On 15/06/2014, Tesfanews published an article titled by, “Reflections on Bologna 40th Anniversary 4th-6th July 2014” written by Yared Tesfay. The article in its first paragraph started by saying, “Festival Eritrea is a yearly folk-fair whose season opens up around the first two weeks of August of every year. It first started in 1984, during the year of the struggle for liberation, has had enormous impact on Eritrean heritage of conserving national identity.” [Correction to readers first, the starting date of the Bologna Festival was not 1984, but 1974.]

Mr. Yared, in his article [1] discussed the festival’s historical impact on the cultural and political perspective and tried to give a nick name called, “Unity in Diversity” which has never existed under the objective of the festival. The festival was specifically meant to organize the Eritrean people under the umbrella of EPLF not under the Eritrean society. I said this because EPLF in its early age had a narrow political agenda excluding the ELF members and ELF political programs.

Even Mr. Yared talking on the objective of EPLF clearly said, “The struggle for equality demands the elimination from both the majority and the minority nationalities of feelings of dominance and Chauvinism as well as the apprehension and suspicion that give rise to narrow nationalism. It also calls for intense efforts to narrow the gap in the level of economic and cultural developments that prevail among the nationality.”

First, in this paragraph, one can understand the political narrow approach towards Eritrean diversity. First, the struggle lead by EPLF was meant to eliminate any majority or minority feelings of nationalities. I am in favor of such classification for the Eritrean society. Eritreans did not have such feelings except after the British intervention of the Eritrean matters. EPLF widened these feelings by taking it as its major political agenda. This agenda can be read from the EPLF manifesto of “We and Our struggle” released in 1971 [2] . Second, as Mr. Yared wrote in this article, the struggle called for an intense effort to narrow the gap in the level of economic and cultural developments.

In both cases there is no political objective that has accepted the Eritrean people as they are. As we can read from the article, there is no unity in diversity. The unity that they call is homogenization. Homogenization by eliminating the heterogeneity was meant either by eliminating the minorities/majorities and by narrowing between the cultural and economical gap of the people. In reality, both did not exist before as Eritrean norms or feelings. Because; One, there was no major difference between the economical status. In the 1960s, almost 100% of the Eritrean people were subsistence farmers and very negligible were working as employed under the Italian firms. It was hard to get rich Eritreans at that time. The fertile land was confiscated by the Italian colonizers and was under the Italians until 1975’s when then after completely left Eritrea for good. Second, there was no cultural competition at that time. Each ethnic group had its own specific and unique cultural practices which was not diluted for centuries until the 30 years revolution.

During the revolution period the Maoist-Leninist Principle of struggle  was introduced in transforming the Eritrean society. This social principle was mainly implemented by EPLF from its first inception as revolutionary front. It is of no wonder if EPLF introduced such concepts as the leaders were thought by Mao and tried to apply what they had learned. What else can they do if what all they have as a means of struggle doctrine is like that. The “the quest for independent Eritrea being the main” being the main objective “Social  and economical transformation” Incorporated as an extra objective complicated more than we can imagine for the Eritrean 30 years armed struggle.

Oh, I said more than I have to say. Any how, my objective today is not to write my reflections about the article but to share what one of the regime’s worshiper wrote as response to me after I wrote a statement that condemns the Bologna festival. Under the article, I wrote as comment as follows.

“We condemn any fantasy when the body of our sisters and brothers are still waiting to be placed in their final place. Any act by ignoring their body before reaching its final destiny is shame of shame and we condemn it.” I had attached a picture as it is given below with it. [3]

Then, in response to my comment, an ardent PFDJ follower wrote like this. I don’t know the responder and I am saying ardent follower, it is based on the response she gave to me.

I can see the message behind this loser. They have tried to hijack the historical Bologna and when they lost big time and couldn’t compete in organizing with YPFDJ, they pulled the lampadusa card to scare away people.

Listen anta geltam, Isn’t it you people are the one who frustrate every effort by the GoE to bring the bodies back home by conspiring with Italian and Vatican politicians? Aren’t you the ones that campaigned GOE will demend families transport charges on top of 50,000 Nakfa for crossing the country illigaly and advised the Vatican politicians not to send it to Eritrea? We have Audio proof from VOA and other about this when the devil’s merchant Aba Mussie Zerai said it black and white.
Now you are trying to spine the issue to fit your failure? What a backward and stupid mentality is that? What a pathetic and low self esteem people are you? As to the decision from the Italian Prime Minister to reward the dead Italian citizenship is a precursor so that the GOE wouldn’t ask the bodies in the first place. They are dead and they are resting in their place even though that was not the wish of the Eritrean people and government and most of all their families. But if there are people like you out there who needs an enemy.

Leave the dead where they have rested for now. Bologna is nothing to do with the dead. It is a historical event that needs to be remembered.

Listen, anta feshfash. We Eritreans are not new to hold festivity. Even in the war for independence we used to hold guwayla after every battle not because we are happy of their death but to boost the morale of the fighter and also to make the enemy unhappy. Remember, our happines means sadness for our enemies. You are sad here because you are the people’s enemy.

Last point is We remember all our martyrs including lampadusa victims every June20. That’s our Martyr’s day. Apart from that, we have no reason to keep our spirits lifted up.

Awet N’Hafash and motn wudQetn N’feshafasht kemzi natka …. kurkur weyane

And she continued asking me like this;

Fort the record, a group of such teashat want to hijack Bologna and start preparation long before YPFDJ started. A question for the kedami Tesfabirhan WR:

Are not you guys also organizing Bologna of your own as we speak? So are you telling me, mr loser, your group are not going to perform musical performance (God knows from where you got them)? If it is a rain for you, it is a rain with thunder storm for us. But what are you going to do? You lost the competition. You realised people are going to flock in droves to Bologna 40 (the REAL Bologna organized by deqe hager) and now you want to accuse them of mockery?

What a bastard, servant minded kurkur woyane eka bejaka? Eh, adi N’eAkum hiza kemey gerru ke’halfela. Nekesti tub ade