Arbi Harnet: Call to Action
Dear Compatriots,
Every Eritreans worth their salt is currently anxious about the ongoing violation of human rights in Eritrea and the ensuing refugee crisis be it in the refugee camps across the region, in the Sinai Desert, in Libya and the Mediterranean or further afield. The stories coming of the interviews of Sinai victims and survivors of Mediterranean crossing disasters are too painful to contemplate.
...Now it would be far too easy to look the other way and expect someone else to do something about it: the UN perhaps, maybe even other governments like the US or even Ethiopia; and they may well do something about it in the long run. However our brothers and sisters, stuck between a brutal dictator and the cruel realities of becoming an Eritrean refugee, expect us to be their first port of call. Indeed we should feel their pain the most and that pain should drive us to action. And that action should start now and never relent until we are able to look every young Eritrean in the eye and tell them ‘you are safe at home now!’.
Here at Arbi Harnet we have a pledge to never ever give up hope, give in to pressure or give way to despair, and with this in mind we have pulled our Action Plan for the next three months (July, August and September) we will:
* Expose PFDJ’s atrocities against our people and tell our people that this is completely unacceptable by any standards.
* Directly call our people in Eritrea to pull together against pfdj. We are Eritreans and we have stood up against all odds in the past and we will do it again!
* Stand in Solidarity with our people every step of the way!
Needless to say standing up to one of the world’s most brutal dictators is a job that needs every Eritrean, to rally behind and that is precisely why we want to fling the doors at Arbi Harnet wide open for every Eritrean to contribute to our efforts to support our people back home as they take up their rightful position in fighting dictatorship at the forefront.
We would like all justice loving Eritreans to join the team and volunteer what you can. We need:
* lots and lots of ideas based on sound understanding of the Eritrean context
* people with time to make phone calls, write letters, emails and faxes etc
* resources to make robocalls, audio visual material and literature available in Eritrea
we also need ALL organisations in the Eritrean resistance to partner with us by:
* enabling us to access their resources (Radio, TV, Websites )
* sharing their experience and expertise (we fully recognize that we are one of the last ones to arrive here)
* committing some of their financial resources for the work linking the resistance in the diaspora to the home grown resistance and sponsoring some of our initiatives like the robo calls and the transmission of written and audio materials
Inevitably this comes at a time when nearly every Eritrean is emotionally and financially strained with the sheer burden of supporting family back home and then those that have left the country; many people are having to pay ransom for abducted refugees; but unless we find a durable solution for Eritrea we will continue to plug a hole only for the haemorrhage to appear elsewhere! Enough is indeed enough!! Eritrea deserves better and we are determined to contribute our bit!
We either make injustice in Eritrea obsolete or we risk Eritrea becoming obsolete
...over to you, email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it if:
* You would like to be a member and volunteer, we will send you a volunteer information pack
* you are from an organisation and would like your organisation to partner with Arbi Harnet. Our partnership coordinators will be in touch with your organisation
* If you know people not on FB but engaged for change in Eritrea please forward them this message
* If we have forgotten any other way of communicating let us know
Whatever you do please don’t ignore this message and let our people down once again... the work will carry on with however many volunteers we get but the result will be much better the more volunteers and partners we have.
Team Arbi Harnet
