Independence Day

Celebration in Misery

Today is the day the Eritrean people cherish as it is the harvest of endless sacrifices.  As a singer said it ‘independence’s choice of dish is our heroes’.  It is a day for which the Eritrean people fought through every thing and gave every thing they had (in a literal meaning of the phrase).  It is an independence for which parents held the hands of their beloved sons and handed them over to the revolution.  It is a symbol of our determination, heroism, and unparalleled sacrifice.  It was a struggle that started in the forties and continued until the nineties; from a peaceful demonstration and protest to outright selfless human sacrifice against a giant military apparatus without much of the international community support.  Eritreans have a lot to be proud of.

The celebration and happy mood quickly changes when one thinks about the state of our nation and people in contrast to the goals, aspirations, and vision of our fallen heroes and the sacrifice Eritreans have paid as a people.  The equality, liberty, individual right, and the vision of constitutional democracy through which the power was going to be given back to its rightful owners, the people has been thrown out.  The struggle was for liberation and was not meant to be limited to independence.  Now, our people find themselves in a predicament in which even the independence was proclaimed without the longest border  being clearly identified despite the fact that they waited for three years after they defeated the occupying army in an excuse of doing it right.  The prosperity, freedom of speech, free elections guaranteed through constitutional democracy and the checks and balances which comes along with it to prevent abuse of power have all remained to be unfulfilled dreams.   

The tranquility that was engraved on every martyr’s and every war hero handicap veteran’s vision has been replaced with fear, anxiousness, and out right suffering in prison camps.  The freedom of speech has been shattered as the country has become one of the few in the world without free press.  The dream of justice has been taken over by the night mare of being imprisoned and tortured with out due process or a day in court. There is not even a formal allegation.  Love ones cannot visit the victims.

That is the very core reason for ELF-RC’s determination to continue its struggle to bring about an end to the misery of our people and realize the visionary goals of our fallen heroes for our country and people.  We just want to make it clear that the only reason ELF-RC has chosen the path it has chosen is because the peaceful democratic process in a constitutional democracy which our fallen heroes envisioned has been shattered and has been substituted by a one man dictatorial rule.  Our readers need to understand that it has nothing to do with the old grudge of ELF and EPLF.  It has nothing to do with individual animosity.    

Hence, we call on our people to celebrate their independence day with pride and remembrance of our fallen heroes and all their own sacrifice against all odds.  No one handed them a gift.  It is through their own blood, sweat, and the lives of their beloved children which brought about the country we all talk about.  On the other hand the vision of liberty, equality, justice and freedom of our people has been denied and misery has become their daily escort.  History is calling on all of those who can speak and act to bring about an end to this misery and light the path for the vision of our fallen heroes.  Our people need to renew their promise to remain true to the aspirations for which our heroes fell as we celebrate and cherish our hard earned independence day.

Happy Independence Day!!!!!!

The Nharnet Team