Indestructible Spirit of Resilience: The Hallmark of the Eritrean Society

EPDP Editorial

Eritrean people are known for their resilience. They survived through the spirit of resilience over the last century in confronting those who attempted to subjugate them. And that spirit of resilience was never limited or propped up only in the event of facing foreign forces, but continued as a vital constituent element across the Eritrean cultures and traditions,

one that embodies our love for our country, our love for justice and rule of law, our love for unity, our love for mutual recognition and acceptance as Eritreans bound together and inseparable in our destiny…etc. This statement is not a fig leaf, but a fact witnessed over the last one hundred years in general and in the longest armed struggle ever waged in particular.

The history of our resilience is not an inflated one, but solid and notable: in the long chain of colonialism and bondage, we saw our enemies in their eyes and we never winked. We kept our heads high; and we stood tall for our freedom, dignity, and self-determination. We never feared foreign predators; we stuck together and we defeated them all. This is no exaggeration; Eritrean people are history makers, history that no one thought it would be realized in 1991.

Surely, after our independence, we were convinced such a spirit of defiance would culminate in the establishment of a society free of all forms of oppressions. But it did not happen. This deep tradition of resilience and tenacity that we have embraced and pursued for so long to build an extraordinary liberation struggle and unity could not progress as envisaged, with a view of achieving freedom and democracy. This revelation came few years after our independence when the country started to drift and go off the rail. This was further manifested on a larger scale in 2001 when a small group under Issais Afeworki brazenly manipulated and exploited the border war for no reason other than to justify hijacking the people’s power.

Today, twenty three years later, Eritreans shaken by the homegrown dictatorship in their country are questioning not about their national independence and the price they paid for it, but about entrusting the responsibility of a nation to unelected group of kleptocrats who claimed to care about the country and its people, but in reality who orchestrated convenient lies to seize and stay in power indefinitely.  

Many Eritreans, one could argue, are complicit when it comes to dealing with the issue of democratic transition in Eritrea. They tend to cling to the dictatorial regime’s propaganda; and yes there is truth to this argument, a truth that has become costlier than anything else to reverse. After all, after waging the longest war and gaining independence, who would have thought Eritrea would be stolen by its home-grown dictators and be exposed to a wretched state of affairs for the next two decades. Yet, by using its hatched up plot to abort democracy as well as by taking advantage of the magnanimity that the Eritrean people hold towards their freedom fighters, the current regime turned the outcome of the liberation into its own benefit, which is far antithetical to the fundamental objectives and ideals that caused Eritreans to launch a liberation movement – to establish a free and democratic society that shapes its own destiny and enjoys human dignity, self-determination, freedom, unity ...etc.        

Despite all this, the national glue that holds Eritreans together has not dissipated by any stretch of imagination. The strength of Eritrean national unity is far greater and potent than all adversaries combined together (whether it is PFDJ or others). Yes, in post independence, the process of democratization and nation-building may have stumbled; but the Eritrean society has not. Yes, many people may have blinked; but the Eritrean people did not lose the sight of their national trajectory.

To put it in different words, Eritrea’s long history of inter-communal force that underpins the Eritrean national identity/unity and the treasure and blood the Eritrean people invested to further secure and guard those national aspirations are all fundamental possession of all Eritreans that cannot be adulterated by any impulse or whim.

Of course, there are claims that say Eritreans are facing a strong undercurrent of division and factionalism that can undermine their national unity and by extension their independence altogether. Yes, as is evident, EPDP recognizes that the current Eritrean political landscape (particularly in the opposition) may be contributing less to strengthening the national unity of Eritrea. And there are a host of challenges facing the opposition that require immediate solution. Having said that the center has not, however, shifted, meaning that there are no competing ideas underway between national unity/identity and factionalism, which would result in communal conflict in Eritrea. Again, the above claim is not worthy of Eritrean people’s attention; but it is suffice to say that it is not a representative of our people’s conviction/belief. There is also another claim that says Eritrean national unity or identity is temporarily being kept by a thread of the dictatorial regime of Issais Afewoki, insinuating that the national unity of Eritrean people is a nonexistent history, and that Eritrean people are put in this situation by force. The latter is a story of familiar distortion, of deception and lie, of pulverizing unsuitable facts to abyss, of creating fissure among Eritrean people, of intentions designed to rollback our gains on the account of the PFDJ, and of repeating an old rhetoric to create illusion. Eritrean people are familiar with liars and distorters of history. The indisputable here is that the nation of Eritrea, its unity, and its collective identity is bigger, deeper, and stronger than PFDJ or any other group, meaning Eritrea and Eritrean unity and identity predates the kleptocratic regime and any claim to the contrary is just heresy.

For contrasting purpose, Eritreans have a comprehensive history of national unity that dates back to 50s and 40s and beyond. In those years, no one precluded Eritreans from abandoning their quest for self-determination; in fact, the forces of the day attempted viciously and vigorously to split the country. But in the face of such powerful forces, Eritreans knew one thing and they succeeded on that: their self-determination/independence through national unity. History tells us that if Eritreans were not united in their destiny, they would not have freed themselves from shackles of foreign occupiers.

In short, Eritrean people’s commitment to their national unity and freedom has been tested over and over again. Particularly, during the 40s and 50 (during federation), and again during the long war of independence (the civil war and other crisis), but Eritreans have always put Eritrea and its people first, and never put their country on jeopardy. Beneath all this is the resilience constantly employed by Eritreans, steering their national political discourse towards a united and collective path, and always placing their nation (Eritrea) at the center. And such a national trait is alive and thriving more than ever before. The notion that the resilience of Eritrean people is fading is indefensible and groundless. Some people may not see it, but EPDP does see it.