Happy New Year, Aamkum Mubarek, RHuus Haddish Aamet, Bekitet Haddas Senet lideyya, Feliches neues Jahr, Feliz Agno Nuevo, Felice Anno Nuovo, Bonne Annee, Melkam Addis Aamet The following are today’s topics of Negarit 114: 1. The Arab and Abyssinian counting of time is similar, and the origin of Gregorian calendar. …
Read More »News and Information, Life and Property
My generation grew up consuming news. In Teashops, particularly in the morning, radios blasting, news bulletins from BBC Arabic, VoA, Monte Carlo, and many others. Every artisan on the streets had radios on the shopfronts. Each day I walked to school through the textile and grocery shops, tailors, tin artifact …
Read More »The Massacre of Ona and Besekdira: When Scars Replace Wounds
Almost all my generation carry scars on their upper arms. Scars left from the crude type of vaccinations: smallpox, Measles, typhoid, TB, Yellow fever, etc. I say crude because it was not a drop on the tangue, or a pinch with a small needle. They use huge syringe and keep …
Read More »The Sixth and Seventh Kings of Ethiopia
A man from Keren arrived in Asmara and headed to the neighborhood where his relatives lived. Though he had seen the house long ago, he was not sure exactly where in was. Then he saw his relatives’ son sitting on the stairs of a door. He kissed the boy and …
Read More »What Follows Condemnation?
The dead do not hear. One can whisper, shout, scream, and call a dead person, but you do not get an answer. And like a dead person, the leaders of our region do not listen. I have concluded long ago that they have become prisoners of the social media simply …
Read More »Rejecting Wars– A Matchstick in The Horn of Africa
My call for participation from the friends of Negarit is very encouraging. I got a few worthy comments and feedback. They are gems. Imagine if we share all that we know? I am encouraged and I will not stop reminding you to share your knowledge. Thank you and keep them …
Read More »The Difference Between Propaganda and Public Relations
When I started to work after leaving Eritrea, I landed at a sales and marketing job. My understanding of sales was clear, but I didn’t understand what marketing meant. My boss at the time, an American veteran of marketing, taught me that a sale is the about taking the product …
Read More »Graduated in Coffee Bean Picking
On Negarit 104 I talked about vowels and consonants and why Tigrinya speakers add a “i” vowel to many words like Oklandi, Taxi, Hollandi, etc. A commentator (HTT) explained the reason: it has to do with the word construction and combinations of vowels and consonants. I found his explanation palatable and …
Read More »Anger Is Not Allowed
Do you know Justin Rosenstein? He is the engineer who invented the Facebook Like button—if we knew its benefits, we would have used it more often. But I will return to that towards the end. Now let’s move on to languages… I know, there are some people who get urticaria, …
Read More »Negarit 103: ከፊሎም ደዊሉ ነሩ- The sponsor called- وأتصل الكفيل
What a change! Smartly dressed PFDJ official, with a bonus. For the first time he travels alone, and he scores two full points. The second person who comes (used to come) second to Osman Saleh was the previous information minister. The current one, I testify, used to dree sharply. But …
Read More »Kabuga, Fascists and Jackets
I know when what comes on Negarit hurts them because they go berserk with their insults. The last episode really made them mad—and I couldn’t differentiate between PFDJ cults and the fascist cult. They reacted the same—insults and jingoism, as usual. I know the sickness is inflicted by the 800 …
Read More »PFDJ Leaders Chewing on Fifty-Years Old Grudges
A few days ago, I watched a documentary type of video where Alamin Mohammed Saeed and General Abraha Kassa were host commentators. I picked three points from the video: one positive, one negative, and a third annoying. 1) I was glad to hear they talked about the fascist Agazian groupies, …
Read More »The Staff of Moses
This is rough transcription of Negarit 98 published on YouTube this morning… The senior police (Police Abbay) After WW2, the British Administration left Eritrea a sufficiently trained police force known as field forces. Their training and mandate were limited to civil criminal offenses and enforcing rule of law in the …
Read More »He Graduated
The following is a transcription of my YouTube Channel, “Negarit 97: ሰብኣይ ተመሪቁ – the man graduated – وتخرج الرجل“. Some parts are not properly structured. Saleh Johar When people reminisce about their neighborhood, they remember their good neighbors together with their families or relatives; they remember the neighbors they grew …
Read More »መሰል ንኽትሓትት ነጢፍካ ግቡእ ንምትግባር…
(እዚ ጽሑፍ ዕላማኡ ንኣስተንትኖ’ዩ’ሞ መዓዲ፡ ገሳጺ፡ ምናልባት’ውን ከም ገለ ክብል መሃሪ እንተ መሲሉ ሰኣን ኣኻእሎ ጥራይ’ዩ።) ነቶም እንተስ ብጥቕሚ፡ ምድንጋርን ሰሪ እዅል ምስትውዓልን ንስርዓት ህግደፍ ዝድግፉ ገዲፍና፡ ኣብ መንጎ’ቶም ኣብ ኣንጻሩ ደምበ ዘሎና ጥራይ ከተኵር። ስእነት ተሓታትነት፡ ግሉጽነትን ምዝርጋሕ ጭቡጥ ሓበሬታን ገለ ካብቶም ስርዓት ህግደፍ ዘይቀባበሉዎ መሰረታውያን ኣዕኑድ ንቡር መንግስቲ …
Read More »Jawar, Flipos, Isaias, Our Sources
Jawar Mohammed :I have a friend whose views about Jawar so many times I concluded he lacks clarity– I ruled him out as a reference on Jawar, the activist turned a political leader. First, his adversaries branded him a terrorist, but after he returned from exile to Ethiopia, he became …
Read More »The TPLF and the Eritrean Opposition
The ENCDC is the only entity that has a workable formula for an opposition umbrella. A boxing match with Getachew Redda, keep your distance. lost and found… I found long lost audio recordings including the interview I conducted with the late Meles Zenawi in 2012. In my last episode I …
Read More »Reconciliation That Leads to a Closure
[Reading time : 8 minutes] Some of you must have seen or attended a community or village councils: the accusers and the defendants will have their say, and then they must remain silent unless allowed to speak. violating that council tradition of silence results in a fine. Therefore, when one …
Read More »Ethiopians and Eritreans Need to Have a Serious Talk
Once someone took a snide at me and called me “ambetta belitta;” it means locust eater in Amharic. He jokingly explained it’s how some Ethiopians derogatorily describe Eritreans. A large portion of Ethiopian are known for their “qnie, what’s called Wax and Gold—what they say is not actually what one …
Read More »Negarit 91: Of Sandalwood
[This topic was published as a book review on. Now it is satirized and adopted to fit the audio audience on my YouTube channel Negarit] Today’s Negarit 91 (ሰንደላይ – of Sandalwood – الصندلي) will raise two topics, actually three: 1) to prove once and for all that Keren is culturally …
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