(G/L this is an article I wrote for  a newspaper,want to share it with you
too)

        Zimbabwe After The Elections


U.S. President George W. Bush, who came to power not through the ballot box
but through a Supreme Court
  decision, was among the first Western leaders to condemn the recent
Zimbabwean elections. The reaction of
  the British Prime Minister was not unexpected either. One begins to wonder
if it is accidental that the
  democratic rights of Zimbabweans are of more importance to Western leaders
than that of other Africans.

  One wonders why the people of Madagascar are taking to the streets to regain
their stolen election victory
  while the West stands by and looks on. The people of the Ivory Coast fought
and won back their stolen
  election, resulting in much destruction of property and loss of life,
without the West reacting at all—other than
  to claim that the political victory of the Ivorians was undemocratic.

  And even after the U.S. State Department criticized the recent parliamentary
elections in Gambia, it failed to
  react to the situation. Within a short period it announced a normalization
of relations between the two
  countries.

  Many other elections on the African continent are criticized for not being
free and fair—like Kenya's—without
  these countries suffering from talk of western-imposed sanctions. Western
leaders are practicing a double
  standard. It appears that their interests in Zimbabwe are the motivating
factor for all this political noise, and
  not the interests of ordinary Zimbabweans.

  Mugabe himself will not suffer from any sanctions imposed on the country.
Had he cared much about the
  suffering of the Zimbabwean people, the history of the country for the past
weeks and days would have been
  written in another way.

  Mugabe often says that the British Prime Minister suffers from a “colonial
hangover." One could say that he
  made the best use of this colonial hangover, not only by bringing up the
land issue so late in his rule but by
  making use of anti-colonialist rhetoric.

  REACTIONS OF AFRICAN RULERS

  The Zimbabwean elections pose a real problem for the South African
government. This is not only because, as
  many note, South Africa is striving to bercome a superpower in African
political and economic life. The South
  African agenda is much more complicated than that. South Africa has not
solved its own land problem, which
  was the backbone of the struggle against the apartheid regime. There is no
doubt that the Zimbabwean land
  crisis is being closely followed by black South Africans. Sooner or later
the South African government will
  have to react to the pressures building up on this issue.

  Arab Moi, the President of Kenya, has always insisted that Western
imperialism manipulates the opposition
  against his corrupt and brutal government. By no accident he was one of the
first to congratulate Mugabe for
  his election victory. Whether Nigeria's half-hearted support for Mugabe is
part of manipulating its relationship
  with both the West and Zimbabwe, or a line of confrontation with South
Africa in its drive to assume the
  leading position in African political and economic affairs, will beome clear
sooner rather than later.

  One thing is certain—both South Africa and Nigeria have the economic
potential to stand up to Western
  pressure. Nigeria is a significant trade partner of the U.S.; almost 36% of
its export trade is with the U.S.,
  mainly in oil, which accounts for 40% of its GDP. Nigeria and South Africa
provide the West with a huge
  market, playing a significant role in the trade growth of the U.S. and the
West. At the same time, South Africa
  and Nigeria are growing industrial nations that look to the African
continent as a potential market. Hence the
  importance, in their eyes, of having political influence in it.

  If Nigeria or South Africa try to stand up to Western pressure in favor of
Zimbabwe, they will do so both for
  domestic consumption and their broader continental interests. The position
of these two countries on the
  Zimbabwean crisis will have great impact on how the continent confronts the
issue.

  COMPROMISED OPPOSITION IN ZIMBABWE

  The opposition MDC failed to pose a tangible opposition to the Mugabe's ZANU
party. It seems to have shied
  away from the land issue and never took it as a serious problem for ordinary
Zimbabweans. Most
  Zimbabweans live in rural areas. Solving the land issue is seen by many of
them as a way forward in dealing
  with the country's crushing poverty.

  They have a right to believe this, since those who took the land from them
remain the most prosperous people
  in the country. This has endured for decades. The ordinary Zimbabweans are
the laborers on these farms, the
  nannies and housekeepers for their owners, who though a minority remain the
country's dominant economic
  force.

  The MDC seems to have been more interested in addressing issues of concern
to the white minority. These
  are without doubt serious concerns and no Zimbabwean will deny this. The
long queues for a litre of petrol; the
  hunger; and the widespread corruption is a daily fact of life that
Zimbabweans have been experiencing for
  many years. But the reason the MDC has not become the favorite of the most
deprived is that it has not linked
  the land issue to the poverty situation and political oppression.

  That Mugabe tried to make use of the masses' anger with the colonial/white
minority rule of the past should
  not have prevented the MDC from defending the interests of the most
deprived. Yet it could be expected to do
  so since it seems to represent the interests of the middle class, who are
worried more about political than
  economic matters. That is to say, even if the elections were free and fair,
the MDC might not necessarily have
  emerged victorious.

  The white minority support for the MDC and the involvement of past colonial
masters in the elections was a
  heaven-sent blessing for the dictator Mugabe. He made a calculated move by
having MDC members arrested,
  detained, and charged on the eve of the elections, on the grounds that they
were collaborating with the former
  colonial rulers. The failure of the MDC to provide a historical perspective
to explain the suffering of the
  Zimbabwean people may be the reason why we did not experience another Ivory
Coast or Madagascar after the
  election results were announced.

  Things are not going to get better for ordinary Zimbabweans, who have
suffered a great deal even without
  sanctions. The election results might do no more than force Mugabe to use
his powers to solve the land issue in a way
  that might not be in the interests of the legal owners of the land.

  Redistributing the land to its rightful owners and turning them into private
farms might be a shortcut to solving
  the economic problems facing Zimbabweans. Zimbabwe still would need new
capital, which Mugabe does not
  have. The appetite of the corrupt bureaucracy might not survive sanctions,
especially if Mugabe decides to
  interfere with its criminal activities. Even if he decides to do so, he will
act with the full knowledge that his
  power will be undermined.

  The elections and its results present a new objective situation to
Zimbabweans. It only confirms a suspicion
  long held by many Africans,that Imperialism is still alive.

For Freedom

Saiks

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