Are you a Monkey or a Monkey Chaser?

I had coffee with a very polite friend of mine over the weekend gone…and quiet a civilised affair it was… London had decided it was summer in October and hence we sat at a rather plush outdoor establishment and I knew I had to be rather refined in such an upmarket venue and with a well cultured friend… my friend was rather distressed by the ‘Monkey Chase’ video…(as my not so polite friends have resorted to calling it!), he was concerned that this wasn’t ‘our culture’… this is way below the belt material and may even be considered harassment… (…bless his cotton socks!…he was truly distressed and his sensibilities were all to offended)… I tried to keep a straight face in keeping with the dictates of courtesy…so instead of bursting out laughing I forced myself to settle for a decorous smile…

listen folks... we have been calling the Eritrean youth to take up their role…to give their own plight a voice and to go one step further and be a voice for their voiceless counterpart that they left behind, dangling from trees in various contortions that torments the body and kills the spirit… what did we expect them to do when they got here? Come to a subcommittee of the assistant committee for organising the meeting that organises the upcoming conference? Did we really want them to come and admire our slogans that were never revised since the 1980s? or did we simply want them to submit a well researched psychoanalytical essay outlining the nature of the regime?!! PFDJ raised us an extremely angry generation that finally decided enough is enough!! please let us do ourselves a favour and refrain from telling them how to deal with their beast!

So they were unruly? Guess what the North African youngsters we have taken to admiring were way ruder and they weren’t subjected to years of endless subjugation in the name of nation building. Neither were they forced to untold misery at the hands of traffickers who bought and sold them at will bargaining on their hearts and kidneys should the kindness of their relatives fail to deliver! Nor were they left to be swallowed by angry tides in the sea of unfathomable wrath as immigration patrols count where they are at with their weekly quota of hapless refugees… let us be fair and realistic and let them find their own voice and their own approach!

I am particularly miffed by those who keep telling me that they don’t mind these very young people taking arms against PFDJ in Eritrea but they mind the fact that they were hurling abuse against Yemane Monkey and the odd stones were thrown at those that were calling them ‘traitors!’ clad in t-shirts depicting IA’s pictures… (a note to my sensible friends…please don’t tell me this is condoning violence… it isn’t; all it is, is an appeal to allow the young people to have and hold their voice… I am confident that they will find a positive channel for their legitimate anger in the long run).

The most touching image in the Giessen rally last weekend was that of Awra Ermiyas Debessay and her huge Packard with her father’s picture and a single question on it…. Where is my Father? That is effectively what everyone of us should be asking… if they are all Issias Afworki… we should All Be Awra E Debessay and what a privilege it is to be on her side!… she was a sight to behold!…. Back in New York Solomon and his Monkey Chasing friends… as they have come to be known among the youth, were asking ‘Where is Petros Solomon?’… and were mentioning the suffering of Petros’ children… again if they are all IA then we are all Petros Solomon and all the others and everyone else can choose their side… if they have willingly told us they are him then it is only right that they should take the responsibility for his actions too…. Their choice not ours!  

Back in London I was telling my polite friend that even the  tweed clad toffs of the Countryside Alliance here in England exhibited their rough edges during the fox hunting rallys a while back and so it should be ok for our youth to let their passion run a bit... it gets them heard! Other friends who never relent wishing that I would somehow find the sensibilities of conformity were asking me if I supported the angry mode of my little brothers and sisters....I really don’t know if I would be any different in their position... if someone gambled with my childhood and youth... if someone denied me opportunities of education and family life... if someone started a war that claimed the young lives of so many friends and even more were driven to a certain death at the hands of merciless people traffickers and or cruel army officers and prison guards... if I was denied the right to give my parents a decent last rite... if I were denied basic rights in the land that my father died for... I really don’t know if I would settle for writing polite letters to the powers that be... especially when vulgar people who claim to be Him are unleashing their untamed gobs at me!

Meanwhile over at the corner where they always find something to annoy me with, my wEla romantic colleagues in London were fighting over something that the subcommittee, to the committee of the branch of the national organising committees had instituted procedurally contrary to the sub regional committee’s declaration! But my polite friend wasn’t annoyed with them... he probably hasn’t heard of them or their endless meetings to arrange meetings...but the Monkey Chasers who were only here five minutes were heard and seen by 60,000 of us!

Proud of my younger brothers and sisters and their resolute stand for justice... and we will find justice!... I am with you all the way! I guess that makes me a Monkey Chaser by association!

selam

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