Commentary:

The Spin-Doctors of Eritrea

The Ethio-Eritrean war broke out suddenly and dramatically on a certain day in May 1998 when, with much fanfare, Eritrean troops stomped defiantly across the border into Ethiopia. Ethiopia's public opinion was shocked, but the Ethiopian people were galvanized into action immediately. Today, right at the middle of a deadly conflict, there is no dispute about the utility, the desirability and indeed, the essentiality of bringing all Ethiopians under one roof.

The Eritrean people knew only as much about the war and its probable impact on the nation's fate as their President, Isayas Afeworki, is willing to tell them. The Eritrean elites became willingly an amplifying echo for their dictator's inflated ego. They have probably spilled more printers' ink over the distorted version of the causes of the Ethio-Eritrean conflict than any other topic. With the spin-doctors of Eritrea parading closely behind their dictator, the Eritrean people were continuously brainwashed with a barrage of misinformation to justify Eritrea's aggressive behavior. The Eritrean people could hardly be blamed if they are confused.

Those of us who have been concerned with the Ethio-Eritrean conflict started out, in our innocent way, thinking the problem was confined largely to the EPLF's inflated military might that has adopted and practiced force as its major political and religious asylum. We quickly discovered, of course, it was not all that simple.

The Eritrean government, with close collaboration of a ring of Eritrean professionals and foreign "guerrilla groupie" scholars are pouring out their venom against Ethiopia in every front. To this effect so many them are devoting their time and money in digging a foundation of their hatching factory for distorting events so that the pillars of their tabloid are high enough to be seen beyond Eritrea.

There is more to be said about the dangers posed by the Eritrean elite during this time. By May 12th of 1998, it was usual for Ethiopians to predict the eviction of the invading army from their territory. And now they are slowly but surely learning that the meaning of "invasion" have to expand to their socioeconomic status, cultural beliefs and history books. The spin-doctors are trying to rewrite the history of Ethiopia and Eritrea to the tune of their dictator's music. Eritrean based rewritings of the Ethiopian history and an Eritrean based theology are purely Orwellian projects that appropriate, politicize and ruin the core of Ethiopian historical foundation and cultural heritage.

What had been hoped from EPLF's revision of history, however, is proving delusive. The EPLF and its captive elates have made sweeping assumptions about the past, based on their myopic vision and phantom identity rather than on the actual record of the past. After seven years of believing in their military invulnerability, the new Ethiopian Defense Forces jolted Eritrea's illusion of invincibility during the recapturing of Badime in February of 1999. Suddenly the Eritrean dictator was reminded that his political power could be eclipsed.

As one careful political expert of the Horn of Africa, Patrick Gilkes, has noted, "A surprising number of eminent scholars and journalists have taken the leading Eritrean movement, the EPLF, at its own evaluation, and its historical claims as fact." No one seemed to heed his warning. The Eritrean elite, the foreign scholars and journalists saw no way of adjusting their analysis to the realities on the ground. Nor do they believe that the Eritrean dictator did humanity a disservice by violently acting out imperial delusions across several national boundaries of the Horn of Africa. Either they had reached a condition of political loss of sensation, or they were falsely perceived to have an ability they did not have. After all one cannot lose an ability that one never had.

Compared to Ethiopia, the Eritreans believe they have an upper hand in public relations. They are attempting to fully exploit the western media to their advantage. This is so because, for one, Ethiopia has never fully recovered its image since the ruthless dictator of Ethiopia, Mengistu, came to power in 1974. Second, the Eritreans believe they have managed to establish a well-developed public relations infrastructure in place for a long time. Third, to the surprise of many Ethiopians and foreign observers, the Ethiopian government has alienated many capable Ethiopian professionals who might have played a key role in counteracting the Eritrean propaganda. The Eritrean elites are playing a major role in propagating the dictator's political wishes and agenda without considering the long-term consequences of their actions for their country. This is not necessarily due to their superior flag-waving behavior; perhaps superior vulnerability is a better explanation.

At an individual level, an Eritrean professional is highly vulnerable to Eritrean government's tactics of pressure, blackmail, intimidation and excommunication. The sad fact of today's Eritrea is that there is a general failure of hard-won rights. A closer look of the period 1991-1998 indicates that the inner circle of Isayas Afeworki sponsored the bulk of the atrocious actions, including assassinations, disappearance and incarceration of dissidents, taken against Eritrean political "deviants."

There is little to protect the unpopular Eritrean from the wrath of the enraged cadres of the Eritrean government within or outside the country. If worst comes to worst, and attempts are made to enforce individual rights on behalf of the unpopular Eritrean, a council of Eritrean elite, such as Saleh Younis, Dr. Tekie Fessehazion *etc, drawn from the USA could generally be counted upon to redress the balance in favor of the Eritrean community sentiment. Can any Eritrean imagine that?

Here comes a blow. A blow serious enough to reverse the aspirations of Eritreans of good will. At the national level, Eritrea's future situation is not necessarily cheerful with the existing leadership. Eritrea is a nation where all Eritreans are at the mercy of one man. It is now conceivable that we could have a nationwide reign of terror. While no prophet of gloom, we think we should notice carefully one instance of what Isayas Afeworki could do in exporting his invisible terrorist acts to the heart of his own people and beyond. At this stage of his game "the sword cares not who wields it, nor whose blood it sheds."

How sad the communal search for truth is lost somewhere in the inflated national ego of the spin-doctors of Eritrea. Most of them are committed to the "healing power" of Isayas Afeworki rather than to the critical reflection facts and reality. The ever-present danger of such intellectuals is that it could become a "colony". In a colony, all members think increasingly alike on increasingly narrow issues. All make predictable responses both to the issues and to each other. All turn inward on themselves and uncritically acclaim each other. Such kind of community or colony finally sterilizes the intellectual resources of its members and then the members start parading with a slogan "Ours is not to question why, ours is but to do or die."