July 14, 2007
Homesick
Ethiopia's diaspora bloggers are feeling homesick. Here is a roundup of their posts I just did for GlobalVoices:
Expat Ethiopians reflect on the sounds and smells of homeThe ties that bind expatriate Ethiopians to their home country dominated the Ethiopian blogosphere over the past few weeks.
Ethiopians living in the US, Europe and Asia came up with a series of emotional posts, exploring childhood memories, local food, music and the broader subject of national identity.
And here are some other great posts from the Ethiopian blogosphere which didn't really fit in with this fortnight's theme:
Three of Ethiopia's most popular bloggers have discovered they went to the same elementary school. It was aqumada who spotted the link to his fellow classmates - yemi of Don't eat my Buchela! and Fezzzzzzzzzzz of The Mongrel. "By no means, am I equating myself to these two ... I like to think of myself as a sane person:)" joked aqumada.Ethiopundit published a passionately argued reassessment of Ethiopia's last emperor Haile Selassie. "The tradition that he represented was vital and its loss should be mourned. Without it Ethiopia lost her bearings and became lost in a miasma of defunct ideology."
Samuel Gebru published a defense of Ethiopia's ruling EPRDF government - a rare thing in the Ethiopian blogosphere. "Whether you're for or against the EPRDF as a political party and as the party-in-charge of the current Ethiopian government, deep inside, you know that Ethiopia, at this stage, seriously needs the EPRDF" he argued.
Seminawork has been keeping up a running commentary on the increasingly complex trial of opposition politicians and supporters in Ethiopia. Ethiopia has been swarming with rumours of the imminent release of the prisoners following a deal with the Prime Minister. Last week, those hopes took a blow when prosecutors demanded the death penalty. The sentence is expected on Monday, July 16.
Posted by aheavens at July 14, 2007 9:07 AM