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82 essaysAbiy Can Fall and Tigray Can Still Lose
Every path before us carries risk. Our task now is not to settle Tigray's final destination, but to make sure each phase leaves us stronger, less isolated, and still able to choose the next.
Read essay →Why Now? What Is Abiy Trying to Prevent?
The attacks on Tigray may be preparation for another war. But I think something else may also be happening: Addis may be trying to force us to move before the new strategic relationships around Tigray become strong enough to change the balance.
Read essay →The Next Mistake May Not Come From Weakness
Recovered leverage is not victory. It is a test of judgment: Tigray must turn its growing room to maneuver into durable gains without making the survival of its people depend on assumptions that may prove wrong.
Read essay →The Mask I Wore Willingly: A Tigrayan Letter on Love, Identity, Empire, and the Future of the North
I loved the country that taught me to disappear inside it. I know now that a culture can hold you completely and still not hold your name, and that no state worth keeping asks a people to vanish to belong.
Read essay →Administration, Population, and Belonging: Documentary Notes on Western and Southern Tigray
The documentary record behind the territorial arguments in The Mask I Wore Willingly. Western and Southern Tigray are examined separately through evidence on administration, population, language, and belonging, with gaps and uncertainties stated explicitly.
Read essay →Method, Evidence, and Scope: A Companion Note to “The Mask I Wore Willingly”
A companion to The Mask I Wore Willingly, clarifying its use of lived testimony, historical documentation, and political argument. The note sets out the sources, qualifications, and limits behind the essay's claims about identity, administration, and belonging.
Read essay →Fixed Purpose, Open Destination: Why Tigray Needs Direction Without Premature Closure
Mekhete must be anchored in Tigray’s non-negotiable national purpose and guided by clear, measurable objectives. But Tigray should not lock itself into one final political destination before the balance of power, the conduct of its partners, the viability of coexistence, and the growth of its own capacity have revealed which destination can most securely protect its people.
Read essay →The Superpower That Cannot See the Horn
America is deeply present in the Horn of Africa, yet increasingly unable to see the region it is trying to stabilize. Ambassador Massinga’s visit to Mekelle is not the story. The framework that sent him is.
Read essay →The Burden of Carrying a Nation
መኸተ carried Tigray through an existential struggle. Its next test is whether sacrifice can be converted into lasting national capacity. TPLF carries the greatest responsibility because it leads. But leadership is not ownership. It means correcting weaknesses honestly, preserving public confidence, aligning every institution with national priorities, and organizing committed and capable Tigrayans beyond familiar political circles.
Read essay →Beyond Two-Track Mekhete: Toward a National Resilience Strategy for Tigray
Mekhete saved Tigray. Now it must evolve to achieve what survival alone cannot: the return of the displaced, the restoration of occupied territories, justice for genocide, and the recovery of Tigray's full national rights.
Read essay →When Diplomacy Speaks, Tigray Must Think
The question is not whether Tigray should be flexible. The question is: flexible about what, under what conditions, and in whose strategic interest?
Read essay →Where Will Tigray’s Next Political Leaders Come From?
The most important political question facing Tigray today is not who should lead us next. It is whether we have built a society capable of continuously producing people worthy of leading us at all.
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