FOR COMMENTS & SUGGESTIONS E-MAIL: eppinfo@yahoo.com

THE PEOPLE’S VOICE

THE PEOPLE’S VOICE is a monthly publication compiled by the Information Office of the Eritrean People’s Party [EPP]. THE PEOPLE’S VOICE is intended to reflect the individual opinions of EPP members on current Eritrean affairs. The opinions expressed on this publication do not in anyway represent the EPP’s official point of view.

 

PFDJ CHALLENGES AMERICA

ON HUMAN RIGHTS

Hadas Eritra (March 11, 2005) carried a front-page commentary under the title "Travesty (Mockery) on Human Rights". An English language translation of the same commentary appeared on Shabait.come as written by "Staff". This commentary describes the call for the respect of human rights as hypocrisy. After listing incidences of human rights abuses in America the commentary reaches the conclusion "to hear America, which has been created through such a historical process, trying to lecture others on human rights is an astounding paradox". Strangely enough, the commentary includes Guantanamu Bay as one of the places where "American soldier committed acts of torture (and) indecency, unparalleled in human rights violations elsewhere, which have shocked the rest of the world".

It is to be recalled that in 2002, in a meeting of Eritrean students in South Africa, President Isaias had claimed that his government had Guantanamu Bays long before the Americans even thought about having one.

PRESIDENT ISAIAS:

"THERE IS NOTHING CALLED RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM"

Hadas Eritra (March 2, 2005) has quotes President Isaias as saying, in an interview with Pakistani TV, that there is nothing called religious extremism and that what is happening is different groups trying to use religion to achieve goals that have nothing to do with religion. This description is especially true in the case of Eritrea. Political Islam in Eritrea was induced by the marginalisation and maltreatment that part of the Eritrean population was subjected to as a result of the ethno-chauvinist policies of the regime. The movement spread widely mainly because it offered a mobilization umbrella that effectively and exclusively includes all Eritrea’s ethnic minorities. The problem with this was a misrepresentation of the case of the minorities by divorcing it from its material infrastructure. The choice of this umbrella was forced by the culture of demonizing those who talk about economic and political discrimination as related to ethnic and cultural grievances openly. Several promising developments have started to emerge now. On the one hand even those who were considered as religious "extremists" have started to redefine their cause as a conflict over resources. On the other hand the rest of the opposition has welcomed them as friends and not foes.

ERITREA WILL LIVE FOR JUSTICE

Organized groups advocating for ethnic, religious and cultural equality have become a defining characteristic of the Eritrean opposition landscape. This has been the result of a protracted process of debating the way out of the catastrophe that our country has become. The wisdom of the dinosaurs of the old mode of thinking is under scrutiny. Social justice and equal opportunity for all are the only feasible pillars of the new Eritrea that we fought for. Our unity becomes stronger only if we open our hearts and minds to listen to the cries of all Eritreans who are exposed to unjust or unfair discriminatory treatment. Our unity is fake and hypocritical if we try to maintain it by covering up for those handful criminals who perpetrate the injustice.

Eritrea is for those who live for justice not for those who hide behind it.

DEMOCRACY NOT MAJORITY-RULE

Many Eritreans seem to hold the view that a system where the ballot box (election) determines how national issues are to be dealt with is a democracy and that it is the ultimate solution for all the ills of our country.

If the ballot box were actually the magic box, no country in the world would have needed a constitution. The constitution is the document that guarantees that the fundamental rights of minorities who cannot succeed in the ballot box will not be breached. It is a guarantee that the principle of survival for the fittest will not place the weak at the mercy of the strong. A system without a constitution is a majority-rule not necessarily a democracy. Eritrean minorities have to know in advance what the promise of the new Eritrea is. There are numerous examples in the world where the people are made to pay a heavy price only to find out that they are worse off after the change. All Eritreans should come out and start debating what Eritrea’s future constitution should stand for.

THE KHARTOUM BREAKTHROUGH

Eritrea opposition websites have carried the news that the meeting of the Eritrean opposition organizations held in Khartoum was an extraordinary success. The real success of the meetings, however, should not be limited to the fact that, for the first time in history, nearly all leaders of the opposition movement sat face to face in one hall.

The real success lies in the fact that for the first time in history nearly all the leaders of the opposition, including the most conservative old guard, have placed a big question mark on the traditional perception of "national unity". They all came to realize that Eritrean ethnic & cultural minorities have the right to define their relative independence within the Eritrean nation.

In addition to the signing of the EDA Charter, the election of Mr. Ibrahim Haroun who leads an organization that primarily fights for the self-determination (up to secession) of one of Eritrea’s ethnic minorities by 100% YES votes of the council is a sing that a new Eritrea is being born.

THE DOUBLE STANDARD

OF NAME-CALLING

We, in Eritrea, have religious fundamentalists and extremists. Most of us have even called them terrorists. We have ethnic and tribal advocates. Most of us have called them narrow-minded tribalists and fanatics. A common denominator of all those that any Eritrean has a license to blend with any name, is that they belong to Eritrea’s ethno-cultural minorities.

All the alarms of scare mongering intellectuals are set off if a single Eritrean Tigrigna is described as "awrajawi" or ethnic chauvinist. Does it mean that only one ethnic group in Eritrea is not producing the equivalent of tribal and ethnic fanatics?

 

IS THE OPPOSITION

RUSHING FOR TALKS?

Talks with the ruling Chauvinist regime in Eritrea were one of the recommendations of the opposition meeting in Khartoum. The highlights of the conditions for the proposed talks as pointed out by the EDA leadership included the regime’s readiness to set up democracy and the rule of law.

On the other hand President Isaias, in his recent interview with the Pakistani TV, in a clear reference to the Eritrean opposition stated that his government will have no tolerate towards any attempts to destabilize Eritrea’s achievements.

It is, therefore, important for the EDA to take note of previous experiences (of some opposition groups) to open up to the regime. In the absence of clearly stated preconditions it is likely that the chauvinist regime will end up buying the cause of the Eritrean opposition for government positions to be distributed for a handful of opportunists in the opposition.