From: mim@nyxfer.UUCP
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african.american
Subject: Eritrea:Victorious People's Revolut
Date: 29 Dec 92 22:21:00 GMT
Nf-ID: #N:RPRJwB3w165w@nyxfer.uucp:1656056321:000:8392
Nf-From: nyxfer.uucp!mim    Dec 29 14:21:00 1992


Subject: Eritrea:Victorious People's Revolution
From: nyxfer!mim (Maoist Intl'ist Mvmnt)

 
Via The NY Transfer News Service * All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
from the Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM)
 
MIM Notes, Issue 70: November, 1992


             Eritrea, A Victorious People's Revolution

                           by a comrade

[On September 29 Dan Connell, a freelance journalist and professor
of journalism, gave a talk entitled "Eritrea: The Challenge of
Peace" in Cambridge, Mass. He presented some of the most
up-to-date information on the Eritrean struggle MIM can find,
mostly from first-hand travels to the area. This article is based
on information presented in this talk. Connell has a book
forthcoming from Red Sea Press about Eritrea.]

Eritrea is a small country of about 3.5 million people in the Horn
of Africa. The Eritrean people fought a 30-year war for
independence from an Ethiopia government that was backed
alternately by the United States and the Soviet Union with
additional aid from Cuba and Israel, among others. In May of 1991,
the Eritreans emerged victorious, liberating not only Eritrea, but
also Ethiopia from foreign domination. According to Connell,
Eritrea is now the only tranquil spot in the Horn of Africa.

Eritrea is a modern-day example of the power of people -- in spite
of lack of technological resources, lack of funding, and lack of
formal training and education -- to fight and win a war against a
country far more wealthy in resources, training, arms, and
funding. Even before victory, the Eritrean Peoples Liberation Front
(EPLF) was organizing health care and education in the liberated
areas, so people could begin to fight famine and create a more
advanced society than the backwards structure that was bred by
forced colonization.

Formed in the 1960s, the EPLF was trained and educated in Maoist
warfare and political theory, and many of the original members
studied in China (see MIM Notes 54). The EPLF never openly
supported Maoism or claimed to be a Maoist revolutionary party but
they clearly retain many of the lessons of Maoism, from their
method of guerrilla warfare, to their use of "barefoot doctors" in
the countryside.

In colonized Eritrea women were bought and sold into marriage.
They needed permission from a man to go to the market. Genital
mutilation was commonplace.

In the liberated areas the EPLF organized women and men around the
need for change through education of both men and women and the
political motivation of women. They carried out a major education
campaign around marriage laws and other backwards laws regarding
women. These reforms were implemented at the village level when
the village people were convinced of the need for change: none of
the changes were legislated by the EPLF.

While carrying out this education the EPLF itself was setting an
example by enacting progressive policies in the armed forces that
included abolishing marriage laws and abolishing laws banning
women from owning property. Women and men were trained separately
for the army, but after training they were joined together to
fight.

These pre-victory practices have been carried over into post-
revolutionary society as the elected governments in the
communities are now 25-30% women. Everyday life in Eritrea
evidences women in a far better position than before the
revolutionary struggle began.

When Connell visited, he found that the police of the provisional
government in Eritrea did not carry guns. The area was very safe,
without the need for armed force. There were no longer
restrictions on people's movement. And for the first time in many
years of war there was no curfew and people were not afraid to
walk around in daylight.

As a result of the long war and the Ethiopian attacks, backed up by
10 to 12 billion dollars in arms from the Soviet Union, almost all
of the cities in Eritrea were decimated with the noted exception
of Asmara. The major port in Eritrea, Masawa, was destroyed. There
are still many land mines in some of the most fertile fields and
people are injured on a daily basis as these continue to go off.
In addition, a 12-year drought has left Eritrea with very little
livestock, compounding the problems from lack of irrigation and a
ravished countryside.

But in spite of these difficulties, the Eritrean people are
beginning to build a new society. Eighty to 85% of the population
is living off of donated relief (a small amount from some major
governments and most from independent sources), but they are also
constructing a society that can be self-sufficient. And unlike the
many corrupt programs of relief distribution prevalent in colonies
experiencing famine, Eritrea has created a very efficient system
of distribution that gets food to all the people. Every village
has a committee in charge of making sure that everyone receives
grain, according to need, and Connell could find no evidence of
corruption in the relief effort.

The EPRDF has been working without pay for reconstruction for the
past year since the end of the war, reflecting the dedication of
the government and the commitment of the people to build a better
society.

The Eritrean people are beginning to build basins and irrigation.
The provisional government uses the relief as food for work, and
provides the population with jobs rebuilding society. All over
there are reconstruction projects underway: people work on
constructing roads, terracing hillsides and building houses among
other necessary tasks. Eritrea's land does have the potential to
provide enough food to sustain its people, and as these projects
advance, and with the help of the recent rains, they will be able
to move closer to this goal.

The provisional government has also expanded the education and
health care programs that were first implemented in the liberated
areas. And very shortly after the end of the war the provisional
government opened new schools in four different languages. Eritrea
is made up of nine nationalities, and the new schools reflect the
provisional government's desire to allow each nationality to
retain its distinct heritage.

The transitional government of Ethiopia -- run by the EPRDF -- has
an agreement with Eritrea to hold a referendum in April on the
question of Eritrea's independence, in which the Eritrean people
will almost certainly choose to continue along the path of
independence.

The struggle in Eritrea should hold several lessons for
anti-imperialists. It demonstrates the ability of the masses, when
properly organized, to fight seemingly insurmountable odds and
win: liberation struggles are not a thing of the past. People
often ask how any country could hope to fight the enormous might
of a superpower like the United States, anti-imperialists should
point to Eritrea as an example of this hope becoming a reality.

The Eritrean people appear to be pursuing a path of integrated
economy: some socialism and some capitalism. While MIM does not
have much information right now as to exactly how they will carry
out the task of rebuilding their society and economy, we learn
from the history of the Nicaraguan revolution, where capitalism was
never eliminated, and the Cuban revolution, where independence was
sacrificed for dependency on the Soviet Union's aid. Without an
independent self-sufficient socialist economic system, Eritrea may
soon find itself unable to defend against foreign domination, as
was the case with Nicaragua and Cuba.

In spite of potential differences over the direction
post-revolutionary construction should take, MIM stands firmly
behind the Eritrean people and applauds their revolutionary
success. Struggles like this one, widely ignored by mainstream as
well as "left" media, are the reason why we need an independent
revolutionary press.

For further reading on the history of Eritrea MIM recommends
"Never Kneel Down," by James Firebrace.  Send $9 to MIM for a copy
postpaid.

 
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