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Zimbabwe and the Question of
Imperialism: A Discussion
Hosted by Amy Goodman
Voice of host Amy Goodman:
In Zimbabwe, President Robert Mugabe has come under
widespread criticism for refusing to cancel a run-off
election scheduled for Friday. Opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai won the first round of elections in March but
withdrew from the run-off late last week. He has sought
refuge in the Dutch embassy in Harare out of what he
says is concern for his life. We host a discussion on
Zimbabwe with University of Houston Professor, Gerald
Horne, author of "From the Barrel of a Gun: The United
States and the War Against Zimbabwe, 1965-1980" and
Syracuse University University Professor, Horace
Campbell, his latest article is titled, "Pan-Africanists:
Our collective duty to Zimbabwe."
Criticism of Zimbabwe's President
Robert Mugabe and the actions of his ruling Zanu PF
party is growing. The most recent condemnation comes
from former South African President Nelson Mandela, who
mourned the "tragic failure of leadership" in Zimbabwe
on Wednesday. They were the former leader's first
comments on the situation.
President Bush also criticized Mugabe
Wednesday for defying international pressure to cancel a
run-off election scheduled for Friday.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai
won the first round of elections in March but withdrew
from the run off late on Sunday and sought refuge in the
Dutch embassy in Harare out of what he says is concern
for his safety. On Wednesday he called for the African
Union backed by the United Nations, to lead a
"transitional process" in Zimbabwe. He also emphasized
that Friday's vote would not be recognized.
But Zimbabwe's Electoral Commission
has ruled that Tsvangirai's withdrawal from the election
last Sunday was filed too late and has no legal force.
Meanwhile at least 300 Harare residents have taken
shelter from the political violence at the South African
embassy.
Today we host a discussion on
Zimbabwe: We're joined in Washington DC by Professor
Gerald Horne. He is the Chair of History and African
American Studies at the University of Houston and the
author of numerous books including
From the Barrel of a Gun: The United States
and the War Against Zimbabwe, 1965-1980. Joining us on the phone from Syracuse, New
York is Professor Horace Campbell. He is Professor of
African American Studies and Politics at Syracuse
University. He has written extensively about Pan-Africanism
and Zimbabwe.
Gerald Horne, Chair
of History and African American Studies at the
University of Houston and the author of numerous books
including
From the Barrel of a Gun: The United States
and the War Against Zimbabwe, 1965-1980.
Horace Campbell,
Professor of African American Studies and Politics at
Syracuse University. He has written extensively about
Pan-Africanism and Zimbabwe.
AMY GOODMAN: As we
move now from Iraq to Zimbabwe, Juan?
JUAN GONZALES: Well
criticism of Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and the
actions of his ruling Zanu PF party is growing. The most
recent condemnation comes from former South African
President Nelson Mandela who mourned the quote tragic
failure of leadership in Zimbabwe on Wednesday. They
were the former leaders first comments on the situation
president Bush also criticized Mugabe Wednesday for
defying international pressure to cancel a runoff
election scheduled for Friday.
PRESIDENT BUSH:
Friday's elections appear to be a sham. You can't have
free elections if a candidate is not allowed to campaign
freely and his supporters aren't allowed to campaign
without fear of intimidation-yet the Mugabe government
has been intimidating the people on the ground in
Zimbabwe. And this is an incredibly sad development. I
hope that the AU will, at their meeting this weekend,
continue to highlight the illegitimacy of the elections,
continue to remind the world that this election is not
free, and is not fair.
JUAN GONZALES:
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai won the first round
of elections in March but withdrew from the runoff late
on Sunday and sought refuge in the Dutch embassy in
Harari out of what he says is concern for his safety. On
Wednesday he called for the African Union backed the
United Nations to lead a quote transitional process in
Zimbabwe. He also emphasized that Friday's vote would
not be recognized.
TSVANGIRAI: That our
decision to pull out of this shame election was in the
best interest of the people of Zimbabwe. Any election
conducted arrogantly, unilaterally on Friday will not be
recognized by the MDC, by Zimbabweans and by the world
over.
JUAN GONZALES: But
Zimbabwe's electoral commission has ruled that
Tsvangirai's withdrawal from the election last Sunday
was filed too late and has no legal force. Meanwhile at
least 300 Harari residents have taken shelter from the
political violence at the South African embassy.
MAN SPEAKING: My
house is destroyed to the ground level. And my whole
apartment has been destroyed and looted, and my
family--I do not know where my family is right now. I
don't know where my wife, my kids.
AMY GOODMAN: Today,
we host a discussion on Zimbabwe. We're joined in
Washington D.C. by Professor Gerald Horne, Chair of
History and African American Studies at the University
of Houston and the author of numerous books including
"From the Barrel of a Gun, the United States in the War
Against Zimbabwe, 1965 to 1980." Joining us on the phone
from Syracuse is Professor Horace Campbell, Professor of
African American Studies and Politics at Syracuse
University in New York, has written extensively about
Pan-Africanism and Zimbabwe. We welcome you both to
Democracy Now! I want to begin with Gerald Horne in
Washington. Can you talk about what is happening in
Zimbabwe and the coverage of it, how we understand what
is happening in Zimbabwe in the United States?
GERALD HORNE: Well
obviously what is happening in Zimbabwe is quite tragic
and I would hope some of the sympathy that is extended
to Zimbabwe could be extended as well to other African
nations that do not have white minorities. For example,
the statement condemning or questioning the Zimbabweans
elections emerged from Swaziland, a South African nation
that is one of the last absolute monarchies on this
small planet. Some might well question why isn't
Swaziland's human rights situation being interrogated
and investigated? A scant year ago in Nigeria, the
continent's giant, you had shambolic elections, had
hundreds killed yet that barely registered a blip on the
international media. At least not in the North Atlantic.
Many talk, perhaps understandably, about the fact the
President Mugabe has served as President since 1980, but
what about Omar Bongo of Gabon, a close ally of the U.S,
an oil-rich country in West Africa, which of course, he
has served as president since 1967? 13 years before
Mugabe came into power. I mean, I could go on in this
vain, but I think the fact that thousands were killed in
Zimbabwe in the 1980's and yet, he received a virtual
knighthood from Queen Elizabeth and received an honorary
degree from Massachusetts, and yet, today in 2008, he is
a subject of international scorn after of course he
expropriates some white farmers, really speaks of
profound racism in terms of how this issue has been
covered in the North Atlantic media.
JUAN GONZALES:
Horace Campbell, I want to ask about this issue. It does
seem that the western media did not focus on Zimbabwe at
all until the expropriations began of land. But does
that deal with-the land of the white-minority there--but
does that deal with the underlying class conflicts that
are obviously clearly percolating in reaching ahead
right now in the country?
HORACE CAMPBELL:
Well, thank you for having me on the show. First of all,
I would say this platform on Democracy Now! is a
platform for the progressives, the left, and those who
are involved in the peace movement. Our discussions on
what is going on in Zimbabwe or any other part of Africa
should be guided by how our solidarity with the peoples
of Zimbabwe, with the oppressed workers of Southern
Africa, and in all parts of Africa can assist our own
struggle in this country against all forms of
oppression. And so, comparing Zimbabwean's oppression
with other oppression in Africa does not excuse the
oppression of the Zimbabweans people by any means. I
think Gerald is very right about these oppressions
across Africa, but organizations in this country that
are in solidarity with the peace movement across the
world ,that are in solidarity with the Zimbabwe people,
should take the cue from the Congress of South African
Trade Union that is calling for a blockade of Zimbabwe
because of the oppression. And I think what
distinguished Zimbabwe from those countries that Gerald
speaks about is that none of those countries is
representing themselves as being in the forefront of
liberation. Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF started out like
they were Lumumba in the Congo. They ended up like
Mubutu, killing from the people, arrested opposition
leaders, killing people, calling homosexual pigs and
dogs, and killing hundreds, tens of thousands of people.
18% of the Zimbabwean people are unemployed. While the
stock exchange is the most successful in Africa. We on
the left, in the peace movement, we acknowledge that
George Bush nor Brown have any moral authority to
criticize Zimbabwe because of the unjust war that
they're fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. But having
said that, we on the left and the progressives, we must
take the moral leadership in having solidarity with
those opposition leaders, those workers, those human
rights workers in Zimbabwe and Southern Africa who are
being oppressed by the Mugabe government.
AMY GOODMAN: Your
response, Gerald Horne?
GERALD HORNE: Well I
think there is very much to recommend with what Horace
Campbell said. As a taxpayer to this government here in
Washington, my first approach must be this regime of
George W. Bush. And I think we have to question the
hypocrisy of George Bush who has engaged in questionable
elections in Florida and Ohio, questioning the
legitimacy of the elections in Zimbabwe. More than that,
if the situation in Zimbabwe is so terrible, and I agree
it is, why is it that the Bush administration continues
to send undocumented Zimbabwe workers back to Zimbabwe?
There's been talk about a so- called
genocide unfolding in Zimbabwe, yet, you see the Gordon
Brown administration in London not giving asylum to
Zimbabwe workers who are exiled now in London. We talk
about the Mugabe regime, but just the other day it was
revealed that Anglo American, the major transnational
corporation with close South African ties and
headquarters in London, is about to make a $400 million
investment in Zimbabwe. Barclay's bank is in Zimbabwe.
Rio Tinto-Zinc, the major mineral conglomerate is in
Zimbabwe. It seems to me in the first place, we in the
North Atlantic should be focusing on these kinds of
contradictions that we can affect and as the African
National Congress has said, leave Zimbabwe to the
Zimbabwean people themselves.
AMY GOODMAN: We're
going to go to a break and we'll come back to this
discussion. Our guests in Washington, Professor. Gerald
Horne, Professor of African Studies at the University of
Houston, he has lived in Zimbabwe, Professor Horace
Campbell also joins us, professor of African- American
studies at Syracuse University. We will be back with
them both in a moment.
AMY GOODMAN: This is
democracy Now!,
DemocracyNow, the war and peace report. We're
talking about Zimbabwe. Professor Gerald Horne of the
University of Houston is in Washington, Professor Horace
Campbell of African American Studies and Political
Science of Syracuse University is speaking to us from
Syracuse. If you could respond, Professor Campbell, to
what Gerald Horne said before the break.
HORACE CAMPBELL:
Yes, I want to reiterate a point that any kind of
political work we do on Zimbabwe should assist us in
educating our people here so that when the Zimbabwe
political leadership represents itself to say that it is
being persecuted because it expropriated the land of the
former white settlers, we have to interrogate what did
the expropriation of the land mean for the millions of
Zimbabweans workers, small farmers. It is very clear
that the Zimbabwean people needed to reclaim the land
from the white settlers. But the Mugabe government, when
he was receiving his knighthood from the British
government, never negotiated about the land because
throughout the period from 1980- 1992, Zimbabwe had the
legal powers to be able to set in motion the
possibilities for strengthening the working peoples, the
farm workers, the women, the plantation and agricultural
workers.
And when we speak about land, we must
understand that whether the land is owned by white
farmers are black farmers, the fundamental productivity
on the land emanates from the labor of the working
people-working people. So our task is how is it we
defend the working people of Zimbabwe? The hundreds of
thousands of workers who live on the conditions of
wretchedness, who have been exploited by the black
capitalist farmers, who are in the Zimbabwean government
just as the whites have done. So any kind of transition
in Zimbabwe must involve strengthening the rights of the
workers, the women, and the use in Zimbabwe.
I think that what Gerald said should
throw away all of the talk about Mugabe being against
imperialism because it was very clear that
Anglo-American, Barclay Bank, and Rio-Tinto and diamond
dealers have made billions of dollars while Mugabe was
talking about the land. And what we're calling for is
for any transitional period in Zimbabwe to be one where
there is intervention by the African Union so that the
billions that have been carried out by the ruling
elements in Zimbabwe, that we do not have them carried
out repression of the workers with impunity and then
stealing the money as they have done the past 8-10
years.
JUAN GONZALES:
Gerald Horne, I'd like to ask you. Obviously Mugabe has
been an icon and a hero, a giant in terms of the
liberation movements in Africa for decades. But your
sense now, do you believe that he still represents any
forces for progress in Africa or has he gradually
transformed himself into a dictator?
GERALD HORNE: Well,
I think that president Mugabe is a force to be reckoned
with in Zimbabwe. And I agree with those leaders in the
region who feel that he and his party must be contented
with if there is to be a settlement of this controversy
in Zimbabwe. I should also say that with regard to
professor Campbell, I'm here not to carry a brief on
OPS, but they have argued they did not move on land
reform before 1994, i.e. the date of the South African
elections, so as not to unsettle the situation in
neighboring South Africa, which of course has
outstanding land claims of its own.
We all know there are more white
farmers killed in South Africa than have been killed in
Zimbabwe. And likewise, there are outstanding land
claims in neighboring Namibia as well. I think it's
understandable why there has been a focus on on Zanu PF,
but standing in the wings of the opposition of the MDC
and sadly, unfortunately, there has not been
considerable focus on them such as their leaders, Roy
Bennet, a top leader, a former major land owner in
Zimbabwe who of course throttled an African leader on
the floor of the Zimbabweans parliament-I would of
thought that kind of behavior would have ended in
independence in 1980.
You have other leading Rhodesians in
the leadership of MDC. One thing that worries many of us
is that if MDC does come to power, there will be a split
and quite frankly, they will pave the way for the rise
of certain retrograde elements like Roy Bennet come back
into power. In some ways, MDC, a trade union-led
movement, is akin to solidarity in Poland which of
course paved the way for the present right wing in
Poland to come to power in Warsaw. So we have to be
careful when we try to butt in to the internal affairs
of a sovereign state. I think our energies would be best
served by putting pressure on this government here in
Washington and its comical sidekick in London.
AMY GOODMAN:
Professor Horace Campbell?
HORACE CAMPBELL: The
intellectual subservience of the MDC and the leadership
ofthe MDC is clear to most workers in Southern Africa.
But this point in the history of Zimbabwe, the MDC
doesn't have political power. The social forces that are
organized in Zimbabwe against the government have thrown
their weight behind the MDC at the present moment. The
Women of Zimbabwe rise, these are independent
organizations, Padari, the workers, agricultural and
plantation workers. I do not think-we do not have the
right to say to the Zimbabwean workers that your under
oppression and therefore, we should decide for you
because of the history of Mugabe's relationship to the
liberation movement, 28 years ago, then we should be
saying to you what your choices should be.
In Southern Africa, the Congress of
South African Trade Union movement has called for a
blockade of the Zimbabwean government and is the
Zimbabwe leadership and the Congress of South African
Trade Union which is the largest trade union movement in
Southern Africa is a movement which is calling for the
isolation of Mugabe government. What we agree with
Gerald is on as the falling-the land question in
Southern Africa is an urgent question in the media, in
south Africa, and in Zimbabwe. But having said that, we
must learn lessons from Zimbabwe. To say that when land
has been reclaimed it should not be reclaimed for rich,
black farmers to replace white farmers. Land when it is
being reclaimed in South Africa or in Nambia should be
reclaimed in a condition where there is health and
safety conditions for the working people's.
So yes, we should take lessons from
Zimbabwe and we should introduce new politics in
Southern Africa that is coming out of the politics of
reconciliation. That no concept of victory should be
victory which gives power to one group over another
there should be ways in which the transition towards a
new political dispersion-in south Africa it is one that
strengthens the producing classes, the small workers,
farmers, students.
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And these are the forces
that have been repressed, brutalized, the
trade union leaders that are in jail right
now in Zimbabwe should be released.
Opposition leaders should be released. Women
should be released. Human rights workers
should be released.
So that yes, we can
criticize the leadership of the MDC and I
have done so in my writing, in my book,
Reclaiming Zimbabwe but the
government of Zimbabwe must now arise in a
situation where we provide leadership in a
condition where 80% of the people are
unemployed, where women have been persecuted
as prostitutes when a walk on the streets.
Were homosexuals have been called pigs and
dogs and where men go around trying to have
sexual relations with young virgins saying
this would prevent HIV/AIDS. |
We need a new political leadership to
go against this kind of backwardness that came out of
the kind of patriotic leadership that we had for the
past 28 years.
AMY GOODMAN: We
wanted to bring South African archbishop Desmond Tutu
into this. He also came out forcefully against the
violence and intimidation in Zimbabwe speaking in Cape
Town Tuesday, who warned Mugabe should bend to
international pressure or could risk facing universal
sanctions and could risk facing an international
criminal court.
TUTU: We are seeing
a country not just steadily, but rapidly going down into
chaos. The international community should, I believe,
had intervened long ago when some of us appeared for a
peacekeeping force, to ensure that people who are not
intimidated, people are not attacked. And that the
conditions for a free and fair election would then have
been sustained. Now, I think obviously the effort should
continue where we are hoping against hope that good
sense might get to prevail and that Mr.Mugabe would
agree that really his time is up. It's 20 years or more
that he has been head of state. I think they've got to
tell him he still less the chance-if he continues and
everyone decides to grant his administration
illegitimate, then he stands a very very good chance of
being arraigned before the ICC for human rights
violations.
AMY GOODMAN:
Archbishop Desmond Tutu Gerald Horne, your response both
to Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Horace Campbell.
GERALD HORNE: Well
obviously we have enormous respect for Archbishop
Desmond Tutu. But I must return to the question that
should occupy us in the North Atlantic. Which is why is
it the Zimbabwe gets so much focus and attention on this
side of the Atlantic when Paul Biya, the leader of
Cameron a few weeks ago basically named himself
President for life and it barely registers a blip?
Similar situation unfolding in Uganda with Yoweri
Museveni. I think part of the reason, not only the race
and racism question, there's also the question that many
of the former Rhodesian have kith and kin on the side of
the Atlantic. The spouse of Henry Kissinger, the former
U.S. Secretary of State. The spouse of Chester Crocker,
the former assistant Secretary of State for Africa under
the Reagan administration. Even some distant relatives
of George Washington for whom the city of which I'm
sitting is named.
Ian Smith, the former Rhodesian
leader of course has relatives in San Diego. There were
hundreds if not thousands of white mercenaries who
flocked to Rhodesia in the 1970's and 1980's to fight
against liberation of that particular country. And it
befuddles and baffles me why this kind of basic
historical background is not integrated into the
conversation, integrated into the discourse on Zimbabwe.
I think it gives a very bad impression on the African
continent which leads many Africans to consider their
only focus on the North Atlantic is on Zimbabwe because
there is a white minority and that perhaps explains to
why there has been such a lethargy in responding to some
of the human rights violations that are unfolding in
Zimbabwe. And until that kind of situation is rectified,
I dare say there will continue to be an uncivil
situation in Zimbabwe.
JUAN GONZALES:
Gerald, all that being true and we clearly recognize
that disparity in approach and coverage, back in 2005,
there were massive forced relocations of hundreds of
thousands of people by the Mugabe government that really
stunned people, even here in a progressive community of
the United States who have supported Mugabe and the
past. Your response to those relocations and again to
the issue of whether the government has increasingly
become iron handed and dictatorial in dealing with its
own people?
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GERALD HORNE:
Well, those dislocations were tragic and
unfortunate. I know about them because I
hail from St. Louis, Missouri. And of course
it used to be said, with regard to that city
and many other cities, that urban renewal
meant negro removal. That kind of situation
is not unique to Zimbabwe. In Senegal as we
speak, there's been tens of thousands of
Africans who have been displaced because of
a civil conflict that reaches back 25 years.
It has barely registered a blip on the
international press screen. So yes, those
situations that are referred to in Zimbabwe
are quite tragic and they need to be
criticized as well as other analogous
situations. And when those analogous
situations are not criticized, it basically
provides fodder for those who would like to
downplay the situation in Zimbabwe. |
AMY GOODMAN:
Professor Horace Campbell, we just have about 30
seconds, your response and your summary?
HORACE CAMPBELL: My
response is that the government of Senegal, the
government of Cameroon does not represent itself as a
liberation government. The
Zimbabwean government is very aware of the racism that
exists in North America. And it is exploiting that
racism and the antiracist sentiment among Africans in
the west in order to legitimize its repression on the
people. The government of Zimbabwe at this moment is
illegitimate we must avoid war at all costs. Mugabe says
only god can remove him and he will go to war. At
present, he is at war with the Zimbabwe people and we
must end the silence in the progressive and pan-African
community against this type of manipulation and
repression in the name of liberation.
AMY GOODMAN: We will
leave it there. Professor Horace Campbell of Syracuse
University and Professor Gerald Horne of Houston
University, thank you for joining us. That does it for
today's show, if you want a copy of the show go to
DemocracyNow.
Source:
BlackAgendaReport
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Response
Horne is extremely meticulous. Probably the
best Marxist scholar currently on the Pan-African
scene. No question about his seriousness and
competency. He has immersed himself in archival work
and brought many hidden facts to light. He is not a
huckster, nor a vacant "public intellectual," but a good
old-fashioned Marxist, and thoroughly deserving of his
Distinguished Professorship at Houston. I found this
interview at the following link.
http://www.kintespace.com/rasx36.html You will
find a picture of this serious brother at
http://vi.uh.edu/faculty/profiles/horne.html
I have been to Zimbabwe only once,
and that was almost a quarter of a century ago. In my
view, Mugabe is both a villain and a fool, but Horne's
points deserve consideration. There was an inflammatory
and unfair editorial about African politics in The New
York Times July 1, 2006 by Nicholas D. Kristof,
If Only Mugabe Were White. Has Kristof
forgotten the intervention by Tanzania in Uganda, the
restoration of Obote, and the unanticipated tragic
sequel?
I know Horace Campbell. He was
one of the most steadfast opponents of Idi Amin, having
visited Uganda at the time and witnessed the situation
with horror. Can you give me the link for
Horace's article? Thanks for the work you are
doing here. You too Rudy deserve credit for having
raised necessary questions about the Zimbabwe situation.—Wilson
* * *
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Scaling the
summit—"There can be no development without peace
and no advancement without stability," warned Mubarak in
his opening speech. . . . The presence of the recently
re-elected Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe took some
Western observers by surprise. Mugabe entered the
conference accompanied by the host President Mubarak and
Tanzanian President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwetwe, current
chairman of the AU. That Mugabe was flanked by Mubarak
and Kikwetwe lent the Zimbabwean president a semblance
of credibility, though one soon dissipated by what
followed. Mugabe at one point physically accosted a
British journalist.
It was astonishing
to see the sprightly 86-year-old Zimbabwean potentate
push his way through the crowd of clamouring
journalists. He clearly has no time for newspapermen,
and was not about to waste any time on them. He stormed
out of the meeting without batting an eyelid or uttering
a word.
However, the final
communiqué of the AU summit did urge political opponents
in Zimbabwe to create a government of national unity.
The resolution also called for dialogue between the
Zimbabwean protagonists following the 27 June run-off
polls in which Mugabe was re- elected unopposed. The
opposition, however, have declared that they would only
comply with the AU resolution if President Mugabe
demilitarises his party's institutions and a new
constitution promulgated.
Mugabe had flown to
Egypt after a hasty swearing-in ceremony in the
Zimbabwean capital Harare. He had vowed that only God
could oust him from power and if his recent actions are
anything to judge by he has no doubt whatsoever that God
is on his side in Mugabe's self- proclaimed battle to
ensure Zimbabwe is no neo- colonial appendage of the
West.
African criticism
of Mugabe has been muted, with none of the African
leaders in Sharm El-Sheikh speaking openly against him.
His most vociferous African critics, Zambian President
Levy Mwanawasa, suffered a stroke after attending a
NEPAD meeting on the sidelines of the AU Sharm El-Sheikh
summit. He was rushed to hospital. His aides have
assured other leaders that his condition is stable. . .
. The Southern African Development Community (SADC), of
which Zimbabwe is a member, delegated South African
President Thabo Mbeki to act as mediator for Zimbabwe.
And even though some African politicians, such as Kenyan
Prime Minister Raila Odinga, have urged the AU to
suspend Zimbabwe under Mugabe, the overwhelming majority
of African leaders were careful not to offend. The
Zimbabwean president was treated with kid gloves.
Tanzanian President Kikwetwe, speaking in Kiswahili,
avoided direct criticism of Mugabe. . . .
Thokozani Khupe,
vice-president of the Zimbabwean opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), flew to Sharm El-Sheikh to
protest against the presence of Mugabe but she was
barred from entering the conference centre. "The
continent cannot ignore the crisis in Zimbabwe even if
Egyptian television can," remarked the BBC. "Africa must
fully shoulder its responsibilities and do everything in
its power to help the Zimbabwean parties to work
together to help overcome their country's problems,"
ventured AU Commission Chairperson Jean Ping, a Gabonese
national.
WeeklyAhram
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[I]n Zimbabwe it is
the British and US armed, funded, and trained
"opposition" forces that are refusing to dialogue with
the government of Zimbabwe on African terms, and yet are
being presented by the British and US politicians, press
and media as the victims. Simultaneous to the Anglican
bishops Tutu and the other one are calling for British
armed invasion of Zimbabwe, the British MDC agent are
demanding that the government violate the constitutional
rule of law and that Zanu-Pf "demilitarise" its party
cadres—one is reminded that the Iraqi government
demilitarized, and doing so opened their country to
invasion and occupation.
In the case of Thokozani Khupe, BBC has openly become
the mouthpiece of MDC. Or rather, more correctly stated
the reverse, MDC is the mouthpiece of the British
government, as is BBC.
It is interesting how European and American concerns
become the agenda of an AU Summit. When the European are
concerned with Sudan, Sudan is the top of the AU agenda,
when it is Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe is the top issue. The wars
in Algeria, Congo and Somalia are not singled out - for
instance because through the Congo wars the
transnationals are gobbling up Congo natural resources,
the war in Algeria is waged on behalf of the US against
an elected government that was forced to take up
warfare. Somalia is relegated out of sight, as US
imperialisms' Ethiopian lackey troops and quisling
warlords gangs are turning the sands blood red.—Lil
Joe
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The African Union
is clearly the presidents-for-life club. They cannot
condemn Mugabe because to do so would condemn
themselves. Shall Bongo rule Gabon for eternity—shall
Pharaoh Mubarak crown his son to continue his reign of
terror with western support until his regime is finally
overthrown by the Muslim Brotherhood? Nothing of peace
shall come to Darfur until the AU's connection with the
Arab League is disengaged—yet this will not happen since
the Africans and Arabs both suck the West's behind while
the masses continue their suffering, wallowing in
poverty, ignorance and disease, all the while rich in
natural resources that are raped from their lands by the
West and her African sycophants.—Marvin
X
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Bro. Marvin,
Term limits do not
necessarily reflect power. The Queen of England is on
the throne for life, but she is impotent because
Parliament governs the country. The Supreme Court, on
the other hand, serve for life and exercise enormous
power, often rendering changes that impact the lifestyle
of Americans. Ex. Roe vs Wade, Brown vs Board of
Education of Topeka.
You are correct in
saying that the West is a prominent component in
Africa's problems and Zimbabwe's in particular. It is
the West that is raping the continent of Africa, African
"sycophants," as you call them don't get nearly what
Western companies make in profit of African resources.
You are sadly
mistaken if you think that ousting Mugabe is the agenda
of the US and Britain. When apartheid was oppressing
southern Africa, kicking Botha out of office was not the
agenda, but, dismantling apartheid. Like wise, getting
Mugabe out of office is not the agenda, but, dismantling
the land reform program, the Zimbabwean Constitution and
enabling the land and resource to return to the hands of
agribusinesses and western corporations.
There is much more to be said...
but do you see my points, thus far? Your thoughts?—Adaoma
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Of course, the
African sycophants receive crumbs for the rape of their
lands, sometimes the crumbs are in the billions (ANC
billionaires!). Imagine the suffering of Mandela and the
masses to end apartheid, only to open the box of black
apartheid under the reactionary Mbeki—or Zimbabwe
under the revolutionary man of the hour, Mugabe. Why did
he wait twenty years to institute land reform? How much
land reform has occurred in South Africa since the end
of apartheid? What irony to hold the AU summit in Egypt,
the land of Pharaoh Mubarak, who is working with Israel,
Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the USA to keep Iraq
destabilized while they plan an attack on Iran to halt
the rise of Shia Islam. Remember that old devil Rumsfeld,
"There will not be a Shia goverment in Iraq!" The USA
has armed 80,000 Sunnis to challenge the Shia gov.—Marvin
X
Horace Campbell.
Reclaiming Zimbabwe: The Exhaustion of the
Patriarchal Model of Liberation (2003)
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posted 4 July 2008 |
