Boycotting 2% tax, a step towards change

Boycotting 2% tax, a step towards change

By Yoseif Fsshaye Haile

Most Eritreans living in Diaspora pay the so called 2% of their income, not to mention other occasional contributions (e.g. nay mekete, deki swuat…), to the PFDJ administration. I am not quite sure about how many of us pay it willingly. However, it is clear to everyone that most Eritreans pay this imposed payment unwillingly. To some individuals who are connected to the regime due to their selfish interest or being brainwashed, this is a good gesture of expressing their “ERITREANISM”. According to them, not even those who have spent their life time or scarified their lives in librating and protecting the nations have contributed as much as theirs. Thus, paying 2% assures their loyalty and obedience to PFDJ so that their dream of being extra nationalists can be approved by the government. Once their status is approved by the self appointed nationalistic evaluators, they start to foresee some perceived privileges and benefits. Unfortunately, these apparent advantages are not advantages as such.  They are basic rights which every citizen is supposed to enjoy them regardless of his attachment with PFDJ.

To come to my point of the 2% tax, be it paid willingly or unwillingly, consciously or unconsciously, it is landing on wrong hands. Regardless of how and why we pay one thing remains the same that we are endorsing the regime’s internal and external policies, actions and atrocities against our own people who are under its control. The worst thing is that we have already developed and are still cultivating a culture which fosters undemocratic system and that has a far-reaching negative impact to the present and future generations. Being submissive to the current government or ignoring our problems while we can challenge it will take us and our country to nowhere but worsen our misery and ultimately to destruction.  Unless we address our problems and challenge them collectively, they will pile up and take us beyond a stage of no recovery.

It is a pity that we all seem to understand that our 2% pay is not being used in a proper way. Yet, we seem to lack the courage at taking initiatives and be united and boycott this unlawful and evil cause. I am not concerned about the amount of money that goes to our self appointed leaders. What worries me most is the silence that we are showing towards this disgraceful practice. This is because boycotting conveys a clear message of resistance not only against this 2% we are talking about, but also against several distractive policies that have been emulated from the president office which have degraded our individual and collective dignity resulting in dull image in the eyes of this planet. It is part of a fight against oppression and lawlessness, a fight for pride and identity, and a fight for democracy and basic human rights.

We all know that our independence was obtained as a result of collective struggle by our people through different roles.  The journey for independence has proven the hunger of our people for freedom and justice. For that cause, the majority of our society has contributed his part in different way. Everyone’s involvement was crucial for the success of the cause. However, none of these contributions, in any way, was as important and decisive to the success of the struggle as those who paid their only lives. For the country we love, 2% is the least of what every citizen of Eritrea is supposed to do if it had been used for constructive purposes. In fact, the majority of us agree on the fact that we should do as much as we could as far as it is for the best interest of our nation. We have shown our love towards our country in many occasions. I feel honoured to be an Eritrean, especially when I think of our readiness and willingness to contribute something whenever needed because we take it as our national duty. This is simply because we all know how much has been paid for our independence.  Unfortunately, most of the contributions we have been making post independence has been used purely for militarization reasons and strengthening of the PFDJ in order to oppress its own people in different styles. Nonetheless, we kept our promises to do everything we can to help our country economically and keep it safe from external forces although we have been let down by this dictatorial regime.  We should bear in mind, though, responsibility entails rights and vise-versa. We can’t separate these two things as they go side by side, maintaining everything in balance. If responsibility can ever live without right, this must only be in few places and countries such as Eritrea. The people of Eritrea has been paying whatever is needed of him, yet the government fail him time and again at providing what they deserve as citizens.  My question here is “why should we cooperate with a regime that doesn’t have any intention to serve its own citizen but make them slaves?”. Indeed, this is weird and paradoxical fact. How come the PFDJ asks/forces us to accept its leadership and be obedient to its flawed policies while it doesn’t comply with the rule of law and provides any rights to us. Sadly, one way or the other, the PFDJ have been achieving most of their targets by forcing us as there have been no alternative.  This have made them to undermine us beyond limits and conclude how coward and useless this generation is. Failure of the youth to stand against injustice has made the PFDJ leadership in general and PIA in particular to have a great deal of contempt on us. Of course, it is our fault and we should be the one to be ashamed of it, not the PFDJ or PIA.

The good thing is nothing remains forever, especially our rights and freedom can never be in their hands as much as they want it. We cannot be expected to be loyal to this military junta which has been letting us down time and again. But, it’s our obligations to be loyal to our people who expect so much from us. We can help to minimize or stop our people’s misery by not financing the dictator whose majority income comes from this 2%.  We can still make many changes in the political situation of our country by breaking our silence.  Let’s reassess our weakness and strength and face every challenge. We need to be more assertive in addressing our rights not forgetting that we have always been fulfilling our duties as nationals. In principle, we all have a common background of opposing the government’s policies while craving for our freedom and democracy. However, we can never achieve the intended goal unless we are working as a unified group. More than anything else, change starts inside us and at our minds, let’s evaluate our perceptions and make constructive changes within us. We cannot live in yesterday’s mind set while we are looking forward to live the life of tomorrow.

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