>From: "fatou" <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]>, <[log in to unmask]>
>To: "network africa" <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: VB: Mugabe is Right, Whites Must Give Up the Land
>Date: Wed, 3 May 2000 16:44:38 -0000
>
>Network Africa - Sweden (NAS)
>
>
>
>
> >
> > > http://www.nationaudio.com/News/EastAfrican/Current/Opinion/
> > >
> > > The East African
> > >
> > > Monday, April 24, 2000
> > >
> > > Opinion
> > >
> > > Mugabe is Right, Whites Must Give Up the Land
> > >
> > > By Koigi Wamwere
> > >
> > > Today, Europeans own almost all the land in the Americas,
> > > almost all the good land in Australia, New Zealand and
> > > Tasmania and most of the best land in many African countries
> > > like South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya. To acquire this land
> > > outside Europe, Europeans did not use law, justice or money.
> > >
> > > They took it with the gun.
> > >
> > > But the West does not want Africans to mention either this
> > > fact or the fact that white people are wrong in wanting to
> > > own all the land and everything else in Africa.
> > >
> > > And the West is the champion of free speech in the world!
> > >
> > > When Africans in Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe and elsewhere
> > > fought for their independence, it meant two things to them -
> > > land and freedom. But when Europe conceded independence to
> > > African countries in London and Paris, it was self-rule
> > > without land and freedom.
> > >
> > > And so most Africans continue to be landless while Europeans
> > > continue to own millions and millions of hectares of the
> > > best land in Africa.
> > >
> > > In Kenya, 10 per cent of the population, both black and
> > > white farmers, owns 73 per cent of all arable land. In South
> > > Africa, 16 per cent of the population, made up of whites,
> > > owns 87 per cent of all arable land. And in Zimbabwe, 4,500
> > > white farmers - or a mere .03 per cent of a population of 13
> > > million Africans - own 12 million hectares or 73 per cent of
> > > all arable land.
> > >
> > > The African majority in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya
> > > live under this situation not because they like it or
> > > because it is right, moral, fair or just, but only because
> > > they are powerless to change it.
> > >
> > > There can be no greater proof of lack of independence for,
> > > say, Zimbabwe, than this situation where a mere .03 per cent
> > > is allowed to own 73 per cent of all arable land, totally
> > > control the nation's agriculture and own half the country's
> > > economy.
> > >
> > > Mugabe is a great freedom fighter who fought for the
> > > independence of his country but at the behest of the West
> > > turned his back on socialism and stayed too long in power.
> > > At last, Mugabe has realised that he too is a victim of
> > > neo-colonialism and has decided not just to say "no" to the
> > > West but to redistribute land in his own country.
> > >
> > > Whatever Mugabe's past mistakes, we must agree that on this
> > > one question of finally redistributing African land to
> > > African people, he is 100 per cent right. Mugabe's only
> > > fault is that he took too long to do it. But now that he is
> > > finally doing it, all people who believe in fairness and
> > > justice must support him.
> > >
> > > From what one hears from CNN, BBC and other Western news
> > > media, the West stands as one against Mugabe. They accuse
> > > him of violating the spirit of reconciliation and
> > > perpetrating racism against white people in Zimbabwe. Rather
> > > than prove anything against Mugabe, the West's accusations
> > > only prove how little it thinks of Africans' right to own
> > > anything or have meaningful independence.
> > >
> > > Could one even imagine a situation in which 4,500 Zimbabwean
> > > Africans were allowed to own 12 million hectares of land in
> > > Britain, France or any other country in Europe?
> > >
> > > The West also accuses Mugabe of violating the spirit of
> > > reconciliation between white colonisers and black colonised
> > > that was agreed upon at the time of independence. But did
> > > this reconciliation mean that colonisers would continue to
> > > own everything they had grabbed before independence and that
> > > the Africans who had been robbed of everything would
> > > continue to own nothing?
> > >
> > > Finally, the very West that is restoring all the money,
> > > properties and works of art that it stole from the Jewish
> > > people and paying reparations for all the slave labour
> > > Jewish people did during the Second World War, is asking
> > > that colonial white farmers be paid compensation by
> > > Africans.
> > >
> > > The British government admits that at the time of
> > > independence it made a promise which it never kept, to
> > > provide the money necessary to buy out the white farmers.
> > > Now it claims that the reason for its failure to keep its
> > > own promise is Mugabe's mismanagement of Zimbabwean economy.
> > > But the real reason is the British desire that the
> > > Zimbabwean and African economies be controlled by British
> > > companies and British citizens. What then must Africans do?
> > > Starve to death until the British agree to keep their
> > > promises?
> > >
> > > I am truly surprised at the clamour that I hear for British
> > > farmers to be compensated for any loss of land in Zimbabwe.
> > > Between Africans who have been working for starvation wages
> > > on white farms and white farmers who have made millions of
> > > pounds out of their colonial ownership of land in Zimbabwe,
> > > it is the white farmers who should compensate Africans.
> > >
> > > Africans are entitled to recover their stolen lands from
> > > white farmers. And the West has a moral duty to pay not just
> > > compensation to white farmers who will lose land but to pay
> > > reparations to Africans now for all the millions of people
> > > they killed and kidnapped from Africa during the slave
> > > trade. What is good for the Jewish goose is good for the
> > > African gander.
> > >
> > > Rule of law must mean rule of just law.
> > >
> > > Sooner or later, colonial wrongs must be corrected all over
> > > Africa. And they will not be corrected by substituting white
> > > robbers with black robbers. Colonial injustice will be
> > > corrected by giving land and freedom not only to Africans in
> > > power and government, but to all the people to whom God gave
> > > land.
> > >
> > > Whether leaders like Moi like it or not, today it is
> > > Zimbabwe, tomorrow it will be Kenya, the day after it will
> > > be South Africa and after that it will be the entire
> > > continent. The river of freedom and justice is unstoppable.
> > >
> > > If white and black people of Africa are to live peacefully
> > > in future, the West must stop imposing white people as
> > > saviours of black people using arguments that in effect
> > > paint white citizens of Africa as either more able
> > > technically or less corrupt morally.
> > >
> > > Going by the opposition from the West, Mugabe may not
> > > survive this war against neo-colonialism. But he is right
> > > and he is bearing the standard for all Africans. Should he
> > > fall, other Africans must take up the mantle and fight on to
> > > victory.
> > >
> > >
> > > *Koigi Wamwere, a Kenyan political activist and former
> > > presidential candidate, now lives in Norway.
> > >
> > > Copyright (c) 2000 The East African.
> > >
> > >
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