couple weeks ago I attended the BrigadeNhamedu symposium in Dallas. This visit rekindled a light in my heart that I believed was long gone. A New Hope! BrigadeNhamedu is not only a new hope for the betterment of Eritrean lives but for the complete overhaul of our culture weaving modern ideology with the best parts of our tradition.
Dr Saba, chairwoman of Erisat once asked me to name one good thing about the current regime and at the time I had no answer to give her because there was nothing I can think of, however after my visit to dallas I can confidently say that, although unintentional, the one good thing the current regime has brought to the Eritrean people is BrigadeNhamedu. This might sound like a self-defeating statement so let me explain. Our society, just like any other society, was not ready for democracy. The rights of the many were considered more important than the rights of the individual. This may sound proper in theory however it also implies that if it’s convenient for the many, then the rights of the individual can be infringed upon (or trampled upon in the case of Shabia). This disregard of the individual leads to a society where the group mentality is dominant while individual thought is discouraged. This mentality was ingrained in our culture together with all the other good parts and passed down from generation to generation. Shabia undertook many actions that were aimed at preserving their power under the guise of the common good. Awet n’hafash was their mantra. This ideology is so deep rooted that even the people who work and live in the western nation, and enjoy the freedoms offered in these democratic nations view them in a negative light and do not aim to replicate them in the motherland but even make excuses for the atrocities the oppressive regime commits.
I have always wondered why they don’t apply the theories they lived and breathed to the entire population of Eritrea so everybody can enjoy wealth and happiness.I’ve had several theories over the years but the most plausible one was that it’s ingrained in our culture. The three years I have spent in eritrea and the subsequent conversations I had with Eritreans in diaspora supported this theory. When I asked questions that differed from the norm I was always met with a disapproving attitude. The first time I did not get the stare of disapproval was last week in dallas.
Shabia is a marxist regime who abused the close correlation of Karl Marx’s teaching and our culture. Both preach that the individual is less than the community.
The Shabia regime played on this correlation to strictly control the entirety of Eritrea and the minds of Eritreans all over the world. The fortunate coincidence is that their insight into the human psyche ends there. The only way of exerting their control over the Eritrean people became by force, and the longer that lasted the more immune the population became to the pure violence. Hence they had to ramp up the violence and a vicious cycle broke out. In order to maintain their control they started to dismantle traditions one by one. The imprisonment of the Orthodox Pope was one such instance. The most important action that led to BrigadeNhamedu was that they started to take teenagers from their homes before they could fully understand our traditions that were passed down from our ancestors. They took them to ‘bereka’ where they
grew up under brutal military law. The only things they were taught were blind obedience and combat. As Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof said ‘If I bend too much I will break’, our unfortunate brothers & sisters suffered great physical and psychological abuse to the point that they broke. They took the chance and fled from their tormentors and made it to democratic soil encountering all kinds of hardships on the way. the majority of them fall into three categories. The first group is those with Stockholm syndrome. After escaping their captors (I say captors because any citizen is not allowed to leave his own country without their permission), and reaching a safe democratic country where they can choose to do anything their mind can think of, they choose to support their abusers.
The second group is the ones that have PTSD. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a disease that existed in our society however with the familial support system that used to be the norm in our culture could be overcome. However these youngsters did not grow up with this system and don’t know how to cope when they reach their destination. The struggle is over, they are in an environment where their physical safety is guaranteed (something they never experienced before). Now with nothing left to occupy their mind the ghosts of the past rumble around in their thoughts and they seek an escape into alcohol, drugs and violence. Killing of your spouse and suicide was rarely seen in the history of our people.
The third group is the ones that completely reject Shabia and their teaching and absorb what their new homeland had to offer unencumbered by the bindings of our culture nor the markcist’ish teachings of shabia. They experienced the freedom of an individual for the first time. They were able, for the first time of their lives, to think freely. No-one looking over their shoulders, dictating what they should think or do.
Now Imagine they are a blank canvas able to compare life in eritrea vs life in a democratic nation. And their verdict is clear: they violently reject authoritarianism and embrace democracy. This level of freedom of thought has not been reached by the Eritreans who have lived in these nations for more than 20 years yet these youngsters have reached it as soon as they observed and experienced it for themselves.
This leap would have taken us as a nation generation had shabia not broken the continuity of our tradition. I did not believe I would see this level of independent thought from our people in my lifetime. For this I give a very sarcastic thank you to our Dictator in Chief, for had he treated them like human beings instead of things that are to be used then we would not have this open mindedness. Even the devil has a purpose in the Bible/Kuran.
Many African countries who gained their independence decades before Eritrea have not yet reached this level of freedom of thought.
This third group of Eritrean youngsters is where BrigadeNhamedu was started. It is a violent rejection of the authoritarian regime that has tormented them all these years. When Shabia tried to control them here and curb their new found freedom they violently refused them and started a movement that represents everything Shabia is not. They implemented what they have learned here and included all the political parties that stand against oppression. And since they grew up under Shabia they have great discipline and strong organizational skills. That’s the reason for their lightning fast emergence and dominance of the political scene and the reason they are feared by the regime but also the reason there is actual hope of toppling the stagnant government.
This story reminds me of the founding father of the United States. The first pilgrims came here fleeing the persecution of the European churches, fast forward a little bit to the Boston Tea Party, an event protesting King George’s policy of taxing the americas without hearing them out. No Taxation Without Representation.
That is exactly BrigadeNhamedus’ stance. No taxation without representation. We will not pay this authoritarian government and the puppet orthodox church the 2% and 15% they respectively ask for. Eritrean Dallas Tea Party.
In short BrigadeNhamedu stands for the Free people of Eritrea, freedom of the territory and freedom of the people and their mind.
A great mind once told me ethics is for the individual, politics is ethics for the society. So if the leadership justifies ethical violation for any reason then that leadership will lead the society into moral decay and all efforts will be poured into preserving the regime rather than the progress and betterment of society.
When the first war started with weyane we were proudly announcing ‘natna aiNhBN seynatna aiNDelin’ meaning we don’t let anyone take what’s ours but we don’t take what’s not ours. Ignoring the political games and implication of this war, just based on that statement we had the moral high ground. Fast forword some years we are participating in a war against Tigray inside of their land. The decay of the moral values inside eritrea is evident with this excerpt. I will not argue the severity of the things committed there as that is irrelevant. The outcome of that debate will be between: we were wrong -to- we were horribly wrong. Instead of focusing on the severity let us focus on how to regain our moral authority.
My brigadeNhamedu brothers & sisters. You have accomplished a great feat already and if you wish to catapult Eritrea that has been dragged back not just stagnant the past 30 years continue this struggle not with hatred for shabia but love for freedom of the individual. At no point is it OK
to infringe on an individual’s rights, no matter how hard the struggle. Let’s learn from the USA. The only thing they have over us is their respect for the individual: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. If we incorporate these rights as the rights of every Eritrean good or bad then the Eritrean name will regain its previous respect. As a direct result the nation and its people will prosper beyond our imagination. I can already envision the conservatives in our senate debating on closing our borders because there are too many immigrants coming into our country illegally and taking our jobs away. You may find this a far stretch of the imagination however the only reason Emperor Haile Selassie abused the Eritrean people was because he illegally & unilaterally annexed the Eritrean Federation. In 1996 when I first went back to Eritrea, Tigray people who wanted to emigrate to a foreign country in order to better their life were always headed to Asmara. Eritreans were well respected both in Ethiopia and the rest of the world, especially in Africa.
Shabia for their own selfish purposes ruined the Eritrean name in the eyes of the world. We are being seen as the North Korea of Africa. However we only have brutality and an authoritarian regime in common with North Korea. We have none of the powerful allies nor do we have a powerful army/arsenal that would deter an invasion from any interested party. Some shabia supporters excuse shabia by stating that they are defending our national security from the western countries. I say to you, the reason we still exist is because we are not a threat to them. Saddam and the Taliban were removed as easy as sneezing on them, Bin Laden hid in a hole for 10 years and was still hunted down. Isaias wouldn’t stand a chance.
In conclusion I say ‘BrigadeNhamedu teawitu iu’ (brigadeNhamedu is already victorious). The struggle now is to bring this freedom of thought to our brothers and sisters in Eritrea and allow them to choose what they want.
To those of us who are just now joining the struggle, BrigadeNhamedu has planted a new seed of hope and democracy. This is our chance to get back on top and rewrite history, however if we do not water this germinating plant it will not survive. Democracy is messy and slow, but like a tank every step it takes may be small and slow but it’s solid, difficult to derail. It is obvious where our trajectory is headed if we stay like this. At best we were stagnant for the past 20 years, there is no reason to expect anything different for the next 20 years with the current regime however with BrigadeNhamedu – The Sky’s the Limit, we go where our imagination takes us even to the moon.
My Sincere Appeal to the people of Eritrea
Dr. Medhanie Yemane
