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EPDP Editorial

We are not going to take it anymore is the imperative of the letter written by the clergy of the Union of the Eritrean Orthodox Church monasteries last week. It is timely and one could see the ripple effect of the “Where is Your Brother” document authored by our Catholic Church pastors few months back, all a sign of an impending demise of the lawless regime and its anti democratic apparatus. Nothing seems to fall through the cracks this time provided the opposition capitalize on it prudently and strategically.

The long and disastrous road that the PFDJ took the country for the last two decades is being challenged by the people that have an ecclesiastic power on moral, cultural, and social authority in our society. Their action is not an intervention or calling for excommunication of the notorious personalities who have been running the Orthodox Church per se; it is a declaration that calls for the church to reclaim its authority, that religious faith in Eritrea is not the domain of the PFDJ regime, that the PFDJ should stop its endless violations of religious freedom, and that the PFDJ must cease using its anti democratic practices to command and cater religion and its institutions to prolong its repressive regime in Eritrea.   

Call it a radical revolution if you will, but these foremost spiritual leaders have introduced a new dynamic that adds a positive weight to the ongoing revolt against the PFDJ regime. Implicitly, we are witnessing Eritrean spiritual leaders rebelling against the legitimacy of the PFDJ regime for the sake of their peoples’ welfare and faith. Simply put it, our spiritual leaders are saying you cannot have a healthy society without having a religious freedom. Yes, the context of the message is not an obscured one, nor is it limited to religious freedom only; largely, it is a protest and condemnation against the PFDJ’s domination that poses a perpetual threat to all Eritrea’s religious faiths, which are  essential to nourishing social, traditional, cultural cohesion, and solidarity amongst our society. 

As we know the principle that religion should be free and independent of any politics or government has been hollowed out and nullified by the PFDJ regime for the last two decades. The devolution of church authority, order, and all forms of religious power has been seized by the PFDJ regime through its puppet political elites in order to perpetuate its power. Not only that, but also the PFDJ has used and continues to use national security and foreign enemies as a pretext for stripping the right of religious practices and freedoms in Eritrea.

More importantly, the underlying message is deeper and wider that targets the PFDJ’s state of monopolization and total control of the country and its people’s life: the message is about how the PFDJ regime is obliterating our religious faith, mores, and communal culture and virtues, which is the hallmark of cohesion, strength, and perseverance of Eritrean society; how it is stamping out dissent and voices of reason; how it created hundreds of detention centers where Eritrean citizens are languishing every day; how it enforces conformity, fear, brutality, and physical repression; how it created a culture of organized corruption to divert the focus and resolve of Eritrean people from asserting their rights and empowering themselves, in essence a tool PFDJ uses to prevent a critical mass from rising against its power and misrule.

PFDJ is fundamentally a lethal force because in order to survive it has to continually eliminate everything it considers a threat to its power. PFDJ wants a society subservient to its political order, and it must use all forms violent measures to keep Eritrean people under its control. But after two decades, the coercion and intimidation of PFDJ is falling apart. There is a perfect storm of discontent and unrest in the country. With no exaggeration, PFDJ is losing all the means and tools it once used to own. The people with the most religious and moral authority in Eritrea are speaking the truth in ways never seen before, and Eritrean people are listening.

But history also shows even as the public discontent and opposition against dictators grows, so does the repression and brutality. Hence, PFDJ regime will continue to increase its state of terror and onslaught on Eritrean citizens as long as it can afford. Our job is “to cut the umbilical cord”, as the saying goes, meaning we must intensify our struggle against the PFDJ regime in a manner that goes beyond a mere talk of strategies and road maps, measures attuned to action taking.

In conclusion, for the first time we are seeing the readiness and willingness of Eritrean people to face the evil regime in our country. EPDP sees the opposition inside Eritrea is heading to become a critical mass, a sign that the respect for PFDJ power and legitimacy is falling apart. Yet, EPDP strongly believes that without a real political structure and leadership, all the ongoing mobilization against the PFDJ may not materialize much. EPDP also understands that PFDJ is broken, but dangerous in terms of producing violence and chaos when it falls. Therefore, the opposition inside and outside Eritrea must take concrete measures with the understanding that the struggle against the PFDJ regime will be successful not out of unorganized opposition (which is the case now), but out of a vision that is collective, strong, and democratic that produces substantive and meaningful transformation in the lives of our people in post PFDJ Eritrea. Inside Eritrea the support and power is on the side of the opposition as is evident in the letter of the union of the Eritrean Orthodox Church monasteries and in the “where is your brother” document, including the January 2013 operation Forto. The Diaspora opposition needs to match it by a similar measures and actions by moving from the current paralysis and cynicism to a broad-based political organization essential to developing a formidable and organized force against the PFDJ repressive system.