Maravi

This is a just struggle

This is a just struggle
By The Post
Wed 09 June 2010, 09:50 CAT

What is going on in our country today reminds us of what Edmund Burke once said in reference to the coming together of bad men. Burke said “when bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle”.

Those that thought they would break us by sending us to jail did themselves a disservice. Yes, no one likes to be locked up in prison. But there is no such thing as bad experience. Every experience has some use and can be turned into something good. If not, at least a good lesson can be derived from it.

It was good to observe that in the midst of much suffering and discomfort, the people in prison still try to look after each other. There is a sense of decency about the way they deal with each other. It was gratifying to see how prepared they were to share the little that they had.

In this place which is supposed to be the cupboard where the undesirable elements of society are kept, there is humanity. Those who are sick are looked after by other inmates. The atmosphere is definitely different from what we experienced some 15 years ago when attempts were made to crush us in the same way that Rupiah Banda and his minions are trying to crush us today.

We noticed that the prison authorities seem to have done a lot to change the way that the inmates relate to one another. It is however sad to realise that prisons are still perpetually underfunded, forcing the prison authorities to make do with very little. The living conditions are not the best in the world but it was good to observe human beings living in the most difficult circumstances trying hard to maintain their humanness.

This experience was rewarding because it brings into sharp focus the reason why we have to wage the struggles that we wage. It is not for ourselves; there are many people whose very lives depend on others being able to stand for what is right, what is noble, what is good. We cannot allow Zambia to be condemned to be a kleptocracy run by habitual thieves – kleptomaniacs.

A life of struggle can be a very lonely life. It is not always that we find comrades to fight alongside us and champion the causes that we feel passionately about. The world of writing by its nature tends to draw us away from excessive social interaction; we miss out on the small things of life.

Being in prison brought us into contact with other human beings that we would never have otherwise met. We listened to their joys and also learnt about their sorrows.

It was also gratifying to see that although we may sometimes feel lonely in the struggle, we are not alone. There are many people who feel exactly as we do and are ready to make the same sacrifices that we make. We enjoyed solidarity and support of many women and men of goodwill who came to keep our spirits high and remind us that our sacrifices are not in vain.

It is probably here, that those who tried to crush us made their biggest mistake. They gave us a chance to connect with many of our people who came to visit us and speak to us about their frustrations with things as they stand today, but also their hopes for what things could be if only we could continue the struggle and not give up. There is no chance that we could ever give up on the life that we have chosen and the struggle that we wage. But hearing others cheer us on and encourage us to continue gives us renewed vigour and strength to keep going.

This is what sending us to prison did. It recharged our batteries. And as the saying goes, let the games begin. Yes, we shall continue to fight those that want to abuse our people, steal from them and oppress them. We have no fear for anyone. This is not because we are reckless or do not value our lives. But it is because we know that giving in to fear is giving up on our people. We cannot give up on our people.

It was good to see Dr Kenneth Kaunda when he came to visit us the other day. Comrade KK was sent to jail for no reason by Frederick Chiluba. He has suffered more than we could ever claim. Today, comrade KK’s legacy is being minimised by Rupiah who has found so much to praise about Chiluba’s leadership qualities and does not have the same accolades for KK, the man who made Rupiah.

Comrade KK is a better man than both Chiluba and Rupiah put together. Comrade KK proved that he could be more tolerant than Chiluba and Rupiah could ever be. Comrade KK was a president just like Rupiah is today. We criticised him heavily but he never treated the media the way Rupiah is treating us today. It seems comrade KK realised the true value of a free media.

His good political instincts seem to have told him that a free media is useful to a government that wishes to remain in contact with the aspirations and expectations of its people. Indeed when we look back, it seems that the state media was freer in comrade KK’s one party state than it is in Rupiah’s pretended multiparty democratic state. Rupiah and his minions would like us to be part of their band of praise singers and sycophants. This can never be.

There are many others who came to see us. We know that not everybody agrees with us or should agree with us. But in coming to see us, our people were saying no to injustice, no to unfairness. Everybody wants a better Zambia.

Rupiah and his minions are uncomfortable with this newspaper because it dares to stand for what is true and expose them regardless of the price that it stands to pay. They call us names and accuse us of all sorts of things. But this does not bother us because we are not in this struggle to be praised by people like Rupiah or liked by crooks.

Yes, many of the people who want to destroy us are not fighting us because of any lofty principles. They are fighting us to defend what they consider to be their right to abuse our people and steal their resources. This is what it is about. They do not like it when we expose their corruption and fight their political patronage. But this will not stop us.

It was wartime British prime minister Winston Churchill who said, when faced with a rampaging Nazi German army, that “even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous states have fallen or may fall into…the audience apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end…we shall fight on the seas, oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and strength, we shall defend our land”.

We have no illusions about how determined those who seek to crush us are. But we shall fight them with increasing confidence and defend the dignity of our people. This is our calling, this is our contribution.

We are grateful to all those who found it in themselves to show us solidarity and encourage us when those who have always wanted to crush us thought they had won because we were sent to prison.

They may have imprisoned our bodies for a few days but they did not imprison our ideas and our dedication to fighting for a more just, a more fair and a more humane Zambia where those who lead do so for the benefit of all the 12 million, not just their stomachs and those of their children.

The association of our people continues to give us strength and in the words of Burke, we are comforted that we are not engaged in “an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle”. This is a just struggle.

Labels: FRED M'MEMBE, PRISONS, THE POST

posted by MrK @ 2:44 PM