By Daniel Wedi Korbaria,
In twenty years in Italy, I have read piles of newspapers furnished with the lies of journalists. In twenty years I have learned to recognize them, I know how they work, to daily hammer anyone ending targeted by the US. At the end of the 1990s the target was Milosevic preceding NATO bombs on Belgrade. Then came Saddam’s turn, alleged of killing his own people. The allegations were tales of oppressed civilians, who were dying under his claws due to hardships and lack of freedom. However, interestingly, all the newspapers seemingly caring for the Iraqi people failed to write about the “collateral damages” suffered by the civilian population due to US sanctions and the embargo of medicines.
I recall then that Italian public opinion supported the US lead which started to bomb Iraq in 2003. “It’s about time” said those who had learned to recognize Saddam as the embodiment of the devil. They were all bold and satisfied about the military attack, so that he – public enemy number one – would never again use those weapons of mass destruction, which journalists had widely covered, convincing public opinion of their existence.
In February that year there were very few of us in San Giovanni Square in Rome protesting against the war in Iraq; there were not enough pacifists to stop that damned war.
(… continued from part-1)
The power of the “good ones”
Now there is a continuous competition among journalists, done at the expense of the poor wretches, as to who is the most humane and good than the rest. If we were to ask with the words of John Pilger: “Who gives you the right to do what you are doing around the world?” they would all reply with conviction: “We are doing it for human rights.”
Thanks to western wars, journalists have discovered they are such “saints” that each year they compete to win the prize for the Best Human Rights Defender. The winners are those who, either by means of articles or photographs, describe civilians dismembered by bombs. Obviously, the prize is commensurate to the length and intensity of the war; the higher the number of casualties, the more fame and gold tokens will be in store for the winner.
“The winner of the Prize for Best Humanitarian of 2015 is the weekly magazine…” standing, ovation and loud applause.
And it is international NGOs overseas — which have been involved for decades in the regime-change policy, colour revolutions and Arab springs — who finance these competitions and meaty journalistic prizes. In fact, authentic bribes! Bingo!
In return, Italian journalists cite the same NGOs as reputable sources in their lies and attribute them sacrosanct indisputable truth, and they repeat like a prayer: “Amnesty said this”, “Human Right Watch confirms this”, “According to a classification by Reporters sans Frontières or by Médecins Sans Frontières”. For the record, all these organizations are financed by the Open Society Foundation[11] of that saint man George Soros, author of speculations worth billions of dollars and of bloody colour revolutions[12]; a “philanthropist” able to call in Rome in an OTPOR-style operation 120 journalists[13] from around the world to best accommodate the arrival of more refugees. “We are a coalition of Journalists, coders, designers, digital Strategists & global citizens coming together to tackle the Mediterranean migration crisis” reads their twitter profile. Poor Europe!
Journalists turned humanitarian activists continue to shout, “Come, come!” knowing that their appeasing attitude functions as a “pull factor” and beckons hundreds of thousands of desperate people from Africa to Europe. They will not admit that, actually, they are the ones killing migrants, drowning them in that cursed sea and turning survivors of the shipwreck into zombies left on the pavements of railway stations of big cities. Italy does not have the capacity, or the will to offer proper reception; if it does so, there is another reason behind it: usual Italian style corruption.
Too many jackals are fighting over the same bone
Scene sequence: Immigration and the refugee crisis create jobs for many Italians who are involved in this pretending to be “volunteers.” From those in charge of reception, to journalists, to photo reporters, to NGO’s activists, to news analysts and Africanists on TV, to human traffickers, they all bite and strip their bone. Immigration in Italy is more lucrative than drug smuggling. For most journalists it is only a simple duty: “Work is work,” i.e. the piece that at the end of the month will secure him a good salary. From their articles and photographs of corpses no humanity shows through; they are cold, cynical and cruel shots. They are repeated words without emotion. These are modern gravediggers armed with cameras, tablets and cell phones, experts of social network media who manage to convert every “like” into cash. In order to earn more they have no scruples about splashing together with the corpses floating in that liquid blood-red cemetery. They are there to catch their story, their scoop and then they go and sell the product to the highest bidder. In spite of their sharp teeth, they do not feel like vampires. It is their democracy which grants them this freedom of press.
And still, the visionary Giorgio Gaber had summed them up very well already in 1980, when he defined them thus: “You’re cannibals, necrophiliacs, pathetic, smart, and you could say complacent with yourselves; you throw yourselves on human disaster for a taste of tears on the first page.[14]”
The backstage of the exodus
“Then why do young people flee Eritrea?” This is the million-dollar question and the most banal reply would be: “Because of the most ferocious regime in the world”.
But this script is too weak, too obvious. This is the clichéd western perspective that will end up boring the spectator. What about the other side of the story, the other narrative[15], the African perspective for instance? Are we really sure that things are not different from how they appear? What if it had all been organized to weaken the Eritrean Government? And here the story becomes more interesting, disturbing and disarming.
The Eritrean Government has called for United Nations attention for a long time and proposes the opening of an independent investigation on the trafficking of human beings from Eritrea towards Europe, stating they have new sufficient and damning evidence about authors above suspicion, with their names and surnames. But the UN does not intend to open this independent inquiry, because doing so would uncover the skeletons in its cupboard that would undermine its credibility.
Who is really behind the scenes? Who is the true director? Who benefits from this?
“I recently renewed sanctions on some of the worst abusers, including North Korea and Eritrea. We’re partnering with groups that help women and children escape from the grip of their abusers. We’re helping other countries step up their own efforts. And we’re seeing results [16]” reiterated President Obama in his speech at the Clinton Global Initiative [17].
It is obvious that the strategy is to deprive Eritrea of its future: its young people. Yes, the very young people who arrive in Lampedusa on board boats, risking their lives each time. No-one can deny that Ethiopia – the number one US ally in Africa – wants access to Eritrean sea, which is easier to achieve if there are no young people defending Eritrean borders. Similarly, it cannot be denied that the US wants a military base in Eritrea to exploit its strategic position in the Red Sea. The Human Rights Watch, therefore, declares Eritrea’s endeavours for national defence and nation building as “slavery,” thus whitewashing ancestral crimes.
But Eritrea, as opposed to its neighbours, is still free and sovereign and does not host American military bases or AFRICOM American soldiers, present throughout Africa [18].
At this point, to keep the public’s attention alive, you must surprise it by creating suspense by means of another dramatic turn of events.
In UNHCR-run refugee camps all the protagonists of regime-change run amuck: secret service agents, NGOs, journalists, photo reporters. Their humanitarian mission is to keep a file on people, extort information, hide the truth; in other words, adding more fuel to the fire in order to further destabilize the country from which people are fleeing. True wolves in sheep’s clothes!
“Facilitate full access for UNHCR to Eritrean asylum seekers”[19] are the categorical instructions of Human Rights Watch to the governments of the countries, which host refugee camps. In the report of September 2014 the same [Human Rights Watch] wrote: “Eritrean refugees have become a crucial source of information on the human rights situation in Eritrea (…)”[20].
With the excuse of alleged retaliations by the Eritrean Government on their relatives, their identities and real names are hidden, other names are chosen, among those easiest to pronounce so that public opinion can familiarize with them, the shorter they are the better they will be understood. So names like Dawit, Abel, Sara, Musie, Haile are published. And it must be said that even the journalist should be able to spell a name like Ghebremedhin, Habtemariam or Abdelkadir.
Pull factor
Eritreans of the recent migration know only too well the economic situation of families in Eritrea, and we know that 100 euros a month make a huge difference. These young men know that only by signing “There is a dictatorship” will they manage to get their asylum documents and those 100 euros to send back home. I would do the same in their shoes; in fact for that document I would also confess to have killed Bin Laden. Newspapers underestimate and offend the intelligence of their readers, because they know that to obtain a stay permit you must be persecuted for political reasons and not just be an economic migrant.
For this reason, once disembarked in Lampedusa, they do all they can to escape also from Italy, considered as having poor welfare, whereas Northern Europe is richer and more generous. If they escape from (poor) Italy, why is then poverty in Eritrea considered a dictatorship after two wars with Ethiopia lasting almost 40 years and two recent United Nations sanctions?
Another pull factor for young Eritreans is the prima facie refugee status given exclusively to Eritreans, notwithstanding the fact that in Africa there are more unfortunate countries.
The prima facie policy of granting political asylum to Eritreans subscribed by both Italy and the EU, obeying orders from overseas and risking a proper invasion, is beckoning more and more unfortunate people from all over Africa, especially Ethiopians, who of course declare to be Eritreans upon entry to Europe, given their similarity in appearance. But this phenomenon is ignored by UNHCR statistics and by reports of journalists who are only interested in confirming that the exodus is only concerning Eritreans. Suit yourselves.
For a piece of paper, those poor wretches, even unaccompanied minors, must repeat what is written on the script: “I fled from mandatory military service.” In fact, selling and buying imaginary stories of torture scenario in Eritrea to anyone be it from Eritrea, Somali, Ethiopia or Sudan has become a lucrative business. Even now that National Service is back to its 18 months’ duration they will still flee in order not to contradict those previously given reasons. But the group of disembarked refugees includes also these infiltrated Tigrayans of Ethiopia, who do not want to be simple bystanders, but choose instead willingly to represent the “opposition” to the Eritrean Government. The cleverest ones learn immediately in the most disparate languages (Scandinavian, German, French or Italian) how you say torture, prison, forced labour, and religious persecution. For them the contract as being in the “opposition” means more money, quick papers, accommodation and work. For instance in Italy they make press conferences at Camera dei Deputati [21], thanks to some left wing “humanitarian” politicians and, obviously thanks to the presence of journalists who work as boosters, to make them feel as though they were the majority.
True Eritreans are aware of the media war against Eritrea and it is for this reason that they constantly demonstrated against it like the one recently in Geneva against the COI, the UN commission of inquiry, which went to Ethiopia to interview Eritrean refugees. As Beaton Galafa says: “It’s like interviewing a North Korean defector in Seoul.”[22]
But let us go back to the main story, because this would be a sub-plot.
“If young people flee from the Eritrean dictatorship then why do they not establish themselves in UNHCR refugee camps built across the border in Ethiopia, Djibouti and Sudan?” Refugee camps in the three countries neighbouring with Eritrea have strategic positions and have been built just to attract young people. Eritrea cannot militarily invade the three countries – had it done so more than a war would have broken out with its neighbours. Once they have crossed the border these young people are free at last, freed from the “clutch of the oppressor” and finally under protection of the UNHCR. For these young men the “infamous Eritrean dictatorship” ends when they enter the gates of those refugee camps, where they can consider themselves safe in the arms of the UNHCR where they can be washed, dressed and fed. A piece of cake.
Then why are they embarking on that infernal trip? Then they are also fleeing from the maternal arms of the UNHCR? Why? What goes on in there?
From the confessions of refugees you can understand they are instructed on how to walk through the desert and cross the Mediterranean sea by the operators and activists of the NGOs. They are the ones giving them the “right” directions and the telephone contact numbers.
But why then are they not loaded onto UN planes from the refugee camps in Ethiopia and transported safely towards European countries, where they will be granted refugee status? Why does the trip have to be on foot or by unsafe means at all costs, if they will, in any case, be admitted to Europa? Does The European Union admit them only if they survive the Mediterranean? You do not need a degree to answer this question. You need a tragedy to achieve the objective of regime-change!
The journey is an obstacle race and, like in a giant nativity scene, the path is furnished with the cruellest possible characters: Bedouin organ traffickers, guards and prisons in the countries overlooking the sea, traffickers of human beings, who organise the crossing, people smugglers who drive sea wrecks conceived as disposables, journalists and photo-reporters ready to inform public opinion and, last but not least, also the ISIS cutthroats.
For the aggression against Eritrea and the emptying of the country of their youths – what is known as “strategic depopulation” — hundreds of traffickers of human beings have been involved. Dozens of “native” human rights activists with satellite phones and even priests and nuns, more saint than Mother Theresa of Calcutta, continue the religious discourse on the “lack of freedom of worship” in Eritrea, which suddenly affects the country, in spite of the fact that the State of Eritrea is secular and historicaly Christianity and Islam have been coexisting in the country for centuries in peace and harmony.
Each task is pursued working in synergy with a well-coordinated teamwork, each one contributes well and better to the Western geopolitical project, so that the opening of a new war front may be justified; because, in a democracy you need mass consensus to bomb a country. In a democracy consensus is everything and to achieve it you must get public opinion, i.e. democratic voters, on your side. And to convince voters it cannot be sufficient to inform them on the enemy’s brutality; to convince them you must create a perfect tragedy, you must bring scenes of tragedy to their homes. And tragedy must reach the whole world in very little time, and this can be achieved only through the miraculous power of mainstream corporate media. In this respect, Italian journalists play their role perfectly at home.
The perfect tragedy
External Mediterranean Sea – night time: As in the best thrillers, tragedy represents the final climax, when something terrible must happen and the spectator’s anxiety roused. Soon afterwards, something will happen that will make everyone cry and will move all consciences, will cause indignation and will provoke a widespread reaction: a thirst for justice and revenge.
And in the tragedy that is about to take place the same thing happens — that is rescuers never get there on time. The same happens with tragedies at sea. Whoever gets there first declares that the reason for the sinking of the boat is always the same: all the migrant passengers moved to one side, they unbalanced the wreck boat and they drowned. A collective suicide, then? They travel in perfect balance for days and then just when they are close to Italian shores and someone approaches them to rescue them they lose balance and drown. No suspicion that someone might have accidentally, or worse, deliberately, hit them? Of course, you don’t get to see this in the movie.
The tragedy of Lampedusa of the 3rd October 2014, in which 366 people died, did not shock public opinion that much, both in Italy and internationally. Certainly it did not stop the Italians, used to having their supper in front of the television, to continue chewing and swallowing their meal. Apparently, another much bigger tragedy with thousands of casualties, Titanic style, will be needed. Only then will there be public uprising causing a violent reaction, which will lead to asking NATO intervention in the name of human rights. In spite of the NGOs and journalists’ uproar, arrived on the scene of the crime to bathe in the blood of the innocents, tragedy has turned into a TV show with adverts and a showcase of politicians.
Tragedy has become showbiz.
Never kneel down, we shall never kneel!
An Overview: The international Tribunal is full of the journalists, who in recent years have defamed the name of Eritrea. The list is very long. Many of those have gorged at the expenses of poor wretches. Now the same journalists, drying their foreheads at the uncomfortable questions of the public accusation, stammer: “Can you repeat the question, please?” You should have done a mea culpa, at least, like your German colleague Udo Ulfkotte [23]. But it is too late now. The truth is out, because the Empire of Evil has fallen, just as Julius Ceasar’s, Alexander the Great’s, Napoleon’s, Hitler’s and Mussolini’s as well as the British empires before it. And here are those journalists in the dock, accused of crimes against humanity. Today we celebrate the Nuremberg trial of the Press; their position is not enviable, for sure.
Close up: The Eritrean immigrant in the shoes of the public prosecutor puts them under pressure:
Why did you fuel hate applying the “divide and rule” principle and contribute de facto to the destruction of cultures and sovereign countries? Why did you misinform us? Why have you always lied, misled, and hidden the crimes of the Empire when your professional code forbids this? Why did you corrupt public opinion inducing it to justify and legitimate those crimes? Why did you cause entire populations to be exterminated just to fatten your bank account? You have signed all the human tragedies of the last decades in exchange for personal privileges. In each of those wars, which the ‘Saviors” provoked throughout the world, you left your ink mark printed in black and white. Words fly away, written words remain! You have bombed the cities first and then the marines arrived to finish the job and it is for this reason that you are today accused of crimes against humanity, just the same as them. Tell me why did you sell your soul to the devil? Was it worth it?
Objection Your Honor!
Objection overruled!
If only you had stopped for a second to reflect, you would have understood that Eritrea is different from other countries. It means you did not understand anything, it means you have underestimated the value of this heroic people. In the past they had already given you the lives of their fathers and grandfathers without receiving anything in return except your ingratitude; now they won’t give you the future of their sons. Eritrea’s destiny belongs only to its people because there have been dozens of thousands of martyrs who died for its freedom and for its flag. And to honour those martyrs Eritreans have taken an oath: they will pay the same sacrifice in order to hand over their motherland to their children. They will never take their flag down, and instead they will defend it tooth and nail.
You should have suspected that the very Eritrean youths you have blackmailed for a damned residence permit would one day come back and defend their Country. So, you were wrong to believe, dear journalists, that you could win this war; you should have remembered a people that won a thirty years’ war, fighting against everything and everyone, starting from the greatest African army supported by: the USSR, the USA, East Germany, Cuba, Libya, Israel, Yemen, Great Britain and even Italy.
Dissolve
The End!
About the author:
Daniel Wedi Korbaria is an Eritrean author and screenwriter who lives and works in Rome, Italy, since 1995. As an activist, he has published in several websites articles written in Italian and translated into English and French, among others: “Scream of an African,” “J’accuse Human Rights Watch,” “The strength of Yonas,” “My encounter with ‘Father’ Mussie Zerai.” His novel in Italian will be published soon. He can be reached at wedikorbaria_at_yahoo_dot_it
