Today’s guest is Amanuel Bead Mariam, author and social media activist. His dream was to become a professional soccer player at Asmara. There he was born and raised, but in the late 1970s he had to flee for the war. Currently living in Washington, D.C., Amanuel is a very active member of the Eritrea diaspora community. He is the author of Eritrea’s American history and recently published his second book, Eritrea: the struggle is long, and the victory is certainly true. Amanuel has also written many articles aimed at empowering the Eritrea community and advocating for a variety of causes.
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What inspired you to write your second book, “Struggle is Long, Winning is True”?
It is a collective journey of the people of Eritrea. Many initiatives have been implemented in the diaspora, including demonstrations and campaigns to advocate and promote Eritrea. I was documenting it and writing articles that became an Eritrea magazine. Finally, I wanted to write about the people of Eritrea, and asked, “How did these people come to America, Europe, or elsewhere?” As I began to follow the journey of the people of Eritrea, I realized that it began in 1941 when the Italians were defeated by the British.
I did my research and learned about the US post-World War II agenda and why they wanted to come to Africa. Initially I thought it would be just a chapter, but it became a book – “American History in Eritrea.” I found a lot of information after it was declassified and put it into a paper for young Eritreans and future generations to read and understand their history.
I learned a lot while doing my research. Rather than telling stories about refugees, I wanted to write about the stories of Eritrea.
What do you want to achieve through the book?
As you know, our stories are not told all over the world. So I want every university in the world to get a copy of Eritrea’s perspective. I would like to make the government representatives and bills of other countries who have made a superficial judgment on Eritrea, with an understanding of its history and global context. And they hope that the Eritreans will distribute books and that they will go to all libraries in the world, so that true Eritrean stories will be known.
What your enemies do to weaken you is to undermine your history. So we need to be able to tell our stories to counter negativity, and we need to put good stories there for people to understand.
In today’s world, war is about winning the story. How can Eritrea people in their homes and in diaspora contribute to their efforts to control their stories in a world dominated by stories sown in Western media?
The Eritreans are very well organized in the country and elsewhere in the world. But to be able to create media and financial institutions from scratch, we need to better organize our communities. Then our collective voice will be very powerful.
What do you say to the young Eritreans of the diaspora to help protect their identity?
To appeal to young people, we need more interesting programs that focus on our culture. It can be done through works of art such as music and drama. We need to make sure that young people don’t think that other countries are better than theirs. It is their responsibility to become a consumer of other people’s products and to develop their own and put it in the world rather than being used. Eritrea is in a very strong position from a political, economic, military perspective, and from a security standpoint. You can do media and entertainment. This is a really good time.
As you know, books and documentaries about legendary Eritrea characters are not common in Eritrea. What do you think about this and what do you think you should do?
The very people who have accomplished so much in the history of Eritrea that I have described in the book are too modest to come out and talk about their achievements. I think they have to tell the story, and they can create a perspective on it, because they belong to them. I think we need to push it and those legends should start writing.
We need to encourage people to tell their stories not only in their native language but also in English.
Are there any plans to further engage with the Eritrea community to expand on the subject matter discussed in your book?
Writing encourages others to write, and people send messages to me through social media. I’m doing it now, but I need to make it more formal, create a network that supports it, and encourage others to participate. For example, you can help by editing each other’s work and growing together. We need to somehow institutionalize our relationships so that we can better support people.
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It is extremely important to create a platform for publication and distribution. We are organized and have the potential to make that happen. As a step towards that, I will translate both books into Tigrigna. And revenues hope to go to war disabled and veteran fighters. We also want to expand Haben ERI globally to help Eritreans publish and distribute books. In this way, our stories and stories can be distributed all over the world.
The main signature event will be held at Hotel Asmara Palace and will take tours around the world. I hope people will be receptive.
Is there anything else you would like to add, Amanuel?
Thank you for taking the time to talk to me. I am very happy and honored. This is a very important opportunity for Eritrea around the world. This is when all Eritreans gather. The journey in Eritrea is a victory journey. It’s really amazing and people need to make it happen. So you should read books and you will be able to interact with people I want to. Because the first thing your enemy does is to destroy your history, we must be informed and dedicated to empowering young people in our history. So get to know your history, understand it, own it and promote it.
thank you very much. good luck with your life.
