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May 24 Independence Celebrations to Exclude Dances

By Dr. Russom Mesfun Eritrean communities in the diaspora are taking steps to commemorate Independence Day on May 24 without the usual musical celebrations due to the loss of hundreds of Eritreans in a shipwreck and

By Dr. Russom Mesfun

Eritrean communities in the diaspora are taking steps to commemorate Independence Day on May 24 without the usual musical celebrations due to the loss of hundreds of Eritreans in a shipwreck and the shocking slayings by ISIS terrorists.

Concerns that some of the next of keen of the victims might not even be aware, and that Eritreans at home and in the diaspora are still in mourning, have prompted communities to cancel dances at the May festivals while exploring ways to use the event to conduct seminars and memoriams for the victims.

The cancellations are limited to diaspora communities in the US, though it’s hoped that those in Europe, Africa and Australia would follow suit.

It is customary in Eritrean tradition to refrain from music and dances during a period of mourning. “The senseless death of so many people is too fresh in our minds to celebrate by dancing even on Independence Day,” Yukuno Bahta of Las Vegas said.

On Tuesday, activists declared a National Week of Mourning from April 29 to May 3.

Moreover, the public is alarmed at the increasing numbers of people perishing in search of asylum, with many calling for action to address the root cause of the crisis.

The failure of the PFDJ to mourn the loss of its citizens only served to reconfirm the growing gap between the people and the government. Recently, the regime’s supporters were roundly condemned for sponsoring a musical performance during a Washington, DC gathering in the aftermath of the tragedy.

Pictures of its followers dancing in droves during the weekend touched a raw nerve in Eritreans commenting on social media. Many particularly blamed the veteran singer Haile Gebru for performing in front of a PFDJ crowd.

 

However, in a positive development, the tragedy brought Eritreans and Ethiopians together to grieve the brutal massacre of their members by knife-wielding ISIS fanatics. In moving testimonials, both sides appreciated coming together at a difficult period for their communities.

 

 

 

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22 COMMENTS
  • winta April 29, 2015

    Good initiative, i hope many more in Europe would join it.

  • Selamawi April 29, 2015

    Thank you for this! Dancing in the current climate is not right. We should rather discuss how to improve our situation.

    Only desensitized and unsympathetic/unemphatic individuals like Isaias Afwerki will enjoy dancing, drinking… when the whole nation is in grief.

    Please pfdj members get real, retrieve your human behavior and react as Eritrean human beings!

    Let’s postpone all dancing and other

  • Selamawi April 29, 2015

    Thank you for this! Dancing in the current climate is not right. We should rather discuss how to improve our situation.

    Only desensitized and unsympathetic/unemphatic individuals like Isaias Afwerki will enjoy dancing, drinking… when the whole nation is in grief.

    Please pfdj members get real, retrieve your human behavior and react as Eritrean human beings!

    Let’s postpone all dancing and other activities of that kind. It not accepted in our society, it is no accepted in most cultures; and most importantly we have to concentrate on solving our problems rather than galvanize them with dancing …

    God bless us all

  • ogbai April 29, 2015

    YES! I don’t feel like dancing at all. I think we are dancing to make happy our Evil leaders by saying HAGGER ‘XEBUq ALA.’ I ENCOURGE TO HAVE THE WISDOM to take this years celebration to sit on every possible places and we should give it A TRY to make it an open discussion event IN EVERY POSSIBLE. Then MAY BE THEN WE CAN OPEN THE FLOOR FOR FEW ROUND DANCING AS USSUAL. And it should be chosen the timely songs LIKE ‘SEAT AKILU’ by Amanuel Zemicheal in the for fronts and followed by the very best songs of others like Zerisenay Germay ect…

    KULU ATEHASASEBANA KqYEAR ALEWO!
    MELKI YFRESS HIGI YNGESS!
    Eti melaki kab seru ybonqos!
    kuLU kHGOS KULU KDEBESS!

  • Zeray April 29, 2015

    Great idea.

  • Yerhiwo April 29, 2015

    Dance and “Guayla” is a way to hide the pain and sorrow during the Gedli time. They bring this evil tradition from their “Gedli” to so called “Wedi Berad’s Eritrea.”
    Shame on you Haile Gebru to dance and sing when Eritrean bodies are floating in the sea and Eritreans are slaughtered like a sheep!! Shame on you the moron HGDEF members, the TEWLEGE’S (kilwlaw menenet), the people who think that the government is theirs (you know who I am referring), the so called Dr. of Algebra and Dr. of psycho who can’t make enough money by teaching in colleges, etc. This is not a dancing time for any Eritrean who has normal brain and normal consciousness!! Haile Gebru (originally from Tigray like you master Wedi Berad, Kisha and Monkey), do you have any relative in Eritrea???? Don’t you fell pain and sorrow when kids die??? Why don’t you drive taxi and make decent money??????

  • YERHWO April 29, 2015

    thank you.

    Let’s mourn and reflect, The culture of dancing over unburied human beings is a curse inherited from the ghedli era. It should buried for good. What happened to our culture that is so respectful for the dead , that people dismounted their horses/mules when passing a village that is burying its dead.

    • Yerhiwo April 29, 2015

      YERHWO moksi,

      The respect for the dead is gone during the Ethio regime. Even the killer Mengistu respected the body of martyred Tegadalay during the attack of the Asmara Airport in 1980’s.

      Most of the so called liberators are brutal who don’t care for the dead or even for human life. They killed wounded veterans in Maihabar, they jail people without due process, they torture, they rape, etc. They change Eritrea into lawless state that is not better than even Somalia!!!

  • Nathaniel AM April 29, 2015

    A day should be observed across Eritrea Diaspora around the globe every year marked the “Desperate Eritrean Day”, as a tribute to those very brave souls, Eritreans who lost their precious lives in search of freedom and dignified lives of God’s gift to humans.

  • AHMED SALEH April 29, 2015

    Many Eritreans look confused to let partisan politics mislead them
    disconnected from reality of our people back home daily life . And
    the productive way to change this unrealistic thinking against our
    common interest is to campaign respectfully by reaching on every
    fellow native mind and soul to consider the pain of entire society
    inside the country . For more than twenty years we neglect the
    goal which we paid dearly with thousands life sacrifices .
    TIME TO BE OURSELVES THAN BLIND FOLLOWERS AT THE
    EXPENSE OF THOSE UNFORTUNATE WHO PAID THE PRICE
    TO DIE INHUMANE WAY ALONE FAR FROM HOME .
    At this moment to dance or celebrate only shows our dark side and
    shameful reputation of shelfishness . I think we should stop from
    fooling ourselves .

  • josy April 30, 2015

    Dr Russia Mesfun, thank you for the timely and conscientious reminder. This might as well awaken some sense of sobering thoughts in the minds of the confused hgdefites. This should be a reminder for the conscience of every individual eritrean in the world and not only for those in the US or Europe.

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