Introduction
The
Eritrean Congress Party is happy to announce the birth of its website to be
known as: “Eritrean Congress Party Website” The first ambition of our
website is to inculcate the tenets of the Strategy Adi in the minds of
Eritrean youth - so that they may know their identity and their worth. The
second ambition of our website is to encourage debate on central national
issues; we assume that a nation without divergent views is a poor nation
indeed. The essays and articles of the Eritrean Congress Party were boycotted
by the family of Eritrean websites - with the honourable exception of the TOGORUBA.
We are proud to regard the Togoruba a sisterly website.
The
editors of the Eritrean Congress Party Website
……………………………………………………………………………………..
Our
Undertaking
The
Eritrean Congress Party is a political vehicle whose main mission is to
translate the principles of the Strategy Adi into an Eritrean reality. The
name of our website is: “The Eritrean Congress Party (ECPW) The mission of
our website is to spread and deepen the crucial message embodied in the
Strategy Adi. The key historical concepts embedded in our Strategy Adi are: a)
Adi, b) Highi Indaba, c) Baito, and d) Zega.
a.
The Adi/Ad
·
The
Tigrinya/Tigre term, by which the juridically chartered communes of Eritrea
are known, is one of the central pillars of Eritrean identity. Eritrea is
overwhelmingly organized in Adis that share the following characteristics:
·
The
Adi is organized on a territorial and not on ethnic basis
·
The
economic organization of the Adi is based on the principle of private property
in its relations to the state, but is owned collectively by the inhabitants of
the Adi community. The Adi structure denied the growth of a feudal system
where land belonged to the king or the feudal lords.
b.
Highi Indaba
The
Adi is a territorially defined unit that enjoys an autonomous status within
the framework of the Highi Indabas or ancestral constitutions.
c.
The Baito
·
Public
life in the Adis is organized around the democratic Baitos or assemblies; the
Baito combined legislative, judicial, and administrative functions. In keeping
with this tradition, the parliament of Eritrea is referred to as the ‘Baito
of Eritrea’.
·
The
Eritrean Baito is a unique institution in our region. In a region whose
political history was based on the concept of the divine right of kings and
feudalism, the Eritrean Baito was an elective institution.
d.
Zega Adi
Zegnet
or citizenship in the Mereb Melash (present Eritrea) is based on membership in
the Adi community. Any person outside the Adi system is not treated as a Zega
or a citizen. Citizenship, residential plots, and farming land rights, and all
other rights and duties that ensue from it, are directly dependent upon
certifiable membership in the Adi community. It is painful to point out that
the draft constitution failed to tackle the central matter of citizenship. Two
concepts of citizenship are left hanging; these are the historical Adi-derived
citizenship, and the referendum related quasi-citizenship. In time the PFDJ
obliterated the concept of the Zega Adi by the instrumentality of the
referendum. The referendum was a right bestowed to all who resided in Eritrea,
irrespective of origin, to cast their votes for or against independence. The
referendum is not, however, the law of Eritrean citizenship. What we have
today is not Eritrean citizenship but a kind of PFDJ ‘Eritrean identity’
bought at 2% of our incomes.
The
historical principles of the strategy Adi need to be internalized by Eritrea
lovers because:
·
Out of the concept
of Adi emerged our passion for a modern Eritrean nationhood
·
Out
the concept of Baito our passion for constitutional democracy was born
·
Out
the concept of Highi Indaba grew forth our commitment to the Rule of Law
·
Out
of the concept Zega Adi emerged our modern concept of Eritrean citizenship
Propelled
by these beliefs,
·
The ECPW shall
struggle for a constitution that defines Eritrean citizenship
·
It
shall, likewise, struggle for a constitution based on popular autonomy,
universal and equal rights, free elections, and the secret ballot.
·
The
ECPW shall fight for the establishment of an autonomous judiciary. Only when
justice and the rule of law are uncontaminated by political and financial
influence mongering can it be said that a vital and vibrant democracy has been
planted in Eritrea.
·
The ECPW shall
struggle to restore the historical regions of Eritrea.
·
The
three level ‘baitos’: that is to say, the Adi, provincial and national
assemblies, shall be the basis of Eritrean parliamentary democracy and
decentralization.
·
The
ECPW shall struggle to replace the stipulation that land belongs to the
government by the principle of private property. Land shall be divided among
the inhabitants of the Adis on the basis of residential and livelihood needs.
·
The
ECPW shall keep the memory of the monumental struggle of our people for
independence alive and enshrine the saga of our martyrs.
The
ECPW differs from existing Eritrean websites in its ambition to promote
national debate - in the context of expressing divergent views. The editors of
the ECPW shall demand strict adherence to courtesy and mutual respect. The
material published in the ECPW is protected by international laws of
publishing.
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