Caribana 2005

Caribana 2005
Originally uploaded by Mehretube.

Another nice pic of my friend... she is easily one of the most photogenic people I've ever met.

Ring of Power

I was looking around a bit for a supposed article about the current Eritrean Dictator.. er, I mean President, in Newsweek about the world's top dictators (he came in 15th, not bad eh?). When I eventually tried searching Newsweek's website. To make a long story short, I started reading an article about how current (evangelical) Christians in the U.S. should avoid politics at least for two years. Specifically the article was an interview with a former White House worker, David Kuo, who wrote a memoirs about his experience. He apparently talked a lot about the White House's Faith Based Initiatives, and there evils (more or less). Anyway, none of this in anyway surprises me... this is politics after all, but it was one answer in particular that brought me around to the current problem here in Eritrea.

Just a little (and hopefully quick) background. I'll give it to you in point form... that should be fun. (btw, if you know this skip it).

-1800s Italy colonises Eritrea

-1935/6? (or somewhere around there, before WW2) Italy invades Ethiopia (the only African country not colonized by Europeans)

-1941 to 1945 (I'm not doing fact checks here, so I'll do approximates) the British liberal both countries

-1952 - after much debate - Ethiopia asked for Eritrea to be part of the country, Eritrea resists, but with U.S. pressure (after a promise of a military base in Ethiopia) the U.N. confederates the two states; with one provision, that Eritrean rights would be protected by the U.N. itself.

-1961 - Hailee Selassie, the Ethiopian Emperor, annexes the state of Eritrea, gets rid of it's legislature (killings here) and Eritrea is not even a province (if I remember right, but it might have been a province) --- so Civil War starts.

-1971 - My mom meets the Emperor Hailee Selassie, my mom claims here life went bad after that (she doesn't like him much)

-1972 - The Derg, a communist "party", kills the Emperor, dumps his body somewhere unknown, and takes over the country. Of course, the ties to the U.S. are broken, but fresh, new ones to the other super-corrupting power U.S.S.R. opens up

-197x something, my mum and dad meet

-1976 - the 'deed' happens
-1977 ... and 40 weeks, 10 pounds later on Saturday between Friday the 13th and mother's day... me happens.

-1991 - The Civil War ends, the Provisional Government of Eritrea is born.

-1993 May - the definitive Referendum (as some call it) occurs. Voter turn out: 98.5% (in a country where 80% live in hard to reach areas). Results: 99.8% in favor of Independence. (side note: this may seem high to some, but it seem a bit low to me, I've never met a single Eritrea who wasn't in Favor)

-1995/6 Constitution drawn up, some things in there include: the max a person can serve as president is 2 terms of 4 years (alla U.S.A.), freedom of religion, free speech etc.

-1998 -border war with Ethiopia, ending in about 2001.

Finally

2001 to present - still in a state of Emergency (that's from 1991 till the present time).

What does that all mean?

Well you see, since about 1979ish or somewhere around there (I'm ball parking here), the current president, as been first the leader of the EPLF (the fighters who fought the war), then once Eritrea formed, the Interim President. What is he now?

Well, he's still the Interim President... for 15 years!!! Why? Cause it's a "State of Emergency", that's why.

So it bring me to my (long awaited) point: He's holding onto power. Let me quote David Kuo:

Are Christian leaders being naïve in their dealings with the White House or do they understand the nature of the exchange?
It's a little bit of both. In some ways White House power is like [ J.R.R.] Tolkien's ring of power. When you put it on, it feels good and it's dazzling. But after a while it begins to consume you in ways you don't realize. That's the nature of White House power. I have no doubt that Christian political leaders have gotten involved for all the right reasons. I just think over time it becomes harder and harder to stand up against that ring of power and the White House, to say no and walk away.

The Christian political leaders have been seduced. If you look at their comments that they know what they're doing, I'm not quite sure how to read that—is it wonderful or a little troubling? That's one of the reasons I call for this fast from politics.

This is of course the problem. If you look at history, no one fights hard then those about to lose power. Look at Iraq, the Sunni, the minority will lose power. Rwanda; the slaughter/genocide happened, so that those who were about to lose power (also a population minority) would be the majority, and so could keep power. Much like the ring in Lord of the Rings. The allure of power seems to be too great for most people. Although the current regime has been given the benefit of doubt, it's becoming increasingly clear that the current governments just wants to stay in control.

And if history is any indication, it seems that it's going to have to be pried away from the President's hand. Either by God or people. But I don't anticipate that he is going to give it up. A bad way to end a fruitful career.

Eritrea - The Trip

As you may see from either here of my flickr account, I'm in Eritrea right now.   It's been a lot of fun.  Now saving the pictures so I can take more, that is a different story.   I finally managed to send various pictures, and have figured out a relatively reliable way of email... relatively... For those of you who live in T.O. I'll update you more and show all the pics.   For those out of towners, well, I'm going to update here as much as I can (without spending too much time on the computer), send pics whenever possible, but mostly I'll do the updates later in T.O.   Stay tuned people, I'm sure it will at least be mildly amusing. 

ሰላም  ዮሃንስ

Wedding Pics

Wedding Pics
Originally uploaded by Mehretube.

Taking place a few kilometres from Asmara (the Eritrean Capital), we shot

the wedding pictures here. I kinda liked these pics --especially the

groomsmen -- so I'm posting them.

The couple

The couple
Originally uploaded by Mehretube.

So here's a pic from wedding, I thought it was nice. I did take something

like 650 pictures, so it's nice at least some of them turned out well.

More Wedding

More Wedding
Originally uploaded by Mehretube.

Yet more Wedding Pictures

Fwd: They came on Mass - Outside the celebration

Fwd: They came on Mass - Outside the celebration
Originally uploaded by Mehretube.

I took this picture for those vegan, bike advocate types, who love the outdoors and whose parents built their own house out of logs... This took place outside one of two celebratory places (did I mention my uncle was getting married?) for the wedding. You can see it on the top left. Notice there are absolutely no locks. In fact I've yet to see one on any bike. Coming from the bicycle theft capital of North America, it's weird to see.

We're off

We're off
Originally uploaded by Mehretube.

Here we are on the way to take pictures, I like these two scenery shots. Some colour balance needed, but that could be done later... that is the one downside to digital, you have to do your own colour balance instead of letting the developers do that during processing.

Waiting for the Bride

Waiting for the Bride
Originally uploaded by Mehretube.

My dad waiting for the bride, there were two different areas of celebration. This is us waiting for the bride so that the wedding party could take pictures.

More Family Shots

More Family Shots
Originally uploaded by Mehretube.

More Shots from the first day of the family. Some of the nice ones.

More Family Shots

More Family Shots
Originally uploaded by Mehretube.

More Shots from the first day of the family. Some of the nice ones.

Broken Glass ... everywhere

Broken Glass ... everywhere
Originally uploaded by Mehretube.

First Day of Trip

I couldn't go running today as Air Canada failed to put my bags on the

plane. No shoes, or running gear. Kinda sucked. Wanted to start some

real good training in the next three weeks.... off to a weak "poof" so

far. Sigh... anyway... check it out.

more experiments

more experiments
Originally uploaded by Mehretube.

These are some pics that I like also ... from the experiment series.

more experiments

more experiments
Originally uploaded by Mehretube.

These are some pics that I like also ... from the experiment series.

Picture Experiments gone Well...

Picture Experiments gone Well...
Originally uploaded by Mehretube.

Here are a series of pictures I took last night to test out a digital camera

lent to me by my roommate for my trip to Eritrea. I leave in the morning,

first to St. Louis then... check it out

Picture Experiments gone Well...

Picture Experiments gone Well...
Originally uploaded by Mehretube.

Here are a series of pictures I took last night to test out a digital camera

lent to me by my roommate for my trip to Eritrea. I leave in the morning,

first to St. Louis then... check it out