Tag: eritrea
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Eritrean Government in Exile: A Possible Third School of Thought
The emergence of literary national identity, Transcendentalism can be an instructive model as Eritreans are grappling toward the formation of a government in exile. In the 1820s and 1830s Transcendentalism helped marshal an emergent American culture in the definition of its literary national identity. Prior to Transcendentalism, thinkers looked at Europe’s past to create literary
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Ramshackle * ሓሙስ-ሓሙስ ይብል ኣሎ * آيل للسقوط
Before I begin, there is a Tigrinya saying, “Hamus- Hamus tbl alla,” I do not know its origin. If anyone knows, please let me know on the comments section. In my three recent episodes of Negarit I talked about an imminent flood building in our region. It looks like it’s in a “Hamus-Hamus” state—particularly Isaias’
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Eulogy in Honor of Adhanom Ghebremariam by Mesfin Hagos
(translated by Semere T Habtemariam) Mesfin Hagos entrusted me to read this eulogy at Adhanom’s funeral but for reasons that are not known to me, and possibly would not and could not understand, I was not able to do so. The second-best thing I can do is to take the liberty of translating it into
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Reasons for the Approaching Political Floods
There are many instances of governments that are overthrown, pushed out, reclaiming their authority or totally dying out. In the Horn of Africa, there were many such change of governments. Some short-lived, others permanently die out. Ethiopia In 1960 the Ethiopian Brigadier-General Mengistu Neway led a coup with his younger brother Germame Neway and the Imperial Bodyguard that
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Eritreans in Ethiopia Fear for Their Safety
Several Eritrean opposition members who live in Ethiopia have been facing harassment and fear since the Ethiopian Civil wars intensified. Some members whose organizations had varying degree of presence in Ethiopia. However, since Isaias Afwerki and Abiy Ahmed made a pact in in July 2018, they have been living in precarious situation. Since then, Eritrean
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Get Prepared Before The Flood Arrives
In the Senhit region, all the way to the West, there are rock mounds, there are ancient conical tukul-shaped pyramids covered in fist size stones scattered in many places. They are covered in black stones, rarely with white. I discovered they were graves of notable warriors or clan leaders. The locals told me the colors
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The Wicked Pact Against Tigray
How do people keep their composure despite an anger? I will start with a Tigrayan Lady whose views I really liked. Principled, to the point and very genuine. Obviously she is in pain due to the current situation in Tigrai; I would be as angrier if I was a Tigrayan. Today the people of Tigrai
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Eritrean Refugees at Risk as Connection to Tigray Is Blocked
News coming from Ethiopia indicate that communications to Tigray was blocked since yesterday evening. It’s unclear whether the disconnection is due to technical problems and temporary, or a security and political decision. Until today, only the western part of Tigrai has telephone connections through the Amhara region. Recently, the Ethiopian official media appealed to social
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Eritrea: A Classic African dictator took over (Book Review)
Book Reviewer: Chefena Hailemariam Bjork, Christina. 2019. Eritrea: A Classic African dictator took over. Themes, Stockholm. ISBN 978-91-985588-0-7 Christina Bjork’s book which made its debut in 2019 is about the history of modern Eritrea with a focus on the armed struggle. Her book comprises of twelve sections of personal narratives drawn from her in depth
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News and Information, Life and Property
My generation grew up consuming news. In Teashops, particularly in the morning, radios blasting, news bulletins from BBC Arabic, VoA, Monte Carlo, and many others. Every artisan on the streets had radios on the shopfronts. Each day I walked to school through the textile and grocery shops, tailors, tin artifact makers who made pots (jebena),
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Do Ethiopian Love Their Country?
It’s safe to say Ethiopians love their country more than their people. In fact, the ever warring political and military elite do not seem to mind eradicating the people and destroying the country and as long they are assured of ruling the rubble that’s left behind. Eight-hundred years of governing patterns attest to that. The
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The Massacre of Ona and Besekdira: When Scars Replace Wounds
Almost all my generation carry scars on their upper arms. Scars left from the crude type of vaccinations: smallpox, Measles, typhoid, TB, Yellow fever, etc. I say crude because it was not a drop on the tangue, or a pinch with a small needle. They use huge syringe and keep emptying it on your arm.
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The Sixth and Seventh Kings of Ethiopia
A man from Keren arrived in Asmara and headed to the neighborhood where his relatives lived. Though he had seen the house long ago, he was not sure exactly where in was. Then he saw his relatives’ son sitting on the stairs of a door. He kissed the boy and asked if his parents were
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A Miserable Country Goes to War with Itself
Say what you will about outgoing president Trump, and despite the messenger, there are many countries in the word that fit this description, and the country in question is one of them. An epitome of the description. It is a country that recently decided to go to war with itself. I will not name this
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Ethnic Profiling of Tigrayans in Ethiopia
Ethiopian security forces are carrying out an extensive ethnic profiling and arresting Tigrayans, particularly in Addis Ababa and other major cities. The arrested also include Eritreans. Tigrayans and Eritreans are known as Tigre, a term that means those who hail from Semen, the Northern part from central Ethiopia. Eritreans are caught in the ethnic battles because of the compass
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Ethiopian War Exhibit In Triangles
Triangle-shaped structures are sturdy but also simple. In 1998-2000 war broker around the Eritrean village of Baddme, in the area the Ethiopians called Yirga Triangle. And today the initial devastating results of the current Ethiopian ethnic war is seen in a triangle whose three corners are the towns of Humera and Mettema (Ethiopia), Gellabat and
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The Difference Between Propaganda and Public Relations
When I started to work after leaving Eritrea, I landed at a sales and marketing job. My understanding of sales was clear, but I didn’t understand what marketing meant. My boss at the time, an American veteran of marketing, taught me that a sale is the about taking the product or service to a consumer,
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Eritrea’s Socio-Politics of Slash and Burn
Back in 1990, The New York Times had an opinion piece titled, “The Politics of Slash and Burn”. The gist of the article speaks to the beginning of down spiraling political discourse in the US where Republican candidates were encouraged to use words like ”Sick.” ”Traitors.” ”Bizarre.” ”Self-serving.” ”Shallow.” ”Corrupt.” ”Pathetic.” ”Shame” when describing their opponents.
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Negarit 103: ከፊሎም ደዊሉ ነሩ- The sponsor called- وأتصل الكفيل
What a change! Smartly dressed PFDJ official, with a bonus. For the first time he travels alone, and he scores two full points. The second person who comes (used to come) second to Osman Saleh was the previous information minister. The current one, I testify, used to dree sharply. But since he started to carry
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SmeTr Hamassien: Objective and Struggle
Book Review by Semere T Habtemariam Title: SmeTr Hamassien: Objective and Struggle (ስመጥር ሓማሴን፥ ዕላማን ተጋድሎን።) Author: Dr. Yebio Woldemariam Language: Tigrinya (146 pages) Publisher: Ultimate Printing Press Year: 2017 (2010 Geez Calendar) The English version is out under the title: Profile of Courage: Eritrean Struggle against Italian Colonization and Fascism. The author of SmeTr