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Giants and Lilliputians Part 3: Power, Image, and Machiavellian Survival
Emperor Haile Selassie and President Isaias Afwerki The Formation of Isaias Afwerki’s Political Character Isaias Afwerki’s rule embodies an ancient warning: the freed slave who, once unshackled, becomes a harsher master than the one who bound him. Before the revolution, the only model of leadership he had known was Emperor Haile Selassie—a sovereign whose imperial…
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Gebreberhan Zere and Dowry Jewelry
The late Abdulkadir Ramadan and Tesfay Tekle were conducting TekhliT (dagmay srrE) around Himberti when Tesfay caught my little trick to be assigned to Kebesa. His sharp warning left no room for negotiation. Worse still, my stay in Kebessa was cut short by my dear friend, the late Gebreberhan Zere, who was kidnapped and presumably…
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Giants and Lilliputians: Haile Selassie and President Isaias Afwerki (Part 2)
Power, Image, and Machiavellian Survival: The Body as a Mirror of Power To understand Isaias Afwerki’s psychology, one must first confront the contradiction written across his body. His appearance—spare, stiff, and strangely careless—betrayed none of the humility expected of a revolutionary. Nor did it reflect the ethos of the Tegadelti, whose plainness was once a…
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When Trust Speaks Multiple Languages
The conversation on trust began in Arabic, when Abdulrazig Karrar invited readers to reflect on how a wounded public might rebuild its moral ground. His words, published in Adoulis, stirred more than sentiment. They reopened an old question: how can a people fractured by suspicion and silence learn again to live in truth? I responded in…
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The Beni Amretay Boy in Saharti
A struggle-era picture has resurfaced with confusion for some years, and I promised to clarify a few points in an episode. Today I am fulfilling that promise and will continue to do so in subsequent installments. The series will be rich with information and anecdotes: my meeting with the late Petros Solomon and Ali Sayed…
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الشروط التي تتطلبها جهود بناء الثقة
تذكرني حالة شبابنا اليوم بمسرحية مرت علي في حياتي الدراسية، وهي مسرحية “ Look Back in Anger – انظر خلفك في غضب”، من تأليف الكاتب البريطاني “جون أوزبورن- John Osborne، والتي عُرضت لأول مرة سنة 1956 في لندن. وفي محاولة لإعطاء فكرة عامة عن هذه المسرحية، تُعدّ المسرحية من أبرز الأعمال التي دَشَّنتْ لما يُعرف…
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Conditions Required for Trust-Building Efforts
The state of our youth today reminds me of a play I came across during my time as a student: Look Back in Anger, by British writer John Osborne, which premiered in London in 1956. To give a general overview of this play, it is considered one of the most prominent works that launched the…
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ምርቃ ኣብ ጎደናታት ኣስመራ
ኣስመራ ንግሆ ክትንገድ ዘለዋ ከተማ ተባሂላ ክትፍለጥ ኣለዋ እንዳ በልኩ፡ ኢደይ ኣብ ጁባይ ኣእትየ ከይሰልቸወኒ ኣብ ዕድል ዝረኸብክለን ንግሆ ሸናዕ ምባል ደስታ እዩ ከሕድረለይ ቐንዩ። ሎሚ ንግሆ ምስ ነዚ ህዱእ፡ ዝሕል ዝበለ፡ ኣብ ናይ 50ታትን ቅድሚኡን ዝተሰርሓ መካይን ድሮ ከም ንቡር ነገር ገይረዮስ ቅሊሕ ከይበልኩ ጽባቕኤን ምስ‘ቲ ናይ ቀደም ህንጻታትን ጽሩይ ጎደናታትን መቀረትን ቀመምን እትውስኸሉ…
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Power, Image, and Machiavellian Survival: Emperor Haile Selassie and President Isaias Afwerki
Two Towering Figures–Giants and Lilliputians (Part 1) Across the sorrowful and entangled histories of Ethiopia and Eritrea, two figures loom with spectral intensity: Emperor Haile Selassie I and President Isaias Afwerki. Their shadows stretch across generations, ideologies, and geopolitical fault lines—each a master of power, each a paradox incarnate. At the outset of their reigns,…
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Muslim and Catholic Fatimas
Most Eritreans do not know about the Eritrean Black St. Mary, but many have heard of Mariam Daari, the Black icon of St. Mary. I’m not sure whether it was carved from black stone or molded from some other material. The beautiful icon lives in a vast, hollowed baobab tree on the banks of the…
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Netsereab Azazi’s Book—Ona and Besekdira
I have written and spoken about Ona—a turning point in my life and among my peers. I thought that experience was as intense as life could get. Reliving those events shakes a person to the core; it is a deeply traumatic experience. What I saw remains etched in my memory. When something stirs those recollections,…
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The Tenth Anniversary of the ELF Reunion and Reflection
Honoring the Past, Inspiring the Future Dallas, Texas | October 3–5, 2025 In a hall radiant with camaraderie, sibling affection, and the joy of long-awaited embraces, the tenth anniversary of the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) Reunion and Reflection unfolded under the theme “Honoring the Past and Inspiring the Future.” Held in Dallas, Texas, the gathering…
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ኣስመራ ምንጪ ሕውስዋስ ስምዒት
ዓርቢ ንግሆ፡ “ቀይሕ ዘመን” ናይ ተስፋዮ ገብርኣብ ኣብ ኢደይ ሒዘ ናብ‘ታ ኣብ ፊት ህዝባዊ ቤት ንባብ ዘላ እንዳ ቡን ይኸይድ ኣለኹ። ንግሆ ኣዙዩ ጸጥታ ዝሰፈኖ፡ ኩሎም ሰባት ካብ ዓራቶም ዝወደቁ እዮም ዝመስሉ። ገጾም ዘይትሓጽቡ ቆልዑ፡ ንቁርሲ ዝኸውን ባንን ካልእን ክገዝኡ፡ ገንዘብ ጠቅሊሎም ዓሙኾም ናብ ዱኳናት ይኸዱ። ሓደ ኮምፕላሴን ዓይነት ፒጃማ ገይሩ ኣእማን እንዳ ቀልዐ ዝኸይድ…
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The Faucet Festival
A satirical take on Isaias Afwerki’s mysterious faucet sculpture, comparing it to Pharaoh Khufu’s pyramid and the Syrian comedy “Faucet Festival” to highlight Eritrea’s forced labor and cult of leadership.
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The Refugee Act of 1980 and the Quiet Burial of the ELF
The U.S. Refugee Act of 1980 is occasionally invoked—most notably by Eritreans, and rarely in writing, and, at least, once in an Amharic-language book by Ethiopian politician and author Gebru Asrat (a page of which was translated for me)—as evidence of a deliberate American strategy to dismantle the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF). These claims, though…
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Reflection on the North Star
Editor’s note: the byline data is corrupted; so far we couldn’t resolve the technical problem. The writer of this article is Semere Andom (iSem). Last week, I had the privilege of joining a group of friends to read and reflect on Mekonen Tesfay’s book The North Star: The Biography of Dr. Fitsum. Here is the…
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Blame It on Moses
A young student and her classmate graduated together; she became a geography teacher, while her bright classmate was quickly absorbed into Abiy Ahmed’s party and appointed PR director of the Ethiopian Air Force. Today, he is hailed as an inspirational figure in that institution. By all accounts, he is doing a marvelous job. Recently, however,…
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Ts’əmdi and Ts’imdo: Joined for Utility, Not Unity
In the semi-fertile soil of Tigrinya, the words ጽምዲ (Ts’əmdi) and ጽምዶ (Ts’imdo) bloom with layered meaning—practical, poetic, and political. Both conjure the image of two entities alloyed together, yet their applications diverge across the rhythms of life. ጽምዲ, as in ጽምዲ ብዕራይ, refers to two oxen yoked to plough a field—a necessity for poor…
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Refugees Speak Back: Unsettling Exile and Home
In 2007, the Red Sea Press published Sadia Hassanen’s Repatriation, Integration, or Resettlement? The Dilemmas of Migration among Eritrean Refugees in Eastern Sudan. Based on her doctoral dissertation, the book quickly became one of the most important studies of Eritrean refugees in Kassala and surrounding camps. It asked a simple yet unsettling question: what or where…
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Penicillin Overdose Killed the Camel
Dr. Abiy Ahmed keeps me thinking these days, though not in the way I wanted to. During the struggle era, when there were not enough qualified doctors, dressers and nurses became doctors by default. Their kit was modest: a few vials of penicillin for wounds and infections, chloroquine for malaria, and vitamin K and blood…
