http://www.eritrean-smart.org/content/eritreaat24-series-may-21st-eritrea-no-weapon-can-defeat-people-decided-be-free
*ERITREA: No Weapon can Defeat a People Decided to be Free*
By: Sophia Tesfamariam
...The birth of the State of Eritrea was not a miracle but rather
the product of "wisdom and foresight" by patriots who abided by a
transition process that led to a non-violent process of Eritrea's
independence..."-US diplomat Mark Baas
Eritrea's independence came in 1991 when the Eritrean People's
Liberation Army (EPLA) rolled into Asmara, the Eritrean capital, ending
the 30-year Armed Struggle for Independence. Eritrea's independence was
accepted by the US led international community with great reluctance,
and for the last 24 years, there have been several attempts to thwart
Eritrea's independence, violate her sovereignty and disrupt Eritrea's
nation building process. In addition to a sustained and concerted effort
to distort the unparalleled heroic history of the Eritrean People's
Liberation Front (EPLF), now the Peoples Front for Democracy and Justice
(PFDJ) and the misrepresenting Eritrea's national identity -Eritreanism
has come under relentless attack.
Nation building requires among other things these three-a strong
political organization to act as the vanguard of the people, a unified
population, and a clear vision. Eritrea has all three and more. The
EPLF's base was uniformly strong across Eritrean society and it
developed into a national institution with a mass character during the
protracted struggle for Eritrea's independence. The EPLF had effectively
been a government-in-waiting, a "government in the jungle"-mengsti ab
beraka-for quite some time before independence was finally achieved. The
Front:
... accomplished extraordinary things with meager resources. Despite
the continuing absence of sustained external support, the Front
steadily improved its military capacity, while simultaneously
building basic infrastructure (construction, transportation,
communications), promoting economic development (agriculture, animal
husbandry, commerce and trade), delivering social services
(education, health, emergency relief), and campaigning to alter
fundamental power relations within rural society (land reform,
marriage reform, restructuring of village administration)...
The Front which enjoyed legitimacy and broadly based support in the
Eritrean society, had within it a committed competent caliber of
dedicated political and administrative cadres, who were easily mobilized
to fill the gaps in the institutions of government when the EPLF took
control of the country.
...the selflessness, discipline and honesty of the EPLF cadres
smoothed the transition in circumstances of extreme economic
devastation and social dislocation..."
This strong reserve of seasoned leaders at the national and village
level were ready and able, to embark on the arduous task of nation
building. Across Eritrea, these dedicated sons and daughters who served
in the liberation war, now are working side by side the younger
generation who are honing their skills and rebuilding their beloved
nation from scratch. Understanding Eritrea's development strategy
requires knowledge of Eritrea's rich history, and Eritrea's diverse
cultures, norms and social traditions. Non-pecuniary motivations such as
love of people and service to country, self -reliance, dignity and
self-esteem, values cultivated during the long struggle for Eritrea's
independence, remain the driving force and guiding principles today, as
they did then...
By unifying the religiously and ethnically diverse population to rally
behind the struggle for Eritrea's independence-the Front established a
key foundation for nation building-UNITY.
The National Charter says:
...it is primarily necessary to build a national government which
ensures unity and equality of the people of Eritrea, rejects all
divisive attitudes and activities, places national interest above
everything else, and enables participation of all sectors of
Eritrean society. All political establishments must be built on a
national basis, and all sectarian political tendencies must be
categorically rejected. All forms of discrimination and domination,
including ethnic and regional, must also be rejected. The diverse
cultures of Eritrea should be a source of power and unity. The
national system should be secular, separate from religion, yet
respectful of the equality of religions. In short, nationhood must
be the basis of all political institutions and policies..."
With national unity achieved and strengthened over time, and with a
committed generation of freedom fighters on hand, the Front, with its
conscious polity, embarked on the arduous task of nation building.
During the struggle for Eritrea's independence, and during the early
formative years of statehood, the Government of Eritrea introduced
judicious policies on religion, language, land reform, gender equality
etc. in order to preserve and enhance the unity of the people. After
independence the Government of Eritrea also instituted the National
Service program and the Warsay Yikaalo Program for development, but the
naysayers ridiculed the programs. Today all the programs have borne
measurable results in the improvement of the people's standard of living
and have enabled Eritrea to lay the necessary economic foundations
relying mostly on internal resources. Frantz Fanon understood the
importance of national unity and wrote in "The Wretched of the Earth":
...The mobilisation of the masses, when it arises out of a war of
liberation, introduces into each man's consciousness the idea of a
common cause, of a national destiny, of a collective history...the
building of the nation is helped by the existence of this cement,
which has been mixed with blood and anger...."
Eritrea has got it... The international community which has spent
billions on peacekeeping missions around the world purportedly to secure
peace, stability and security in nations emerging from conflict did not
have to spend a penny on Eritrea in 1991 because, the EPLF was not only
capable of securing its own territories, but it also secured Addis Ababa
and some key towns, so that Ethiopia would not disintegrate into chaos
and mayhem following the flight of Megistu to Zimbabwe and the crumbling
of the Derg- military regime, as Somalia did after the overthrow of the
Siad Barre regime.
The absence of a strong unifying Front or an indigenous political
organization rooted in its own cultures and traditions, can have
disastrous effects on a nation, even if there is strong international
support as we have seen in Ethiopia, South Sudan and Somalia. Today, the
existence and vitality of the PFDJ in the nation building process have
become even more apparent with the escalation of hostilities against
Eritrea and its people. It is the existence of the PFDJ, a strong
organization rooted in Eritrean society, a stabilizing force
underpinning Eritrea's economic, social and political development, which
has prevented Eritrea from descending into chaos and disaster. It
remains the stabilizing linchpin of Eritrea's political system
today...as such, it has borne the brunt of the various destabilizing
agendas directed at Eritrea from the various quarters and bad mouthing
the People's Front from the very beginning has the order of the day for
many a group who do not wish Eritrea but ill-will.
Eritrea's mass organizations such as the National Union of Eritrean
Workers, the National Union of Eritrean Women (1979) and the National
Union of Eritrean Youth and Students (1979) which were established
during the long struggle for independence, and had their roots in
Eritrean society were also undermined and vilified as external entities
attempted to establish their own footprints in the young nation. When
the Peoples Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) began the task of
organizing the youth in the vast Eritrean Diaspora, Eritrea's enemies
were petrified. The cable sent by Ronald McMullen, the US Ambassador in
Eritrea, exposes this fear:
...Eritrean youth in the diaspora are a divided community. For those
that support the GSE, their unwavering dedication likely stems from
their isolation as a minority in another country and from the
ever-present hand of the Young People´s Front for Democracy and
Justice (YPFDJ) to enforce a "proudly Eritrean" identity. The YPFDJ
bills itself as a movement to build "strong, conscious, and
patriotic Eritrean youth." The sub-goal is to strengthen support
abroad for the PFDJ and the GSE... Social networking sites abound
with YPFDJ groups (37 groups on Facebook and a newly formed Twitter
account as of October). Although many YPFDJ gatherings are merely
cultural exhibitions or parties, the youth involved are
indoctrinated early on in pro-GSE propaganda, thus further fueling
many diaspora youth´s overt infatuation with Eritrea and vehement
defense of the GSE..."
Obviously the good Ambassador was not losing sleep over YPFDJ cultural
exhibitions and parties, but like the others who want to undermine the
movement and the caliber of its members, underestimates the importance
of the values and principles- national unity, active public
participation, the human element, linkage between national and social
struggles, self-reliance, and the strong relationship between the people
and the leadership, which are producing miracles in Eritrea today.
Eritrean unity remains at the heart of Eritrea's peace and political
stability, economic development and exemplary harmonious culture of
ethnic and religious tolerance and respect. The peoples unity being the
first and foremost prerequisite for a peaceful and prosperous country,
strengthening it has been one of the fundamental themes during the
struggle for Eritrea's independence and remains central today in
Eritrea's nation building strategy. The Government of Eritrea has
instituted policies to strengthen the unity of the people through
education and culture. Unfortunately, as with all other programs and
policies in Eritrea, no stones have been left unturned in order to
disrupt the unity of the Eritrean people. Much time and resources has
been spent to create a divide between the people and government and also
within the population along religious and ethnic lines. Eritrea's
religious institutions have been attacked by both Christian and Islamic
fundamentalists alike.
Eritrea and its people have, in the last 24 years, have faced
US-Ethiopia engineered UN sanctions in 2009 and 2011, undeclared
economic sanctions that persist to this day, a sustained and ferocious
orchestrated media attack on its economic, social and political
strategies for development, insidious plots to disrupt the people's
unity and arrest Eritrea's economic development through sanctions and
sabotage, a destructive Ethiopian war of aggression, a 13-year long
Ethiopian occupation, and a dangerous and insidious campaign to drain
its human resource capacity by an organized trafficking network of
colluding states such as Ethiopia and Djibouti, United Nation's
agencies, such as the United Nation's Mission in Eritrea and Ethiopia
(UNMEE) and UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and members of the
Eritrean Quislings League (EQL).
Every country has its Quislings League-internal enemies who work with
the enemy, and Eritrea is no different. Eritrea's quislings are seasonal
and predictable; they only make their appearances when their handlers
are cornered, and when they feel their livelihood is being threatened.
The Eritrean Quislings League (EQL) is:
...an alliance of jilted and scorned individuals, of like-minded
defeatists, self-serving defectors, deserters and draft dodgers,
human traffickers, disgruntled runaway diplomats, pedophiles,
rapists, deceitful counterfeiters, information launderers and an
assortment of shameless scandalous opportunists disguised as
'journalists', 'human rights' and 'democracy' activists. These pawns
serve as runners for western fundamentalist Christian cartels,
Western agencies and NGOs. These self-professed 'intellectuals and
professionals', and pseudo-intellectuals who engage in academic
dishonesty, a loathsome miscreant mercenary Eritrean elite have
spent the last 15 years slavishly parroting prepared anti-Eritrea
propaganda, in exchange for pitiful stipends..."
The EQL- the "Eritrean Faces", are considered useful to serve to advance
agendas against the State of Eritrea- because of their access and
understanding of Eritrean culture and psyche.
The individuals who serve as the "Eritrean Faces" formed several
Astroturf organizations in cyberspace, and were directly or indirectly
funded by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), Christian
Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), Amnesty International and the media outfits
such as the Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) and
Reporters San Frontiers (RSF). They mushroomed in cyberspace in 2001,
but other than milking US and EU taxpayers, have found no support among
the Eritrean society or in its vast Global Diaspora Communities. In
violation of the African Union and UN Charters and international law,
Eritrea's sovereign rights, its people's right to self-defense and right
to development, and most importantly, the right to live in peace within
their own internationally recognized borders continue to be undermined
and violated.
Eritreans are constantly baffled by the misrepresentation of the Front,
its policies and the Eritrean people by agencies and individuals who
rely on the EQL for their information on Eritrea. Let us take a look at
some of the statements made by those who insist on distorting Eritrea's
realities:
1.
... we think that the whole population wants independence. They
may not understand what it means...We are worried about Eritrea
because we are not sure that differences among different groups
can be kept under control. Everything could be destroyed there
if people begin fighting each other. When the EPLF takes over
Asmara, they will have a difficult burrito, because they have to
keep the people together. Some of the Muslims will favor
separatism but there is no strength in unity among them on this
issue..."--Meles Zenawi in his interview with Paul Henze, April 1990
2.
The Eritrean nationalism, a by-product of recent history, is
based essentially on the negation of Ethiopianism. Prior to the
Eritreans bitter experiences with Ethiopian authorities, an
all-Eritrean sentiment barely existed. Today, although their
sentiment is unquestionably strong the Eritreans have yet to
prove themselves able to build an all-Eritrean movement. Their
young nationalism, however sincere, is apparently still too
shallow and rootless to help Eritreans overcome a historically
rooted sectarianism and the temptations of destructive
radicalism. Ethiopian nationalism, in contrast, stems from 20
centuries of flexible and pragmatic continuity."---Haggai
Erlich, The Struggle over Eritrea 1962-1978, Haggai Erlich,
1983, P. 20.
3.
...Although it seems that loyalty to the Eritrean national
identity has not diminished, Eritrean citizenship has lost much
of its appeal [...], especially among young people that are
about to serve their compulsory military service. Therefore,
national identity could start to fray..."-Alexandra Dias
4.
...in the eyes of the Eritrean leadership [...] Eritrea, with
its patiently disciplined population, resembles a hardened
battalion of stubborn soldiers". The leadership's "insistence on
pursuing their ideology of "self-reliance" may thus turn out to
be at best counter-productive, and at worst disastrous. The
government simply cannot afford to scare away donors, NGOs, and
UN agencies (not to mention foreign investors) by adhering to a
nationalist narrative based on "stubbornness"-(Christian Bundegaard)
5.
...If the new proclamation [Eritrea;s Proclamation on NGOs]
results in the closing down of the few independent local NGOs as
well, starvation threats will rise to top..."-An international
NGO 2005
6.
...most of the population will have no personal memory of the
struggle at all, and calls by members of the ruling party to
remember their heroic contribution will simply fall on
uncomprehending ears. In some cases, as with the national
service scheme in Eritrea, deliberate efforts were made by the
ruling party to inculcate into rising generations the values of
struggle, discipline and dedication to the cause that had driven
their predecessors, but -- try as one may -- the post-liberation
situation is so different that this objective is almost
impossible to achieve..."-Christopher Clapham
7.
...the Warsay Yikealo Development Campaign is an attempt to
contest the cultural spaces of the various social groups by
superimposing the ideology of the armed struggle on the young
generation. It is forbidden to practice one's religion in the
military service, and the rich variety of language and culture
is merged into a superficial performance of cultural dances
presented during state holidays, which cannot cover the
predominance of Tigrinya language and culture which dominates
life in the national service, reflecting the power structure
within the ruling elites within the government and
military..."-Nicole Hirt
8.
Etc. etc. ...
Eritrea's self-reliance principle has garnered the most space in the
volumes produced about this young nation. Lest it is once again
misconstrued, let us take a look at what the Front has to say. In its
1983 document, "The Experiences of the E.P.L.F. in Pursuing the Policy
of Self-Reliance on the Economic Field, the Front clearly defined
Eritrea's self-reliance principle:
...The pursuance of a policy of self-reliance is essential for the
total independence and liberation of a society. Politically, it is
the only means to complete freedom. Economically, it is likewise the
only means...that enables a people to develop their economic
potential depending on their own material and human resources.
Socially, it is an essential liberating process, emphasizing as it
does working cooperatively and collectively to satisfy your own
needs. Dependence breeds subservience and lack of self-confidence.
Freedom from dependence enhances a people's independence of
thinking, innovativeness, perseverance and pride in work and
struggle. In pursuing a policy of self-reliance, these attitudes
permeate and accelerate the development of every aspect..."
The last 24 years, as Eritrea developed its nascent institutions, built
human capacity and embarked on an ambitious development program in a
very hostile international environment, it was this principle that has
enabled the young nation to not only survive, but thrive.
Despite the unprecedented, and unprovoked, hostilities by the US led
international community, Ethiopia and its surrogates in the EQL, and a
sustained two decade long vilification and defamation campaign by the
above mentioned groups and individuals, the people and government of
Eritrea have not only survived, but have managed to create miracles.
Today, Eritrea remains a stable and peaceful haven in the turbulent Horn
region, and its hard working and determined people are on track to meet
7 out of the 8 UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), have achieved
food security, greatly improved literacy in its adult population,
extended life expectancy for both men and women, reduced child
mortality, improved maternal health, eradicated polio and malaria,
reduced incidence of HIV-Aids etc. etc admirable achievements
considering the hostilities and the many attempts at sabotage.
The formative years since independence, although a very short
transitional period of statehood, have provided Eritreans an invaluable
lesson for generations to come. As Eritreans around the world celebrate
Eritrea's 24th Independence Anniversary, and the people and government
take stock of Eritrea's challenges and opportunities of the last couple
of decades, Eritrea's message to the world remains the same:
...[to those] who give aid and support in the name of Christianity
or Islam that such aid or support is of no use to us; we do not want
it. We want to assure them that they will be only wasting their
resources in vain. To those Eritreans who want to serve their
personal interests using religion as an instrument, we wish to not
only remind them that their opportunism is shameful but that they
will also be remembered as criminals in the history of our people
and in the eyes of the world..."
The above is from the 1971 EPLF document Nihnan Elamanan ....
Eritrea's vision for the future remains the same as it was in 1991:
...Our vision is for Eritrea to become a country where peace,
justice, democracy and prosperity prevail. Our vision is to
eliminate hunger, poverty and illiteracy from Eritrea. Our vision is
for Eritrea to preserve its identity and uniqueness, develop
commitment to family and community care, and by advancing
economically, educationally and technologically, find itself among
the developed countries. Our vision is for Eritrean society to be
known for harmony among its different sectors, gender equality, love
of country, humanity, discipline, hard work and love for knowledge,
respect for law and order, independence and inventiveness. Our
vision is to perform miracles in peaceful nation-building as we did
in the war of liberation..."
It may have come as a surprise to some, especially the younger
generation, to see the extreme hostilities of some states against
Eritrea and may even be surprised by the silence and acquiescence of the
United Nations and its tentacled organizations to the anti-Eritrea
campaigns, and some may even succumb to the pressures and believe
Eritrea can't do it alone...but history and the experience of the last
24 years have shown that Eritrea can-the obstacles placed may prolong
the journey, but it will not arrest Eritrea's progress....
The distinguished Eritrean scholar, the late Tekie Fessehazion, in his
2000 article, "In defiance, Eritrea was born; in defiance, it will live
forever" said it best:
...Since the late forties one or both of the nuclear powers have
tried to abort Eritrea's birth as an independent state. In fact had
the U.S had its way, Eritrea was not supposed to exist as an
independent entity, and if it existed at all, it could be allowed to
live only as an appendage of Ethiopia. Eritrea was born in defiance,
against the wishes of the U.S and the international community. Those
who did not want to see Eritrea born then should not now be expected
to do a thing to see it live. Yet Eritrea will live, simply because
its people will make sure it does. In the end it matters not whether
the world likes it or not, Eritrea is here to stay. Eritrea lives..."
Who could have imagined, in 1991 for instance, that the course of events
would make this country the master of its own destiny? The will and
resoluteness of the Eritrean people have been tested. Eritrea is
standing tall today because of the determination, steadfastness and
tenacity of its people who have rejected all machinations and attacks
against their beloved nation...and just as it was back then... no weapon
can defeat a people decided to be free!
Zelealemawi zkri N'Semaetat Eritrea-Eternal glory to Eritrea's Martyrs
Awet N'Hafash-Victory to the people!
Received on Fri May 22 2015 - 07:44:39 EDT