Monday, March 27, 2017

Book Review: ELF: Its Struggle for Freedom and Social Justice 1961-1982


Semere T Habtemariam, awate.com

image from article

Excerpt:
Authors: Drar Mntay, Fessehaye Hagos and Ngusse Tsegai
Title: Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF): Its Struggle for Freedom and Social Justice 1961-1982
Language: Tigrinya
Publisher: Homib Publishing, homibpublishing@gmail.com
Year: May 2016 ...
To some extent, any organization reflects its founder’s comportment, and the Eritrean Liberation Front was no exception. ELF’s inimitable code-switching ability to fit to people’s social and cultural norms can be traced to its formative years, when a handful of intrepid fighters, under the leadership of Hamid Idris Awate, set the tone and laid the groundwork. Despite his demure appearance, Awate was a born and wise leader, who knew how to use incidents in reaffirming his mission and guiding principles. It looks like every incident was a teachable moment—a hallmark of leadership and wisdom. ...
The tact, wisdom and public diplomacy that Awate exhibited during his short tenure as a freedom fighter had a lasting impact on the legacy of the organization. The consultative approach was ELF’s strategy of winning the hearts and minds of the public and nowhere was this truer than in the department of ELF’s Social Affairs under the leadership of Ibrahim Mohammed Ali. The department that was launched in 1975 became the microcosm of the ELF. This is that story. The story of victory and defeat, success and failure, fortune and misfortune, forward marching and retreat, growth and decay, expansion and atrophy, and exile and exodus. ...

No comments: