What a Way The Year 2009 Ended!

For those of us who are obsessed by Eritrean politics, the events of the last two quarters have hoodwinked us into a state of great surprises and puzzlement. With all the conferences and human right activism taking center stage during the last quarter, coupled by the acceleration of the exodus of the youth out of Eritrea in record numbers, the political tempo or rather crescendo became too overwhelming to take in one gulp. Add to this the succession of more and more bad news coming out of Eritrea like the government confiscating farmers’ crops and arresting more and more evangelical Christians and the no peace and no war border demarcation stalemate with a neighboring country continuing with no end in sight and with the entire Eritrean national soccer team defecting and seeking asylum in Kenya, one gets the impression that the confluence of all these unfortunate developments in the year 2009 could be a divine prophetic sign for the Eritrean people telling them to have their tarot cards read carefully in order to brace up for something that is even more outlandish and nerve racking.

And as if all of the above are not enough, the United Nations Security Council slapped the Eritrean regime by a sanction. One gets to wonder why the honorable Council has to announce its decision on Christmas knowing fully well that hundreds of thousands of Eritreans do indeed prefer to celebrate their holidays without any altercation although they may be capable of taking even more gruesome news after the holidays without a budging.

The year 2009 had also some early season surprises so it seemed like it was never destined to be an easy year for Eritreans especially for those of the Christian and Tygrina Highlanders brand. And this came in the form of one of our esteemed websites, (awate.com) turning its back on the Eritrean people by becoming a major hub for the dissemination of divisive and radical sectarian propaganda targeting the entire Eritrean Christian Highland population. And why in the heavens, do those who knew that this hateful extremist agenda is by far too common and standard talking point in awate.com’s and other Arabic language forums tell us about it sooner than later. I tell you guys, if I had known about that earlier I would have relegated Tygrina to the back burner when the issue of official languages was debated. But now that New Year is approaching my survival instinct is whispering into my ears telling me to put “Learning to Speak and Read Arabic” at the top of my wish list. That way, you get yourself to read and understand Ali Salim’s and his likes “must do” manual of instructions relating to the future treatment of Eritrean Christian Highlanders should he or his crowd succeed Isayas Afeworki.

And to add insult to injury, some rookie journalists came to tell us that some web sites are within their rights to allow the publishing of Ali Salim's offensive and divisive propaganda in the name of "freedom of speech". I am not a journalist but I have seen many journalists, particularly in the United States, paying for insensitive and irresponsible reporting or editorials dearly by hefty fines not excluding with dishonorable discharges. So, on top of the many surprises of the Year 2009, those who tried to take "freedom of expression" by its horn and had the temerity to tell us Christian Tygrina Highlanders that it is OK to take "below the waist jabs" from Ali Salim and his sponsors made the year 2009 all too painful and remarkable.

The Year 2009! What a tenacious and hyperactive year it was!! It was also a very revealing year in that the various conferences that were being launched in alarming progressions brought out several “notables” from the woods to the Eritrean political spotlight. It gets one to wonder if this is not just the beginning of a process whereby an Eritrean Chalabi is to be picked up and installed in Asmara from an intimidating line up of scholars, poets, human right activists, all claiming in their own rights, that they have been struggling, better than every body else, their entire life for democracy and justice and thus deserve the attention and respect of the Eritrean populace. And this is not even including those who came in great numbers expressing their anger and disdain on why they were not invited to the conferences. I cannot but help recall my early reading of an episode from Don Quixote, in which Sancho Panza commented by saying “There must be more dons than stones in this island”, as he looked at the big number of dignitaries that came to pay tribute to him as he finally arrived in the Island his master promised him .

Like Sancho Panza, the intimidating number of Erirean aspiring notables in the opposition camp must have come as a shock to many because the mental switch from a situation of being accustomed to seeing one person at the helm of power day in day our for eighteen years (and still counting) to a sudden realization that there are so many plausible Presidents from which the Eritrean people could choose could by itself be intriguing although the likelihood that such a switch could happen in the foreseeable future could be remote considering the effectiveness of the opposition.

Any way, who said that we cannot wish and dream when we fully know that it is the only luxury or right we have been left with after being stripped off of our basic human rights for so long by a dictatorship. The year 2009, as exceptional as it was, may lead to a future where people may actually witness their holiday wishes culminating into the fulfillment of what we as oppressed people have been yearning for during the last eighteen years. Needless to say that our people have never asked too much. All they wish is peace of mind, human dignity and personal and economic security. One wonders if that is too much to ask by people who have sacrificed tremendously for 30 long years for their national autonomy and independence.

Merry Christmas
And Happy New Year to All!