Maravi

Zimbabwe can't overcome all its problems by itself

Zimbabwe can't overcome all its problems by itself
By Editor
Thursday June 07, 2007 [04:00]

Zimbabwe needs and deserves the help and support of all. There is no way a country that they have so much weakened with sanctions and internal political divisions can solve its economic and political problems all by itself. There is no way a country plagued with so many problems and difficulties, a country that has been so much undermined and weakened can overcome all by itself the challenges and difficulties Zimbabwe is facing.

There is no question that the current political leaders of Zimbabwe made serious strategic and tactical errors that opened that country to imperialist strangulation. They did make enormous mistakes by failing to foresee the consequences of what they were doing and by not doing the right thing to reach the goals and purposes they proclaimed - which, of course, were necessary and legitimate. Imperialism couldn't have dealt such a devastating blow on the Zimbabwean economy if the Zimbabweans themselves hadn't done so first, if the political leadership and government of that country hadn't weakened and divided their people and their country's economy.

But this does not mean the Zimbabwean people should be abandoned in their hour of greatest need. No country could have come out clean from the sanctions and blackmail Zimbabwe has had to endure over the last decade or so. We therefore welcome the Southern African Development Community (SADC) initiatives to help Zimbabwe overcome its problems. No country in the world can solve all its problems by itself. Zimbabwe needs both economic and political assistance. There is no way a country that is split into several parts can be in a position to solve its problems.

Therefore, Zimbabwe needs unity, the unity of all its political forces - unity is the main thing for them. Without unity all efforts will amount to very little. The problem in Zimbabwe is not primarily that of democracy. It is not lack of democracy that has brought Zimbabwe to its knees economically. If lack of democracy in the world were a preamble to social change many of the capitalist countries we know today would not be there, they would have disappeared a long time ago, because capitalism was developed on the basis of force and repression. It still uses them: when people take to the streets in protest, demonstrations, special police forces repress them with teargas and riot shields; when workers go on strike and hold demonstrations, the police repress them.

We are not talking about Third World countries, but European countries. A capitalist regime is maintained on the basis of force - a highly sophisticated, well-organised force. It employs force not only to prevent social change but also to put down people's protests. When one analyses the Zimbabwean problem from all angles, one can't say the problem in Zimbabwe is primarily that of democracy. As we have said, if lack of democracy were to cause governments and economies to collapse, many capitalist countries we know today and their economies would have collapsed a long time ago.

But what is happening in Zimbabwe shows, for the nth time, that democracy without social justice is worth no more than our devalued currencies. Political democracy is an empty formality if not accompanied by economic democracy. In Zimbabwe we had a strange form of democracy under which a minority of the population owned and controlled most of the country's economic sectors. And when this minority felt antagonized politically and otherwise, it pulled the plug on the economy.

It is good that today SADC is opposing, and calling for the removal of, the sanctions against Zimbabwe. If this is the position SADC and other African countries had taken from the very beginning Zimbabwe wouldn't be in the situation it is in today. It's good that in spite of the stratagems that have been designed to limit our ability to think for ourselves, the leaders of SADC are starting to see things for themselves, to analyse things for themselves and to make their own decisions.

This is an important and highly welcome approach. We shouldn't forget that Africa represents one of the most important, if not the most important, fields of battle against all forms of exploitation existing in the world, against imperialism and neo-colonialism.

There are big possibilities for success in Africa, but there are also many dangers. The present possibilities of a much more rapid development than even a few years ago due to the aid which some rich countries can likewise provide under certain conditions - but on this point we must be always vigilant. What we consider to be the principle danger for Africa is the possibility of division among our people which appears to be continually rising.

On the one side they are the lackeys of imperialism, on the other the peoples seeking to free themselves along the roads suited to them. We have concrete reasons for fearing this danger. With increased internal unity and the support of SADC countries politically or otherwise, Zimbabwe can with some effort get out of its current crisis. There is no need for any SADC or African country to support or encourage sanctions against Zimbabwe. We shouldn't forget that those who are today championing the political and economic isolation of this country never did so when Ian Smith was in charge of a criminal, brutal and racist white minority regime in that territory.

They used to say that sanctions don't work, that sanctions only end up hurting the same people they are intended to serve; they were opposed to the isolation of that regime. They even had similar arguments in their support or defence of the apartheid regime in South Africa.

President Thabo Mbeki understands this very well and probably that's why all along he has refused or resisted to take the line that was being pushed on him by some countries and some political forces within his own country.

President Mbeki's line seems to be yielding some positive results. Today people like British Prime Minister Tony Blair who had opened direct confrontation with the Zimbabwean government and were openly pushing for a regime change are starting to rethink their positions and are moving more closer to President Mbeki's approach.

The SADC initiatives in Zimbabwe need the support and cooperation of all Zimbabweans of good will; they deserve the support of all African countries and all progressive countries of the world.

Labels: EDITORIAL, SADC, ZIMBABWE

posted by MrK @ 5:42 AM