The Slick & The Shell-shocked

Psychologists say that human emotions can be reduced to only four: sorrow, happiness, fear and anger. And of the four, the only one that is socially acceptable for men (in most societies) is anger. A man will brag about his capacity for anger (“dont make me angry; you wouldn’t like me when I am angry”, in the famous words of the Incredible Hulk). This appears to be cross-cultural: in Eritrea it is common for a man to brag how angry he can get (“ሽዑ ሓውኻ ውልዕ ኢለ…”). But in general, men are very uncomfortable expressing sorrow, happiness or, God forbid, fear.

This takes us to the Eritrean ruling regime. Notwithstanding all its pretenses to being a “progressive” organization, Eritrea’s ruling party is essentially a men’s club. Even its women’s franchise, the National Union of Eritrean Women (NUEW) is fundamentally a man’s idea of how women should act. That’s why the organization has never advocated for women’s rights–last in Africa to advocate even for elimination of FGM– but has been conditioning women on what the acceptable behavior is from the ruling party’s male perspective: never inquire about human rights, never speak about gender gaps in employment or in positions of power or women’s health priorities. It is yet to raise the chronic cases of the predatory behavior of military men that were victimizing Eritrean girls to the point that they devised creative ways to escape national service.

Over the last twenty years, when Eritrea was either in a state of war or under sanctions or both, the Isaias government was expressing its fear or sadness by channeling it as anger at the world: angry at the UN, angry at the US, angry at Ethiopia, angry about the world order. It conducted endless “seminars” where its officials gave seminars–marathon monologues about unfairness of the world. Isolated, they never learned how to talk or express the range of emotions.

Then Abiy happened. A post-modern man, he talked of love, reconciliation and forgiveness and how he will not only reverse everything but he will express–publicly–his affection for the colony of political lepers. And these same people that had talked and talked and talked (to themselves, mostly) for twenty years, had nothing to say: they just shifted from very angry to very happy. A people who had been subjected to isolation, war, sanctions had nothing to say when they were brought out from the cold, found peace and had sanctions removed. Nothing of substance.

Meanwhile, the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed kept articulating its vision and naked ambition. And delivering. And all the while, the officials of the government of Isaias Afwerki just “aw-shucked” their way. Shell-shocked, no footing: all they have is platitudes. Compare: