At the end of its meeting on January 27, 2013, the Executive Committee of the Eritrean People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) underlined that the political cloud hanging over our people can be cleared only when the fragmented opposition organizations are willing to coordinate with one another. EPDP hopes that the past bickering of the political organizations is by now a lesson learned that can give way to a conducive ground for a new phase for coordinated struggle. Based on that expectation, Executive Committee designated a Standing Committee headed by Party Chairman that to conduct dialogue in spurring a new phase for coordinated struggle among the political and civic organizations. With this gesture, the EPDP leadership called upon the concerned parties to break free from the road blocks of the past and show their readiness for renewed commitment for coordinated struggle.
Whatever the logic of past mistakes and shortcomings, sticking to them and trying to defend them now is an exercise in futility. Rather, learning from past mistakes is a courageous step that can create the right atmosphere for taking new initiatives for cooperation among the opposition groups. This said, it is understandable that in the process of work we all can make mistakes. The important point is what lessons we learn from them.
Tempted by unrealistic hopes for quick results, we seem to have overlooked the heavy responsibility we have to act and relieve the burden put on our people. To act through launching achievable initiatives, we have to have the ability of correct reading of the prevalent conditions of our people and prepare ourselves for tougher struggle. Our main task as political and civil society organizations is to elevate the consciousness of our people and organize them to stand up for their rights and interests. When we act in this way, victory will be assured by the power of our people and by our sacrifices and steadfastness
Only to underline, our new beginning, our initiatives, must hinge on hope but realistic hope. It is hope – not desperation - that can mobilize our people to the struggle, and it is hope that moves the struggle forward. But our new initiative for a new beginning will not bear fruit because of sheer hope if we fail to do the homework waiting to be done. For this reason, our new initiatives must be directed and based on concrete, measurable and achievable plans and tasks.
Needless to say, a new beginning for coordinated struggle must focus on work accomplishment. Sheer criticism of those standing on the fences does not contribute to the growth of the struggle. Those willing to join coordinated work need to know what and how much they can contribute to the struggle. A joint work with many partners can be considered stillborn – dead at birth - if it is started without specifying and recognizing the contributions of each partner member. Therefore, a new beginning for a joint and coordinated struggle must take into consideration the capacities of existing entities/ resources and work towards strengthening their contributions to the struggle.
What must be underlined is that no work can be achieved through new initiatives if the old ways of our politicking are not changed. The hope is that new initiatives for joint work will be accompanied by a renewed spirit of joint struggle. In a word, what is needed is to base our new beginning for a coordinated struggle on realistic hopes by learning lessons from past shortcomings. As noted earlier, we need to clearly know what input we can make in comparison to other partners in the struggle in order to redouble our efforts. But if the old type of struggle based on weakening others and standing on others’ way is to continue in a new phase of joint work, our past failings will be repeated in a more disastrous shape. The beneficiary from such a situation will remain to be the dictatorial regime in Asmara. EPDP is of the strong conviction that the slogan of “a new beginning for a better coordination” requires serious and sincere commitment for joint work than any technical preparations for creating new structures.
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