Category: Articles
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Healthy communication: A cornerstone for viable solution
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us” Oliver Wendell Holmes Communication is the activity or process of expressing ideas and feelings or of giving people information; it is through different channels of communication that human beings create conflicts and resolutions, they can unite
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Beyond Antipathy
Beyond Antipathy: The Concluding Part of Religion, Nationalism and Ethno-regional Politics Much of the public discourse among Eritreans has been characterized by acrimonious exchange of tirades. The underlying spirit in such exchanges can be summed up as antipathy. A legacy of pseudo-Marxist ideology of “class struggle,” which was espoused by a generation of Eritreans that
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A Matter of Perspective: Ali Salim, the Thorn in Our Side
In the recent past it seems to have become fashionable to write (debate perhaps will be a better word) about the ethnic, religious and cultural divide in Eritrea. I have in the past intermittently touched on this sensitive subject, specially when I become agitated as I always am, at what in my own infantile way
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London Peace Conference: A Hidden Agenda?
received an invitation from the preparatory committee (PC) of the peace conference which is planned to convene in London May 21st and 23rd of 2010. I did not receive a written agenda, but some friends told me that the issue of priority is: Eritrean—Eritrean dialogue. I found that interesting, at least one can exchange
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Mogogo Adhanet: Baking Fresh Lies
Whenever mogogo is mentioned, the image of injera, zigni or gogo immediately flashes in the mind of Eritreans, but the narration of today is about a different mogogo that has a special task. This unique mogogo is distinguished from the other traditional mogogos by the name of its highly skilled baker and owner that is
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‘H’Mamate-Christos’: Review of The Passion of the Christos
“In ages to come, it is up to one lapsed young ‘Haleqa’, to take the melodic wealth of ‘Ge’ez’ from vicinities of monasteries to the streets of Babylon, the uncharted territory of the secular world, risking excommunication and cursing. No, no, that is more than Teddy Afro’s “Abugida”. When that happens, when the Eritrean Ray
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The Eritrean Covenant: A Serious Window for Dialogue
After reading the document known as The Eritrean Covenant which was issued by Mejlis Ibrahim Mukhtar and published on Awate.com (www.awate.on-forge.com) on February 12, 2010; And after analyzing the contents of the Eritrean Covenant and discussing the aims and dimensions of the message. We, the undersigned, residents of the city of Melbourne, Australia, we register
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To Be Human: Perspectives From Norway
“We’re prisoners of war. Our dreams have been doctored. We belong to no where. We sail unanchored on troubled seas. We may never be allowed ashore. Our sorrows will never be sad enough. Our joys will never be happy enough. Our lives never important enough to matter.” From the novel, ‘The God of Small Things,’
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To Paulos Tesfagiorgis With Love: An Open Letter
The first time I got to know you personally was in Khartoum in the late 80s while I was engaged with a group of Eritreans in promoting the rights of Eritrean refugees. Though I came from an ELF background and had sympathy for the organisation, at that time I was not affiliated to any political
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The Eritrean Covenant: An Embodiment Of A Shared Future
Neither ethnicity nor religion has any genetic basis. This confirms that there is nothing coded in any one ethnic or religious group that goes, “this human has to monopolize power and resources while that should be marginalized and silenced.” But the realities in our world are totally different. Social injustice that takes the form of
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Dr Bereket Habteselassie: From The Unknown To The Uncertain
It is now more than 35 years since I first met Dr. Bereket in Baghdad/Iraq. He was very energetic, articulate, physically and mentally active (still he is fortunately – touch wood). Since then I had been following his contributions, lectures, participations in regional and international forums and seminars. That makes me—I believe—eligible to talk
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Orphans Dining At The Miscreant’s Table
Self-identification is an essential facet of self-determination; a reviving society habitually pursues the quest for self-identification. Responding to the collective question of “who are we” construes a stumbling projection for any community to define its cherished common values, to collectively counter social wrenches, to regain deprived rights and chart its common destiny—a revival process stems
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State, Religion and Ethno-Regional Politics
Sign of the Times On August 1, 2009, I happened to be in Washington DC, visiting a family friend who was in hospital following a serious surgery. As I was about to leave the hospital, a brother of the patient and a man I have known for many years and regarded as a friend
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Who Is Going To Pull The Trigger?
For years we kept writing, revealing, and screaming about our wounds and the wrong policies of PFDJ. This mild struggle of “telling” was mainly intended to inform the uninformed members of our society and the international community about the inhumane acts of Isaias and therefore inspire Eritreans to fight for their right and remove the
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Reflections On Semere Tesfai’s article
I paused reflect after reading Semere Tesfai’s article (Ali Salim’s Land Argument: A Mirage of Power Ambition (awate December 10, 2009), in which he challenges Ustaz Ali Salim who have been debating about the mother of all our issues and problems, with transparency and clarity that most Tigrigna intellectuals (the likes of Semere) are not
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The Dictator Reaching A Shameful Zenith:
“The sweetest moment in a dictator’s life can be when democracy triumphs, he’s deposed, his name becomes synonymous with misery and terror, his former subjects look forward to a prosperous country without him but with the support of the West and the United Nations, and foreign correspondents leave his wrecked country for another hotter spot.
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Shagged Refugees and Extremist Rallies
The protesters who enjoy democracy and happy life with their families in the West don’t care about the sufferings inflicted upon Eritreans by the regime. Their slogans proves: “We are the government and the government is us.” The slogan describes them perfectly, and the data that appeared together with “The Eritrean Covenant” published at Awate.com
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The Paradox: The Anti-Democracy Enjoying Democracy In The West
The rallies of shame. The rallies of emptiness and senselessness would expose an entity to a world that already knows the reality of the regime on the 22nd of February in the West, of course, not in the known as Eritrea. The dictator understands that the rallies will not reverse the sanctions, but through the
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It Is Not “Muslims & Lowlanders”….Its Engaging & Power Sharing Stupid
Ali Salim is not just a person – it’s a political pulse of a nervous, restless and concerned community – it is a voice of a community that’s worried about the uncertainty of its fair share in Eritrean politics – it is a fundamental question of what is there for me, worry – it is
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Sharing Thoughts…
I was supposed to return to my station but the schedule was postponed due to a technical travel emergency. During the long relaxation period I had—physically and mentally—I stayed away from the political climate and spent my time in social and cultural activities—even the Internet was not available to me on a daily basis; but