮም። ማለት ከምዚ ሎሚ ንብርኪ እቶናብለ ዓዲ ከየውዓለቶ ከላ።
    ኣብ ግዜ ቃልስን ድሕሪ ቃልስን ሓደ ክሃስስ ዘይግብኦ ግን ጨሪሹ ዝሓሰስ እንተሃልዩ ቁምነገር ሓደ ሰብ ምልላይ እዩ።
    ከም ኣነ– ሓደ/ሓንቲ- ከይተሓለለ/ት- ግዜኡ/ኣ ንረብሓ ብዙሓት ዘውዕል/እተውዕል ውሑድ ቃላት ጌርካ ሞይኡ/ሞያኣ ምግላጽ ካብ መስመር ዝወጸ ኮይኑ ኣይስመዓንን።
    ክቡር ማይቲ
    ዝኮነ ኮይኑ ኣነ ከግምት እስኪ ብርክና ከኣ ዕጽፍ ነብል ፡ ካብ ዝብል ሓሳብ ነቂልካ ዝመደርካዮ መደረ ማሕረ ይብሎ።

    ተቀባሊ ከኣ ኣይትኾሪ …….

    ዛንታ ሰለስተ

    ቅድም ኢሉ እዩ ሎሙስ ሓያል ጌሩ
    ክልተ ናይ ቀረባ ኣዕርክቲ ወይ መካፍልቲ ሚስጢር ኣብ ሓደ ከተማ ይነብሩ ኔሮም። ዕድምኦም ንዓቅሚ ኣዳም በጺሑ ስለዝነበረ ኣዒንቶም ምስ ዝረኣይዋ በጽሒ ጓል ካብ ምልኣክ ዓዲ ዊዒለን ኣይነበራን። እቲ ግዜ ግን ብግህዶ ኣቲ ንዓይዶ ምኾንኪ? ፈትየኪ’ምበር ኢልካ ሙሉእ ሓሳብካ ብግልጺ ትድርጉሓሉ ግዜ ኣይነበረን። ጥቃጥቅኡ ግን በጺሑ’ሎ። ከምዚ ኢሎም እንዳነበሩ ኣዒንቲ እቲ ሓደ መዕረፊ ረኪበን። ማለት ኣብ ሓንቲ ተኪሉ ካብ እዚኣ ኣይተለቃቃ ኢሉ ጠመትኡ ኣብኣ ጥራሕ ጌሩ።
    ብኡ ብኡ ከኣኣ ፍቅሪ ዝብሃል ሕማም ከይተፈለጦ ኣጥርዩ። ዓርኪ ጠባዩ ስለ ዝተለዎጦ ። ኣንታ ዓርከይ ኣይ ከም ቀደምካን። ሎሚ ሎሚስ ዘረባ ተዳጋም። ኣብ መንጎ ዝን ትብል። እንታይ ዝተረክበ ጸገም ኣሎ ድዩ ክብል ብተደጋጋሚ ኣጥቢቑ ምስ ሓተቶ እንታ ዓርከይ እዞም ሰብ ከተማ ፍቅሪ ሕማም’ዩ ክብሉ ኣይሓቆም እንድዮም። ኣነ ከይተፈለጠኒ ሓሚመ።
    ዓርከይ እንቛዕ ደኣ ካልእ ኣይኮነን እምበር እዚስ ተፈዋሲ’ዩ። ሕማምኖ ይግበሮ ምስ በሎ–ዓርከይ ከምኡ ኣይትበል ቀሊል ኣይኮነን!!
    ዓርኪ በል እስኪ ፍቅርካ ምስ መን እዩ?
    ኣይትፈልጣን/
    ኣብዚ ከተማ ኣነ ዘፈልጣ ጓል የላን ክትሓባኣኒ እንተዘይደሊካ?
    እመነኒ!!! እዚኣ ጓል ውሻጠ እያ
    ዓርኪ፡ ዶ? በል ደሓን ቀስ ኢልካ ተሪኤኒ። ንምዃኑ ግን ከምትፈትዋ ወስ’ዶ ኣኣቢልካላ ኔርካ?
    እንታይ ወሱ? ኣሎ ዝብሃል ቃላት ዝተረፈኒ የብለይን። ግን ማይ ሓቍነ ተሪፈ።
    ድሕሪ ገለ መዓልታት ምስ እታ ተፈቃርት ጓል ኣብ መንገዲ ምስ ክልቲኦም ኣዕሩኽ ጎፎጎፍ ተባሃሉ
    ኣፍቃሪ-ንዓርኩ ወይለይ ርሑስ መዓልቲ እንታ ዓርከይ እታ ልበይ ዝሰረቀት ጓል እዚኣ’ያ እነሄትላካ በሎ።
    ዓርኪ- እንታይ በልካ? እዚኣ? ዓርከይ ተጋጊካ ከይትከውን እዝኣ? ኢሉ ደጊሙ ሓተተ
    ኣፍቅሪ- ካን ንሳ
    ዓርኪ- ወይለይ እሞ ዓይኒ ኣሎዎ ዝብልስ ዕዉር እባ ኢካ?
    ኣፍቃሪ- ካብ እዚኣስ ይህደም እምበር ይቅረብ
    ዓርኪ-በል ሰላሕ ኢልካ ንዓናይ ሪኤልካ ኣሎኹ
    ዓርኪ- በስመ ኣብ ወወልድ ዎመንፈስ…. “ኣታ ክነደይ’ከ ትከፍእ እያ”?
    ተፈቃሪት- “እንቓዕ ብዓይኒ ኣደይ ኣይትርኢ”
    ዓርኪ- ወረ ኣይትዅርን እያ?

    ተፈቃሪት–” ከመይ ጌረ ክዅሪ ናተይ እንድካ ህብካኒ” !!!!!!!!

    ዓርኪ——–ዓርከይ ኣይሓቅካ እንድካ
    ኣነ ብዓይነይ ክርኢ ንስካ ብቀልብካ
    እቲ ሰሓቅ ካሳብ ዝርከብ ፈገግታስ ናይ መን ኮይኑ

  • MightyEmbasoyra April 4, 2014

    Thank you, Ato Meretse.
    Your exemplary stories are very educational and funny as well. You should start publishing articles on Assenna (I thought I used to see that somewhere). I think the only person who could compete with Ato Belay is you (I am glad that you are on our side – and we are trying to pull Ato Belay). You guys are both dynamic individuals (on the opposite side of the mirror – for now).
    Keep it up!

  • Genet-orginal April 6, 2014

    Dear Fetsum
    A great update. Thank you.
    I too wonder why the EGS leaders want to take a long time out? I am sure they have live to live, work to do, family to take care of. However, our peoples’ situation is deteriorating and time is not on their side. I hope EGS leaders and members are working on something worth five months to work on. I have not doubt they are capable and smart Eritreans. Fetsum, thank you for your push for some measurable outcomes ASAP and your hard work to keep the subject current. I hope EGS’s members appreciate your efforts to let them know the Eritrean people need help soon not later. Our people are running out of time. Thanks Fetsum.
    Genet-Original

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