The Eritrean Revolution’s Rule of Conduct: Ask Not About Your Brother

The Pastoral Letter from the Catholic bishops of the Ge’ez Rite in Eritrea is a powerful message for Catholics and other Christian denominations. The Letter’s subtle critique of the regime and its implied message of resistance may also gain the respect and admiration of secular and atheist people. However courageous the bishops were, the origin of the sense of indifference and apathy towards fellow human beings in the land has not been addressed. True, the communities in Eritrea had throughout their long history the “Fear of God”, and to an admirable degree, the respect for traditional laws. However, these attributes were abruptly and violently made to wither over the long period of ghedli hegemony. All the “social capital” the traditional communities had was degraded and trampled down by the ghedli operatives. The period was, in other words, “a dejen of error” [1] and anticipated the current social malaise.

The bishops, who relentlessly preach about the “original sin” of Adam pointed to globalization, mass media, etc., but left out the disproportionate role of the “liberators”, in degrading the religious precept of “Where Is Your Brother?” It is understandable, though. It is presumptuous to think that the bishops are ignorant about the massive physical and moral sufferance of the rural folks, educated as they are; they are also well versed in the manners, customs and language of the ghebar. The literature speaks for itself. After all, many of the leaders of their sister churches, such as the Patriarch of the Tewahedo church and many of its leaders have been either demoted, jailed or under house arrest for several years.

And yet, they were not spared from criticism by a certain writer at the comments section of Awate.com; he alludes to the Vatican as the power behind them and reprimands them for not raising their voice when disabled fighters protested and got massacred, when senior leaders of the regime commonly known as the G-15 were made to disappear, including the demotion and imprisonment of Patriarch Antonius of the Tewahedo Church. The writer cannot be naïve; inquiring and asking about the whereabouts of people under the regime in Eritrea now and its past is a dangerous thing, a risk to one’s own life. In the ghedli times, the policy was “Ask Not About Your Brother.”

In 1972, a former graduate of Haile Selasie I University; joined the EPLF with other students, after having spent some time in jail in Somalia. He briefly served the organization as a ganta commissar, before suddenly being arrested. [2] Melles Ghebremariam was tortured and beaten, and made to bleed to death with branches loaded with acacia thorns in a similar way to what Christ suffered on the road to Golgotha. Melles Ghebremariam was a revolutionary too, but of the different sort than the religious one; belonging to the impatient generation, educated and raised by the monarchy, he nevertheless decided to enroll into a violent organization which quickly shortened his young life. His comrades, among many, such as Petros Solomon, who was his prison inmate in Somalia, did not whisper: “Where Is My Brother”, until his turn to be a victim in September, 2001. The experience of others who joined the organization later is not different. Witness stories from those who survived the ordeal are rare but available.

 

A medical doctor, who served the EPLF organization in his practice, recalled his experience at Asmarino.com several years ago. He remembers inquiring about his former radical school mates and friends who had been in the organization, only to be told to stop and desist from such curiosities. [3] The good doctor was lucky to survive this incident, for countless Eritreans have paid with their lives for even trivial things, such as asking road directions or the existence of a secret party in the organization.

What is sacred for the Christian religion, that is, the family, the totalitarian organization breaks it up by discouraging any kind of attachment. It considers affections towards mothers, universally accepted, as un-revolutionary. Yosief Ghebrehiwet has written about this in his article, “Equality by Subtraction” at Asmarino.com. This was not an anomaly that happened only in the EPLF. The ELF also adhered to it, though not fanatically.

Semere Fessehaye recalled the behavior of the late Wolde-Dawit, a senior leader in the ELF organization. Semere was not criticizing him in this instance, but rather glorifying the “dedication” and “selflessness” of his hero. Begged to drop by and visit his grieving mother, who lived not far from where he was camped, Wolde-Dawit vehemently refused the proposal. [4] The revolution and his organization were more important to him. He had also to be an example.

The bishops’ letter is commendable. The Catholic, the Orthodox and Lutheran churches are under crisis for their very existence. Having endured the large influx of their congregation to the Eritrean fronts (For example, the current political prisoner, Haile Woldetense, was an altar boy in a Catholic church located in Asmera before he joined the communist-oriented organization) willingly or otherwise for decades before the end of the war in 1991, and having been forced to cut down on their religious services, they were poorly equipped to withstand the phenomenon of globalization, mass defection of their members to the Pentecostal churches and the predatory state which nationalized their children.

Although officially “recognized”, the churches’ vertical structure was not amenable to the disruption and social chaos caused by the regime. The Pentecostal churches, on the other hand, seem to thrive from it. Among the nationalized youth of Eritrea, a significant percentage of them have probably joined the Pentecostal churches. The absence of state recognition, incarceration of some of their leaders and severe persecution doesn’t seem to impede their evangelical work and growth.

The bishops’ letter is a landmark in the recent history of Eritrea, for it has challenged the cultural hegemony of the Eritrean regime. It has recovered from the anathema allegedly said by its fellow priest in 1990, Massawa, Eritrea. The priest is quoted to have said, “In the Eritrean order of things, Eritrea comes first, Shaebia second and God comes third place.” Was the war-trauma after the horrible fight in Massawa to be blamed for the priest’s misstatement? Or was he stating the truth? We may not know. [5] Now, in the Eritrean order of things, the Pastoral Letter has affirmed and restored the supremacy of God and the people of the land.

References

[1]Adapted the term from Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie’s Montaillou: the Promised Land of Error.

[2] Kidane, Resoum. EHREA.Org. Compiled from Aida Kidane’s conversations with Petros Tesfagiorgis.

[3] Tekeste, Asefaw. Asmarino.com

[4] Fessehaye, Semere. Asmarino.com, Tigrinya section.

[5] The source can’t be found, but is attributed to a report by a certain Italian Journalist after the battle of Massawa, Eritrea.