The Echoes of Stagnation: Reclaiming Eritrea’s Future
Through Internal Reckoning and Diaspora Strategy
Unity has long eluded Eritreans. The word is invoked so frequently—and so casually—that it has lost much of its moral and political gravity. Yet its overuse does not diminish its necessity. Our repeated failure to achieve unity does not render it obsolete; it simply reveals that our methods have been inadequate. Unity is as old as human civilization itself. No enduring human achievement—whether the founding of nations, liberation struggles, or intellectual advancement—has ever succeeded without collective effort. Failure is not evidence of irrelevance; it is a signal that strategies must evolve.
Transportation offers a useful analogy. It, too, is ancient. Yet humanity has progressed from donkeys to diesel engines, from sailboats to jet aircraft. As the old wisdom reminds us, there is nothing new under the sun—only new ways of doing what has always mattered.
In response to my previous column, Dawit Mesfin raised several important concerns—many of which Ismail, Amanuel, Burhan, M/Burhan, and Fitfit have already addressed. It is nonetheless essential that I engage them directly, not as a rebuttal but as part of the broader dialogue Eritrea so desperately lacks. Like Dawit, I approach this subject with humility, fully aware that what I know is infinitely smaller than what I do not. And because any meaningful change requires broad public buy‑in, the process is as important as the outcome. Dawit is right: this is a difficult undertaking, and our record of failure is not encouraging. But it must be attempted, because ኣድጊ ሞይቱ ኢልካ መገሻ ነተርፍ—just because the donkey has died does not mean the journey ends.
A Dialogue Deferred: The Long Silence Since Waala Biet Giorgis
Since the last meaningful national dialogue at Waala Biet Giorgis on 24 November 1946, Eritrean civic discourse has remained suspended in a state of arrested development. It exists in a liminal space—where hope echoes loudly but rarely materializes. The tragedy is not only the endurance of tyranny but also the persistent absence of a coordinated, strategic opposition capable of producing durable outcomes. For decades, Eritreans inside the country and across the diaspora have been united in outrage yet divided in vision. We agree on the destination but cannot agree on the route. We share a mission but lack a map.
This fragmentation is neither accidental nor ideologically neutral. It is embedded in the sociopolitical fabric of Eritrea’s post‑independence trajectory. During the liberation era, Marxist‑Leninist discipline—despite its many shortcomings—provided a shared political vocabulary, a culture of critique, and a commitment to ideological rigor. That scaffolding has since collapsed. In its place stands a proliferation of political organizations with little measurable impact, alongside a civic culture weakened by the erosion of learning, particularly among younger generations. Where competence should flourish, mistrust metastasizes. In the deregulated arena of mass media, opportunism thrives: volume substitutes for substance, controversy eclipses contribution, and shamelessness becomes a currency of relevance.
Institutional Paralysis from Within
The ruling party, the PFDJ, has ossified into an institutional relic. Its last congress was held in 1994, severing any remaining connection to democratic norms or procedural accountability. From the standpoint of organizational theory, this represents terminal rigidity—a system incapable of renewal, hostile to feedback, and devoid of structural coherence.
Isaias Afwerki may still dominate the political landscape, but neither history nor biology bends to personal will. His increasingly erratic public appearances signal not only the toll of age but also the ideological disintegration of the system he constructed.
Calling for a party congress is not naïve; it is necessary. Not because it is likely to succeed, but because it forces a confrontation between governance and decay. It shifts the struggle from performative outrage to institutional logic. More importantly, it compels Eritreans to prepare for the inevitable political vacuum beyond Isaias—a future that must be deliberately shaped rather than passively endured.
Diaspora Potential: From Atomized Protest to Strategic Infrastructure
The Eritrean diaspora possesses extraordinary intellectual capital, historical memory, and access to global networks. Yet these assets remain scattered—trapped in performative protest and undermined by factional rivalry. Research on mass movements is unequivocal: regime change requires organizational cohesion and strategic purpose. Passion alone cannot substitute for structure. Influence must be engineered.
To transform protest into power, the diaspora must build on three foundational pillars:
- Principled Federation
Unity must emerge from mutual respect, not enforced uniformity. Strategic alignment should allow ideological diversity while committing to a shared framework of coordinated action.
- Skill‑Based Infrastructure
Emotional commitment must be matched by competence. The next generation requires policy literacy, media sophistication, and diplomatic skill to translate resistance into reform.
- Cultural Resonance as Strategy
Identity, memory, and storytelling must function not only as emotional anchors, but as instruments of political mobilization. The struggle is political—but it is also cultural, symbolic, and philosophical.
The Imperative of Relevance: A New Convergence of Eritrean Will
After thirty‑four years of political irrelevance in independent Eritrea, Eritreans at home and abroad have reached a breaking point. People are exhausted by marginalization, by watching sacrifice squandered, and by witnessing their nation drift without direction or dignity. Beneath the frustration lies a deeper longing: the desire to matter again—to reclaim agency and shape a future worthy of the struggle that birthed the nation.
This collective fatigue is politically catalytic. It has produced an unprecedented readiness to set aside secondary differences in pursuit of the victory that has long eluded us. This moment demands what political theorists describe as enlightened self‑interest: the recognition that survival, dignity, and national renewal require cooperation. If Eritrean civic groups and opposition factions fail to converge now, they risk an ignoble fate—irrelevance, fragmentation, and historical oblivion.
Opposition to the regime is a beginning, but it is not a strategy. Hatred of tyranny may unite emotions, but it cannot build institutions. Shared outrage is a spark, not a blueprint.
For unity to regain meaning, Eritreans must articulate a vision that binds them beyond the immediacy of resistance. They must agree on a roadmap—not only for today, but for tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. A sequence of coordinated steps that moves from dismantling authoritarianism to constructing a stable, pluralistic, and forward‑looking state. The task before us is to shift from reactive politics to strategic architecture, from emotional solidarity to institutional design, from scattered protest to disciplined purpose.
Only then can Eritreans transform long‑suppressed relevance into a force capable of reshaping the nation’s destiny.
A Two‑Pronged Strategy for Enduring Change
Eritrea’s transformation will not emerge from spontaneous uprisings or moral outrage alone. It requires a deliberate, long‑term strategy built on two complementary fronts:
- Internal Pressure
Reviving institutional processes, confronting autocratic inertia, and laying the groundwork for a viable post‑Isaias transition.
- External Frameworks
Harnessing diaspora capacity, formalizing its influence, and cultivating global alliances capable of applying calibrated pressure on the regime’s diplomatic and security structures.
This is not a sentimental appeal for unity. It is a disciplined call for institutional clarity, philosophical depth, and political maturity. The alternative is the stagnation we know too well—fragmentation, paralysis, and despair.
Yet within reach, though still distant, lies the architecture of a just and enduring transformation. The task before us is not to invent unity anew, but to reimagine how we pursue it—with the humility to learn from failure and the courage to build differently.
To Contact the Author: weriz@yahoo.com
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