Selam Dehai and Paulos,
Paulos wrote:
< That is why, in the on-going debate, we are saying it's unfair to put some
<unnecessary and trivial restrictions as money and taxes now when we are on the
<verge of ratifying a constitution.
Paulos, try to put your self in the place of a martyr's family or for that
matter any destitute Eritrean familly (there are tens of thousands of them) who
are not sure whether or not they will get their next meal. Considering the tax
money (2% meHwey gbri) is used to make sure these destitute people get their
next meal, would you still say that this money is trivial,or unnecessary as you
have chosen to call it. I would say, it may seem trivial to you but it may be
more important to the one whose survival depends on it even than the abstract
constitution to be ratiffied. It definitely is not trival to the cash poor
Eritrean government.
You also wrote:
< Agreed. But why is it not fair also to demand the same from the leaders who,
<elected or not, represent the Eritrean people today? Why do people jump up and
<down when these folks are criticized? Aren't we supposed to expect a higher
<standard from them?
By the way, how high is your "high standard"? As for me, considering the
Eritrean situation and experience, I am not supposed to expect too much from the
present government. They owe me nothing, any way.
Sereke
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: [DEHAI] Bad air! Bad air!
Author: pnatnael@NODC.NOAA.GOV (Paulos Natnael) at INTERNET
Date: 14/3/97 3:06 PM
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"At this point I cannot suppress a sigh and a last hope. What is it that I
especially find utterly unendurable? That I cannot cope with, that makes me
choke and faint? Bad air! Bad air! The approach of some ill-constituted thing:
that I have to smell the entrails of some ill-constituted soul!"
- German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.
Wondering about man's (human being, that rational, or is it irrational
animal?) inherent vacillation from good to evil, Nietzsche wrote the above
lament more than a century ago. Human nature fundamentally does not change;
it has not changed significantly over the millenia. The question is: why
should we expect it to change now?
That is why some of us skeptics are not putting all our faith on one person
or group of persons. We instead would like to see a mechanism implemented
which in the future would help our country, Eritrea, achieve the desired nd
regulations, because we are human, must be respected so that chaos doesn't
reign. This was supposed to be an obvious point; it becomes a tautology
after a while.
But I see an ironic and somewhat hypocratical argument coming from those who
say that we should expect a higher standard or value from those who would
be representing us in this Constituent Assembly. Agreed. But why is it not
fair also to demand the same from the leaders who, elected or not, represent
the Eritrean people today? Why do people jump up and down when these folks
are criticized? Aren't we supposed to expect a higher standard from them?
Paulos.
** Workshop by Prof Sondra Hale, UCLA. March 15-29. "Gender Concerns After **
** the Liberation Front Becomes the State: The Case of Eritrean Women". **
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** Workshop by Prof Sondra Hale, UCLA. March 15-29. "Gender Concerns After **
** the Liberation Front Becomes the State: The Case of Eritrean Women". **
** **
** To join the workshop, send mail to: majordomo@primenet.com with the **
** following in the body of your mail. subscribe dehai-ws your-email-address **