The EPRP Rises Again: A Fearless Spirit Confronts Abiy’s Fearful Regime

Mengistu Musie (Dr.)

Today, on Hidar 27 EC, the EPRP called upon the people of Addis Ababa to assemble for an open discussion, during which it highlighted the worsening conditions in the country. The essence of the call was to point out the deteriorating economic crisis, the increasingly worsening shortage of food, and above all, the government’s continued warmongering—its ongoing campaigns of violence that are killing innocent civilians across Ethiopia. It was to create a space where citizens of the capital could speak openly, understand the gravity of the situation, and engage in frank discussions about the worsening national landscape.

Everything was well arranged. The meeting hall was secured, the cost paid in full, and preparations completed for the residents of Addis Ababa to assemble peacefully. However, less than a day before the event—on Saturday, Hidar 27 EC—the regime acted. A telephone call went to the EPRP leadership. Another call went to the hotel management. Both were delivered with the same message: a stern warning not to hold the meeting under any circumstances.

So, once again, the government has shown how afraid it is. It talks day and night about how it is preparing for the 2025 elections and how Ethiopia is moving in the right direction towards a democratic transition. But again, it could not tolerate a simple peaceful gathering of opposition members and ordinary citizens. Imagine a regime that prevents discussion; what can it do to hold elections? How can it claim to take part in a democratic process when even dialogue itself frightens it?

The contradiction is glaring. A government that fears a meeting fears its own people. It fears accountability. It fears the truth. Today’s action raises a fundamental question: will this regime attempt to run the 2025 election alone, against its own public, without any real opposition or participation? If so, then we must declare clearly that any so-called election under the current circumstances is nothing more than political theatre.

It is now clear that, under such conditions, no realistic election could take place in Ethiopia. One cannot hold elections while numerous wars are underway across the country. There can be no credible elections where political rallies are banned, where opposition leaders are intimidated, and peaceful expression is treated as a crime. Elections should not be used to legitimize undemocratically attained power.

The international community must be informed: the European Union, the United States, the African Union, the United Nations, and all partners who speak about democracy in Ethiopia need to understand that real election conditions do not exist. All wars currently waged against the people must cease before any political process can move forward: a nationwide cessation of hostilities, release of political prisoners, and restoration of basic freedoms of assembly and speech.

Let this be a clear message, too, to that so-called National Dialogue Commission—a gathering of opportunists who would have the world believe that there can be dialogue in a regime which prevents even peaceful meetings. They have nothing to say. Their words mean nothing. One cannot construct dialogue with committees; it must be permitted to take place among the people themselves. And today, we saw that even that is forbidden.

It is time for Ethiopians to speak out, and the world to know. Democracy cannot flower on a soil covered with fear, and there cannot be a credible election where a government is afraid of its own people holding peaceful gatherings. The fact cannot be hidden: unless the violence stops and political freedoms are opened, any election contemplated will further exacerbate the crisis, rather than solve it.

THE RISE OF EPRP AGAIN!!

We see again, fifty-three years after its emergence, its uncompromising struggle, its enormous sacrifices, and the martyrdom of an entire generation, the banner of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party rising once more. It is being raised not by those who lived through the early chapters of its history, but by a new generation that has inherited its legacy, its ideals, and its unfulfilled mission. These young Ethiopians, born long after the first wave of struggle, look back with both reverence and determination to the principles for which thousands gave their lives-justice, democracy, equality, and the basic dignity of the Ethiopian people. They have chosen to carry forward a torch that the Derg tried to extinguish, that successive regimes attempted to bury, and which today’s rulers fear more than any weapon.

This insistence by the youth on reclaiming a national democratic struggle that has been suppressed for a long time has shaken the very foundations of a government that pretends to be confident. It has exposed the fragility of Abiy Ahmed’s ethnocentric authoritarian regime that projects power but at the same time trembles at the sight of genuine public mobilization. A simple meeting between the people of Addis Ababa and the leadership of the EPRP, a peaceful meeting intended for discussion, reflection, and dialogue, was enough to terrify those who claim to be elected leaders. If they were confident of their legitimacy, if they actually believed in their so-called democratic credentials, why would they fear people talking to one another? Why would they rush to block a peaceful meeting? Why would they deploy both state machinery and digital propagandists to shut down an invitation to talk?

What transpired today in Addis Ababa speaks volumes beyond the insecurity of a government; it speaks to the full character of the political group that has forcefully positioned itself at the center of Ethiopian power. Abiy Ahmed and his Oromo-centric political collective again made clear that their commitment to democracy is no more than a marketing slogan. They speak of freedom while strangling the simplest exercise of it. They boast of stability while manufacturing fear and fragmentation. They claim to reject armed struggle while cracking down even on peaceful gatherings, proving that what they oppose is not violence on moral grounds but simply losing the narrative that sustains their grip on power.

Today’s meeting blockage is not an isolated incident; it is part of a long-standing pattern. What the regime did today speaks volumes about those who fear accountability, those who panic at the thought of open political discourse, and those who survive on the suppression of national unity. That fear does not stem from a so-called threat of violence from the EPRP or some other organized force. It stems from the regime’s awareness that ideas, when allowed space, can mobilize people far more effectively than guns or coercion. It is rooted in the fear that once the Ethiopian public gets a chance to speak freely, it will demystify the regime’s fabricated narratives, its failed policies, and its destructive, ethnocentric agenda.

At the same time, we have individuals such as Daniel Kibret who is known for his opportunistic transformations, who play an increasingly dangerous role. His rhetoric today echoes the darkness of the Red Terror, as though he has decided to revive one of the most horrifying chapters of our history. It is astounding and profoundly distressing that forty-eight years later, someone who claims spiritual and intellectual authority would bless a style of political persecution that is reminiscent of the Derg. The death squads of those years targeted a generation of idealistic young people whose only “crime” was demanding a better Ethiopia. Today, Daniel Kibret and those like him seem willing to justify similar conduct against a new generation of Ethiopians who dared to question power. This tells us more about the nature of the political order he serves than about the people he attempts to demonize.

But what needs to be aired louder and clearer is the fact that the Ethiopian people are beyond the era when such intimidation can work. The new generation is not only informed, but it is also digitally connected, politically awakened, and historically conscious. It understands the legacy it inherits; it recognizes the patterns of authoritarian repression as they reappear in new forms. When Abiy’s regime blocks a meeting, the people do not interpret it as a show of strength. They interpret it as a confession of weakness, as evidence that even a peaceful assembly poses a threat to those who rule by manipulation rather than consent.

Many of us who lived through the past decades, who witnessed the brutality of the Derg, the political suffocation under the EPRDF, and the deceptive promises of the current administration, can see very clearly what is unfolding. For the second time in history, Ethiopia finds itself at a juncture where the voices of ordinary citizens are feared more than weapons. The government’s fear tells us everything: that change is close, much closer than many may believe. It tells us that the spirit of resistance has awakened. It tells us that the legacy of those who died during the years of the Red Terror has not been erased; it has just waited for the right moment to rise again.

That is why the regime quickly moved today to prevent the meeting in Addis Ababa. The officials, their security apparatus, and their well-paid digital propagandists were quick to discredit, disrupt, and ultimately silence the call for dialogue. Lies were spread, fear was manufactured, communication was blocked, and any organized gathering was prevented. Why? Because they perceive the potential of a united national movement. They know that the Ethiopian people—once allowed to think and speak their minds—would turn against the divisiveness of ethnocentric agendas, they would say no to fake promises of so-called development, and they would reject a leadership that brought the country to economic collapse, social fragmentation, and political chaos.

Yet the more they try to silence the people, the louder the truth gets. Blocking a meeting does not halt a movement. Arresting youth does not kill an idea. Propagandizing does not erase lived experience. And as has been repeatedly proven in Ethiopian history, regimes that rely on fear eventually collapse under the weight of their own contradictions.

The EPRP’s emergence in the 1970s terrified the Derg for the same reason it terrifies Abiy Ahmed today: it represents an organized vision of national unity grounded in justice, equality, and shared struggle. It is not the EPRP as an institution alone that they fear—it is what it represents to the Ethiopian people. They fear that once again; the spirit of collective struggle may overwhelm a regime built on ethnic division.

What they stopped today was only a meeting. What they cannot stop is the awakening of a nation. They cannot stop the shifting consciousness among Ethiopians who are increasingly tired of humiliation, oppression and lies. They cannot stop the growing recognition that real-changed, structural, national change—is becoming inevitable.

The militants, activists, and political organizers pushing forward today are not operating in the shadows, nor are they driven by narrow agendas. They are driven by the simple fact that Ethiopia deserves better. And as we have witnessed time and time again throughout history, when a person reaches this level of determination, no amount of pressure can extinguish their will. Change is no longer a mere dream; it is within reach. It is far closer today than it was yesterday. And through its actions, the regime has admitted as much.

This is why now, at this moment, all Ethiopians have a duty to speak. Silence serves only those few who reap profit from the suffering of the many. Silence emboldens those who weaponize ethnicity, manipulate religion, and distort history to sustain their dominance. Silence cedes space to fear. But speaking out—truthfully, fearlessly, tirelessly—is what disrupts the vicious cycle of repression.

So I call upon all of you: speak your truth. Share what you felt when the Abiy government blocked a peaceful public dialogue in the capital city. Express your outrage, your disappointment, your concern, and your determination. Let the world know that the Ethiopian people are not fooled by slogans. Let the world know that unity is not a crime. Let the world know that demanding justice is not extremism. Let the world know that the people of Ethiopia refuse to be silenced by those who fear their own citizens.

Fifty-three years since the first generation of EPRP members began their struggle, the second and third generations are on the rise. History is repeating itself because the promises of freedom have not yet been met, not because anybody is nostalgic about the past. And no matter how many meetings they block, no matter how many voices they try to silence, the truth will break through. The people shall gather, the people shall speak, and the people shall decide over their future.

And when that moment arrives, it will be clear that today’s act of repression was not a sign of strength, but the beginning of the end for a regime terrified of its own shadows.

Editor’s Note : Views in the article do not necessarily reflect the views of borkena.com  

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