Alessandro Pellegatta, Eritrea, the end and rebirth of an African dream

EritreaLive interview with Alessandro Pellegatta:

ERITREA, the end and rebirth of an African dream

Exit these days "Eritrea, the end and rebirth of an African dream" by Alessandro Pellegatta, (Casa Editrice Besa, euro 15)

A beautiful book that reads a breath, almost a novel, more than a guide, maybe even a travel journal. Written as a reportage. In short, a fascinating reading, to be done before leaving for Eritrea, to know the country, its past and present history. But not only. A book to pack if you go to Eritrea. A book full of anecdotes, stories, practical information.

We talk about it with the author. First of all, how did Eritrea passionate?

Eritrea is a complex country . To understand it you have to step back in time. First, let's know about colonial history to get to the contemporary one. One must learn to know the other, which, as Kapuściński says, is complex, sometimes dangerous, but it helps to find its roots. Today, unfortunately, to the culture of diversity and confrontation, fears and ideologies have emerged that they no longer see or understand.

She says in the book, not a writer, are the journeys that lead her to write. Travel to "get lost", travel "to find yourself". How did you ever find yourself in Eritrea?

Traveling to me means getting lost, to find curiosity for the world. Especially for the South of the world, which undoubtedly represents the future of humanity. 

Why is Eritrea?

A trip to Eritrea is an extraordinary experience . You have to abandon old thoughts and prepare to see a different reality, of extraordinary beauty. Eritrea is a country of whom almost nobody speaks.

A small country, with a very ancient history. From the land of Punt to the port cities on the Red Sea, in particular Adulis.

Today, Eritrea is a country that is seeking its own way for a development far from old and new colonialisms. Far from the appetites of great powers and multinationals. Despite the offshore platforms in the Red Sea, oil, gas, gold ...

And Eritrea is in a strategic position for the passage of oil tankers. Also in front of him has a land that shakes, Yemen, a war zone. They are also exacerbating the tensions with Djibouti, the only US military outpost in African land. And continues the iron arm with Ethiopia ...

As Pasolini wrote, Eritrea is a land completely different from what we imagine. And then there are the Eritreans. They have grace, dignity. In this grace of popular gentlemen, Muslims, Christians and Coptics are confused. These are nomadic and peasant populations.

In rural villages over the centuries, private property has never existed. Land ownership is collective, and there is a rotation of possession of the fields between the families. The nomads are even more essential, and they always move lightly with their dromedaries. For centuries the Eritreans have been deprived of possession, and this gives them some detachment from things.

Eritrea is at the center of a complicated geopolitics?

To understand it, you must know the history of the Red Sea, a sea freeway that has allowed the development of the area and commerce. Without it, axumite civilization would not have been possible.

Today geopolitics is complicated.

We do not know what's really happening. The Assab area is off limits because there are military stations. Yemen, a poor country, is a region of confrontation between Saudi and Iranian influences, where a serious humanitarian emergency is currently taking place.

Eritrea in 2009 was added as a destabilizing country. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused Eritrea of ​​supporting Al Shaabab without any evidence. However, without any evidence, this allegation has become a leitmotif , along with the comparison with North Korea.

Actually, if we go to see what is happening in neighboring Ethiopia, we do not find the very democratic state that we would like to believe. There is, however, a very tense situation, civil war, and ethnic conflict. A situation nevertheless never talked about.  

In Eritrea is not so. There are 9 ethnicities with different languages ​​and cultures. The extraordinary thing about this country is that you walk to Asmara and see the Coptic church, the synagogue, the Catholic church, the Protestant church. There is complete religious tolerance and respect for diversity. There are no devastating conflicts in the Islamic world. There is no terrorism. Al Qaeda was defeated at birth, stopping its infiltration.

And what role women do they have in the country?

The role of woman in Eritrea is very important. No one knows that the Eritrean liberation movement was backed by women who were 30 percent of the fighters. Massawa was released by women. There are currently local women ministers and rulers.

The book reads: " Asmara is all but a nightmare," from which to escape. From the country, however, in recent years many young people have come out looking for the future in Europe, how come?

Surely long military service is heavy. Leverage youngsters fail to design a future, a family. This applies to men and women ...

However, it is necessary to understand the cause and effect mechanisms of this situation.  

L 'Eritrea is a country that is experiencing a real siege and one perceived.

What do you mean?

The decision on the border between Eritrea and Ethiopia ( ed 1998-2000 conflict ended with the Algiers Agreement in favor of Badme to Eritrea for the area) was not enforced. Eritrea continues to be a poor country under the strong pressure of Ethiopia, a world power. Unfortunately for Eritrea the moment of pacification has not yet come, which is why, inside, there is a climate of closeness and distrust.

It is a country that has been colonized and recolonized, which fought for independence, which does not give up.

On the evacuation of young Eritreans I would like to add a consideration. Many of those who claim to be Eritreans are not. They have been encouraged to say about the benefits recognized by the Eritreans. They are boys who do not ask for asylum in the first country, Italy.

The real issue is that excessive internal repression is described, then favoring the entry of Eritreans into Europe.

The description of Eritrea as a "North Korea" is the daughter of a prejudice. The dictatorial countries are different. In Eritrea, there is no worship of personality. There is, however, a great sense of community.

How do you feel an Italian tourist in Eritrea? 

There is no hostility towards the Italians. In Eritrea there is a physiological predisposition to the other. Historically, geographically, culturally, the different erytheans have had to learn to live together. Plateau and Bassopiano. The first has an agricultural and peasant culture that reflects what is the coptic Christian tradition, the very one of Ethiopia. The lowland, on the other hand, has a nomadic culture to which, in most cases, corresponds to Islamic religion. In the country, these two elements coexist peacefully, rather they tend to integrate.

Traveling to Eritrea means getting to know very different realities, Asmara, Keren, Massawa.

 How is Massawa, a port city on the Red Sea?

Walking through the streets of Massawa, despite the destruction suffered, still lets you imagine the beauty of buildings such as the Bank of Italy. There are small roads over which buildings of madreporic material are facing. We see Turkish infrastructures, palaces of Indian merchants ... with an incredible melting pot .

Here too the Italians have been careful in the design of the buildings. They respected the local tradition, taking into account what already existed.

Asmara last July 8 became a UNESCO World Heritage Site ...

Asmara is the most fascinating city in Africa, with a blend of Western, Arab, and Islamic elements.

If the realization of Italian colonialism has become a heritage of humanity, it must be recognized that the Eritreans have been able to preserve their modernity.

Beyond the labels, Asmara's buildings have an incredible charm and beauty. Honor to the Eritreans that they understood and valued a heritage that could have been destroyed. As in Addis Ababa where there is nothing left of value, and where the Chinese real estate is advancing unstoppable.

Asmara's entry into the heritage of humanity will not be of great importance only from the architectural and urban point of view, but will represent a milestone in the history of Eritrea.

Cultural heritage always expresses the culture of a community and connotates it. And the need to rebuild the national identity of Eritrea remains a priority. Since the end of the nineteenth century, the country has been subjected to conquest, occupation, militarization, colonization and smuggling, including cultural.

If we then abandon any ideological prejudice, we must also say, as Aldo Rossi claimed, that he did more architecture, and good architecture, the fascist regime in colonies than the last years of republican Italy ...

Eritrea was a real jewel of experimentation. Asmara lived under the colonial occupation of Italy an extraordinary period of modernization, especially in the Thirties with the communication between the port of Massawa and the capital.

Asmara at that point became a "little Rome". Extraordinary architects who could not express their potential at home came to Asmara and realized over four thousand buildings passing from Deco to Cubism, Futurism to Rationalism, both in public and private buildings.

Behind the achievement of Asmara UNESCO heritage there was a great job. Dozens of engineers, architects, geometers, the municipality of Asmara, people I knew, all very well.  

Now you will have to worry about Massawa too. A city that has been bombed by Ethiopian aviation and still carries the heavy marks of the war conflict.

In his travel to Eritrea what situations he saw outside of the capital?

Very different situations between cities and countryside.

The real problem of Eritrea is the trajectories of the long struggle for liberation ( ndr 1961-1991) . A war that has left devastation and deforestation, allowing the desert to advance. Keren had already begun a process of desertification in the late eighties, because the peasants to drive out the birds that were eating on hard plantations burned fires. So there are only baobabs, trees with strong bark.

Then deforestation was caused by the need to heat up, then cut the wood. Finally, the war with Ethiopia came to an end.

Eritrean salvation was, however, its traditional ability, such as the adulthans and axumites, to preserve water.

We think of the daily struggle of Eritrean peasants, with few mechanical means and poor electricity. They fight to get fruit from the ground by tackling desert aggression and drought.

Another point in favor of Eritrea that is useful to know is the defeat of malaria. Health protection has increased and improved. Although there is still much to be done to protect the weaker sections of the population, especially the children.

In the book we also talk about the Eritrean archaeological sites ...

 Yes, especially of Adulis and the cities axumite on the Eritrean plateau.

Few know that the development of the axumite kingdom has been made possible by Maritime ports of Adulis. The harbor was connected to Axum by means of caravan lanes dating back to the courses of Haddas and Komailé and, with a height of more than 2,000 meters, reached the axumite cities on the Qohaito plateau. From here the slopes crossed the Ethiopian Tigrai passing through the monastery of Debra Damo and Yeha. Finally, in the capital of the Axum Empire, famous from the ancient world, from its spectacular stele.

The Ethiopian invasion conducted in this area has resulted in damage, looting and devastation both to archaeological and natural heritage. Many monumental sympathies were cut down by Ethiopian soldiers by pure contempt. Sycamore is in fact symbolic and sacred in all of Eritrea, since public debates have been held under his bones, judgments are being issued and the population is gathered.

But violence is not limited to natural elements. They also fought against the archaeological heritage of the Eritrean plateau. Senafe was destroyed and with it plundered and ruined the ancient Axum city of Matara where a precious stela was exploded by putting an explosive at its base.

Many finds piled up by Ethiopians are still in Addis Ababa today. The Ethiopians have fought to recover from Axum's stem from Italy, but so far they have not returned to Eritrea as they have been taken out of Matara.

Unfortunately, these cities are on the border with Ethiopia, now militarized, so it is difficult to go there.  

In the book I found very nice the description of the arrival at Asmara. From the airport to the hotel Hamasien ...

I came to Asmara at night, darkened atmosphere, dark. The city, 2,350 meters above sea level, has a clear sky and stars. Fantastic. After passing the airport, after one, two rounds you arrive in front of an airplane building. At that point it seems to be in a picture of Sironi or De Chirico, in those symbolic peripheries.

Instead it is the Fiat Tagliero service station . And wondering how they make their wings up. And they have been around for 70 years ...

Then you arrive at the 20-century hotel with a Tyrolean style dome in Hansa, and here the demand for duty is: "but where did I go?" If there were no pepper trees it could be Bavaria ...

The Hamasien is a hotel now almost decrepit, a former hotel CIAAO, ( ed Italian Society Hotels East Africa) with 80 rooms and a great charm. A special suggestion.

What can you appreciate and what can not be expected?

If the search is the convenience of a 7 star hotel, we are not there. But the charm of living in a colonial-style hotel, seeing the sky from the Lombardy-style windows ... the feeling that it can give a building like that ... it's no price.

You are in a timeless dimension. Even if, perhaps, there is no hot water ....

Hamasien is also in the neighborhood of the villages, the old center of European residences, full of bouganville, flowers, palm trees.

Asmara is a thriving city, with no skyscrapers, where everything is left to man.

Asmara's modernity is in his absence of skyscrapers, everything is very soft and quiet. You walk day and night without any disturbance.

I have visited many cities, none is like Asmara. Asmara is really a jewel.

Walking around the center you will come to its pretty premises, such as the Vittoria Bar, where you can have a cappuccino or a coffee. It's incredible. Far away thousands of miles from home is like being home yet. It happens to meet the children of the old assholes, people who want to talk in Italian. For the pleasure of communicating, knowing, remembering.

I'm coming back, you feel at home.

I have experienced many flash backs. I have reviewed our beautiful Italy of the 1950s. Going to Asmara means finding a city that still has a strong Italian presence: the House of the Italians, the Embassy, ​​the mythical library of the pavilion fathers. A library that is one of the most important in Africa. Unique if you are looking for books on colonial experience. I was able to experience it, sitting in an environment of other times where to browse books that would be scattered in the most prestigious libraries in Italy. An asset that deserves to be known and valued.

That is why I think Asmara's entry into Unesco heritage will bring acceleration to development, even cultural. Only I hope that the Eritreans know how to handle it because a new colonialism, unfortunately, is always possible.

So Asmara is a "meticulous city", clean, quiet, safe, hospitable ...

Absolutely yes. The Eritreans then have a great sense of dignity and decorum. To get to know Asmara you have to get on a public bus, on a bus. The orderly crowd waits in a row, with education. We have a lot to learn. Beginning with nobility.

To end, without spoiling over the book, a hint at the Dahlak Islands. You write "arid, desolate, without shadow", then the tourist might wonder why go there?

Going to the Dahlak is a unique experience for those who love wildlife and true nature.

The Dahlak have nothing to do with Sharm El Sheik, no nightlife. But they are wonderful islands for the relationship that you can have with the sea and nature.

Of course you have to sleep in the tent, take the water, fish for eating ...

It is fascinating to think that each of these islands, once, had its own water tank and that the arid cultivation was practiced. Nocturnal humidity, marine dew, that is, was used to generate water, to be able to grow.

We think of great climate change. In Pantelleria, to say, there is the same arid cultivation of the Dahlak Islands. Today, it is crucial to know exactly these techniques, resources that will become increasingly needed. I add that to Dahlak Kebir, the largest island, there is a wonderful necropolis, absolutely to see. The Dahlak are also a place in the history of our navy. 

What to do to go to Eritrea and Dahlak?

 Ask for a visa for a while and lean on a tour operator. For the Dahlak Islands the indispensable condition is to love and respect nature and the sea ...

Marilena Dolce

@EritreaLive