The Eritrean “Diagnosis” of Chess Playing and the Difficulty of Facing an Ugly Truth

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The Eritrean “Diagnosis” of Chess Playing and the Difficulty of Facing an Ugly Truth

Semere Tesfai’s assertion that Woyane revolution is buried simply because a non Tigraian has become a prime minister is a wishful thinking

Hindeya Mebrahtu (hindeya34@yahoo.com)
Tigrai Online Jan. 01, 2013

A certain Semere Tesfai under the title “The Political Chess Game to Tame the Woyanes” posted an article on awate.com an Eritrean opposition website. The author in a happy mood tells his Deki Ere that Woyane Revolution is buried together with the late Prime Minister and that now Eritrea would fare better with a non Tigraian at the helm of power in Ethiopia. He wrote any peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea would only be possible as long as ethnic Tigraians are marginalized in Ethiopian power politics alluding the Tigrigna speaking people in Ethiopia as the cause for the current impasse between Ethiopia and Eritrea. He further states in absolute certainty the current “no war no peace” hurts Ethiopia more than it does to Eritrea. He also claims the current transfer of power in Ethiopia was brokered by western powers. Sounding like the biblical prophets, he further reiterated a new show down is set for 2015 in Ethiopian power politics.

It is common knowledge that Woyane Revolution was all about democracy, justice and equal opportunity for development. The fighters of TPLF and all cross section Ethiopians never fought to put a single ethnic at the helm of power. The writer’s assertion that Woyane revolution is buried simply because a non Tigraian has become a prime minister is a wishful thinking and an insult to the intelligence of his readers. While the history of TPLF fighters’ sacrifices at Sahel along side EPLF fighters is of recent past, while it is a contemporary fact that Eritreans are fleeing in droves crossing Eritrean borders to Tigray/Ethiopia and are treated and welcomed by the people and the government as brothers and sisters, while it is a verifiable fact that the Eritrean refugees are accorded the chance to attend universities like any native Ethiopian, while it is established legally in the court of law that Eritrea was the instigator of the Ethiop-Eritrean border war, the imputation that Tigrigna speaking Ethiopians as the gridlock for Ethio-Eritrea relations must be the reading of a perverted mind.

True to his perversity, the writer asserted that the no peace no war situation hurts Ethiopia more than it does to Eritrea in spite of the glaring facts in the ground: for the last fourteen years Eritrea is losing billions of dollars simply because Ethiopia stopped using the ports of Assab, the port of Assab as a result has been turned in to a ghost town, 10% of Eritrea’s productive population has been in trenches, Shaebia has closed Asmara University the only higher learning institution in Eritrea; while Ethiopia is building mega dams, tens of universities and railways to transform its economy. What yardstick did the writer use to conclude that the no war no peace situation hurts Ethiopia more than it does to Eritrea? Of course that scenario is tantalizing to him. His hatred to Ethiopia is deep and it must be playing a trick with his mind. Otherwise, who could in his right mind make such outlandish statement with all the glaring differences of the two countries?

Looking at all his wild assertions, it is fair to say the writer is suffering from a dream that turned in to a nightmare. After all the prohibitive sacrifices, after all the blood shed for over thirty years, who could have expected Eritrea would be Issayas’ play ground where prisons proliferate more than schools and citizens live in trepidation? Some Eritreans like Semere Tesfai try hard to convince themselves that all what they got after so much sacrifices is worth in spite of the hell all their tortuous journeys have delivered them. If they had any sanity and if their ego were not using Ethiopia for its inflation or deflation, they would have admitted long ago that they were wrong through and through. Now that sanity being a rare commodity in their den and since that last thing they want to see is the prospect of their antagonists (Ethiopians in their perception) getting more moral ground when it comes to reading and turning the pages of history, they prefer not to get the hell out of the runaway train; they are still in the ride and we salute them to have a good riddance!

Rather what I found an at most important that impelled me to write this short article is the question: What was the purpose of the article by Semere Tesfai intended to serve Ethiopians in general and Eritreans in particular? There are two possible answers:

The writer is a learned person and I don’t think he believes the things he said in his article. Rather this guy is a disturbed individual in capable of handling the truth. The truth that Eritrea is a tiny and one of the poorest countries in the world, a country turned in to hell by the totalitarian nature of PFDJ where in tens of thousands of people are fleeing to the south of their border for safety are truths too much of a pain for Semere to swallow. His against “all odds’’ and the” we the special people” fantasies are obstinately holding the tight grip of him. What complicates his way out of this maze is his index of Eritrea’s development or derailment happens to be Ethiopia. The tragedy for him is that Ethiopia is doing very well. The complete contrast between Ethiopia and Eritrea is agonizing him as it should be. However it didn’t stop there, jealousy took hold of him. So the writer prefers to feed his agonized ego by fabricating stories; he is in the business of healing his traumatized ego through fabrications. The problem with fabrications is, however, they don’t stay. They are fleeting. Sooner reality popes up in your face. So what is his solution? Is there a way out for him? The ball is with him. He should be brave enough to face reality and shake hands with the truth. With a little soul searching he should settle for the truth of Eritrean reality; a reality that Eritrea is a tiny country, one of the poorest countries in the world whose people are under relentless attack by PFDJ and turned in to zombies and mute as a result. Ones he regains sanity, what remains would be engaging his sane mind and it is with out doubt the result of such engagement would be no less than a miracle. At least he will have the advantage of using a fresh mind which had taken a very long leave of absence.

The other possible reason for posting such article is to shutter all future opportunities for peaceful relations between Ethiopian people and Eritrean people. How? If you follow up all Shaebia propaganda and the opposition rhetoric particularly of Jebha background, all the Eritrean nationalism they want to build is based on anti Ethiopia. You can say the foundation on which they want to erect Eritrean nationalism is on the extreme hate of Ethiopia and everything that Ethiopia stands for. Shaebia backing Eritreans concoct stories of Eritrea as a nation that was independent from today’s Ethiopia for thousands of years. They do this in a desperate attempt to completely sever Eritrea from Ethiopia from the pages of history so much so that its physical separation from Ethiopia couldn’t satisfy them.

Unfortunately, the voices of reason in Eritrean opposition groups are very few. Some times, however, numbers don’t matter. The very few in whom one can see any sanity have influenced many Eritreans particularly the youth by exposing Shaebia and the former Jebhas’ lunacy. These very few have shown to all Eritreans that all the malaises of Eritrea are the result of a madness to build Eritrea through the destruction of any thing in Eritrea they believe would evoke any memory of Ethiopia. According to Yosief Gebrehiwot who is one of those in the business of deconstructing the former Jebha and Jhaebia ideals, Eritrea is suffering now as a result of this experiment. And the Shaebia backers and former Jebha members are now threatened by Yosief Gebrehiwot’s influence in the Eritrean youth. As a result they have declared an all out ‘war’ against Yosief Gebrehiwot who is an Eritrean voice of reason.

What has become characteristic of the Jebha debaters is, they call him Ethiopianist or Ethiopian lover by way of accusation as if Ethiopia is some sort of a disease when they lack substance to argue with. They incessantly mudsling at him while he has said time and again that he is not in the business of returning Eritrea back to Ethiopia. Here is for the Ethiopian government and for us Ethiopians an issue to ponder as a matter of grave concern. Our government should be ready in clearly stipulating its policy regarding the relationship with these Eritrean opposition groups who in time of their frustration betray their boundless hatred to us and our country.

Now back to why Semere Tesfai posted the article in awate.com. The Eritrean opposition’s ridiculous effort to create Eritrea in the image of Arabia or any thing looking non Ethiopian has faced a formidable challenge from Yossief Gebrehiwot. You can sense his influence among Eritreans from the amount of outrage his discourse has evoked in the awate team. They are threatened with the possibility that they may fail to brainwash Eritreans that Ethiopia is an alien and a permanent menace to their aspirations. Yossief Gebrehiwot has become a hurdle to Shaebia backers and the likes of Awate team to their Eritrean project. It is possible that this fear might have instigated Semere Tesfai to write the so called article and for the Awate team to post it.

In case they fail in brainwashing Eritreans and as a result fail in their grand project (the Eritrea they imagine) with in their domestic front, they calculate to salvage their Eritrean project by driving Ethiopians crazy. The Semere tesyai article could be nothing but a poison on which they gambled; they gambled that such articles would drive us insane and we Ethiopians would hate everything Eritrean. They think they are the smart-aleck or Asmarinos as they would like to call themselves and that they hoped if they fail to push Eritreans to break arms with their brothers south of the Mereb, they believe they can still sever any possible affiliation and relation between the two brotherly people through articles and rhetoric intended to anger Ethiopians. They want Ethiopians to do their dirty jobs. They hope such filthy articles would render Ethiopians at loggerheads with Eritrean people. I have news for them: No matter what, all Muslim and Christian Eritreans are our brothers and sisters. This is a fact no time will change. Our enemies are Shaebia and those who want us to break arms with the peace loving Eritrean people. Ethiopians don’t have a short supply of wisdom to fall in to their trap albeit shallow the trap it may be.

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The Eritrean “Diagnosis” of Chess Playing and the Difficulty of Facing an Ugly Truth

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