(THE HERALD) The West never learns
The West never learnsBy Campion Mereki
THE call by Canadian opposition Liberal Member of Parliament and Foreign Affairs critic Dr Keith Martin for the expulsion of our ambassador Florence Chideya, deserves to be ignored and condemned with the contempt it deserves. Dr Martin argues that "the envoy represents a brutal regime". What is brutality, Dr Martin?
The term is now being used against the Government of Zimbabwe because Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of a faction of the MDC, was beaten by the police for failing to observe the very rule of law they say is deficient in Zimbabwe.
The State merely applied the rule of law on Tsvangirai. What’s the hue and cry for? What about the violence the opposition is perpetrating against the Government and innocent citizens? Dr Martin and the West are mum on it because they are aiding and abetting it. They want to remove the Government through force.
Dr Martin is in opposition in Canada and I wonder if the Canadian opposition is perpetrating acts of barbarism against the government. The world over, democracy entails that one assumes power through the ballot box; anything short of that is unconstitutional. It is clear Dr Martin’s discontent with the Zimbabwean envoy is because she represents a government that will not kow-tow to Western machinations, period.
Can Dr Martin stand up in his country’s parliament and demand the expulsion of the American diplomat to Ottawa because the Yankees illegally invaded Iraq and caused the death of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and several thousand American troops?
He can’t do that because blood is thicker than water. He can’t do that because the Americans are his kith and kin. Why is Dr Martin and the West concerned about Zimbabwe now? They think they can install their puppets and reverse the land reform programme and take us back to the pre-2000 era.
No way, that is anachronism now, Dr Martin. That will never happen. What’s done in Zimbabwe, Dr Martin, can never be undone. You can grown and howl in your capitals to no avail.
In a bid to impress his long-nosed masters and ensure continued stay in the West, one Andrew Manyewere, purportedly the MDC chairman for Toronto, delivered a petition to the Zimbabwean embassy demanding that President Mugabe and the Government leave office and allow "a return of democracy in Zimbabwe".
What is democracy, Andy? Did you know it before President Mugabe brought it in 1980? There is now one-person one-vote in Zimbabwe, in case you did not notice. Does your concept of democracy merely mean the sacrilege when our erstwhile colonisers did not allow us the vote, let alone an innocent walk down First Street Mall?
Andy, for your own information, my father was arrested during the colonial era for being seen buying clear beer in the city centre. He was detained at then Salisbury Central Police Station and interrogated about where he had got the money to buy clear beer. He was told that the little black people earned was not enough to buy clear beer, and that his forte was opaque beer — Chibuku and Rufaro Mhamba. Is this the democracy you want Zimbabwe to return to?
Andy, if you want to continue staying in Canada, find other means like legalising your stay, or applying for permanent residence and not to concoct nonsense just to placate your hosts. We are not short of people in Zimbabwe and you can stay in Canada until kingdom come.
Then there were blue lies by one Rob Fox, executive director of Oxfam Canada in Zimbabwe, who said he saw people whose economy can no longer sustain their needs and a nation that is being brutally oppressed politically.
Yes, the economy cannot meet most of the needs of the people because of the economic sanctions that it is under. The West claims they are smart sanctions. Sanctions are never smart; they are the dirtiest of coercive measures and are hurting the people Rob saw.
The sanctions are hurting the economy and the people. Why is Rob mum on sanctions? He thinks Zimbabweans will revolt against the Government, but they are wiser and know which side of their bread is buttered.
That the nation is being brutally oppressed politically is a figment of his imagination. We have an opposition party well represented in Parliament. What Rob characterised as brutal political oppression is, in fact, the State’s reaction to opposition violence. Life and property are to be protected. Where in the world is violence condoned?
Labels: MDC, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, THE HERALD, ZIMBABWE
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