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Critical Thinking and Critical Dialogue in A Plural Society like Eritrea
Critical Thinking and Critical Dialogue in A Plural Society like Eritrea Call it serendipity or call it a delightful coincidence, right at the time when the discussion at Awate.com is revolving around discourse and its discursive elements, dialogue and its attendant tentacles, there comes a presenter who seems to be telling us to consider something…
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Can Eritreans have A Genuine Dialogue?
If “epistemology deals with systems of knowing” as Delgado Bernal (2002) stipulates, to which it is not that difficult to readily concur and its “interconnected[ness] to critical discourse can’t be that far off either. It would then stand to reason that intersectionality from one methodological practice used in a field of endeavor will find an…
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Negarit 225: Remembering The Unforgotten
What does it mean to remember a martyr when their images haunt us day in and day out? Do we really forget them that we need someone to remind us of them? And why is remembering a martyr so mechanical—why do we carry candles and shout empty slogans, suwaatna bkhbri yezekeru, and stuff like that?…
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From the archives: How About Then?
[Editor’s note: This article was published on August 14, 2010, it’s being republished] …And my companion subscribed to it in his own name and-with a smile-in mine too, stretched his right arm up along the wall and leaned his cheek upon it, shutting his eyes. But I did not wait to see the end of that…
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Eritrea: From NHnana Elamanan to Liberation to Ber Al-Aman
Eritrea: From NHnana Elamanan (1971) to Liberation (1991) to Bar Al Aman (2021) The men of philosophy and of literature from centuries past encapsulate history as an “essential struggle between two sets of forces, the forces of liberty and the forces of despotism” (Shelley’s Poetry and Prose, 1977) but weren’t as quick to draw cause…
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Negarit 224: Enough and Not-Enough
Every time I attend an event, I report to my audience about the event and my general observation-I hope you do not expect a serious boring reportage. This time my travel was so hectic, mainly because it included the Atlanta Airport which they should have called railway station. I do not like that airport, not…
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Civil and Military (Negarit 223)
The most serious social problem in many countries, including the Horn of Africa, is that the nations are so militarized. That has led to the morphing of the military life in the civilian space. And since the regimes depend on brute forces as an alternative to a legitimate governing mandate, military behavior and attitude take…
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Donkey-Kick Diplomacy
Isaias started his latest speech on the occasion of the 32nd Anniversary of the Independence of Eritrea as follows: “allow me to express my congratulations to the people of Eritrea inside the country and abroad, as well as to the friends of Eritrea and all free peoples in the world.” “The Free people of the…
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Eritrean Refugees in Ethiopia Brace for the Rainy Season
Eritrean refugees at Alemwach refugee camp in Gondar are bracing for another uncomfortable rainy season. Some of the camp’s residents came as children in Tigray escaping from Eritrea. The refugees fled from the Tigray camps amidst the Ethiopian civil war that raged between Tigray’s regional government and the Ethiopian federal government forces with its allied…
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Awate’s Critical National Service, The Public Duty To Help Sustain It
A Funding Proposal by Bereket Habte Selassie The Reason for this proposal I have been a regular reader of Awate.com. The quality and variety of its service has been striking and commendable, making it one of the premier (if not the premier) Media among Eritrea’s Diaspora Media and community. The quality of its offerings reflects…
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The Rise and Fall of Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF)
It was unimaginable for the Ethiopian people to accept “a blatant miscarriage of justice” – specifically over the awarding of Badme to Eritrea. Badme was symbolically important and the casus belli for the two years’ war. The decision is thus a recipe for continued instability, and even recurring wars… nothing worthwhile can, therefore, be expected…
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Critical Discourse Analysis
“I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.”…
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China’s Great Wall, Eritrea’s Fence Wall
Last Saturday, Isaias hastily met the Sudanese envoy Ambassador Daffalah, and soon left for China. Not many discussed that visit, but many Eritrean (and Ethiopian) social media platforms were buzzing with Isaias’ visit to China. The Eritrean fence wall concluded his visit and has already returned home. PFDJ media and its affiliate trolls were so…
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Independence Day Blues and Illegitimate Rulers
On the occasion of the approaching Eritrean Independence Day, I would like to suggest some meaningful activities. Eritreans have danced enough despite the sufferings. They celebrated Independence Day religiously, always counting, and now we have reached the 32nd anniversary. What does numbers mean if the real oppression is ignored and we only focus on the…
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Book Review: The Burden of Exile
This is a review by Bereket Habte Selassie of the recently published book, “THE BURDEN OF EXILE” by Aaron Berhane. I. The Heroic Pioneer He had been an icon, at once inspired and inspiring. His friends and former collaborators never tired of singing his praise as a dedicated fighter for democracy and freedom of the…
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Unelected President, Imposed Pundit
Isais Afwerki of Eritrea: an unelected dictator tells Sudan how to solve their problems
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The Bloody African Horn Region
This week, both Eid and Fasiga came a few days apart; on this occasion, I wish Christians and Muslims who finished Lent and Ramadan, Happy Holidays time. Hopefully, the fasting cleared some bad air and you will have spiritually fulfilling days ahead. For Eritreans, when Christian and Muslim feasts coincide, they become optimistic believing it…
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Sudan Borrowed the Coal Fire From Ethiopia
The events that have damaged Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Somalia for decades is still devastating the entire region. While some of those in power leave others fixed to the chairs and don’t seem to be leaving at all. Sadly, the people who have no power, die, kill, lose their properties, and jump from one confrontation…
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Katanga and Welkait Wars
A few days ago, I read an article by Ahmed Suleiman (Chatham House) in which he examined the Sesame supply chain around the Welkait region. It reminded me of Welkait that I knew about since childhood, and I decided to write and talk about it. In 1960 the region of Katanga under the leadership of…
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Eritrea’s Mendelai (መንደላይ), Manhood & Cobra
Author and singer Melake Abraham’s song entitled Mendelay, with close to 3 million views on YouTube, popularized the word Mendelay. Mendelai ending in “ai” will be used throughout this article for reasons the reader will understand. Based on the lyrics, and an interview of the video producer Daniel Teame, Mendelai was used in its Tigrigna…
