Category: Articles
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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…
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Tefera Gedamu interviews Dan Connell On EBC
“Meet EBC with Tefera Gedamu” interviews Dan Connell on Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation.
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Our Lord Hades Is Bitter And Greedy
The following is brought to you from the Awate Forum where it was posted by “Gogo” a few hours earlier. We brought it to the frontpage because we believe it gives an insight regarding the promise of salary increase that the Eritrean government gave but didn’t honor.” – Awatestaff That which has been is that…
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The Eritrean Woman: Reverie of an Emancipated Eritrean Man
First you need to start with the grand narrative that is constantly quoted to you condescendingly: Your 30% participation in Eritrean’s prolonged armed struggle. This is based on faulty math; it is based on the simplistic calculation of the female headcount divided by the total membership and then converted to a percentage. It does not…
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Paying Homage To Sheikh Hassan Al-Turabi
On Saturday evening, Sheikh Hassan Al-Turabi died in a hospital where he was admitted earlier in the morning. Turabi was 84, The remains of the famous statesman, thinker and controversial intellectual was buried at the Burri cemetery in the Sudanese capital city, Khartoum.Thousands attended his funeral. . Family sources indicated that Al-Turabi complained of pain after…
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Talking Mountains, Thanking Eagles, And lyrics
There are mountains that talk, eagles that thank, and lyrics that speak to non-humans. And I still remember where I was and what I was doing, when for the time I heard someone talking to an eagle and the eagle responding. Wedi Ghebru was singing, “Abba-Gunbah Berekha ab Homib entay re’ikha…” I did not know…
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“Mistir Leyti”: Secret of The Night
During the struggle (Ghedli), the Tigrinya phrase for “password” was “misTir Leyti”: secret of the night. Usually, it was the name of a martyr, shared and circulated per whisper up to the tegadalay (combatant) serving in the frontline. Practiced throughout the whole Liberation Front and renewed on a daily basis, it was crucial for the survival…
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Securing Common Understanding On Our Core Issues
Securing Common Understanding on our Core Issues – National Language, Land Proclamation, Refugee Repatriation, Ethnic and Minority Issues, Developing Human Resources – for United and Stable Eritrea. The paper below is meant as an accompaniment to the video presentation I gave recently and it is not a replacement to it. Therefore, I urge readers to…