Category: Articles
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Mai Ule (ማይ ኡለ): A Play
ACT (I) CHARACTERS Ahmed Hillal (ኣሕመድ ሂላል) Abubeker Mohammed Hassen (ኣቡበከር መሓመድ ሓሰን) Hassen Mohammed Amir (ሓሰን መሓመድ ኣሚር) Ahmed Alqeysi (ኣሕመድ ኣልቀይሲ) Sulieman Hindi (ሱለይማን ህንዲ) MihreteAb (ምሕረተኣብ) SETTING: She’eb (ሽዕብ) and environs, mid to late 1971. SCENE: Mai Ule (ማይ ኡለ) river and the hills, mountains in its vicinity. ( Sitting under a shed…
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Defining the Malilya Syndrome
If you are a Tigrinya reader, with no knowledge of Arabic language and with no membership in any of the Eritrean Arabic languages groups on social media, chanting “Yakil”, kindly move to the next article, this reading will guaranteed be a waste of your time. Let me also inform you that I am not a…
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Macbeth: A Noble Man and a Witch
Once upon a time, a witch encountered a noble man and told him that he will be a king one day. The noble man shared this bewitching prophecy with his wife. His wife pressured him to murder the king now to claim the prophesied kingdom. This was from Shakespeare’s play of Macbeth some 400 years…
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25 Years of Disappearance, a Tragedy of a Man or a Nation?
May 1991 was an extraordinary year for all Eritreans. It was the year in which Asmara was liberated and Mengistu’s army was routed. Eritreans were ecstatic, they saw the fruition of their 30 years of struggle and the fulfillment of their dream. Discussions were abound among Eritreans in diaspora about going back home, rebuilding…
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Nobel, a Juxtaposition of Leaders
The Nobel Prize website Summarized the rationale behind the awarding of its prize of 2019 to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in these words: “for his efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation, and in particular for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighboring Eritrea.” Laureates of the past There was no mention of Isaias…
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Post-DC Voices and Identity Politics (Part II)
Introductory note “Countering dominant and hegemonic narratives is the flip-side of being complicit” (Michel Bamberg 2004). [i] In my part I, I promised that I was going to do rhetorical analysis on DC Yiakil Boito based on (mis)representation its detractors. Given the gravity the of the subject and its consequences one feels obliged to react…
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Negarit 55: ቆለ ፈውሲ ፋሺስት – Voodoo treats fascism – الزار يعالج الفاشية
Most of my stories are included in my book “Of Kings and Bandits” Today’s episode is more of a story aba Zarti, Qole, and my experience with it. Now let me say something to my readers who seem to be offended by my repeated mention of the term fascists”. They think I am insulting when…
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Post-DC Voices and Identity Politics (Part I)
Introduction “ይኣክል” or “Enough” is a dynamic grassroots based process around which Eritreans globally are getting organized to make their voices heard and stand up against tyranny. Undoubtedly, the movement is marking visible gains world-wide as the fields of mobilisation get wider with renewed revolutionary fervour. But everything has not been rosy as its critics,…
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The Eritrea’s Enough/Yi’akil Movement – A Way Forward
Since the Enough/Yi’akil campaign was launched about seven months ago, the campaign has garnered support from Eritreans across the world, including from inside Eritrea. The campaign is a grassroots public movement that has no affiliation with established opposition political parties or groups. The campaign is aimed at bringing about peace, justice and democracy in Eritrea…
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Of True, Half and False Revolutions: Perspectives on the Sudanese Uprising
This piece poses three specific and interrelated points: the character of political revolutions; implications of the 2018-2019 Sudanese popular uprising and; a self-questioning note by its author as someone not directly involved in those events. The idea of revolution In its intensity, revolution resembles the forces of nature. Revolution strikes like a quake, storm, tsunami…
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The Challenges of Fair Representation in Eritrean Politics
In early 2019, two Eritrean political events took place within a short period of time. The first was a London conference jointly organized by an NGO group, Eritrea Focus, and Institute of Commonwealth Studies. The second was the national congress of the Eritrean National Council for Democratic Change (ENCDC), held in Sweden. A common criticism…
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ቛንቛ ዓረብ! اللغة العربية Arabic in Eritrea
[Rough transcript of the Negarit 50] First let’s see how we are divided economically. The sedentary, the nomad, and the people of the sea. Each has a different economic development and each has its peculiarities. I might talk about land in this context but now let’s stick to culture whose main component for today is language–Arabic…
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Negarit 49: Byzantine Dialogue ክትዕ በይዘንጣ حوار بيزنطي
Unedited notes for the Episode Byzantine was the Eastern part of the Roman empire–the capital city that was later named Constantinople, and again renamed Istanbul. 1700 years ago, Byzantine was so preoccupied with theological debates, mainly about the nature of Jesus Christ. Does he have one nature of two, or three. As a result of…
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Africa’s Generation 6
In a bid to stay ahead, industrial countries have entered the race to conquering 5G technology. If you are a tech buff, like me, you must have heard, read and/or watched something about the mad competition between countries and companies to master 5G technology and monopolize its market. Some countries are even embarked on full-blown…
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Eritrean Women Condemn Seizure of Catholic Church Clinics in Eritrea
THE ERITREAN WOMEN COALITION IN THE DIASPORA STRONGLY CONDEMNS THE ARBITRARY SEIZURE OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH OWNED HEALTH FACILITIES IN ERITREA The Eritrean Women Coalition strongly condemns the arbitrary seizure of the Catholic Church owned and run health facilities in Eritrea. As part of its broader efforts of dismantling institutions and schools owned by religious…
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Documentary – awate.com: The Journey – ዓዋተ: እቲ ጉዕዞ- عواتي: المسيرة
This is a production of Zantana Productions, a friend of awate.com. It’s a brief history of awate.com–its goals, aspirations, trepidations, and hopes. Please join us in thanking Zantana Productions for the superb job. Note: this production was conceived, initiated, and produced by Zantana Productions. As you know, awate is a labor of love and we admire…
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Negarit 46: ሃቦብላ ኸምሲን Khumasin Dust storm رياح خماسين
Negarit 46: ሃቦብላ ኸምሲን Khumasin Dust storm رياح خماسين Only knowledgeable citizens can solve national problems. Ignorance breeds chaos and disarray. There is no clergy in Islam though over the ages, oppressors have created a class of clergy to help them tighten their grip on the people and secure their oppressive rule. There is no…
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A Letter from a Martyr!
I am an “Asmarino”, born and raised in Asmara. My father was a senior government bureaucrat. We lived in the affluent neighbourhood of “Tiravolo”. I was enrolled in a private Italian school, “Botego”. My father wanted me to be “ingegnere”. He promised me that as soon as I finish my high school, he would send…
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Independence Day Reflections
Friday, May 24, marked the 28th anniversary of Eritrea’s independence from Ethiopia -Eritrea’s proudest and happiest moment when it finally threw off the shackles of colonialism once and for all. The memory evokes in us a sense of liberty and freedom, but as we learned from bitter experience independence does not equal freedom. While freedom…
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Any Stage Has Its Own Color of Discourse
In quest of a solution to the long-lost nation, it is very sad to observe that Eritreans missed the benefit even from modern management systems. Contemporary managements developed a lot of methods, to the extent of selecting the right person for the right position, by using a scientific criterion. In civilized nations, they don’t put…