you wrote:
{{{{{{{
What exactly are these "deep-seated cultural/religious sentiments",
Ismail ? It would be very beneficial to me, and may be to others as well,
if we
truly >understand and discuss the "cultural/religious sentiments" of some
segments>of the Eritrean people and how these "sentiments" were "
arrogantly dismissed" by the "EPLF/PFDJ". It serves no purpose to talk
about the Turabis of foreign lands, when we could be talking critically
about our own Turabis, who "arrogantly dismiss" "deep-seated ...religious
sentiments" of their own people.
}}}}}
Habte:
Eritreans are a deeply religious people. They have believed for
centuries
in certain mores and values derived from their religion and were able to
evolve a culture that was a mixture of high moral principles and
superstitions. The life of the average Eritrean revolved around some
form of religious symbolism. There was hardly any event to
which Eritreans did not attach a religious significance. The birth, the
marriage and the death of each individual was solemnly observed with
prayers, supplications and thanks giving. Even routine activities like
Eating
and sleeping were followed by thanks to the source of these amenities.
This was until the cruel circumstances of history brought leaders
who would succumb easily to alien philosophies without any serious
independent thinking and without due consideration to the tradition
and culture of their own people. They readily imbibed the doomed
philosophy of Marxism and attempted to overhaul centuries old
traditions and religious sentiments overnight. Since they failed
to make any significant headway in this attempt, they targeted
innocent youths and took them away early from their families
and indoctrinated them with their adapted ideology This proved very
effective and the young generation now seems indifferent to religion
and with the demise of communism - very disoriented.
It was as if our people were told 'hey you fools, stop your foolish
ceremonies and follow us because we have found a formula for
successful living.' Many people innocently followed them and this
was to result in a moral confusion that still persists to this
day. Those very leaders were to come back later and tell us
oops! we goofed! We were on the wrong track all along but
that didn't happen until their mentors ignominiously fell over the
cliff!
It was of course in the name of liberation and false enlightenment
that they snatched young people away from their parents. Many
parents who sent their youth to fight for liberation were not happy
at this indoctrination. Some protested but the mighty EPLF totally
disregarded their concerns. EPLF's arrogance did not make it pause
to question the appropriateness of its methodology as applied to
different segments of our society. Muslims were particularly vulnerable
in this regard.
Many Muslims remember vividly how Haile Selassie targeted
them for their religion and how he totally ignored their specific
concerns. Many Muslims naturally expected EPLF to be more
understanding about their religious sentiments. Imagine how
they felt when it too totally disregarded their traditions. Some
were infuriated and thus were the seeds of future Jihad
became planted, in my opinion. Some have linked its actual origin
with the abduction of young daughters from Muslim families even
though it may have originated earlier. Unfortunately the EPLF/PFDJ
still persists with this non chalant attitude and seems to totally
misunderstand the psychology of Muslims.
Yekaalo:
you wrote:
{{{{{
Question: Where did the Eritrean Jihad get 'invented' ?
Hard facts in support of your opinion will definitely
change my opinion and maybe Million's, too.
}}}}}}
First, I sincerely thank you for your compliments and for
your very valid comments. Here is what I said:
<<Finally, the idea that Jihad was invented abroad is self-delusion on
the part of the Government, in my opinion.>>
Yekaalo - If you read my statements above, you will notice that
this is my personal opiinion. If there were 'hard facts' that can
clearly establish the origin of this movement, then there would
be no opinions - but facts. We can reasonably deduce, however,
that all its leaders and fighters are Eritreans some of whom were
members of ELF and there might even be some former EPLF's.
Believe me, Yekaalo, if there was a shred of evidence to prove that
Jihad was invented abroad, the PFDJ would have presented it
long time ago. .
your brother
Ismail
On Sun, 21 Sep 1997 15:08:00 -0400 (EDT) HabteSE@aol.com writes:
>
>
>Selam Ismail and Dehai,
>
>In the following quotation from your 9/21 post (see entire text
>below),
>Ismail you mention the existence of "deep-seated cultural/religious
>sentiments"
>
>> Finally, the idea that Jihad was invented abroad is self-delusion
>on
>> the part of the Government, in my opinion. Frankly, I don't even
>think
>> that the Government really believes that. But the Government can
>use
>> it to thwart demands for democracy for .....'security reasons'.
>In my
>> estimation, it is very unlikely that Jihad would have gained
>momentum in
>> Eritrea had the EPLF/PFDJ acted wisely instead of arrogantly
>dismissing
>> deep-seated cultural/religious sentiments.
>
>What exactly are these "deep-seated cultural/religious sentiments",
>Ismail ?
>It would be very beneficial to me, and may be to others as well, if we
>truly
>understand and discuss the "cultural/religious sentiments" of some
>segments
>of the Eritrean people and how these "sentiments" were "arrogantly
>dismissed"
>by the "EPLF/PFDJ". It serves no purpose to talk about the Turabis of
>foreign
>lands, when we could be talking critically about our own Turabis, who
>"arrogantly dismiss" "deep-seated ...religious sentiments" of their
>own
>people.
>
>habte, (Calif.)
>
>**********************************************************************
>In a message dated 97-09-21 11:08:39 EDT, you write:
>
>> From: ismail1@JUNO.COM (Ismail Omar-Al)
>> Sender: owner-dehai@ftp1.primenet.com
>> Reply-to: ismail1@JUNO.COM (Ismail Omar-Al)
>> To: mghebreg@GPU.SRV.UALBERTA.CA
>> CC: dehai@primenet.com
>>
>> Selamat Million and seb dehai
>>
>> you wrote:
>> {{{{{{{{{{
>> >From my understanding , correct me if I am wrong, you seem to
>think that
>>
>> Eritrea is the aggressive part on the Eritro-sudan feud. I think it
>would
>> be a dire mistake to defend the indefensible
>> }}}}}}}}
>>
>> Whenever people start a discussion with this type of remarks,
>> it is usually wiser not to respond. The reason being that
>statements
>> like 'defend the indefensible' betray the frame of mind of the
>> writer. If this was a one to one discussion, I would probably
>> have chosen not to engage in it. As this happens to be a public
>> forum, however, I will share my opinions.
>>
>> Don't misunderstand me, Million. I am not suggesting that
>> you are close minded about this issue. All I am saying is that,
>> for whatever reason, you have already made up your mind about
>> this issue. Since I don't know exactly how much real facts you
>> have about the situation, I will not presume that your conclusions
>> are wrong. However, if you really are so sure about your opinions
>> as to regard any other opinion on this issue as 'indefensible', I
>> respectfully submit that you are displaying a political naivete
>> about the complexity of the issue - with apologies.
>>
>> Since you humbly invited me above to correct you, let me do that
>> first. I never said that Eritrea is the aggressor ( although that
>is
>> certainly possible.) My only suggestion was to be open minded
>> and mature about the whole issue since we don't have solid,
>> verifiable information about the situation. Is that too much to
>ask?
>>
>> You also wrote:
>> {{{{{
>> If Turabi was at odds only
>> with Eritrea, you would at least get a benefit of doubt on the
>behavior
>> or reaction of our government toward Sudan, However NIF is at odds
>with
>> most of the front-line states namely Ethiopia, Uganda, Egypt, and
>> With United States, international organizations like IMF,
>International
>> red cross and UN itself. The list could go on...
>> }}}}}}
>>
>> Valid points. However, don't forget that Eritrea itself was at
>odds
>> with almost all African countries, USA and others during our
>> liberation struggle. Recently Eritrea was/is in conflict with
>Yemen,
>> Sudan, Egypt and even Saudi Arabia. This neither proves a
>> country as the aggressor nor does it exonerate it.
>>
>> You yourself admit that:
>> " It is undeniable fact that US would like to see the elimination
>of
>> NIF
>> regime to protect its own national interest and It is doing its
>best by
>> arming these front-line states to achieve it's objectives"
>>
>> Doesn't that make you think?
>> Million. Don't underestimate the political and diplomatic muscle
>of the
>> US. The US successfully mobilized many countries including Arabs
>> against Iraq using various tactics and was able to persuade them
>> not only to join the war, but also to agree to a substantial
>financial
>> contribution. Many may have preferred to remain neutral, but the
>> leaders of these countries could not resist the lure of future US
>> assistance and false promises. It later turned out to be that it
>was
>> the US that gave a tacit approval to the invasion of Kuwait. The
>> revelation, as usual, came later.
>>
>> I am also sure we remember how the US played Iraq against Iran
>> while supplying both sides with arms and the whole scandal about
>> the Iran-contra affair. One can reasonably conclude that the goal
>> of the US was to destroy the military might of the two countries
>that
>> would pose a 'threat' to Israel and US interests. We also know
>how
>> Gadaffi was targeted for the discotheque bombing after the US
>> persuaded the world that it had ample evidence that Libya was
>behind
>> the incident. It later turned out to be that Libya had nothing to
>do
>> with it.
>> There are many other cases like that.
>>
>> The US has become so adept at subtly manipulating countries into
>> doing its own dirty job that few people question its motivation.
>> Sometimes it does it in such a way that leaders start to think
>> that it was their idea after all. Those countries that refuse
>> to cooperate are targeted one by one while those that follow
>> its 'commandments' receive praise and admiration. The US would
>> ignore even human rights abuses when its own interests are
>> not at stake. Among those that incurred the wrath of the US are
>> Iraq, Libya and many other third world countries.
>>
>> The current victim now seems to be Sudan. We are not discussing
>> here the legitimacy of the regime. The regime is undeniably a
>> dictatorship. What I am asking is why did Sudan suddenly become
>the
>> focus of US and world attention? Wasn't there a dictatorship
>before
>> in Sudan? Of course, there was. But the US never cared. Although
>> there was slavery long before the advent of the NIF, the US never
>> cared. Countries like Saudi Arabia and Israel remain US allies
>despite
>> their oppressive regimes. These are some of the facts that should
>> make us pause when considering any situation where the US is
>> involved. As I already mentioned above, it has successfully
>mobilized
>> several countries to achieve its sinister goals in the past, it is
>> therefore
>> plausible to assume it may be trying to duplicate those tactics in
>the
>> horn of Africa with Sudan as the bait.
>>
>> EPLF that once used to pride itself for its anit-imperialist and
>anti-
>> zionist stand is now in close relationship with both US and Israel.
>> The US suddenly decides to give a sizable sum to the 'front-line
>> states' for supposedly defensive purposes. Our country that was
>> once totally ignored despite its heroic struggles with an
>oppressive
>> enemy now receives praise and support from US.
>>
>> As you can see, Million, the situation is not as simple as it may
>appear
>> to you. Another point you have to remember is that free press is
>> restricted in both countries which makes it difficult for the
>citizens of
>> both countries to ascertain facts. Just look at how easy it was to
>
>> stir people even here in dehai using unsubstantiated rumors about
>> Sudan's declaration of war. Some dehaians are still excitedly
>> discussing the rumor as a reality and dehai is arguably supposed
>to
>> contain a small sample of the 'elite', the 'educated' and 'the
>> discerning'
>> relative to the rest of our population! It may be natural for us
>to
>> side with
>> our country, but in a matter as grave as an impending war, we
>should
>> at least question our leaders as thoroughly as possible before
>supporting
>> them in such a dangerous venture.
>>
>> Finally, the idea that Jihad was invented abroad is self-delusion
>on
>> the part of the Government, in my opinion. Frankly, I don't even
>think
>> that the Government really believes that. But the Government can
>use
>> it to thwart demands for democracy for .....'security reasons'.
>In my
>> estimation, it is very unlikely that Jihad would have gained
>momentum in
>> Eritrea had the EPLF/PFDJ acted wisely instead of arrogantly
>dismissing
>> deep-seated cultural/religious sentiments.
>>
>> your brother
>>
>> Ismail
>
>