From: Biniam Haile \(SWE\) (eritrea.lave@comhem.se)
Date: Fri Jul 24 2009 - 23:09:54 EDT
Dear all!
A great deal have been said about Eri-TV and the so-called Miss Eritrea
Beauty Pageant. I agree with those who says that the Miss Eritrea
contest could have catastrophic consequences for Eritrea. I believe the
vast majority of Eritreans think we should protect ourselves from the
Western influence because we have our own society based on our cultural
and religious principles.
Having said that, I must say that every time I watch Eri-TV, I can't
help but be amazed at the audacity of the guy who serve as announcer for
"Miss Eritrea". The guy starts by screaming "Oh my God", then they show
sexy girls walking on catwalk and dancing hip-hop, and finally he lets
the public know the date, place, and time of the event. Clearly any sex
tourist out there is going to take this "announcement" as an invitation
to visit Eritrea. Maybe that's the point?
Some western companies have been smart enough to realize that the the
actions by the organizers of Eritreans beauty pageants may directly or
indirectly encourage sex tourism in Eritrea, which is why, I suspect,
Lufthansa is one of the sponsors of "Miss Eritrea" contest. Companies
such as Lufthansa, hotels and nightclubs wanting to sponsor beauty
pageants makes a lot of sense strategically as they can make lots of
profits from sex industry in Eritrea.
The fact is that governments in poor countries like Eritrea have become
increasingly tourist-oriented in their search for profitable sources of
income. Sadly, the truth is that many governments often turn a blind eye
to the sex tourism industry, thus allowing the industry to perpetuate
sexual exploitation upon women and children in order to encourage
tourism in the country. I don't know if were are headed in this
direction but it is quite apparent that some people have great interest
in seeing Eritrea heading in the wrong direction.
I think we need to look at how we can prevent Eritrea from heading
toward disaster. The voice of the majority should be heard by the GOE
and right now I am not sure it is. I think the voice is being drowned
out by pro-West individuals. It is quite telling that the introduction
of beauty pageants to Eritrea was decided by a British psychologist, and
not by the Eritrean people.
Obviously there are those who think that Eritrea should become
westernized and "modernized", and those who think Eritrea should be
modern without being westernized.
My personal view is that splitting the PFDJ to create two new parties,
one headed by pro-West members and the other led by nationalists, may be
one solution.
The alternative is to sweep the issue under the carpet and pretend that
the pro-West camp in Eritrea is leading Eritrea in the right direction.
Biniam Haile