Editorial

Setting the record straight on the Martyrs’ database

When Awate.com wanted to display the martyrs’ database they obtained from Eritrea on their Martyrs Album[1998-2003], they asked the help of Asmarino.com. Tes converted  some excel spreadsheets provided by Awate.com  into a Format that allowed the information provided to be displayed on Awate’s old home page under Martyrs’ Album .  And that was used only for that purpose, except for one case. With Awate.com’s consent the data was also used to broadcast the names of the Martyrs on Voice of Delina in 2005 during the week of June 18-30. (Awate’s Saleh Gadi participated by reading some of the names himself.)  Eritrean volunteers  from  around the world read the names. Asmarino, at great cost, bought extended air time for three days to broadcast the special program titled ‘ድምጽና ሓወልቲ ይኹኖም! ኣስማት ስውኣት 1998-2001’.

Asmarino Fundraising! Simply because there is so much more to be done!

Given the overwhelming number of the youth that have been arriving in the West, it would be of no surprise if most of the changes we want to introduce will be done with this young audience in mind; of course, without abandoning our old audience.

Now, it has come to another level of engagement and challenge and it begins with financial contributions from you - our readers and friends - to keep Asmarino going.

The website is kept rolling by a few bunch of dedicated volunteers but the opportunities and challenges ahead will require much more to provide the diversified needs and demands that have sprung up over the last few years.

Your contribution is highly appreciated.  It will give hope to sustain its future and catch up with new social media development.

Famine in Self-Reliant Eritrea?

But don’t tell that to the regime’s foot soldiers in diaspora. As usual, the foot soldiers at Deahai and other Shaebia-oriented websites are at their denial and gloating best. They are again invoking that idiotic mantra that every totalitarian system (Kim El Sung’s North Korea, Mao’s China, Khmer Rouge’s Cambodia, etc ) used to hide a raging famine in their soils: “Self- reliance!” ...

Here we have it then in a nutshell: while all the other governments are scrambling to save their people, as usual the primary goal of the Eritrean regime and its supporters in diaspora is not saving Eritreans from the ravages of the famine, but saving the IMAGE of Eritrea and its leader from the ravages of that same famine!

The Language of Shabait.com: The Incompetence of the Ministry of Information

In the normal world, when reporters use the phrase “senior government official” without a name attached to it, it is because he/she is not supposed to provide the public with that information and the reporters feel obligated to hide his/her identity. But for the clowns at the Ministry of Information, it looked normal to identify their source as “a senior government official”, even though such anonymity is entirely unnecessary in this context. They are suggesting that Eritrea is a normal nation with a normal government, where unauthorized information leaked by government officials could be published without any retribution whatsoever to whoever is reporting it. They totally forgot that it is the government itself that is doing the reporting! What a tragedy for a nation to be lead by such Neanderthals!

Isaias Regime’s Hysteria Concerning Stiffening Sanctions

In his latest interview in Al-Ahram, President Isaias Afwerki claims that the sanctions are military and not economic. He clearly knows that it would be his end if the sanctions are extended to include economic sanctions. What the above Shabait.com hysteria shows us is the fear of the regime in this regard; its mention of the Eritrean Airlines and the Bisha project in particular tells us that economic sanctions would be its worst nightmare. And that is exactly what the opposition should focus at: at sanctioning Eritrea at its two main income sources – the mining companies and the diaspora population.

Ministry of Information: Egypt Failed Because, Unlike Eritrea, It Violated Basic Human Rights

When it comes to “political openness”, here is how Eritrea's MOI admonishes all those who violate basic human rights:

“It thus became obvious that Sadat’s resort to ‘political openness’ was not to his advantage taking into account the growing internal and external opposition.  Although he allowed nominal political pluralism and freedom of expression, he was not at all willing to tolerate any opposition as regards the Camp David accord. Hence, it is not surprising to witness that he not only applied force but also prevented the exercise of basic human rights in a bid to suppress the mounting opposition.”

The Minstry of Truth: Egypt Failed Because It Lacked Ethnic Harmony and Self-Reliant Economy Eritrea Has

Now we have come to the icing in the cake: nations like Libya, Tunisia and Egypt are falling like a house of cards because, unlike the glorious Eritrean economy that is the envy not only of our jealous neighbors but also of the entire world, their economies were never self-reliant! There you have it: the truth, nothing but whole the truth! Here is how the notoriously truthful Shabait.com puts it:

“Under this global scenario, it demands the requisite political will and strong courage to pursue political and economic path free from dependency. … In this regard, resorting to the principle of self-reliance is imperative. Viewed within this framework, the nations that resolutely pursued an independent path are the ones that emerged victorious, while those which compromised their independent choice are being exposed to all-round failure.”

His Excellency Isaias Afwerki Forecasted the Middle East Unrest Long Ago

The second installment on the Ministry of Information's deep analysis on the Mideast unrest has just arrived. And, guys, you won't be disappointed. This time Truth has been really served: not only does the PFDJ applaud the Libyan and Egyptian uprisings as just revolutions against the global forces of hegemony and all forms of dictatorship, it also claims that the All Wise and Farsighted Supreme Leader Isaias Afwerki had prophesied about it long ago. In His immense farsightedness, His Excellency did forecast - to the minute details - that this would happen soon. In the memorable words of Shabait.com, here is how it goes:

Ministry of Information Serving the Truth

In the end, the Isaias regime had to say something about the unrest in Middle East, but this shouldn’t be any normal reporting. It has to make up for all the lost time of the past month or so. It has to be a thorough analysis that includes, “gathering all facts and intricate details”, “viewing the matter in wider context”, “exploring all historical dimensions”, “providing the bigger picture”, “patiently analyzing the real picture” … and compiling the most thorough and all-encompassing questions regarding anything and everything that matters to the Middle East. No wonder the overworked Ministry of Information took it more than a moth to come up with this most thorough of all studies – let’s, in fact, call it the Mother of All Studies!

The Orwellian Word: “Martyrdom”

This word-corrupting practice has another damaging effect too. Like all totalitarian and millenarian type of movements, our domestic types have also cunningly used this old word to confer some nobleness for all the innocents who died harnessed to their successive wars. After having kept the death of the tens of the thousands of fighters, ghedli finally decided to make it public: couched in the name of martyrdom. The disingenuous use of this term minimized the magnitude of the slaughter and, consequently, the grief of the public. Contemptuous of the public, the regime that deemed the Badme war “stupid” does not hesitate to call the canon fodders: martyrs. But the bigger tragedy is the wide acceptance and diffusion of the word martyrdom by the public.