Don't MISS Logo Design Contest for "Kality Foundation"!

An Urgent Logo Design Competition Call for the Kality Foundation from Sweden to Everybody!

It's to be recalled that Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson, thetwo Swedish journalists who were imprisoned  charged with cooked up "terrorism" charges, sentenced to eleven years prison terms and then released on "Pardon" at last Ethiopian New Year in September. During their imprisonment the Swedish section of Reporters Without Borders and the Swedish Union of Journalists launched a fund  to primarily cover legal fees and expenses of Schibbye and Persson's  but also other expenses for their families. For them who were in an extremely vulnerable and difficult situation, this money really made a difference during their fourteen months of Kality ordeal – since one can not eat letters of support. 

Nevertheless, the duo journalists made a promise during their release to

ታላቅ የዓርማ ውድድር በቅርቡ በስዊድን ለሚቋቋመው የቃሊቲ መታሰቢያ ተቋም

ታላቅ ዜና በመላው ዓለም ለምትገኙ ኢትዮጵያውያን ሰዓሊያን እና ሌሎች በተመሳሳይ የሙያ ዘርፍ ለተሰማራችሁ ከስዊድን!

ሁላችንም እንደምናስታውሰው ሁለቱ ስዊድናውያን ጋዜጠኞች ማለትም ማርቲን ሺብዬ እና ዮሃን ፐርሹን በጸረ ሽብር ወንጀል ተከሰው አስራአንድ ዓመት ከተፈረደባቸው በኋላ ኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ በሚገኘው የቃሊቲ እስርቤት ለአስራዓራት ወራት  ታስረው ባሳለፍነው የኢትዮጵያውያን አዲስ ዓመት ላይ በ "ምህረት" እንደተለቀቁ ይታወሳል። እዚህ ስዊድን አገር የሚገኘው የዓለም ዓቀፉ የጋዜጠኞች መብት ተሟጋች ድርጅት ቅርንጫፍ የሆነው የድንበርየለሽ የጋዜጠኞች ማህበር ከሌሎች ድርጅቶች እና ግለሰቦች ጋር በመሆን ማርቲንና ዮዋን በእስር ላይ በነበሩበት ወቅት ለሚያስፈልጉዋቸው ወጪዎች እንዲረዳ በማሰብ ከፍተኛ መጠን ያለው ገንዘብ ያሰባሰቡ ሲሆን ለጠበቃ፡ ቤተሰቦቻቸው ከስዊድን ወደ ኢትዮጵያ ላደረጉዋቸው የመጓጓዣ እና ሌሎችም አስፈላጊ ጉዳዮች በመዋል ከወጡ ወጭዎች በኋላ የተረፈውን ቀሪ ገንዘብ

"I Shall Persevere!" Eskinder Nega's Defiant letter from Kality Prison

I shall persevere!

Eskinder Nega.

So that I may do the deed
that my soul has to itself decreed
-Keats.

Individuals can be penalized, made to suffer (oh, how I miss my child) and even killed. But democracy is a destiny of humanity which can not be averted. It can be delayed but not defeated.

የድንበርየለሹ የጋዜጠኞች ድርጅት ሶስት "አሸባሪ" ጋዜጠኞችን ሸለመ

የድንበርየለሹ የጋዜጠኞች ድርጅት ወይም ሪፖርተርስ ዊዝአውት ቦርደርስ በመባል የሚታወቀው የስዊድን ቅርንጫፍ ማህበር በስደት ላይ የሚገኘውን የቀድሞው አዲስ ነገር ጋዜጣ አዘጋጅ መስፍን ነጋሽንንና ሁለቱን በኢትዮጵያ ለ14 ወራት በቃሊቲ እስርቤት ታስረው የተፈቱትን ስዊድናውያን ጋዜጠኞች የማህበሩን የ 2013 የመናገር እና የመጻፍ ነጻነት ሽልማት አበረከተላቸው። ትናንት ከቀትር በኋላ ዓለምዓቀፉ የተባበሩት መንግስታት የመናገርና የመጻፍ ቀን አስመልክቶ እዚህ ስቶክሆልም ከተማ በተካሄደው ዝግጅት ላይ

Reporters Without Borders honored the trio "Terrorist" Journalists

Yesterday, on May 3 at the United Nations World Day for Press Freedom, parts of speech organization RSF (Reporters Without Borders) Swedish chapter granted its Press Freedom Award 2013 to Mesfin Negash, Ethiopian exiled journalist and to the duo Swedish journalists Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson. According to RSF's press release the annual press freedom award is intended in honor of people who are fighting for free speech around the world. The award is focusing this year on

በርካታ ቁጥር ያላቸው በስዊድን የሚኖሩ ኢትዮጵያውያን የህውሃትን ዘረኛ ፖሊሲ አወገዙ Activists in Sweden call for greater rights

እጅግ በርካታ ቁጥር ያላቸው በስቶክሆልምና አካባቢዋ የሚኖሩ ኢትዮጵያውያንና ትውልደ ኢትዮጵያውያን ዓርብ ሚያዚያ ፬  (አራት) ቀን ፳፻፭ ዓ/ም  እዚህ ስቶክሆልም በሚገኘው የስዊድን የህዝብ ተወካዮች ምክር ቤት ፊት ለፊ ት በመገኘ ት ኢትዮጵያውያ ውስጥ በስልጣን ላይ ያለው የህውሃት መንግስትና በተለያዩ ክልሎ ች የሚገኙ ተከታዮቹ አማርኛ ቋንቋ ተናጋሪዎች ላይ ያነጣጠረውንና ኢሰብዓዊ በሆነ እና ሃላፊነት በጎደለው መልኩ ከቤት ንብረታቸው የማፈናቀል ዘመቻ በማውገዝ ከዚህ ድርጊታቸው እንዲቆጠቡ አሳሰቡ። የኦርቶዶክስና የእስልምና ሃይማኖት ተወካዮች በዚህ ከፍተኛ ቁጥር በነበረው የተቋውሞ ሰልፍ ላይ በመገኘት ይሄንን

Is Sweden relevant to Swedish-Eritreans?

“Sweden is irrelevant" Issais Afewerki, President of Eritrea, Asmara National Palace-Eritrea.

Back then in 2009, this is what Donald Böstrom, a freelance Swedish TV journalist was told when he asked Eritrea's incumbent what kind of relationship his country wants with Sweden. Fast forward 2013! I don't want to make a generalization but as an outsider and from my observation of some actual incidents in Sweden; I was left with no alternative but to assume that there are large numbers of Swedish-Eritreans who consider their home/second country-Sweden- as irrelevant as well. 

These group of people proved my assumption right on Friday afternoon ( March 22, 2013) by attacking me

"I have no plan B": Armenian asylum seeking painter/activist

That's what Armenian asylum seeking painter and activist Narek Aghajanyan told me at the opening of his 8^th exhibition, held last week at a small pizzeria located outside of Gävle, when I asked him what he would do if the Swedish Migration Board rejects the new asylum request he made after his second child was born one month ago. When I posed the same question to his beautiful and giggly wife, she told me

Are Eritreans still Hade Hzbi Hade Lbi, after 20 years of Independence?

Eritreans on Eritreans?

Hade Hzbi Hade Lbi (it means literally One Nation, One Heart in Tigrigna-a Hamitic language spoken both in Ethiopia and Eritrea) was/is a populist catch term used by the ruling Eritrean regime and many Eritreans to mobilize for "freedom" against "colonial" Ethiopia and still used by many PFDJ (People's Front for Democracy & Justice), Eritrea's single party to have unlimited and unfettered control on its people. But for an informed outsider or Eritreans themselves for that matter Hade Hzbi Hade Lbi is just myth which one can find it in the dictionary of PFDJ and its blind hardliner, brainwashed and die-hard supporters. A case in point is the recent triple arson attacks

I walk almost all night: Stockholm's Homeless Person

It was Sunday afternoon (February 17/2013) I was bored sitting at home and then decided to hunt for some stories and went down town at place locally called Medborgareplatsen (citizens place, its literal Swedish meaning) a hub for super trendy cafes/restaurants filled in with rich people with fat-wallets and homeless and or drug/alcohol addicted people are selling Situation Stockholm (local magazine about homeless people) or begging for alms or a few of them boozing on cheap alcohol or roaming around aimlessly. When I came out from the tube

Breaking News Alert! Divine Ethiopian police officers can arrest even those in HEAVEN!

TPLF Police officer: "it doesn't matter if you're in Washington or heaven; I'll come and get you."

TPLF (Tigray People's Liberation Front) police officers will start soon arresting every journalists on earth including those in heaven.  This surprising and breaking news was revealed yesterday while journalist Solomon Kifle of the Voice of of America-Amharic service (VOA)staff member tried to find about the allegation of Ethiopian Muslims of the capital city Addis Ababa who complained to

Portrait of Ethiopian anti-fascist martyr & Patriarch of the Orthodox church auctioned for more than 20 thousand USD

The auction was held last Saturday (February 09, 2013) at a fund-raising event held for the Ethiopian Satellite TV (ESAT) here in Stockholm in the presence of hundreds of Ethiopians and origin of Ethiopians who reside in Sweden; Ethiopia's famous comedian turn out human-rights activist Tamagne Beyene; Swedish journalist Martin Schibbye and other members of the Swedish parliament. According to the organizers, in addition to the auction,

የጸረ ፋሽስት ሰማዕቱ የአቡነ ጴጥሮስ ምስል በጨረታ ከሃያ ሺህ ዶላር በላይ ተሸጠ

ቅዳሜ እንደ ግሪጎሪሳውያውያኑ አቆጣጠር ፌብርዋሪ ዘጠኝ 2013 ከሰዓት በኋላ ጀምሮ እስከ እኩለ ለሊት በስዊድን ዋና ከተማ ስቶክሆልም በተካሄደው የኢሳት የገንዘብ ማሰባሰባቢያ ዝግጅት ላይ ከመቶ ሰላሳ ሺህ የስዊድን ክሮነር ወይም ከሃያ ሺህ በላይ የአሜሪካን ዶላር ተሰበሰበ። ይህንን ያህል መጠን ያለው ገንዘብ የተገኘው በዝግጅቱ ላይ የታላቁ

Don't MISS Ethiopia's Censorship talent-show!

Those who have talent related to cyber security can come and win the award

A winner will

-Eat dinner with the top management team of INSA

- Get scholarship or

- Create his/her own cyber security organization

- Join INSA

200,000 birr is allocated for the award

Also available at ethio-cer2t.insa.gov.et 

Isn't this advert really dazzling and awesome; just in case you wonder, it's a talent show orchestrated by the Ethiopian Information Security Agency (INSA) alias known by many Ethiopians as Censorship-in-chiefs and Phone trespassers Agency inviting eligible cyber geeks to come up with,

When my SKIN becomes my SIN

It was around 2 o'clock this afternoon, I was waiting for my turn to get medicine from one of the pharmacies here in Stockholm. We were about half a dozen people,  and then this very old and over-weight lady were scrambling to raise her feet in vain supported by another old but not so fragile woman when the automated queuing  machine buzzed their queue number. The old lady whom I guess was a friend/relative/care-giver or whatever was not able to lift up the other one; everybody was just simply watching as something normal or pretending looking somewhere else.