The Eritrean Regime And Licking Banknotes

The subject matter of this article causes a sever sickness of the stomach. It is advisable to prepare a medicine to assist you resist the nausea and headache before you begin reading.

This piece intends to deal with an issue that manifests either a deliberate criminal act or unawareness of the fundamental knowledge of hygiene. In any case, it is a siren for the Eritrean people from an uncivilized, unhygienic and dangerous practice that causes mortal diseases.

In the incarcerated Eritrea, under the guard of the deaf Shambel, a beggar was asked about his abstention from begging. Before his responded to the question, he looked around to make sure that there was no double agent nearby. Then he replied: how do you want me to compete in a profession utterly monopolized and run by a mafia? It is unworkable to practice my profession in the presence of such an entirely dominated trade; the monopolization of the dull group has ruined and pushed everything in the country to bankruptcy.

The regime has changed the profession of spreading a piece of cloth on the ground and the reiteration of wafirkum etewoo (may you escape danger) pray, into the licking of banknotes and painting faces with saliva. The pure and clean profession has been altered to become a source of AIDS (HIV), Tuberculosis (T.B), skin diseases, etc.

For sure, many have witnessed and at the same time were disgusted by the practice that recurs in festivals and other occasions that the regime celebrates. None of the regime and its ministry of health has organized enlightenment programs about this unrefined and appalling habit that might be a cause of serious infections among innocent nationals.

Some might attribute this experience to the audience who might act, mostly, according to the influences of loud drums and rarely, to a few well composed beautiful lyrics, sweet melodies and voices. Certainly, strong national feeling might make some of the audience forget the issue of hygiene; but this could not have continued for two decades without the regime noticing it. The perpetuation of such risky attitude indicates that the major concern of the regime is the gathering of money for the interests of the dictator and his generals. The regime is sensitive to issues that threaten its hegemony, but for the sake of money, everything is permitted. Nothing is illegal in when it comes to gaining money—to the extent of subjecting the health of innocent Eritreans to serious diseases.

Eritrean musicians played a great role in the period of struggle. They were part of the enlightenment and encouragement of the people to resist occupation and liberate their country. Today, our country and people are in a critical situation; but some musicians are seen polishing the regime that represses their people. The regime’s concern is understood, but what induces our musicians who are regarded as cultivated individual and shoulder the enlightenment mission of the people? Truly, it is deplorable to find them (under the rule of the dictator) becoming thoughtless individuals who disregard the freedom and health of their people. It appears, they are too concerned about the financial benefits they gain from the poor Eritreans.

Some musicians and citizens might have been infected by fatal diseases from this repulsive practice without their notice. It is shocking to observe our musicians, specially, those who participated in the struggle of liberation, allowing themselves to be part of these ugly and unsafe act. Regrettably, Eritrean musicians under the regime have been transformed into spoilers of the decent Eritrean culture rather than vanguards who boost and strengthen the civilized values of our people. This perilous habit deters them from becoming educators and inspirers. It is ridiculous to claim that they are developers of the Eritrean culture when they represent the culture in a primitive way.

The issue here is not about the alms the fans donate to the singers, but the way they do it sickens any civilized person. To watch a matured person licking a banknote full of unknown dirt, then gluing it on the face of a musician is really nauseating and panics anybody who knows the basics of hygiene. As usual, to the regime, what the dirty banknotes carry is insignificant as far as the audience paste and shove the banknotes, but that to be perpetuated by our famous and professional musicians who ignore the mess saddens any sensible Eritrean. It seems our musicians do not envisage the contagious diseases the saliva and the dirty banknotes carry; maybe  the regime has converted them into lifeless creatures!

In the Eritrean culture to spit in front of a person is an insult and reveals impudence of the spitting person. It is astonishing to witness a matured person, who wears a beautiful suit with a necktie and appears to be well cultivated, licking a banknote and painting the singers and dancers with his drool. Such a repugnant practice of spattering others with secretion of the mouth displays primitiveness of the first rate. These individuals are unknowingly participating in the exposition of the Eritrean culture in an uncivilized way. It is evident that the obliteration of the modest Eritrean culture has turned out to be the principal target of the regime. They are sworn to erase anything valuable in the Eritrean culture.

The most surprising phenomenon is witnessing supporters of the regime, particularly those who live in the West, use their saliva to paste banknotes on the faces of singers. Many of us might imagine these hyphenated-Eritreans are well refined, but to watch them splatter singers with their saliva, using the banknote as a brush, in front of hundreds of audience and the camera, indeed sickens many spectators and portrays the scope of the lickers’ rawness.

The regime takes advantage of these raw supporters and organizes festivals with different excuses. Festivals have become one of the essential businesses that yield ready cash for the regime. They have watched this uncultured practices for years without taking any action against it. On the contrary, they devised many tricks to deepen it and make it an unchangeable part of the Eritrean culture. The basic concern of the regime is milking  citizens of their money. They are uninterested about the health of the Eritrean people. Precisely, they are against the welfare of the Eritrean people.

Some of the audience are more sensitive to the licking of banknotes, thus, they shove the money inside the clothes or the ;pockets of the singer. And some of them are smart enough, therefore, they use pouring sweat of the singer to stick the banknote on his face, exposing him to a serious skin and other contagious diseases. Such persons though protect themselves from the dirt in the banknotes, but offend others through shoving dirty banknotes to parts of the singer’s body. There is no other explanation to such an experience apart from ignorance and the loathing of the fundamentals of hygiene.

Modern technology has transformed the world into a small village and made information available to all without discrimination. Now, take a tour around the world from where you sit and find a person slobbering a banknote and painting singers with his dribble; you would never get such a person except in the festivals of the regime. This shameful and dangerous practice reveals how deeply retarded the regime that rules Eritrea is—to the extent of displaying live on the air, the transference of deadly viruses and repellent practices.

This disgraceful attitude should make them be ashamed of themselves; but they are void of the perception of the alphabets of hygiene. After this stark roughness, the dictator comes out to say that he is ‘Number 1’ in the world; I think he meant number-one in gluing dirty banknotes with his spittle on the faces of singers and transmitting AIDS, T.B viruses and skin diseases.

Meskineyti hager, kemei gera kitgassin, btiftaf zilekhyu temerihaa. Indeed, it is natural for a nation ruled by entities and their supporters who paint each other with dribbles to get muddied into catastrophes.