1 Identity and nationalism
Ghedli identity
He told us a personal story,
but asked who he was
the stranger couldn’t remember.
A great story was lost
for want of a name.
The nationalist hat
As you remove your hat
to cheer and wave
the head is rendered bare,
fully emptied
of its content.
Blind nationalism
With a wrong map for our guide,
nationalism has left us
totally disoriented:
we cannot locate ourselves
anymore!
Who is fooled by who?
Enticed by a promise
a line on the sand made,
never has a people
sacrificed so much
for so little.
Drunk in nationalism
How do you tie together
a motley lot
with a line on the sand
even if it looks like a sturdy rope
under the Eritrean twilight?
2 Rape, identity and piety in Arab Land
Piety in the Arab world
When the Libyans raped them
day and night for days,
the Eritrean women said,
they had mercy on us five times a day –
when they took pauses to pray!
Near or far from the wall
The raped women wept bitterly
not for themselves but their men
on the other side of the wall
who have to carry that wall of shame
for the rest of their lives.
Faceless living
Covering his face with his hands,
he who had witnessed the horror
the Eritrean women underwent said,
“I want to settle in a land
where there are no mirrors at all.”
National language issue in Tripoli
As Tripoli children run after him
calling him “Abed! Abed!”
the Eritrean kid wondered
if making Arabic our mother tongue
would have made all the difference.
Rape and identity in Egypt
As heavyset Arab rapists
laid on top of her one by one,
all the little Eritrean lady felt was
the full weight
of her Habesha identity.
“Strange Sinai fruit”
Ghedli fruits are so resilient
that they are harvested
in abundance
even in the dreary landscape
of the Sinai desert.
3 Causes and dreams
A cause that can actually walk
When there is no cause to begin with,
the Supreme Leader becomes
all the cause that there is,
and the masses are grateful
for a cause they can actually see.
The Eritrean cause
When a cause
takes a religious turn,
it is deferred to the hereafter,
at the expense
of the here and now.
A confused generation’s cause
When a search for a cause
is confused for the cause itself
a whole generation dies for it,
lured by its promiscuity
to be whatever one wants it to be.
A dream deferred?
After decades of ghedli,
the ghedli generation
got exactly what it wanted,
the only thing it has ever known:
more of ghedli.
Fifty years of slumber
Unable to tell
another day had arrived,
we went back to sleep,
again and again.
There were no others to ask.
4 The paradox of Warsai
Warsai’s feet
When a nation demands
endless sacrifice
to stand on its own feet,
it has no other feet but yours.
Drop that dead weight and run!
Mass exodus
Even gelgele meskele doesn’t mind
when Mereb overflows,
takes it down, roots and all,
and dumps it
on the dreary desert of Sudan.
Warsai and “Eritrea”
When the very people
who escape from a prison
want it kept as is
for their brothers,
it takes an outsider to demolish it.
A nation refusing to grow up
Where gray hairs
are rendered extinct,
the young embark on a circular journey
where no one can tell
who is behind, who is ahead.
The paradox of Warsai’s feet
When those who voted with their feet,
use those very feet
to march for PFDJ in Diaspora,
the confused feet get tired
of the burden they carry around.
5 Martyrdom without a cause
Six feet deep history
When a nation’s memory
goes only six feet deep,
all that it needs is
endless supply of martyrs
to fill it with.
Sanctioning Eritrea
Eritreans measure the worth
of their nation
by how many died for it,
but the earth
can’t take it anymore.
Meeting death half way
There is no surprise
in the long standing order of death
in this land;
only in the long line of men
searching for their names.
6 Building Eritrea
Defending Eritrea
As she struggles through
with flood up to her neck,
she still has her umbrella up
above her head
to protect her from the rain.
Unrepeatable first
If a nation unravels
with its first
serious mistake,
it shouldn’t have been conceived
in the first place.
Strategic alliance
A nation born
out of strategic alliance,
sooner or later,
strategizes itself
out of existence.
The march of folly
Having walked
this far,
Eritreans still want to know
where to
and where from.
7 Out of nowhere
A shameful generation
Nobody knew what to say.
Yet, except for one’s own,
others’ silence was taken as wisdom.
This way shame came to belong
to each and everyone of us.
Eritrea’s history
It has to be said all at once
or not at all.
And if you are interrupted
in between,
you have to start all over again.
Students’ ghedli
The young thought they knew.
The old thought
their young knew.
For lack of verification,
a nation was lost.
8 The untenable middle
Under the Eritrean sky
The Night claims it has no say
on what takes place under its cover,
occupied as it is
holding off the daylight
from arriving too soon.
Sophie’s choice in Eritrea
When even the choice
not to choose
is rendered not your own,
the gods flee the scene
for lack of a foothold.
Comments
History teaches us that people who have the courage to speak outright their mind, people who call a spade a spade have never had an applauding response. tho such valuable individuals are rare one can find them in science, clergy, politics, society etc.. individuals who have contributed to their ideal tremenduosly regardless of the challenges they faced and the sacrifices they made. with your inspiring words you are telling us the truth about the disintegrating Eritrean society and the sad stories around it. no wonder if hypocrats and collective thinkers would see it otherwise and challenge your personal integrity. I simply want to conjure you to continue swimming against the storm. time will tell maybe they will be the first to applaud you when truth prevails.
Courageous people who call a spade a spade are not welcomed and indeed don’t have a place in "Hadas Eritrea" and that is the unfortunate reality and that is why we are where we are in the first place.
Kudus to you YG and God bless you ma’ dearest brother!!
Here is a truth for you to chew: after the demise of old Yugoslavia, the West came up with a funny map for some of the Serbs, Croatians, and the Muslims, who after all they did to each other do not want to see each other, let alone live together. Hence, they are left with a funny map. They can blame it on the West, but do we blame it to In the case of Eritrea? The onus is on the immature and paranoid urban elites. Enjoy your kind-of-holy-relic!
Truth Keeper,
When I am using the phrase, “strategic alliance”, it is not the regional forces’ strategies that I have primarily in my mind. Rather, it is the internal alliances made by Liberation Fronts and population groups WITHIN the nation to build Eritrea that I have in mind. But now, when I observe the reactions of the likes of you, I see also “strategic alliance” as a state of mind at work. Let me first define what strategic alliance is through example:
The Soviet Union and the West once made a strategic alliance (in fact, they called themselves, The Allies) to defeat a common enemy, Nazi Germany. But that doesn’t mean that England and France, let alone the Soviet Union and the US could create one nation based on that alliance. A proof to that: the Soviet Union and the West were at each others’ throat as soon the common enemy was defeated; aside from a common enemy, there were no visions that would tie them together even in loser alliances (such as the EU), let alone to merge into one nation. The Eritrean case might look different, but not by that much.
So far as they had a common enemy, the disparate groups in Eritrea fought together. But if all along, these groups had conflicting visions of where Eritrea should be heading, “fighting together” would never translate into “living together”. The problem arises when whatever visions they had put on hold while they were fighting had to be translated on the ground after winning the war. I will deal with this phenomenon on another comment. Now, let me focus on “strategic alliance” as a state of mind only.
Let me start with your kind, Truth Keeper, as you have made no qualms in telling us you are a true follower of the Isaias regime. If you would do me a favor and venture into Dehai, you will see that not a single teardrop is being shed for all the hundreds (if not thousands) Eritrean ladies raped in Egypt and Libya. Now, you cannot say that it is because these women are not of their own kind that they are indifferent to their plight. Despicable as that act would be, we would at least get some rational explanation to the puzzle. But that is not the case, the fact being that probably all of the raped Eritrean ladies are from Tigrigna stock, a description that would match exactly with those congregating in Dehai. So what makes these people not utter a single word of condemnation to either Libya or Egypt when their own sisters and daughters are being raped by Arabs? What explains for their total lack of outrage?
The answer is rather obvious: they would rather see all the Eritrean ladies that pass through the Arab land being raped by Arabs rather than jeopardize Eritrea’s relationship with Arabs that they think is vital in its stance against Ethiopia, hence – according to them – in its survival as a nation. Of course, for direction, these foot soldiers are closely following the reactions of the Shaebia regime in Asmara, a government that would not dare register a single protest to Egypt or Libya about the atrocities committed against its own nationals. To the contrary, it fully condones it, believing that in the end it would help it stem the mass exodus. So when Highdefites respond to the call of “strategic alliance” from Asmara, it is with the “noble” cause of “saving Eritrea” in their minds. But look, Truth Keeper, how utterly despicable and revolting this mission of yours has turned to be. If, among other things, it requires a few thousand of Eritrean girls to be raped by the Arabs to stem the mass exodus and sustain your “noble Eritrea”, then you would have no second thoughts about it.
That explains why websites like Dehai get eerily quiet whenever mass atrocities against their own people are committed inside or outside Eritrea. But this mentality is not confined to highdefite websites. There are the so called opposition websites that also get errily quite whenever mass deportations or mass rapes in Arab lands take place, for the simple reason that putting the Arab world under such negative highlight would jeopardize their little Arabization schemes, one of them being their relentless promotion of Arabic as a national language.
If the above is true, the question that needs to be asked is: what kind of a monster of nation is this “Eritrea” that it requires the endless sacrifice of its children, be it in death, slavery or rape, to sustain itself? Wherein did this mentality of “strategic alliance” hail from? It is not something that has come out of blue; this mentality is simply a reflection of the very nature of the making of the nation, both in ghedli era and now – but that will be the subject matter of my next comment.
YG
"But then, again, why blame you? It is the retarded Tigrigna elite that have allowed this to happen in the name of Eritrean nationalism."
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YG 'self-assuredly' alleges about 'blind nationalism" that:
" with a wrong map for our guide, nationalism has left us totally disoriented. We cannot locate ourselves anymore".
Nationalism is nationalism, whether it is "blind nationalism" or it is "sighted nationalism". Here is a typical example.
Eritreans were presented with a bi-directional 'map'; one route led to ADDIS ABABA and the other led to ASMARA. The fact that after a generation of struggle Eritreans made it to Asmara has surely become a source of CONSTERNATION to YG and his types.
The map was what it was; neither wrong nor antything else. But to say at this juncture that it was " a wrong map" is huge failure of recognizing the fact that A THUMPING MAJORITY had OPTED the ASMARA route.
To Be Cont.....
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YG fatuously asserted:
'A nation born out of strategic alliance, sooner or later strategizes itself out of existence".
Of course, here YG is talking about Eritrea and the "strategic alliance" could not be but the cheap and cynical agitprop that is peddled by those who are trying to sell their "Grand Hydro-Politics".
But the question that needs to be asked is this: Did Eritrea emergence as a nation and the triumph of Eritreanism, the result of any alliance, be it strategic or otherwise, with Egypt or any other Arab country?
The answer is a resounding NO. Actually and FACTUALLY, the OBVERSE of what YG is alleging is TRUE. It was the strategic alliance of Ethiopia and the U.S that thwarted Eritrea's march to nationhood.
Historical FACTS are one thing; cheap AGITPROPS quite another.
To be Cont...
“" If a nation unravels with its first serious mistake, it shoudn't have been CONCEIVED in the first place."”
If Truth Seeker has the ability and desire to refute YG’s assertions, he should have been asking himself: “Did the ‘Eritrean Nation’ unravel ...?”
If his answer to the above is ‘Yes’, then Truth Seeker should have continued by asking : “Should the ‘Eritrean Nation’ been conceived at all? Why not?” and so on and so forth...
Instead, what Truth Seeker can present us to the best of his ability is, in the manner of a cadre, with empty rhetoric such as:
“That YG is inveterately disposed to anti-Eritreanism; that YG is congenitally given to anti-Eritreanism; that YG is indubitably hardwired to espouse anti-Eritreanism, is becoming clearer by the day.”
thank you, i'm crying..
እኔ እንደማስበው ለዛሬ የህዝባችን ከፍተኛ ሰቆቃ ከትግሉ ባሻገር የጣልያን ቅኝ ግዛት ጠባሳም በሰፊው መጠናት ኣለበት።
ጣልያን ኤርትራውያን ከማንም ኣፍሪካውያን የተለየን እኛን ከሚመስሉት ሓበሻ ሳይቀር በእጅጉ የላቅንና የሰለጠንን ሆነን እንዲሰማን ኣድርጉዋል።ይህ ተረት ኣሁንም ድረስ ሁዋላቀርነታችንን ተቀብለን ችግሮቻችንን እንዳንመረምር ኣድርጎናል።
እርኩሱ ሻዕብያ ደሞ ይህን ትምክህት ያለ ሃፍረት ያራግበዋል።ሕድሞዎቻችንን ረስተን ጣልያን በሰራው ኣርት ዴኮ እንኩራራለን።ቀድመን ሹካና ማንካ መልመዳችን ራሱ ያንቀባርረናል።ዛሬ ኣገሬ ኣገሬ ብለን የምንተላለቀው ያው ጣልያን የሳለውን መስመር ኣክብረን ነው።ስለ ሚደፈሩ ሴቶች፣ስለሚሰደዱ ህጻናት፣ጡዋሪ ስለኣጡ ሽማግሌዎች ፍጹም ደንታ የለንም። በግሪክ ከ1 ዓመት በፊት ኣንድ የ15 ዓመት ልጅ በፖሊስ ሲገደል ኣገሪቷ በተቃውሞ ታመሰች፣በሎስ ኣንጀለስም ኣንድ ጥቁር ዜጋ በፖሊስ ሲደበደብ ስንት ብጥብጥ ተደረገ።እንደኔ እንደኔ ዜጎቻችን ግብጽ ኣገር የሚደርስባቸውን ግፍ በሰማን ማግስት በኣስመራ የግብጽን ኤምባሲ ማየትም ኣያስፈልግም።ያኔ ሁሉም ነገር ባቆመ። ለኔ ዜግነት ማለት ከምንም በላይ ለህዝብ መቆርቆር ነው።ሴቶቹና ህጻናቱን መንከባከብ የማይችል ህዝብ ሰነፍ ብቻ ኣይደለም-ደንቆሮና ፈሪም ነው።
ታላቅ ምስጋና ስንፍናችንን ለሚጠቁመንና ቢያንስ ቁጣውን ለገለጸው ዮሴፍ።ሰላም ለምስኪኑ ገበሬ።
YG,
Wel Wel was a great Tigrean Eritrean nationalist. Although originally from Adi klite near Axum, he lived and passed a good part of his life in Eritrea. He stood for Eritrea and it's people's freedom when a few renegades failed us. He is remembered as a man of integrity . Eritreans should be proud to have men like him as historical leaders and founding fathers. He was a great Eritrean, may his soul rest in peace. The question here is,do you stand for Eritrea or against it ? that is the issue that should concerns us most.
Sudan never claimed Eritrea to be part of it. The lowlanders refused to be part of Sudan under British sponsored plan. They have lived in refugee camps for half a century waiting to return to their land.
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YG in his "poem" unblinkingly wrote that:
" If a nation unravels with its first serious mistake, it shoudn't have been CONCEIVED in the first place."
That YG is inveterately disposed to anti-Eritreanism; that YG is congenitally given to anti-Eritreanism; that YG is indubitably hardwired to espouse anti-Eritreanism, is becoming clearer by the day.
What crystallizes from all the abortive pieces that YG pounds out unremittingly is the following leitmotif:
Eritrea and Eritreanism should have never been birthed or born. Now, in his latest fusillade, YG is wishing that. Eritrea and Eritreanism, " should have been never conceived in the first place".
To Be Cont..........
eritreans at will
It was the federal arrangement power sharing between
the two countries that gave 50% federal positions share
for each country's nominees in the legislative and executive
branches of the government..
Don't be stupid. The Eritrean government is not responsible for what is happening to Eritrean immigrants in any part of the world. Immigration is a personal choice.
Why did you give birth to the evil pfdj in the first place? Who forced you to sleep with the devil? We didn't. We were suffering just like you under the DERG or whoever was there before. We didn't go around and share bed with a mad mullah? Did we? Think twice?? You like it or not, we would love to see a stable, prosperous and democratic Eritrea. If something happen in our land, it will be that Eritrea that we can rely on and seek asylum. Who hates a prosperous neighbour...maybe someone who is mentally unstable psycho.
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