http://thomasfriedmanopedgenerator.com/Eritrea%2527s%2BRevolution%2B236da3
Eritrea's Revolution
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
What has been going on in Eritrea is earth-flattening, and it has been on my mind ever since it began. What's important, however, is that we focus on what this means to the citizens themselves. The current administration seems too caught up in worrying about their own skins to pay attention to what's important on the ground. Just call it missing the desert for the sand.
When thinking about the ongoing ethnic strife, it's important to remember three things: One, people don't behave like lemmings, so attempts to treat them as such are a waste of time. Lemmings never suddenly shift their course in order to fit with a predetermined set of beliefs. Two, Eritrea has spent decades torn by civil war and ethnic hatred, so a mindset of peace and stability will seem foreign and strange. And three, hope is an extraordinarily powerful idea: If authoritarianism is Eritrea's ironing board, then hope is certainly its faucet.
When I was in Eritrea last June, I was amazed by the variety of the local cuisine, and that tells me two things. It tells me that the citizens of Eritrea have no shortage of human capital, and that is a good beginning to grow from. Second, it tells me that people in Eritrea are just like people anywhere else on this flat earth of ours.
So what should we do about the chaos in Eritrea? Well, it's easier to start with what we should not do. We should not let seemingly endless frustrations cause the people of Eritrea to doubt their chance at progress. Beyond that, we need to be careful to nurture the seeds of democratic ideals. The opportunity is there, but I worry that the path to moderation is so poorly marked that Eritrea will have to move down it very slowly. And of course Asmara needs to cooperate. The first rule of holes is that when you're in one, stop digging. When you're in three, bring a lot of shovels.
Speaking with a local farmer from the large Catholic community here, I asked him if there was any message that he wanted me to carry back home with me. He pondered for a second, and then smiled and said, reiaya-li-kona, which is a local saying that means roughly, "Dump husband in September, you have to get rid of the spiders."
I don't know what Eritrea will be like a few years from now, but I do know that it will probably look very different from the country we see now, even if it remains true to its basic cultural heritage. I know this because, through all the disorder, the people still haven't lost sight of their dreams.
This article was not really written by Thomas Friedman and this site is a spoof of the New York Times. This generator was created by Brian Mayer with content from Michael Ward, used with permission.
Received on Mon Dec 24 2012 - 19:27:38 EST
