We have been forced to listen to Isayas’ public speaking stunts for the last fifteen years now. The speeches were described by many as being protracted, offensive, irresponsible and most of the times fact-less. I agree with most of these descriptions but one. Were they long? Record-breakingly yes. Were they offensive? Most of the time, they were. Were they irresponsible? Yes and all the time. I do not have to substantiate these similes with any evidence since they are well-documented in the archives of ‘DmSi Hafash,’ ‘TV-Eri,’ ‘Hadas Eritrea,’ etc. what  I do not agree with is when they call some of his speeches fact-less - in most cases anyway.

To justify my claim that his speeches were fact-based, I had to search my memory and bring some important examples from his infamous and sometimes vulgar speeches. I only presented those speeches that have offended different groups of people in some manner, except of course those who have “roguid qorbet” and whom I think the speech really fits. I should not be held responsible for the differences between the original speeches and those from my memory since it is really hard to remember them word for word and in a chronological order.  I sincerely apologise for using my memory as the only reference and for the inevitable inaccuracy as a result. However, when Isayas delivered those speeches, I do not think he cared about their accuracy either. I will try to direct you to the mistakes he has committed in the discussions below. Neither did he care about their chronology since his most important objective in delivering such speeches were offending people. When you are out to offend people you rather pick on them randomly than in a traceable fashion. Moreover, as anybody else in the country, I am denied of my right to access information from any government institutions including those media out-lets mentioned above. Hence, I do not see any reason why I should bite off my finger for such un-important error.

Having cleared this from the outset, the remaining is devoted to the ‘specimen’ and why I think some of them are true. They become true at least when you apply them on the right people with the correct context. Three examples are in order:

1. In many of his speeches and deeds, he showed a general contempt for scholars, intellectuals, formal education, learning processes, the University of Asmara and its students, etc. E.g., “A company leader’s managerial skill is better than a person with MBA”; “etom temahirna tblu bajelatatkum te’akebkum yHaysh…”; etc.
 
These speeches were offensive for those who consider education important and those who have spent (and/or are spending) a good share of their short-life to develop their careers through it. Yet they were never totally untrue. They hold true when you apply them to some intellectuals who we have observed selling their mind and soul to the dictator and nodding frantically whenever he nudges his head, blinks his eyes or waves his little finger. Examples of such intellectuals are Wodai Futur, Woldeab Yishak, Amare Tekle; including those who met in Washington D.C., those who bend or break universal and relative truths, principles, theories, standards and facts as well as those who employ their intellect to worsen the suffering of their people intentionally or unintentionally. The mistake in Isayas’ speech is generalising. He did not differentiate between those who are better than the company leaders and those who are worse.

2. His contempt for tegadeltis was manifested in some of his speech regarding the veterans, the ‘snkulan’, the martyrs and their families, the warsays etc. E.g., “senbet metse begi’E kinhardelom diyom deliyom”; “you are going to work for four more years for free”; and he insulted some of the first round national service participants by telling them they were ‘mada hager.’

The truth in some of his speech would not be hidden for someone who wants to see them. The national service participants were dubbed ‘mada hager’ because they were asking questions, fighting for their rights and telling their trainers and their supervisors to go to hell when they think they should tell them so. The mistake in Isayas’ statement is that it was directed on the wrong ‘warsay’ and it did not differentiate between national service participants and PFDJ’s servants.

The mada hagers are those of us (PFDJ’s servants) who obeyed and are still obeying orders unquestioningly. All of us were soldiers. Our patience was put to test by the company leaders. We were told to lie down for the silliest of reasons and we did lie down. We were tortured. We were helicopter-ed, number-eighted and/or tied in different manners and different methods. We were left under scorching sun after a bucket full of sugary water or ‘salsay Alem’ sprinkled on us – so that flies can take their vacation on our body. We were ordered to roll over a muddy surface and punished again after a little-while because our clothes were found dirty and disgusting. We were told to climb up a rugged mountain bare-footed through thorny grasses and bushes. We were ordered to climb it down again. We were slapped around by a person who is smaller in physique, younger in age, and lesser in demeanour than us. We were ridiculed by a rather ridiculous person. We were told to do something in some manner by someone who does not know how to do that thing himself in any manner. 

All these psychological and physical punishments were directed to us with little or no justifications. We do not know the mistakes we have committed to deserve such undeserving punishments. Yet we took them all without any attempt to ask why we were being subjected to them. Some times when we did ask, the answers we were given was to first finish the punishments and ask later. After all the frustrations and humility that comes with being punished for committing no or un-matching offence, we were the ones that were asked if we understood what we were punished for. We had to say yes though we did not understand. Otherwise, the punishment continues with more intensity until we admit that we understood. We took all these humiliations without a word let alone trying to stand up for our rights. Is this a national service or slavery? And all of these happened while we were still carrying rifles. ‘Mada hager’ indeed.

In addition, there are those of us (national servants or slaves) who served and are still serving the regime in all the wrong contexts. They told us to round up those who disobeyed the regime and round them up we did. They ordered us to bit those who stood up for their rights (national service participant) and we bit the hell out of them. They told us to imprison the parents of those who escaped the brutal regime, we not only put them to prison but also ransacked their households or probably bit the hell out of their little daughters and sons who were tagging along – crying – without understanding what is happening to their parents. We were ordered to imprison the Muslims, the Jehovah, the minority Christians, we did further than that – we shoved them, slapped them, whacked them with the butt of our rifles before we led them to their cells. By siding with the oppressors, we virtually were siding against ourselves, our parents, our little brothers and sisters and our faith leaders. While we were busy putting some body else’s family in misery, there were others who were doing the same to our own family and close relatives. What goes around comes around. Are we going to say we were forced to do this when we are faced with people’s wrath? Indeed, there were ‘mada hagers’ – us – who took all the s--ts that were thrown at us or who sided with gangsters and were s--ting all over others.  Isayas’ mistake is insulting the wrong bunch.

3. Isayas was also fighting verbally with places like Asmara, its people and other group of people such as the Amchies. E.g. “Asmara darga chaka iya koyna. Mehb’I gub’om kab mftsam zHademu…”; “amchietat ms’meSu iya hager tebelashiya…”; etc.

True, the country was never the same once some amcies started to involve in the affairs of the nation. If we hand out the amcie ‘sagwa’ to anyone who went to Ethiopia, stay there for some years (even few months) and came back to Eritrea, Isayas was right when he said that some amcies were and still are responsible for all the mishaps in the country. After he took over the chair, we have not seen any thing being done the right way. I do not have to tell u that Isayas was in Addis, studying in the university for about two years before he came to mieda. That entitles him the nickname. In another way, he is admitting that he is responsible for all the country’s problems. I cannot agree more. His mistake as usual is generalisation. There are those of amcies (myself for example) who have nothing to do with what is happening to our people and in the country – if negligence is not counted as a crime. 

I think he is also right when he told us that Asmara is ‘chaka.’ Asmara was always chaka, ‘neberta dma anabs.’ After successfully pushing the king of the jungle (the youth who is the rightful owner) out of its natural habitat, an old gobye and a worthless monkey (Yemane) have taken over the chaka. The sad reality is that though a lion is still a lion and kept all its fierce armaments (its pointed tooth and strong nails), it chose not to roar let alone fight back and opted to stay out of the jungle. The justification for this is ‘wey zbeluka gberelom wey chak’om gdefelom.’

Though it is unadvisable to use one’s tooth and nails, it is really important to understand that the regime gets its power from our obedience. How can we – with all our strength, youthfulness and might – be pushed around by weaker, disconcerted and thick-headed leaders? How come we who were not afraid of fighting against huge number of enemy soldiers are afraid of standing up to few blood-sucking individuals? The answer is just an imagined fear of what might happen to us if we dare stand up. Fear which has nothing to do with actual responses of the government paralysed us and rendered us in-active. Anyways, this is out of my present topic and I will be dealing with it in my subsequent articles. However, in a final note, it is important for us to remember that if we had stopped obeying, no body, including the gobeyes and the hibeys, would have taken us for granted. They would have stopped pushing us around and out of our beloved chaka.

Awet nHafash malet Awet nay qurub tebeltsti malet aykonen!
Hyawatna wetru yzekeru!