Category

Eritrean currency fights back dictatorship



(Asmara 27/08/2014) Freedom Friday (Arbi Harnet) activists have successfully launched an innovative project to encourage young Eritreans to resist the regime that is pushing them into exile. The initiative which was successfully launched at the annual festival held in Asmara (expo) aims to spread the message by writing anti dictatorship and motivational slogans on currency notes (the Eritrean nakafa). The initiative named Nakfa Talks (“Nakfa Tezaribu”), has so far released 5,000 Nakfa worth of bank notes.



The regime is said to have taken note of the initiative and has started following some trails of inquiry but so far with little success. In their latest communication members of the Project Team inside Eritrea stated that they are all in good spirit and getting ready for their next project which they hope to launch shortly.



It is to be remembered that, last week, Freedom Friday made thousands of calls encouraging parents to not send their children back to the indefinite national service training center following the summer break for those who completed (graduate of the 27th round) their six months mandatory training.



Organizers of Freedom Friday wish to encourage all Eritreans to support this latest initiative by asking their friends and family to participate in resistance inside Eritrea by writing messages of defiance and solidarity on bank notes and putting them into circulation. Thanking all those who have been supporting the initiative project coordinators are also calling on all Eritreans to support upcoming projects by making a small contribution to Freedom Friday.



End
Notes
Freedom Friday is a movement aimed at encouraging resistance to dictatorship inside Eritrea by developing innovative projects that encourage collective actions of defiance and linking these with the resistance in the diaspora.



For further information please contact the project on [email protected]

ዜና ዓርቢ ሓርነት – ናቕፋ ተዛሪቡ

ኣብ ውሽጢ ኤርትራ ዝርከቡ ኣባላት ዓርቢ ሓርነት ህዝቢ ኣንጽር ምልኪ ሓቢሩ ንኽልዓል ዝጽውዕ ጭርሖ ዝተጻሕፎ ሓሙሽተ ሽሕ ናቕፋ ኣብ ኣስመራ ዘርጊሖም። ዝበዝሐ ክፋል ናይዚ ገንዘብ ኣብቲ ዝሓለፈ ሰንበት ኣብ ኤክስፖ ኣስመራ ዝተዛዘመ ፈስቲቫል ኤርትራ ዝተዘርግሐ ክኸውን ከሎ፡ ገለ‘ውን በተን ኣብ ውሽጢ ከተማ ኣስመራ ዝርከባ ዝተፈላለያ ናይ ንግዲ ትካላት ኣቢሉ ኣብ ዕዳጋ ይዘውር ከም ዘሎ ነቲ ስራሕ ዝፈጸሙ ኣባላት ዓርቢ ሓርነት ካብ ኣስመራ ሓቢሮም።

እቲ ዝተዘርገሐ ገንዘብ “ስደት መፍትሒ ድዩ፧ ተላዓል!” ዝብል ሓረግ ዝተጻሕፎ እዩ። ቀንዲ ዕላማ ናይዚ ሓረግ እቲ ህልዊ ኩነታት ሃገርና ጸንኪርዎ እግሩ ናብ ዝመርሖ ካብ ሃገሩ ዝስደድ ዘሎ መንእሰይ ኮይኑ፡ ዘይሕጋዊ ስደት ናብ ሞትን ህልቂትን ዘምርሕ ድኣ እምበር ፍታሕ ዘምጽእ ከምዘይኮነ ብምዝኽኻር፡ ኤርትራዊ መንእሰይ ነዚ ስርዓት መኪቱ ሓርነቱ ኣብ ምውሓስ መሪሕ ተራ ንኽጻወት ዝተባብዕ እዩ። በዚ ዝተኻየደ ናይ “ናቕፋ ተዛሪቡ” ዝብል ካምፐይን ዝተረበሸ ጉጅለ ህግደፍ ብፍርሕን ራዕድን ተዋሓጡ ከምዘሎ ከኣ እቲ ዝበጽሓና ሓበሬታ የረድእ። ነዚ ኣብነታዊ ፍጻሜ ዘካየዱ ኣባላት ዓርቢ ሓርነት ከም ወትሩ ሞራሎም ሓፍ ብምባል ንኻልእ ስራሕ ይዳለዉ ከም ዘለዉ ከኣ እቲ ካብ ኣስመራ ዝመጸና ሓበሬታ ወሲኹ የረድእ። በዚ ኣጋጣሚ ዓርቢ ሓርነት ንኹሎም ንለውጢ ዝንቀሳቐሱ ኣብ ውሽጢ ሃገር ዝርከቡ ተባዓት ኤርትራውያን ነዚ ሓሳብ ብምድጋፍ ብብወገኖም “ስደት መፍትሒ ድዩ፧ ተላዓል !” ዝብል ጽሑፍ ኣብ ናቕፋ እንዳጸሓፉ ከዙሩ ትጽውዕ።

ካልእ ምስዚ ኣብዚ ዝተኣሳሰረ ዜና፡ ዓርቢ ሓርነት ዝሓለፈ ሰሙን ወለዲ ነቶም ካብ ሳዋ ተመሊሶም ኣብ ገዝኦም ዝርከቡ ኣባላት 27 ዙርያ ዝኾኑ ደቆም ናብ ሳዋ ንኸይመልስዎም ዝጽውዕ “ድቅኻ ኣበይ ኣለው”  ዝተስምየ ናይ ቴለፎን መልእክቲ ናብ ኤርትራ ኣማሓላሊፋ ከም ዝነበርት ዝዝከር እዩ። ቀንዲ ዛዕባ ናይቲ መልእኽቲ ከኣ ወለዲ ነቶም ድሮ “ደቅና ናብ ሳዋ ደጊምና ኣይንሰድድን” ብምባል እምቢትኦም ዘስምዑ ዘለዎ ወለዲ ብምድጋፍ ዝተረፉ ወለዲዊን ኣብ ጎድኖም ደው ክብሉን ንውልዶም ንኸይሰዱን ዝጽውዕ እዩ ነይሩ።

ፕሮጀክት ዓርቢ ሓርነት ንኹሎም ብገንዘብን ብምኽርን ዝድግፍዋ ኤርትራውያንን ፈተውቲ ኤርትራን እንዳ ሞጎሰት፡ ደግፎኩምን ምኽርኹምን ከይፍለያ በዚ ኣጋጣሚ ደጊማ ተዘኻኽር።

26 ነሓሰ 2014
ፕሮጀክት ዓርቢ ሓርነት

Eritrean currency fights back dictatorship



(Asmara 27/08/2014) Freedom Friday (Arbi Harnet) activists have successfully launched an innovative project to encourage young Eritreans to resist the regime that is pushing them into exile. The initiative which was successfully launched at the annual festival held in Asmara (expo) aims to spread the message by writing anti dictatorship and motivational slogans on currency notes (the Eritrean nakafa). The initiative named Nakfa Talks (“Nakfa Tezaribu”), has so far released 5,000 Nakfa worth of bank notes.



The regime is said to have taken note of the initiative and has started following some trails of inquiry but so far with little success. In their latest communication members of the Project Team inside Eritrea stated that they are all in good spirit and getting ready for their next project which they hope to launch shortly.



It is to be remembered that, last week, Freedom Friday made thousands of calls encouraging parents to not send their children back to the indefinite national service training center following the summer break for those who completed (graduate of the 27th round) their six months mandatory training.



Organizers of Freedom Friday wish to encourage all Eritreans to support this latest initiative by asking their friends and family to participate in resistance inside Eritrea by writing messages of defiance and solidarity on bank notes and putting them into circulation. Thanking all those who have been supporting the initiative project coordinators are also calling on all Eritreans to support upcoming projects by making a small contribution to Freedom Friday.



End
Notes
Freedom Friday is a movement aimed at encouraging resistance to dictatorship inside Eritrea by developing innovative projects that encourage collective actions of defiance and linking these with the resistance in the diaspora.



For further information please contact the project on [email protected]

Bodies of African immigrants have been found washed up on shores 30 miles east of Tripoli.

It comes after nearly 200 migrants were feared to have drowned after a boat sank less than a mile from the coast of Libya during an attempted crossing to mainland Europe.

The small vessel – which was crammed with men, women and children – sank late on Friday, according to the local coast guard.

Bodies of African would-be migrants are washed up on the shore of al-Qarboli, 30 miles east of Tripoli, Libya

Abdel-Latif Ibrahim said earlier that 16 people were rescued. He said five of the victims were children.

It comes as Italy’s maritime search and rescue team are being called upon to retrieve hundreds of migrants who are trying to flee North Africa via the Mediterranean Sea on a daily basis.

A Libyan coastguard spokesman Abdellatif Mohammed Ibrahim said: ’A few miles off the coast, we found the remains of a wooden boat which had some 200 migrants on board.

’We managed to save 16 people and recovered 15 bodies, but the search continues for some 170 people who disappeared at sea.’

He added: ’It seems that among them are Somalis and Eritreans in addition to other nationalities. One of the fatalities was an 18-month-old child.’

Members of the Libyan coast guard retrieve a body from the water – one of 200 feared to have gone down with a small vessel that tried to cross to mainland Europe

Around 3,500 migrants and 19 corpses have been discovered since Friday during a spate of attempted journeys by traffickers trying to take advantage of calmer summer seas.

The Italian ship Sirio recovered 18 corpses and 73 survivors from a raft, after a frigate picked up one corpse along with 1372 survivors on Friday night.

The Mare Nostrum search and rescue mission began after a shipwreck near Italy’s coast killed 366 people last October.

The mission costs around 9 million euros (£7.5 million) a month and has sparked fierce debate in Italy, which slipped back into recession in the second quarter after years of stagnation.

A breakdown of order in Libya since the toppling of Colonel Gaddafi has been exploited by human traffickers, pushing the number of arrivals into Italy since January past 100,000.

At the frontier between Europe and Africa, Italy has long attracted seaborne migrants, but the number of arrivals this year is already above a previous record of just over 60,000 for all of 2011, when the Arab Spring uprisings fuelled migration.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has called on the European Union to take responsibility for rescuing migrants by investing in border control agency Frontex, and on the United Nations to intervene in Libya to manage the flows of refugees.

In this week in the Mediterranean between Africa and Italy more than 300 boat people drowned. By the end of the government in Rome expects a total of 100,000 refugees who arrive in Italy. Most come from Eritrea. The Eritrean Government are committed at the young men to indefinite military service and forced labor. Eritrea is also among the countries of the world where Christians are the most oppressed and persecuted because of their religious affiliation. Human rights violations such as torture, killings and arrests are commonplace.

Asmara (HAN) August 10, 2014– Humanitarian news and views of International Crisis Group. Eritrea’s youth exodus has significantly reduced the young nation’s human capital. While this has had advantages for the government – allowing the departure of those most dissatisfied and most likely to press for political change – the growing social and political impact of mass migration at home and abroad demands concerted domestic and international action.

Eritrea: Ending the Exodus?

“The state’s demand for the sacrifice of individual ambition to the greater good of the Eritrean nation… causes more and more Eritreans to leave the country, even if that means risking their lives”. Cedric Barnes, Crisis Group’s Horn of Africa Project Director

Authoritarian rule, social malaise and open-ended national service drive thousands of young people to flee Eritrea every month, exposing the shortcomings of a leadership that has lost the confidence of the next generation. The International Crisis Group’s latest briefing, Eritrea: Ending the Exodus?, shows that while the government turned this flight to its advantage for a time, the scale – and attendant criminality – of the exodus are now pressing problems.

The briefing’s major findings and recommendations are:

• As in the past, Eritreans are fleeing for political and economic reasons, including to sustain the communities they leave behind. But through their remittances, as well as a tax that many in the diaspora pay the state, they help prop up the very system they escaped.
• Regional and wider international policies to further isolate Eritrea’s uncompromising leadership are counterproductive. Together with the border conflict with Ethiopia, they provide the regime with justification to maintain Eritrea’s “state of exception”, including an unending national service, a closed political system and the continued deferment of constitutional rights, especially individual social and economic freedoms.
• The Eritrean government, with help from international partners, especially the EU and UN, should work toward gradual demobilisation and restructure the country’s economy to enhance job prospects for the young.

“The exodus is symptomatic of social malaise and growing disaffection with the regime” says Cedric Barnes, Horn of Africa Project Director. “The state’s demand for the sacrifice of individual ambition to the greater good of the Eritrean nation – resigning oneself to indefinite national service – causes more and more Eritreans to leave the country, even if that means risking their lives”.

“The impact of the exodus on final-destination countries demands a new approach to the current Eritrean government. In a Europe where immigration policies are increasingly in question, the Eritrean problem cannot be ignored”, says Comfort Ero, Africa Program Director. “For all sides, finding ways to end the exodus could replace continuing sterile confrontation with fertile ground for cooperation”.