Author: Awate Team
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We Are Back (Kinda)
Thanks for your patience… awate.com is back..however, as you can see, we are missing a few articles, some articles, actually a whole lot of articles (April 2012 – December 12) that we are in the process of reconstructing. We have been through this before: it will take us a little time, but we will reconstruct
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Rectification of Names
It is that time of year when we review the past and make pledges for the future. To take stock, to assess, to evaluate and then to act: to realign, to repurpose and redirect. Eritrea is not a business and this is not a management course so we owe you plain talk: once in a
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Remembering The Forgotten
An interview with Sultan Omer, Executive Director of RTHAR Relief, an NGO that caters to the needs of Eritrean refugees. The interview was conducted by Abdulkerim of Eri Adal television of Sweden. Part 1 Part2
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September 1: Man Meets Moment
If you want to know why this website is named awate.com; if you want to know why Hamid Idris Awate is venerated by millions of Eritreans as the Father of the Eritrean Revolution; if you want to know why September 1 (Fath mn September or Bahti Meskerem) is a holiday celebrated by Eritreans, all you
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Awate’s Legacy: ELF 1977-78 Video (indexed)
The great service that youtube and social media provide is to facilitate the dissemination of history. Unfortunately, because the videos are sometimes not properly titled, tagged, described or indexed, they appear and then disappear without impact. Here’s a video documentary that French documentary-makers recorded over a two year period in Eritrea in 1977-78. These years marked an
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awate.com v. PFDJ
1. On January 4, 2008, Sophia Tesfamariam, an Eritrean-American who has written many hit pieces against anyone whom she, or the tyrannical Eritrean regime she supports, identify as “enemy of Eritrea”, wrote an article that we consider excessive even by her standards. 2. The article, which was published in americanchroncile.com (in addition to the usual
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US: Eritrea Among World’s Worst In Human Trafficking
This month, the US State Department issued its annual “Trafficking in Persons Report” and Eritrea is classified as Tier-3 (the worst of the worst). Tier-3 countries are, according to the State Department, countries “whose governments do not fully comply with the TVPA’s [Trafficking Victims Protection Act] minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to
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Ethiopia: Be Wary Of Senior-Junior Partnerships
Ethiopia has hosted the Eritrean opposition political parties since 1999 when the Alliance of Eritrean National Forces (AENF) the precursor to the present Eritrean Democratic Alliance (EDA) was formed. Then, as now, the EDA was made up of exiled Eritrean organizations who were based in Sudan, Europe and Ethiopia and many had, for many reasons,
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2001-2011: Eritrea’s Wasted Decade
If Eritrea was a democratic republic and all the fronts, movements, groups were political parties, the Eritrean people would have voted “No Confidence” on every single one of them. Eritrea’s self-imposed ruling party, the PFDJ, spent an entire decade in a futile effort to get the world to pay attention to the 2002 border demarcation
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Second Fundraising Report
Dear Friends of awate.com, In our second report we would like to inform you that as April 5, 2012, you have donated a a total of $5,138.00 (five-thousand, one-hundred and thirty-eight dollars less 3.95% fee for donations made through paypal.) The donations are as follows: Europe ($1,480); Australia/New Zeland ($953); North America ($1,724); Middle East ($300); Unspecified Addresses
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Srryet Addis: Blatant Lie?
This is the last of a three-part series. On February 13, 2012 we presented the first part (He And His Objectives) and on March 7, 2012, we presented the second part, detailed testimonies contained in Gebremedhin Zegergis’ eye witness report which are, to our knowledge, the first detailed first-hand testimony of the subject we are
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First Fundraising Report
Dear Friends of awate.com, On March 12, 2012, we launched our fundraising campaign and solicited your help. As you might know, sometimes awate.com has more than 7000 visits on a daily basis. It is our hope that enough readers will be generous enough at least to help maintain this website that has been serving them
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Gebremedhin Zegergis: Eyewitness To Eritrean History
Editor’s Note: [the name of the author has been wrongly typed as Zerizghi, it is Zegergis. We appologize for the error] This eye-witness account by Gebremedhin Zegergis, veteran combatant with the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF), was originally written in Tigrinya and published by the ELF-RC of which Gebremedhin was a member. About seven years ago, Gebremedhin
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The Enduring Power Of Haile Selassie’s Propaganda
Ever since September 1, 1961, when Hamid Idris Awate fired the first bullet from Mt. Adal heralding Eritrea’s revolution against the Ethiopian occupation, Emperor Haile Sellassie and his Eritrean allies have branded him as bandit (wenbedie) with a ragtag of Islamist and Arabist followers. The Ethiopian regime tried in vain to defame Awate’s name by
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Kmbob: A Refined Eritrean Art Form
This is a beautiful clip from Western Eritrea criticizing modern Eritrean songs and comparing today’s music, artists and the characters that accompany them with the dignified, refined music of other giants of Eritrean artists [the singer admires Ogbagaber, Yemane Barya, Hamed Wed Sheik, Wed Amir, and Abrar Osman.] The sarcastic and intelligent music is delivered in a genre
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He And His Objectives
The first decade of the Eritrean struggle for independence that started on Sep 1, 1961 was a time of growing pains. But in the late sixties, the military setbacks and draining of all regional support from the Arab region after the Six-day war, combined with the extensive and effective Ethiopian propaganda, resulted in serious internal
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Interview With Eritrea’s “Freedom Friday” Organizers
The Eritrean Youth for Change (EYC) and Eritrean Youth Solidarity for Change (EYSC) are calling on Eriteans in Eritrea to “empty the streets” of Asmara this Friday. This campaign, which was initiated on November 11, 2011 (11/11/11), was subsequently named Arbi Harnet (Freedom Friday) asks Eritreans in the Diaspora to call Eritreans in Asmara to
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2011: Year Of Renewed Spirit
Globally, 2011 will be remembered as the Year of Protest. Mainly because there was the Arab Spring, which started, of all places, in Tunisia in December 2010 triggering a chain reaction: Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine in January; Iran, Bahrain, Casablanca and Libya in February; Iraq and Saudi Arabia and Syria in March. There
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Awate.com Was Hacked
Since September 1, 2000, when this website was launched operating on a shoestring budget, we have been battling the ill-wishes of the PFDJ and its choir, as well as the random attacks from hackers who do that for a hobby. In many ways, it is a lot like battling fires set by mischievous kids or
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Eritrea’s National Congress: Avoid Failure Of Imagination
There are many tragedies in recent history—9/11, Somalia, the mess in the Congo—that could have been foreseen by smart people but weren’t. Such failure to predict what is predictable is called “failure of imagination.” And this could happen in Eritrea. The State of Eritrea is giving warning signs that it is about to implode. Future generations