‘No one is born a good citizen; no nation is born a democracy. Rather, both are processes that continue to evolve over a lifetime. Young people must be included from birth. A society that cuts itself off from its youth severs its lifeline; it is condemned to bleed to death’.
(Kofi Annan, Secretary - General of the United Nations, address to the World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth, Lisbon, 1998)

Whether we like it or not the future is for the young generation. If any one wants to know what the future of Eritrea looks like, he/she needs to check the government’s policies toward the young generation. Contribution of the youth depends on the role the current regime plays on the capacity development of the young generation. If the government keeps excluding the youth from the calculus of main development decision in Eritrea, this will adversely impact the future of the nation.

I am not being cynical, but I also don’t think Eritrea has a bright future if we let the regime to continue acting like this. As I said earlier, time will come. Yes, the time, when today’s youth have the upper hand of the nation’s wheel toward prosperity, liberty and peace.  The question relies on how experienced will this generation be at that time? Again, the respond to the question will depend on how the current government and society are contributing on the capacity enhancement of the young generation.

The youth are sizeable proportion of the Eritrean labour force. Youth are an engine of growth and development. The sooner responsibility is given to young people, the sooner will they become responsible and be able to handle their own affairs. Increased participation soon creates greater self-reliance. At the same time, youth participation should be looked at as a process, not a method; and it involves learning from mistakes. With out the provision of an equal chance to the young people to express them, equitable development is near to impossible. The lack of voice is one of the main gaps between the young generation and the government. Young people in Eritrea are not only un-represented in which they can convey their needs and dreams. But they don’t even seem to exist.

Today’s young generation of Eritrea face a more precarious future than any preceding generation. They experience widening social gaps and faces manifold challenges. It is the young who- perhaps more so than any other groups encounter the uncertainties and risks (politically, economically and socially) generated by the irresponsible leaders. They are growing in a society riveted by political instabilities and armed conflicts; alarming spread of HIV/AIDS pandemic, depression and insufficient and lack of quality education. The worst is that no one believes that this generation can make a difference.

Still, the current regime and the other activists discount and marginalize the youth and treat them as lazy, naïve, non-visionary and idealistic or hard to mange and out of control. The youth are being treated shabbily as volunteers for grunt labour or as military elite’s adornment. They are ignored entirely in any privileges because of the very dangerous and still remaining saga ‘Tegadalay Vrs Warsay’.  In Eritrea, adolescence is seen as a problem time, to be suffered through, rather that as a positive stage of life development. Young people are seen to be silenced and ‘warehoused’ in schools or summer programs and national service. This attitude of the government is not one that encourages young people to see themselves as being useful, or as having valuable contribution to make.

The government has been silenced youth through different mechanisms for example, by using language that youth don’t understand, by not making familiar processes explicit, or by assuming shared knowledge or experience when such is not the case. These are the scenarios that the government has been working hard to demoralise and kill the spirit of the young blood.  We have seen HE Mr President been the forefront figure of the mission by underestimating and insulting them publicly. The recent memories of what he said to the Eritrean students in South Africa, and the way he tantalised to the question asked by one University student in Municipality Hall on the September interviews are some of the examples.  How about the words that he has used in Glass (Keren) to destroy the spirit of the first round national service youth?
 
Retrospectively, this saga looks at the present conditions of the youth in Eritrea. The depressing sociological environment and tendency for marginalization that encourages the acquisition of dysfunctional habits and attitudes and undermines the prospects of responsibility in the near future. As a result a large proportion of the youth is waiting for a chance to flee out of the country.

Who is going to examine and address this challenge? Is the question that needs to be analysed by every one.  As long as we are the future of Eritrea, we are saddled with the responsibility. Yes, the young blood has to work hard, struggle for their future.  Let’s not walk on the bridge of regret.  It will not take us anywhere hamming the phrase ‘if we didn’t let them to do whatever they were doing we wouldn’t be living like this’. Let’s not say ‘hope our children will live a better life’. How? How will they live a better life, if we don’t start doing some thing now?

Let’s work against all the odds. Let’s make sure that we don’t fall into the trap of tokenism, of felling as though our job is done as long as we have done our national service. It isn’t enough simply to define ourselves as youth; we must constantly test ourselves, and examine our practices to ensure that we are ‘walking the talk’.

Right now you and I are standing face-to-face with situations that need to be changed. Some of those situations look totally impossible. But they're not. The next time we are tempted to look at situations in this country as impossible, remember how Eritrea comes and who it belongs to. Then we can discover Eritrea just like our forefathers did, by being together and fight for better of every one. Yes, if we fight till the very end no matter how long it takes, we will see the Eritrea that we dream.

Mhabte