Issues
in Alliance:
Week’s News
By
Sami Mehari
Are Eritreans of today more
knowledgeable of the meaning of politics than the generation of the 1940s? I have my doubts.
During the past few days, the meeting of the
Eritrean opposition in the Ethiopian capital was the major source of news
for Eritreans, mainly for those in the Diaspora. And as the common saying
goes, ‘no news is good
news’. As we all know, the existing standoff was started when a newcomer
who hitherto had little respect to the Alliance was proposed to a top
leadership post, purportedly with the recommendation of regional states.
My intention here is not to retell the story of this mishap, but to
pinpoint for comment a few issues many Eritrean writers mentioned in
regard to the problem in the Alliance, and in which some writers revealed
their lack of knowledge of what they were saying. The mistakes in
understanding and presenting common political concepts and issues do not
substantiate our exaggerated claim that we have been over-politicized
since the 1940s! Good knowledge of politics, of course, starts with good
knowledge of political concepts. I will explain what I mean in the
following few paragraphs.
Protest
Walkout: What does this phrase mean to you? When you differ in opinion
with the majority in your group and want to make a strong point or
register your disappointment, you would choose to bang the desk or the
pulpit with your hands (someone did it with his shoe at the UN General
Assembly in the past century). In most cases, you can rest assured that
this gesture will not cost you anything – and for sure not a suspension
of your membership in that group or association. You can even shout to the
audience and walk out of the meeting. Still you will retain your
membership in that group. This is a common practice in democracies. But be
careful among Eritreans, as the ELF-RC is being told nowadays. This act by
the Alliance under the leadership of Herui Tedla may be considered as an
unexplainable surprise from Eritreans this year.
Hunger for
Power: Many good patriots were comments about the prevailing
standoff between the Alliance and the ELF-RC. Those who were inclined to
blame the ELF-RC for the protest walkout were weakening their well-written
articles by adding another mistake: by blaming the ELF-RC of demonstrating
‘hunger for power’ by its protest walkout. This is another sad
revelation of how little we know of politics. Politics is all about power.
Political organizations and parties are created for no other purpose but
to promote a certain programme that they believe is the best for their
people. Parties struggle to
come to power (through the legitimate channel – will of the people)
because they believe their programme and their way of doing things is the
best. Struggle for power is always legitimate if the sovereign will of the
people is there. (It becomes illegitimate, for instance, if it is imposed
by external influences or through corruption or the use of military
force.) Therefore, the Eritrean questioning of “m’enti slTan
tQalesu?” with its negative connotations cries for
correction. Those parties and organizations that do not struggle for power
(through clean and the proper channels) should leave the game for others.
And we better start learning what politics is all about. Otherwise, those
who fail to struggle for power will at the end see what powerlessness
means to themselves and to their people.
Transparency:
The word transparency has many things to do with democracy
(administration of people’s affairs). Yet, this word (rather, the
concept in the word) is a sacrificial lamb in the hands of Eritreans and
their parties, which are well wedded to ‘secrecies’ even while dealing
with public/people’s affairs! We have been saying that the PFDJ is
afflicted by this malaise. But what about the Alliance?
As regretted by a number of writers, the Alliance did not have a
spokesperson telling us what really was done and not done as the meetings
went on (and forget the loaded Herui/Tewekel leaks to the media). When the
ELF-RC finally came with a statement to inform the public the whole truth
about the already reported protest walkout from the last session of the
meeting, the reaction by the Alliance was another disaster! The ELF-RC was
accused of posting in the websites of its position regarding the election
of a new leader for the Alliance. In other words, the ELF-RC was
‘suspended’ from the Alliance not only because it committed the
‘crime’ of protest walkout but it also disclosed what the Alliance
members themselves had said in hiding (beyni wa beynek) at the
consultation period about the existence of outside pressure in electing
the leadership of the Alliance. And when will we learn that we owe a
genuine flow of information to the public and that the press is the fourth
branch of governance (after the executive, the legislative and the
judiciary.)
Foreign
Interference: A few writers tried to say that foreign influence
is always there between countries and political forces and that the ELF-RC
was exaggerating the problem of foreign interference. This is another
gross misunderstanding of political life among people. There indeed is
give and take in politics but not to the extent of giving up your
independent political decision. And what if you claim outsiders have had
hand in electing your leadership, what remains of you? A people not ready
to jealousy defend its independent political decision-making cannot
survive as a political entity for long. We better beware of what we say
and do!
Newcomer to Top Leadership of the
Alliance: A few other writers tried to find fault in ELF-RC’s
assertion that Herui Tedla was not qualified to lead the Alliance only 10
days after joining it. The Alliance, ladies and gentlemen, is a coalition
created to create an atmosphere of mutual understanding. Those who had
worked together for the previous four years were better placed than the
newcomer. Take parliaments or other political institutions, which always
give more weight to the wisdom of those who served more in that given
institutions than the bright-sounding novice. That is a strong point
against Herui Tedla, but not the only one.
After 60 long years of intensive politicking,
we Eritreans have still to learn the basics of politics, which we
apparently do not know, as shown in the above paragraphs.
Samimehari@hotmail.com
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