By Drar Bekit
In 2023, a book coauthored by veteran freedom fighter Mesfin Hagos and Awet Tewelde was released. I read the book, discussed with some who have read the book and asked a few former veteran fighters on some iffy contents of the book. I leave readers to judge the book for themselves. However, I believe it would be a betrayal of responsibility, to allow such distorted narratives on the Eritrean revolution flout without being challenged. I believe, whatever veritable content the book has borne is clouded by the many distortions, misrepresentations and omissions that are ’deliberately’ infused to furnish the grand narrative of ‘injustice’ that the book attempts to taint the Eritrean struggle with.
The grand narrative the book attempted to instill is captured in its title “An African Revolution Reclaimed”. The book is an attempt of ‘historical revision’ of the merits of the Eritrean revolution- a revision of its claim of a just cause, its aim and its modus operandi. One need not ‘reclaim’ without refuting an existing ‘claim’. But, whose ‘claim’, what, by whom, when, etc … does the authors’ attempt to ‘reclaim’ is a topic for another day.
The aim of this text isn’t an attempt to investigate or refute the grand narrative that the authors’ attempt to portray. Rather, to clarify on the many errors, omissions and distortions that the book entertains.
In the following pages, I present some of the factual errors that I have identified. I believe, these factual inaccuracies uncover (at least in part) the fault lines in the book and help to explain the narrative it attempted to reproduce. It is difficult to capture and refute in this text all the factual inaccuracies in the book. However, I believe this text will contribute in correcting the distortions that the book presents about the events that unfolded in Eritrea’s 30 years of armed struggle for independence and the post-independence period. In my view, the author(s) of the above-mentioned book have grossly misrepresented facts and historical trajectories about the Eritrean revolution. I believe, the book is an attempt to ‘justify’ implicit warped narratives that the authors wanted to promote.
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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.