From: awetnayu@hotmail.com
Date: Thu Jul 24 2008 - 12:23:51 EDT
The Politicization of Migration
Amanuel Biedemariam
Every Eritrean, regardless where they are can relate to the plight of refugees because we went through it or know some one who is going through it. And naturally, we all have a stake as well as opinions. Before you go further however, the question you need to ask is what kind of Eritrean nation would I like to see? In the flip side, ask yourself, what you wouldn’t like to see? We need to answer these questions and have a dialogue for answers.
Youth is the back bone of every society! The youth is the primary protector, work force, economic engine, and as a foundation of a society plays a key role in the future of any country! For a new country like Eritrea however, it is a survival Issue. And that is what is at stake when we talk about the migration of Eritrean youth, one kid is one too many!
History always gives a glimpse of what was, and future tendencies of what is likely to happen. After Haile Sellassie forcibly annexed Eritrea in 1961, one of his main goals was to integrate Eritrea into Ethiopia by dissolving the Eritrean population systematically. The plan was to marry Eritrea into Ethiopia, to spread the Eritrean public throughout Ethiopia, to bring more people from Ethiopia into Eritrea and in effect swallow Eritrea whole. Any resistance was met by force which forced people to flee to Sudan and other countries.
Mengistu Hailemariam (The Derg) followed the same policy. However, his regime came at a time when Eritrean youth joined the struggle for liberation in mass. Those who didn’t join fled to the Sudan. Most of Eritrean migration took place at that time. Sudan was inundated with Eritrean refugees and welcomed them with kind hospitality and cemented a lasting friendship. As a result Eritrea lost a huge chunk of its productive population to Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Italy, Germany, Sweden, North America and other countries. The youth that fled to Sudan was significant for the Ethiopian army because it reduced the pool from potential recruits for the armed struggle.
The focus here is not the history of migration but to show a historic trend to see Eritrean youth dispersed around the world. The idea behind the push to push Eritrean youth abroad was to soften resistance, to weaken the country and control it. The strategy failed because despite the flight of Eritrean youth independence was assured thanks to the sacrifice of our heroes!
After Eritrean independence, there was a brief reversal of the trend. Many returned to Eritrea to reestablish their life and some even invested in Ethiopia. Temporary good neighborly relation between Eritrea and Ethiopia relaxed many into believing the worst is over until the conflict erupted in 1998 and within two years after that, Meles Zenawi expelled 75000 Eritreans out of Ethiopia. His actions were contrary to policies held by his predecessors.
Soon there after however, the man who bragged “we will expel any one if we don’t like the color of their eyes,” realized he is Ethiopian after all and re-started the policies of Haile Sellassie and Mengistu Hailemariam. However, due to his human rights violations against Eritreans; violations such as arbitrary arrest, solitary confinements in Blatien with-out due process, forced deportation of sick elders in the middle of Afar desert and other horrendous acts. Meles Zenawi’s record and credibility with Eritreans is worse than that of Mengistu Hailemariam and unforgivable no matter what he says or does.
One of the most consistent approaches of the Genocidal Meles Zenawi when he deals with his problems be it the starvation of kids, his defeat in the courts, his stolen election, his genocide in Gambella, Ogaden and all the atrocities he perpetrates has been the PR savvy that surrounds him. That very savvy is at the heart of this new campaign to win the hearts and minds of the “disgruntled” Eritreans abroad in order to get at Eritrean youth.
Meles Zenawi knows his appeal to Eritreans will not work; as a result he is on a PR offensive to enlist those who are disgruntled, those want to see the reversal of Eritrean independence and the demise of the PFDJ for various causes. They include religious zealots; Islamic extremist, treasonous lost souls and others. His campaign includes a newly found good will for Eritrean-youth who are supposedly fleeing Eritrea by the thousands. He is building camps, giving incentive for Eritreans who want to do business in Ethiopia, re-issued visas to banned criminals, cash and access to those who want to do the leg work i.e. go to Shimbella refugee camp and write about it. With the help of his Western masters he provides for media exposure using various outlets and there is a website that is totally dedicated to stories related to Eritrean refugees.
The campaign is well coordinated from the message to the messengers, the media outlets the audiences, the timing and to the specific objectives of the campaign. Recently, Meles Zenawi gave interview with Salih G-Hadi/Johar (an alleged pedophile/rapist) to give assurance to the reluctant that his offices will give support at the highest level and to give talking points. The talking points are specific and they dealt with the issue of deportation of Eritreans, the fear of Eritrea turning into Somalia and the Assab issue vis-à-vis the landlocked status of Ethiopia.
Here is excerpt from the interview regarding the deportation of 75000 Eritreans from Ethiopia, “I can’t tell you this was our finest hour--far from it. It was a very regrettable process. All I can say is that people ought to understand what happened. As the invasion came as a shock, not only to the Ethiopian people as a whole but also to the EPRDF. And many in the EPRDF were surprised at the betrayal. And there was an element that was about lashing out and lashing back. At that stage, the Eritrean government was saying that they have a big presence [in Ethiopia] and if they wanted to remove the government from Addis, they could do it, any time. And the Eritrean community organizations here, in Ethiopia, were practically declared by the Eritrean government as an element of a fifth column that they have in Ethiopia”
There is no admission of guilt or ownership of responsibility; instead he blames Eritrea for betrayal and his explanation for his motives:
” Now when you combine that perceived threat with the anger amongst many in the government, it was easy for these angry people to argue that we have a security problem and the primary responsibility of the security of our citizens; therefore, we have to decrease the security threat. This was a circumstance that brought the situation- an environment of risk and environment of anger and an environment of hatred.”
He called the mothers, the elders, the sick and the kids he deported a “threat.”
Many of those who went through the agony would like to see Meles Zenawi in jail for his crimes and human rights abuses. But, the very few who want to work with Meles Zenawi and had concerns of a backlash needed reasoning/excuses for justification. Here is what he said to overcome their concerns, “Now, it is easy for someone who was not on a receiving end, to theoretically argue that was wrong. It was a very unfortunate and let’s move on. Those who have been on the receiving side of it feel the pain and we have to understand that. All I can say to them is, please try to understand the circumstance. I am not going to justify it by any means, I am going to explain the circumstance.”
Meles Zenawi’s message to the resistant or hesitant is: I am a good guy, what happened is in the past, so let’s move on and fry the big fish. He gave them the highest assurance, the tools they needed and his reasoning to help them overcome likely objections.
Eritrean youth are the gem and the future of Eritrea with out a doubt. They are skilled, well trained, disciplined and politically astute by any measure. However, Eritrean youth are far more precious to the enemies of Eritrea and their exodus represents a long term failure of the state of Eritrea! That is at the heart of the campaign.
According to the failed state index and relative to our age and region, Eritrea is faring well to the surprise of many. The exodus we witness around the world today is not unique to any country or region. We see immigration issues in the forefront of the US election. Mass movement is a major issue around the world. The EU just passed a law to allow countries to jail illegal immigrants for 18months and to send them back. Global economic hardship and conflicts are major concerns threatening many countries. It is becoming a threat to stability for many nations particularly to Africa. Countries that are located in the transitional points such as Morocco are suffering from the backlash because it affects their quality of life and exasperates homelessness, unemployment, health related matters and poverty. In South Africa it became a reason for a major clash; it took life and destroyed businesses of immigrants.
What makes Eritrean migration unique? Why is Eritrean migration getting a lot more attention than others? Why is Eritrean youth commanding more attention than Somalia, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Mexico, Sweden, and other nationalities? The Mid-East provides over half of the world refugee population with out a noise.
They want to demonize Eritrea, destabilize it and to justify their action! The demonizing process is multi pronged. They show people on queues to show food scarcity, they exaggerate alleged religious rights abuses and the like. Recently, we witnessed the coronation of anti Eritrean group (Kidan) in Addis Ababa to show a leadership vacuum; the Djibouti case is a part of the campaign as well as the negative publicity echoed by Western media. Agent Meles Zenawi’s mission is to enlist as many as he can, do damage any way possible and to echo the negatives in order to achieve his directives.
Back to the original question, what kind of Eritrea would you like to see?
Every Eritrean must know and understand it is imperative to keep the youth of Eritrea intact in order to safeguard the nation. It is important to keep the unity in and outside the country. With out a doubt, all of us want to see a prosperous Eritrea free from threats and engaged fully in all aspects of life in the 21st century and beyond. To accomplish that we need to understand our roles and play them correctly, which means we need to know our responsibilities and be true to them. We all know the sensitivities that are related to the flight of our youth/families and our roles in them. To a large extent we are the key determinants for the initial motivation of the exodus. It is also easy to lose sight of tomorrow when feelings and emotions are involved. However, we must all understand if we want to see Eritrea a viable nation, we must discourage us from falling into the temptations of despair and give hope the chance based on the track record of Eritrean youth; a record that assured freedom of Eritrea against all odds. The flip side is the trap of Meles Zenawi and his masters.
“Youth: Guarantor of All-round Freedom!”
It is hard to differentiate the youth of today from the youth of yesterday because they are continuation of that legacy. It is hard to argue with the track record of freeing, defending as well as building a nation. Here is one fact that we all need to understand clearly; every Eritrean kid is our kid, Eritrean sons and daughters belong to all of us, they are our blood flesh, brothers and sisters. That is a fact. No one can advocate for my family better than I can. Eritrea is a country that runs like a family because it is a family. Those who claim to care are crying crocodile tears while they try to tear into our flesh, alive.
Any one can have reservation or grievances about many issues related to the way of life, governance, and values in Eritrea . However, that should never be a wedge, a political tool and most importantly a tool for foreigners to subjugate using Eritreans with agendas.
The development of Eritrean youth and their well being is imperative to the existence of our nation; however, it is equally important to put it with in the right context. We must all conclude that Eritrea is greater than the sum of all for success of Eritrea !
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