From: Sirak Bahlbi (sirak@bahlbi.com)
Date: Sat Apr 25 2009 - 12:11:16 EDT
5th YPFDJ Conference in Rome
Report
The 5th YPFDJ conference was held from April 9th -13th, 2009 in
Rome , Italy and the conference concluded on Monday the 13th April
with great enthusiasm, passion and passing a resolution that reflects
the 4 day conference. (the resolution will be presented in a separate
document ).
There were more than 560 Eritrean youth residing in Italy,
Switzerland, Germany, France, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, UK, Austria,
Holland, USA, Canada, Australia and Eritrea present to take part in
the youth conference. The number of female attendees was 249 and male
were 313. This year the conference was led by bitsay Yemane Gebreab
and bitsay Sultan Seid , head of political affairs in PFDJ and
chairperson of NUEYS respectively and also present were Ambassador
Zemede Tekle, Ambassador Tesfamichael Gerahtu, Ambassador Ghirmai
Gebremariam, Ambassador Petros Tsegai and several PFDJ subzone
leaders and invited guests.
The conference has also surpassed the number and content of the
previous conferences by preparing an optimal venue, facilities and
atmosphere for the event to be successful and providing a programme
that ensured for lectures, workshops, discussions and entertainment
to take place during the 4 day proceedings.
The main theme of the conference was building Social and
Organisational development and the factors that affect building
strong, conscious and patriotic youth movement. The conference also
spent considerable time on issues affecting the current affairs of
Eritrea and created opportunities for participants to ask questions
and obtain response. It also had an opportunity to hear from bitseyti
Sofia Tesfamariam about the impact of the Media attack and how we
need to be aware and combat the ongoing onslaught in the media to
tarnish the image of Eritrea , affect our unity and values. Finally,
the conference looked at the frame work of the work plan for the
coming year and agreed on a resolution.
The conference duly started at 8:00 AM on Friday morning by one
minute silence and the raising of Eritrean Flags and all delegates
singing the Eritrean national anthem and the opening ceremony
continued by the welcoming speech of the organising committee and the
performance of several musical dramas, poems and speeches from
Ambassador Zemede and bitseyti Shewainesh Kiros from the Eritrean
Embassy in Italy.
Opening Remarks
In his opening remark bitsay Yemane has reminded the participants of
the conference how far we progressed over the last 4 years. During
our first conference in Bielefeld , Germany we started with a vision
and asking questions of the possibilities of creating a youth
movement. We can now confidently claim the YPFDJ movement is a
reality. We still have a long way to go, but we have made a
considerable progress and we can witness how our annual conference
has been growing steadily, and nothing can stop an idea whose time
has come. He also remarked this year the colour green was chosen to
represent our current endeavour of trying to make Eritrea green.
In his speech to the conference Ambassador Zemede thanked the
organising committee in Italy and the support provided by the YPFDJ
coordinating committee in Europe . He went on to remind the
conference about the similarity of the YPFDJ movement and the
Movement of Eritreans in Europe in the 70s. In its first meeting,
the Movement of Eritreans in Europe had about 50 people in Munich in
1970s and gradually grew to play a pivotal role in the struggle for
Eritrea s independence. Similarly, he pointed out the YPFDJ movement
starting from its first conference in Bielefeld in 2005 has been
growing to play an important role in mobilising the Eritrean youth in
Diaspora.
Bitsay Sultan Seid , the chairperson of NUEYS has also reminded the
participants in his opening remark that the youth are not only the
leaders of tomorrow but the partners of today and demanded that our
society will always need to narrow the gap between the younger
generation and the older generation to achieve a maximum benefit in
building our nation. The natural instinct of them and us approach
between the younger and older generations have to be narrowed by
mutual understanding and the younger generation has to prove it is
ready for responsibility by making its contribution and being
conscious and confident in its approach of nation building.
Annual Work presentations
The first part of the conference was a period where all YPFDJ
chapters presented their work to the conference participants and
report their annual work. Each representative chapter presented its
annual work using various methods of presentation. In addition the
European wide YPFDJ coordinating committee and specific work area
committees gave their work presentation.
There were a marked progress on the contents and methods of
presentations. Most chapters have used video clips to convey their
annual report in the given period of time and some used an innovative
way of presenting the activities and projects that have been
undertaken throughout the year to realise the objectives of creating
a strong youth movement in their locality. There were also
possibilities of asking questions or clarification for each
presentation.
Current Affairs
Bitsay Yemane Ghebreab has addressed a vast number of issues that
reflect the current situation of Eritrea in the context of profound
change globally and internal issues. He explained the economical,
political, judicial aspect of Eritrea by addressing issues like the
plight of Eritrean youth, the religious aspect, the border issues,
the Eritrean Diaspora, individuals under imprisonment, the American
foreign policy towards Eritrea, the regional cooperation in Horn of
Africa, Eritreas foreign policy, etc The following are some the
points raised.
In the early 1990s the phrases like End of History and There is no
alternative were being branded by the western governments who
proclaimed their system of political and economical governance was
the ultimate destination of all ideologies. However, they ignored the
plight and need of the majority of the world population, who was
fighting for change and for more equitable use of the world
resources. Today, the reality of the world can not be further from
their vision, and rendered the governments who coined the phrases to
shameful spectacle.
Last year on our extensive discussion about the nature and
organisation of the Popular Front (hizbawi ginbar), we stated that
the EPLF was the highest organisational expression of the Eritrean
peoples struggle and it had managed to transform the Eritrean society
who can rely on itself to achieve what was unachievable. We had
established that few organisations where able to compare with EPLF.
These two factors allowed the EPLF to turn the weakness of Eritrea to
our strength and ensured the Eritrean independence against all odds.
Coming back to today, in these turbulent, critical and changing
times, where there are numerous challenges facing Eritrea we need to
strengthen, revitalise and surpass the organisational level shown
during our struggle for independence era.
This organisation is the PFDJ and we need now to make it strong once
again to make it an organisation with few equal and the YPFDJ has an
important responsibility in this regard. The current important
political focus is the youth. Hizbawi ginbar has been an organisation
of the youth and our main orientation is currently to ensure the
youth is armed with the right skills and ideas to transfer the
responsibility of leading the nation. If we make our political
organisation strong and implement our short to medium strategy
properly, we will progress our nation to a new stage where we can
progress our political, legal and judiciary system to where we want
to get.
The current phenomenon of migration of the youth from Eritrea ,
however small or large in numbers, to the western countries should be
reversed. The main important reason why the youth is migrating to the
western world is due to the economic situation we are facing and we
need to change the economic situation in Eritrea . With the economic
and social situation for immigrants in Europe and America the way it
is, we will be able to provide an option for the Eritrean youth to
return home and contribute in the development of our nation. The
development of Eritrea can only be ensured by its people and not just
by its other natural resources.
Eritreans in Diaspora have always been the greatest asset to the
independence and development of Eritrea . It has organised itself and
mobilised most Eritreans to achieve great results. It has played an
important role during the war with Woyane between 1998 -2000. Over
the last few years we have been witnessing a lot of attack to the
different pillars of Eritrean society especially in Diaspora. Foreign
bodies including the Woyane regime have been funding and financing
some Eritrean individuals to attack the most sacred values in our
society. The other dimension of the challenge to the Eritrean
Diaspora will be the current economic crisis facing the world.
Therefore we need to strengthen and consolidate the Eritrean
communities in our locality to face the challenges facing our
community and build a conscious, united, successful community that
can serve Eritrea .
Questions and Answer Sessions
The following are few of the questions that were raised and response
were given to the conference. The response is not included in this
report for brevity.
1. You have talked about the Economic situation being the main
reason why the Eritrean youth are fleeing the country and the length
of service was also mentioned. While the government of Eritrea is
trying to fix the economic situation what other incentives can be
deployed for the youth not to think about fleeing the country?
2. There is a considerable shortage of food and there are orphans in
Eritrea who need looking after; dont you think we need to look after
them instead of investing in Education and Health for long term?
3. What will be the response to the occupation of our land in Mussa
Ali?
4. During the 30 years struggle young Eritreans were ready to die
for independence of Eritrea , I was just wondering if the same spirit
of sacrifice can be witnessed in the current young Eritrean generation?
5. We hear a lot of food shortages in Eritrea and also the Eritrean
government programme for food security. What is our status now?
6. There are a lot of shortcomings at different level of
administrations in Eritrea and this is creating some friction between
the PFDJ and the Eritrean people? What are the steps we need to take
to ensure there is no gaps between the people and the Government of
Eritrea?
7. When it comes to companies who invest in Eritrea , they
frequently claim they face a heavy bureaucracy and there is no
conducive environment to work and exploit the potential of Eritrea ,
can you give us some clarification?
8. There are constant accusations in the western media about
Dictatorship, Human rights abuse, terrorism levelled against
Eritrea , How do you explain the accusations? And how do we envisage
that democracy and justice be part of the Eritrean politics?
9. Eritreas response to the accusations by Djibouti has been not to
give it too much attention since there is no case to be answered, are
we going to live it like that, are you not concerned that it
might be inflamed to something that we do not want to see?
10. We have been given you a report to show you what the YPFDJ has
been doing over the past few years, can you also provide us or
report to the conference what the government has been doing in future
conferences too?
11. Is there a platform where the Eritrean people can discuss, debate
and share ideas on issues with the government?
12. ... etc...there were more than 35 different questions that were
raised and discussed
Combating Media Attacks on Eritrea
Bitseyti Sophia Tesfamariam has presented a discussion paper on how
to combat the relentless attack on the image and values of Eritrea .
She pointed out that over the last few years, a number of news
agencies, Human Rights watch, UNSC, reporters without borders, and
the likes with the rest of the Woyane sponsored news broadcasting
have been engaged on negative press about Eritrean people and
government. Every Eritrean has to ask the question, What has changed
all of a sudden in Eritrea for these agencies who have not mentioned
Eritrea for decades while the entire population was decimated, to
suddenly start talking about Eritrea in the media unrelentingly. Have
they suddenly started caring about Eritrea or are there any other
issues the young Eritreans need to explore what lies behind this
media attack.
In her speech, bitseyti Sophia has pointed out that Eritreans should
not allow foreigners to set our agenda using the media. We know as
Eritreans, what are the important priorities to develop and protect
ourselves as a nation, and we should list our agenda according to our
priority. She also went through the list of publications and other
media outlets the EPLF was using for positive and important role of
disseminating information and setting the Eritrean people agenda and
reminded young Eritreans have to emulate the tenacity of our older
generation and their use of media.
Towards the end, bitseyti Sophia have talked about the inner-workings
of the media and what the young Eritreans need to do to challenge the
negative media and correct wrong information about Eritrea . She
encouraged young Eritreans to get involved in the media activities
and ensure we take the initiative to tell the truth about Eritrea .
At the end she took several questions from the audience and addressed
them one by one.
Workshops
Workshops and discussion groups were introduced for the first time in
the YPFDJ conference to make the conference more interactive and
ensure the involvement and contribution of most participants. The
conference participants were divided into two large categories
(Denden & Nakfa) based on their involvement and previous attendance
to the conference. These two large categories were broken into
smaller groups (named Asherom, Wina, Alghen, Awghet, Orota, Sabur,
Bileqat, Felket, Halibet, Adi-Roso, Arag, Fishey).
The main topics for the workshops were organisational matters and
there were two sets of discussion points for the respective two
groups of participants. The following were questions of discussion
for workshops:
How far have we come in building a strong, conscious and
patriotic youth movement?
Which factors define the engagement of YPFDJ member?
Formalisation of members: Which requirements must be met?
Which level have we reached in structuring our organisation?
What are the main YPFDJs work areas
Are all chapters from each sub-zone organized according to
similar work areas?
Are the work areas applicable in our organisation today?
Do we need other work areas in our organisation?
Are any of the work areas too interlinked?
Is it essential to add other committees locally, in addition to
our existing committees, which are based on our work areas?
The points of discussion for the relatively new participants were the
following:
What is the role of YPFDJ?
How do PFDJ and YPFDJ interact and relate to each other?
What do the words STRONG, CONSCIOUS and PATRIOTIC signify?
It is often said that Eritreans are strong and proud people, what
makes us a strong and proud people?
What does it take to be able to analyze news and put it in its
original context?
Does living in a globalized world make you automatically a world
citizen?
How would you contribute in order to reach the aim of building a
strong, conscious and patriotic youth movement?
Which concrete factors are crucial to reach the aim of building a
strong, conscious and patriotic youth movement?
Individual Chapters Sessions
On the afternoon of Sunday April the 12th each individual chapters
have had a chance to meet and discuss their particular local issues
separately. This session allowed individual country chapters to raise
questions with bitsay Yemane and respective country leaders that
address their country-specific conditions. The three main topics
that were covered in this session were:
How and if the conference is addressing the Eritrean youth
movement in Europe ?
What are the specific issues and concerns of the individual
chapter/country?
What steps we need to take in the next few weeks to strengthen
the YPFDJ movement
Work Plan and Resolution
The guide line for the work plan of the YPFDJ movement for the coming
year was discussed on the last session of the conference. The work
plan will be based on the work areas that were already agreed during
the last year. Consciousness of YPFDJ members, skills development,
Media works, fundraising and networking & lobbying will be the main
focus during the next year. A detailed work plan and SMART objectives
for the YPFDJ movement programme will be developed in the next few
weeks in consultation with the wider membership and YPFDJ chapter
leaders.
The conference has concluded the proceedings by passing a resolution
that reflect the summary of the 3 day discussions, seminars,
workshops and presentations. The resolution will be presented in a
separate document.
Book Fare and Bologna Exhibition
The 5th conference has introduced a new concept of book-fare to the
conference programme. The idea was to present as much of the classic
and new editions of books that are written in Eritrea or by
Eritreans. The book fare was highly successful addition since it made
available more than 100 different Eritrean books for display and
sale. Conference participants had a chance to browse and buy books
from the book fare and highly appreciated this addition to the
conference. It gave them a chance to find out about different aspects
of Eritrean litterateur in Tigre , Tigrigna, English, Arabic and
other Eritrean languages. The best selling book during the book fare
was a book called Tenacity and Resilience of Eritrea 1979-1983 by
Tekeste Fikadu. There was also a small exhibition of materials that
were used during the Bologna festivals.
Entertainment and Art
The 5th YPFDJ conference like the previous conferences had allocated
time for entertainment and artistic endeavour of young Eritreans. In
the evenings a limited number of hours are allocated for Eritrean
music and dance and participants are allowed to celebrate the last
night with music and dance until the early morning. The passion of
all the young people was impeccable and the event finished without
any incident.
A number of established and new young Eritreans have also shown their
talent in terms of poems, songs, dramas and other artistic endeavours.
Awet nHafash
YPFDJ Media and Information Committee
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