Category: Articles
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Our New Culture of Victimhood and Voyeurism
Virgil, Dante, Sartre, Milton and James Joyce all took turns describing hell. But it took an Eritrean, Mulugeta, to surpass them all. It is just what we Eritreans do, we are special. This is what hell is like: “Mulugeta said if he wanted to see his daughters, the traffickers would bring the girls to him…
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Appraising Eritrea’s Social Media (Part II)
Reining our Elephant I want to start this follow-up article by thanking Haile for the following very constructive comments that he posted for the first part: “I know the topic ICT could be daunting, however your piece has come short in practical appraisal of the net effect of social media (say in the last decade…
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Sobering Times
Outline: 1. Re-awakening the patriotic front; 2. Lies; 3. My Simple Analysis; 4. A variable we do not need; Dear reader, You may not enjoy this article for it is filled with some angry expressions which seem to be dominating my reasoning these days. Please take no offense! Here we go round the prickly pear…
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Clipped Into Co-option
Outline Admonishing Eritrea; Brief reply to comments regarding my previous posting (Ethiopia, Tesfay Temnewo, Our youth) Clipped into Co-option I know beforehand that this article is going to stir some grumbling within some corners of our communities for two reasons: confrontational denunciations of patrons of the Ethiopian intrusion, and for diverting focus on Ethiopia rather…
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PFDJ Toronto Mourns Its Tax Collector
The moqSel Gibri[i] Collector was dismissed, today members of the Toronto Chapter of the PFDJ gathered to lick their wounds and to counsel each other. They showed brave faces by invoking old PFDJ slogans such as: “the more we are challenged the more defiant we become and the more our victory is assured against our…
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Adam Malakin: His Non-militant, Non-public Other Side
Adam Malakin, a prominent figure in the struggle for Eritrean statehood, passed away in May 2013 in Melbourne, Australia. Up until his sudden death following brief hospitalisation, Adam Malakin appeared healthy and sound. Adam Malakin, or simply A’m[1] Adam as he came to be endearingly known, was octogenarian. The purpose of this note is to…
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A Matter of Perspective: Nationalism
I, as a devoted Awate reader, most times scan the pages of this site in the hope that I will find there something informative and educational, something uplifting and inspiring, something original and sometimes something controversial where we all can have an input of our dimes worth. True, time constraints don’t always allow one to…
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Appraising Eritrea’s Social Media ( Part 1)
There now exists a ‘’different’’ Eritrea in the cyberspace, what can be called a ‘’virtual diasporic nation’’ of the free, populated mostly by the young and recent émigrés. This community of activists, working across the transnational space and without fear of retribution, has the potential to inject new vigor and a sense of direction to…
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Mr. Yemane Gebreab: Hands off the Eritrean Orthodox Church!
Mr. Yemane Gebreab, a high official of the ruling party in Eritrea and who often speaks on the government’s behalf, is touring three US cities – Seattle, Atlanta and Washington DC. As was seen in the meeting he held for party members in Seattle on Saturday, May 18, 2013, his main target again is none…
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Eritrea, Africa: The Last Big Man Standing
[As I write this, I haven’t heard Isaias Afwerki’s speech. If history is a guide, he will blame his predecessor for the mess who, in turn, will blame his predecessor all the way back to whoever has been presiding over Eritrea since 1991. Oh, wait, he is his own predecessor. Never mind: did you enjoy…
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‘Eritrean Unity’: As Power Over Life
The Unconscious Eritreans We are the worst of the worst; ask any fellow. The global biopolitics has put us in the worst of 1%. Imagine any human parameter of normative value, at a global scale, and line individual values in a curve, and you observe Eritreans falling under the lowest 1% of this normal curve…
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The Report Card On Eritrea’s Turtle Economy
What is the role of governments? That is: when should a government’s coercive power be used? The answer is on a continuum: on the one side is a classic libertarian view which argues that the only time a government’s coercive power should be used is to protect the private property of citizens (Locke) and/or to…
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Evaluating The Performance Of The ENCDC
Evaluation of the work of Eritrean National Democratic Council (ENCDC) up to the second regular meeting Eritreans for Democracy, Justice and Equality (EDJE) Introduction: The ENCDC represents the last link in a long chain of developments achieved in the course of the Eritrean Opposition’s struggle to improve its mechanisms and capabilities. It was the culmination…
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Cry my beloved country
Responding to the Scenario of ICG, is it ever possible to start, “a reconciliation with non-reconcilable devil”? The International Crises Group(ICG) is telling us that it is probable. But how credible, one might ask them! Let us see the scenario that our friends at the ICG are trying to draw to save the naked Emperor. See “Africa Report N°200,…
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Ethar relief: Good News
“ The Mercy” Project carried out by Ethar Relief, continues at the refugee Camp of Um Gherghour. About a year ago Ethar Relief started the project to build a secondary school for girls in Um Ghergour. However the project was not initiated due to lack of sufficient funding at the time. We would like to…
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Unfiltered Notes: “I Am Thinking Now”
After a fulfilling career at Microsoft, Patrick Awuah returned to his native Ghana to start Ashesi University with the goal of cultivating ethical leadership and innovative thinking for a new Africa. A month after starting the project, he received an email from a student which he says almost moved him to tears. The student’s email…
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In Memory Of Chinau Achebe: “Things Fall apart.”
Chinua Achebe’s “Things fall apart” is a milestone of African literature: Starting in the 1950s, Achebe was central to a new Nigerian literary movement that drew on the oral traditions of Nigeria’s indigenous tribes. Although Achebe writes in English, he attempts to incorporate Igbo vocabulary and narratives. Other novels include: No Longer At Ease (1960),…
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Forto 2013: A Matter of Perspective
There has recently been a spate of articles about the recent rare phenomena that occurred at Forto Baldisera, the building that houses the Ministry of Information of the current ruling class, the PFDJ. The stories are varied and many and variously categorize the incident as an “attempted coup d’etat”, “A putsch”, “a supplication to the…
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Perspective On Forto 2013
Eritreans For Democracy, Justice and Equality (EDJE) There is no doubt that the event of January 21, 2013 in Asmara will remain one of the most important and most controversial in the Eritrean political arena for a long time to come. This is due to its uniqueness, quantitatively by the involvement of a far greater number…
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Isaias Afwerki Deals With His Regime’s Suicide Note
The goal of all authoritarian leaders is to create a state that does not have alternative power centers or breeding grounds for a leader to emerge and to challenge them. In Eritrea, the institutions which incubated emerging leaders were traditional, religious, civil society, and the military. After a 50 year-long assault by secular fundamentalists, social…