WE ARE ON THE SAME BOAT: SEEDS OF LAMPEDUSA 2022
By PetrosTesfagiorgis
ON March 28, 2022 As part of their mission to strengthen awareness and knowledge in young people on the issues of migration and refugees COMITATO 3 OTTOBRE held a meeting at LYCEE FRANCAIS CHARLES DE GAULLE DE LONDRES on March 28, 2020 from 14.00 to 17 hours. 2 groups of students one from 14.00 to 15.30 hours and the next group from 15.30 to 17.00 hours attended.
Comitato 3 Ottobre is a non-profit organization that was born on October 3rd 2013 after the tragic shipwreck in Lampedusa where 368 refugees majority Eritreans lost their lives. Comitato 3 Ottobre dedicated that day “As a day of Remembrance at both Italian and European Level”.
M Didier Devilard the Director of the school welcomed the audience and expressed his support to Comitato Ottobre for raising their voice to end the tragedy of deaths in the Mediterranean Sea. Next Simon Mc Naught Headmaster of British Section of the school expressed his satisfaction to see young people interested in the welfare of migrants and refugees.
Professor Ernestina Meloni –acting on behalf of the Comitato Ottobre chaired the meeting and introduced the chairman of the Comitato 3 Ottobre, Tareke Berhane – from Italy. Tareke briefly explained the mission of the organization. It is to build awareness and knowledge in young people on the issue of migration, global interdependence, human rights, and cultural integration. The organization believes that education and awareness-raising on migration issues can help to change the current unfavorable European policies on migrants and refugees.
“Protect People Not Borders” is the comitato’s permanent campaign slogan, demanding the European Institutions and the General Secretariat of the United Nations for an immediate, effective and concrete commitment to prevent thousands of people from dying in an effort to seek asylum in Europe.
Some of the Achievements are enumerated below
- On March 16th 2016, the Italian Senate approved Comitato’s proposal to establish the “Day of Remembrance and Reception” at a National level.
- 500,000 signatures collected in two petitions to stop shipwrecks and deaths at sea
- 120 schools and 30,000 plus students involved in 13 Europeans countries in the framework of the project “Europe begins at Lampedusa”.
- 3 new signed protocols at national level including with the Italian Ministry of Education for more open reception programs to promote the safety of migrants and refugees.
There was a talk from a representative of Medicine San Frontiers and virtual contribution from active members of the organization in Italy. There was a big screen in front of the audience and it is as if the activists in Italy were present in person. Although the meeting was in English there were translators to accommodate Italian and French languages facilitated by the student in the school, Marcello Romano. When my turn was due I gave a talk on the kind of support migrants, refugees and Asylum seekers get in the United Kingdom. There are well funded organizations that give support to refugees, migrants and asylum seekers. For example the most prominent are Refugee Council, Migrant voice and Migrant Organize. They give advice and support for individuals in need of help irrespective from what country they come from. Side by side there are grass root organizations that provide the same support but cater only for their communities. There are Somali, Sudan, Ethiopia, Morocco, Congo and Eritrea organizations.
Petros, Tareke, Pro Ernestina Meloni and Marcello Romano
Migrants Organize initiated a campaign similar to what Comitato 3 Ottobre is doing. They have built a movement that brings change to the policy of the UK government. It is called FIRM (Fair Immigration Reform Movement). FIRM unites a call for humane immigration and inclusion policies that can truly reflect UK society’s democratic values, and that draws on a distinguished history in Britain of standing for the dignity and justice of all. Many activists including myself do participate in this campaign
If Comitato 3 Ottobre with branches in 120 schools in 13 European countries coordinate its activities with UK’s Migrant Organize Ltd they can collectively demand for humane policy and above all challenge the EU for paying Libya to haul thousands of people a year out of the Mediterranean Sea and put them into prisons where rape, starvation, child abuse, medical neglect, shootings and torture arerampant. They can make a big difference to the success of the campaign.
I did notice that the students are very attentive to the discussion and I expressed my conviction saying “the future is in your hands and you can shape the world. You can make a difference in promoting love and harmony and fighting for peace, justice and the welfare of the disadvantaged, the refugees and migrants.
The end
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Quote: “You can make a difference in promoting love and harmony and fighting for peace, justice and the welfare of the disadvantaged, the refugees and migrants” . Unquote
Humble Questions, 10 April 2022
I want to ask honest questions.
a) Will the above quote help the people of Eritrea — inside Eritrea — in any way and manner, liberate the Eritrean people from indigenous self-appointed dictator ?
b) Will Eritreans who are free, tranquil and happy outside Eritrea in the colonial countries of the past will get together to help the Eritrean People at Home from the present cruel indigenous dictator ?
c). Please do not forget one fact: Ever since Eritrea was liberated in 1991 from 30-year war against Ethiopia, it was under the present indigenous self-appointed, President with all the power that a dictator amass to control the entire people under his force.
d) Now, let us compare the existence of the Eritrean people inside Eritrea with the above quotation referring to “…the welfare of the disadvantaged, the refugees and migrants”. Needless to say, it is a noble guesture. But then, a fundamental question is in order: How about the countless Eritreans, inside Eritrea, under the indigenous self-appointed President — no doubt, absolute master of the people and the country.?!?!?!
e) Let us be honest. Who is in dire condition between the two Eritrean Groups i.e. those who are physically free out of Eritrea or the Eritreans who suffer inside Eritrea?!?!?! Be Honest.
f) Let that question be eternal suffering of consciousness to all Eritreans who are physically liberated but doing effectively NOTHING to liberate Eritrea. THE END
rezen, you answered effectively in f) those questions you asked in a), b), d) and e). To be honest as you pleaded, we Eritreans are very good at addressing the effect instead of the cause, in other words, skirting around the issue– FERAHSI ASSERTE BETRU, SEBA’AY DELIKIN CHIHMI TSELI’EKIN… to name a few of our father’s and mother’s wisdom.
Does it ever cross your mind the saying the arsonists geared up as firefighters to put out the blaze? Today’s moribund state of our homeland was inseminated in the field during the liberation war and came forth in 1991 and munched at the host like an autoimmune disease slow and agonizing. Is that honest enough?
ሰላማት ኩቡራት ኣሕዋት
ኣብ ዉሽጢን ኣብ ደገን፣ ንሕና ከም ህዝቢ ፣ ንለዉጢ ዝድርኽ ስራሕ ፣ ክሳብ ሕጂ ኣይጀመርናን።
ደገ ዘለና ፣ ካብ ዉሽጢ ፣ ዘየለ ጡዑም ዳሃይ ንጽበ።
ካብ ዉሽጢ ፣ “እገለ፣ ናይ ስርዓት እሰያስ ኣገልጋሊ እዩ ፣ ተጠንቁቁሉ እሎም ጺሒፎምለይ ኣሎዉ” ዝብሉ ሰባት’ዉን ንሰምዕ። ኣንቱም ሰባት ፣ እሰያስ ባዕሉ ኣብ ጥቃኹም ትኽስ ክብል እንዳዋዓለ ፣ ኣብ ደገ ብሽሙ ዝንቀሳቀስ ሓደ ቀጣፊ ዲዩ ኾይ እቲ ጸገምና ?።
ስለዚ ኣብ ኩሉ ፣ ገለ ንኸይ ንገብር ዝተሰማማዕና እና ንመስል።
እዚ ሁዱእ ዝመስል ኩነታት ፣ ኣስጋኢ መድረኽ ከስዕብ ከም ዝኽእል ግን ንስሕቶ ኣይመስለንን።
ኣብ ጎረበትና ኢትዮጵያ ዘሎ ኩነታት ፣ ሓደገኛ ኣንፈት ኣብ ምሓዝ ይርከብ።
መንግስቲ ፣ ብረት ኣብ ኢድ ፈደራላዊ ሰራዊት ጥራሕ ታሓጺሩ ክተርፍ መደብ ኣሎዎ።
ወያነን ፣ ኢቲ ብፋኖ ዝፍለጥ ሚሊሽያ ኣምሓራ ፣ ነዚ ከም ዘይቅበሉ ገሊጾም ኣሎዉ።
ብሰንኪ ፣ ወልቃይት ፣ ጠገደ ፣ ራያ ፣ ዉግእ ኣብ ሞንጎኦም ከይቀጸለ ኣይተርፍን።
ወያኔ ፣ “ምዕራብ ትግራይ” ዝብሉዎ ከባቢ ኣብ ኢድ ኣምሓራ እዩ ዘሎ። ሰራዊት ኤርትራ’ዉን ኣብኡ ዓሪዱ እዩ ዘሎ ፣ ዝብል ወረ ብቀጻሊ ይስማዕ።
ህግደፍ ንደቅና ፣ ኣብ ዘይጉዳዮም ጠቢሱዎም ከም ዘሎ ፈሊጥና ፣ ንድሕነት ህዝብናን ሃገርናን ፣ ካብ ጭርሖ ኣብ ተግባር ንሰግረሉ መገዲ ብሓባር ከነናዲ ይግባእ።
ሰላም ይሃበና።
“ ንድሕነት ህዝብናን ሃገርናን ፣ ካብ ጭርሖ ኣብ ተግባር ንሰግረሉ መገዲ ብሓባር ከነናዲ ይግባእ” ።
ካብ ኣይተ ሰላም ይሃበና።
ግሩም ግሩም ምኽሪ አንተ ተቐቢልናዮ ብዘይ ቕጽል ጸርፊ
ልቦና ይሃበና ክንኣሊ መንገድና ፣ ንሱ አንተኾይኑ ዕላማና
ግዜ ሓለፈ ብዘይጠቅም ነንሕድሒድ ቆይቂ ።
Those who lay their trust on others and former colonialists are nothing but kedemti, a character which is antithetical to the self-reliant genuine patriotic Eritreans. But again, doesn’t the mysterious nature mix few rotten beings among its primes? Yes indeed. And it is their very pathetic nature that drew them to the treasonous, pathological liar, treacherous, kleptomaniac and savage woyane. The question is, can these anomalous beings continue to exist? Not really because those who are using them will cast them to the trash bin as soon as they discover their worthlessness. The current desperate situation of woyane is a good example.
Little woyane had bragged falsely of defeating Mengistu Hailemariam. The Western countries, believing the fiction, showered woyane with tremendous amount of military, economic, investment,diplomatic etc.assistance for twenty seven years. The hope they had placed on woyane was to scrape Eritrean Sovereignty for good. To expedite the downfall of Eritrea, they concocted false charges and slapped her with crippling economic and military sanction that lasted for decades. They opened up UNHCR in tigray close to the Eritrea border in order to lure young Eritreans out of their country, a futile attempt to render Eritrea defenseless and a sitting duck for woyane invasion. I cannot exhaust the list of their evil attempts to undo Eritrean independence. Nothing worked. Conversely, Eritrea became grew stronger and stronger as time passed. In the end, their kedami woyane collapsed and escaped to Mekele where it is now in cage like a rat, vigilantly watched by the Mighty EPLFs and Ethiopian Federal Defense Forces. Of course, the western countries are offering lips service about woyane’s dire situation but even that is dying down with the passage of time. Why? Because they know now that woyane is simply a foolhardy with filthy mouth.