ጸገምካ ባዕልካ ፍትሓዬ: Suspending Reality
By: Dr. FikreYesus Amhazion
https://fiqre4eri.wordpress.com/2020/11 ... g-reality/
November 11, 2020
Shortly after the events in neighboring Ethiopia broke out last week, I wrote a brief piece suggesting that we all remain cautious of disinformation, misinformation, and sloppy or poor journalism.
https://fiqre4eri.wordpress.com/2020/11 ... lse-flags/ In the days following that post, numerous examples of what I had cautioned people to be wary of quickly arose, leading me to put together another short piece explaining how truth and reality were becoming casualties.
https://fiqre4eri.wordpress.com/2020/11 ... lty-truth/ Well, with even more outlandish and uncorroborated claims being disseminated in the past few days, here we are again. (And you know things have become particularly bad when even the
BBC – hardly a paragon of truth and accuracy for things related to the Horn – is complaining about disinformation.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-54888234)
To begin, contrary to the recent claims being made by the commentariat, Eritrea is not engaged in fighting – in neighboring Ethiopia, in Badme, or elsewhere along its borders or within its own territories. Its forces are, and have been throughout the recent events, in defensive positions, alert and observant. As much as some would like the claims to be true and believed, thus helping the TPLF out of a predicament largely of its own making, there is a useful Tigrigna phrase:
ጸገምካ ባዕልካ ፍትሓዬ – xegem’ka baelkha fithayo.
However, it is highly interesting, but at the same time troubling, that on several occasions during the past week, the same “
credible” sources making these latest claims confidently told us that Eritrea was engaged in heavy and fierce fighting, each time without even minimal evidence and each time being completely wrong. One may reasonably ask the following questions: Is it dishonesty or ignorance and delusion? Moreover, why and how do the sources that repeatedly provide and spread information that is wrong and false continue to be described as “
credible”? Finally, why don’t we ever see any genuine attempts at clarifications and corrections?
Of course, the fact that these claims continue to be repeated, without corrections and despite their being totally contradicted by reality, is extremely disappointing, although not at all very surprising based upon the long history of “
less than stellar” reporting and analysis of our region. As I have commented before, the so-called leading experts and top authorities on our region do not need a track record of wise assessments or solid analyses. Some need not even have ever set foot in the locations or met the groups of people for which they claim expertise. All they need are the circular, almost incestuous, recommendations and approval of fellow credential holders.
Importantly, some questions and considerations I raised days ago still remain relevant. In particular, even if Eritrea was fighting (which it isn’t at present), could it accurately and appropriately be described as “
intervening or interfering” to attend to large-scale activities that are unfolding on territories that the international community has declared as Eritrean? Could the country be legitimately blamed or criticized?
Finally, it is interesting that we are seeing so many commentators imploring the West to “
do something” or to intervene. However, the notion that the West has been failing to intervene in this region or ongoing events is not only mistaken, it is a complete and total inversion of the truth. For instance, do pause for a moment to consider just how the TPLF, ruling one of the world’s poorest nations, was able to purchase vast amounts of military hardware and arms worth billions of dollars. The indelible fact is that the West has actually been massively involved and played an important role in many of the events and developments that have led us to this point.
Based on the belief that the TPLF-led Ethiopian government was vital to protecting Western geostrategic interests and foreign policy aims, the West (led by the US) provided it with unlimited military, economic, and diplomatic cover. This was despite the fact that the TPLF’s nearly 30-years long reign over Ethiopia was marked by massive levels of corruption, harsh and violent crackdowns on civil society organizations, journalists, and all forms of dissent or opposition, the illegal invasion and military occupation of several neighboring countries, the exclusion and marginalization of several of Ethiopia’s major ethnolinguistic and religious groups from political and economic life, the denial of humanitarian and food aid from “
disloyal” segments of the country, authoritarianism and stolen elections, and counterinsurgencies involving war crimes and crimes against humanity (including executions, rape, torture, arbitrary arrests, and various other abuses).
So the West should get involved and do something? It already has. And that’s a lot of why and how we got here.
