Category: Articles
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LEAP OF FAITH II: Reimagining the Political Future of Eritrea and Ethiopia
The Incomplete Inheritance of Eritrea’s Political History Political communities rarely inherit their past in full. They inherit interpretations shaped by the needs of particular actors, and these interpretations often become the foundation of national identity. Eritrea’s modern political consciousness is a product of such selective inheritance. The armed struggle, despite its historical significance, did not…
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Choosing Eritrea’s Development Path
Eritrea’s future depends on a clear and deliberate choice of development model. Since independence, the country has articulated a mixed economy vision through the 1991 national economic vision, the 1996 macro policy, and the economic provisions of the unimplemented constitution. These documents reflected a pragmatic attempt to balance state coordination with market activity. Their intent…
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A Premature Obituary: Semere Russom and the Fragile State of PFDJ’s Elite
Bereket Mekonnen Over a week ago, the Eritrean government announced the passing of former Ambassador and Minister of Education Semere Russom in its standard, formulaic fashion: a senior official succumbs to illness, followed by a summary of their revolutionary service in the EPLF, their ministerial portfolio, and details of their funeral and surviving family. What…
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History from Below: The Testimony of Hassan Arha Nesur
History is often written from above. We remember emperors, presidents, commanders, declarations, treaties, and battles. Nations appear to emerge through the decisions of remarkable individuals whose names become inseparable from the histories they helped shape. Yet nations are rarely built from above alone. They are also built quietly, almost imperceptibly, in the lives of ordinary…
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LEAP OF FAITH
History does not simply move forward; it circles, it spirals, it returns to its own wounds until the repetition becomes unbearable. Eritrea and Ethiopia have lived inside such spirals for generations – spirals of domination, resistance, liberation, betrayal, war, and the long, bitter aftermath of mistrust. These spirals have shaped identities, hardened narratives, and carved…
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Redefining the Mission of the Eritrean Opposition
Abstract This study critically examines the current trajectory and mission of the Eritrean opposition, arguing that its original vision—the establishment of a constitutional, democratic state—has become increasingly unattainable under prevailing circumstances. Through an analysis of the evolution of the opposition’s purpose, the strategies of the regime, and the challenges facing political and civil actors, this…
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The Burden of Gratitude
When a Better Life Becomes a Different Kind of Responsibility The carriage lurched gently as it slipped into another tunnel beneath Stockholm. Outside the windows there was nothing to see but darkness interrupted by brief flashes of platform lights. Inside, however, every seat held a destination, every face a private history. Some passengers scrolled absentmindedly…
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From center to periphery: Eritrea’s forced disengagement from Ethiopia
Disparate notes on the long and short history of Eritrea Introduction: A great deal is being said and written about Ethiopia’s loud claim of access to the Red Sea. Ever since 2024, the Ethiopian prime minister has on numerous occasions warned his neighboring seacoast countries, namely Eritrea and Somalia, that they ought to allow Ethiopia…
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The Post-Colonial Pitch: Wealth, Memory, and the Geography of Football
The World Cup has prompted important conversations about belonging and identity. Another question deserves equal attention: why does the geography of football itself remain so uneven? There is a moment that often passes unnoticed during every major international football tournament. A player stands for the national anthem. The jersey he wears belongs to one country,…
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The Citizen Before the Bloc: A Critique of Younis Omer’s Politics of Equilibrium
I come to this discussion with humility. I am still a newcomer to the Awate forum, and I know that many conversations here have histories, references, and relationships that long-time participants understand better than I do. Still, after reading Younis Omer’s essay and the discussion around it, I felt compelled to engage it seriously, not…
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The Sea Between Selves: Exile, Transformation, and the Blin Soul
Exile is conceptualized as an existential condition structured around four foundational archetypes the grave, house, shield, and sea that facilitate “identity sedimentation” through migratory experience. Utilizing Habtat Zerezghi’s prayer, the analysis frames the sea crossing as a liminal threshold where migrants accumulate layered, coexisting identities rather than replacing old ones.
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My Fatherly Plea to Every Eritrean in the Diaspora
My Fatherly Plea to Every Eritrean in the Diaspora Who Dreams of a Bright Future for the Eritrean People I am writing to appeal to all of you, my fellow Eritrean brothers and sisters, to support the efforts of the Registration and Election Commission, which is currently engaged in registering justice-seeking, pro-democracy Eritreans throughout the…
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The Extraction of Heroic Capital in Eritrea
Abstract: This essay examines how the Eritrean state converted the moral authority of the armed struggle into a durable political resource. It argues that the category of tegadalay (fighter) flattened unequal wartime experiences into a single claim of equal sacrifice, allowing ruling elites to extract legitimacy from the suffering of ordinary fighters. By separating fighters,…
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Sarigoble, the Woven Shield of Siolidarity
What can a song teach us about belonging? Through the celebrated Saho composition Sarigoble by Ali Abdullah Ahmed, this essay explores the enduring ties that bind people to one another across landscapes, generations, and continents, revealing how music becomes a portable homeland and a living architecture of solidarity.
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Why the Eritrean Diaspora Must Belong to Its People, Not the State
Introduction When a civic association, religious institution, or cultural space fractures in the Eritrean diaspora, the formal debate almost always centers on bylaws, leadership authority, or political influence. However, in focusing so heavily on the mechanics of a split, we often overlook the true devastation left in its wake: the long-term, irreversible damage inflicted on…
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A Refugee in My Own Country
The House That Remains, Exile, Return, and the Stratified Self This article is dedicated to Eritrean veterans, both those who paid the ultimate price and those who continue carrying the memory of home across decades of exile. With special dedication to Engineer Ibrahim Mahmoud Gadam, whose recommendation of a Tigrinya song set this reflection in…
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The Covert Civic Vulgarity Beneath Our Nationalist Songs
I recently came across a song by Meron Estifanos, freshly uploaded to YouTube and already making its way through Eritrean diaspora timelines with the usual warm momentum. A few thousand views. Comments full of pride. People tagging each other. I watched it the way one watches something familiar, half-present, until the chorus stopped me. ኣይበል…
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The Dead Now Require Airplane Tickets
A Tigrayit song, exile, and the geography of remembrance. The song found me on an ordinary evening. Outside my apartment window, traffic moved through the city in long ribbons of light. Somewhere below, a siren sounded and disappeared. Tomorrow will be another workday. I would return to my carefully constructed routines. Nothing about the evening suggested…
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How the Pledged Public Works
A Second Explanation for Readers Who Want the Mechanism, Not Just the Idea The public is not the audience of politics. It is the author of the conditions under which politics becomes legitimate.— From The Pledged Public I. Why Another Explanation Is Needed Since the publication of “The Pledged Public,” I have received a consistent…
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The Pledged Public: Toward an answer to “The Grammar of Promise”
“The problem is not to find the best ruler. The problem is to make it impossible for a ruler, however well-intentioned, to do unlimited harm.” — Karl Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies Summary This essay continues the argument of “The Grammar of Promise,” which showed that Eritrean political culture organizes legitimacy around sacrifice…