Direct Democracy
The Ge’ez people fought and died to protect and restore its national cultural identity, history, values and land. But the EPLF leadership hidden agenda was to destroy Ge’ez national cultural identity, history, values and replace it with universalism, multiculturalism and internationalism. Independence and sovereignty of Eritrea was an freedom to rebuild and redeem their family, villages, community and their country economy and sprit for 99% of EPLF members, but for the less than 1% EPLF elite it was the start of new social and cultural revolution in order to create new national cultural identity under the protection of sovereignty.
This betrayal of the elite has destroyed Tigrigna people trust on our politics and our elites. When I say elite I mean political, cultural, business, academia, military elite special those who are university educated. Our elite have European colonialist mentality. When European colonialist believe they invaded Africa to civilize it from its backwardness. Our elite too believe their mission is to civilized our people from its backward tradition, liberate our women and farmers from imagined oppressor.
The truth is that civilization is about having decent value system, rule of law, freedom, empathy, compassion, family, equality which we have for over three thousand years. The backwards uncivilized savages are our elite who are extremely individualist, corrupt, greedy and cruel. Wisdom and intelligence are two different things. You learn wisdom from society and intelligence in Universities.
If we have to restore the ancient social trust of our people, secure fast economic growth and real equality we need to give real political and economical power to our people. Democracy is to be equal in politics but if we are not equal economically that is impossible to be equal politically. The real power is the economy or the money. So if we need to have functioning, efficient and participatory democracy we must ensure political and economical equality. We need to have direct democracy. All Western countries including USA and UK have representative democracy.
When I say real political power I mean to elect, power to change constitutional laws, power to give binding orders to elective officials such as revoking them before the end of their elected term or initiating a lawsuit for braking a campaign promise, power to make all educational, social and 90% economical (specially job creating power) and judiciary decision to be made by local elective legislative and executive bodies. I know only Switzerland two local governments (Cantons) have direct democracy in our world but there is no local authority that has job crating power in the world. In our democracy our local administrations will have wealth and job creating power. Our democracy will be the first and only direct democracy with a lot of political, legislative and economic power.
Before the Italian colonization our local governments had full power of wealth and job creating power. Land and, farming, environment and drafting laws such as criminal, environmental, commercial and family laws was under local administration until dismantled by Italian colonizers. We had direct democracy and freedom that generated social trust, social justice, dignity and pride/nationalism in our fatherland before the creation of state of Eritrea and Ethiopia by Italians and Amhara. Our armed struggle was to restore our direct democracy and freedom that been taken away by the creation of the nation-states of Eritrea and Ethiopia.
Like what President Franklin Dalano Roosevelt of USA (January 30, 1882-April 12, 1945 said we need to have freedom of worship and freedom from want and fear that recognize our reality. Freedom of speech is the political right to communicate one’s tradition, fact and logic base opinions and idea using one’s body and property to anyone who is willing to receive them. We need to have freedom of religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance including the freedom to change religion or not to follow any religion. We need to have the right to an adequate standard of living that will establish a minimum entitlement to food, clothing, education, housing, health care and legal aid. We need to be free from fear that come from being refugee and minority under Salafi and Wahhabi Islamic influenced administration in our land, free from fear of being refugee in Salafi and Wahhabi Islamic influenced administration in Horn of Africa and Middle East and free from fear from fear of invaded, bullied and isolated by Salafi, Wahhabi and ultra-nationalist Arab governments.
Classical liberalism is a political philosophy and ideology belonging to liberalism in which primary emphasis is placed on securing the freedom of the freedom of individual by limiting the power of the government. But modern liberal democracy is a form of government in which representative democracy operates under the principles of liberalism, i.e. protecting the right of the individual, which are generally enshrined in law. It is characterised by fair, free, and competitive election between multiple distinct political parties, a separation of power into different branches of government, the rule of law everyday life as part of open society, and equal protection of human rights, civil liberties, and political freedoms for all persons. To define the system in practice , liberal democracies often draw upon a constitution, either formally written or un-codified, to delineate the power of government and enshrine the social contract.
Modern liberal democracy doesn’t work without social trust and it lead to death of the particular society or nation that is practicing liberal democracy without consideration of social trust. Nations can have social trust only when their population have the same or similar destiny/aspiration, value system, culture, history, identity and if there is social justice too. There was no social trust in African countries that are populated by different ethnics who are tribal and clannish. Europeans established African countries by different ethnics in order to create permanent mistrust. If there is permanent mistrust there will be permanent corruption, poverty and crisis.
The introduction of multiculturalism and the powerful cooperation are diminishing European countries communities and their social trust. There was no trust between the white community and African Americans because of slavery and this mistrust exploited to advance of the interest of big cooperation that they are now destroying America black and white communities equally. Now the white society of Western mistrust has included their own white right and left politicians, political institutions, commercial companies and to the private cooperate mass media. Western politician are more accountable to the funders of their election campaign, western companies exist only to generate profit for shareholders and managers, and western cooperate media works only to manufacture consent among the mass for the cooperate special interests groups. Western democracy is the game of the elite.
There is no good alternative proven system to liberal democracy. But we can design liberal democracy that will strength our historical ancient Ge’ez social trust and securing the continuation of our history, identity and culture in our historic land.
In this big multinational cooperation’s dominated global and open world that by making 90% of economic, political and judiciary decisions by local administration we can eliminating special interests groups, we securing social justice, we securing transparency and accountability of companies, state institutions, public institutions and individuals by empowering voters more than their elected representatives. By acknowledging and celebrating local tradition and customs diversity and by acknowledging and celebrating the minority tribal and clan we can create tolerance and spaces. We need strong big government at all level but we have to make this big government work for us transparently, accountably, efficiently in order to secure social trust, security, prosperity, sustainability, social justice and to eliminate corruption.
The Ge’ez people are over 90% of Eritrean population and they are the only homogenous and indigenous people in Eritrea who can prove it. But we have diversity in traditions, different Tigrigna language dialect/accent, custom and traditions and laws. There are Ge’ez people who forced to convert to Islam by Turkey and Egypt. We have ethnic minority who are tribal and clannish that have different value system, culture, history and identity. If we have liberal democracy with social trust and freedom that we need to have this details in our democracy.
- We need to have direct democracy special at local and regional level like by giving local and regional voters power of
A, Put forth initiatives, referendums and suggestions for new laws or legislation.
B, Give binding order to elective official, such as revoking them before the end of their elected term, or initiating a lawsuit for breaking campaign promise.
And by giving power for voters at national level like
A, Change constitutional laws by referendum
B, giving binding order to elective official, such as revoking them before the end of their elected term,
C, initiating a lawsuit for breaking campaign promise.
2, We have to put annual tax return of individuals, commercial companies, government and non government departments, institutions audited finance online.
3, Eritrea will never be a federal nation-state. Eritrea will be unitary nations-state that delegate most powers more than federalist countries like USA, Germany, India etc to local and regional governments.
By restoring the ancient local administration that were before Italian colonization as local governments and set-up new administration for ethnic minority in order to give them autonomy.
4, Local government will have sovereignty on drafting their own local laws, courts and police force, welfare, to tax property and local business by setting up their own rate, to have their own economic development policy and manage their education, health, environment, etc system.
5, Restore our ancient system of granting citizenship by local government by transferring granting citizenship power from national government to local government.
6, Have professionally, accountable and independently manage sovereign funds of local governments that will manage their citizens pensions and their surplus funds in order to create jobs and generate wealth locally.
6, Have professionally, accountable and independently manage sovereign funds of regional governments that will manage their region surplus funds in order to invest in strategic industries and infrastructures, create jobs and generate wealth regionally.
7, Limiting regional government on developing strategic infrastructures like rail ways, motor way, ports, power stations and national grid, internet broadband, regional banks, universities research centres and other heavy strategic industries
8, Have one democratically elected lower chamber and one appointed upper chamber in national level who will work respectively as house representative and senate of USA. While the elected chamber is advancing and protecting it constituency interest that the appointed chamber will advance and protect the past and future generation interests.
9, Limiting central government powers on setting up national agenda and narrative, defence, collecting and distributing tax, national security, immigration policy, monetary policy and foreign policy.
11, Put qualifications and experience requirement for individual candidates for elected political office in every branch of local, regional and national government.
12, Any political party that wanted to be participate in Eritrea first it has to accept that Eritrea as nation-state of Ge’ez people and as liberal democracy.
13, Ban private media instead set-up public owned independent diverse free media like BBC.
14, Ban foreign funding in political, cultural and social campaigns
15, Limit private and cooperate funding to political parties and candidates
16, limit election campaign season to three weeks.