> From: Temesgen Woldezion <Temesgen.Woldezion_at_ucsf.edu>
> Subject: Fwd: Promotion for Ninth Annual YPFDJ North America conference in California.
> Date: August 18, 2013 1:26:28 PM PDT
> To: Merhawie Woldezion <merhawie_at_gmail.com>
>
>
> Dear sir/madam,
>
> My name is Temesgen Woldezion (Media/PR committee) and I was hoping you could help us advertise on your website for our conference. If we could have a story/headline that would be great. If you have any other ideas as well on how to effectively promote through your page, please let us know.
>
> "YPFDJ North-America annual conference; a brief description.
> YPFDJ conferences provide an opportunity for Eritreans from all over the world to exchange ideas, experiences and learn from fellow comrades about the issues affecting both Eritrea and local their communities. The content of these conferences are primarily focused on themes that are selected every year. Furthermore, conference attendees have in past years had access to directly engage with influential Eritreans and policy-makers. As we are approaching our ninth conference in North America, we have selected a program that emphasizes our global theme of “Economic development of Eritrea for Eritreans and Eritreans abroad” and also “organizational consolidation” as a structural theme. Please note that we will provide a dynamic arrangement of programs that will make our conference useful for both current members and non-members of YPFDJ.
>
> Basics
>
> When shall I plan to arrive/depart?
>
> Please arrive no later than Thursday 29 August, 2013 and depart no sooner than Monday 2 September 2013. These are the designated days for check-in and check-out, respectively.
>
> Where should I fly to?
>
> San Francisco or Oakland international airports.
>
> What are the deadlines for registration?
>
> Early ($150): 26 June to 24 July, 2013.
>
> Regular ($175): 25 July to 19 August, 2013.
>
> Late ($200): 20 August to 28 August, 2013
>
> About YPFDJ (taken from YPFDJCalifornia.org).
>
> What is YPFDJ?
>
> YPFDJ (Young People’s Front for Democracy and Justice) is a continuation of the youth arm of the EPLF’s Mass Organization that supported the Eritrean struggle during the revolution. The intended goal of YPFDJ is to build a strong, conscious and patriotic Eritrean youth movement from abroad and within the country. As such, the organization will focus on political education, discussion, cultural revival, identity issues and contributing to home-based projects in Eritrea’s struggle to develop as a nation. The underlying principles of YPFDJ can be found in the front’s National Charter which include national harmony, political democracy, economic and social development, social justice, cultural revival and regional and international cooperation. While achieving these principles in practice is the obvious ambition of all Eritreans, YPFDJ is intended to provide a space for young Eritreans to play an active role in determining and debating the policies aimed at achieving these objectives. YPFDJ is therefore accommodating to an array of political perspectives so long as they are addressed in a respectful and non-divisive manner. We believe that it is in fact the right of every Eritrean youth to have a space in which they feel comfortable to address the issues important to both our community inside Eritrea and our communities in foreign countries. Equally important to YPFDJ is its commitment to public service and asserting itself as an asset to any community in which young Eritreans exist. We as YPFDJ chapters in the State of California are thus part of the greater YPFDJ-North America and thus the global YPFDJ Eritrean youth movement.
>
> Why YPFDJ?
>
> Today’s Eritrean youth in the Diaspora are at a crossroads in Eritrean history. Eritreans in the Diaspora have traditionally played a vital and dynamic role in the Eritrean struggle for self-determination. Since the first Eritrean student organizations were established in Europe, North America, the Middle East and Africa in the 1970s, young Eritreans abroad had been actively engaged in setting the course for Eritrea’s revolution. These youth had the enormous tasks of propagating information to the outside world about Eritrea’s unique revolution, contributing the funds required for the continuation of the armed struggle in addition to sending the supplies needed for the unmatched health and political programs implemented by the Eritrean Peoples Liberation Front (EPLF) that were literally carried out underground in order to avoid detection from Ethiopian bombers. Even though the Haile Selassie and Mengistu regimes had the military and economic support of the world’s greatest powers, it was the dedication of the Eritrean people inside the country and abroad that led to the revolution’s eventual success. This was one of the few instances in history in which an oppressed people’s struggle had succeeded while being outnumbered, outgunned and outfinanced. The success of Eritrea’s struggle lies in its focus on the political consciousness of its people and the strong ideological foundation of its political organization. These priorities were present in the organization around the revolution both inside Eritrea and abroad. While it may be more or less obvious how these factors were essential in achieving victory in Eritrea’s isolated armed struggle, the continual role and importance of these priorities becomes more ambiguous in post-independent Eritrea where we have become members of a hostile world community that stresses the ideologies of neo-liberalism, globalization and modernity. Understanding that our armed struggle was fundamentally about the people’s right to self-determination, we now as a people realize that our new task is to construct a nation with a foundation of social justice, social democracy and away from the economic dependence that appears to be ubiquitous in the “Third World.” Today’s generation of young Eritreans abroad must therefore assume their role as their predecessors before them had and arm themselves with the knowledge of the past and the tools to maneuver Eritrea to achieve the noble visions of its martyrs.
>
> Victory to the Masses!!
>
> ዓወት ንሓፋሽ !!النصر للجماهير"
>
>
Received on Sun Aug 18 2013 - 17:01:53 EDT