Opinion / Columnist
Mugabe embodies African fighting spirit
29 Apr 2016 at 06:50hrs | Views
For many Africans at home and abroad, when President Mugabe presented not only Zimbabwe, but all of Mother Africa's case before the United Nations last Thursday concerning Sustainable Development Goals, he without question invoked the memory of three fallen yet eternally beloved warriors the Honourable Marcus Mosiah Garvey, W.E.B DuBois and Malcolm X.
The reason for zeroing in on these particular giants is because they too clearly understood the value of raising the concerns and issues of our people on the world stage with the utmost clarity and confidence.
It was exactly 88 years ago in 1928 when the Honourable Marcus Mosiah Garvey travelled to Geneva for the purpose of presenting the Petition of the Negro Race before the League of Nations, the precursor to the United Nations. This visionary initiative by Brother Garvey was followed 19 years later by Dr DuBois when he presented before the UN "An Appeal To The World: A Statement For Denial of Human Rights to minorities in the case of Negro Descent in the USA and an appeal to the UN for redress".
When Brother Malcolm was gunned down on February 21, 1965, which happens to be President Mugabe's actual day of birth, making this day bittersweet for Mother Africa's daughters and sons, it was public knowledge he was in the process of taking US imperialism before the United Nations.
What distinguishes Malcolm's effort from that of Comrade and Brother Garvey and Dr DuBois before him, is simply because he was seeking the support of the newly independent African heads of State who had UN status and recognition, clearly a luxury the two Pan African giants and immortals did not have at their disposal, because in the 1920s and 1940s our mother continent was still under settler colonial rule.
The annals of African history show that those who make the boldest demands on our behalf collectively have to anticipate an indifferent response from a select few amongst our ranks, who have embraced the neo-colonialist paradigm rooted in submission and capitulation, which results in them developing through time a pathological hatred for someone like President Mugabe, cut from that illustrious African warrior cloth.
Because UN platforms have traditionally been intellectual and diplomatic to a fault, those who make Mother Africa's neo-colonialist circles, instinctively cringe when President Mugabe walks into the enemy's backyard and let it be known that US-EU sanctions are the biggest impediment to Zimbabwe's progress not bad governance and a lack of democracy and human rights.
The hypocritical racist and liberal elements who lurk in progressive/revolutionary grass roots circles in the West cheered like drunken fans at soccer matches and rock and roll concerts, when Commandante Raul Castro articulated these same identical statements to President Obama in Cuba concerning the illegal and racist US blockade on Cuba just last month,.However, when President Mugabe condemns US-EU sanctions on Zimbabwe they pretend to be deaf like the composer Ludwig Van Beethoven.
Those Zimbabweans and Africans who are truly patriotic urge them to listen to President Mugabe when he says, "My country continues to suffer under these unwarranted sanctions. We call on those who rely on these blunt instruments of mass punishment to choose the path of friendship and cooperation rather than that of punishment and destruction."
What Zimbabweans and Africans have discovered is in this struggle to overturn the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001 vindictively imposed by the Bush administration, is that moderate voices on the world stage can neutralise subjective entities, who have conditioned themselves to blame President Mugabe and ZANU-PF for the country's misfortunes, no matter how many countless examples are revealed concerning US-EU imperialistic regime change agenda.
It is unfortunate that the reactionary element in Zimbabwe and Africa chose to ignore the fact that because President Mugabe's visits to the UN millennium have done more to shine the light on US-EU regime change plans, future generations of African heads of state who will reject all manifestations rooted in neo-colonialism will have the Zimbabwean experience to look at as a concrete example of what political direction to aggressively and courageously pursue.
We as Africans are not in a position to dismiss in this millennium US-EU imperialists' attempt to use their muscle to intimidate Zimbabwe into accepting LDC (Least Developed Country) Status which would have acknowledged bad governance, not US-EU sanctions as the root cause of economic stagnation.
This activity is directly connected to US-EU imperialism attempting block Zimbabwe from chairing the UN Committee for Sustainable Development, prevent President Mugabe from addressing the UN Food and Agriculture body on two occasions and of course their failed initiative to persuade the UN Security Council to impose additional sanctions on Zimbabwe in 2008 which was vetoed by China and Russia.
Another area of paramount importance that President Mugabe touched on was the issue of illicit financial outflows that deprive Mother Africa of an estimated $60 billion annually, which cost Zimbabwe, according to the country's Reserve Bank, $500 million.
Before President Mugabe and ZANU-PF's most hateful and bitter detractors opportunistically attempt to feast on this development, perhaps they should study the analysis of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and their High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows, who have concluded this problem stifles trade and worsens macroeconomic transition and undermines the rule of law.
The High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows includes former South African President Thabo Mbeki, Ambassador Olusegun Apata, Chairman of the Coca Cola bottler in Nigeria, Barrister Akere Muna President of the AU's Economic Social and Cultural Council and Mr. Abdoulaye Bio Tchane, former Director of the Africa Department at the International Monetary Fund.
This body published a report in 2014 titled "Tracking Africa's Stolen Billions". What was highlighted was the World Bank's stolen asset recovery programme which reported that in Africa there was $1,4 billion in suspected corrupt assets frozen in OECD countries in 2010 and 2012 and only $150 million were returned. What was also mentioned was $700 million in assets siphoned out of Nigeria to Switzerland by the Abacha administration.
The decision by President Mugabe to infuse this question of illicit financial flows into his remarks on the world stage went over the head intellectually of his opposition inside Zimbabwe. But it is safe to say it caught the attention of US-EU imperialism who recognised this as Zimbabwe laying down the gauntlet concerning accusations of corruption in Zimbabwe made by our former colonial and slave masters on a regular basis.
When US Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Ms Linda Thomas Greenfield met with Comrade Mbeki and other members of this panel back in 2014 and said, "The US and African continent had a shared responsibility to curb illicit financial flows and illegal activities which impact negatively on development in Africa". These words from the mouthpiece of the US State Department on African Affairs is the equivalent of devil worshippers condemning the actions of Satan.
Those in Zimbabwe and Africa who choose to ignore this development perhaps also use social media outlets to bring attention to the massive crop failure in Zimbabwe, but pointed out that this was because the revolutionary and historic land reclamation programme was the cause and not drought that compromised 14 million people in the SADC region (1,9 million in Madagascar, 2,8 million in Malawi and 1,5 million in Zimbabwe).
This is why President Mugabe and ZANU-PF remain not only resilient, but impervious to US-EU rhetoric and critiques, those whose mere purpose in life is seeking their validation and approval should sit back and learn from this example.
Obi Egbuna Jr is the Us Correspondent to The Herald and the External Relations Officer to ZICUFA(Zimbabwe-Cuba Friendship Association). His email is obiegbuna15@gmail.com
The reason for zeroing in on these particular giants is because they too clearly understood the value of raising the concerns and issues of our people on the world stage with the utmost clarity and confidence.
It was exactly 88 years ago in 1928 when the Honourable Marcus Mosiah Garvey travelled to Geneva for the purpose of presenting the Petition of the Negro Race before the League of Nations, the precursor to the United Nations. This visionary initiative by Brother Garvey was followed 19 years later by Dr DuBois when he presented before the UN "An Appeal To The World: A Statement For Denial of Human Rights to minorities in the case of Negro Descent in the USA and an appeal to the UN for redress".
When Brother Malcolm was gunned down on February 21, 1965, which happens to be President Mugabe's actual day of birth, making this day bittersweet for Mother Africa's daughters and sons, it was public knowledge he was in the process of taking US imperialism before the United Nations.
What distinguishes Malcolm's effort from that of Comrade and Brother Garvey and Dr DuBois before him, is simply because he was seeking the support of the newly independent African heads of State who had UN status and recognition, clearly a luxury the two Pan African giants and immortals did not have at their disposal, because in the 1920s and 1940s our mother continent was still under settler colonial rule.
The annals of African history show that those who make the boldest demands on our behalf collectively have to anticipate an indifferent response from a select few amongst our ranks, who have embraced the neo-colonialist paradigm rooted in submission and capitulation, which results in them developing through time a pathological hatred for someone like President Mugabe, cut from that illustrious African warrior cloth.
Because UN platforms have traditionally been intellectual and diplomatic to a fault, those who make Mother Africa's neo-colonialist circles, instinctively cringe when President Mugabe walks into the enemy's backyard and let it be known that US-EU sanctions are the biggest impediment to Zimbabwe's progress not bad governance and a lack of democracy and human rights.
The hypocritical racist and liberal elements who lurk in progressive/revolutionary grass roots circles in the West cheered like drunken fans at soccer matches and rock and roll concerts, when Commandante Raul Castro articulated these same identical statements to President Obama in Cuba concerning the illegal and racist US blockade on Cuba just last month,.However, when President Mugabe condemns US-EU sanctions on Zimbabwe they pretend to be deaf like the composer Ludwig Van Beethoven.
Those Zimbabweans and Africans who are truly patriotic urge them to listen to President Mugabe when he says, "My country continues to suffer under these unwarranted sanctions. We call on those who rely on these blunt instruments of mass punishment to choose the path of friendship and cooperation rather than that of punishment and destruction."
What Zimbabweans and Africans have discovered is in this struggle to overturn the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001 vindictively imposed by the Bush administration, is that moderate voices on the world stage can neutralise subjective entities, who have conditioned themselves to blame President Mugabe and ZANU-PF for the country's misfortunes, no matter how many countless examples are revealed concerning US-EU imperialistic regime change agenda.
It is unfortunate that the reactionary element in Zimbabwe and Africa chose to ignore the fact that because President Mugabe's visits to the UN millennium have done more to shine the light on US-EU regime change plans, future generations of African heads of state who will reject all manifestations rooted in neo-colonialism will have the Zimbabwean experience to look at as a concrete example of what political direction to aggressively and courageously pursue.
We as Africans are not in a position to dismiss in this millennium US-EU imperialists' attempt to use their muscle to intimidate Zimbabwe into accepting LDC (Least Developed Country) Status which would have acknowledged bad governance, not US-EU sanctions as the root cause of economic stagnation.
This activity is directly connected to US-EU imperialism attempting block Zimbabwe from chairing the UN Committee for Sustainable Development, prevent President Mugabe from addressing the UN Food and Agriculture body on two occasions and of course their failed initiative to persuade the UN Security Council to impose additional sanctions on Zimbabwe in 2008 which was vetoed by China and Russia.
Another area of paramount importance that President Mugabe touched on was the issue of illicit financial outflows that deprive Mother Africa of an estimated $60 billion annually, which cost Zimbabwe, according to the country's Reserve Bank, $500 million.
Before President Mugabe and ZANU-PF's most hateful and bitter detractors opportunistically attempt to feast on this development, perhaps they should study the analysis of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and their High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows, who have concluded this problem stifles trade and worsens macroeconomic transition and undermines the rule of law.
The High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows includes former South African President Thabo Mbeki, Ambassador Olusegun Apata, Chairman of the Coca Cola bottler in Nigeria, Barrister Akere Muna President of the AU's Economic Social and Cultural Council and Mr. Abdoulaye Bio Tchane, former Director of the Africa Department at the International Monetary Fund.
This body published a report in 2014 titled "Tracking Africa's Stolen Billions". What was highlighted was the World Bank's stolen asset recovery programme which reported that in Africa there was $1,4 billion in suspected corrupt assets frozen in OECD countries in 2010 and 2012 and only $150 million were returned. What was also mentioned was $700 million in assets siphoned out of Nigeria to Switzerland by the Abacha administration.
The decision by President Mugabe to infuse this question of illicit financial flows into his remarks on the world stage went over the head intellectually of his opposition inside Zimbabwe. But it is safe to say it caught the attention of US-EU imperialism who recognised this as Zimbabwe laying down the gauntlet concerning accusations of corruption in Zimbabwe made by our former colonial and slave masters on a regular basis.
When US Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Ms Linda Thomas Greenfield met with Comrade Mbeki and other members of this panel back in 2014 and said, "The US and African continent had a shared responsibility to curb illicit financial flows and illegal activities which impact negatively on development in Africa". These words from the mouthpiece of the US State Department on African Affairs is the equivalent of devil worshippers condemning the actions of Satan.
Those in Zimbabwe and Africa who choose to ignore this development perhaps also use social media outlets to bring attention to the massive crop failure in Zimbabwe, but pointed out that this was because the revolutionary and historic land reclamation programme was the cause and not drought that compromised 14 million people in the SADC region (1,9 million in Madagascar, 2,8 million in Malawi and 1,5 million in Zimbabwe).
This is why President Mugabe and ZANU-PF remain not only resilient, but impervious to US-EU rhetoric and critiques, those whose mere purpose in life is seeking their validation and approval should sit back and learn from this example.
Obi Egbuna Jr is the Us Correspondent to The Herald and the External Relations Officer to ZICUFA(Zimbabwe-Cuba Friendship Association). His email is obiegbuna15@gmail.com
Source - the herald
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