"History teaches nothing. It only punishes us severely for not learning
its lessons."
--Vasily Kluchevsky,
Russian medievalist historian
"nay tariK neger zegerem'yu:: meSaHfti tariK mnbab zeyfto kab zgebruwo
mKnyatat Hade: 'eti tenb'bo teraSami smEitat sle zfeTrelka'yu:: ktfelTo
sle tdeli: neti nay mnbab fetene nbaElu kem TeQami neger twesdo; msti
tenb'bo maEre-maEre ma'eleya zeyblu Htotat 'enalAlka sle Tgo'Az gn:
nHaqeNanet nayti tenb'bo t'TeraTerelu'mo: mnbabka fayda zeyblu koynu
ysmAka; kab temekwuro hiwet bzuH sle tewahl'l:: kwun zeykone tariKn
SwSwayn gzie beliU kem kwun'n Haqn sle zwsed: seb ke'a sle z'amno:
nHlnaKa yKwurkwuHo:: . . . m'entizi m'entiti zeykone: mQlul jg'n'net
nmHyaln harbeNanet nmeSa'I weledo nmwrasn gn: 'eti tariK knger
gbu'e'yu::"
[ (My liberal translation, not literal but close to the spirit): "The
nature of history is amazing. One of the things that makes the reading
of historical books an undesirable task is that what you read creates
contradictory emotions within you; because you want to know the history,
you accept the attempt at reading as a useful project. But, as you
progress in your reading, you start to raise numerous questions along
the way, and you begin to doubt the veracity of what you are reading and
feel that the whole exercise has been without profit. Especially so, as
you gain more knowledge from experience. As distorted history and
myth-making in time gets accepted as reality and truth, and people start
believing it, this constantly bothers you conscience. … However, it is
appropriate that history be told, not for the sake of this side or the
other, but in order to strengthen a modest sense of heroism and transmit
the heritage of patriotism to future generations."]
--Isaias Afwerki
in the preface of "ERTRAWYAN KOMANDO: QIYA 18
DEQAYQ"
I preface my posting with the above epigraphs, which I deem appropriate
when we are considering the history of an important and formative period
of our struggle. I thank Paulos, Jean-Louis and others for initiating
this thread of discussion and I believe this is an important exercise
for all of us, for in the end it is true that man/woman indeed creates
history, and in the Eritrean case the history was made with sweat and
blood and the sacrifice of thousands upon thousands of patriots. The
journey has not been an easy one; on the contrary it was full of
complex labyrinths, ups and downs, at times treacherous and bitter, at
others filled with unbelievable heroism, self-less love, genuine
patriotism and sacrifice. The beginnings of the armed struggle are no
different in this regard. In short, the Eritrean struggle is the stuff
from which epic history, nay legends (but of the postive kind), are made
of.
Paulos, in your last posting you mentioned the Hamid Iris Awate most
likely hailed from the Nara. I will double-check this, just to be sure,
but, if my memory serves me right, I also seem to recall having read
that Awate was from mixed parentage of Tigre (Beni Amer) and Nara and
was from the Mogoraib area. He was popular and well-liked by both
people because he defended them earlier during his shifta days (late 40s
or early 50s) from cattle raids by the Beja/Hadendowa of northern
Eritrea and Eastern Sudan. Interestingly, this was also the period of
the Tigre/serf uprising against their landlords the shumagles/nabtabs.
Now, on whose side was Awate during this important struggle, which,
incidentally, catapulted men like Sheikh Ibrahim Sultan to the forefront
of leadership as advocates of emancipation of the Tigre. Was Awate
himself a Tigre commoner or from the shumagles, the Ad Sheikhs, the
nabtabs or the lords. Another interesting question, as I remember from
my long-ago reading of Trevaskis, the British were encouraging of the
Tigre uprising, and Awate rebelled or became a shifta against the
British until they persuaded him to take the amnesty in the early 50s.
Still going further back and raising more questions, when Awate was a
young Askari/banda in the employ of the Italian army, did he fight in
Tripoli, as many of our grandfathers did? [My grandfather, may God rest
his soul, did fight in Tripoli, and as a child he use to regale me with
tales of his adventures as a young Askar in Troubouli.] If so, was
Awate familiar with the famous Lion of the Desert, Omar Moukhtar, and
did that somehow influence his nationalist outlook? Did the travel
outside his narrow ethnic boundaries broaden his world outlook?
I have read in "Sagem," and later "Haddas Ertra" that Awate often
exhorted his followers to have nationalist outlook, to unite and not
fall prey to divisions of religion, ethnicity, regionalism, etc.? If
this was the case, was he able to rise above the fray and against the
tide, for there was no doubt that the majority of his comrades-in-arms
(as Paulos alluded) and the politicians in Cairo, suffered from narrow
sectarianism and ethnicity. This is indeed what Al-Amin means by the
"mnqwulqwual" (regress/reaction/pitfalls) in his book. But Awate was
without a doubt a charismatic to figure, able to exert his influence on
others. If he had survived that fatal night on the way to baHri, would
he have altered the course of the armed struggle, and divereted it
towards a more nationalist inclusive trend? Would he have progressed,
or joined in the "msguwam" march, or regressed, or joined the
"mnquwlqual" reaction?
In any case, as several people have been asking me about the
availability of the Markakis book, and I felt that what Markakis has to
say about the national/class/ethnic issues were relevant to the
discussion, I will post a series of excerpts from Chapter 5 of his book
in my next postings. Incidentally, Zed Books published the paperback
9affordable) edition of the book in 1990. The reason I sound so
laudatory of the book is because Markakis has made the necessary
research, gone to primary sources and rare archives, interviewed key
personalities, etc. Of course, his analytic method and historiography
is sound. His broad grasp of the regional or pan-Horn issues is also
helpful in understanding the forces behind the national and class
struggles. Among the people he has interviewed, are, for example,
Wolde-Ab Wolde-Mariam, Ibrahim Sultan, Osman Saleh Sabe, Mohammed Said
Nawid, Taha Mohammed Nur, Idris Galdewos, Haile Woldetensae (duru'E),
Al-Zein Yasin, and many others. He has also done exhaustive coverage of
the literature of the fronts themselves, going as far back, as obtaining
a rare copy of the first proclamation issued in Arabic when 5 youngsters
founded the Haraka (ELM) in 1958 in Port Sudan, , for instance.
I think a balanced and accurate view of history is long over due. The
rare anecdotes and first-person accounts such as those posted by
Jean-Louis and Paulos help to advance our knowledge of the early period,
which hitherto had remained obscure to all but a select few. I believe
we are now sufficiently removed from that period to assess it in
fullness, without being biased by political considerations and partisan
politics. In this recording of history, although primacy should be
given to those who actually experienced it ( "zweAle yngerka: znebere
ymkerka," ) a collective urge from all of us must be created to
encourage those who are in the know before they fade out from the scene,
and those who have the expertise and resources to do the necessary leg
work.
Well, I think I have said enough for one posting before people start
yawning from my cyber-soliloquy. Let me stop here and bid you good
night for now. I am enjoying this thread of discussion.
HawKum,
Elias Amare Gebrezgheir
Lawrenceville