This afternoon, an interview titled a “short conversation” was conducted
with the President of the State of Eritrea Isaias Afwerki to address the
recent rumors and lies being spread about him and the status of his health.
At 1pm EST the interview was shown live on National Eritrean Television
Station, EriTV.
The interview began with the interviewer welcoming the President and
thanking him for doing this interview:
“President Isaias Afwerki thank you for being here today for this short
conversation. There has been a lot of stories about your health, that you
were ill and finally that you were dead. Can you please tell us a story of
your own?”
The President explained that he had not been in Asmara last week and
finally returned at the end of the week. On Saturday and Sunday he went on
a trip to Gash Barka the South Western region of the country. It was this
time that the stories of his health were being told in several different
media outlets claiming that he had been extremely ill and finally that he
had died. These rumors were entertained on social media networks as well
and quickly spread to Eritrean communities around the world. The President
stated that he had received the news in a note from a member of the News
Station and that people have been wondering about the health of their
President. Isaias Afwerki said,
“The wind blew, this is not my issue, I have no illness, I am lucky is what
I am trying to say. The build up of these stories can be translated in my
eyes as running after the wind or jumping on the bandwagon. Creating a
worrisome environment shows that people need to be a little smarter. This
is not an issue about my health. If you ask me if I have an illness, I’ll
say, my illness is only in their minds, those who want to believe that I
have an illness. It’s their minds that have a mental illness otherwise I am
fine. They have an illness of the desire to cause trouble and scare our
people, the Eritrean people.”
He continued by explaining that these people spreading rumors and lies have
tried everything to break the unity of the Eritrean people. They failed at
dividing and confusing the people of Eritrea. The reason for all of these
desperate attempts is because their stress and aggravation has increased as
they continue to fail in their tactics. The country is developing and
becoming a stronger state, the economy is growing and getting better which
means it is becoming more difficult for these people to defame Eritrea.
“For me to come on television or news to speak about my health is
unnecessary and people will become smarter in times like this cause it will
only continue. Today, technology and information can be used to easily
spread information and misinformation to its highest potential. At the same
time, this technology is being used as a tool to spread lies and to confuse
people. When this happens, and media/technology is being used for ill
reasons, find out why this is being done. You cannot just listen to any
news you hear you have to think critically and find out the underlying
reasons this news is being spread. We should all be smarter and more
conscious and use this example to help”.
The interviewer continued the conversation asking how information
technology is being used today.
“Information technology has been used and abused wrongly over time in order
to serve interests. For example, when you watch a program on television,
there are many commercials stuffed into your one hour program. These
commercials are repeated hundreds of times to the point where you don’t
even think for yourself anymore, you just want to buy something you never
thought you even wanted. It supports consumerism. Now methods are used to
help create and enforce propaganda, legitimize wars, and cause instability
or confusion or bombardment of false information. And this happens in
closed doors, in secrecy, there is no face to where it comes from. Large
Media outlets and big corporations with money have lots of power amongst
their leaders when it comes to what information is spread and the people
only the absorbers of information.”
Towards the end of the conversation the interviewer asked His Excellency
President Isaias Afwerki if he had a message to the people of Eritrea:
“Well, it should not be necessary for me to come on television and speak
about my health. This is a bigger issue, and I am not here to talk about my
health. Of course I can say that I am not ill and I am fine but the fact of
the matter is that this address is for the respect of the Eritrean people,
because of the false information being spread, people were confused and
they were worried. But it is important for everyone to understand that
things like this event will continue, more lies will come tomorrow and the
next day. We have to continue to think for ourselves, find out why this is
happening and don’t just jump on the bandwagon because everyone is saying a
certain thing. I am not saying not to listen to the news or not to read the
news, but be critical and be conscious.”
Awet N'Hafash!!!
youngpfdj.org
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Received on Sat Apr 28 2012 - 19:43:09 EDT
