Category: Al-Nahda
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Eritrea: Caught In A Trap
We are stuck in a rut, going nowhere fast, running on a treadmill. There is this crushing familiarity from the headlines of the Eritrean state media; the announcements of the opposition organizations; the polemic writings of the writers; the readers’ responses to the writers; and the non-response of those who have opted to disengage. I could
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Eritrean Regime’s Narrative Runs Into The Wall Of Reality
“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.” Philip K. Dick The best way to understand reality has been to contrast it with what it is not: imaginary and false. But that is not as easy as it sounds for reality, like knowledge, is always evolving and, like knowledge, is
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The Eritrean Scream
This was going to be the second installment of the Eritrean Spring, of events from ten years ago, but comes now a horrific story in the here and now, an Eritrean Scream. We Eritreans have the capacity to be shocked still, which was a shock to me: Over 200, nearly 400 Eritreans died as their
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Eritrean Spring: Oqbe Abraha Edition
This being ten years after 2001, I have been thinking a great deal about what happened in Eritrea ten years ago. Ten years ago, there was a conflict: on the one side, you had journalists, reformers, students, the elderly, ordinary citizens all politely and peacefully requesting modest changes; and on the other side you had
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To The East! To The East!
My New Year resolution (which usually lasts all of January) was to get all my news and entertainment from Eri-TV because I heard a true believer explain, with conviction, that Isu-TV provides him with all the entertainment, domestic and international news he needs because he just likes a source that hits and swerves the truth.
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Isaias Afwerki And The Eritrean People (Part 3 of 3)
Does our different background translate to different “attitudes and subsequent behavior”? Does our religious, regional, ethnic identity trump our generic national identity? What is the emotive hierarchy among religious, regional and ethnic identities? Say anything negative about things you observe in your own ethnicity, region or religion and you are a self-hating whatever-you-are; say anything…
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Isaias Afwerki And The Eritrean People (Part 2 of 3)
To recap, in Part 1, this column argued that one of the primary reasons that Eritrea is in the mess it is in, is because of the Isaiasness of Isaias Afwerki. Thanks to wikileaks, the whole world is now getting a much more detailed, and frightening, glimpse of what every Eritrean knows: that the man
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Isaias Afwerki And The Eritrean People – Part 1
Would the same Isaias Afwerki, but born a Somali, be able to acquire and hold on to dictatorial power for decades in Somalia? Would any Eritrean who didn’t possess the traits of Isaias Afwerki but had strong dictatorial ambitions be able to acquire and hold on to dictatorial power in Eritrea for decades?
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Win, Lose Or Draw? ICG Always Says “Draw”
Consequently, the ICG reports were always famous for their string of non sequiturs. Their conclusions could never be supported by the premise. And the latest one, with or without Andeberhan, is no exception. So, whereas the government supporters are questioning the premise (without going to the details or bothering to present counter arguments), the real…
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Awate.com
National Conference: An Affirmation Of Eritrea’s Founding Principles
Yemane Gebreab, the political director of Eritrea’s ruling party, the PFDJ (who is also a “special advisor” to President Isaias Afwerk), was being interviewed by Swedish TV earlier this month. The interviewer wanted to know, among other things: what was the crime of Swedish-Eritrean journalist Dawit Isaak who is in detention since 2001? Is he
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Of Kings And Bandits: A Book Review
“Of Kings And Bandits” is described by its author as the story of Jemal, a young Eritrean boy who grows up in the “garrison town” of Keren, in the heart of Eritrea, in the crossfire between governmental and rebel forces. The title of the book harkens to Steinbeck’s Of Mice And Men, which is a
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From Each According To His Bahli…
On June 2nd, awate.on-forge.com’s Gedab News broke the news (you are most welcome) that the government of Qatar brokered an agreement between the governments of Eritrea and Djibouti. It took five days (June 7th) for Somaliland (Somalilandpress.com) to confirm the news, 6 days (June 8th) for Qatar and Djibouti to follow suit, and then the
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The Shitara Code
You know those kids who stood outside movie theatres and told the patrons that they were only 5 cents short of the admissions price and could they please get help when, in fact, all they had was 5 cents? You remember those who ate beles “ny sania”: standing in front of the fruit vendor, they
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Neither A Blessing Nor A Short-Cut
Isaias Afwerki, the Muscle Man, model 1966, is a lot like the muscle cars of the 1960s: you never know whether it is a classic worthy of restoration or a piece of junk that should be sent to the junk yard. For muscle cars you need mechanics and for muscle men you need adversarial journalists.
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Change We Can’t Believe In
Does the UN sanction (actually, santions) target the Eritrean regime or the State of Eritrea? To answer the question, let’s assume that the PFDJ is no longer the ruling party in Eritrea and that it has been replaced by a democratically elected government. Let’s now look at the sanctions: (1) the travel ban on named
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“Wey Gud” Is Not A Good Strategy
Writing for dehai.org and, undoubtedly speaking for many Eritreans, the astute and well-read Ghidewon Abay Asmerom has dismissed the role of Uganda in slapping sanctions on Eritrea as that of an unwitting ally of Ethiopia. “Such behavior henceforth should be called “the Uganda Syndrom[e],” he offered, and then, “As for this author, all what I
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What Springs Eternal
My business partner just sued me for a $1,000,000. He says we have a deal, detailed in a contract, in black and white, signed in front of witnesses and it is time for me to pay up. I have an airtight defense, so perfect that there is no chance I can lose. What’s that? Of course,
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Injustice & The PFDJ Way
I was introduced to a young Eritrean: Vasco da Gama, was his name. Not his given name of course, but a tribute to his trek from Eritrea to the Land of Milk and Honey, crossing the length of two and half continents. Beware: the quickest way to clear a room with the Vasco da Gamas
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Let’s Build A Monument To Paranoia
I was introduced to a young Eritrean: Vasco da Gama, was his name. Not his given name of course, but a tribute to his trek from Eritrea to the Land of Milk and Honey, crossing the length of two and half continents. Beware: the quickest way to clear a room with the Vasco da Gamas
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Injustice & The PFDJ Way
Justice is derived from customs, culture, and faith, which in civilized societies, are codified into law. Ask a conservative American what his justice system is based on and he will say it is the Judeo-Christian ethic. Not so, will say a progressive American: only two of the Ten Commandments (“thou shalt not murder” and “thou