Attacks on Eritrean Festivals Gluing the Homeland and Diaspora

The ongoing atrocious attacks against peaceful Eritrean festivals in some European cities, including most recently in Tel-Aviv after similar events in Canada, the US, and Sweden, are not spontaneous but systematic. They are orchestrated by roguish narcissists in collusion with unscrupulous Western handlers across media, academic, diplomatic, and even political networks in the US and other Western countries. It is an organized and well-funded global effort to disrupt peaceful celebrations of Eritrean independence.

If these malevolent forces are to have their way, Eritreans shouldn’t live, and their homeland of barely four million resilient people shouldn’t exist—not after all they have done to destroy it from within and without Africa. Indeed, no African country’s identity has been as viciously targeted for obliteration in the last 50 years as the Eritrean identity, for fear of its clarity (where other African countries, in their admission of Western values, now suffer identity crises).

Likewise, none have had their economic policy as targeted for containment as Eritrea’s economic policy, rooted in self-reliance, for fear of its diffusion to other African countries (the majority of which are dependent on Western aid and loans). And none have had their political ethos as targeted for blackmail as Eritrea, due to its African-contextual grounding and rejection of European duplicity.

It is not a coincidence that these attacks are resurging at the same period today when Eritrean communities in the diaspora are showcasing a resilient sense of identity, ingrained discipline, and a robust work ethic reflective of their proper Eritrean upbringings. Eritreans have formed well-integrated communities that are a worthy representation of their homeland.

What is frightening Eritrea’s enemies today is the diaspora’s determination to confront decades of blackmail head-on. This blackmail has always painted a slanderous picture of why they left Eritrea and depicted a wrong and misleading image of their good president, effective government, and non-duplicitous country.

What compounds the frustration of these adversaries is the convergence of Eritreans in the diaspora with developments in their homeland. The two sides are clearly operating in sync, inspired by each other. Simultaneously, Eritreans in their homeland are gaining recognition on the global stage. Eritrea’s Birnum Girmay, the sole black African contender in the recent Tour de France, drew international attention to the nation. On the political front, the Eritrean President is shattering the media blockade that adversaries had imposed on him and Eritrea for decades.

These attacks on Eritrean festivals are, therefore, a desperate attempt by the country’s enemies to cling to their grip, trying to stem the tide that is clearly washing away their slander and blockade. They propagated the notion to their Western audiences that the Eritrean leader, His Excellency President Isaias Afwerki stood isolated, a pariah among his peers. Yet, this year alone, the Eritrean President, as he often does, has effectively used time to his advantage, dispelling all of that by accepting invitations to several countries within Africa and beyond.

He graciously accepted Xi’s invitation to China, where he nostalgically revisited his formative training days, laying the foundation for the successful liberation struggle he would later lead to free Eritrea. He then followed that up by accepting Putin’s invitation for a maiden visit to Russia, a country whose recent sanctions are no different from what Eritrea has endured for over two decades.

Additionally, Eritrea rejoined IGAD when its influence was missed after it first withdrew. President Isaias has also attended a slew of summits, including the BRICS summit in South Africa, where he delivered perhaps the most significant speech of the summit. Earlier this year, he was in Cairo, Egypt, attending a summit for the neighboring countries of Sudan that sought to resolve the Sudanese conflict. Just yesterday, he honored President Ruto’s invitation to attend the climate summit in Kenya.

In the midst of it all, Eritreans both at home and abroad have become more vociferous in celebrating their country’s major historical, cultural, and political achievements since independence. The ongoing festivals are but one facet of this jubilation. Beyond the evident joy in revisiting the sacrifices that paved the way for today’s Eritrea, these festivals, attended and celebrated by Eritreans and their African friends in the diaspora are dispelling the lies that the country’s enemies and their African satellites have long fed to the Western audience.

For too long, malice has depicted Eritreans in the diaspora as despondent souls to be pitied. It falsely claimed that they despise their government, led by President Isaias Afwerki and that their presence in Europe is because they are fleeing their country, misleadingly dubbed the ‘North Korea’ of Africa.

These festivals have debunked this falsehood, finally giving an unadulterated picture of a resilient nation, and showcasing the immutability and indestructibility of the Eritrean identity. It is in this spirit that Eritreans in the diaspora have remained intrinsically connected to their homeland, and continue playing their own part to support their brothers, sisters, mothers, and fathers at home in the arduous daily task of nation-building. It is rightly said that Eritrea endures because Eritrean ideals endure.

The intent of these aggressors, their apologists, and their Western enablers, including Martin Plaut (the rogue warmonger who once advised his goons to burn down Eritrean embassies), posing as a Horn of Africa analyst, is clear: to intimidate Eritreans in the diaspora. But to the chagrin of these goons, and their Western sponsors, the resolute response of the Eritreans shows that these attacks are only strengthening the unity of Eritreans in the diaspora and reaffirming the unbreakable bond between them and the homeland.

If anything, these attacks now make clear to any doubting Thomases among Eritreans what their enemies would have them go through, if given their way, and also as a reminder to the Eritrean patriots who may have risked lowering their guard that the struggle to safeguard their hard-won Eritrean independence remains as urgent today as it was in 1991.

So, will these attacks stop Eritrea? To ask is to answer!

The camel will keep marching on, while the dogs keep on barking.