Category: Articles
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Viewpoint: Events In Ethiopia
It has been over a year since the widespread public unrest erupted in the Oromia state of Ethiopia. This year, the simmering conflict between the Amara and Tigrai regions over parts of Welkait also erupted. While the Ethiopian government is now facing the two problems, Ethiopians and others are engaged in serious (and heated) debates…
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The Song That Emancipates Eritrean Women
Traditionally; most of the Tigriniya love songs hanker on the themes of interference by others, on one lover’s succumbing to the village gossip, “my love, do not believe the gossip, it is motivated by jealousy “. And many are lamentations about parents who refused to bless the courtship because of lack of societal stature and…
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The Agaiazians Have Testosterone Too!
A few days ago I stumbled on a new YouTube Phenomenon, The Agaiazian.tv, broadcast by an Eritrean named Tesfazion. Laden with the history of Tigray and Tigrinya, Tesfazion calls Eritrea a country needled out from the thin air, sewing the nine ethnic groups to create an artificial country by Vatican designers. His main thesis is…
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Grassroots view: The Discourse of Martyrdom and Sovereignty (P2)
In Part I tried to show two separate narratives or discourses around martyrdom, sovereignty, and nationalism as represented by the dominant Party-State versus the grassroots or popular views. I also argued the Party-State’s intense propaganda that the population have been subjected to on its own, cannot explain why the majority of the communities, at least…
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Grassroots View: The Discourse of Martyrdom and Sovereignty
Introductory note: This article is based on my contribution to a panel discussion on the 14th of May 2016 organized to mark the Eritrean Martyrs Memorial Day. By way of introduction let me share with you the following brief anecdote. On reading the email posting announcing the event, a friend of mine suggested that I was…
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Tagging Isaias Afwerki: The Paranoid Dictator
When searching for a list of the world’s worst known dictators, Google returns clusters of 10, 13, 20, 25, 100 with repeated names including Hitler, Mao, Stalin, Pol Pot, Kim Il Sung, Idi Amin Dada, Mengistu Hailemarian, Haileselassie, Robert Mugabe, Muammar Gaddafi, Kim John Il, Bashar Al-Assad, Fidel Castro, etc. Isaias Afwerki is rarely listed…
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Jebena Presents Grafted Skin
A few days ago a loyal friend of awate.com sent us a link to a song that was recently released. An unusual piece of music by Amanuel Yohannes. It’s a song without any interruptions of brass instruments. A few days later, Amanuel Hidrat posted the song on the awate.com discussion forum. Immediately, Semere Tesfai transcribed…
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Living In The Cracks Of Fringe Politics
Eritrea is in one dark corner. While the level and pattern of our experiences might be unique to us, the consequences (the pain and loss) are virtually the same. We have had our fair share of colonial subjugation, occupation, and segregation. At the same time, as in many other societies, we have had unrelenting internal…
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Rebirth of Eritrea: Beyond the Oppressed Mind
On 24 May Eritrea turned 25–a quarter of a century–a Silver Jubilee! I salute and honour all those patriots (from every walk of life) who paid dearly for the dignity of having our own nation, this in and of itself is a cause for celebration. Equally, this is a milestone and opportunity where we pause…
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Tigrinya Speakers’ Anguish: Shallowing Their Mother-Tongue
An Eritrean devoted eleven pages and over 7,000 words on a 2010 article that appeared on Asmarino. The author bemoans the lack of diaspora born Eritreans’ mastery of their “mother tongue”. He cites wads of embarrassing anecdotes to support what he called diaspora crisis in the mother tongue. The article gets into trouble from its onset…
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Defining The Eritrean Catalyst For Democratic Change
In my previous article ‘Eritrea: The Missing Element for A Democratic Change”, I concluded that the forces of change in the Diaspora are the most compatible element for catalysing prompt change in Eritrea and ensuring desirable outcomes. In fact, the catalyst role is the only viable option for the forces of change in the Diaspora.…
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Eritrea: The Missing Element for A Democratic Change
The main proposition of this article is that change in Eritrea is inevitable. However, that does not imply it will occur within the timeframe that the Eritrean opposition professes claiming the regime is at the verge of collapsing. Moreover, change does not imply an automatic transition to a democratic system. The recent events of the…
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A Response To Tesfabirhan Regarding Radio Blina
I would first like to appreciate Tesfabirhan Weldegabir, the writer of the article entitled “De-politicizing a program is politics: A case of Radio Blina”. The article was posted on May 4th, 2016 on awate.com. I would like to commend the writer for his efforts to strengthen the opposition cause and for recognizing the current neglect…
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From Mutual Coexistence to Mutual Suspicion
From Mutual Coexistence to Mutual Suspicion: Perceptions, Realities and Confusions of the Eritrean Societies under EPLF/PFDJ Governance There is no question that the Eritrean independence was the result of the disproportionately heavy price and ultimate sacrifices paid by its citizens. So much blood and tears had been shed and so many lives had been sacrificed…
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I Beg to Differ
There is a common trend in the discourse of Diaspora Eritreans that any activity or activism that operates inclusively amounts to acquiescing to or supporting the status quo in our homeland. I intend to argue that this is a misguided notion. I haven’t written publicly on any topic outside my field of expertise (biology) since…
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Nsu nHna, nHna nsu: We Are One And The Same
Several studies conducted on dictatorships of the last century indicate that there is a method to how dictators stay in power and how they ultimately fall[i]. Dictators stay in power by keeping the balance of what Sergei Guriev and Daniel Treisman call, “the dictatorship equilibrium[ii].” In some of these studies the most common types of…
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Eritrean Victims And An Illusive Justice
On April 14, Eritreans in the UK started a weekend of activities as Commemorating Eritrean prisoners of conscience. Many Eritreans attended the morning and evening sessions of events and Mesfin Hagos was one of the attendants. Minor chaos ensued when a person publicly accused Mesfin as a perpetrator of the arrests and disappearances of Eritreans…
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It Feels Like Yesterday: It Is All Time’s Fault
In different parts of Eritrea some call it gizie, some call it hmmet, ewan, zemen, and some even call it kunetat. They are all talking about the mighty Time. In Tigrinya lexicon it seems everything is the fault of Time, everyone picks on it. Poor Time! “Time, you have changed on me, I cannot tread…
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An Ordeal Of A Citizen: Victims Of The Eritrean Regime
This testimony of a victim of the Eritrean regime enrages us. It is an assault on our humanity, it enrages even those who are deprived of the virtue of compassion. Still, the Eritrean regime frequently surpasses itself by breaking the record of injustices, and yet one more brutality is exposed, and more appalling injustice screams…
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Eritrea Asks: Are You Sure You Care Enough?
PART I I often feel perplexed by the mismatch I continually feel between our need for change and our efforts to bringing about this much talked about change. On the left side of this indeterminate Eritrean equation, we find a handful of corrupt generals, more than 300 prisons filled to capacity with uncharged prisoners, more…