By Awet H.,
IN a June 22nd 2014 CBC interview, a representative from Hidmona, a bandwagon Eritrean Human Rights activists registered in Manitoba, stated that the closure of the Eritrean Consulate in Toronto was way overdue. He, along with his coteries seize the opportunity to demand the government of Canada close the consulate altogether.
The paradoxical request is not short of the comico-tragic nature of the group that masked as a Human Rights Organization that attempts to politicize and divide the existing communities and use them as a spring board to sway any opposition against the Eritrean government. The process though of the alleged Human Rights activity is highly politicized and in an unusual oxymoron directed to destroy their very own communities and existing Eritrean Consulate Services.
Let us see some of the practices witnessed in the last 3 years by the above group:
• Started their opposition by demonizing the very nature of their own communities and branding the communities as sources and funders of terrorism and/or terrorism linked organizations
• Attacked prominent community leaders on a personal basis
• Introduced the notion of anti-Semitism against their own community and people, put Canadian Eritrean organizations at risk by introducing notions of hate and crime
• The founders of these organization and many of its members are the beneficiaries of the 2% diaspora tax and product of the free education that they generously received in Eritrea with the help of the Eritrean Diaspora but now calling their benefactors as sources of terrorism
• Crossed several times the line of political activism and jumped in to anti-Eritrean politics by requesting to close the mining industry for the purpose of weakening Eritrea economically; support brain drain and human trafficking
• Allowed “Eritrean masked” Ethiopian regime organizations and individuals to act within them and direct their political actions and reactions in order to harm Eritrea and Eritrean interests
• Requested the closure of the Eritrean Consulate in Toronto in total disregard of the harm on the services of many Canadian Eritreans who receive services ranging from simple family visit, legal matters, property claim and burial of family members
• Used white lies to demonize community leaders and members by misrepresenting the Eritrean community from a cohesive, hard working and law abiding to a polarized, divided and source of hate and terrorism
• Attempted to sabotage all community events, Independence and Memorial Day celebrations, Festivals, and seminars by threatening the locations of the events with violence and scaremongering by likening the events with “terrorism and terrorism linked fundraising activities”
• Feed the local media with false accusations and manufactured evidence while hiding their true identity and real facts with the perfect excuse of ‘arbitrary harm on their family’
• They put community leaders and organizations members on high risk by filling false papers, documents and facts
• They falsely claim families of the 2% tax evaders are subject to extra – judicial pressure; distorting community leaders role’s and real service to communities
• Have converted their own ethno-cultural communities to places of communal distrust and social isolation and marginalization
• Have cut the ties and network of newcomers and members with a significant impact to cross members assistance and collective youth raising, with detrimental effects on inter-generational tension and putting at risk the healthy cross–cultural growth of our youth
• By continuous demonization of the traditional communities, they have cut the youth from collective cultural activities, sports, music and have instilled the notion that as Eritrean Canadians we are linked to terrorism
• Strong Supporters of the UN arms embargo against Eritrea in total disregard of the continuous militarization and mobilization of Ethiopia and favoring the arms balance to Ethiopia’s interests . Ignoring the risks for the Eritrean Defence Forces and Eritrea’s ability to self defence.
• Never condemned the continuous Ethiopian occupation of Eritrean territory and never advocated for any Canadian intervention or International action to ensure that Eritrean history of securing national issues goes along all political stripes. In complete opposition and disrespect of the Eritrean people deal on a daily basis with the Occupier Ethiopia and organize events and frequent visits to Ethiopia
• Never condemned the destruction of the Eritrean Community in Sweden by like-minded arsonists
• Openly supporting acts of gangsterism in their own Embassies around the world and acting as gangsters by demonstrating in front of community members residences; spreading fear of terrorism to Canadians by distributing flyers in residential areas where community members live
• Requested that Eritrean Musicians Korchach and musical groups be removed from a hotel where he was resting as they misinformed hotel owners as having sheltered terrorists
• Attempted repeatedly to demonize prominent Eritrean leaders and respected Independence era leaders as people that should be inadmissible in Canada due to acts of subversion
• Imposed an unwarranted alert on CBSA that Eritrean Musicians come to Canada to assist fundraising terrorists; making it challenging and difficult for musical events and putting our prominent and famous Eritrean musicians targets of interrogation and suspicion
• Requested the total ban of entry to famous Eritrean musicians in to Canada
• and many more
Eritrean Canadians by now realized the dubious alliance of these like-minded defectors who abandoned their people in pursuit of their personal agendas. They spend every waking minute churning out accusations to denigrate Eritrean communities and organisations in Winnipeg.
After rejected by the majority of the public, these individuals turned to Canadian media to amplify and lend credibility to their illicite vilification and defamation campaigns against the Eritrean Canadian community and its members. It’s time to tell these shameless bunch “Enough already!”
