Visiblizing Eritrea — Africa is not a Country: Eritrea is.
Posted by Dr. Samuel Mahaffy <
http://samuelmahaffy.com/author/samuelgeorge/> on
May 23, 2014 in Blog <
http://samuelmahaffy.com/category/blog/> | 2 comments
<
http://samuelmahaffy.com/2014/05/visiblizing-eritrea-africa-country-eritrea/#respond>
Eritrea is invisiblized by its detractors. U.S. foreign policy, Western
strategic alliances and media propensity to cover Africa only when and
where there is a dramatic crisis, conspire to invisiblize countries like
Eritrea.
[image: Eritrea is a country and a people worth celebrating.]
<
http://samuelmahaffy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Eritrea-Diverse-religions.jpg>
Eritrea is a country and a people worth celebrating.
The scholar and linguist Noam Chomsky sees an insidious Western agenda in
such invisiblization. In a book he co-authors with Andre Vltchek he
suggests that “Western misinformation has been clearly targeting countries
that have been refusing to succumb to Western dictate.”
Even significant achievements of Eritrea and its people are little noted in
the Western press. When Meb Keflezighi won the Boston Marathon this year,
headline reports were that he was the first American since 1983 to win the
race. He surely is an American. I had to dig deeper to find that his
heritage was from Eritrea—surely a significant aspect of his great
achievement.
Despite efforts to invisiblize Eritrea, one thing is certain: *Eritrea is. *As
Eritreans around the world celebrate this month the 23rd anniversary of
their hard-fought battle for independence, the reality of Eritrea’s
existence is one that some countries still need to accept.
Eritrea is little in the news in the West. Eritrea isn’t seizing fishing
boats off its coast and holding them for ransom. Eritrea isn’t harboring
terrorist groups planning attacks on Western targets. Eritrea isn’t seeing
extremist groups murdering shoppers in malls or kidnapping school girls.
I weary of explaining to intelligent fellow Americans what *Eritrea
is. *Eritrea
is the country where I grew up. Eritrea is where my heart still resides.
Ignorance of not only Eritrea, but the African continent, astounds me. It
is a sad truth that there are those in the U.S. who think that *Africa *is
a war-torn impoverished country. To be very clear: Africa is not a
country. *Eritrea is. *It is neither war-torn nor impoverished.
There is more than banal ignorance in the invisiblization of Eritrea. U.S.
foreign policy is shaped as much by the countries and people we tend to
ignore as it is by the relationships that we court. The U.S. has courted a
relationship with Ethiopia with dubious benefit. Eritrea has been largely
ignored at the price of missing out on a relationship with a stable country
in a troubled region of Africa.
If the U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, who I greatly respect, were to
privilege me with a meeting, I would humbly suggest that *Eritrea isn’t *does
not make for good foreign policy on the Horn of Africa.
Eritrea has its faults. It cannot and should not be exempted from the
scrutiny that the world gives to all countries in regard to human rights
and basic freedoms. But, invisiblizing the country is a non-starter for a
conversation about human rights. Accepting that *Eritrea is *provides a
starting point for such a conversation. In the interest of honesty, our
own record on human rights must also be scrutinized. The U.S. history of
horrific human rights violations at Guantanamo and
drone-attacks-without-borders has tarnished our credibility to be the
arbiter of other nations’ human rights record.
When we acknowledge that *Eritrea is, *we will see a country that has the
potential to be a stable and stabilizing presence in the often chaotic and
war-torn environment of the Horn of Africa. It is a country rich in
diverse languages, cultures, and traditions. While there has been
criticism of Eritrea’s lack of tolerance for multiple religious groups, it
is significant that this is a country where the religion of Islam and the
Orthodox Christian church have co-existed for centuries. In the capital
city of Asmara, there is a Coptic church and a mosque within stone-throwing
distance of each other. But, there are no stones being thrown.
The achievements of Eritrea in the areas of infrastructure development,
health care, and education are rarely mentioned in the Western media.
Since its independence, Eritrea has made significant progress on its own
development agenda without assigning control of that agenda to outside
groups.
It is time for the U.S. to accept Eritrea—as most nations of the world
do—as an important member of the family of nations. A first step toward
Eritrea might look like shared acknowledgment of the integrity of Eritrea’s
borders established under international agreements. It would honor the
Eritrean people to recognize on this anniversary the price they paid for
their independence with scant support from the outside world. The Eritrean
people, who have fought so hard to earn their independence, will never sell
that independence to the highest bidder. Without a doubt, Eritrea will
continue to chart its own course.
*Eritrea is* a country and a people worth celebrating. Find an Eritrean
community to celebrate with—if not in Eritrea–in Sweden, Europe, England,
Canada, and in every major U.S. city. These are our neighbors—your
neighbors. Get to know them. Your life will surely be richer!
************************************************
*Dr. Samuel Mahaffy, was born in Asmara, Eritrea and grew up in Senafe,
Eritrea. In his work as a consultant and facilitator to more than five
hundred nonprofits and NGO’s, he has found ways to support refugee and
migrant communities from the Horn of Africa living in the U.S. He earned
his Ph.D. from Tilburg University in the Netherlands through the Taos
Institute of which he is now an Associate. Samuel Mahaffy regularly blogs
on topics related to peacemaking and Africa on this website and on the
Peace and Collaborative Development Network
(
http://www.internationalpeaceandconflict.org/
<
http://www.internationalpeaceandconflict.org/>). Follow him on Twitter
_at_samuelmahaffy. This blog post was first published on the Peace and
Collaborative Development Network
at
http://www.internationalpeaceandconflict.org/profiles/blogs/visiblizing-eritrea#.U3_QsWcU-M9
<
http://www.internationalpeaceandconflict.org/profiles/blogs/visiblizing-eritrea#.U3_QsWcU-M9>.*
*Source:
http://samuelmahaffy.com/2014/05/visiblizing-eritrea-africa-country-eritrea/
<
http://samuelmahaffy.com/2014/05/visiblizing-eritrea-africa-country-eritrea/>*
Received on Thu May 29 2014 - 07:49:20 EDT
