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
OMG, how arrogant response is this. Even there is no mercy in their response. How brutal their response is. It is a clear manifestation of their god’s doctrine. What a worshiper can do more than what he was indoctrinated for.
My response was cool minded and very friendly. I know their dead soul and I can’t be arrogant like them As usual to my response of all comments, I addressed her by saying, “Veronica habtey.” Yah, despite her arrogance, I know that she is my sister and I know her indoctrinated mind. I can only be cool to her in order to open her heart. After addressing, I wrote;
Bzuh aytihreki ba. Entay dea kindizi tsertser zebileki zelo. Do you want again to ask the same question you did before for a family that lost 4 golden kids. Do you remember what you asked? I will remind you anyway because you always forget after guayla.
You asked to a father who lost 4 kids, “How do you feel after losing your 4 kids?” This is your question I know. I know what you dictated him to say, “I am happy, I am proud of losing 4 kids.” Such was your senseless and inhuman question that you are again trying to reiterate here in Bologna festival.
Veronika if individuals conspired not to return back the dead bodies of Lampedusa, the 366 bodies, it is only because of the weakness of GoE. The GoE is hijacked by PFDJ and PFDJ is under dictator. hence, a dictator can do nothing. If we had a responsible government, then individuals could not have any such huge power (just to please you). The fact is, no one did in blocking the return of dead body back home except PFDJ junta. You know why he did that? I will again tell you because you are already of the dead soul lady. PFDJ is afraid of the possible anger that may arise when all the dead body is landing at the airport. This is the only reason. Don’t conspire it more than that. PFDJ is trying to kill emotions, feelings, angers, cries, mournings. No more no less. It is not about money.
Eritreans can pay even upto $40,000 to save a life and to get the dead body, not only 50,000 Nakfa, which is less than $1,000 in today’s inflated market price. You know it better.
As for me, don’t worry say what ever you want. That is your mentality, the limit of your thinking, poor Veronica. You are the traitor remember. If you are not convinced by this, listen the recent PFDJ prison breaker, Pilot Dejen Ande Hishel
Just cool down, the only thing we will do is, we will weed-out any PFDJ activity from the Eritrean issue. We, the people own our own values. I better know YPFDJ than you, don’t try to lecture me about that.
We condemn Bologna Festival!
To my surprise, after I clicked on the post button, I read a message under my name reading, “Waiting for the Approval.” Waw, Tesfanews!
This is my third time to comment on tesfanews and the other two were posted directly. No one was there as moderator to counter check my comment. I was even surprised before for such PFDJ sponsored web pages to post any comments directly. Somehow, I thought may be they were trying to attract moderate commentators though I was not of this type for obvious reasons. My comments were to the first response to Veronica. I was quite sure that my cool response to Veronica was posted. I continued to write my second response to her question. After finishing my second response, I saw the message of “waiting to be approved.” Then. in case I saved my first comment which I though that it is good to save such but failed to do so for the second and signed-off from the page hoping that it will be approved for sure. The second response is short and somehow not to much critical.
To my surprise, the first comments which criticize Veronica’s arrogant response in a cool but strong message was deleted and I was not able to find it where I put for. Rather, my second response that tried to answer partial of her question was approved. Here was my second response to here question.
After observing this, I edited the second comment as it was not my main message, just a response to please her. Consequently, I have forgotten the second comment to repeat it as it is but its main idea was, “It is shame for the PFDJ to compete with an arranged programs of small number of justice seekers who planned to speak about the injustice committed back home by PFDJ. This competition shows how belittled is now PFDJ and trying to compete. It is shame to you and shame to PFDJ. They arranged the program in Bologna because they were denied to sit and discuss back home.” This was the main message that I tried to convey in the second comment. I don’t know how they favored to approve this and reject the first.
After having this observation, I planned this piece of article to crush the weak and poor politics that PFDJ worshipers are playing during their last period of their era.
foot notes
[1] http://www.tesfanews.net/reflection-bologna-40th-anniversary-4th-6th-july-2014/
[2] http://eritrios.net/1970s/Nihnan%20Elamanan,%20English%201971.pdf)
[3] http://a.disquscdn.com/uploads/mediaembed/images/1093/4967/original.jpg
