We accept our comrades’ apology

We accept our comrades’ apology
Written by Editor

On June 26, 2009 we received a letter from the Zambia National Women's Lobby signed by the board chairperson Ms Tamala Kambikambi. This letter which was addressed to the chairperson of the Press Freedom Committee of The Post complained against circulation of pictures of a woman in labour.

Reading the letter we immediately realised that our comrades at the Women's Lobby had become victims of Rupiah Banda's misinformation and propaganda against us. Our comrades at the Lobby had not made an effort to speak to us on this issue before writing their letter which was given extensive coverage in the state-owned and government-controlled media. We decided to exercise revolutionary patience and did not respond to their attacks.

Life has taught us to know how to wait; to know how to be patient; we never despair. Our enemies, those who have made public declarations to destroy The Post live in perpetual despair, in perpetual anguish, in perpetual lying, in the most ridiculous and infantile way.

We knew very well that our comrades at the Women's Lobby didn't know the truth about this issue. We were confident that eventually they will know the truth and when this happens their position will change. We knew that no matter how hard its adversary - falsehood - may try to overwhelm it, truth always refuses to yield.

And we are always prepared to stand by the truth even if everyone is against us. For us there is no better tactic, no better strategy than to fight with the truth, with clean hands because these are the only weapons that inspire confidence, that inspire faith, that inspire dignity. Lies are weapons that help no one, and no serious person ever needs to resort to a lie. Our weapon is reason, morality, truth, the ability to defend an idea, a position.

And because we fight with the truth, we are very quick to admit our errors, our mistakes, our wrongs and without hesitation acknowledge them and apologise. How else can we defend something that is wrong if not by accepting that we are wrong and apologise.

We also have learnt to recognise and distinguish the mistakes of our comrades from the actions of our enemies. Rupiah was not misinformed to take the position he took against us over those pictures. His was a position driven by hatred for us, by enmity against us. Rupiah has never attempted to hide his hatred for us and his desire to one day catch us wrong-footed and punish us. This was what drove Rupiah to tell the lies he told about those pictures and us.

And because we are able to distinguish the mistakes of our friends from the actions of our enemies, it is not difficult for us to forgive our comrades when they apologise for the wrong position they have taken against us. And for this reason we wholeheartedly accept the apology made by the Women's Lobby. Who are we not to forgive others when we are every day being forgiven by others? Friendship is the fruit of honesty, truth, humility and solidarity. And to guarantee friendship, all are called to maturity, tolerance and responsibility. True friendship is to seek and accept forgiveness.

We are told in the Bible: "Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one other, so that you may be healed" (Jas 5:16). We are also told in Matthew 5: 23-24 : "If you are bringing your gift to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go and be reconciled with your brother first, and then come back and present your gift."

If friendship and cooperation is to be built or established among us, the primary requisite is to eradicate the factors that make us differ, that make us attack and denounce each other, that cause dissension between or among us.

Throughout this period we have never attacked or denounced the Women's Lobby because we understood very well that the position they had taken was driven by lack of understanding resulting from Rupiah's manipulation because some of them are very close to his people and serve in various institutions or agencies that are connected to government.

Their position was different from that of NGOCC who had deliberately refused to take our explanation. When NGOCC chairperson Marian Munyinda wrote that letter attacking us, effort was made to contact her and explain to her what we did and why we did it the way we did it.

Time was also taken to explain to her the consequences of the uncomradely approach they had taken to deal with their displeasure against us and what we had done. We told her that this is not the way to deal with comrades even if they are wrong. When we failed to make her accept our position we told her that in that case there is no alternative for us but to apologise to them.

Marian and her friends, because of their treacherous intentions and designs saw in our apology a weakness, and not a strength, and decided to exploit it. Our apology to NGOCC made headline news in the state-owned and government-controlled media. And they followed this with a meeting with Rupiah.

After that meeting, Rupiah decided to go for us in the most shameless and ridiculous manner, trying to whip up public sentiments against us, trying to humiliate us as reckless, queer, morbid and sick people who indulge in pornography and other immoral behaviour.

To this day, we have not received an apology or an explanation from NGOCC and the equally treacherous changed Women for Change who have always enjoyed unlimited access to our newsroom. Probably, now that they are seeing the consequences of their treachery, tomorrow they may come to us to mend fences.

But this will not be an honest position on their part arising from a realisation that they behaved in an unfair and unjust way towards comrades. Whatever action they take will be a product of defeat and an attempt to save their faces.

We will not regard it as a genuine act of contrition after realising that they were wrong. What they did against us is not a product of not having adequate information. Their action was not a product of oversight. It was deliberate and conscious.

They were simply out, in solidarity with Rupiah, to humiliate us and diminish our influence. But they have failed and the most they can do is to realise that their senseless action will take them nowhere. Instead of humiliating us, it is them who have been humiliated. But it is not us who have humiliated them. They have simply humiliated themselves. This is what happens to people when they lose or abandon principles. This is what happens to individuals and organisations when values are lost. These treacherous and opportunistic women will live to regret their evil activities and designs against us.

Our alliance with women organisations is a strategic one. This isn't unity conceived of only on the plane of a tactic of struggle. It isn't just a happen-stance or a political alliance like those we are seeing just to win an election. It is, of course, by definition, but the tie that is established here on the ethical or moral plane concerning the plight and role of women has the nature of a lasting, permanent, strategic alliance. It is a proposition with a solid moral, political and social basis.

To us issues concerning the plight of women are not an act of charity, the result of a humanitarian or compassionate attitude. Issues concerning the plight and role of women are a fundamental necessity for the progress of our country, are the guarantee for our nation's success in all the areas of human endeavour. For us this is the context within which the question of women's role, plight and rights arises. Generally speaking, women are the most marginalised and humiliated beings in our society. This being the situation, how can this country make progress with the majority of our population in this position? How can one change things in this country without mobilising women, leaving women on the fringe of the struggle for the establishment of a more just, fair and humane society?

It is essential that we understand this phenomenon so as to avoid false and futile debates. Clearly the fight for the dignity of women demands, as a first step, a clarification of our ideas. It requires action on several essential levels. And first of all, a political line of action must be laid down. For women to make progress, to emancipate themselves, there must be cautious political commitment. And we pledge action to educate our people in the best way we can to a more correct view of women and to actively redress the injustices done to women everywhere in our country, including the church, state and family life.

Women must not be treated as mere passive participants in national development. But they must enjoy fundamental rights and freedoms befitting all human beings, both in domestic and public life.

Women are a backbone of our families and they play major roles in our economy, especially in rural areas. This being the situation, the life and health of women are of central importance to the future development of our country. Clearly, women bring special gifts to the progress of our country and if they are not treated in a fair, just and humane manner, then we will simply not have sustainable and equitable progress. This is what we believe in. And people who believe in things like this cannot be justifiably accused of the crazy things Rupiah and his treacherous women are charging us for.