Tag: eritrea
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Do Eritreans Envy Tigray?
Envy is a human trait; however, most people are often envious of people they know. They are rarely envious of people they don’t know or are geographically far removed from them. What’s the difference between envy and jealousy? Are they basically rooted on superstitions? I am not sure if the evil eye is envy or…
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The Eritrean Dilemma with Its President
Isaias Afwerki. The most mentioned. The most criticized. The most admired, and at the same time, the most despised. He’s a prominent character in most dialogues, debates and discussions among Eritreans. Some admire him as the most accomplished person because he successfully led the struggle for the independence of Eritrea. To others, he’s notorious for…
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The myth of the “pure Eritrean.”
Eritrea, given its strategic location on the Red Sea, has been a gate to Africa and a destination for various migrants and seekers of better opportunities. Eritrea’s association with migration goes deep in history and the Eritrean ethnic composition was formulated over centuries of migrations, intermarriages, and resettlements. Beginning with the indigenous communities who mingled…
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The Era of Flashy Pastors
Parents miss their children. Aunt Lemlem had two sons, Saleh and Arabi, who left for Egypt for education, leaving the parents alone in the house. Arabi died soon, but Saleh occasionally wrote them letters addressed to our postbox #39, which I delivered to them. Aboy Berhe was the postmaster; his assistant, Tekheste, received the letter-bag…
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The Massawa-Mekele-Addis-Ababa Railway
Back in the day, aboy Tewelde had a masonry stone hauling truck. To this day, no car company has built a truck like it. It was slow, therefore it doesn’t need brakes, it’ didn’t have lights because it moved only during the day; it didn’t have hoot because aboy Tewelde would take his head out…
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Like Rip Van Winkle!
How long has it been since you left your home country? Are your memories intact? Do you have friends and family you keep in touch with? Maybe your childhood friends or your relatives? Do you tear up or burst into tears with nostalgia, especially when you hear songs, or mundane events that remind you of…
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The Dilemma of Eritrean Diaspora Movements – Article review
“The Eritrean Diaspora Opposition Movements: Obstacles and Challenges”, A Master thesis, Linné University, Sweden, by Berhane Kidane, spring term, 2022. “Eritrea Diaspora pro-democracy Blue Revolution movement: From where to Where”, by Aron Hagos Tesfai, published by Martin Plaut, March 21, 2024. Defining the issue The Master thesis by Berhane Kidane (2022) and the short history…
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Broken News
There’re two types of narcotics: Downers cause depression, insomnia, and melancholy; Uppers cause euphoria, excitement, and relaxation. When intoxicated, some laugh hysterically for no reason; others become miserable. They may remember incidents from the past—my great-great-grandmother died—and cry. When I was a kid, I lost a pair of shoes and cried. The sun is too…
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Biniam Girmay: He was ours and he’s still ours
The three-card Monte, known to us as Telate-werega, is a classical swindling trick. There is also the wheel of fortune, known as shertek bertek in some areas, and shetekh-betekh in others. That is the localized pronunciation from the Arabic shortek-bekhtek, meaning ‘your decision and luck.’ Close to the grand Mosque in Agordat, crowds gathered…
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The Eritrean Ruling Party Apologizes to Meley
Twelve years ago, a creative friend came up with a T-shirt design of the original Eritrean flag; I used it as my profile. Facebook has a Memories section where it brings up old posts. You can either ignore it to be forgotten or give it a new life by commenting on it. That is what…
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The Horn of Africa States Ethiopia’s Undiplomatic Faux Pas
It was always clear that Ethiopia’s false historical narrative would one day catch up with it. The country that was Abyssinia adopted Africa’s historical Greek name, Ethiopia, in 1932. It currently proves every sunrise and every sunset that it cannot hold the many nations it had held together by force in the past. The war…
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Is Eritrea’s Economy Vibrant?
Gerghis Drar’s is an Eritrean who presents basic financial tutorials—stock market, retail consumer financing, investments, debts, and politics. That caught my attention and I have been following him for a while. A few months ago, when the PFDJ propaganda started to proliferate aggressively, I thought it was time to confront the misleading propaganda with facts—a…
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The Horn of Africa States The Need Beyond the Narrow Mindset
Favoritism is a disease that causes immense damage to any organization, country, or region. It takes competency out of the equation, and if one goes back to history, one will note that any leader who used favoritism as a guide to his/her leadership by appointing friends, loyal people, and family members in key positions in…
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Will they die or be martyred?
Listening or reading Negarit requires patience, please bring some additional patience from your storage. If you are short-tempered, with little or no patience, please pretend you are patient. Talking like responsible adults is fun. My next few episodes might be a bit unsettling for some; I am planning a sequel to address a few issues…
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Is PFDJ Honest or It’s a Gimmick?
“Farmers work the land; Merchants trade in the market (freely).” That profound saying is attributed to the first proclamation the Italian colonization government issued when it established itself in Massawa. Eritreans accepted that wholeheartedly, though it was issued by their colonizers. Sadly, they are denied that freedom by those who supposedly freed them, and that…
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Alemseghed Makes a Pilgrimage to Keren
comments on a speech Alemseged made in Keren.
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The Media is like a midwife: EriSat as an Exhibit
Gambling is risky—sometimes lucky—and “the winner takes it all” is the title of the ABBA song. No one knows the results. If they knew, it wouldn’t be called gambling. And what is happening to EriSat* saddens me. In a way, a court trial is like gambling. Both nemeses believe they are right, but the opponent…
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Will they make peace?
Culturally, Abyssinia still clings to its archaic, arguably primitive, mindset. Attempts at modernization have not yielded the needed results. From early on, the developed West has portrayed the nation as a Christian island amidst a Muslim sea. But the unlimited support and goodwill the developed West provided didn’t help much. Since the Middle Ages, the…
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Music That Resides In Our Memories
The basic translation of the lyrics in the video… The land of goodness, Africa is my country The land of plenty, the land of pride, is my country See the faces of my fathers, And their raised foreheads Principles do not change. I’ll lead the procession and tell the world, “I am African; I am…
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Unsolicited Advice to Brighed N’Hamedu (BNH)
Introduction. The birth of Brighed N’Hamedu (BNH), in Cologne, Germany, in 2022, has greatly energized justice-seeking Eritrean youth in the Diaspora. It has been one of the current encouraging developments. The BNH slogan from” Diaspora to Asmara” has given a renewed hope and breath of fresh air to all those who aspire to see regime…