Let's be proud of Joshua
Aaron Berhane -
November 25, 2002
Never have I ever been so proud to have Joshua to be my
colleague! When we founded SETIT (the first private newspaper in
Eritrea) in August 1997, we were looking for some talented writers to
enrich the content of our paper. Right then, Joshua joined us in
November 1997. He accepted our invitation. To our satisfaction, he
started to explore his creative mind. He wrote one short story to
explain the housing problem in Asmara, the title of which was ADEY
KIRTASH. In his beautiful story, he tried to criticize the rough
relationship of landlords and tenants, the land policy of the government
and selfishness of some people. ADEY KIRTASH was published as a series
for about seven parts. During that period, the circulation of our
newspaper was increased by 7 percent. It was really a very popular
story.
Not only that, Joshua was a hard working and far-sighted man. He was
doing his best to contribute something good to the society. He wrote
several articles to improve the knowledge of the people in social,
political and cultural issues. He interviewed many officials to find
concrete answers to the complaint of the people. Even though he worked
with us part-time, he was really an engine of our newspaper. His
contribution was very enormous. Had he worked his full time, he would
have done much more. Definitely, our appreciation would have gone
higher. However, all his good contributions, like other Eritrean
journalists, are forgotten by the government. Instead of appreciation,
they put him in jail. It is really sad. On the other hand, it is also a
success. So many big human rights organizations and advocators of press
freedom stand to safe the Eritrean press freedom. They have been calling
to Eritrean government to release the jounalists who are under arrest.
Their effort, definitely, is going to bear fruit in the near future.
Realizing the hard work of Eritrean journalists, different
organizations have been trying to give credit to the Eritrean
journalists. Amnesty International awarded Milkias Mihreteab in July
2002 for his courageous work in advocating human rights. And now, CPJ
(Committee to Protect Journalists) is going to award Fessehaye Yohannes
(Joshua) an International Press Freedom Award on Nov. 26, 2002. Those
courageous people are not only called to their name, but to the Eritrean
Press Freedom. Particularly the award of Joshua has special meaning as
it is the award of press Freedom. So, the success of Joshua is the
success of Eritrean Press freedom as a whole. It is the success of all
Eritrean journalists who are behind the bars of the government.It is the
success of all journalists who live in exile. Moreover, it is the
success of Eritrean people who really nourished the independent press.
Thus let's take pride in Joshua.Let's be proud of the journalists who
are in jail. It is really a big celebration for all Eritreans who
advocate to free press.
On the contrary, it is an effective blow to PFDJ (People's Front for
Democracy and Justice) authorities who killed the physical part of Free
Press, but failed to kill its spirit. I hope, PFDJ will learn a good
lesson from this. It is useless to put journalists behind bars while
their fruit is growing richly in the hearts of all Eritreans. The award
of Joshua and the arrest of my colleagues (all Eritrean journalists in
jail) are going to remain a corner stone of the Eritrean Press Freedom
in the future. So, let's be proud of them.
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