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Cold War Ended, Hot War Continues
The 20th century is very much defined by the cold war that continued from 1947 to 1991. For Eritreans however, that period was not cold at all, it was a never-ending cycle of violence, bloodshed and social displacement. In 1991 the general mood was optimistic as the end of the cold war introduced alluring terms like…
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GEAN Adopts Four Core Eritrean Issue
On December 26-27, 2015, an Eritrean conference was convened in Cypress, California. The two-day conference was the first public event that the Global Eritrean Advocacy Network (GEAN) organized after “extensive deliberations and consultations with many Eritrean entities and individuals.” According to a press release sent to Gedab News, the two-day conference was organized “on the…
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መንግስቲ ኤርትራ ብገበኑ ተኣሚኑ
The Eritrean Government Admits Its Banking Blunder
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Tunisian Model: Analogical Reasoning for Eritrea’s Democratic Transition
“We shall patiently bear the trials that fate impose on us. We shall work for others without rest” [Anton Chekhov, from his letter to Vanya,1899]. Introduction Emerging democratic governments in the third world would certainly have to confront a legacy of poverty, illiteracy, militarization, a society with multicultural mistrusts, and underdevelopments, that are caused by…
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The Intellectual Leader Osman Saleh Sabbe
All Eritrean martyrs have a story behind them. In addition, we have the disabled, crippled and deformed survivors to remind Eritreans of the hell they went through. Eritreans need them. Yes, they need them around… for they need to be reminded about the sufferings and the price they had to pay for self-determination and freedom. Individual Martyrs are representatives…
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The Saleh Younis Reader: His Craft and Politics
I would bet that most people if asked to introduce Saleh Younis, they would just say one sentence: Saleh Younis does not need introduction. I disagree. He needs a lot of introduction. And if you want to talk about both his craft and politics, the introduction will be excruciatingly long. So I will skip the…
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Eritrea 2015: Feels Like Eritrea 2002
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) just released its annual Human Development Report and Eritrea is ranked third from bottom, next to Central African Republic and Niger, in Human Development Index (HDI). HDI is a qualify of life index which measures factors that contribute to developing human capacity and the conditions for their development: how…
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Ethiopia And the Ghosts Of The Ancien-Regime
For the last few weeks, a spate of heightened unrest engulfed the Ethiopian Oromiya region protesting against urban encroachment on farmlands and expressing fear instigated by land-grabbing investments. Simultaneously, another unrest was raging in the Amhara region; it is related to the identity demands of the Qmant people. In both areas scores of people lost their…
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Kebire, The Father Of Eritrean Martyrs
In the forties, when Kebire was assassinated, Eritreans were divided into two major political blocs: one advocating unity with Ethiopia and another opting for independence. Each bloc believed to own the truth and fiercely struggled to destroy the other bloc. In the process, Eritreans lost Eritrea, which slipped between their fingers. It took Eritreans tens…
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EU Pays For What It Imported From Isaias
The men and women in the European Union first did what all bureaucracies do: they dithered for months, then they did what Europeans always do: they gave a tyrant a much needed lifeline, siding with the PFDJ, a group of criminals not unlike the Mafia, who are tormenting the Eritrean people. With the 200 million,…
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Distribution Of New Eritrean ID Cards In The Diaspora
In October 2014, the Eritrean Government announced it will retire the old Eritrean national ID cards that were issued before the referendum of 1993 and replace them with new ID cards. The announcement had indicated the new ID will be digitally printed, unlike the old ID that was hand written. According to government sources, the…
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San Bernardino: In Memory of Issac Amanios
Isaac Amanios Gebreslassie, 60, was tragically taken from us on Wednesday December 2, 2015 in San Bernardino, California. He was one of the 14 killed in the mass shootings by two radical Islamists. Isaac was born to Aregash Emnetu and Gebreslassie Amanios on June 29, 1955 in Adi Merkeja, Eritrea. He attended San Gorgio high…
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The Great Relapse
Many people pooh-pooh character assassination. And rightly so, but the same people are indifferent about the assassination on life. Both character assassination and life assassination are rampant in PFDJ’s Eritrea. But the moment one harshly criticizes a PFDJ or a former PFDJ higher ranking official, he is accused of character assassination: “that is low, aim…
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UHURU: An Eritrean Cry From Nairobi
This edition of Negrit comes in two sections. The first is about the journey that culminated in the convening of the Nairobi meeting; the second is a postscript. I believe many are expecting my personal reaction to the “Veto” exercised against my attendance by Andeberhan at the final session of the Nairobi meeting. Indeed they might expect…
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Currency Change: An Absurd Tipping Point For Disobedience
It is absurd to expect the currency change to be a tipping point for disobedience. In keeping with its founding principles of inflicting the utmost suffering on our people, the PFDJ once again sent shock waves in Eritrea by announcing the currency change. Both the clueless and those in the know offered their conjectures, but…
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Naud: The Legendary Founder Of Haraka
He is one of the fiery youngsters of the pre-armed-struggle era; a major personality of the late fifties and sixties. He is the visionary who saw beyond the Federation. An astute politician who planned ahead of time in preparation to the day when Haile Sellasie, as he foresaw, would abort the federation. He is the founder of the…
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The Adi-Mengonti Speech: A Commentary And Translation
Commentary: I am a jealous person, but it is not what you are thinking. I am jealous as in “zeyqen’e ay’yweled”, jealous as in, “I am a jealous God.” Both are positive attributes. The Eritrean adage challenges us to seek higher accomplishments by emulating others without malice, and God’s jealousy springs from giving something that…
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Tesemma, The Lion Of Maareba
The history of Eritrea in the forties cannot be remembered without mentioning the Independence Block. And that cannot be mentioned without remembering Ras Tessema Asmerom. The independence block played an important role in the struggle against Eritrea’s unconditional unity with Ethiopia. Tessema Asmerom, a member of the Akele-Guzai nobility, was exposed to limited traditional church…
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Mzungu Herman Cohen Whitesplains Eritrea, Africa
The problem is that Cohen is a relic of the Cold War era. He comes from a period of time where American diplomats had no compulsion about advising an African country to annex another African country as he, admittedly, did in advising Senegal to annex The Gambia. He comes from a period where “culture” is…
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From The Teachings Of The Late WelWel
The following was translated by the Awate Team and published as part of the set of launching content of awate.com in September 1, 2000. The late Ato Woldeab Woldemariam was a lifetime teacher, and a great debater. His Commitments to individual freedom, democracy and justice were as unshakable as his commitments to the unity of…
