Africa's North Korea

How small Eritrea built such a large terror

Dictatorland - Paul Kenyon

0:00 Africa's North Korea
3:00 Militarism
8:36 Power
11:38 Command
15:33 Isolation

[N.Aristotle]

The Eritrean government took the phrase ‘a military with a state’ very seriously.

[skrahnha]

A guy my dad works with grew up in Eritrea and was made a child soldier in the civil war at age 13. The good news is he never had to be in combat. He said his small act of rebellion was that he made sure his gun was never loaded

[JoseifDawit]

I am Eritrean and i left home 10 years ago, just wanted to say you nailed it to 99%. You did your homework. Much respect for that.

[hunters]

As someone who used shipping containers in Iraq (equipment... not people, obviously), if the weather in Eritrea is EVEN REMOTELY SIMILAR to central Iraq, those folks would be facing outright death on a regular basis.

I mean, I had to wear gloves just to open and go through the things for any length of time without developing burns on my hands.

I can not overstate how dangerous actually living in one of those damn things would be. If it is closed up, you could be dead within hours, even assuming there were holes made to avoid suffocation.

[shadowleon]

I once met a girl and her family who told me the story of how they escaped Eritrea. It was really sad and depressing.

[craigstergriffin]

Thank you for the education. Hopefully one day we will see a free, peaceful, and fair Eritrea.

[tsorona]

As eritrean who's advocating for change this hits most of the horrible stories that my people are facing, but the most horrifying stories are the underground prisons, no one hardly make it alive to tell the story.

[Nabalayo]

As a Kenyan this is news to me. Shame on my ignorance. Thank you for the information

[VexingDaftJim]

Well researched. I have some Eritrean students so it's nice to learn more about the situations they fled.

[caleb]

the most annoying shit is that people domestically still like Isaias!!! I argue with my family all the time and they feel like they can't betray him for how he contributed to the independence war. Imagine if Nelson Mandela became a brutal dictator. It hurts but the love for him is still there

[MamadoJoachim]

Hi, I'm originally from St-Louise Senegal directly on the other side to Eritrea on the African continent. This video was actually surprising and outstanding to a west African like me as I was very unaware of the political unrest with the active conscription or the drastic dictorial situation this beautiful nation is going through. I remember going to Ethiopia and having a layover there before I went to the Netherlands and I remember seeing an endless stretch of thousands of flag-waving Protestors filling the streets in Addis Ababa. At this time I was confused of what was going on but many people were possibly opposing and challenging the government at the time for the Tigray crisis .Through my perspective, I see all of Africa alike the rest of the world as one beautiful continent filled with kind-hearted people, diversity, scenery, languages, cultures, and traditions. However it is so shameful and disappointing to millions in our continent literally starving and suffering under the corruption and heartless behaviour of the majority of African politicians

[anamendoza]

Honest to God I would watch a video like this from you about every country in the world. Top notch script, top notch editing skills, top notch production, top notch voice over, perfect amount of comedy to keep things interesting, perfect pace in dialogue to keep things comprehensible, MAN GREAT FCKING JOB IS WHAT I'M TRYING TO SAY. A+

[markuskristersson]

Good video Hoser!

Us Swedes are very familiar with Dawit Isaak, a Swedish-Eritrean Journalist who has been trapped in a metal prison in Eritrea since 2001. I am glad this subject is once again brought up.

[thenamelesschannel]

I feel like this country was the inspiration for Wadiya in "The Dictator" (it even has the same borders as Eritrea).
Also I love how you used a chollima to represent North Korea

[hrriphic]

There’s a large population of Eritrean people living in my neck of the woods. Half of them look like runway models, it’s wild. Good genes and even better cheekbones.

It’s so sad their home country is under such distress. I hope Eritrea sees peace and prosperity in our lifetimes.

[Realluffy]

I think the best western video done on Eritrea. Even learned new things. (fled when i was 6)

[In_Our_Timeline]

“Eritrean people are strong and caring. And despite all that we had been through we were brimming with optimism. Our country was on the verge of huge change.”
― Abeba Habtu,

[AbielGebreamlak]

What a video..am eritrean and this is an absolute truth you did your homework in every detail

[zac]

My dad met a guy at his job from Eritrea. He was horrified by the things he was told and asked why America doesn’t help. His reply was that “there’s no oil so why would they care about us?”

[annareddae]

My parents left eritrea during the war, seeing as they didn’t know when the war would end, they didn’t want to raise me and my sister. My family back home was glad that we left while we could, only wishing they left themselves. This really sums up my whole country, while im proud of my people, culture, and basically where im from, the government is terrible. Thanks for making the video man.💕🇪🇷🇪🇷