Letter from Eritrea
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By Alex Walker:
I pass under the white awnings of the coffee shop, grateful my walk has come to an end. The air in Asmara is thin – this small capital sits on a plateau 7600 ft above sea level – I am out of breath and in need of a coffee. Fortunately for me, Africa’s only ex-Italian colony still serves delicious macchiatos, made with the strong, dry Arabica beans of neighbouring Ethiopia. The letters of the sign outside are in the style usually seen on the side of Vespa motorbikes.
It is busy, but an undaunted waitress shows me to a spare chair on a table with some other customers. I sit down to read and regain my breath, but struggle to focus amidst the muted scream of frothing milk and the buzz of conversations in Tigrinya. As people come and go, a smartly dressed man sits down opposite me. Back straight, he sips meticulously at an espresso. I can tell he is watching me, perhaps surprised by the sight of a westerner in a state that guards its own isolation.
“Is your book factual?” he eventually asks.
I tell him it’s about Eritrea and questions follow: what does this author say? what sources do they use? is it well referenced?
He tells me he had been a history teacher. He does not seem angry, but concerned. I’ll tell you something about Eritrea, he says.
“In the 1930s Eritrea and South Africa were the most developed nations in Africa. They called this city ‘Piccola Roma’. Do you know what that means? Little Rome.”
For the Italian colonists Asmara seems to have presented less an opportunity to create a miniature Rome than a modernist reimagining of it. The wide road that forms the artery of Asmara is lined with giant palms disproportionate to the number of people that walk beneath them. Walking along it you will pass four grand cinemas and come eventually to the famous ‘Fiat Tagliero’ building – a now-disused petrol station in the stylised shape of a majestic plane. It is said to be one of the finest examples of Italian futurism in the world.
Asmara is quiet now – many people leave, if they can, and the country is undoubtedly poor. The subtext of my companion’s comment is clear. It was the British who treated Eritrea as the spoils of war when they defeated the Italians in 1941: dismantling factories, removing parts of the railway line, demolishing a naval base, and so on. There is no vitriol in his comment, only a desire to be clear. He tells me how much fun he had with British teachers in the 90s – a brief period of peace and optimism sandwiched between the protracted struggle for liberation and the brutal border war that followed.
How old do you think I am? My new friend asks with a knowing smile. I guess early 40s.
I am wrong, he is 55 – “but I look young, I have fought in two wars – it keeps you fit,” he laughs.
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Alex Walker recently finished a masters at The LSE in Political Theory. Before that he studied at the University of Oxford, where he wrote for various student publications. He currently lives in London and is interested in deliberative democracy and citizen participation.