By Tewelde Stephanos, June 14, 2014 Email: testifanos@gmail.com
Many have commented on the exemplary moral leadership of the
four Catholic Bishops articulated in the now famous document titled “Where
is Your Brother?” 1,2.
Such courageous moral stand is truly uplifting
anytime but especially so at this moment of Eritrea’s grim reality.
But I worry if we are losing the deeper lesson of the good
Bishops already. Some of us are concluding as if the message only applies to the
regime and its supporters. Yes, the lawless regime makes Italy’s apartheid era
look good by comparison. The wanton plundering of Eritrea’s material and human resources and Isaias saying “no one
gave me a contract” to create the oppressive and corrupt regime leaves no doubt
he is the worst enemy the country has.
That is not the whole story, however. Could a one-man empire
last this long if we had heeded the Bishops’ deeper lesson? Did we honestly stick
with the spirit of their question - “where is my brother”? What was our
response when the disabled veterans were mercilessly mowed down or when so many
people were herded to prison, some never to be heard from again? Except for
very few brave souls, like our Catholic Bishops, we have all failed to do the
right thing and that is why the regime has thrived this long.
Let’s start with the most contentious. In 1991, Eritrea’s tegadelti were given boundless respect
and admiration. Then tegadalai
Bitwoded Abreha was jailed without due process of the law and the tegadelti did nothing to help his mother
who, as the word of mouth reporting goes, was knocking on all doors to gain her
son’s freedom. Because the tegadelti
stopped asking “where is my brother” things only got worse from there. Then
came the jailing of Muslim teachers in Keren, the massacre of the disabled
veterans in Mai Habar; followed by one horrendous crime after another. And what
did the tegadelti do? Nothing. Even the
top leaders who ignored the pleas of Bitwoded’s mother have disappeared without
a trace since. And because they did nothing, even tegadelti’s children are fleeing Eritrea confirming what they (the tegadelti) let happen has made Eritrea
unfit for their own children. While all this mess is unfolding, Eritrean
society wrongly took the back seat assuming the tegadelti are there to safeguard freedom only to find out freedom cannot
survive unless it is guarded by all. As the tegadelti
abandoned the spirit of freedom and justice they supposedly fought for, ordinary
citizens (derisively referred to as gebar by tegadelti) also willingly accepted a second class citizenship role.
And it all went downhill from there.
How about diaspora Eritreans and Eritrea’s so-called educated
class who enjoy full personal freedoms provided by our host countries? Did we wish
the same freedoms for our brothers and sisters inside Eritrea or try to speak
truth to power? Not even close. The vast majority of us kept quiet (even as the
regime closed the only University in the country), and the voices of few brave
ones were continuously drowned out in favor of a corrupt regime that is still
in power. The irony of ironies: we even mis-used the freedom of expression allowed
in our host countries to demonstrate in favor of a regime that kills people demanding
those very rights.
How about religious leadership? Except for the consistent
and united moral leadership of the Catholic Bishops - both now and in
2001, there is not much to speak of here either. The Protestant Church has been
extremely quiet; and one dares say complacent The Orthodox Church is severely
divided and cleverly manipulated by the atheist regime. It can’t even rally in
a united way to free the ailing Patriarch who was demoted by the regime and
replaced by immoral “leaders” who continue to turn a blind eye as the regime brutalizes
their brothers. The role of the Mosque is not that better. Forgetting they are our
brothers and sisters, we have been dormant or complacent as the regime viciously
attacked members of the smaller faith groups.
Predictably, the
regime and its supporters have started playing the same old song that the
Catholic Bishops were funded by Eritrea’s enemies. Of course it is a bankrupt argument
because Eritrea’s enemies did not massacre the disabled veterans, closed the
only University, nor convert Eritrea into a despotic state. We did. But let’s
assume for a moment that an enemy did fund the Bishops to write the deep,
thoughtful and caring document. A document that is full of practical advice on
how to solve our problems, a document that awakens the soul to do the right
thing, a document that arouses sympathy for a mistreated brother or sister. A
document that appeals to our sensibilities to never do what we did to Bitwoded’s
mother ever again. If there are enemies like that who help you accomplish such
noble causes, I, for one, want as many of those enemies as I can find. I am
sure many also feel the same way.
But let’s go back to the bigger picture. Segment it anyway
we want – by gender, by age group, by religion etc., our collective behavior has
not been that good. After all, the hated regime is still there doing what it
does best – promoting backwardness, poverty, ignorance and destruction.
Collectively, we are all equally bad for letting things get this
ugly. No group can claim virtue over any other. But now is our opportunity to
right this wrong, to rise from the ashes, to heed the Catholic Bishops’ message
to never stop asking “where is my brother?” again. Because as the saying goes,
if I don’t stand up when they take away my brother, there won’t be anyone left when
they come for me. This regime will surely go. And good riddance! what a moment that will be.
What we will allow to replace it, is the real test awaiting us. Are we now
getting the deeper lesson outlined by the good Bishops? Are we going to allow
another mother’s heart to be broken like what let happen to Bitwoded’s mother
and the countless mothers like her?
I feel nothing but gratitude for the stand the Catholic
Bishops took. And for that, I say, I am a Catholic today.
1 http://assenna.com, June 6, 2014
