The other day I stumbled upon a post by Mandela Eritrea – a pen name – bearing an eye-catching headline and depicting Woldu Tekle’s photo in the EYSC page.  Check it for yourself; www.erigazette.org

The post, as if there is a science discovery in Eritrea, was presented as “Breaking News” to the public; and the author, by way of Woldu Tekle’s apparent “awrajanet,” is ostensibly on a mission to expose awrajanet in our midst and in fact, he bemoaned the Eritrean public to fight the budding phenomenon.

Upon close examination of the article, however, I noticed: First, ‘by negash’ appeared in a cleverly camouflaged fine print just under the title.  That name has since disappeared.  Second, I became more convinced that Mandela Eritrea is not that articulate enough to write such a venemous article; therefore, he couldn’t have wrote it.  As one of his responses to the comments make it clear, he is just another frustrated citizen.
Madela Eritrea wrote:

Mandela Eritrea fetikum xeliekum meryet btegadelti hzbawi gnbar eya tweghalna betom ab wushthi zelewun betom ab dege zelewun kale arebribonma eyo 30 amet intrfu kifenathhu habirom kiqalesu ayreanan. ane dekime kab 1983 ksab hji koellell bezihuna . bejakum nezom medakemti kem beal weldu tekle gedifna mszom aeruk iseyas zneberu nsra krhwena adna knmle abzi arigna . deqi 60 amet koyna hjis intay terifuna

He initially started as a macho man with typical hooliganism, “fetikum xeliekum….,” then relapsed later to his actual self of sadness and deprivation and that he is getting old in his 60s and longing the day to go back to his beloved Eritrea.  Quite frankly, I sympathize with this guy.  I really do.  His feelings are pretty mundane and earthly; a typical Eritrean feeling and certainly, nothing sinister.  Then I said, ‘this guy must have simply copied somebody else’s article and in his vainglorious manner, posted it himself as his own; or, some coward – in a desperate attempt to find an ally – must have fed this article to him to post it.’  Either way, I can speak with absolute certainty that Mandela Eritrea couldn’t have wrote the article.  The person behind the article chose to remain anonymous.  This unqualified response is therefore, to Mr. Anonymous.

Dear Mr. Anonymous, let me tell you an interesting story:

In the 1960s, two psychologists, Richard Christie and Florence Geis, developed an aptitude test intended for measuring a person’s cunning abilities. One of the most famous questions, among many, they came up with is, “Never tell anyone the real reason you did something unless it is useful to do so.”  Or the less ethical but equally important question, “There is no excuse for lying to someone else.”   Based on their scale, if participants for example answered ‘Yes’ to the above questions, Christie and Geis determined that the participants scored high on the Mach scale; meaning that those who answered ‘Yes’ are more cunning and manipulative than the naive and inexperienced ones who answered ‘No’ to the same questions.

The analogy is straight forward Mr. Anonymous.  Had you taken this test, you could have answered ‘Yes’ to the questions and scored high on the Mach scale; but not necessarily cunning by our standards. Your motive is laid bare for everyone to see.  You don’t have to tell us the real reason behind your posting.  We knew it.  Your article, sweetened with nice sounding phrase, fighting ‘Awrajanet‘ but in reality, intended to dismantle Woldu Tekle and by extension, his followers is simply futile.  Character assassination has been the daily diet of the dictator for quite some time.  That is his legacy and I am afraid, you are following that legacy.

By failing to identify yourself in your post, yet posting Woldu Tekle’s photo in Meskerem.net is down to earth nasty.  Its intended purpose aside, I say you are either simply unaware of the law in the U. S. or you have complete disregard for human dignity.  Keep in mind that America is not the back yard of the dictator.  If need be, Woldu can employ the long arm of the law to force Meskeren.net to reveal its author.  We are living in a country where the rule of law is supreme.  And more pointedly, unlike you, Woldu Tekle hasn’t used a pseudonym nor did he hide behind computer screens.  He was and still is in the open.  Thus, by posting his photo, what purpose, if any, does it serve in the fight against the dictator?  I don’t know if you realize it but, if the intended purpose is to muzzle and silence him, believe me, it has the opposite effect. In fact, his fame will shoot through the roof.

Mr. Anonymous, since when did you become a well-meaning fighter of ‘awrajanet?  If so, then why do hide yourself?  Come out of the closet!  Awrajanet is a clear and present danger to the Eritrean nation; therefore, who in his right mind wouldn’t want to follow you in the fight against this [awrajanet] scourge?  If you are pragmatic enough to deal with what you called ‘awrajawi poletica,‘ then you should have started no further than the dictator himself, whose hallmark is ‘awrajawi poletica‘ in Eritrea.

Lets call a spade a spade and enough of a taboo!

Quite frankly, I am a bit puzzled at the thought processes of some people.  It is so funny but true that some people, in their fantasy world, create their own hollow narrative: a narrative of boastfulness, arrogance, narrow mindedness and a narrative of ethnocentric tendencies.  And once these people believe in their own narrative, any corrective measures taken is considered as an affront to that narrative and violently suppressed.  Sadly but surely, that is exactly behind the current state of affairs in Eritrea.  So Mr. Anonymous, did you get my point here?  It is self explanatory, Isn’t it?

If not, let me blunt.

You and I know that some people – and, I say some – specially from Hamasien, in their sick mind, consider the regime in Eritrea as their own [the narrative]; thus by virtue of their affinity to the dictator, they endow themselves the hollow concept of ‘mengistina,‘ therefore the governing people [ethnocentric tendencies] and the unlucky others: the Akeleguzayans, the Serayes, the Tigres, the Sahos, the Kunamas, the Naras, the Bilens, the Hidarebes, are the governed?  Did you fight against this phenomenon in the past that you might as well take a swipe at Woldu Tekle now?  Nothing that we know.

Mr. Anonymous, allow me to cite some real world politics as well.  You know about parliamentary politics?  You know about representative government?  Isn’t it?  Lets take, for example, the U.S. system.  Nothing to put Eritrea and the U.S. on equal footing but to put things in perspective, I want to cite some.  A U.S. resident like myself has a delegate to the U.S. Congress.  And his job is not only represent his district in the U.S. Congress but also identify educational and developmental projects in his district and procure money from the Federal Government for these projects.  Does this make him ‘awrajawi‘, to use our own colloquial term?  Similarly, If Woldu Tekle rambled or grumbled, depending on who you talk to, about his Awraja, does it imply that he disliked other Awrajas of Eritrea; therefore, he is ‘awrajawi’?  Far from it, he has an absolute right to talk about his Awraja, the same as you own that right too.  Ask you acquaintances where they are from and they would be proud to tell you their country of origin to the village level.  But in Eritrea, we were told it is a taboo, perhaps illigal, to talk about your awraja.  Why?  Because the dictator wants to destroy your identity.  Have you ever noticed and condemed this practice?  You did not.

Mr. Anonymous, Do you know how the opposition is portrayed by the dictator and his cronies?  Yes, you know it, if you are true to yourself.  It is portrayed as the Akeleguzay movement.  Why these sick minded people afraid Akeleguzay is a subject better left for the political analysts.  I do, however, want to tell you that by portraying the opposition as the affairs of one region, they are making a mockery of Eritreans and is an insult to the intelligence of our people, including you.

To give you a good example, I just want to mention the 1973 movement, aka, Menqua.  That movement was a watershed moment in Eritrean politics.  Had it succeeded, perhaps today Eritrea would have been a vibrant country.  Sadly, that movement is still portrayed as an Akeleguzay movement while compatriots from other awrajas paid a heavy price as well.  George Orwell once said, ‘history is an official lie.‘  Today, the dictator, having controlled the mechanisms of deception, chicanery and lies wants to hoodwink us into believing his official lie.

Concurrently, let me make a passing reference about the 1978 “Yemin.”  Their story is the saddest of all.  Nearly all of them from awraja Hamasien, they were slaughtered by the dictator to simply placate the grumblers of the Menqua movement; because a few of them were former tormentors of the Menqua.  Thereby, creating the condition for himself the impression of a fair and impartial leader.  Their struggle and heroism turned into ash and thrown into a wastebasket and nobody talks about them.  They have simply been forgotten as if they never existed.  What an insult to Hamasien!  What a travesty of justice!  Why is this so?  The answer is simple Mr. Anonymous; to present the opposition as the Akeleguzay Movement.

Regarding the suffering of our people, truth got to be told.  Nobody suffered more than the people of Hamasien: their awraja is completely dismembered, the people are dispossessed of their land especially around Asmara and they are portrayed, falsely, as the beneficiaries of the system when in fact they are the victims.  Did you expose this injustice Mr. Anonymous?

It is true that there are some societal ills in Eritrea, as there are in any society.  And the stupidest ethnocentists who believe in their own narrative sustain and inflame these ills.  Let me tell you a story I heard recently.  It is a very minor thing, yet indicative of the poisoned atmosphere created by the dictator: a certain individual is recently released from a higidef imprisonment; lets call it Wi’A.  When his son called to congratulate him, the father stated that what had happened to him was sad and shouldn’t have happened, but It was all right as far as another person from other regions and specially from Akeleguay doesn’t come to power and urged his son to stick to this school of thought.  Imagine how some people think.  This guy is more than willing to be dragged from his house to be arrested in Wi’A, as far as Akeleguzay or other regions don’t come to power.  He would turn a blind eye to the mistreatment [comfort women] of his sisters by the generals, as far as nobody comes to power except what he, in his ignorant mind, perceived as his own.    So that is how the dictator exploits the stupidity of some people to create the kind of atmosphere he wants for himself; so much so that, while we are shouting and fighting one another, he is entrenched as ever.

Did you fight this injustice that you might as well wag your finger at Woldu Tekle for speaking the truth?  You did not.  This is what we call in our Eritrean adage, “zehmiKo aleni betri habuni”

The Eritrean political landscape is rife with a thousand opposition groups, all of them impotent and ineffective; some of them even, wittingly or unwittingly, rewinded the progress of the opposition.  Witnessing another opposition group sprouting like a seed became our common currency.  Sometimes I reason: If I assemble a few people, give a  name to the group, distribute pamphlets and condemn the dictator; here you go! You  have another opposition group.  Recently, yet another group of individuals, under the beguiling name of “MedreK,” surfaced in the Diaspora.  This time though, they say they want a dialogue.  According to their spokesman, they will ‘neutralize’ Issayas and discuss with their peers inside Eritrea.

Here is the trick!

First, what does ‘neutralize’ Issayas mean?  It could mean retire, exile, arrest or killing him?  This, they failed to clarify.

Second, who are they to dialogue with?  With the same criminal higdefite entities who are equally responsible for the misery of our people?  And to dupe Eritreans into echoing, “Oh! The-source-of-our-misfortune, Issayas, is-gone-therefore, we-don’t-have-any-problem-now!” kind of naive pronouncements?  Thereby, maintaining the status quo and avoiding responsibility in the process?  This is what we call ‘EbeTo…EbeTo.’

Did you fight for justice in Eritrea Mr. Anonymous?

There is another stain in their group as well.  This is in the person of Andebrhan Woldegiorgis, their leader.  This individual was the one who declared the guilt of the G15 to the world in 2001.  When asked by a BBC reporter if the group were arrested for criticizing the President, he replied with complete impunity, and I am paraphrasing the interview I heard back then, “No, they were arrested for security reasons. They can speak their mind, but they betrayed the country.”  He has since made a complete turnaround and said, “…those who attempted to reform the system ended up in jail…blah…blah….”  Once opportunism rears its ugly head and ethical standards are  absent, society becomes the victim.

Have you heard ‘a man without a character has no enemies.”?  It means that he hasn’t done anything worth following.  Andebrhan lived as a stooge and will remain as a stooge.

This is not to mention what Andebrhan played at Asmara University in the mid 90s.  This regionalist idiot consumed what the dictator fed him and declared openly, “We thought we liquidated Menqua in Sahel but we found it here.”  Who was he referring to was an open secret.  This person was so sure about his assumed larger than life personality  [the narrative] that he might have known what he said would someday be a public domain. He nonetheless, blared it in the open.  He fired them all and hired foreigners in their stead.  In the aftermath of their firing, they had to scramble to provide for their families.  Today, most of them left Eritrea in disgust – unsure to return to their country – and became distinguished Professors in other countries.  Who in his right mind would do this injustice to his fellow citizens is beyond comprehension.

So my question to you Mr. Anonymous, did you condemn Andebrhan’s petty awrajawi adventure at Asmara University?  Or was this not awrajawinet according to your definition?  Is it a typical ‘zehmiko aleni….’ mentality that you think you are at liberty to throw a salvo at Woldu now, while the dictator is depopulating your country?  It is not going to work anymore.

Mr. Anonymous, this is enough for you to contemplate about.  Eritrea doesn’t have a shortage of robots and soulless zombies who are willing to serve the dictator.  Don’t become one of them.  You are not getting anywhere with picture posting or intimidation.  Remember that dictators are like parasites; they live off the people.  They create division and acrimony; divide and rule is their preferred method.  If you want to fight ‘awrajanet,‘ start at the source if you can.  Woldu Tekle couldn’t possibly be your enemy.  You said you are going to post more of Woldu’s articles.  I urge you, don’t do it!

Let me finish with the best quote I read recently.  The quote is from Harriet Tubman, the late African American abolitionist,

“I freed a thousand slaves I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves.”

Mr. Anonymous, if you knew it: Eritrea is turned into a Gulag, there is no more family life in Eritrea, the family is dismantled, your brothers are enslaved by the dictator, your sisters are turned into comfort women – unable to marry and have children of their own, the exodus of the youth is staggering.  The dictator simply denied Eritreans a normal life.  Had it not been for nature’s benevolent gift, the dictator would have denied us the air we breeze, Oxygen; if it were his property.

Conformity is the norm of the day among Eritreans.  That is why we hear a lot of brouhaha about Woldu.  Any person who deviate from the norm invites the ire of some, and I am sure Woldu Tekle knew about it.  He is a maverick.  When everybody started to pay close attention to what is at stake, what the maverick said before becomes the norm now.  This is the disease that is sapping our energy.  Woldu Tekle refused to conform and it is his right to do so. You may not like his ideas but at least recognize his right.

So Mr. Anonymous, unless there is some radical change, Eritrea will never be at peace under the current conditions.  The minimum you can do is joint the forces of change in Eritrea.  You have a stake in a peaceful Eritrea like anybody else and that time will not be far.

Sincerely,

Tesfamichael Kidane