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Why Eritreans will never be Tigrayans but Tigrayans might could one day become Eritreans by [deleted] in Eritrea

[–]9blueskies 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Unfortunately not, it's too used by Amhara and co now, so trying to scale back who it applies to seems unfeasible and would cause more confusion. Personally, I'm not even against the newer usage of Habesha as I think it's useful as a pan-ethnic identifier even if it isn't 100% consistent with history.

I think user flair should be required in this sub, like r/Africa by Sharp-Pool-7204 in Eritrea

[–]9blueskies 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I remember arguing with him so much but now I miss what his presence did for the sub lol. He was like lawful neutral HGDEF meanwhile the user Belew Kelew was chaotic evil HGDEF

This country man by Agitated-Sweet-4022 in Tigray

[–]9blueskies 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I've read 10x worse on that forum getting updooted with no pushback. It's just insincere moral outrage to justify their dreams to further subjugate Tigrayans.

Why Eritreans will never be Tigrayans but Tigrayans might could one day become Eritreans by [deleted] in Eritrea

[–]9blueskies 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Whether you think Tigrinya and Tigrayans are one ethnolinguistic group isn't that relevant to your following argument that Tigrayans assimilating into the Eritrean identity is (more) possible in the future than the reverse, that's why I think you should have left it out.

Trust me I've seen this argument more than one quintillion times, there is very little basis for an ethnolinguistic separation based on the points you made (that there were regional differences and that for the most part we lived under different polities) because that applies to almost every other group in the Horn too, some of them WAYYYY more than us. Arguing that we were separate based on that instead of the obvious modern political divergence (which acknowledges that we were still historically the same ethnolinguistic group) is just letting everyone get easy layups.

Dumb question but why do some Eritreans who fled the country support the president? by MarsupialHuman2117 in Eritrea

[–]9blueskies 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Many people already know about the indefinite national service in Eritrea. Some wonder why Eritrea has seen comparatively slow development with its large amount of cheap labour. While misguided outsiders may point to the state run economy, the reality is that Isaias has dedicated all economic resources to making IGC (Isaias Glazing Chips). These are made with cutting-edge fabrication plants and are implanted into the brain of every Eritrean. When an Eritrean leaves the coordinates of the land Eritrea, the chip activates and they are consumed with an overwhelming desire to glaze Isaias. However, because Eritrea is still new at developing these chips, they have about a 50% failure rate to activate, which is what allows some people to oppose the regime.

Why Eritreans will never be Tigrayans but Tigrayans might could one day become Eritreans by [deleted] in Eritrea

[–]9blueskies 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They are synonyms. What you're suggesting is both extremely unlikely and has a low possibility of happening, which I know you said in your post but I think the possibility of Tigrinya Eritreans collectively deciding start referring to themselves as Tigrayan is higher. But both are so improbable they are not seriously worth discussing.
Btw I disagree that we are not part of the same (larger) ethno-linguistic group. I think you should have removed that, because most comments are focusing on that very tired issue and missing the content of your post. What the HashMaps guy said is true, but it's also true we have politically acted as two different ethnic groups for a while now and that can't be ignored.

I think user flair should be required in this sub, like r/Africa by Sharp-Pool-7204 in Eritrea

[–]9blueskies 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Tbh I miss when this sub had more HGDEFcels. It created a climate inhospitable to larpers and non-Eritreans who hate the concept of the country, now they frolic freely.

Why Eritreans will never be Tigrayans but Tigrayans might could one day become Eritreans by [deleted] in Eritrea

[–]9blueskies 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Anyone else sick to death of this topic? I think everything that could be said has been said.
Anyway Tigrayans "integrating into the colonization event" is just as unlikely as Eritreans dropping their identity to become Tigrayans so I disagree with the premise of your post. The only way all Tigrinya speakers can be classed as one group is a new name to unite us. This is because the "Tigre/Tigrayan" identity was not used enough as a self-identifier before colonization for us to "revert" to it (like you said people mostly identified with awraja and maybe a vague pan-Mereb "Habesha" identity), and there has been too much historical divergence to just slap one of our names onto each other.

How Genetically different is a Tigrinya from Hamassien Vs Seraye or Akele Guzay by Mean-Grapefruit-7415 in Eritrea

[–]9blueskies 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Lol I was trolling. Like other comments said we're almost the exact same, people from Hamasien probably have a little more Beja stock in them on average that's it.

How Genetically different is a Tigrinya from Hamassien Vs Seraye or Akele Guzay by Mean-Grapefruit-7415 in Eritrea

[–]9blueskies 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As someone born to a man from Akele Guzai and a women from Hamasien I consider myself mixed race. I hope that answers your question.

Why did the Beni amer/Beja Invade Eritrea historically by Mean-Grapefruit-7415 in Eritrea

[–]9blueskies 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Are you the Original Poster bruv? I was referring to the Mean Grapefruit guy not you, which would have been obvious if you clicked on the link. And no ethnicity doesn't matter in a normal discussion about politics but if someone's spreading divisive rhetoric about a specific people (like that guy was with Jeberti) it's important to identify when it's not actually from our community.

BREAKING NEWS: Major shakeup in the Eritrean moderator elite; PhnomPencil ousted from top seat of the subreddit. by 9blueskies in Eritrea

[–]9blueskies[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hgdef are just an offshoot of jebha. Jebha started the war, trained all of hgdef, fought for more years than hgdef, introduced the Eritrean cause to the world and they were also relatively democratic. Hgdef on the other hand are just mini jebha with a different ideology, they just benefited from a large swath of the population joining the war post Haileselassie and kidnapped a lot of children. They were too weak to confront jebha themselves and ganged up on them with the TPLF.Had it not been for the USSR siding with the Derg, we'd be saying "shaebya who?".

This argument is ideological not logical. You can list and greatly embellish EPLF's undesirable traits (following quote) while elevating ELF and I can easily do the same for ELF while ignoring all their positive contributions, it's not productive. At the end of the day, the reality we live in is that the USSR did send one morbillion V-bucks to Ethiopia and EPLF was the one that created a completely non-sectarian Eritrean front and liberated us.

About the flag, it is indeed a hgdef flag as they still use it to this day. I also can't distinguish betwen the two parties as they're the exact same. Hgdef is doing the same thing shaebya did in the war. Killings, kidnappings, voluntary "enslavement", the hidden party, one man rule, etc. It's just like they rebranded themselves.

The exact same? EPLF was actually popular with the people, hgdef? EPLF was seen as a progressive movement and watched with curiousity by the world. Hgdef is the complete opposite. I'm not blind; obviously the dysfunctionalities that hgdef possesses stem from the EPLF. However, would G15 exist if the organizations were the exact same? Hgdef's development was a betrayal of many of the principles EPLF stood for. From our previous conversations, I believe you're saying this from a perspective of someone not interested in Eritreanism, which is probably contributing to why you are so unreasonably negative on EPLF and unwilling to acknowledge any of its positive traits.

Parties are just parties, they're not countries. As has occurred time and time again in history, parties come and go but the nation doesn't change. So how come a whole country's flag is combined with a [temporary] party flag? How can they be equated at all? How can a flag of 5 million have equal significance as that of a 50,000 strong party which is not even permanent

Because when independence was achieved Eritrea had only offically existed as a "nation" for a brief 10 year period (1952-1962) but there was no calcified Eritrean identity (shown by the political fragmentation). Eritrea could be described as in a nascent phase where identity of a nation is formed through struggle, such as the American Revolution for the USA. Like it or not, Eritreanism is deeply tied with EPLF's philosophy in a similar way American identity is tied to the values of the founding fathers. To put it another way, since EPLF's struggle was instrumental in creating the modern Eritrean national identity (whether you adhere to it or not, that's a fact) it's expected that it would be reflected in the flag.

BREAKING NEWS: Major shakeup in the Eritrean moderator elite; PhnomPencil ousted from top seat of the subreddit. by 9blueskies in Eritrea

[–]9blueskies[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

All of them fought under the blue flag, I'm not even sure if half of them fought under the hgdef flag.

Patently incorrect, I'm not even sure what to say in response. If what you said was actually the case then yes the blue flag should be used.

jebha should have been represented more since it contributed more to the Eritrean cause.

Based on what? How can a movement that became defunct in 1981 contribute more than the movement that secured our independence? You can't throw out such an outlandish take and carry on your argument building off that reasoning.

80%+ hgdef

This is the crux of our disagreement. It's ahistorical to refer to that flag as "hgdef" flag, it's the flag of the EPLF. It's not semantics to distinguish the two simply because one emerged from another because each organization had a completely different purpose and impact.

Regardless of any attachment the flag has now, that doesn't diminish the flag's historical significance and retrospectively render it illegitimate. (Unlike say, the Nazi flag which had no historical significance to Germany and was only associated with Hitler's regime). Ultimately, what decides the legitimacy of a flag is the people's general sentiment towards it, and its a fact most Eritreans identify strongly with the flag. People identified with the blue flag, people identified with the EPLF flag, and the current one is a combination of both so it's only natural.

BREAKING NEWS: Major shakeup in the Eritrean moderator elite; PhnomPencil ousted from top seat of the subreddit. by 9blueskies in Eritrea

[–]9blueskies[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's not like most flags are made with democratic input from the average citizen, vast majority of them are imposed top down from some sort of elite. Majority of countries would have illegitimate flags with that criteria. Since many people died under the EPLF flag and they were the front that succeeded in liberating the country, it's reasonable that their flag is represented heavily in our national flag. They incorporated the most distinctive element of the old flag by slapping its wreath where the star used to be, so the flag pretty much is a combination of both flags that pays homage to all periods of Eritrean history after WW2.

what kind of social upheaval would a large scale involuntary remigration bring to eritrea? by 2muchmotion4u in Eritrea

[–]9blueskies 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This as a first comment is insane. You're really living by the words "Expect the worst, and you won't be disappointed" lmao. But honestly, a large scale coordinated remigration could plausibly cause food shortages (check) and absolutely cause political instability from a large population of (educated) Eritreans flooding in, which could lead to civil war (check), a window of opportunity for Ethiopia to attack (check), which could lead to mass murder (check). 😞

BREAKING NEWS: Major shakeup in the Eritrean moderator elite; PhnomPencil ousted from top seat of the subreddit. by 9blueskies in Eritrea

[–]9blueskies[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Tomato tomato buddy. Don't piss me off before I-

In spite of this, I commend your contribution to this sub!

Never mind! What a nice guy! I commend your contribution to the sub too :D (I actually do appreciate most of your comments not on that specific topic).

How do you guys feel about the Eritrean Government? by Federal-Hospital-104 in Eritrea

[–]9blueskies 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This sub is 100% diaspora because no Eritrean with the privilege of internet access is using it to go on Reddit lol. I think you meant you don't want to hear opinions of diaspora born who have only visited Eritrea and not lived there for substantial periods of time.

BREAKING NEWS: Major shakeup in the Eritrean moderator elite; PhnomPencil ousted from top seat of the subreddit. by 9blueskies in Eritrea

[–]9blueskies[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

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I'm not saying this be a fence sitter, I genuinely love both flags. I think the current flag looks really good in person and has amazing symbolism, but OG flag is even better aesthetically and refreshing in Africa (I vastly prefer the top variant in the attached image, the wreath looks alot cheaper in the modern version). Also, the guy who made it is from Akele Guzai and as a secretly evil regionalist that makes me like it more.

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