Awate Fearless News, Opinion, Analysis On Eritrea And Beyond

One of the most astonishing phenomena of recent history is the rapidity with which former communist countries forsook communism to flock to democracy.  If success can be measured by popularity, democracy has been the most successful. According to Freedom House, 118 out of 195 countries are electoral democracies–the highest percentage since 1989[i]. From Africa to…

May 24, 1991.  Independence Day!  The memory may have faded but few will forget the joy they felt when they first witnessed or heard about the triumphant march of battle-weary EPLF soldiers into the streets of Asmara.  Across the board, Eritreans were ecstatically happy and the dancing and celebration would continue for several days. Even…

 Yosief’s Circular Journey in search of Ethiopia: an identity Crisis or just plain mischief? When I suggested ignoring Yosief Ghebrehiwet in my last article[1], I had no idea that he had already netted quite a few disciples or that his views were spreading. Since then, I learned from many quarters including from comments on my…

If you return to awate after a few weeks or even a few days it is hard to catch up but skimming quickly through some of the discussions that passed, the most outlandish was that triggered by Yosief Ghebrehiwet who unabashedly declared that the struggle for independence had been useless! Yosief writes eloquently and cleverly…

Why? When that three-letter word is uttered (or rather blurted out) by my daughter, I sometimes wish the word never existed (J).  Tell her it is time to go to bed, she wants to know why.  Explain that she needs to sleep because she will wake up early to go to school the next day, she…

If you think you know the history of Eritrea, here is a pop quiz: when did Eritrea’s armed struggle for liberation really begin? Was it on 9/1/1961 when Awate fired his first shot as many Eritreans believe or late October 1961 when my late uncle joined the revolution? If you answered 9/1/1961, you would be…

Two men surveyed the scene in Eritrea from afar. One saw (or thought he saw) a new era of freedom and prosperity and turned to his companion with tears in his eyes and said “how lucky we are to finally witness the birth of a free and democratic Eritrea”   His companion who was peering…

It is always better to look ahead than to look back; better to propose solutions than to lament the past but the future is so inexorably linked to the present, the present so intimately intertwined to our past, that to ignore the past is to guarantee future failure.  As George Santayana once put it “those…

As I was passing by the brilliant young Eritrean who sells hotdogs near where I work, I noticed that he took off the picture of president Obama that always hang on his stand. When I asked him why he said he was mad at him for breaking many of the promises he voted him for. …