From: awetnayu@hotmail.com
Date: Sun Jan 24 2010 - 16:01:52 EST
In the Diaspora to Be Eritrean is Not a Right, but a Privilege that must be earned!
Amanuel Biedemariam
I recently posted an article “Redefining Eritreanisms in The Diaspora” in an effort to start a discussion about some, who are engaged in activities designed to undermine the Government and independence of Eritrea in the name of bringing change. Their reaction, while expected, was surprising for its ferocity. However, the substance of their responses motivated me to revisit the subject because I find the issue of paramount importance that needs to be addressed, now. Why? To determine who we are in the Diaspora in the face of the new predicament; to examine the opportunities, possibilities and direction. To help identify threats and sift-out enemies working against us, as one-of-us. And to move forward with a clear common-understanding of what it means to be Eritrean in the Diaspora. The challenge is how can the Diaspora Eritrean community achieve that? To come to that answer, we have to ask some fundamental questions.
Is it a “Right” for one to remain Eritrean regardless of how one behaves politically especially in the Diaspora? And if it is, how can one ascertain that one is Eritrean? And, if it isn’t a right, then what is it? Are all Eritreans around the world Eritreans because it is their birthright or, because they are born into families who are Eritreans? If one claims to be Eritrean, do we open our arms and give them unconditional Eritrean love and acceptance? Is claiming that you are one enough to make you Eritrean?
It is a matter of a national-security and sovereignty for any nation to require its citizens- abroad to be bound by the duties and responsibilities to their nation of origin. One can argue about the merits, enforcement, and the type of obligations but, it is there no matter who you are or where you come from. For example, Americans are bound by US laws and obligations whether they are in Saudi Arabia , Panama or any place else in the world.
Unfortunately, Africans in the US and in other Western nations come as immigrants to escape hardships. Once in the US/West however, they feel that they are no longer bound by the laws and obligations to their country of origin. Some ignore the requirements to their citizenry and engage in activities that could undermine their nation of origin thinking there will be no consequence for their actions. But what they fail to realize or ignore is, as Americans, for example, they could not go to North Korea, Cuba or anywhere in the world and bad-mouth the US. They know the consequences.
But some “nsom: etom kedaat” are openly, conspiring, plotting, forming and re-forming groups with stated and unstated plan to attack Eritreans from their safe-havens in Ethiopia and the US! They flout their trips to Ethiopia and openly engage on activities that antagonizes Eritreans. But the point they miss is; regardless of its power or size, a nation has the rights to denationalize a citizen. That means Eritrea could say “You are no longer Eritrean” legally. There was one such a case with a legal precedent that shows a nation’s’ right denationalize a citizen.
In TEMESGEN WOLDU HAILE, Petitioner, vs. ERIC H. HOLDER, JR., Attorney General of the United States, Respondent; The United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit determined, being denationalized by another nation did not amount to persecution. Thus they refused to grant Mr. Temesgen asylum to remain in the US. Mr. Temesgen is an Ethiopian from Eritrean parentage who returned to Eritrea after independence but remained in Ethiopia. By the age of sixteen, in 1998, the war broke out and Weyane expelled thousands of Eritrean and somehow Mr. Temesgen ended up in the US and asked for political asylum on the grounds of being denied citizenship by Ethiopia amounted to persecution. Therefore, to think by birthright one is a citizen is a mistake.
Furthermore, in the name of fighting dictatorship, PFDJ and for this or that right, they are involved in various activities against the stated interest of the people and State of Eritrea at many levels. These surrogates are ineffective, incompetent and have failed in every turn. However, the TPLF keeps reorganizing and funding these stooges in the hopes that at some point it could make a Somalia style TFG out of them. To that end they are tasked in various activities and campaigns in Ethiopia and in the West targeting specific-evil goals and objectives. To note some areas of their activities:
In the PR front:
It is amusing to see the interest BBC is showing to Shimbella refugee camp. The BBC has no history of respect to the plight of Eritrean refugees. Eritreans have been suffering as refugees absent of the British concern dying untimely death as a result of repression by successive Ethiopian regimes with support of The British for decades. The reality is the crocodile-tears The BBC sheds in the case of Shimbella is, a demonizing campaign with Western audience in mind. To sell the PR campaign however, the BBC needs people with Eritrean faces. That is when they use Selam Kidane, Elsa Chirum and others as advocates, of civic, religious and humanitarian groups etc…They have to use these personalities because TPLF will have no credibility if they were to come out and talk about Eritrean refugees. Therefore these personalities are helping the BBC to parade Shimbella refugees for propaganda.
The reality however, nearly all Eritreans in the Diaspora have been through the hardship the refugees in Shimbella or any other camp experience. Eritreans understand, and help refugees no matter whom or where they may be. In fact, it is Eritreans in the Diaspora that encourage many to flee in effect playing a role in human trafficking. The irony is the Sudanese people have hosted hundreds-of-thousands Eritrean refugees for decades. However, they have never exploited the refugee issues for propaganda PR purposes or political advantage like Weyane. This shows the true character of the defiled, immoral and criminal TPLF thugs and their surrogates like Selam.
In the Media:
Eritreans have long-given up on Western-media, particularly The BBC, to be fair and balanced and for good reasons. Cognizant of this fact, and in-order to reach Eritreans, the TPLF is waging a media-war, primarily via the internet using proxies like, Asmarino and Awate. These sites accommodate Weyane by echoing its propaganda in every step; from advocating the “Dialogue” campaign until the sanction measure Weyane pushed materialized. All campaigns Meles wages against Eritrea are amplified and sold through these sites, unashamedly. The head stooges of these sites have gone as far as Addis to interview their master Meles in Menelik Palace to push his agendas. That means these people are at war against the people of Eritrea! In their latest post-entry “Containing Iraq: Sanctions Worked,” Asmarino is advertising Iraq style invasion on Eritrea, openly. These people are mouthpieces of Weyane and there is no way to distinguish the propaganda machine of Weyane from theirs. In fact, they are the best tools Weyane has.
In the Diaspora:
The campaigns that are geared at the Diaspora Eritrea are multifaceted, sophisticated and enormous to summarize in a small piece as this one. However, their objectives are clear. To shake Eritrean unity; break the relation between the leadership and the people; demonize His Excellency President Isaias Afewerki; discourage Eritreans from resisting injustices by US/West; and in the best case scenario to make Eritreans work against their government. They aim to frustrate Eritreans from participating in Eritrean festivals; attack Eritrean history of bravery by trying to diminish “Ghedli” and what it means. They try to diminish our martyrs’ valor and Eritrean martyrdom by demonstrating against what they fell-for during a solemn occasion, Martyrs-Day. They continue to engage in a series of campaigns in order to dissolve Eritrean identity in the Diaspora!
They lie, exaggerate, intimidate and bad-mouth Eritreans. They give incentives to entice gullible people by assisting with immigration cases. One ex-official was rumored to have charged $500 per asylum-seeker for his testimony. In a vain attempt to embarrass the GoE and dismiss it as irrelevant; to help Meles clean his image and to create a rift amongst Eritreans; they encourage the youth and Diaspora to go to Ethiopia for economic gains and with promise to help emigrate them to the West. However, to go to Ethiopia for economic gain at this point is selfish, shortsighted and tantamount to stabbing those very people in the back! It is based on a mistaken assumption that Weyane will remain in power for long. This is the same Weyane that yanked the wealth from the hands of thousands of Ethiopians and Eritreans; threw the elderly, the sick and the helpless in the middle of the Afar desert.
In the military front:
According to the TPLF, on the 2nd of January 2010, two Eritrean rebel groups fought with the Eritrean Army in the Zlambesa- front and claimed to have killed 25 Eritrean soldiers and wounded 38 others. But, what I found interesting was the determination of the Awate gang trying to discredit Eritrean account with successive statements while buttressing Weyane’ position that the attack was perpetrated by rebel groups. In the process, at the very least, Awate showed that they have ties with these violent groups who are claiming to have taken the lives of Eritreans.
The Key
The parameters outlined above are areas to help Eritreans decipher where the nationality demarcation line lies. If one is engaged in any of those activities mentioned above; he or she has become the enemy of the people and State of Eritrea! Eritrea has a clear stand on attacks that come across the Ethiopian side of the border; regardless of the uniform, regardless of what the enemy calls them or call themselves the combatants are TPLF! There is no two-ways about it. That is a clear distinction. The question here is how should Diaspora Eritrea see them? It is simple. There is no difference between those who are openly claiming to have waged armed-campaign against Eritrean youth and those who are giving them moral, logistical, material support and waging PR and media campaigns in the Diaspora. They are extensions of those who are claiming to have killed Eritrean soldiers, which is treason and criminal act!
Concluding Remarks
It is an open secret that many individuals with Weyane affiliation are assuming fake-Eritrean identities to get asylums in the US among other places. Once in the US, they need no verification or validation and in time, their numbers can grow significantly. Unfortunately, that is the data used for statistics in government circles for PR and media purposes. This trend is certain to continue as long as the US continues to take a hostile posture against Eritrea. The sad part is that this is taking place while Eritreans are languishing in refugee camps being exploited by Weyane and others.
During the days of struggles for liberation, the journey was uphill, difficult and the odds were stocked against us. However, Eritreans knew each other and were vigilant. But after independence, while remaining united, they relaxed and complacency settled-in. After the Badme war however, Weyane and its surrogates, who claim to be Eritreans, are making repeated attempts to destroy the core-essence of the ingredients that make-up the foundation that propelled Eritrea to independence. These are beliefs supported by slogans and traditions that consistently glue Eritreans intact. Messages that called on the mass to be aware organize and arm; taught self-reliance; and victory for the masses. These messages are reinforced by celebrations and events that reflect it. It is a way of life and a belief system that sustains our nation. We are inspired and motivated by it. It is the reasons for connection for all Eritreans young and old.
What the enemy did to poke holes was simple; they use grievances to infuriate people. They used corruption, lack of oil, bread and temporary shortages of commodities to bad mouth the government. While these conversations were seemingly innocent they were designed to lead to divisive-and-inflammatory discussions; put the average person on the defensive, cloud the issues, and antagonize government supporters. It is nearly impossible to engage-in a civilized conversation because they jump from one grievance to another without a context to intimidate and frustrate people from talking about Eritrea in a good light. This is a deliberate effort to stifle the sentiments of pride, bravery and to discourage Eritreans from bragging about “DEKI KORICH, ETOM JEGANU” a feeling long-associated with Eritreans. Once in the complainers-circle; you are in their target audience likely to tolerate and accept their divide-by region, religion, family association and hate-filled political agenda.
My fellow Eritreans, to quote Ghedim,“ Any Eritrean who doesn't stand up to be counted at this time in our history is a living dead, anyone who stands up with our enemies is a traitor who should never be pardoned in the future!” The line is drawn. Gone should be the days when one could talk about Eritrea casually and passively. What the US and their puppets have done is naked, illegal and belligerent aggression. It is a matter of sovereignty and survival. If you believe the situation in the Horn is bad-now, think about Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and others caught in a Somalia like situation and, all at the same time. They want to stateless-hodgepodges of regional corrupt-governors/clan-leaders controlling resources and the fate of people in the region.
The idea behind this piece is to attempt to show the methodical approach they embarked on to defuse Eritrean nationalism and patriotic-zeal, for good! The least we can do is take time to understand the propaganda games they designed in-order to divide us from each other and from our country. We need to know who we are and who our enemies are. The line is demarcated. There is no way one can work against the stated interest of Eritrea, work with enemies, propagate and raise arms and be considered Eritrean!
It is a matter of record nsatom (meaning: G-hadis, Weytotat, Wegenawyan, Kehadti, terrorist etc…) are hard at work to undo the hard fought independence for-good. They, “nsatom“ are engaged on terror plots against the people and State of Eritrea in numerous occasions killing innocent civilians including foreigners that worked in Bisha. Furthermore, at this point, they”nsom” have become Kamikaze-pilots at a point-of-no-return. They”nsom” have concluded it is do or die time, a golden and only opportunity to ever see a “Dawning” in Asmara “Wegihu kblu“.
Therefore, for the sake of preserving our pride, national identity and unity and to honor those who gave their limbs and dear life; we need to ask a series of questions regarding who we are because that is what the day calls for. At a time when Eritrean sovereignty is being openly challenged and at a time when they want to determine who they want to deal with by placing sanction against this or that individual, it is time to define, indeed, who an Eritrean is. The key is, how could one claim that, it is his or her right to be an Eritrean relative to those who live in the country toiling, paying taxes and building the country that was in ruins; those who are teaching, treating patients and defending the nation etc?.. How can it be a “Right” if one is treating the subject casually whilst engaging in activities that could undermine national sovereignty, defame and divide the country? Whilst picking and choosing a time for involvement casually. Whilst choosing to be American first and taking for granted one’s “Eritreanism” as a privilege regardless of what mischief one commits?
Deki Korich, it is time to stand up, define, and build all aspects of our communities. It is time to reject those who want to divide us. It is time to stand with our country, our people and our Government. It is time to stand against belligerence and resist injustices. That is how to ascertain your rights as Eritrean!
Wetru Awet N-hafash
Zel-Alemawi Zikri N-Suwaat-Na
Awetnayu@hotmail.com
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