Thanx for sharing Kabir. I associate myself wholly with Tajudeen's notes. It
is perhaps time begin deliberating on the life of Zimbabwe in earnest. As I
have intimated several years ago, that should begin by burning the Lancaster
agreement at the square in Bulawayo in the presence of ZANU-PF and the
opposition parties of Zimbabwe, and adoption of a resolution that it is buried for
good. A mutually acceptable Zimbabwe Land Reform Authority ought to be
negotiated and adopted to be implemented after the SADC facilitated elections in
'08.
What the west has enabled, albeit insiduous, is the outpouring of sympathy
for Mugabe, which in turn emboldened him to yield to considerations that may
have been elusive for him prior. It is evident therefore, that the people of
Zimbabwe, be they opposition or independent citizens, are not the enemies of
Mugabe. And the true enemies of Mugabe, real or perceived, have enabled his
core wisdom to come to the fore. Such is the effect of the sublime.
I encourage all well-wishers of Zimbabwe to bear responsibly on Mugabe and
the opposition, and strengthen the hand of SADC.
Haroun Masoud. MQDT. Darbo.
In a message dated 9/27/2007 3:27:37 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
Pan-African Postcard Brown is wrong on Zimbabwe - but that does not make
Mugabe right
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/panafrican/43515
Tajudeen Abdul Raheem (2007-09-27)
Tajudeen Abdul Raheem argues that Western posturing against Zimbabwe,
particularly in the case of the British, stokes the cause of the Mugabe
apologists. Instead, he argues, solidarity should be with the ordinary
people of Zimbabwe, who should not be distracted from demanding their
government be held accountable to them.
There are very few African political activists who have been publicly
consistent in their criticisms of
President Mugabe and ZANU-PF of Zimbabwe. I am one of them. But we are not
very many. That is not because Africans do not care about what is happening
in Zimbabwe; but because the external dimension: regime-change agenda
induced from UK and US, and internal racial dynamics of the struggle have
both combined to work in Mugabe's favour.
My position is made more difficult by the fact that I was until early last
year Secretary-General of the Pan African Movement. Mugabe is indeed one of
the most respected and admired leaders in the Pan African Movement, so how
can I be criticising one of our icons?
Readers who routinely sent me text or email messages: 'well said'; 'aluta
continua comrade'; 'give it to them man', etc, have been outraged by my
stand on Zimbabwe and Mugabe. One close comrade, a well respected academic
lawyer, wrote to me stating categorically that I should add a disclaimer at
the end of my columns. He suggested: 'the views expressed are my personal
views not necessarily the view of the Global Pan African Movement'. Both
legally and politically, he is correct. But I was puzzled that he never felt
it necessary to give me this legal advice until Mugabe became an issue!
One of my critics, a veteran of black struggles in the diaspora, even went
as far as to suggest that my columns are syndicatedly written by the MI5 and
CIA! My response to such lurid accusations is that if the CIA and MI5 could
recruit me without my knowledge, then we must give them credit for good
judgement!
More seriously, I have not been surprised by the hostile reactions.
President Mugabe evokes extremes of passions, with no one being neutral. He
is regarded by many Africans and pan-Africanists as the Liberator, the icon
of anti–imperialism, the bold and courageous African leader who is able to
look at imperialists in the face and say: 'to hell with you'.
In a historical period when Western arrogance and US hegemonic unilateralism
are making many people angry, eliciting powerlessness and hopelessness, many
are willing to embrace anyone who dares stand up against the West,
especially the US. The same sentiments that drew many to admire Saddam
Hussein, as an agent of the US for many years, regardless of his atrocities
against his own people; or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran today in his
vitriolic attacks on the US, or Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. Many who are
unsympathetic to socialism nonetheless admire Castro and Cubans for standing
against the US and for having defied it for almost five decades, less than
100km from the coast of Florida! These are seen as leaders who refuse to
bend to the wishes of Washington. Even other leaders, especially from the
poorer countries of the world, are silently applauding them.
In the case of Mugabe, legitimacy is also derived from a genuine liberation
struggle that many regarded as being ambushed by a 'Lancaster House
compromise'. Therefore, they see Mugabe as returning to the unfinished
agenda, differing from the negotiated settlement that led to independence in
1980. Many are stuck in 1980 and Chimurenga, and fail to judge Mugabe and
ZANU PF for almost three decades of monopoly power in the country.
When this is pointed out, a lot of apologetics say that Lancaster House
prevented any radical solution. But Lancaster was for only 10 years. Why
then did Mugabe not restart the Chimurenga in 1990, instead of being forced
to do so in the late 1990s by the veterans? But seeking answers to these
questions are like arguing with Jehovah' witnesses!
What also strengthens the pro-Mugabe lobby is the evident hypocrisy of the
West in dealing with the
Zimbabwe. Why is Mugabe singled out? Where were they in the mid-1980s when
Matabeleland was wasting in ZANU's drive for a one-party state? Would they
be making so much noise had Mugabe not attacked and repossessed land from
white settlers, whose ancestors - with British imperial force - had grabbed
the lands from black people? Is Mugabe being punished as a warning to the
ANC in neighbouring South Africa: not to even dare to address the grotesque
land inequality in that country?
It is the historic wrong against blacks in Zimbabwe that makes many Africans
generally sympathetic to Mugabe, even if they will disagree with some of the
methods. The pressures from the West, which is silent about similar or worse
excesses of human rights, government authoritarianism and dictatorial
leadership by other African leaders, but chose to make Mugabe a scapegoat,
work for Mugabe apologists.
That is why the current debate sparked by Britain's Gordon Brown on the
forthcoming Africa-EU dialogue scheduled for Portugal later this year can
only make Mugabe's position more formidable. Britain is the least qualified
country to grandstand anyone on Zimbabwe. Brown can not be threatening the
rest of Europe with boycott because of one man and one country. If the
dialogue is indeed between Africa and Europe, why should one side be laying
down the terms?
Why do European leaders think they are the only ones with a public to
respond to? African leaders must not accept this. If they do, they will
prove to their people that they are spineless poodles of imperialism, whose
only question, when asked to jump by the West, is not why, but how high?
However, rejecting the arrogance and hypocrisies of European leaders should
not mean that we should endorse the excesses of President Mugabe's prolonged
one-man-rule. Political and ideological suspicions of the opposition do not
justify the attacks on them. In any case, our solidarity should be with the
people of Zimbabwe, who may be ZANU loyalists, MDC supporters or neither. As
citizens, they deserve to demand that their government be held accountable
to them.
A disproportionate focus on the West's agenda is making us compromise in our
duty to express this
solidarity much more boldly.
Tajudeen Abdul Raheem is the Deputy Director for the UN Millennium Campaign
in Africa, based in Nairobi, Kenya. He writes this article in a personal
capacity as a concerned pan-Africanist.
ISSN 1753-6839 (c) 2007 Fahamu <http://www.fahamu.org/>
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