Why We Are Staging Demonstration Against This “Festival”

A festival is a public celebration of great religious, cultural, or political events. As such we cannot be against festival per se of great events. But this “festival” has nothing to do with that. It is politically motivated and sponsored by the tyrannical regime of PFDJ under the guise of nationalism. Such “festival” is objectively against the interest of our people and our country. Its sole purpose is to legalise and finance the tyrannical regime of PFDJ. As such all good hearted Eritreans have the national duty to oppose it. The oppressed Eritrean people expect nothing less from Eritreans residing overseas. Our contentions of arguments are as follows:

1.      PFDJ is Unconstitutional and is ruling the country without constitution.

The tyrannical regime has sidelined the ratified constitution for more than 10 years. Eritrea is the only country without constitution. The word of the president is the law of the country. We demand a constitutional government. Let Eritreans be governed by a constitution and not by the word of the President. As it stands now the regime is unconstitutional and therefore any thing it does such as running “Festival” is illegal and unconstitutional too, and therefore should be opposed strongly.

 2. The Tyrannical Regime does not represent Eritreans.

Ever since independence no election has been carried out. The scheduled election of Dec. 2002 has been postponed indefinitely. Thus it goes without saying that the President and his cronies are ruling the country without the consent of the people. Therefore PFDJ does not represent the Eritrean people and it is illegal and usurper government. As the saying goes on, “No Taxation without representation.” Hence we should not legalise and finance a usurper regime which does not represent the people.

3. Human Right Violations

Human Right violations are its highest under the tyrannical PFDJ regime. Arbitrary arrests and prolonged imprisonment without trial is the rule of day. This is not limited to political dissidents only but all Eritreans across the board. PFDJ is a highly repressive state which does not tolerate different views. Prison conditions raise serious human right concern. Many of those arrested are held incommunicado in secrete detention sites. Prisoners are subjected to psychological and physical torture. These human rights violation has been attested by Michael Clough, African Advocacy Director for Human Rights Watch, in his testimony to US House of representatives on May 5, 2005, European Parliament Press Release of  Nov, 19, 2004, and Amnesty International Covering Events from Jan- Dec. 2004.

       4. Freedom of Press

The tyrannical regime has banned all free press in Eritrea and has imprisoned all the journalists. In fact Eritrea is the only African country without free press. Such measures have been condemned by all freedom loving people and press institutions and associations, but to no avail. To date many of the journalists are still in prison and their whereabouts is not known.

5. Religious Persecution

There is no freedom of conscience in Eritrea. All religions including Christianity and Islam are persecuted. Minority religions such as Pentecostal and Jehovah Witnesses are banned and their followers are detained.

6. Economic Deterioration

Economically the country is in a mess. There is little productive activity. Most of the working age people are in trenches in the border war. For many years now they have interrupted their regular work and study. Thus productive economic activity is as at its lowest.  Foreign and local investors are shunning the country because of the in conducive business environment. As the result the people are getting poorer and poorer and unemployment is rampant.

7. Social & Cultural Deterioration

Socially, the crisis is getting worse by day. As Balsely Olsen UNICEF representative in Asmara said “child and maternal malnutrition is the highest in Africa. There is a rise in commercially sexually exploited children and 5% of prostitutes in Eritrea are under the age of 18.” Our youth in Eritrea are living without hope and future and what kind of adults are they going to be? Eritrea is going to have a generation of unskilled and untrained youth. In such a condition the future is bleak and it is very frightening to contemplate.

Refugees are still in camps in Eastern Sudan waiting to return home. They are without any support , even that of the Un ended two years ago. They are not only facing economic & social ghallenges, but also are subject to lose their cultural identity.

A spectre of corruption is pervading in every part of the state activity. Bribery, nepotism, cronyism and even sexual exploiting are the rule of the day. In fact the journalist Xavier La Canna of The Age ones referred to the SAWA military training camp aptly as a Rape Camp.

8. Diplomatic Deterioration

Diplomatically the country is becoming a laughing stock. Like a mad dog the President barks and attacks all international institutions and personalities such as the UN, the UN secretary General, NGOS, US, EU, foreign diplomats etc. By doing so the regime has isolated itself from the international community, neighbouring countries and even from humanitarian Organisations such as NGOS. In fact at this particular time when the PFDJ supporters are dancing to the tune of the dictator the country is in the verge of the war because of the insane demand of the president for the pull out of the western countries component of the peace keeping force on the border war with Ethiopia..

Thus we would like to ask the “Festival” organisers what is the essence behind this “Festival”. Are we celebrating a “Festival” out of the suffering and misery of our people particularly the youth? One does not have to be a space engineer to understand that “Festival” and repression is mutually exclusive. Do we remember that while the PFDJ supporters are marrying and dancing to the tune of the dictator that some children will celebrate the New Year without their parents and some parents without their children because the tyrannical regime has imprisoned them without due course of the law. Do the PFDJ supporters have motherly and fatherly instincts and emotions?  How can they support such cruel and tyrannical regime?

To oppress and dehumanise the people and on top of that to force them to “celebrate Festival” is cruelty at its highest. It is an insult to our intelligence. Thus genuine Eritreans who believe in democracy, freedom and human rights should boycott this sham “festival”. This is the lowest the oppressed voiceless Eritreans expect from us.  

 Australian-Eritreans for Justice and Peace

23/12/2005

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Posted by farajat on Dec 23 2005 Filed under Resistance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry