Articles

In December 1888, Yohannes IV, the emperor of Abyssinia wrote an unusual letter to his Mahdist rivals in Sudan. Along with the Italians, the Mahdist were his arch enemies and major challengers. In his lengthy letter, Yohannes IV, called on Abu-Anja, a Mahdist leader, to end their rivalry and establish …

It is only a narrow-minded or embittered man who can harbor evil thoughts about ordinary people because they are not heroes.  From the novella “A dreary story” by A. Chekhov A  philosopher is born If there is a merit for Eritrea and Eritreans in the war in Tigray, it is …

The contemporary sociopolitical history of Ethiopia, Tigray, and Eritrea is informed by two undercurrents that appear to impact these tripartite entities devastatingly as each attempt to outmaneuver the other in that elusive race toward political hegemonic prominence. Chose to use a recent Tigrinya song that captures the foolishness of the …

Eritrea has bittersweet memory of a 30-year struggle that was eked out by the botched 30-years of Governance.  In 1935, little did Italy know that its decision to invade Ethiopia would lead to a World War II. Little did Italy know, too, that the Eritrean Askaris it hired to do the invasion …

Seasonal river In words worth describing the on/off modes of our Eritrean opposition activities in its quest for justice, the narrator of the short story “The Great Wall of China” by the 20th-century novelist Franz Kafka says describing his times: “Consider rather the river in spring. It rises until it …

[Correction: we apologize for the technical mistake on the wrong Byline, it’s not Awate Team. The author is actually Beyan Negash/The Editor] “In the long vista of the years to roll, Let me not see our country’s honour fade: O let me see our land retain her soul, Her pride, her freedom; …

Over the last three decades Eritreans have tried to unify themselves by creating alliances or creating a new organization. Though some people may have not been considerate, no one can undermine the efforts done by Diaspora Eritreans. But there has been confusions on what our role should be on this …

A self-contemplation that was circulating for some-time in my head was brought to surface when the curious touche-à-tout Saleh Gadi Johar humorously discussed the origin of the name Eritrea in his Negarit No 123 entitled “Eritrea and Eretria”.1 Where did the name come from? And who coined it? Johar did …

The emergence of literary national identity, Transcendentalism can be an instructive model as Eritreans are grappling toward the formation of a government in exile. In the 1820s and 1830s Transcendentalism helped marshal an emergent American culture in the definition of its literary national identity. Prior to Transcendentalism, thinkers looked at …

Yesterday, March 26, 2021, we received a shocking news. Milkias Mehreteab Yohannes, one of the best writers awate.com ever hosted, has passed away. We will republish several of his articles on a weekly basis. This article was first published on Nov, 13, 2010//Awate Team One thing that greatly disturbed and puzzled me …

On a typical quiet day in Asmara, hours before the sunset, a group of men came to our home, located on Leonardo Da Vinci Street. None of the men were familiar to me, except for one. He was the tallest among them; he was wearing a colourful turban, a white …

Book Reviewer: Chefena Hailemariam Bjork, Christina. 2019. Eritrea: A Classic African dictator took over. Themes, Stockholm. ISBN 978-91-985588-0-7 Christina Bjork’s book which made its debut in 2019 is about the history of modern Eritrea with a focus on the armed struggle. Her book comprises of twelve sections of personal narratives …

[Editor’s note: This content was first published on Feb 15, 2017.] The Eritrean refugee’s story is a difficult one to tell. Eritrean refugees in the Sudan made history twenty years ago, by becoming the longest stayed displaced refugees in the world. The length of time, the relatively friendly atmosphere accorded …

Say what you will about outgoing president Trump, and despite the messenger, there are many countries in the word that fit this description, and the country in question is one of them. An epitome of the description. It is a country that recently decided to go to war with itself. …

Back in 1990, The New York Times had an opinion piece titled, “The Politics of Slash and Burn”. The gist of the article speaks to the beginning of down spiraling political discourse in the US where Republican candidates were encouraged to use words like ”Sick.” ”Traitors.” ”Bizarre.” ”Self-serving.” ”Shallow.” ”Corrupt.” ”Pathetic.” …

Orally told stories relate a conversation that took place in the first parliament in Eritrea in the 1950s. During a heated parliamentary debate on the official languages of Eritrea, a member of parliament from the Independence Block stood up to speak in favour of adopting Arabic as the second official …

[This is part 3 of 3 in a series under the title of “Can Mesfin Hagos Lead Under a Banner of “One Country, One Destiny”?] “Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom” Thomas Jefferson The earlier two pieces1 were meant to show how complex the Eritrean socio-political terrain can be. And negotiating …

This is part 2 of 3 series under the title of “Can Mesfin Hagos Lead Under a Banner of “One Country, One Destiny”? The third part will follow soon. Eritrea and its people have been on a trajectory of existential threat for two decades from the very revolutionaries who brought the nation …

(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 …

It has become a cliché to say the Internet has changed many facets of our lives, and the claim of such a truism, however, can hardly be called an overstatement. Of general interest for this article rests in the social and political activism that continues to evolve as it creates …