Last week a headline in one of the ERN websites took my attention. It was about an interview Tom Campbell made….one of the few American scholars and politicians sympathetic with Eritrea. Tom Campbell is a professor and dean of Haas School of Business at the University of California-Berkeley. He was former state senator, former US congress man and recently he is planning to run for a governor.
The Professor was a visiting professor at the University of Asmara in 2001 and 2002 and I had I chance to meet him in person once while he was there. So it is this small knowledge of him that gave me the curiosity to briefly look his interview, wondering what he will say about ER. What I found was shocking. Here is the excerpt that relates to UOA:
'”..And there are things you learn. Eritrea has, sadly, a long history of civil war with Ethiopia. They got their freedom in 1992. There are lot of land mines. As a result, at the University of Asmara in Eritrea, I'd say maybe 25 percent to a third of the students are missing a limb. Those who are missing legs cannot get up the stairs to the second floor or the third floor. No questions asked, the students just carry each other. I've never seen anything like it. Very naturally, somebody offers you his back and you climb on it and he takes you up to the next floor….”
Here is the full interview for you to see( http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_10085062?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com).
At the time the Professor is referring, the UOA had approximately around 5000 students. 25% to one third of them would be equivalent to 1250 to 1630 students. I don’t know where he saw all those people missing their limbs. If you want to extend the story, it is equivalent to saying one fourth to one third of Eritreans were missing their limbs( Because, the landmines are not to hit selectively kids who have the potential to join the university).
Such false stories that misinform are not an unusual in the net. But this is Tom Campbell: a professor, a dean at Berkley, a former state senator, a former U.S. Congressman, a wonna be governor, and some one who spent two semesters at the UOA. To an outside reader, this is a first hand observation from a credible source. And it creates a depressing image of ER…. the kind of picture you see in TV about the victims of barbarian rebels of Sierra leone.
I don’t understand why such a prominent and pro-Eritrea figure makes this remark. My initial reaction was may be this is some sort of editing error. So I emailed the Professor explaining my reservation regarding the figures he made and asking him to correct it. However, one week later, he didn’t respond me. The damage might have been already done and there is little to do to change the perception it created. But, I felt he should at least acknowledge he made a mistake and try to make correction to the story. So, in an effort to make some correction, I also emailed the journalist and the professor a follow up email, again asking to make correction for their story. I guess, that is how far I can go for now. I don’t expect them to respond me. But if they did, I will let you guys know.
