Fetsum: The GI Momentum Part I
I will have a series of articles on this title informing the public briefly about what goes on with the GI community in relation to our activists in the resistance. I am doing this to
I will have a series of articles on this title informing the public briefly about what goes on with the GI community in relation to our activists in the resistance. I am doing this to make sure our people stay informed about their political business through the Global Initiative which is part and parcel of the ordinary Eritrean society.
Today, I want to share my view on our scattered resistance that has become popular in time but still has a problem getting it together under a common guideline. Too many civic and youth groups and many political parties have been around for years without a common universal denominator except removing the regime, few exceptions aside of course. They have succeeded to get the struggle to this point of development but I have no idea what has been going on within the groups, like what they do and how they perform their duties with no visible movement in view of the people that have been conditioned to randomly live this vicious cycle of assumption because of lack of information. We did not witness close and neutral contact between the people and the groups; the result being the same thing year after year. Simply speaking, there was no communication between the political and civic groups and the people as a unit let alone talking about momentum in our monotonous resource mismanagement that couldn’t yet formalize a conceptual agreement as to how to work together with our independence intact.
We all know we cannot win separately or regionally, that we need a global leadership to challenge the highly organized dictatorship but some of us fall short of implementing it in practice. We need leadership to manage our socio-political business immediately after the regime until a democratically elected leader is constitutionally established in Eritrea. We need it to strengthen the political groups and parties so we can earn good leadership in future Eritrea. It is like give and take where the people respect the politicians’ aim at political power and the others respect the people’s exclusive power of managing the process in exchange.
The fragmented struggle’s incapacity to defeat the highly centralized and organized enemy in the face of rising awareness and massive desire of the people for change necessitated the emergence of the neutral GI taskforce as a portion of the ordinary Eritrean society. We wanted to inject momentum to the motionless environment by amending crucial elements to the old style of exclusive resistance. No one of us is undermining the groups but only saying that their collective effort has been too insignificant compared to the capacity and magnitude of the enemy to change the situation at hand. We are saying that the resistance must move to the next level of confrontation to remove the dictatorship in Eritrea.
There is no miracle in struggle, however, just incremental and steady movement with patience. That is how fast or slow the GI is moving through the rugged road that perhaps sooner or later would produce a tangible result depending on how the people manage its vision as their personal business. The progress could have been faster had we all supported it but like any struggle elsewhere, we are confronting a little resistance from few of our civic groups that we hope will be solved in time though tireless effort with clear intention in the heart. Part of the problem is rigidity to new ideas, misunderstanding the movement because of failure to read our materials and seeing the vision’s long run advantage to all of us as a component.
We approach this situation with full respect insisting that the fight must move forward from its substantially immobile position at this testing time where the mass is waiting for leadership. The civic groups with reluctance to adopt the GI strategy for a common hybrid solution should then together deliver a unifying alternate solution to the society. GI’s constant invitation for constructive engagement will continue, but they cannot continue conceptually divided with no result as had been the story till this point in time, specially now when the world is expecting us to come with a global political solution and the desperate dictator is rushing to give away our potash (hundreds of billions) wealth at 50% share level of western investors.
In the flip of the coin, neither should we exaggerate the progress nor should we be excited by what is going on. As we repeatedly said it the GI vision is a continuously developing phenomenon based on experience and involvement, not a complete project ready to solve our problems as is. It is a people’s movement that the people should navigate through practical amendments based on the challenges ahead but the strategy is gaining momentum in different dimensions of its effort as people have started to personalize it and trying to understand it better through inquisitive communication.
A GI member says something to this effect; “ናይ ደለይቲ ፍትሒ እዋናውያን ምጥርናፋት/ሽማግሌታት: እዚ ምጥርናፋት ́ዚ እዋናውን ተረኩባውን (መድረኻዊ) ክኸውን ዝኽእል ኢዩ። ንኣብነት ካብ ናይ ደለይቲ ፍትሒ ኮንፈረንሳት/ኣኼባታት ዝወጻ ሽማግለታት፣ ሓሓሊፍ́ውን ደለይቲ ፍትሕን ደገፍቲ ስርዓትን ዝርከብዎ ኣብ ገለ ከተማታትን/ሃገራትን ማሕበረ ሰባት ኣሎ። ንሕና ኣሳለጥቲ ዓለምላኻዊ ተበግሶ ንምድንፋዕ ህዝባዊ ምንቅስቓስ ኤርትራውያን ቅድሚ ህዝባዊ ምንቅስቓስ – ምስረታ ባይቶታት ኣብ ምስራሕ ንከምዚ ዝበለ ስርርዕ ናይ ደለይቲ ፍትሒከመይ ንርእዮን፣ ንጥፈታትና ከመይ ነዋሃህዶን? ነቲ ዝቀርብ ዘሎ ሕቶታት ከኣ ግቡእ መልሲ ክንህብ ክንበቅዕ ኣሎና። እቲ ዝቀርብ ሕቶታት፡- ዓለምላኻዊ ተበግሶ ሓዲሽ ውደባ በርገሳዊ ማሕበር/ምንቅስቃስ ድዩ? ዓለምላኻዊ ተበግሶ መተካእታ ኩሉ ምንቅስቃሳት ደለይቲ ፍትሒ ድዩ`? ኣብ ዓለምላኻዊ ተበግሶ ፌርማይ ከቀምጥ: ካብ ́ቲ ዝነጥፈሉ ዘለኹ ውድብ፣ምትእስ ሳር፣ ማሕበር ክወጽእ ኣሎኒ: ማለት ድዩ? ኣሳለጢ ዓለምላኻዊ ተበግሶ ነዚ ቀሪቡ ዘሎ ሕቶታት ኣይፋልን ኢሉ ዝምልሶ እንተኮይኑ ንነብሱ ከመይ የላልን ይገልጻን?
These type of issues are what the initiators discuss as a matter of necessity. The activist raises important questions that confront the GI group’s conceptual integrity on individual member level of the relationship. This means that the initiators need to refine their understanding of the vision to uniformly raise the awareness level of the signatories to that direction and rest assured it will happen but in my subjective view, the brief answers read as follows:
The Global Initiative believes it is an ordinary portion of the society and that success is impossible without conceptual unity. It is neither a CIVIC or a POLITICAL group nor a substitute of the existing groups but only a facilitating element aiming at conceptually unifying our Civic and Political Groups to work under Global Leadership that should come out of the grassroots (our communities everywhere in the world). It is an entity working to conceptually unify our resources under global leadership without requesting their structural unity which depends on them. It is a neutral medium by which all Civic Groups and Political Groups can establish a common global working formula towards democracy with no material and power interest in future Eritrea. Therefore, anyone whether group affiliated or not is welcome to support the movement and participate in the committee forming activities without detaching from one’s affiliation.
The question is if the GI has momentum considering it has only been around for few months! What is the proof if it does, momentum in this context being a function of organizational presence and activities?
The answer is affirmative! The group is consistent with its weekly Peltalk forum which means things are being discussed and prosecuted with limited capacity. Efforts are in effect to consolidate the same understanding of the GI concept of unification with the structural differences of the groups untouched. The task force is challenged to navigate the Eritrean people towards global leadership without any type of infiltration and has a requirement for being a member of the committees based on “conflict of interest” codification. They are crystalizing their understanding of clearly defining the exclusive rights of the people and the political groups that aim at political power in post Afwerki Eritrea. They have to be conceptually in synch with their vision to effectively transmit it to the public and this is a process by itself that must be accomplished soon. In short, the GI community must first clearly and identically understand what makes it different from the civic and political groups and concretely stick with the conviction to confidently and uniformly confront any question from the Eritrean people; even more, to attract them firmly standing on its principles. In the progression, the following activities have been going on along with other activities beyond the scope of this communication.
1) Incremental work manifested by the exposure of the open for amendment ACTION PLAN after months of dedicated discussions.
2) Unconditional invitation of all Civic Groups for support and dialogue through direct or indirect means of contact.
3) Unconditional invitation of all Political Groups for support through direct or indirect means of contact.
4) Unconditional invitation of all religious groups for support through direct or indirect means of contact.
5) Direct contact with any entity ready to meet
6) Accommodating the ideas or feedbacks of Eritrean individuals and groups globally.
We are consistently contacting anything we are exposed to in the political hemisphere of the resistance. Individuals are joining and accelerating the vibe, meaning that people are paying attention more than the times in the past.
Evidence: A young vibrant grassroots activist Meron Semedar; Founder and President: LEAD ERITREA – where Eritrean youth start leading from USF Master of Arts in International Studies is managing a conference titled, “Eritrea at 25: Human Rights, Migration and Route to Democracy” for September 24 and Professor Araya Debessay is representing the GI in the occasion that will involve ”Eritrean and non Eritrean scholars, refugee resettling organization leaders, community members, youth and government officials as panelist” and “ The event is open to the public and specially designed on Saturday to accommodate our community.”
Please contact the organizers at mysemedar@dons.usfca.edu; +1 209-627-9809
video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSggizibR6s
There is also another occasion in the West Coast ready to go within a month that our representative will attend upon invitation.
GI activists contact and share information equally. Checkout the following essence and the way they sacrifice their energy and time to that productive effect.
Between early afternoon of 9/22/2016 and 9/23/2016; the following interactions went on in the GI forum between the elements of the task force.
XXX: “I contacted Hidri Jeganu Paltalk Room, and advised me that they have another guest; on Saturday September 17, 2016; however, they said Sunday is ok for them (08:00 Berlin Time). Please let me know so that I can go back and confirm with them for Sunday September 18, 2016. Thank you”
YYY: “Thank you XXX! I would say let us sacrify and be with Smerrr 1&4 on Saturday and with hdri jeganuna on Sunday.”
SSS: “ZZZ has confirmed with both Smerrr1 & 4 for Saturday. How should we manage these two rooms? Please comment on whether we should be in both rooms simultaneously or if we should finish with one room and move to the other one. PLEASE GIVE YOU OPINION. Thank you”
PPP: “Dear XXX, thank you for the effort you are making to give GI the opportunity to appear at Hidri Jeganu Paltalk Room. Personally, I available for the Sunday Sept 18, program.
JJJ: “Thank you XXX I am available too”
On Aug 21, 2016, we received this beautiful feedback from Germany based Eritrean activists in response to our contact for working together towards global leadership.
“ሰላም ዝከበርኩምን ዝከበርክንን ጉዱሳት ኣበገስቲ ናይዚ መደብ። ኣከዲምና ልዑል ልባዊ ሰላም ነቅርበልኩም።መጀመርያ ንሕና ” ናጻ ምንቅስቃስ ኤርትራዊያን ንዲሞክራሲ ኣብ ኤርትራ ” ዝብል ምንቅስቃስ ኣብ 12/01/2013 ኣብ ምዕራብ ጀርመን ከተማ ዱሰልዶርፍ ንከባቢኣንዝዘጀመርና ብ መንእሰያት ዝዕብለል ሓይሊ ኢና። ክሳብ’ዚ ሕጂ ከኣ ከምታ
ዝነበረት ስም ማለት ” ናጻ ምንቅስቃስ ” ኮይና ትቀጽል ኢልና ስለዝተሳማማዕና ከምኡ ኢላ ትቅጽል ኣላ፡ ሕጂ ግን እዚ ጸዋዒት ወይ ተበግሶ ምምራጽ ዓለምለካዊ መሪሕነት ብተደጋጋሚ ብኣባላትናን ብካልኦት ግዱሳት ስለዝመጸና፡ ክንጽንበሮ ወይ ክንላለዮ ወሲና ኣሎና።
እዚ ምንቅስቃስ እዚ ክሳብ ሕጂ ኣዝዮም ብዙሓትን ኣገደስትን መደባት ኣሳላሲሉ ኣብ። ካብ ተጠቃዓይ ናብ ኣጥቃዓይ ተሰጋጊሩ ኣብ ልዕሊ ስርዓት ህ.ግ.ደ.ፍ ብብዙሓ ደለይት ፍትሒን ህዝቢን ዝተመጎሰ ስራሓት ሰሪሑን ይሰርሕ ኣሎን። ከም ንኣብነት ካብቲ ብዙሕ ኣብ ውሽጢመሓውራት ህ.ግ.ደ.ፍ ብምእታው ናይ ሰለያ ስርሑ ብዕውት ኣካይዱን የካይድን ኣሎ፡
ካልኣይ ዝኮነ ፍልልይ ኣወጊዱ ንኩሉ ሕብረተሰብ ዘሳትፍ ምንቅስቃስ ክከውን በቂዑ፡ ከምቲ ኣብቲ ጽሑፍኩም ዝገልጾ በቢ ከተምኡ/ ከባቢኡ ወይ ኣብቲ ዝነብረሉ ቦታ ብዝነብር ዝተመርሔ መሪሕነት ( እቲ ከባቢ ነናቱ መሪሕነት ኣለዎ ) ብኡ ገሩ ከኣ ነቲ መሪሕነት የቅሞ/ ኣቂምዎኣሎ። ከም ተወሳኪ ኣብቶም ስርዓት ህ.ግ.ደ.ፍ ዘካይደሎም ዝነበረ ሃለ/ ኣዳራሻት
እናኣተወ ኣከብኡን መደባቱን እናካየደ ን ስርዓት ህ.ግ.ደ.ፍ ካብዚ ከባቢ ዳርጋ ካብኩለን ኣዳራሻት ኣውጺእዎ ይርከብ (እዚ ማለት ምስቶም ዝነብረሎም ከተማ ዘለዉ ኣማሓደርቲ ብምርድዳእ’ዩ )።
ክብ ኣብ ምባል ዳርጋ ወርሓዊ ምሁራት ብምዕዳም ኣስተምህሮ የካይድ። ከምኩሉ
ሰብ ከኣ ኣብ ሰለማዊ ሰልፊ ይኩን ካልኦት ይሳተፍ። ከምተወሳኪ ምሁራት ካብ ዝተፈላለየ ክፍሊ ዓለምና ዓዲሙ ሰሚናራት ኣስተምህሮታት የካይድ። ንኣብነት ፕሮፈሶር ደሳለ ካብ ሽወደን፡ ዶክቶር ኣዳነ ካብ ቦልሱዋና ኣፍሪቃ፡ ኩብሮም ኣፍላ ካብ ሆላንድ፡ ፕሮፈሶር ሚርያም ካብበልጂም፡ ዳርጋ ወርሓዊ ምስ በዓል ተስፋይ ተምነዎ፡ ከልኦትን እናተራከበ ደረጃ ንቅሓቱ ሰማይ ዘግረገ ምንቅስቃስ’ዩ።
ካሊእ ዘይገለጽናዮ ብዙሕ ብዙሕ ዘመዝገቦ ዓወታት ኣሎ። ዝያዳ ዕውት ኮይኑ ንክወጽእ ግን እዚ ተመክርኡ ኣብ ኩሉ ደላዪ ፍትሒ ክባጻሕን ክዝርጋሕን ከምኡውን ተመኩሮታት ናይ ካልኦት ምንቅስቃሳት ክቀስም ይደሊ’ዩ። ዛዒት ውን ምስ ብዙሓት ተራኪቡን ይራከን ኣሎ፡ ናይ ሓባርስራሕ ኣውጺኡ ከኣ ይሰርሕ ኣሎ። ጽቡቅ ኣጋጣሚ ኮይኑ እዛ ጸዋዒት ምስ ረኣናያ ኣብ የእምሮና ስለዝነበረት ብምሉእ ልብናን ኤርትራዊ ወንን ክንሰርሓላን ከነዕውታን ደሊና፡ እዚ ክንብል ከለና ግን ኣከዲምካ ዝግበር ርክባት ኣሎ ማለትና ኢና።
የቀንየለይ; ኣቦ ወምበር”
GI response in brief: “ዝኸበርካ ሓው …ብመሰረት ናይ ቴፍን ዝርርብ ዘካየድናዮ፣ ሓቢርካ ምስራሕ እቲ እንኾ ኣምራጺ ሙኻኑ ምእማንኩም ነዚ ጀሚርናዮ ዘለና ሃገራዊ ዕማማ ነዳዲ ወሲኩ ክንሕምበብ ዝሕግዝ እዩ እሞ ብስም ዓለማዊ ተበጉሶ የቐንየልና ክብል ይፈቱ።
ስለዚ ንቐዳም ተዋዲዱ ዘሎ ኣጀንዳ።
- Coordinating body meeting (from 9h30 to 10h00 NYT; or 3h30pm to
4h00 Berlin time) for agenda confirmation
- Engagement with West Germany civic society: Chairperson with his
three members will join us from 10h00 to 11h00 NYT or 4h00 to 5h00 Berlin time
- Ordinary members meeting: 11h00 to 13h00 NYT or 5h00 to 7h00 Berlin time
ኣብ ዛዕባ ቁጽሪ 2 ን 3 ድማ ክትሳተፊና ብኽብሪ ንዕድም። ብፍላይ ዛዕባ ቁጹሪ 2፣ ብኑጽር ከመይ እና ብሓባር ክንሰርሕ መንገዲ ዘጣጥሕ ዛዕባ እዩ እሞ ብሃንቐውቲ ንጽበየኩም። ፓልቶክ ሩም (pal-talk room)”
RESULT: AS SCHEDULED THE “Engagement with West Germany civic society: Chairperson and three members will join: 10:00 to 11:00am NYT or 4:00 to 5:00pm Berlin time; Sep. 24, 10-6PM” took place and concluded with impressive common understanding about the situation and the need to continue the engagement ahead.
SIGNIFICANCE: The significance of this activity is that we are slowly transmitting the vision by all means of contact and securing constructive results towards working together intentionally. Things are going well in Israel and Seattle although more work has to be done to crystallize the concept and materialize it on the ground. It is a matter of resources that limit our capacity to contact our people directly, needless saying they will have to eventually do it for themselves by their own initiatives. We have also recently received support from religious groups and specifically from Semur Democrasawi Ginbar, an armed group that is violently challenging the regime ins
ide the country.
In conclusion, the few exemplary records above testify that the GI community is moving forward with a steady momentum. We shall continue briefing the public about our activities as we promised several times in the past. I believe the emergence of GI has somehow positively affected the civic groups including those that received it as a threat. There have been few visible motions that I believe triggered as a result. I will briefly discuss GI’s positive effect on the civic groups, the significance of solid relationship between the GI and Semur Democrasawi Ginbar and how we can take maximum advantage of to change our situation in my next article.
Enjoy the flow doing your part with clean intention in the heart!
rezen September 17, 2016
Commentary, 17 Sept 2016
It is refreshing to see a ‘report to the people’ as opposed to the usual attitude of dictatorial authorities: >>> “here it is! WE brought it for you”. It is an attitude of ‘take it or leave it’ ultimatum. And, needless to say, the ‘mass’ is supposed to be grateful and pronounce Amen as gratitude.
I wrote the following in one of my entries, acknowledging the efforts of hard working groups to correct the destructive direction that Eritrea is heading onto:
QUOTE: “Now, don’t get me wrong. There are numerous admirable self-effacing Eritrean individuals who are pouring their hearts out for a dream of a beautiful Eritrea. If we can, by all means, let us support them fully to the best of our abilities, using the free website (e.g. archive.assenna.com) wisely and effectively for the benefit of ALL. Otherwise, at the very minimum, let us NOT be obstacle to them (not everyone can join/fit everywhere). The alternative is simple: free fall of “Eritrea” to shredded insignificance.” UNQUOTE
.
It should also be mentioned that there is a good example posted on this website, this week i.e. the announcement pertaining to the joint formation of two giant civic parties – EFND and EGS. It is a good omen. Would it also be possible for the NEW alliance to join GIEEGM?
In any case, I like to end this short comment with my favorite Tigrigna wisdom: “መወዳእትኡ የጸብቆ”።
Araya Debessay September 19, 2016
Dear Fizum,
I am glad to see you tirelessly working to brief the Eritrean Community at large what the Global Initiative to Empower Eritrean Grassroots Movement is doing.
As you have indicated in your report, last Saturday September 17, Global Initiative members were invited in three Paltalk Rooms, Semmer Room #1, Semmer Room #4, and Hidri Jeganu. At one time, in Semmer Room # where I participated in there were over 650 people. I am also told that there were considerable number of Eritreans in the other Paltalk rooms as well. What this tells you is the deep interest Eritreans have on the plight of their people and their country’s affairs.
From the response of those who were present in Paltalk Semmer Room #1 , and this was consistent in all the Paltalk Rooms as well, there is a considerable support to the Global Initiative. It is heartwarming to note that Eritreans from every corner of the world are realizing that the Grassroots movement whose ultimate objective is to elect legitimate Global Leaders of Eritreans in the Diaspora is being accepted and supported as the most expedient, all-inclusive and most democratic process of electing global leaders. Although progress seems to be slow but surely success is on the horizon. And what you are doing will contribute to the success of Global Initiative. Keep up the good work that you are doing to end the suffering of your people. Bravo Brother Fuzum. I am proud of you.
As Rezen has pointed out above, it is encouraging to see EGS and EFND merging. These two entities have high caliber Eritreans as its members, and they have the potential to contribute in substantial ways for the success of the Global Initiative. I am confident they will rise up to the challenge.
Fetsum abraham September 19, 2016
Dear Professor Araya; you know u are the nucleus of the task force killing your self for the cause. I just have no words to define the character you are. what you did in this reality and what you are doing now giving all your time for the cause gives me the energy I need to keep going following your foot steps.
Thank you my brother for this and God has blessed you to succeed.and we will not fail you.