Category: Articles
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Education not Incarceration: Build Schools not Prisons
Education is central to Eritrean culture. During the 30 year revolutionary struggle Eritrean nationalists made a conscious effort to formally educate the villages they sought refuge in. Amongst a chaotic backdrop of air raids and gunfire, mobile workshops and literacy programs were run to empower local women, children and potential fighters (Rena, 2007; Pool, 1997). In the hearts and minds of nationalists, a literate population was seen…
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Spirit of Unquestioned Domination Should be Defeated
“Look in the mirror, and don’t be tempted to equate transient domination witheither intrinsic superiority or prospects for extended survival.”(Stephen Jay Gould, September 1941-May 2002) As Eritrean communities and citizens, it is very difficult for us to see the mistaken assumptions we have when it comes to people who are different from ourselves. How…
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Unmasking The Ethnocratic Regime: Statement Of Support For The Covenant
As Eritrea’s 19th Independence Day anniversary draws near (with no end in sight to our people’s suffering) and as the opposition’s long-awaited national conference approaches, we cannot help but reflect back over the great opportunity that was lost in “post independence” era. For almost two decades, we have lived through one anniversary after another each…
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Activities In Toronto, Canada
TORONTO ACTION is a coalition of civic and political organizations, namely EriForum, Qalna, and the Toronto Branch of EDA A contingency of Toronto Action setup a picket line on Saturday, May 15, 2010 at the foot of a high rise building, where the repressive Eritrean regime maintains an office in Toronto. Reaction from taxi…
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Eritrean Forum For Human Rights-Special Issue
SPECIAL EDITION ISAIAS AFWERKI’S RESUME AS PRESIDENT OF ERITREA Honour the spirit of the Martyrs. Speak, act and fight for those who have no voice. 1993: Only two months after independence, Isaias orders the forced transport of 12, 000 disabled freedom fighters to concentration camps outside of Asmara. While marching to Asmara for…
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What If EPDP Reversed Its Decision On The National Conference
It is commonly said that there is no problem without a solutions; and dialogue is the noblest and the most mature of these solutions. Dialogue is a civilized feature in finding a solutions for problems that faces a society and the nation if [parties] agreed on that as a means [to resolve problems]. …
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A Conference Of The Willing!
Unless those who have opted to dissent change course on short notice and rejoin the collective effort, the convening of the National Conference for Democratic Change (NCDC) in late July of this year appears to have become the business of the willing only. With the exception of one out of eleven member organizations, the EDA…
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The Paradox: Heralding A Soft Resistance
In its Unification Conference, The Eritrean Democratic Alliance invited some members of the Eritrean Civic Societies as observers. The invitation was considered a positive step in the right direction and a historic achievement though a tiny fraction of what Eritreans aspire. The members of the civic societies were to the expectations of our people; they played…
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Reflections On Gender And Nationalism In Eritrea
Each year, on the 24th of May Eritreans celebrate independence day. The celebration symbolises the spirit of freedom, peace as well as respect and dignity of the citizens of the country. For Most Eritreans this day that marks the end of what they had suffered in subjugation and the end of war that brought their…
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Eritrean Law Society Held Talks With Human Rights Watch
As a continuation of its ongoing effort to meet and establish working partnership with different organizations that share its goals and objectives, the Eritrean Law Society met and held talks with Human Rights Watch. On the part of ELS, the meeting was attended by chairman Michael Andegeorgis, Journalist Milkias M Yohannes and ELS treasurer…
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An Analysis Of The Crisis Of The Opposition
This article is written with the upcoming National Conference for Democratic Change as a background. After a long hiatus from writing in the Internet sites except for transient events necessitated by the need to (1), I decided to write again. Since writing at this time, without addressing the issue of the National Conference for…
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Truth Telling, Painful At That
Last Tuesday April 27th 2010, there was a conference held at the national press club in Washington DC. The event was organized by the press advocacy group reporters sans frontiers (rsf) and the national press club under the banner “truth tellers”. Eritrean independent journalist Milkias Mihretab Yohannes was the speaker at the event. Milkias, shares…
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A Tale of Two Cities London Peace Conference
I was born and grew up in an ex-British colony– Eritrea, the first time I saw a British person was in my village, the Manager of the Agricultural scheme ( S.I.A.). I remember that even the local games we were playing as kids were of British background( cricket& Rugby). Then I migrated to another ex-British…
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London’s Attractions And The Eritrean-Ethiopian Love Affair
Every time an individual or an organisation sets an agenda (convenes a conference for example), Eritreans in the opposition camp get distracted and waste a lot of resources and energy in trying to understand the motives; they might support it, oppose it, or even go as far as condemning it. It becomes like suspense TV…
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Unmasked: Enforcers of Nehnan Alamanan
Political forces that are truly determined to change a social order, which is cruelly unjust, and build a fair society that enables the people to catch up with the civilized world, has a point of departure from which they should start their long journey. The most logical point of departure is standing against the legacies…
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Healthy communication: A cornerstone for viable solution
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us” Oliver Wendell Holmes Communication is the activity or process of expressing ideas and feelings or of giving people information; it is through different channels of communication that human beings create conflicts and resolutions, they can unite…
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Beyond Antipathy
Beyond Antipathy: The Concluding Part of Religion, Nationalism and Ethno-regional Politics Much of the public discourse among Eritreans has been characterized by acrimonious exchange of tirades. The underlying spirit in such exchanges can be summed up as antipathy. A legacy of pseudo-Marxist ideology of “class struggle,” which was espoused by a generation of Eritreans that…
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A Matter of Perspective: Ali Salim, the Thorn in Our Side
In the recent past it seems to have become fashionable to write (debate perhaps will be a better word) about the ethnic, religious and cultural divide in Eritrea. I have in the past intermittently touched on this sensitive subject, specially when I become agitated as I always am, at what in my own infantile way…
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London Peace Conference: A Hidden Agenda?
received an invitation from the preparatory committee (PC) of the peace conference which is planned to convene in London May 21st and 23rd of 2010. I did not receive a written agenda, but some friends told me that the issue of priority is: Eritrean—Eritrean dialogue. I found that interesting, at least one can exchange…
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Mogogo Adhanet: Baking Fresh Lies
Whenever mogogo is mentioned, the image of injera, zigni or gogo immediately flashes in the mind of Eritreans, but the narration of today is about a different mogogo that has a special task. This unique mogogo is distinguished from the other traditional mogogos by the name of its highly skilled baker and owner that is…