Dictatorship #2

My second choice in dictators, is Isaias Aferwerki of Eritrea.

First glance, and he doesn't seem so bad. Dig a little deeper and you see that his supporters have an extremely distorted view on what he actually does. It is stated by many people that he is "the worlds worst dictator" and it seems to me so far that he deserves that title.

WAIT! HORRIBLE NEWS!!!

He is terminally ill with cancer, and will die within the next two years.

Oh, wait thats supposed to be good news... his people don't like to think so though.

One of the first things I came upon about this man, is that he was rumoured to be dead, and then this theory was disproven less than a week later by an interview with him that stated he has cancer. On the comments for this video are many of his citizens saying how it is a tragedy that he will die, that he is such a great leader, or that "he is all holy" and "we all love him". Apparently he has brain washed these people into thinking all of this because it is hardly believable that he can be a great man with a title like "the worlds worst dictator".

Isaias, is a self elected, and first, president of a small African country by the name of Eritrea. His rise to power could coin the phrase "One man, one vote, one time.". This country boarders Sudan, and Ethiopia in the north-eastern part of Africa, and is by default a very poor country. He is, unfortunately, commonly compared to two very famous dictators, Adolf Hitler, and Suddam Hussein, though I feel he deserves his own category for what he has achieved in his people.

He seems to me, to live a double life. He tortures people, kills just for fun, and imprisons people in the blink of an eye. Yet he walks the streets at nights with no guard, no fear of being attacked by anybody, or even a care in the world. In fact he is regularly seen at night clubs just drinking and having fun.

Annual festivals are held in his name in which, if you attended, you would think that you are the only soul alive that hates this man, but research him and you will find that this man has a very dark history. Not much is known about him before his rise to power, as he doesn't really talk about it,  but what I have gathered is that his mother was a beer maker in a company where the women were commonly prostitutes. His father then, of course, is unknown. (This information was found here, and is contrary to what wikipedia says.)

Nobody knows if he has ever attended school, but some rumours say that he attended college up to his sophomore year. If that is true, he definitely doesn't like to push education on his people. In fact he sort of does the opposite and demotes attending schools. He closed the only University in the country and drags students into military schools (Wait, did I say schools? I meant camps) to learn.  This is of course to prevent them from learning the "wrong things". He even goes as far as to say that his experiences in life have "taught him things Isaac Newton didn't know".

According to the "Press Freedom Index" the country of Eritrea has taken the crown for "least freedom of press" for five, thats FIVE, consecutive years now, closely followed by North Korea. I mean for someone to be worse off than the country that believes that they are to be in constant fear of the US government, is pretty bad. In fact when Eritrean press started to call out "Dictatorship" he simply kicked them out of the country. He can actually be quoted saying "What is free press? There is no free press anywhere." and "It is up to us what, why, where, and when we do things." These people pretty much live under a rock, and are dragged along by some guy that teaches them that he is the greatest man alive.

On top of all of this, this man has taken it upon himself to give people in his country actual government jobs. At least he did one thing right. Oh, did I forget to mention the part where he pays them only $45 dollars a month? THATS SOME BIG BUCKS!

Okay so people in his country actually had some decent paying jobs, but not for long. Isaias decided that it would be better for them to work for the government instead. If he picks someone out and they decide they would rather keep their current job, he just throws them in jail without trial. Seems pretty fair right?

I find it pretty interesting how much this country has in common with the book "1984" and the whole "Big Brother" concept. Being kept in the dark with reduced by the day education, lied to by the press (if there even is any), lead to believe that their leader is the greatest thing since sliced bread, and made to do things only because "thats how life is". I really do wonder sometimes if that really is the direction that we're all headed in now.

So yeah this is a lot to read, but I can go on for days about this guy and still have more to say. All in all, not a nice guy, and definitely not a country I would enjoy living in.