Category Archives: AlNahda

All of us fans of Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle know of that moment when Hercules Poirot and Sherlock Holmes know something that the reader does not. It is something that the suspect said, or how he said it, or what he didn’t say. His alibi just is not as tight … more

Outrageous things happen in Eritrea all the time. But outrageous things have a scale and sometimes even people who have been conditioned to accept the outrageous as the normal are jolted. The refusal of Isaias Afwerki to allow the body of long-time (40 years) EPLF/PFDJ functionary Naizghi Kiflu to be returned … more

In fact, in the entire 6-hour interview, you will never find these words escape his lips: “Eritrea”, “Eritreans,” “Eritrean people.” It is always, “izi hager” (this country), “izi hzbi” (these people.) Go ahead, check it, if you got 6 hours to kill. And it is a habit with him: when it comes to Eritrea, Isaias talks like a consultant, as this column observed years ago when Isaias expressed amazement about people who speak of the private sector. abzi hager bHtawi kfal kblu ygermeni iyu more

In 10 short years, Isaias Afwerki has achieved the status which took Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez longer to accomplish: an annoying loudmouth just tilting at the windmill. In 2007, Spain’s king famously told Hugo Chavez: “why don’t you just shut up?” after he kept interrupting, over, and over, and … more

A powerful title that authoritarians have, rivaling that of their role as Chief Commanding Officer of the armed forces, is that they are also the State’s Chief Epistemology Officer. Epistemology is the science which tries to answer the question “how do we know that what we think we know is … more

On October 17, 2011, the Eritrean authorities provided a reply to the UN.   The Reply, which is 38 pages, not counting the 54-page annex, was drafted in response to the Report of the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea (“Report”), which issued its 416-page report on July 18, 2011.   … more

On October 17, 2011, the Eritrean authorities provided a reply to the UN. The Reply, which is 38 pages, not counting the 54-page annex, was drafted in response to the Report of the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea (“Report”), which issued its 416-page report on July 18, 2011. The Reply … more

Hearts Like Birds: An Alleged Book Review Diversity is the norm in nature.  The best naturalists and astronomers and geologist and anthropologists are able to share with us how truly, mind-bogglingly diverse this universe is.  In one passage in Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, naturalist and Pulitzer prize winning Annie Dillard, … more

We are stuck in a rut, going nowhere fast, running on a treadmill. There is this crushing familiarity from the headlines of the Eritrean state media; the announcements of the opposition organizations; the polemic writings of the writers; the readers’ responses to the writers; and the non-response of those who … more

We are stuck in a rut, going nowhere fast, running on a treadmill. There is this crushing familiarity from the headlines of the Eritrean state media; the announcements of the opposition organizations; the polemic writings of the writers; the readers’ responses to the writers; and the non-response of those who … more

“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.” Philip K. Dick The best way to understand reality has been to contrast it with what it is not: imaginary and false.  But that is not as easy as it sounds for reality, like knowledge, is always … more

This was going to be the second installment of the Eritrean Spring, of events from ten years ago, but comes now a horrific story in the here and now, an Eritrean Scream. We Eritreans have the capacity to be shocked still, which was a shock to me:  Over 200, nearly … more

This being ten years after 2001, I have been thinking a great deal about what happened in Eritrea ten years ago. Ten years ago, there was a conflict: on the one side, you had journalists, reformers, students, the elderly, ordinary citizens all politely and peacefully requesting modest changes; and on … more

My New Year resolution (which usually lasts all of January) was to get all my news and entertainment from Eri-TV because I heard a true believer explain, with conviction, that Isu-TV provides him with all the entertainment, domestic and international news he needs because he just likes a source that … more