“Hires Harestai, niged negadai”

Our ancestors did not know anything about the system of democracy, but they collectively described their ideal system as one that lets the people live their own lives – in Tigrigna: “Hires Harestai, niged negadai” – a government that lets the peasant farmer to freely plow his field and harvest his crop, and the merchant to freely roam the land and run his business.