Author: Dawit Mesfin
-
The Normalization of Self-Censorship in Eritrea
When self-censorship becomes pervasive, a society forfeits more than the right to open dissent; it forfeits the very conditions that make common knowledge possible – the shared awareness of what others know, think, and believe. In such an atmosphere, individuals can no longer reliably gauge the convictions of their peers or distinguish private doubt from
-
Zemihret Yohannes: A Revolutionary Legacy in Eclipse
“Once reckless in the face of danger, Zemihret became a docile servant of power—how a roaring lion, at last, learns to purr.”
-
More Reflections on Alemseged Tesfai’s Epilogue
This is not a proper article but rather a collection of thoughts … I started off well, but I was too weak to continue. I was very surprised when I watched a video of a group of PFDJ supporters—the Eritrean regime’s party members—welcoming Alemseged in the embassy hall in London, clapping rhythmically in a rising
-
Eritrea: How President Isaias Afwerki took everyone, including the Veteran Freedom Fighters, for a Ride
I aim to demonstrate not only how the former freedom fighters were misled, lied to, and exploited by the regime after independence, but also how their non-interventionist approach betrayed the very people they fought so hard to liberate from Ethiopian rule. One of the most fascinating but confusing stories that ever unfolded in Eritrea is
-
Azien Yasin, the Famous Freedom Fighter I never knew
Azien Yasin was a brilliant freedom fighter who had great influence on the Eritrean Liberation Front. He was present on the battlefields of Eritrea when the armed struggle called for incredible feats of bravery. He was there among the distinguished fighters who went above and beyond the call of duty during that intense period of
-
History is Watching us
[This article is dedicated to a group of Eritrea’s Prisoners of Conscience who were arrested in 2001 after criticising President Isaias Afwerki’s rule, and have never been seen or heard from since. The prisoners, rather selflessly, led the way to meet the challenges head-on while their fellow ex-freedom-fighters failed to follow suit .] This piece
-
Revelations of a Former Eritrean Freedom Fighter
To learn how a nation can spiral into a self-destructive vortex of paranoia, one should read Semere Solomon’s new book “Eritrea’s Hard-won Independence and Unmet Expectations,” which presents factual accounts based on his personal experiences in the battlefields of Eritrea as well as post-independence Eritrea. This informative account is an attestation to readers not only
-
PFDJ Members Also Betrayed By the Eritrean Regime
This is an Account presented through the Story of Gebremeskel Tekle. “A profound chaos descended on our lives in the mid-1960s, whose rights and wrongs were obscured by the brutalities that accompanied the changes brought about by the revolution in 1964: detentions, executions, expulsions, and endless small and large indignities and oppressions.” The above citation
-
The Story of Eritrean Liberation Front’s Book of Martyrs
“I wonder if anyone knows or remembers Tedros Tesfai Tedla” Degiga revealed his inner thoughts. “He was an ELF freedom fighter, a personal friend of mine, who blew himself up with a grenade in the Gash area to avoid capture in 1973. Tedros and I joined the front on the same day; we were trained
-
An Open Letter to My Friend
This story revolves around the early memories of my upbringing that shaped my identity. In all conscience, it is neither a riveting story nor based on exaggerated psychological self-assessment of my past; it is just a modest soul-searching endeavour accompanied by some indulgence in retrospection. Why do I find it important to write about this
-
Eritrea’s Feigned Longing for Peace
President Isaias Afwerki sealed border crossings not only because the outflow of Eritrean citizens to Ethiopia intensified, but peace, generally speaking, is not working for him. Bestowing the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize on PM Abiy Ahmed while leaving out his counterpart, President Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea, was a noticeable insult from which, ostensibly, the Eritrean
-
All about Self-Liberation
I have a friend who served as a British soldier during WWII whose stories I find quite fascinating. In fact, I have made it a habit to meet him every other day during my coffee breaks at the British Library in London. Listening to the stories of his youth, when he was deployed to
-
A Thorny Path: the Life of Woldeab Woldemariam, Eritrea’s Campaigning Visionary
There were very few actively engaged citizens who withstood the test of time and lived through Eritrea’s past struggles. One of them was an elder by the name of Woldeab Woldemariam who passed away on 15 May, 1995. This is his story. In 1997, when Mrs Hillary Clinton began her nine-hour visit of Eritrea, the
-
Woldeab Woldemariam, a Visionary Eritrean Patriot, Biography
Now I know why a monument has been erected for Alexander Pushkin, the renowned Russian poet, in the heart of Asmara, while the country’s first independence campaigner, one who co-fathered Eritrea alongside Ibrahim Sultan and other nationalists of the 1940s, is brushed aside. Although my primary objective is to evoke a picture of Eritrea via the
-
Nakfa’s Symbolic Value
It is embarrassing to witness, in this day and age, abnormal developments creep into our campaigns for human and democratic rights of Eritreans. The aim of the sectarian and ethnocentric maneuver is to sow discord between groups, loosen our Ghedli-history that binds us together and then destroy the social fabric of our communities. The Agazian
-
Eritrean Youth: The Lost Generation
Many of us living overseas have conducted ourselves in such a way that we remained true to our Eritrean heritage. We unswervingly rallied behind the preservation of the very spirit that sustained the independence struggle. We, overwhelmed by the spirit of the ‘gedli’ era, cherished liberty as a heritage of all Eritreans everywhere as we
-
Freedom of Expression
It is common knowledge that the source of expression is thinking, and therefore any musing on freedom of expression begins with freedom of thought. Bertrand Russell is often quoted for stating: “Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth – more than ruin and even than death… A thought is subversive and revolutionary,