seldiboy
Resident Eritrean | Ye's strongest soldier
Other way round
What are the Eritreans doing here in Europe ?
- Thread starter LasanoodBoy
- Start date
seldiboy
Resident Eritrean | Ye's strongest soldier
The “North Korea of Africa” label isn’t really apt for Eritrea and is just downright sensationalist (I’m not even going to delve into how the DPRK is also slandered).
The first half-truth/lie about Eritrea is one of indefinite military service. Sawa (the infamous military camp) is simply the location where final year high school students finish their studies. There is a military component to the time spent in Sawa however it is primarily an educational establishment. Students will take a variety of classes and graduate with a “matric” score (essentially a GPA). This score determines the paths of higher education a student can take. Higher scores allow students to pursue degrees at one of a number of Eritrea’s colleges. Scores below this can pursue diplomas (associates degrees), and below that vocational qualifications are available. Finally, for those who have scored extremely poorly, the military is their only option.
After the completion of higher education, graduates undergo an 18 month period of virtually unpaid National Service whereby they use their qualifications in state enterprises. Engineering graduates may end up working on government infrastructure projects. Accounting graduates may end up doing bookkeeping for various govt departments and so forth.
After this 18 month period is over, graduates transfer into what is unfortunately indefinite National Service. They continue working in state enterprises however they are now paid a monthly stipend based on the level of qualification they have. I’m pretty sure the base rate for those with diplomas is around 150 USD a month. For degrees it will be higher and for vocational/military it will be lower. You are free to undertake other work (which normally pays more) and the vast majority of Eritreans do this. Now for most people, this arrangement is actually favourable. Provided you did at least somewhat decently in school, you now have job security and guaranteed income. Now if you are in the military, you are stuck. Service is indefinite for everyone but it’s obviously less tolerable in the army. This is a very small minority of people however. It’s not very fair to chastise Eritrea for being so highly militarised when it has an extremely hostile neighbour to the south which has no respect for its sovereignty. Militarisation is a necessity.
The second piece of garbage often used to slander Eritrea is to point out its low GDP. However this is somewhat artificially deflated. For the most part, imports are banned in Eritrea. This is mostly to stop the influx of virtually free grain flooding the Eritrean market and undercutting Eritrean farmers, killing our agricultural industry (bear in mind, this is the same reason the Eri govt doesn’t accept food aid or financial aid). When you look at HDI figures of Eritrea and its neighbours, you can see the standard of living is on par with everyone else. This is all while UN arms embargoes have been placed on the Eritrean military to undermine our ability to defend ourseleves. Not to forget the outright ban placed on all Eritrean state corporations on access to the SWIFT banking system, crippling our economy. The very reason Assab is empty is because the Red Sea Trading Corporation has been kneecapped. Even in the face of all these hardships, the Eritrean govt has managed to provide subsidised gas, electricity and water to Eritreans and built countless infrastructure projects.
Pre-2010 Eritrean migrants in Europe will be those who were already residing in Saudi Arabia or Sudan moving to greener pastures.
Post-2010, the majority of these “Eritreans” will be Tigrayans who have stolen Eritrean IDs from those in refugee camps in Ethiopia or just larped to Immigration
The first half-truth/lie about Eritrea is one of indefinite military service. Sawa (the infamous military camp) is simply the location where final year high school students finish their studies. There is a military component to the time spent in Sawa however it is primarily an educational establishment. Students will take a variety of classes and graduate with a “matric” score (essentially a GPA). This score determines the paths of higher education a student can take. Higher scores allow students to pursue degrees at one of a number of Eritrea’s colleges. Scores below this can pursue diplomas (associates degrees), and below that vocational qualifications are available. Finally, for those who have scored extremely poorly, the military is their only option.
After the completion of higher education, graduates undergo an 18 month period of virtually unpaid National Service whereby they use their qualifications in state enterprises. Engineering graduates may end up working on government infrastructure projects. Accounting graduates may end up doing bookkeeping for various govt departments and so forth.
After this 18 month period is over, graduates transfer into what is unfortunately indefinite National Service. They continue working in state enterprises however they are now paid a monthly stipend based on the level of qualification they have. I’m pretty sure the base rate for those with diplomas is around 150 USD a month. For degrees it will be higher and for vocational/military it will be lower. You are free to undertake other work (which normally pays more) and the vast majority of Eritreans do this. Now for most people, this arrangement is actually favourable. Provided you did at least somewhat decently in school, you now have job security and guaranteed income. Now if you are in the military, you are stuck. Service is indefinite for everyone but it’s obviously less tolerable in the army. This is a very small minority of people however. It’s not very fair to chastise Eritrea for being so highly militarised when it has an extremely hostile neighbour to the south which has no respect for its sovereignty. Militarisation is a necessity.
The second piece of garbage often used to slander Eritrea is to point out its low GDP. However this is somewhat artificially deflated. For the most part, imports are banned in Eritrea. This is mostly to stop the influx of virtually free grain flooding the Eritrean market and undercutting Eritrean farmers, killing our agricultural industry (bear in mind, this is the same reason the Eri govt doesn’t accept food aid or financial aid). When you look at HDI figures of Eritrea and its neighbours, you can see the standard of living is on par with everyone else. This is all while UN arms embargoes have been placed on the Eritrean military to undermine our ability to defend ourseleves. Not to forget the outright ban placed on all Eritrean state corporations on access to the SWIFT banking system, crippling our economy. The very reason Assab is empty is because the Red Sea Trading Corporation has been kneecapped. Even in the face of all these hardships, the Eritrean govt has managed to provide subsidised gas, electricity and water to Eritreans and built countless infrastructure projects.
Pre-2010 Eritrean migrants in Europe will be those who were already residing in Saudi Arabia or Sudan moving to greener pastures.
Post-2010, the majority of these “Eritreans” will be Tigrayans who have stolen Eritrean IDs from those in refugee camps in Ethiopia or just larped to Immigration
Nilotic
VIP
Thanks for the wealth of information, my Eritrean cousin
If only somalia could have followed in Eritrea’s footsteps
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