Terrorism in the EOC? What an Irresponsible and a Satanic Campaign!

October 14, 2014

by T.Goshu

1. as an Introductory View Point

It has never been uncommon to us (Ethiopians) to come across a political history characterized by not only controlling the three branches of government (the legislature, judiciary and executive) but also controlling and abusing all governmental institutions and agencies by those who have come to power by hook or crook, or through deception and destruction . It has neither been abnormal nor surprising to us to experience a long period of political culture characterized by not only controlling and abusing political or governmental institutions but also social and religious institutions. As my comment is about the later particularly the very ugly mix of politics and religion, I want to proceed accordingly.
It has neither been uncommon nor unexpected to experience a very miserable history of internal politics for a long period of history in a country with the mere existence of constitutions (cynically produced documents) that have been and continued to be applied at the very will of the rulers in order to protect their abusive power. There has never been a real sense of constitutionalism that should protect the very basic rights of citizens, not to mention democratic rights in the real sense of the term.

Needless to say, the declarative saying of Emperor Halie Selassie “A country is for all; religion is private” which has been frequently cited was terribly deceptive as far as the political reality that had been characterized by the ugly politico-religious (the palace politics of the Emperor and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church) mix was concerned. It goes without saying that that declarative saying, “…, religion is private” could not make sense in a country where millions Christians were deprived of their very natural rights including God-given ones, and millions of Muslim citizens whose religious rights had been considerably disregarded.

I do not think it would be necessary to discuss in length here about what happened to the relationship between politics and religion during our “socialist revolution” of the 1970s and early 1980s as it was self-explanatory. As the socialist political philosophy and religious beliefs were made diametrically opposite and badly manipulated, expecting the two to be with kind of harmony could not make sense at all. Is this not a very unfortunate part of our history? Absolutely it is!

The most challenging but logical and legitimate question in this regard is whether we have showed any willingness and interest to learn from what terribly went wrong and have done something meaningfully better for the last quarter of a century .

I do not know if our very commonly cited cliché “history repeats itself” has become part of our proverbial norm and clumsy excuse whenever we face a serious challenge, but we terribly fail to succeed. As our political trend keeps swinging from one scary (deadly) pendulum to another, so does our religious direction. And stupidly enough, we seem keep mystifying the very concept of “history repeats itself.” Do not get me wrong that I am intended to foolishly deny or dismiss the truth about the repetition of some historical events for good or bad. What I am trying to say is that witnessing the repetition of horrible political happenings not for a short period of time but a quarter of a century because of our own stupidly repeated failures does not make sense let alone being rationally convincing.

Now, we are witnessing our “religious leaders” playing an evil-driven campaign under the cover of saving the Church (EOC). Thanks to those who exposed this not only loveless and terribly irrational campaign but also very wildly emotional, terribly wicked and dangerously hate-mongering rhetoric by those clergymen including “His Holiness – the Patriarch (the father of the Church” under the influence of high obsession of personal and group ulterior motives . And it has become much clearer than ever that those clergymen have to ally themselves with the very inner circle of the ruling party if their monstrous motives should be realized. That is exactly what happened in the last week of September (27 and 28). And I would like to appreciate ESAT (Ethiopian Satellite Television and Radio) for informing the public timely, credibly and legitimately.

2. The Conspiratorial Meeting Presided by “His Holiness”

I attentively and repeatedly listened to one of the priests who claimed to be one of the staunch supporters of the Patriarch (Abune Mathias) at a meeting taken place in his palace on September 27 and 28. It was from the recorded audio broadcast by ESAT and Radio on its program, 10/9/14. To my impression, it was not only what he said but the way he said it speaks clearly and loudly about the very ugly, if not dangerous state of mind of those clergymen that may cause serious consequences to the Church of which its image has already been considerably damaged. Needless to say, this kind of uncontrollably inflammable emotion is very hard to think about let alone to witness exploding in the places of worship we call them blessed to preach love, compassion, tolerance, reconciliatory messages, truth, and forgiveness. Fellow Ethiopians, this kind of satanic rhetoric (fikare sietan) under the cover of religion, I strongly argue must unequivocally be challenged and rejected.

Because of his evil-driven outrage about those who could not go in line with his “His Holiness” and crony’s ulterior motives (the power and the material benefits attached with it), the priest declared the need to fight against “extremists and even terrorists”. It is extremely outrageous to witness his stupidly ridiculous accusatory statement that was initiated and proposed by “His Holiness” against Mahibre Qedusan and the Ethiopian Satellite Television and Radio. The priest could not control the real motive of those leaders and their supporters when he idiotically swung between seemingly religious concerns, the case of African Union (oops!), and the deadly political agenda of the ruling party (TPLF/EPRDF), and praising the “miraculous development” of revolutionary democracy. He angrily suggested to the “Holy Synod” led by “His Holiness” to have a total control over the financial and material resources – just like the ministry of finance or treasury. That is exactly the very gist of the motive of which the priest made crystal clear by using spiritual service (religion) as a cover or pretext.

How it is terribly disgusting to hear a subordinate member of the highest level of religious leadership insulting those educated individuals (degree holders) as “nothing but those who wander wherever an alcoholic residual (atela) is available”. I wonder how the place where this kind of extremely trash words of mouth are being echoed can be claimed to be the place of worship where the Holy Spirit truly manifests itself.

The priest talked about the employees (70 to 80) under his supervision, and he strongly argued what will happen to the livelihood of these people if he tries to bring down this number. But on the other hand, he admired the “miraculous works of developmental government”. Here is the question to be addressed to him; “Why not he ask his heroes of development – the ruling party to provide some of his servants with job skill training and make them beneficiaries of “the miraculous development?” Would not this be a good idea instead of keeping excessive number of parasitic manpower at the expense of the Church? By the way, who puts these people (his employees) in this situation whereas a very few top and middle religious officials and their cronies are taking the lion share of the resources of the Church through embezzlement and rampant corruption? I know this comment of mine makes those who fight hard for their own earthly living under the cover of the Great Teachings and Sacrifices of Jesus Christ very uncomfortable. But that is what it is!

Imagine fellow Ethiopians; those religious leaders and their cronies have never uttered a word about the untold sufferings of innocent citizens who have been intimidated, arbitrarily detained, tortured, disappeared, imprisoned, forced to flee their country and killed for the last several years. Sadly enough, they are asking and encouraging the ruthless ruling party to keep its already unleashed sword more sharpened and keep those who may try to go against their will and interest silent and frightened. I want to stress once again that that was exactly what that poisonously hypocritical meeting presided by “His Holiness” all about. It was nothing but sending a conspiratorially warning message to the people through a highly dramatized politico –religious rhetoric.

I do not know how any follower of the Church (Christian) with his or her right and genuine conscience of faith can afford not to be seriously concerned and do what is best for his or her belief. I do not know for how long should we go along with this kind of politico-religious mess and pretend that everything is fine. I strongly argue that the tradition of being compliant with the wrongly mystifying image of the leadership and other clergymen of our Church should rationally and constructively be challenged and rejected. Those religious leaders and their cronies who are not willing to come back to their common sense of humanity and offer their genuine religious services should unequivocally be told that there is no way to continue playing a role that is no in line with both the very mission of the Church and the interests of the of people.

3. Mahibere Qedusan?

I want to be clear that I am not in a position to discuss in length about the very reason that has made this kind of mess between these superior and subordinate bodies (the Synod and Mahibere Qedusan) which both claim basically believe in the same creed and promoting the right mission of the Church. But, I do believe that there is nothing wrong with expressing my view points as any genuinely concerned ordinary citizen or individual. It is from this perspective that I want to reflect my very brief comment. Needless to say, it is the right thing to get organized and advance the genuine secular or religious causes we believe in. And I sincerely believe that Mhibere Qedusan or any other association has the right to do so. Mahibere Qedusan may have its own justification for its coming into being (1984 E.C); and others may have their own version of narration on the question of how and why Mahibere Qedusan was established and why the previous Association (Haimanote Abew) has vanished. But I do think the real story behind this internal religious tug of war and its undesirable consequences are not clear enough yet. I hope time and history will tell the truth about this kind painful hide and seek game which keeps lingering around our Church we call it the place of blessing and mercy.

I am saying this not because either I belonged/belong to this ort that group or I am with a power of knowledge about the religious groupings which come and go for good or bad. I am just raising a genuine concern about our tradition of destroying the past and restarting from the scratch both in terms of our secular and religious practices. We have never been the people of correcting what went wrong in our past practices and making them more sound, and developing the culture of continuity. Unless we want to be dishonest with ourselves, we still are victims of the culture of start and discontinue, organize and disorganize, inform and disinformation/misinform, orientation and disorientation, trust and ridiculous mistrust, and so on and so forth. I am not saying here that these opposite/ contradictory phenomena are not and should not be parts of the natural and even social realities we live in. Absolutely not! What I am trying to say is that we unfortunately have gone beyond what is normal and we are paying unnecessary price. Let me reiterate once again that the main reason for this ugly trend of ours emanates from nowhere else, but from our terribly excessive and harmful egoism (materially or otherwise).

There was/is nothing wrong for Mahibere Qedusan to operate under the Ethiopian Orthodox Church’s Synod. But, correct me if I am wrong, that I do not hear from the association a real sense of courage to express its concern about the untold human rights violation of the innocent people of Ethiopia by the ruling party to the extent of intervening in the very affair of the Church and making it part of its dirty (deadly) political agenda and practice. I do not think collecting money and helping certain churches and monasteries here and there but keep silent about the absence of freedom and gross violation of human dignity makes a real sense both in terms of our religious and secular world. I strongly want to argue that although the people of Ethiopia could not be fortunate enough to have great personalities such as Abune Petros of ours, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Desmond Tutu and etc., they deserve to be led by people who relatively are courageous and honest enough about advancing the causes they stand for. That is what we are seriously lacking as far as the issue of making meaningful linkage between our words and deeds is concerned. I wish I could be deadly wrong when I argue that it is very unfortunate to witness the Synod and Mahibere Qedusan engaging themselves in undesirable, if not very ugly conflict for the sake of who should control the resources of the Church and use them as the means of having dominant power. I am well aware that this comment of mine would make both sides very unconformable, if not aggressively defensive. But that is, I strongly believe what the reality on the ground speaks.

4. So, what is to be done to get out of all this terrible mess?

I am well aware that several years have passed since we have made the points of suggestions I am going to jot down. We have used them as parts and parcels of our speeches, discussions, interviews, statements, conversations, arguments/debates, and so on and so forth. And I will not be surprised if some fellow Ethiopians would ask, “What is new?” My answer will be: we will never be able to get where we want to get without dealing with these sources of our weakness and failure. In other words, whether we like it or not, we cannot afford being tired of dealing with these issues now and then as long as the serious problems we continue to face remain unresolved.

Who else make us free and let enjoy our fundamental rights including God-given if it is not we ourselves as a people? Absolutely nobody else!

Let me proceed to the points I want to highlight:

a) It has to repeatedly and sincerely be underscored that the major root cause for our social, economic, religious, cultural, moral, and all other aspects of our crises is nothing else, but the chronic illness of our political system. Yes, it is this systemic illness that keeps contaminating all other our valuable systems. I am sorry to say but I have to say that if we do not agree on this serious illness of our political system which we have come across for a quarter of a century, we will stupidly make ourselves victims of tragic failure over and over and over again. Be it religious freedom, freedom of expression, freedom of life, freedom of conscience, and so on and so forth; never be genuinely realized until we come together and say enough is enough to shouldering the dirty, if not deadly political drama. Yes, it will be naïve enough for us to believe things could get better without forcing those tyrannical and ruthless ruling elites either to come to the negotiating table and stop playing the deadly political game or to get out of peoples’ way.

The next legitimate and logical question is how? The answer is of course through a well-coordinated / unified, unwavering and sustainable organization. I am well aware that many fellow Ethiopians can have another genuine and legitimate question: Are we short of political organizations? Unfortunately enough , not only many but we may be one of those poor countries which keep multiplying /breeding political groupings that are not only good for nothing (except few) but also knowingly or unknowingly play against the force of coming together with a unity of purpose. Sadly enough, our religious institutions have become victims of this very terrible political game.

If this kind of very dangerous way of doing politics cannot convince those relatively credible and courageous opposition political parties and movements and make them to become a well-coordinated forces, I do not know what else can convince them.

It would also be so naïve for us to expect those opposition forces to accomplish what they have to accomplish without our meaningfully and sustainably extended support as citizens/individuals, as formal or informal groups, and most critically as a people in general. Our role and support should not, in any way be a matter sympathy or kind of mere generosity of finance or material. It must emanate from deep self- conviction that what we are doing is for getting what we aspire and deserve, that is to bring about a system that guarantees our freedom and well-being.

b) Those religious leaders and their cronies who are muddling in a very ugly , if not dangerous mix between politics and religion should think deep into their souls and minds and make the right decision for the sake of saving the Church in particular and this generation in general.

c) The Synod in exile has its own part to play in this regard. There may be some fellow Ethiopians who may argue that the Synod is doing its part. Well, this this has a grain of truth somehow. The question is what about a considerable mismatch between words and deeds. Are we witnessing the trends of more togetherness and unification or the mentality of leave me alone and disunity and unnecessarily multiplying Churches and creating our own small kingdoms? I hate to say but I have to say that the majority of religious leaders and other members do not seem willing and able to see things beyond their circles and make their teachings and services meaningfully and powerfully relevant to the question of what is the root cause for the untold sufferings of the Ethiopian people. Simply put, they simply tell us, not show us what they say is what they mean in the real sense of the term. If we are serious enough about the ugly mix between politics and the Church back home, we cannot and should not continue business as usual. The terrible disgrace we are facing in every corner of our country because of the continuation of very ugly politico-religious mix and drama will never slow down let alone go away unless we seriously and courageously make an appropriate and strong linkage between religious institutions’ teachings and the issues of genuine freedom, rule of law/justice, socio-economic fairness, human rights/dignity/, morality, and etc.

d) Those so-called “neutral” Churches need to genuinely rethink about getting out of their “comfort zones “and play what they are supposed to play as far the question of how we can and should contribute to the efforts being made by the people to bring about a system in which all human freedoms (including the right to worship) should be guaranteed. I do not believe that the mentality of I am neither with this nor that side or nor for this or that cause at this moment in time (the general crisis in our country) does make sense both secularly and religiously.

e) Mahibere Qedusan: I sincerely believe that the things you are doing for the Church is highly appreciated. However, if these things could not be appropriately integrated with the efforts being made by the innocent people of Ethiopia for the realization of freedom, justice, genuine peace and stability, human dignity and socio-economic fairness; I have a genuine concern that your mission would remain terribly incomplete. I am not a person of religious knowledge; but I strongly believe that Jesus Christ has died not simply because He wants to show us that we can inherit the heavenly world for the simple reason believing in what he has done but also to show us that firmly standing for the truth and against all horrible injustices requires the readiness to pay an ultimate sacrifice. Are we really implementing our religious missions in line with this great teachings of Jesus Christ that has been intrinsically accompanied by practical example as far as the need to bring about genuine compassion, love, peace, justice, human dignity in our country is concerned? I do not think so unless we pretend and deceive ourselves which of course are the greatest enemies of both our spiritual and secular world.

Let me sum up my opinion by saying that whatever we preach and teach, whatever we claim ourselves to be messengers of God Almighty, whatever the rhetoric we make, whatever we say we do this and that for our Church, whatever we decorate our teachings with all kinds of great words and phrases of the Great Book (the Bible); what matters most at the end of the day is what we really practically do for the prevalence freedom, justice, human rights , human dignity, love, peace and shared prosperity here on this planet earth. I hope we will be doing so!