"We have discovered freedom"

“People in Tripoli have been attending the last Friday prayers of Ramadan and the last Friday prayers before the month of daylight fasting ends with Eid next week.”It will be the happiest Eid in 42 years," Mohammed al-Misrati told Reuters news agency. "We have a taste of freedom after 42 years of repression and oppression. We have discovered freedom." BBC Live Text on August 26, 2011-1519 GMT

Like most Eritreans, in the Diaspora, I have been following the struggle of the Libyan people even when I am at work. I found a refreshing statement by a Libyan citizen that encouraged me to write these few words.  

Mohammed al-Misrati speaks for million of Libyans who are nearing the last phase of their bloody struggle to remove the brutal sociopath Mohammed Gaddafi. His eloquence is captured by the most honest and straightforward statement: “We have discovered freedom.”  Indeed the people of Libya, at horrendous cost, have discovered freedom. Thanks to their herculean effort another African tyrant will soon bite the dust.

The people, once considered lethargic and cowed, were bidding their time. Their inner clock being different than the one that guides the behavior of the regime and the organized opposition, they have now - at their own chosen time - arrived at the tyrant’s citadel. The tyrant has gone underground before he finally goes to the ever expanding grave for the tyrants.            

Not even the most seasoned politician could have said what Mohammed al-Misrati articulated so succinctly. With freedom in the air, ordinary citizens become poets extraordinaire minus the pretension that makes calculating and maneuvering politicians’ presentation dull and wishy-washy. Citizens, in the middle of a revolution, are like an angry majestic river that is tearing down and rebuilding at the same time.  Mohammed al-Misrati is no more afraid of Gaddafi. His fear has vanished. He has rediscovered his authentic self. He is now into tearing down tyranny and reclaiming his endowed freedom - self-liberation the foundation of true freedom - the inner freedom that tyrants cannot crush.   

He now owns himself until the next politicians disappoint him and want him to return to his passive existence and plead with him to trust them and defer all key decisions to them. The déjà vu begins in the middle of the unfolding revolution before even the tyrant has been located: dead or alive. That is politics in the context of struggling against authoritarian systems. The people want freedom but most importantly the politicians want power.

Freedom in the hands of revolutionary leaders is a bargaining chip that must be sacrificed in order to consolidate the victories of the struggle and work out the new power equation or distribution without a meaningful input by the people who made the revolution. Strategic and tactical reasons will be outlined and incessantly driven home to temper the effusive outbursts of the citizen’s appreciation for the newly gained freedom. The elites’ drama will open with the usual actors competing for top billing. Will the post-Gaddafi Libya, after 42 years of tyranny, defy this template? The odds are against it.

The Freedom on the streets of Tripoli will soon move to behind a close door power bargaining. The Tyrant is Dead - Long Live the tyrant - will go the chant before the next full-fledged jockeying for power commences. The death of one version of tyranny does not automatically suppose the complete fruition of freedom. Whose gun will have more power when the spoils of the victory (power and money) are divided through a contentious fighting at the table or through more bloodshed? In overwhelming cases, violent revolutions do not produce democracy they only get rid of the prevailing tyrants. It only solves half of the agenda.

I hope that Citizen Mohammed al-Misratii has this knowledge tattooed somewhere on his hand where he can see it every day. Freedom is only safe when implanted in the people’s heart. The deeper it penetrates the heart the longer it survives and becomes a culture and maybe even a tradition. May you live long enough, Mr. Mohammed al-Misrati, so that you can help build a democratic culture and tradition over the grave of Col. Gaddafi for the benefit of the next Libyan generation! May this be the Happiest Ed in 42 years to you and the people of Libya!!

The Libyan revolution has created a sleepless week in Asmara for the obvious reason. Gaddafi was one of the benefactors (mentors) of the Eritrean tyrant. The trip to Tripoli is cancelled as well as the celebrated donation or tip -suitcase full of dollars- usually extended by Gaddafi to the self-reliant regime in Asmara to shore up the collapsing economy. Blame it on the brave people of Libya. Unfortunately Uganda does not have a deep pocket to replace the Libyan regime's periodic donation.      

TV- ERI editorial department must be weaving a gargantuan fiction on how to explain the fall of Comrade Gaddafi to the world and the Eritrean people. We remember the farce presented by TV- ERI explaining why Mubarak was removed from power. I cannot wait to hear the next “authoritative analysis of the obituary of the Libyan regime”- the kettle diagnosing the mistakes of the pot- as to why tyrants are biting the dust according to the fiction writers in Asmara. If they had only listened to maestro Isaiais' masterpiece operatic work: "How to oppress your people, offend your region, insult big powers and still stay in power" all of them could have defeated the revolution.

A friendly advice to Mr. Asmelash of TV-ERI: please breath deep and read the Gaddafi’s obituary slowly so that you will not be the unintended victim of a sudden heart attack due to the depth of the lie you are forced to read. Better yet give it to Ali Abdu to read the official fiction as to the reasons why the Gaddafi regime collapsed since he is extremely proficient at copying his boss' arrogance and detest for the truth.

The Eritrean People will find their voice and discover freedom.  

Seyoum Tesfaye
Atlanta, Georgia

{jcomments off}