APRIL 2007

TALKING ABOUT ZIMBABWE

mugabe gets the milosevic treatment

By STEPHEN GOWANS

Arthur Mutambara, the leader of one faction of Zimbabwe's main opposition party, the MDC, and one of the principals in the Save Zimbabwe Campaign that's at the centre of a storm of controversy over the Mugabe government's crackdown on opposition, boasted a year ago that he was "going to remove Robert Mugabe, I promise you, with every tool at my disposal." (1)

Educated at Oxford, the former management consultant with McKinsey & Co. was asked in early 2006 whether "his plans might include a Ukrainian-style mass mobilization of opponents of Mugabe's regime." (2)

"We're going to use every tool we can get to dislodge this regime," he replied. "We're not going to rule out or in anything the sky's the limit." (3)

Last year Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of an opposing MDC faction, and eight of his colleagues, were thrown out of Zambia after attending a meeting arranged by the US ambassador to Zimbabwe, Christopher Dell, with representatives of Freedom House, a US ruling class organization that promotes regime change in countries that aren't sufficiently committed to free markets, free trade and free enterprise. (4)

Funded by the billionaire speculator George Soros, USAID, the US State Department and the US Congress's National Endowment for Democracy (whose mission has been summed up as doing overtly what the CIA used to do covertly), Freedom House champions the rights of journalists, union leaders and democracy activists to organize openly to bring down governments whose economic policies are against the profit-making interests of US bankers, investors and corporations.

Headed by Wall St. investment banker Peter Ackerman, who produced a 2002 documentary, Bringing Down a Dictator, a follow-up to A Force More Powerful, which celebrates the ouster of Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, Freedom House features a rogues' gallery of US ruling class activists on its board of directors: Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Otto Reich, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Zbigniew Brzezinski and Steve Forbes, among others.

The campaign to replace Mugabe with the neo-liberal standard bearers of the MDC is rotten with connections to the overthrow of Milosevic. Dell, the US ambassador, prides himself on being one of the architects of Milosevic's ouster. (5) He held a senior diplomatic post in Kosovo when Milosevic was driven out of office in a US-UK engineered uprising.

Dell's mission, it would seem, is to be as provocative as possible, sparing no effort to tarnish the image of the Mugabe government. In early November 2005, Dell declared that "neither drought nor sanctions are at the root of Zimbabwe's decline," an implausible conclusion given that drought has impaired economic performance in neighboring countries, and that sanctions bar Zimbabwe from access to economic and humanitarian aid, while disrupting trade and investment. "The Zimbabwe government's own gross mismanagement of the economy and its corrupt rule has brought on the crisis," Dell charged. (6)

When not disparaging Mugabe's government, Dell can be counted on to be doling out largesse to the opposition (US$1 million, according to one source, to get the Save Zimbabwe Campaign off the ground earlier this year. (7))

Responding to Dell's call for the opposition to unite, Mutambara has declared his new unity of purpose with MDC opponent, Tsvangirai. "Our core business," he announced, after violent clashes with the police earlier this month, "is to drive Mugabe out of town. There is no going back. We are working together against Robert Mugabe and his surrogates." (8)

While Mutambara is certainly working with Tsvangirai to drive Mugabe out of town, what he doesn't explain is what he wants to replace Mugabe with. The opposition, and the powerful Western governments that back it, make it seem as if they're offended by Mugabe's qualities as a leader, not his policies, and that their aim is to restore good governance, not to impose their own program on Zimbabwe.

We should be clear about what the MDC is and what its policies are. While the word "democratic" in the opposition's Movement for Democratic Change moniker evokes pleasant feelings, the party's policies are rooted in the neo-liberal ideology of the Western ruling class. That is, the party's policies are hardly democratic.

The MDC favors economic "liberalization", privatization and a return to the glacial-paced willing buyer/willing seller land-redistribution regimen a status quo ante-friendly policy that would limit the state's ability to redistribute land to only tracts purchased from white farmers who are willing to sell.

Compare that to the Zanu-PF government's direction. Mugabe's government is hardly socialist, but it has implemented social democratic policies that elevate the public interest at least a few notches above the basement level position it occupies under the neo-liberal tyranny favored by the MDC. A Mutambara or Tsvangirai government would jettison policies that demand something from foreign investors in return for doing business in Zimbabwe. Foreign banks, for example, are required to invest 40 percent of their profits in Zimbabwe government bonds. (9) What's more, the MDC leaders would almost certainly end the Mugabe government's policy of favoring foreign investors who partner with local investors to promote indigenous economic development. And Zimbabwe's state-owned enterprises would be sold off to the highest bidder.

Moreover, the land redistribution program would be effectively shelved, delaying indefinitely the achievement of one of the principal goals of Zimbabwe's national liberation struggle reversing the plunder of the indigenous population's land by white settlers. Mugabe, it is sometimes grudgingly admitted in the Western press, is a hero in rural parts of southern Africa for his role in spearheading land reform, something other south African governments have lacked the courage to pursue vigorously. South African president Thabo Mbeki's reluctance to join in the collective excoriation of Mugabe is often attributed to "respect for Mr. Mugabe as a revolutionary hero (he led the fight that ended white rule in Zimbabwe in 1980, and was a key opponent of apartheid) and because the issue of white ownership of land in South African is also sensitive." (10)

Contrast respect for Mugabe with the thin layer of support the US-backed Save Zimbabwe Campaign has been able to muster. It "does not yet have widespread grassroots support," (11) but it does have the overwhelming backing of the US, the UK, the Western media and US ruling class regime change organizations, like Freedom House. Is it any surprise that Zanu-PF regards the controversy swirling around its crackdown on the opposition's latest provocation as an attempt by an oppressor to return to power by proxy through the MDC?

Stephen Gowans is a writer and political activist who lives in Ottawa, Canada. He can be reached at: sr.gowans@sympatico.ca

NOTES

1. Times Online March 5, 2006.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. The Sunday Mail, February 5, 2006.
5. The Herald, October 21, 2005.
6. The Herald, November 7, 2005.
7. The Herald, March 14, 2007.
8. The Observer, March 18, 2007.
9. The Observer, January 28, 2007.
10. Globe and Mail, March 22, 2004.
11. Ibid.

African Women's Charity Organization

P.O. Box 23074  Oakland, CA  94623-0074 U.S.A.

Phone: (415) 789-7360

Email:  ForAfricanWomen@aol.com

Website:  http://hometown.aol.com/forafricanwomen/myhomepage/index.html

Building African Women’s & Youth Movements and Forming International Sisterhood

Let’s Go To Zimbabwe!!!

 The African Women’s Charity Organization is planning to take a delegation to Zimbabwe in October 2008. Because of the support you have given to the organization we are asking you to be a part of this delegation. The purpose of the trip is to present to the Women’s League of the Zimbabwe African National Union (Patriotic Front) the money that we have collected from the “Pennies for Zimbabwe” project as well as to show our solidarity with the heroic people of Zimbabwe..

It is very important for right now because those who would like to see Africa and Africans remain divided, and dependent are doing as much as they can to make it stay or be that way. Zimbabwe is dedicated and determined to become self-sufficient and independent. It is a great example for all of Africa.

Zimbabwe got its independence from Britain in 1980 but much of the land remained in the hands of wealthy Europeans who stole it during colonialism. The people continued to suffer. The government has been trying to correct this injustice by reacquiring land and redistributing the land to Africans so that it can be used for the benefit of the people. This is the root of whatever we hear that is negative about Zimbabwe. Much energy has gone into trying to discredit Zimbabwe for trying to become self-sufficient. But this criticism is coming from those who actually benefit from Africa’s poverty, the former colonialists as well as their “uncle toms”.

We must show that we are truly for independence and self-sufficiency of Africa by supporting Zimbabwe, especially at this time.

We gave $2,120 in 2004 and $300 in 2006. Thus far we have collected approximately $2,000.Our goal is to take $10.000 in October 2008. We know that any amount of money that we give is not going to make a difference as to the independence of Zimbabwe. However, we are giving because we want to show our love, solidarity, and oneness with the people of Zimbabwe for holding up the bloodstained banner and representing the struggle for dignity and respect. This is the practical way to show our solidarity with the total liberaton and unification of Africa.

You can also bring school and medical supplies. They can be purchased from time to time at the local drug store or dollar store. We want to contact as many organizations as possible and ask them to make a contribution of $100 to this project.The trip is one and a half years away so we have enough time to prepare ourselves. We can first start by getting our passports if you don’t already have one. Then we can save money for our tickets, which usually start around $1,500. That is the most expensive part of the trip.

Please let us know if you are interested so that we can plan our trip together.

We would like to say some things about why this project and trip to Zimbabwe are so important. First of all, this is not a mere tour trip even though we can visit some important sites that one would see on a tour through Zimbabwe, but this trip represents the solidarity, support and Sisterhood on a spiritual level with our Sisters who have been so heroic in standing up for self-sufficiency in the Motherland. It is a token of our appreciation because they are the one’s on the front line.

The donations go specifically to Mbuyanehanda School, which is a school, farm and orphanage attached to ZANU-PF Women’s League. We prefer to support this way because there are some projects that want you to donate money so that you can send just one child to school. Well, this program takes care of all the orphans, not just one. So when we contribute to the Mbuyanehanda School, we are contributing to all of the less privileged.

Please contact us as soon as possible so that we can start planning right away. Start collecting! Looking forward to our trip together to Zimbabwe on behalf of the “Pennies for Zimbabwe” project.With an undying love for Mother Africa and her scattered and suffering children.

Rwanda Saleem

African Women’s Charity Organization Charity begins at home for African women and women of African descent.

YES THIS IS THE ENGLISH GOVERNMENT SETTING THE USUAL EXAMPLE TO THE WORLD,
Jamie Doward, home affairs editor
Sunday April 1, 2007

The Observer

The home office is seeking to deport the Zimbabwean teenager who exposed a major sex-for-asylum scandal in the Immigration Service, The Observer has learnt.

The move comes as the government prepares to deport hundreds of Zimbabweans in anticipation of winning a crucial test case next month that would allow it to resume deportations. The government is also sending letters to hundreds of Zimbabwean asylum-seekers telling them they should consider returning home - despite the near collapse of the country's economic and political stability and increasing state-sponsored violence.

Comrades, Sisters, Brothers and African Youth in General  

My english might not be as fancy as the one of those who have spoken previously and so might be my knowledge of history. Why should I worry because I'm not here to exhibit such.   The situation in Zimbawe has made me to loose few droplets of my valuable tears and I am not sure if whether I will ever gain them back or in a way refill my tears tank. Where are African leaders. The Zimbabwe issue makes me angry because I have realised that the African leaders have this unprofessional brotherhood thing that fail them to talk when another black brother (president) is acting like a wild animal. That is why Thabo Mbeki and other African leaders are quiet about Zimbabwe situation. Mugabe is their "brother" so they can not express their views against him when he is acting so wild.  

Mugabe has been a leader in the past and I personally respected him and he was treated with dignity, but today can I ship the same dignity to him? The guy who has superpower over the media and every Zimbabwean life?        African leaders spoke openly and boldly about South African situation during apartheid and I was happy even though they were few minutes late. That was because it was a white man who was treating fellow black africans unfairly, but today is black against black and they are silent, why? I have a black skin, but I am missing something here. Does a black skin get hurt more when tortured by a white man than when is tortured by a fellow black man?      

We had Africans like Charles Taylor, Idi Amin and today is Robert Gabriel Mugabe and African leaders are still silent. Even Obasanjo was a dictator when he was still in the military. History know him quite well. What is the use of having African Union and .....  

Why would we expect the global world to take Africa serious while we (Africans) are not taking each other very serious. In South Africa, a country with a  population of approximately 48 million, we have 3 million zimbos and many other people from as far as palestine and middle east but I don't remember the South African government debating about immigration issue seriously. Desmond Tutu has spoken but he is not the president. Maybe African leaders need more caffeine in their systems before they can speak on issues.     

Why would we wait for situations to be worse before we speak, and how do we measure worse in this context. Is when million people have died or what scientific or political instrument do we need to measure the degree of how worse the situation is? Africans, I am troubled.      

Mugabe has declared openly that George Bush and Tony Blair are his main enemies and we as Africans have also declared openly that poverty and diseases are our major enemies. Mugabe has handed Zimbabweans to enemies (poverty and diseases). Why can't we hand Mugabe for two days only to George Bush and Tony Blair (his enemies) so that he can feel how painful it is to be handed to an enemy (poverty and diseases in african context).  

What worries me more is when the previous president of Namibia (Sam Nujoma) is acting as a yes sir to Robert Gabriel Mugabe. A man of his age still saying, yes sir?  

From troubled african soul.  

Matshwene E. Moshia

Author: AFRICAN VILLAGE BOY: Poverty and Bantu Education Systems of Apartheid South Africa

Namibia Arts, Culture and Entertainment

Namibian people :are unhappy that they do not hold the reins of the budding multi-million dollar film industry in the country and they often complain about foreign personnel and equipment being used when movies are filmed in Namibia, he said. "My question is: would the foreign film personnel have that upper hand if they did not have the necessary training in on-set film production?" Without such hands-on training and practical experience, the controlling reins of the film industry will always evade Namibians, the Governor said.  Although he doesn't have a problem with Western films per se, Nuuyoma said, films are an expression of people's cultures and beliefs. "Our films must tell the story of our glorious past, ... liberation struggle ... and the natural beauty of Namibia." The formulation of a policy and curriculum for Noft will start soon, according to Mberira.

....................................lIE IN

Another Country Ripe for the Predators? When they have the people down they keep them down.........

Despite mineral riches, water is still a luxury for Madagascans

By Kim Sengupta in Tamatave, Madagascar

Published: 22 March 2007

The canal at Tamatave is the biggest in Madagascar, moving through a stunning landscape of sweeping valleys into the ocean. Children has been acutely ill with stomach diseases from the pollution caused by industrial and domestic waste that has turned the water into a semi-opaque grey sludge. Some have died.

"Why is it that we are surrounded by the sea and we have so many rivers but we cannot have clean water?, It is the same, with all the minerals we are supposed to have. What is the good of having all these treasures underground when we have people dying because they are so poor?"

The End Water Poverty campaign organised by, among others, WaterAid, Tear Fund, and the Dutch group Simavi says: "The international effort on sanitation and water is in disarray, poverty is not being tackled. Governments must be told that it is morally and economically indefensible to preach poverty reduction but leave millions of people to live in squalor and disease."

Standing beside the fetid canal, Mr Rassanirina's 33-year-old wife Patricia said: "There are a thousand families living around here and we have diarrhoea and malaria here, many children are sick all the time. The nearest place we can go for treatment is the Lutheran Hospital and that is an hour's walk away."The community along the Pangalanes canal will be helped by a project organised by WaterAid, the aim of which is to provide clean water at the traditional neighbourhood water pump, and give instructions in basic hygiene.It is one of a number of similar projects with a number of international charities. Yet the $20m (£10m) being spent overall is $97m less than is needed to meet the Millenium Development Goals signed up to by the Malagasy government.

Predators Lie in Wait...................Some arrive................

But Madagascar should not be one of the poorest countries in the world, with 72 per cent of the population below the poverty line. It has some of the richest untapped deposits of gemstones in the world - sapphires, rubies, garnets, amethysts and acquamarines. There are other minerals including titanium, aluminium and graphite. And there is offshore oil.It is also one of the dozen most important countries for biodiversity on the planet, although decades of depredation has wiped out almost 90 per cent of rainforest and dozens of species of flora and fauna. Some of it is blamed on strip mining and the rest ontavy, the practice of slash and burn by the rural poor in which miles of verdant land are left exhausted and barren.The unique fauna and flora attracts a rising stream of wealthy ecotourists from Europe and North America. Yet very little of their money trickles down to the dispossessed rural poor.

Brother Edwin, a member of the Freres Montfort De Saint Gabriel (FSG) Order, at Tamatave, has helped to found a number of water projects in the area. "What has happened here is very sad," he said. "This is a vibrant country with huge potential. Yet you see so much hardship."The actor and comedian Sean Hughes, who recently visited Madagascar with WaterAid said: "All we can hope to do is make the lives of the people here just a bit better but the international community must be made aware of what is at stake."