Proconsul Scott H. DeLisi’s Sanctimonious
Remarks and the Habits of Empire
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What outgoing US Ambassador Scott H. DeLisi said about Eritrea and the Eritrean people in his farewell remarks is, of course, abominable and downright condescending. There is no way one can defend his indefensible remarks. For the outgoing American Ambassador to lecture the government and people of Eritrea on human rights, democracy, and the fruits of their hard-fought and hard-won liberation struggle is the height of hypocrisy. |
| In his farewell remarks, the former American Ambassador to Eritrea said, “The United States remains hopeful that one day the Eritrean people will enjoy the rewards of their heroic struggle for independence.” Well, one positive aspect of this is that at least Ambassador DeLisi admitted that the long struggle of the Eritrean people for independence was “heroic”. It is only within the realm of short historical memory that the policy of the US Government was adamantly opposed to the “heroic struggle of the Eritrean people” and that it did everything within its power, even as late as 1991-1993, when Eritrea had won de facto independence through its own military might, that his government continued to oppose “the rewards of the Eritrean people’s heroic struggle for independence.” Contrary to the insinuations of Ambassador DeLisi, the Eritrean people ARE NOW fully enjoying the rewards of their long heroic struggle for independence and sovereignty, despite the continued obstacles that are being thrown by the US Government along their steady march towards building a democratic nation with economic development and social justice for all its citizens. |
| At another level, however, the American Ambassador (or rather Proconsul) Scott H. DeLisi’s remarks should not come to us as a big surprise, for they are typical of the attitudes and mores of a representative of an empire in one of its far-flung outposts. We would be surprised if his remarks where anything but condescending and hypocritical. It is within the nature of all empires (be they Roman, British or American) to behave in such an arrogant manner towards what they consider their dominion territories or subservient nations. The American proconsul is merely reflecting the old habits of an empire. Look at what his president has been recently saying about Russian democracy and how he is so dismissive of Russia’s genuine and legitimate security concerns when the empire has placed missile defense shields right next door. And mind you, Russia is not your typical run-of-the-mill defenseless and poor Third World country; it is a former super-power which still has formidable nuclear weapons and all kinds of weapons of mass destruction in its arsenal, and it is in fact threatening now to rekindle the Cold War by targeting European allies of the empire with those same deadly weapons. Now, why would the President of the United States play recklessly with rekindling the Cold War and another arms race in Europe? The only rational explanation for such irrational behavior is that these are intrinsic habits of empires and that Bush (just like his proconsul DeLisi in Eritrea) was behaving in typical imperialistic fashion. |
| We need to point out one more salient issue on Ambassador/Proconsul Scott DeLisi’s sanctimonious parting shots at Eritrea. While the young nation of Eritrea is making its steady gains in ensuring the foundations of strong nation-building process and economic development for all its citizens, centuries-long democratic rights and individual civil liberties enshrined in the USA Constitution are being endangered by its president and the neoconservative power elite in the White House. Many concerned United States citizens, activists, and even aspiring presidential candidates are lamenting the fact that the Bush administration has ridden rough-shod over the Constitution and contemptuously tramples some sacred tenets of its Bill of Rights (such as the writ of Habeas Corpus). Guantanamo, dozens of other secret prisons around the globe (including those in Ethiopia), and the secret practice of extraordinary rendition remain a blight on the human rights record of the American empire. As a matter of fact, the next day the Ambassador issued his sour-grapes statement about Eritrea, the dangers facing American democracy were clearly spelled out for the entire world to see during the debate of the Democratic Party presidential candidate on CNN. Yet, Ambassador DeLisi has the audacity to lecture the Eritrean people on the yet-to-be-enjoyed rewards of their heroic struggle! |
It seems to me that it is appropriate to conclude by pointing out some wise words of advice to our former American Ambassador, quoting from the Good book:
“And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
“Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.”
As for the Eritrean people, the former American Ambassador need not worry about their future as he should about securing a comfortable retirement for himself in his waning days. The Eritrean people remain confident and assured in the fact that their quest for true freedom and prosperity and durable peace is on the right track and in good hands in the present leadership of the country.
Berhan Sium