Memoirs of the Motherland (Part IV): Movie Night

21 January 2013 | Gulele Post

Click On to read Part I, Part II and Part III 

By Jilcha Hamid

“That house belongs to so-and-so…he’s in America…And that house belongs to so-and-so, he’s also in America.” Walking through the neighbourhoods of Dirre Dhawa they would point out all the houses that belonged to people from the diaspora. People they grew up with. It made them want to leave and find their way to the west even more. They had all kinds of fairy tails about life in the west; the land where money grows on trees. It seemed like this was the only visible contribution in Dirre Dhawa from visitors from the diaspora. They’d build a house, find a wife to sponsor and leave. And for those who lived in the impoverished society, many felt like their only hope was to follow the diaspora trail. They had no interest in sticking around and improving the situation in country. And neither did the diaspora.

I was taking an afternoon stroll in the neighbourhood when I was introduced to a middle aged man. Thin, jittery and eyes wide awake, he shook my hand and introduced himself as an old friend of my father. His appearance was unkempt and he looked as if he hadn’t slept in days. He told me about his life, in and out of prison, and constantly under surveillance. He was suspected of being a rebel supporter. His hardship was apparent.  He was on the brink. We spoke for a bit and he would repeat the same thing. And as we parted he repeated again “Oromoon basaasa! Oromoo hin amanin!  (Oromos are spies! Don’t trust Oromos!)”. I later inquired about him and found out that he was a financially well off businessman, until he was accused of being an OLF supporter and lost it all.

This was a common occurrence in the town, beginning in the turbulent 1990′s. Some people would take advantage of the fighting in and around the town to settle personal disputes. During the EPRDF’s counter-insurgency and disarmament campaign, any person with a weapon was automatically treated as a rebel. So it became common practice for people to accuse their personal enemies of hiding a weapon. Hatred, jealousy, whatever the reason was, many people ended up tortured and extensively interrogated to turn up guns that they didn’t have. It got to the point that the EPRDF began arresting false witnesses if the evidence didn’t turn up. But it was still relatively common practice for people to accuse one another of being rebel supporters. Especially in the politically charged environment with the town supposedly being contested between the Oromia and Somali regions. Somali cadres campaigned aggressively, agitating and outspoken. While OPDO cadres remained silent. Oromos who spoke out or responded in kind…well of course they had to be OLF and the dungeon was their abode.

There was a story that broke out in the media about a planned “bomb plot” by rebel cells in the capital. State television prepared a documentary that was advertised for weeks. The documentary was about an hour long and was being advertised like a hollywood film, with clips of explosions, dramatic testimonies accompanied by scary music playing in the background. There was alot of buzz surrounding it, so we decided to make it a movie night lol. When movie night came, we turned out the lights, huddled up in the living room and watched. As the film was beginning I looked out the front door to the front patio and saw it full of people. Family, neighbours, everybody was in attendance. It was a movie theatre. When the program finally  started, it was simply a thriller. Bombs smuggled into the border on the backs of camels, cell members contacting one another in secret with scary music playing in the background. The OLF cell in charge of carrying out the attack reported to rebel headquarters and to the President of Eritrea who was personally overseeing the operation. The objective… “turn Addis Ababa into Baghdad”. The plan was to bomb anything and everything and just spread chaos and destruction throughout the city.  At one point there were some delays in the operation and this made the Eritrean president frustrated. He made a frantic call to the leader of the cell and urged him “What’s taking so long!? Blow something UP!!” all the while the intelligence was following their every move, tapping their calls and recording their every word. At the end of the story the government forces prevailed in apprehending the suspects and the evil plot was foiled. Happily ever after, the end.

What was more interesting was the discussion after the film. Most people dismissed it as propaganda, recalling the experiences of some of their family members who have been victims of the similar accusations and forced to confess to things that they didn’t do. But some people believed it and denounced the rebels as trouble makers. This was the sentiment predominantly with the rural folks and older people, who were hit hardest by the conflict in the 90’s. They experienced things that they would rather leave in the past and move on with their lives. As long as they could live their lives peacefully and practice their religion, there was no need to get involved in other matters. They believed it more out of convenience rather than conviction. With that said, I enjoyed the film. Brilliant performance.