|
|
|
|
| Last Updated: Jun 14, 2010 - 8:03:37 PM |
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
Eritrea – The Need for Reality Check
1 Mar 1, 2010 - 1:10:39 PM
|
BY: Abdullah A. Ado – Email:abdullahadoa@gmail.com
There are few highlanders versus lowlanders stories which, when put in contrast, highlight why we need our political reform reality check. In terms of instinctive feel for public opinion on Eritrean peoples’ contemporary status, majority are disappointed by what the see and hear. Indeed, Afewarki and Shaabia followers are nothing but far too willing prisoners of the false arguments they have intentionally been creating and nurturing since their hay days in their hideout resorts as gorilla fighters of the 1970s through to 1990. To this effect, I made few basic contentions in my earlier articles where I portrayed the true features of Issayas Afewarki, Shaabia and the contemporary PFDJ-junta. Similarly I happen to come across Afewarki’s latest interview at: http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/talktojazeera/2010/02/201021921059338201.html
him with allegations about Eritrea's ties with Iran, Hamas, Al-Shabab in Somalia and rebel groups in Darfur Sudan as well as the Houthis in Yemen. In the same tone, she confronted him with allegations on Eritrean exodus, food shortage and famine, lack of freedom of expression and mass media control, Sawa draft, border tension with Ethiopia, disappearance of the football team in Kenya and others in Scotland. In reply Afewarki insults, tantrums and uses defensive attitudes instead of responding with diplomacy, patience and calm attitudes. To all genuine and justifiable allegations Afewarki blatantly denies by calling them a pack of lies fabricated by the USA-government, the CIA; and conspiracies cooked and dispatched by the Western media to take Eritrea for a sell ride in collaboration with Aljazeera. Nevertheless, all these reality checks are brought to the attention of the on looker to judge Eritrea’s present status and its future soon after Wodi-Afom’s downfall.
To this effect, although those of us supporting RSADO and its causes did send our subsequent articles to several Eritrean websites only few half-heartedly indicated our articles’ publication sources to interested readers; and thereby refused to directly publish on their own websites; the reason being for fear of raising tensions along the latent ethnic, religious, cultural, linguistic, and other underlying attitude differences that have been there for several decades. Whether we like it or not, the crystal clear fact we all know well is that: Eritrea is a fragile territory with its unfinished business of state formation. Economically, Eritrea is so ill-structured and weak; leave alone to stand independently on its own and feed its population satisfactorily. Socially, Eritrea is a giant prison where the Eritrean silent and salient majority is prisoners of Wodi Afom and his Gestapo like PFDJ-military junta.
Yet Wodi Afom, the well-known fighting phantom, still holds his hegemonic aspirations alive far beyond his own ability to manoeuvre circumstances falling within his ideological flip-flops. Likewise most opposition websites owned by highland Eritrean groups in Diaspora desperately continue to propagate and portray a pattern of face-lifting reform alternatives as outlets to Afewarki’s ongoing tyrannical rule; simply to maintain Eritrean highland Tigrinya supremacist hegemony by enslaving and by proudly and jubilantly ruling the forgotten silent and salient majority Eritrean pastoralists and peasants alike.
Eritrean highlanders versus lowlanders:
As Afewarki’s hegemony is becoming solidly vivid by the day, we in RSADO are equally glad to have witnessed the following three concrete predicaments among Eritrean highlander elites:
The “Eritrean identity gridlock” that has been wrapped-up by false aggrandizement tales of Eritrea being a more superior territory than its neighboring nations; be it intelligence wise or from socio-economic stand points; is becoming clearly false argument. On the contrary, the more we open our naked eyes, check the Eritrean reality by looking critically inwards at ourselves and question what makes who we are, there always arise hot and hiked debates in our respective highlanders versus lowlanders political kitchens.
Eritrean highland Tigrinya groups somehow believe that they are far more superior (in terms of cultural and political sophistication) to the other 8-ethnic groups within Eritrea; and to the pastoral lowlanders in particular.
By creating a filter-system for Eritrean Highland Tigrinya Puritanism within themselves highlanders classify those Tigrinya individuals born outside highland Eritrea as what is pejoratively known as: AMICE / AMICHE - meaning spare-parts exported from highland Eritrea and assembled inside Ethiopia. As such, Amices are looked down upon as 2nd class people within Eritrean highland Tigrinya groups; and are considered as untrustworthy; and doubtfully watched for inclining in their thinking pattern to their Ethiopian background and sympathy for reunion by mental make-up. Indeed this is the sole reason why Afewarki strongly believes in continuing to indoctrinate and brain-wash the youth group in Eritrea’s SAWA-military garrisons to act and behave in a newly molded “Eritrean” behavioral pattern; while at the same time preaching his disintegration Gospel to other opposition groups coming from outside his jurisdiction. To this effect, in order to disprove the doubts posed on them the Amices have become diehard, ardent and new-born Eritrean in their attitude.
The opinion above is solely the author's and does not necessarily reflect the views of
Garowe Online
and its affiliates.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
