Author: Saleh “Gadi” Johar
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Reverse Season on Migration
Dilemma: do we welcome those who abandon the PFDJ, forgetting the pain they inflicted on us because we dared to oppose the regime, and move on, or should we insist on holding them accountable for their past actions? Today, many are facing a dilemma after Abdulkadir Hamdan, a journalist and veteran of the struggle era,…
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The Shirt-Color Rivalry
Eritrea is the home of diverse social groups, a country built on an idea. And the citizens are content on being Eritrean, despite the tribulations that have become an alibi for those aiming at dismantling, deforming, and making it a fascist state. For a while, known bigoted elements are recklessly attempting to destroy it; they…
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Negarit 273: Citizenship and Identity Chaos
The most disturbing debate many uninformed disrupters were engaged in was on the difference between identity or citizenship and which supersedes the other! There are many views on that but generally, an identity is composed of many layers, including national identity. While personal identity describes, among others, the individual’s culture, tribal, ethnic, and linguistic affiliation,…
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Will they die or be martyred?
Listening or reading Negarit requires patience, please bring some additional patience from your storage. If you are short-tempered, with little or no patience, please pretend you are patient. Talking like responsible adults is fun. My next few episodes might be a bit unsettling for some; I am planning a sequel to address a few issues…
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Yemane Gebreab And Associates
anyone who sneaked out can sneak in I do not know much about soccer, but I gather most Eritreans support either Arsenal or Chelsea. I know about that from Bakri Humed’s YouTube channel. Please remember I am bringing the teams as an example, because we often say our discourse has become akin to fans rooting…
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Is PFDJ Honest or It’s a Gimmick?
“Farmers work the land; Merchants trade in the market (freely).” That profound saying is attributed to the first proclamation the Italian colonization government issued when it established itself in Massawa. Eritreans accepted that wholeheartedly, though it was issued by their colonizers. Sadly, they are denied that freedom by those who supposedly freed them, and that…
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Alemseghed Makes a Pilgrimage to Keren
comments on a speech Alemseged made in Keren.
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The Media is like a midwife: EriSat as an Exhibit
Gambling is risky—sometimes lucky—and “the winner takes it all” is the title of the ABBA song. No one knows the results. If they knew, it wouldn’t be called gambling. And what is happening to EriSat* saddens me. In a way, a court trial is like gambling. Both nemeses believe they are right, but the opponent…
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Music That Resides In Our Memories
The basic translation of the lyrics in the video… The land of goodness, Africa is my country The land of plenty, the land of pride, is my country See the faces of my fathers, And their raised foreheads Principles do not change. I’ll lead the procession and tell the world, “I am African; I am…
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Bluebeard and Muawiya’s Hair
In 4th or 5th grade, we learned from an English textbook, an Oxford English series, or something like that. The books were full of captivating stories that aroused our curious young minds. I remembered one pf the stories after I saw a Twitter clip. It was a picture of a French, Israeli soldier. He had…
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Negarit 235: Consulting The Mirror
Philosophy is crucial for understanding life and nature, creation, and death. It also helps us find answers to questions we raise about the PFDJ’s oppression of Eritreans, their cruelty, and their warlike behavior. Religious fanatics, and primitive superstitious people, discourage philosophy, they think it’s a vulgar word and an exercise in vanity. Why? Nouns identify…
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Negarit 229: Peaceful Coexistence
Quite a few people admonished me for not having a face-to-face debate with a man nick named “Aweqe.” I do not debate bigots but stay at a distance from supremacists and fascists to avoid their toxicity. Let’s start the fumigation My message is to and about a certain Aweqe who openly promotes supremacism. His bigoted…
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Negarit 228: The Shameless and Insolent
Some ex-Eritrean elements (according to their own declaration) think the Eritrean society is on a deathbed and on its last breath; they are it’ll nurse its wounds and rise up . When it does, it will frustrate their dreams of a puritan racist state on the rubble of the hard-earned Eritrean statehood. That’s why they…
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Negarit 225: Remembering The Unforgotten
What does it mean to remember a martyr when their images haunt us day in and day out? Do we really forget them that we need someone to remind us of them? And why is remembering a martyr so mechanical—why do we carry candles and shout empty slogans, suwaatna bkhbri yezekeru, and stuff like that?…
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Negarit 224: Enough and Not-Enough
Every time I attend an event, I report to my audience about the event and my general observation-I hope you do not expect a serious boring reportage. This time my travel was so hectic, mainly because it included the Atlanta Airport which they should have called railway station. I do not like that airport, not…
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Civil and Military (Negarit 223)
The most serious social problem in many countries, including the Horn of Africa, is that the nations are so militarized. That has led to the morphing of the military life in the civilian space. And since the regimes depend on brute forces as an alternative to a legitimate governing mandate, military behavior and attitude take…
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Donkey-Kick Diplomacy
Isaias started his latest speech on the occasion of the 32nd Anniversary of the Independence of Eritrea as follows: “allow me to express my congratulations to the people of Eritrea inside the country and abroad, as well as to the friends of Eritrea and all free peoples in the world.” “The Free people of the…
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China’s Great Wall, Eritrea’s Fence Wall
Last Saturday, Isaias hastily met the Sudanese envoy Ambassador Daffalah, and soon left for China. Not many discussed that visit, but many Eritrean (and Ethiopian) social media platforms were buzzing with Isaias’ visit to China. The Eritrean fence wall concluded his visit and has already returned home. PFDJ media and its affiliate trolls were so…
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Independence Day Blues and Illegitimate Rulers
On the occasion of the approaching Eritrean Independence Day, I would like to suggest some meaningful activities. Eritreans have danced enough despite the sufferings. They celebrated Independence Day religiously, always counting, and now we have reached the 32nd anniversary. What does numbers mean if the real oppression is ignored and we only focus on the…
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Unelected President, Imposed Pundit
Isais Afwerki of Eritrea: an unelected dictator tells Sudan how to solve their problems