Category Archives: Kind Citizen

“When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible…” Mahtama Ghandi (1869-1948) The End of Zenga-Zenga Rule Easily, though respectfully to the other Arab Spring revolutions, Eritreans … more

Dear Eritrean Youth, I feel your pain; I feel your pain. Oh, Sunset’s Children! Remember the 80s, waiting for the ‘To’Qae’! Remember when we hoped for the coming of our older brothers and sisters. Remember when we prayed. We saw tomorrow. Remember when we fought our own little battles, in … more

Prelude: The Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak was forced to make “concessions” (please! I can’t overemphasize the importance of them quotation marks) to the historic protests currently unfolding in his country. After report of major announcement was coming up from the Egyptian leader, the protesters were eager to hear them. So … more

….Christmas has come a long way from its Pagan origins. Hmmm! May be not….. Ruhus beAl Lidet ! “…A child will be born to us, a son will be given to us.” Is. 9:6. I have always loved Christmas. That is not what I meant. I have always loved ‘Lidete- … more

1. By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. 2. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. 3 .For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of … more

     2009-2010 was a hectic year for Eritrean internet writers, users and abusers, even by Eritrean internet standards. With due regard to the seriousness of our discourse, I attempted to satirize, and caricaturize supposed dominant themes of our writers in an effort to lighten our mood and exact some … more

This installment is about two chickens and a latteria; about ‘they may have come through us but  they are neither for us nor of us’; and most importantly why we the opposition need two eggs and why omelet is bad for your health, civic health that is.    KY: The … more

“In ages to come, it is up to one lapsed young ‘Haleqa’, to take the melodic wealth of ‘Ge’ez’ from vicinities of monasteries to the streets of Babylon, the uncharted territory of the secular world, risking excommunication and cursing. No, no, that is more than Teddy Afro’s “Abugida”. When that … more

‘Curse god and die’ has evolved from an imprudent advice of an embittered wife of a patient patriarch to ascent to be the chief foreign policy of Eritrea vis-à-vis the temporal god, the United States of America. Curse this god and say it as loud as you can, ‘Tekormika mot, … more

Muslim-Christian, Kebesa-Metahit, as we know is the only single most important issue since Eritreans gathered to mark the destiny of the nation: since 1941 till Now. All other issues, even those considered important like the border issue, the language issue, are child’s play compared to the very foundational nature of Eritrea. … more

  This short essay was written sometime in 2004.     If what we knew were the only guideposts for reality, the innocent knowledge before knowing the ugly truths and other side of the coin would be it. That other side hosts the grotesque, the depressing, the confusing, the deleterious…   … more

The decade 2000-2010 hosted milestone events in Eritrea’s recent past; yet mostly disappointing. Coming on the heels of the optimism, pride and peace of 1990s, the decade 2000s, without question, has been a turbulent time for Eritrea and Eritreans. It is more reminiscent of our bloody past than the neighbourly … more

Generals and tyrants love to dance to the loud tunes of cowardice, oozing betrayal, in that circular formation of followers, until their heads loudly spin with inequity, with madness while wail, yes primal wail of utter silence descends and falls on the hills of ‘Eira-Iro.’    This installment is not … more

I am launching a column in this venerable website, Awate.com. The column’s name is ‘the kind citizen.’ I choose this name because that is my vision for Eritrea, a nation of kind citizens. Citizens who pride in their histories and identities, who know and exercise their rights and duties (mainly … more