Maravi

Double standards, hypocrisy on Zimbabwe must end

Double standards, hypocrisy on Zimbabwe must end
By Editor
Wednesday September 26, 2007 [04:00]

The problem with our European friends is their failure to accept responsibility for any problems that they may cause anywhere in the world. They always try to justify everything they have done. They are always right. It is only we who live in the poor world that are always wrong. Even the wrong economic policies that they have pushed on our countries, which have clearly failed, are blamed on us and they have never taken any share of responsibility.

These are the same people who sometimes attempt to justify colonialism and slave trade. When they push wrong economic policies on us and they fail, it is not the policies that are blamed but our inability to implement them that is made an issue.

They have, for decades, supported corrupt and brutal regimes on our continent but they have never taken blame for that or made an approach.

They always have a way to justify their actions. Even the colonial regimes they ran in our countries were very brutal and undemocratic but they have never apologised for that. They looted the resources of our countries, leaving very little, if any, for us.

Again we have never heard any apologies from them. When struggles to liberate ourselves started, the peaceful political movements of our people were met with brutality. Our leaders suffered many months or years of incarceration with no fair trial at all. They have never apologised for this to anyone; they have justification for it. At most, they dismiss it as things that happened a long time ago and shouldn’t be an issue today. But on matters that affect them, history is never forgotten; the passage of many years is not an issue. The hypocrisy, the double standards of our European brothers and sisters is truly embarrassing.

Today they are denying having imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe. Even an idiot can clearly see that that country has been strangled, is being strangulated. Sanctions come in many forms. Sometimes they don’t need to be declared openly or overtly.

If a country loses all its credit overnight as a result of the political decisions taken by the powerful European countries, what does that amount to? How many countries in Africa today can survive under the conditions and circumstances Zimbabwe is facing? Most of our countries have their budgets financed to a tune of over 50 per cent by donors.

If that is withdrawn overnight, what would happen to the economies of countries like Ghana, Senegal, Zambia and others they always try to praise as examples of success stories? The truth is Zimbabwe is under sanctions. And this is why Southern African Development Community (SADC) leaders called for the removal of these sanctions at their meeting in Dar-es-Salaam early this year.

They are not fools to call for the lifting of sanctions that did not exist. There is no doubt the Zimbabwean political leaders opened a fissure and allowed the imperialists to come in and help them destroy the economy of their country.

The principle issue in Zimbabwe is not the mistreatment of the ordinary Zimbabwean people by their own government; it is the land question involving the white people. The whole problem stinks of racism and neo-colonialism. No one can deny that the political situation in Zimbabwe has never been what we would have liked it to be.

Political intolerance in that country has been there since independence in 1980. But because no one touched the land issue, all was well; Robert Mugabe was not declared an enemy whose regime should be removed.

And moreover, we have worse countries than Zimbabwe in terms of governance issues. We have leaders in our region who have been in power much longer than Mugabe.

For instance, no one can claim that Angola has been better governed than Zimbabwe. And Angolan President Eduardo Dos Santos has been in power since 1979, longer than Mugabe. The levels of corruption in that country are far much higher than in Zimbabwe and no one talks. Why? It is simply because Angola has allowed them to exploit or loot the resources of that country with impunity.

The day the Angolan government will initiate economic reforms of the type we are seeing in Venezuela over its oil and other mineral resources, the story will change. And Angola will be in the news every day, being fought, seeking a regime change. That’s how our friends operate.

They don’t generally do things for other people; they always act in their best interest. It’s like in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are not there for the Iraqis or Afghans, they are there to protect and advance their own economic interests.

And this is being admitted by their own top officials who are now writing books after leaving government. We are not making this up, it’s coming from their own people who were better placed and more informed than us.

We all realise that there are problems in Zimbabwe and our leaders are working to find ways to help that country overcome its current crisis. The Europeans and their American friends are not doing anything to help that country come out of its difficulties.

All they are doing is deepen the crisis in the hope that the Zimbabwean people will revolt against the government of President Mugabe and bring about a regime change. Things don’t always work like that in life.

They are not dealing with people who have chicken hearts; they are dealing with revolutionaries who have fought very difficult battles, sacrificing their lives to free their country from white minority domination, humiliation and subjugation. And they will resist to the bitter end.

There is no way they are going to surrender that country to those whom the British want to govern without a gruelling fight.
The lies about sanctions against Zimbabwe should come to an end. And Britain and its European friends should swallow their pride and accept that their policies on Zimbabwe have failed, have no popular appeal on our continent because they are founded on lies and ideas that have very little to do with the true situation of that country.

Zimbabwe has got problems - economic and political - but these problems can be solved within the SADC framework. And the initiatives coming from South African President Thabo Mbeki are starting to receive increasing support not only in our region but also among honest Europeans and Americans.

Zimbabwe will not be rescued by flattening it the way they have done to Iraq. Yes, today they are blaming the leaders of that country for the economic problems their country is facing. It can never be denied that Mugabe and his colleagues are responsible for what is going on in Zimbabwe today because they are the leaders of that country and have to take responsibility.

But it will also not be honest to ignore the fact that Britain, the United States and their European friends are also responsible for the economic turmoil the people of Zimbabwe are today enduring.

But we have no doubts that Zimbabwe will get out of these problems because it is a country endowed with immense resources and a lot of good people. And on top of that it has got a good economic infrastructure.

What is needed now is to come up with solutions that address the economic crisis and the political problems that have beset that country. But the solutions should come from non-imperial forces like SADC; they should not be dictated by the British and their imperial friends.

The sovereignty of Zimbabwe should be defended at all costs. Of course this can be done without compromising on issues of democracy and human rights. After all the whole liberation struggle in that country was one for the increasing of the dignity of that proud and heroic people.

Zimbabwe doesn’t need sanctions, isolation and humiliation. What it needs is support for the removal of sanctions which the Europeans have imposed on it although they have no courage to admit it because it is such a stupid thing.

Those who were born and grew up in the days of the liberation struggles in southern Africa will not be cheated by imperialist propaganda on Zimbabwe. They know what is at stake and what is propelling or fueling all this.

We have no doubt our leaders in SADC, as they did under the Front Lines States, will help Zimbabwe overcome its problems and international isolation. It is stupid for anyone to expect a country that has been so much weakened, that has lost all its credit and goodwill to do well economically.

The same people who orchestrated this situation that has resulted in immense suffering of the Zimbabwean people are the ones today going round pretending they care so much for the people of Zimbabwe. This is nonsense, this is hypocrisy and this is stupidity. We want democracy in Zimbabwe. We want the respect of human rights in Zimbabwe. But not the imperial way.

And everything possible will be done to straighten everything that has been twisted in that country without sacrificing the independence and sovereignty of that country in exchange for aid or imperialist praises. Again we support the position taken by our SADC leaders on not attending the AU/EU meeting in Portugal if Mugabe is not allowed to attend.

The imperialists should realise that we are no longer colonies although our countries are still very poor - and we are poor because of the exploitation, the plunder, the banditry that they had subjected our countries and our peoples to.

This arrogance should be fought, it should be denounced. We want better relations with Britain and other European countries but not on these stupid terms where our countries and our leaders are being treated like small children who cannot think for themselves - everything they do must come from London and other European capitals. This is not the way to run the world. It is this arrogance that is fueling tension in the world.

They don’t want to listen to suggestions and initiatives being undertaken by SADC leaders on Zimbabwe. The only approaches that are acceptable are those which come from themselves. As far as they are concerned, Mbeki and other leaders of the region can’t think better than them.

But how many European leaders can compare themselves intellectually and otherwise to President Mbeki and even to Mugabe himself? Or is it superiority complex that is making them fail to accept that Mbeki can come up with better ideas on Zimbabwe than them?

We need help and cooperation from our European friends, but on terms of mutual respect. They should realise that they are today dealing with a different breed of Africans that is starting to assert itself intellectually and otherwise.

If things continue this way, we will have no choice but to wage our second liberation and pay the supreme sacrifices it may demand of all people. We will not go back to the bush - we have no intention to do so - but the bush will certainly come back to us if this imperial behaviour does not change.

Labels: EDITORIAL, ZIMBABWE

posted by MrK @ 3:56 AM