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Honorable ELF-RC members:

Honorable Eritrean opposition organizations members:

Honorable guests:

I am pleased and honored to speak on behalf of the Eritrean youth in southern California under the umbrella of ELF-RC.

Ladies and Gentle men:

Today we have gathered for the seminar of ELF-RC and to celebrate the Eritrean independence under the very tough times by which our people and our country are going through.

Although a decade has passed already since we gained our independence, unfortunately our nation is still found to be at the bottom of the scale interims of economic development, political freedom and stability.  The newest nation in Africa is suffering under the hands of the most oppressive regime of Isaias Afewerki and nature’s unforgiving drought.

Fully aware of these situations, the Eritrean Democratic Youth Organization of the ELF-RC is fighting to relieve our people from the oppression and answer to the immediate call to end hunger.

But our mass organization’s history for fighting on behalf of our youth and the larger society is not new.  Since its inception in 1977, our mass organization’s contribution to the struggle for freedom is already a matter of historic record.  However, what’s worth noting today is our organization’s democratic tradition and legacy.  The Eritrean democratic Youth organization was a major force in the development of a democratic culture inside the ELF as well as in the larger society.  True to its nature, this organization advocated, worked diligently, and paid precious human sacrifices for the rights and dignity of our people.  It served as the only legitimate youth movement through which young men and women from all ethnic and religious background participated in the struggle for political freedom and social changes.

After independence it continued to be a major movement in the fighting against the dictatorial regime of PFDJ and in the establishment of a democratic society under the  umbrella of ELF-RC.  The success that this movement has achieved in the past is undeniable.  Many of our current leaders have been members of this organization before, and now, we the youth of this generation have inherited the legacy of this progressive and historic movement to deal with the current challenges our society faces.

At the center of any social change, we find the young generation, especially the youth, as the driving force behind it.  This responsibility being universal, the role of the young Eritrean generation living abroad has been, for the most part, absent.  Moreover, uncharacteristic to the true nature of the youth, many of Eritrean youngsters who enjoy the freedom of what the west could offer shamelessly support the dictator at home.  From the comfort of their adopted countries, they give financial and moral support to a despicable system whose crimes against our people is not a secret any more. 

It is true that the generation before us has done its part, and with all its shortcomings, has been able to achieve one of the main goals of our society, it achieved independence.  We are ever grateful for that and this day will be remembered and celebrated forever.  But the torch for change should have been passed over to the next generation along with the challenges and responsibilities.  However, I’m sorry to say that the torch is still in the foster-parents of the entire Eritrean population.

Under the dictatorial regime of Isaias Afewerki, the new generation does not count at all.  The only time our youth will be counted is when they die in the senseless conflicts created by the dictator, or when they are wanted for the timeless slave-labor campaign, or when they are behind prison walls for speaking their minds.  Because the freedom of assembly and organization has been denied, the young generation is not organized to speak for their and their country’s real interests.  Just like the rest of the society, the young generation has no saying ever in matters where they will be asked to pay with their lives.  Families raised their children until they are old enough to be snatched off for the military adventures of the dictator.  It is only in Eritrea where government kidnaps your children from the streets, and when they don’t come back, you have to assume that they are dead.  The young scholars in Eritrea are in very serious crossroads, because of lack of democracy, transparency, accountability, justice, and freedom of speech.  They are young scholars who witnessed their brothers and sisters in Asmara University been jailed sent to unbearable climate that caused two students deaths, they witnessed their brothers and sisters dragged and force to slavery camps.  They are also witnessed and still witnessing while their counterparts are hunted and taken military camps.

What does it mean to us all these circumstances as young Eritreans who enjoy the freedom in a free country?  What do we think the solution would be to the dilemma our country is in?  How do we compare the freedom granted to us in our new adopted country to those oppressed in Eritrea, where their beloved ones gave their lives for?  As young generation, how do we feel when our parents support the dictatorial regime of PFDJ despite what it is doing to our counterpart students in Eritrea?

It is our duty and responsibility as young generation of Eritrea to stop our parents who blindly support the PFDJ regime because of some financial and other interests.  We also wont to be counted in the real development of our father’s land.  We want to be counted in establishing the educational system, in planning our economic future, and in reconstructing the infrastructure of our country including our culture.  In short, we want to govern ourselves.  We don’t want to live forever under the suffocating heavy handedness of the control of freak that has turned our beloved country into one big military camp. His delusional policies have created enemies right and which have left Eritrea with no friends in the region or elsewhere. 

In order to escape from the ever tightening and suffocating atmosphere in our country, our youth are looking for a breath of freedom in foreign countries.  Isn’t it ironic that thousands of people sacrificed their precious lives for us to live in freedom, and yet thousands are leaving Eritrea everyday to the neighboring countries after independence of Eritrea, What more evidence do we want to know to realize that the Eritrean government has failed us? 

Let’s for a moment ask ourselves the question, what is the difference between the young generation in, For example, the United States of America and Eritrea?  Or why do youths in Europe live happier and richer life than the youths in Africa?  The answer is, of course, not bad luck or even lack of natural resources and human resources.  Although other historical factors cannot be excluded, the main difference lies on the way these two societies are governed.  The simple fact is that democratic societies prosper while dictatorship throws people in misery. Therefore no one can dispute this facts, no amount of excuses and false hopes could translate misery into happiness for our people.  So we have a choice to make here, Are we on the side of our people or on the side of the dictator and his cronies?  History will remember for the choice we make.

The young generation who live in freedom abroad like me have historic responsibility to be the voice of those who are silenced, to fight for those who are imprisoned, and to advocate for those whose basic human rights is denied.

I believe and I am sure all of you here also believed that no one has the rights to suspend or ground your freedom to live freely under any circumstances.  Therefore, you must not condone the action of the Eritrean regime which has denied freedom to your brothers, sisters, cousins, sons, mothers, and fathers, and significant others.

In fight this fight, ELF-RC has always been in for-front.  Under the leadership of this movement, our inspirations and hopes can be truly realized.  So join us to fight the good fight where our people can be proud of.  

         Long live to the Eritrean Democratic Youth Organization!!

         Glory to our martyrs!!

Thank you,            

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