Dear Awate,
“Does the Planned DC Demonstration Support Inciting Ethnic Hate and Ethnic violence against the Tigrinya?” Four Ethnic Organizations and a number of websites that support them are engaged in spewing hate and inciting ethnic violence against the “TIGRIGNA” (bebihade feliTnayom ale’na). EDA does; do you? Confess before we get into some Dick Cheney style enhanced techniques.
I need to know because that’s what my uncle (Yemane Monkey) said (behind closed doors). And if what I heard on Meskerem is true then Yes to our Monkey Constitution and No to your secessionist wars. Amm’ar (prosperity) n’Mesfinawi Hagos! (Hallelujah!) It is still a family secret (and please don’t tell anybody) but uncle Monkey said he might pay our flight back (and two nights in Gahtelai with a detour to Wedi Leges Resort) as soon as you confirm that Inciting Ethnic Hate and Violence is what you stand for. According to sources close to Mankino, unilateral gestures of goodwill (some negotiated) to re-accommodate old veterans (yika’alo jignas) who might be needed in the upcoming Eritrean Idol is well underway. You might hear of more high-profile families sneaking through the heavily guarded Eritrean-Sudanese border zey al sha’Ara min Ajina (unscratched like hair through dough). Some of these are bearing fruit. Don’t make Monkey mad (for the sake of the people he might hurt). Please do not believe them (they are all Hasewtin).
Yours Sincerely
Ri’esi Tanika
Derebni wo beka, sebegni wo ishteka describes how some of our brothers in the highlands are reacting to the new developments in the Eritrean opposition. You may be tempted to think that white people would be offended if the Ku Klux Klan is criticized. The truth is, no white man would give a flying finger if you burned the Ku Klux Cross upside down and stained it with whatever you think fits the occasion; except those who are either members of the Klan, subscribe to its ideology or have an interest in their business. Compare that to the reaction of our Tilyan towards anyone who even dares to mention the possibility of the existence of someone who thinks he would recognize a guy who had nightmares about the KKK. I feel sad that we don’t have a chapter in Asmara when all we need to complete the white uniform is a pointed hat. Something is fishy here and we need an exorcist. You know what; I demand that we have a KKK branch and that it be placed directly under Fillipos just to make it easier for those brothers (including the honorable Ri’esi Tanika above) who might decide to come out of the closet (just like Sir Elton John did).
The argument that Eritrea is held hostage to an obsessively possessive and arrogant culture of a bunch of fascists in the Highlands is a fact (unless proven otherwise). A workshop report authored by the Horn of Africa Group on Eritrea’s Regional Role and Foreign Policy (2008) states that “A sense (illusion) of uniqueness that characterizes the Eritrean (Tigrinya) highland culture may have combined with Eritrea’s historical frontier mentality to predispose the young nation …” to isolationism. Extrapolate the Foreign Policy focus of the report to include education, commerce, land appropriation and more in the last 18 years (and beyond); and smell the stink of this arrogant megalomaniac culture on which “Eritrea’s historical frontier mentality” (itself) is rooted in every bit of it. All those who view this fascist culture as part of our national heritage (excluding myself) need to step back and take a good hard look into it and say yikhdenena. It is time to dim the lights; place candles in the corners; and set the mebokorya (with some Jawli) and meditate: “O Goytay! Protect me from myself – Amen” (repeat seven times).
Just in case we (Lowlanders) are not making our case clear and that we might be sending the wrong signals of what we intend to accomplish by standing alone to face the monstrous kabus and what we perceive to be a Tigrigna-wide conspiracy of Eritrean Neo-Nazis, I will make the following clear. Our brothers in the Highlands might choose to wait and hope that their former masters in Axum would never pay them another visit (to return the favor) especially if they intend to stay a little longer for some DNA tests in their quest for genealogical reunion (Rabina yejm’ae al shaml – may the Lord reunite the family). Nothing personal and I don’t mind. In fact, I will attend a course and be ready to volunteer (just in case Halibet Hospital calls for a kitet of testing technicians). As far as we, Lowlanders, are concerned, there is no time to waste and no time to rest; “not for a day not for an hour and not for a minute; not when the stakes are so high” (words that changed the course of history). We see the prospects of a lifetime opportunity to set the record straight (in rebuilding Libi Tigray into a straight two-way communication) for a nation where every single Eritrean “will … be judged … by the content of their character” (MLK) right in front of our eyes. The life span of the politics of woosy apologists has expired. This is the time for hard straight talk and a plug to the endless political Hashewye of opposition politics.
The Assumption: Highlanders will never sell their own (no matter how bad it gets) for an unknown bet and will never raise a finger unless they see the real consequences of gambling with neo-fascist games imminent and at their doorsteps. The bulk of the highlands waited for the eleventh hour before they could raise their bowing heads to face His Majesty Girmawi Qedemawi (and don’t ever think this was a coincidence). Lomi kem timali … they will catch up and call Higdef worse names than our own borrowed terminologies (wait and see: the rule is always the same, we start, and they finish). We are dealing with the culture of serfs and followers here and if we follow them, we will be following the nutcase in Asmara forever. Ignore their barking dogs just like our forefathers ignored the Andinet and their shiftas. We have a responsibility to lead (I hope we finish this time).
The Motivation: abu-sheneb will be history sooner than most ishi goytaying Highlanders would like to believe; and his departure will be followed by what at least one expert (Terrence Lyons (2006)) described as a “violent and chaotic transition”. We are doing our part to prepare for the warlords of the next Somalia; you (Highlanders) may either “not join but follow” us (during this starting stage; we will leave the finishing to you) or start reading Treasure Island and The Pirates of the Caribbean (supplies are available through Abdalla Jabir and Eways).
The Seven Commandments (quotes are from Posen (1993)):
Thou shalt not trust blindly. You are in the game only if you can physically guarantee that all players have a fair and equal power to influence the rules; and assess by practically (laboratory style) testing that the other partner has no more capacity to influence them unfairly than you do.
Thou shalt stay cool. Stay in the game and make sure never to run out of breath before your partner does; race to the point where your relative power advantage is a little more than what is required for basic survival; whenever your partner surpasses this point of saturation change gear just in case (the old habit haunts again).
- Thou shalt not forget. Listen to tizita a lot more that you normally do and always “assume the worst because the worst is possible”.
- Thou shalt not let thy guard off. Every morning just after lemanay does his usual exercise, ask yourself “how did … (he) behave the last time (he was) unconstrained?”
- Thou shalt never take “may be” for an answer. Empty goodwill promises and non-binding commitments will never make you safe and will never “deter those who wish to repress”.
- Thou shalt always dance with thy back to the wall and never engage in back rubbing kiskista.
- Love thy neighbor and bow only to the Lord.
Several amazing writers on Awate wrote impressive articles keeping the heat and the interaction among the community of gossip masters and nay internet jeganu (like myself) alive (special hugs to Burhan, Ahmed, Selam, Amanuel – and the Awate duo). One of my favorite writers, Amanuel Hidrat, wrote a response, Challenge the Evil with Optimism, (he never said whether my arguments were the evil or the optimism – I must admit his well-deserved criticism). Emma quotes Max More (the Transhumanism guy) as saying “optimism is the fuel of heroes, the enemy of despair, and the creator of the future.” And as a gesture of gratitude for his very reasonable assessment of the concerns of Eritrea’s ethno-religious harmony, I have chosen an additional quote of Max More (that I found on Wikipedia): “No more gods, no more faith, no more, timid holding back. Let us blast out of our old forms, our ignorance, our weakness, and our mortality …” (ignore the last one unless you plan to go for cloning).
I am reading Blood Memory by Greg Iles on the side. It is page 42: “Tonight (that the commandments have been revealed) sleep enfolds me like the ocean depths on a free dive, a bright upper layer that deepens in color and density as I descend, swimming down, down, down, away from the chaos of the surface, into the blue cathedral of the deep. My sanctuary from the world and from myself. No thoughts here beyond the exigencies of survival….”
Refs mentioned above (all available online):
- Healy, Sally (2008); Eritrea’s Regional Role and Foreign Policy: Past, Present and Future Perspectives; Chatham house, London UK.
- Lyons, Terrence (2006); Avoiding Conflict in the Horn of Africa: US Policy towards Ethiopa and Eritrea; Council of Foreign Relations; NY USA.
- Posen, Barry (1993); The Security Dilemma and Ethnic Conflict; Survival: Global Politics and Strategy, vol. 35, # 1.