| I would like to convey my appreciation to Ambassador Andeberhan and his Eri-Platform colleagues, for organizing this important symposium, and for inviting me to partake in it. INTRODUCTION For purposes of focus and parsimony, I have limited my approach to the following headings: The Colonial Past Italian colonialism was founded and maintained by military violence. As the name indicates, so was the British Military Administration. Eritrea was denied its civic constitution and its secular, federal, statehood by military means (by the monarchical and theocratic state of Ethiopia). Likewise, Italian colonialists, British semi-colonialists, and the Ethiopian Imperial Court pursued policies of manipulating religious and tribal cleavages, in accordance to the dastardly precepts of divide and rule. Identity Issues as Obstacles to Civility and Secularism During the period of decolonization (referred to as the “Disposal of Eritrea”), by the Great Powers, the confessional and tribal divide, enhanced by the colonialists, hardened. Identity issues crystallized into a political divide, thereby distorting the Eritrean national effort for self-determination. The Eritrean National Covenant The Eritrean Constitution was drafted and adopted by the Eritrean Parliament, on July 10, 1952. Section A, No 7, of the Resolution states that the Federal Government shall ensure that residents in Eritrea, without distinction of nationality, race, sex, and language, enjoy human rights and fundamental liberties. Within this context, and despite the political divide that kept them apart, the Eritrean people accepted Tigrinya and Arabic as the working languages of Eritrea. This act was a historical compromise between Eritrean Christians and Muslims. A permanent confessional divide was avoided by accepting Arabic as one of the working languages of Eritrea. In fact, this agreement may be referred to as the First Eritrean National Covenant. After Independence None of the liberation organization seriously challenged the National Covenant during the years of struggle. Nevertheless, Eritrea does not enjoy, hitherto, a civic and secular state. It can be said that the present Eritrean power structure is a continuation of the mechanisms of control established during the armed struggle. The Eritrean people have been denied a civic, secular, state by its liberators for four decades. The need to correct the distortions of our tattered past has arrived; we are required to be at the service of the Eritrean people in the task of putting together the principles of a soft, managerial state derived from a modernized Adi-community, social structure. The Adi is the very source of Eritrean citizenship, property ownership, and individual rights; as such, it is the kernel of Eritrean identity and democracy. Democracy at the Adi and the provincial levels has the advantages of decentralization and placement of local populations at the helm of development and progress, free from the clutches of bureaucrats. Such a state holds the promise of becoming a civic and secular state. After Independence During the struggle for national independence, the ELF and the EPLF did not contravene the First Eritrean National Covenant. After independence, however, religious and ethnic organizations are seeking to revise the First Covenant. The anti-Islamic stance of the Eritrean dictatorship is presented as the primary motivation for revising the National Covenant. The argument that Arabic is an Eritrean language because it is the language of Islam is true for Arab countries, but none other. If Eritrean Christians argue in the same vain, it will not be long before the First Eritrean National Covenant is snuffed out. The argument that Tigrinya and Arabic be based on religious principles is likely to throw fuel into the religious divide of Eritrean society. Tigrinya and Arabic need to function as working languages free from religious connotations. The confessional and language issues are accompanied by the loaded jargon of nations nationalities. An agreement about the meaning of these terms is likely to enrich our national debate, and enhance the harmony that ought to accompany it. We have to examine whether the so-called nations and nationality jargon is an extension of the confessional and language demands, by other means. It is essential, therefore, to iron out the issues of religion, language, nations and nationalities, so that Eritrean may make a smooth transition to a civic and secular state. A Parliament of Independents There is a need for a national parliament of independents so that political power that grew out of the barrel of the gun, during the armed struggle, returns to its rightful owners, the Eritrean people. Another advantage is that political parties would grow from the national parliament of independents rather than from political organizations that grew out the armed struggle. An Independent Parliament A parliament of independents is an independent parliament. Such a parliament would not be a quota-parliament of ex-fighters alone, but of all Eritreans who are willing to serve their nation. Significantly, out of an independent parliament of independents there shall emerge the political parties of the future: born from the battle of issues. What is required is develop a national document that affirms the First Eritrean National Covenant and build upon it. Thank you for listening to me patiently, Herui T. Bairu, Frankfurt, Germany Copyright © 2020 Eritrean Congress Party Strategy Adi. All Rights Reserved. |