Fetsum: Vacarro’s missed opportunity and the Forum
Fetsum: Vacarro’s missed opportunity and the Forum I appreciate what brother Vacarro is doing for us and wish him the best but I have a lot of questions on his tactics to be shared in the
Fetsum: Vacarro’s missed opportunity and the Forum
I appreciate what brother Vacarro is doing for us and wish him the best but I have a lot of questions on his tactics to be shared in the future. For now, enjoy this if you care to read.
On the national soccer team: News from Asmara says that cheerleaders Yemane Charle and Yemane monkey have successfully completed the course for splitting and flip-flopping and their tight psychedelic skirts have promptly arrived home from downtown Sanfransisco. Yemane Charlie looks good with a colored and moosed hair style and the monkey will have a wig for the games. Both have passed the international weight requirement for cheerleading and are today working hard on BUTT SHAKING practice to attract as many audiences as possible. The hardworking president is personally following every development with a stick in hand (for spanking the butt) for correcting mistakes and observers say that he has so far spanked Charle and Monkey once each to this effect which is really good for any amateur cheerleader in their situation.
Their condition is said to be fantastic to the point of overshadowing the women cheerleaders in physical look and specially aggravating the feelings of that woman very much so. The two gentlemen look sexier says an observer with unanimity who testified that ‘she has had a problem with weight loss in the process.’ The president did not like the progress and is now considering Minister Askalu to replace her with deep resentment. Please the guys your love and for compromising their gender for the sake of the motherland.
In the mean time, brother Usman is doing fine in his rehabilitation under the supervision of the president. The president has been a good role model here and Usman is hanging on somehow without his alcohol with one problem so far in this experimentation. He only relapsed twice so far and he swears he would never drink until the games are over. THE PROBLEM IS that an empty bottle was found in his room and no one yet knows how it sneaked in despite his denial of consuming anything like that at least for the last few days in counseling. As serious as he looks like, people are now considering the president as a possible suspect to this effect though I do not believe he drank that bottle alone in a short time like that although no one saw him that day for a strange reason beyond ordinary commonsense. We are following this crisis closely and we will update you on this as it develops in time.
Vaccarro’s missed opportunity
In one of my last articles, I expressed my feeling about the opportunity Vacarro missed of meeting world leaders in South Africa during the Mandela event. I thought his advisors should have reminded him of it (only if they didn’t) because attending the event would have manifested the Eritrean sense of freedom against the regime that has become the master of human rights violations in a given society. Paying respect to one of the most exceptional human beings would’ve made Vacarro look better than the Eritrean president who most likely missed it because of shameful socio-political performance and would further give his movement some sort of political and economic support from other governments. Vacarro certainly would have scored a good point doing this alone and even better doing it with the EDA but it did not happen.
In so saying, there is a fundamental difference between the vacarroian philosophy of unity for political change in Eritrea and unconditionally forming a transitional government in the process for freedom and democracy in future Eritrea.
The concept of unconditional unity for a temporary government in post Afwerki Eritrea and the Vacarroian philosophy of unity for change in Eritrea are different in substance but similar in many ways for me to suggest that the brother’s philosophy can further develop to circumscribe the other concept within to swiftly resolve the people’s quest for freedom and democracy in our country. I will try to discuss this in better detail next time but I feel like I should address related opinions to consolidate common understanding on what is going on with the resistance.
From the forum: A talent dies away replaced by a new talent as I witnessed it in the forum experience for a while. There is no doubt that the stagnant mind of Belay Negga dominated the forums for a long time. Now, however, the anarchic mind of Suleiman Salim has stolen the show as a matter of destiny. The exciting Suleiman just comes in and says “There is something wrong with you. ab lbKa temeles: Hdri swu’at aHwatka aKbr”. I love him for this entertainment that he launched to unknown destination.
Suleiman Salim: “Fitsum, I kept smiling while reading your piece. Thanks for including me in your team. By now I must be famous all over the world. azmad keynKewn sg’at aloni!!!”
Comment: This brother is on the lose my dear Eritreans and having fun either loaded with something in the head or otherwise. Thank you for the good vibe but I would have been blessed and honored to be your relative although we are already connected for ever through this experience.
MightyEmbasoyra: “BTW, isayas is in Kenya to celebrate of 50 yrs of independence. Wouldn’t it make him look more human and smarter to attend The Great Mandela’s funeral service?”
Truly Truly: “Mighty, Isayas is not attend in Mandela’s funeral service, not because he wanted; but because no one sees him as a leader and do not invited it is. Who likes to see bandit at higher respectful ceremony?”
Comment: Doing things for image and doing them for spirituality are two different things. Pretension cannot help a devil turn holy and therefore the president has no chance to look humanistic any longer till the end of his life: it is too late to be one and impossible from the angle of his nature. A sinner as deep as Afwerki and a loser who let the best opportunity of love slip away without provocation cannot face the remains of Mandela who is not in heaven with God for his service to humanity. The prisoner of grudge and revenge cannot face the remains of the symbol of freedom and forgiveness for heaven sake! I believe he did the right thing staying away from the Mandela event because he couldn’t dare face more confident and humanistic leaders of the world that would have by contrast ignored him as if he didn‘t exit. The Mandela event would have been a perfect occasion for leaders to show their feelings about Afwerki because he is totally opposite to Mandela in everything: intelligence, compassion, humility, forgiveness, love, endurance, determination and peace to state the least. I am almost sure that all the leaders in the event would’ve at least looked him in the face from distance for how he destroyed a society and his legacy in a perfectly favorable situation compared to Mandela’s overall achievement under a very complicated socio-political mess. It would be very bad for the president to appear there and stand alone in depressing solitude while the world glorifies Mandela for the character he was as a person. Simply speaking Afwerki would have been an outcast or unfit for the occasion and he knew this enough to stay away from it.
luna: “Fetsum: Which opposition force are you talking about? Are you thinking of the various bodies who had spent a decade, precious time, conferencing in Ethiopia whose effort did not register results?”
Comment: Yes I am talking about the forces that spent the last ten years grudging it out for power and napping in Addis on the Eritrean issues. They lost the opportunity to shine like Wedi Vacarro and the momentum slipped away from them. They and practically theoretically exaggerated their importance undermined it for that long and this guy came in to fill the gap. There is no doubt that the resistance needs all of us to succeed and they have the right to stay organized in political parties on their own mandate but they were very weak to advance peace and democracy in Eritrea. This man is doing what they failed to do. He is doing the dirty job of organizing Eritreans everywhere with relentless effort and heavy expense to change the political situation in Eritrea for democratic end. The political parties will enjoy the effort at the end of the day because the new movement can only accelerate their objective to grab power democratically after the devil’s removal with his little dogs out of there. There is thus no conflict of interest for them to be against the Vacarroian movement and they should officially support him if they want our respect. Whether they like it or not the movement exists and we like it as a major enhancement to the resistance. The fact remains, however, that all opposition elements in the resistance are important for our success and we must support them.
Hitzit: ”The EDA appears to accomplish the goal of unifying the opposition camp, but with no possible result yet. May be its problems should be analyzed and fixed. Sometimes it would help to start with what you have. Above all every Eritrean who tries to board the ship of freedom from the TYRANY OF THE PFDJ shoud be heard equally.”
Comment: I agree. We need to exactly pin point EDA’s problems and fix them to match the current movement for unity through pleasant intervention. Vacarro has the default mandate to do this in the name of the people and he should include “fixing the EDA” in his program by directly challenging each party in the resistance individually with the help of other independent minded and far sighted Eritreans of his choice in order to succeed. The movement better work with EDA to achieve unanimous support and swift result because Vacarro cannot do it alone especially that he is not interested in politics and I hope he understands this very well.
Tes: “Dear Fetsum, Dr Tewelde is an asset to those who are in the opposition or those confused and forced to keep quit. “
Comment: Vacarro is certainly doing the hard work for the opposition parties and they should appreciate this very much so. Any group having a problem with the open ended Vacarroian movement has a fundamental problem with the concept of democracy and I think we have now a better chance to know each group’s position on the question of united resistance to overthrow the regime if Vacarro does his assignment well.
Kalighe: Some Eritreans, mostly those from EPLF background, have welcomed the gentleman thinking he is the right person (leader) to rally behind, because they attribute failures of the opposition camp to lack of leadership. Hence, the attitude of some to quickly disqualify the EDA and run behind Wedi Vacaro without taking time to think about the consequences. Anyone who wants a safe and a successful transition from tyranny to democracy in Eritrea, should know that every group/individual is important. Only an inclusive and a participatory process will lead the country to democracy, anything else is just waste of time and loss of another historical opportunity for genuine national unity and durable peace.
Comment: I fully agree with the commentator. The dire consequence of rejecting the existing opposition groups in favor of Vaccarro defeats the purpose of his movement and seriously cripples the strength of the resistance to the advantage of the regime. We don’t want to see this happen in the resistance and we must be careful here to segregate emotion from reason. There is no justification for us to reject the groups for they were resisting ahead of the rest of us although they have no capacity to finish the job through unity. You simply do not reject a weak link of the resistance but rather help it to be stronger for swift success. All Vacarro has to do is meeting the groups and finding a way of working with them without compromising his autonomy. He can do three things here to accelerate his objective:
1) Endorse the EDA as a starting point of unity
2) Individually approaching the groups outside the EDA to narrow the difference and openly telling the people the details for them to take a position on. We then reject or accept a group according to its position on unity. This was the check and balance mechanism we have been writing about for ages in Assenna and Vacarro has the chance to do this efficiently.
3) Being extra careful to monitor his ego through humility and face them at equal level of importance.
Aus 17: “Yes, oppositions are suspecting many but the ball is with Vacaros court. If he guards the delicate balance between these issues then there is an open opportunity for success.
I mean here: inclusive approach, the other half, not only my way the highway which we saw head-speared to a closed end.”
I mean here: inclusive approach, the other half, not only my way the highway which we saw head-speared to a closed end.”
Comment: I agree with you but there is absolutely nothing for the opposition groups to suspect Vacarro for anything. None of them is mandated by the people to monopolize the resistance. We are all on equal footing and any new group possibly coming hereafter is equally important to any other group in the resistance and the fittest survives at the end. As it looks today, Vacarro is the most active and hard working Eritrean for unity and we should support him 100%. He has at least cranked waken up the silent majority to a certain extent and this is more than welcome to the resistance overall. We also need to understand that he has the right to organize his own party like the others did should he decide to involve in the future Eritrean political life. This is his legitimate right as an Eritrean that has nothing to do with antagonizing the opposition groups unless he rejects them out in public which he has not to date.
Truly Truly: “But if for instance Wodi Vacaro alone gets support by powerful nation in a way he started i believe regime change is possible without EDA; EPDP self appointed power hungry oppositions party participation if you like . In other word what i am saying is, the US; UK or EU if will or determine believe or not regime change is overnight possible in Eritrea. “
Comment: I do not think so, nor do I believe regime change alone can solve our predicament without democracy. The big nations helping Vacarro cannot eliminate the importance of the opposition camp from the equation and I do not think they will support him if he isolates himself from them because they know it won’t work. I would not support him for the same reason if that was the case. Further, Vacarro’s rejection of the opposition would imply that he has a tendency to be a dictator in Eritrea. I would stay away from him in this situation but this is not the case at all and I hope he will not make this mistake.
Rr: “Fetsum. The majority of Eritreans do not read or seek information directly and get their information through friends and relatives. His way is therefore more effective if you want to have the mass behind you. In the long run there should be written plan and I think you and others who have idea can offer help. The movement will be what we want it to be.”
Comment: This is a weak excuse in my opinion for not having material about the movement. He can talk to the mass with the language they understand but he still has to come up with a written program describing his movement for the universe with the language it understands. Remember that the Eritrean issue is also an international issue that concerns the EU, AU, UN and all governments within. They do not understand Tigrigna and he needs to communicate with materially for their support. I think this is urgent and he must do it immediately. We are only asking for written information on his movement, nothing else and this is our right to do. Lack of written substance on the Vacaroian philosophy of unity would reflect terribly on Vacarro and in fact would equalize him to the Eritrean regime that does not believe in documentation and the dormant opposition groups that have so far failed to communicate with the people in such a way. This problem isolated them from the people and I do not think this man wants to be in this situation because he will face the same predicament otherwise.
Dawit Meconen: “EDA is woyane Trojan Horse, anti Eritrean Sovereignty, ready to tear up Eritrea into its constituents parts through fraudulent referendums per woyane prescription. If any genuine Eritrean is in doubt, I advise him/her, among many others, to read its constitution which bears a clause that allows any of our ethnic groups for self determination up to cessation, a poison woyane has it ready to push down our throat once we stumble, of course, as always, it is a futile Chicken Dream.”
Comment: I disagree. You simply cannot mix emotion with reason in our situation and must directly face the objective reality on the ground for better approach. Whatever the EDA’s constitution says is immaterial and there is nothing wrong with asserting the right of a nation for self determination should genuine unity fail to work in Eritrea. This option should be open for people intentionally isolated and discriminated in a society because of ethnicity, religion or else. Why should a discriminated community accept unity without genuine democracy? We separated from Ethiopia not only because of our colonial experience but also because we were counted out from the central Ethiopian political system that was exclusively reserved for individuals from the Amara Ruling Class, though we did well economically in the country. The only way you can stay united is through love and genuine equality and Eritreans should not worry of the clause in the constitution if they genuinely love everyone in the society equally: it is not our official constitution but only EDA’s guideline that must be replaced by the national constitution after the fall of the regime. There is only one solution to this and that is genuine concern of all Eritreans with absolute impartiality. Minus this, anything is possible and it should be so!!!
We cannot have the cake and eat it too: we need to chose what we want as a society for people have suffered a lot in the name of unity in many socio-political scenarios everywhere: The HUTU/TUTSIE crisis in RWANDA was one example for us to learn from. Should the two communities in RWANDA stay united for the sake of unity with all the problems they have had in between? My answer is no and they should separate in that case. EDA is therefore not a Weyane Trojan but an alliance composed of Eritrean opposition groups with different political affiliations. EDA, irrespective of its weakness and shortcomings is an Eritrean product that deserves respect and the Weyane labeling by picking a clause in its constitution because it does not completely satisfy our ambitions is very bad for us Eritreans.
At the bottom line of the issue, no one but we are responsible for our future and we should behave carefully and genuinely apply the ingredients of unity in practice to avoid separation in our country. Ethiopians are not and cannot be the cause of our division and let us take the responsibility and resolve it through democratic mindset to protect us from its actuality.
jack : ”every one can do whatever they want . they can make group according to their political affinity , purpose , desire . wedi vacaro has right for everything , and you too. this show your maturity in democracy . we followers also have right to follow , when we feel us good , attractive , tangible purpose. Supporters have also right to support , this is the source of multiparty in politics.”
Comment: Case closed very well. No one elected anyone to represent us and every group is claiming representing us politically without our mandate. Therefore, the door is open for anyone interested to lead Eritrea including Wedi Vacarro despite capacity and we have the right to chose what we want.
Events on: “My Eritrean brothers; the Eritrean government has heard your outcry against the Tegaru TPDM (ደምህት),as a result the Eritrean government is using Sudanese security forces to keep order in parts of Eritrea.Well that is good news no more tegaru, now our Arab wannabe sudanese brothers police us, as we Eritreans are also wannabe Arabs ,that should please us.”
Comment: This is crazy: you can not differentiate the DEMHIT from whoever replaced it to protect the president. WEYANE and the SUDAN are equally foreigners to us and they have no legitimacy to do anything in our country except living and working under the law. Therefore, nothing has changed in this regard and if your information is correct, the Sudanese are equally mercenaries as the DEMHIT had been in view of our society. Consistency is important for your ideas to resonate in other minds my fellow Eritrean. You cannot choose a mercenary (between Weyane and Sudan) like you cannot pick a colonizer (between Ethiopia and Italy) for they all serve the same purpose in their perspective.
abraham: “it is time for Eritrea to be democratic and I feel and I believe that; the vacarian philosophy is the way that can we succeed . all parties fighting for democratic Eritrea must help and follow politely, they should not feel that new rise of vocaro is not mean to take their unforgettable hard work to improve the consciousness of the eritrean community to identify isaias’s dictotorism and not mean to forget their participation in coming democratic Eritrea
note to the writer: I am satisfied by what you write and if you can do the same in Tigrigna to be read by all Eritrean”
Comment: I agree completely with you but I have a problem with people telling me to do my work in Tigrigna as well. Why don’t you do it yourself if you think it will help instead of asking me to do it? Do you understand how long it takes to write an article? I must also make my living like you and the Eritrean issue is not more of a concern to me as a citizen than it is to the rest of Eritreans. I cannot even comfortably read Tigrigna and understand it as a member of the Amiche community leave alone writing well on it. Nobody cared in the past translating my contributions to Tigrigna and the issue comes here and there as we go as if I am responsible for everything. Thank you but I have no capacity and time to do what you want me to do and do it yourself: I do not even want to hear this again because no one has taken the initiative to do it while some people have been saying it: with all respect!! This is selfishness in a way for expecting others to do it for you. I believe I am doing my best for the resistance as a freelance writer and that is the maximum I can give at this juncture in our journey.
wedi mekonnen: “Someone backward like wedi vacaro who is calling for ethnic cleansing upto seven generations will not unite Eritreans no matter he speaks to US senators or any one on earth? Folks let the regime be challenged for its deed than for who has what % Eritrean blood in the 0-100% scale as this will only complicate matters in and outside Eritrea than it does any good.”
Comment: Brother, I feel like you are irresponsible in this situation. The Vacarroian movement has nothing to do with ethnic cleansing and live up to your imagination for yourself and stop poisoning the people by painting it wrong for whatever agenda is in your mind. His movement did not question Eritreawinet at all and I don’t understand what you are trying to do here. Brother, you have decided to be part of the problem probably because of insecurity about your roots. You have forgotten that any one claiming Eritrean with a certain percentage of bloodline is an Eritrean. Why are you threatened by this and what is wrong with telling your roots openly and how can you see this as ethnic cleansing? The movement did not impose this condition on the people but suggests that every Eritrean be comfortable with one’s roots. What is wrong with this and how is this related to ethnic cleansing?
In conclusion; the Vacarroian movement is not as tight as he could have made it. The brother is doing too many tours without consolidating his agenda materially and maintaining close contact with his committees. My next work will address the following questions from my own perspective:
a) Is Vacarro doing things faster than his objective? Is his head moving at a faster rate of his tail?
b) Do the Vacarroian committees everywhere understand what they have to do?
c) Are the committees dependent on Vacarro or not?
d) Is Vacarro practically disconnected from the committees by default logic because of hasty activities and mismanagement?
In the mean time keep up your productivity through participation and make sure you enjoy your holidays without overstaffing yourself to explosion like Hagos Kisha in the Eritrean soccer team or overdrinking like the confused president and Usman the dancer in Asmara. Keep your mind independent rather than useless like the two big headed players in the new soccer team while keeping yourselves in shape like the two sexy Yemanes so that you would not struggle against your extra flesh like sister Sofia in the cheerleading department.
HGDEF December 27, 2013
Vacaro! Vacaro! Vacaro! You guys must find a prophet every year. And vacaro is a new prophet this year. Alena, Pilot, Wedi Temnewo, and so on. By the way Why, has unity become a new issue now? Have you realized that the politics of regionalism is going to take you nowhere?
sarah December 28, 2013
You are right bro/sis.
jack December 27, 2013
i am expecting to lead us parallel to the development of politics in this world . those guys return us to 1940-50. even the opposition group does not not have reliable principle , they have to follow . they only thinking how they can get support.
Abraham Haile December 27, 2013
Mister Fitsum.
I really like your analysis of the Vaccaro philosophy of his movement in comparison to other geopolitical elements , of course including yours, Mr. Fitsum. But, I would rather Waite vigilantes with what Mr Vaccaro and his forum will produce for democracy and unity in Eritrea. I also want to remind you that any thing Malicious philosophy can be solved by our vote in the friendly contested “Referendum”; I believe so.
CLEARANCE
By looking to the Victims, I would not be surprised that few Eritreans would foresee Identity problems prior to the final settlement of the Democratic Eritrea , and I think that could be a sense of guilt consciousness and that could find a remedy inthe future of Eritrean Constituency.
Keep the goody up and every thing will settle with time providing we put all works on check.
RIDE ON FOR CHANGE (Be gentil with criticism of my English writing as it is my first comments on webs)
May tsemiena may Democracy! December 27, 2013
Aynitihawek, tseba keytihakune likay ayrikebin. Slezi kulu seb ejamu yigebir alo tsibuk, terifu zelo neti kulu fah elu zikawem zelo ab hade mismar eyu.Dimtsika key habka entay areaya aleka kitfilet aytikieln, dimtsom yihibu alewu bidiriu abti nay simer kofo mietaw endihri abyom elamiom kalie eyu kikewin zikiel.
my lovely country December 27, 2013
brother fitsum,
“In one of my last articles, I expressed my feeling about the opportunity Vacarro missed of meeting world leaders in South Africa during the Mandela event.”
I do not think that would further mr . vacarro’ s eritrean cause as mandela believed in a united ethiopia, with eritrea included.
mandela has not done any positive role towards eritreanism. the person we eritreans need to revere is king minilik the 2nd of ethiopia that started the eritrean revolution by handing eritrea to the italians. wedi vacarro would undermine eritrea’s case by attending mandela’ s funeral .mandela was the enemy of eritrea. I believe wedi vacarro should attend if there is a king minilik the 2nds memmorial service .if it were not for the father of eritrean struggle hatse menelik the 2nd, we eritreans would be speaking a tigray accented tigrigna and suffer under the yoke of amhara and tegaru.mandela believed in unnecessary unity and unnecessary forgiveness ,that would have benefitted eritrea economically ,peace wise ,education and real identity..but ,we would not have my beloved country .
Kalighe December 28, 2013
Hi Cow Face,
“my lovely country” ??? which one ??
Events December 28, 2013
kalighe,how do you know it is cow face or cow dung that i donot care much about anyways. i know this mbc makesw a ridiculous point shared by many ethiopians ,i wish you challenge that.you sound more ridiculous than him or her.
i and i December 27, 2013
my lovely
don’t u try to forgive because nobody is gonna forgive u.
Dani December 28, 2013
Sir Fetsum
I could not understand what your message is. I am wondering what you are going to achieve by writing such article. I think you are missing something. I would love you join Wedi Vacaro and fill the missing gap.
So please if you can join him to bring down this devil who is destroying our people and country. You have spent so much time on commenting. You must say enough is enough to in action including your confusing articles. Wedi Vacaro is a Hero and he should continue till we bring these criminal self appointed regime of Gug Mangug.
Hitzit December 28, 2013
Dear Dawit Mecconen: You could be very natonalist. However, it is not constructive to accuse some one because you don’t agree with his or her thinking. I agree with you that the Idea of secession in Eritrea Like what I say “like splitting a single hair”. Why contemplate now about secession, when infact our common enemy at this very moment is dictatorship. First the Eritrean people should aim to dimantle the dictatorship. Then, I am sure a lot of burning issue will unravel. By that tme Democracy will be in place to resolve all standing issue. Eritrea was liberated because all natonalities sacrificed together. The current regime can not be blamed for any preferencial treatment of any. Particular nationality. Infact it was emphasisi
Belay Tewlede December 28, 2013
Better to change a hero every year than die With a brutal Coward.
Hitzit December 28, 2013
Dear Ato Futsum:Thank you and you deserve admiration for your time for offering your feedback. On the issue of secession though, we have to be very objective, not subjective per se. People can belive secession as a concept, but in our case we can not afford to entertain the idea of secession when the unity and solidarity of all Eritrean citizens opposition and civic groups and individual politicians are prerecqisuite to fight the dictatorsip. To me it is like putting the horse behind the Wagon. Every standing issue can be resolved within the frame work of future democratic Eritrea. Democracy is not applied in the sme way in different societies. The demoracy that is practised in Europe is not the same like the one in North America. Each country is free to tailor its democracy to suite to customs and cultures of that country, provided the people of acountry agree upon.