What wrong have the journalists done?
THE listing of some Zimbabweans whom together with the Zimbabwean society, Anglo-Americans and their European Union allies have earmarked for punishment with illegal sanctions constitutes totally unjustified persecution of the society by imperialism.
Inclusion of two Zimpapers journalists — Munyaradzi Huni and Caesar Zvayi — on the list has called for comment because of the evil use of freedom of expression by imperialism involved in this move.
When it had become clear to imperialism that Zanu-PF was not abandoning land redistribution, it (imperialism) launched its anti-Zanu-PF programme aimed at replacing Zanu-PF by another movement through which it would neo-colonise the country.
One of the means which it has used to bring the state of affairs about has been demonising Zanu-PF and Zimbabwe, and mass media in the imperialist world, have been devoted to that exercise for a decade now.
The result has been that where news on Zimbabwe is predominantly sourced from imperialist of pro-imperialist mass media, the people have a completely distorted picture of the goings-on here.
Those of them who have been able to come and see for themselves whether it was true that Zimbabwe has inexplicably lost its democratic character to become dictatorship have been shocked to find that what was being propagandised about the country was false.
Some returned determined to do all they could to get the truth across about peaceful innocent Zimbabwe. As Zimbabweans manning the people’s mass media the two journalists have done their duty to the nation to dispel the demonising propaganda against Zimbabwe for the benefit of the society and for correct information of those interested in the reality of our situation.
In doing so, they have not been abusing their freedom of expression. They have been using this [particular freedom quite correctly and that does not merit interference by anyone with their right to exercise this freedom.
It is imperialism’s false propaganda against Zimbabwe which merits banning not only in Zimbabwe, but indeed on the planet because of its being at once false and evil.
Basically, why is imperialism interfering in the domestic affairs of small Zimbabwe? When it was colonised, Zimbabwe was viewed as going to be colonisers’ country where indigenous Zimbabweans would be confined to diminishing “reserves” as increasingly more colonisers came to settle in the colony. As is well known that scenario can result in indigenous owners becoming the minority if as long as a thousand years is rendered available for that to happen.
It was thanks to timeous intervention of communism that Chimurenga II did not go the way of Chimurenga I and we were able to make a success of our struggle for liberation. As Kwame Nkrumah correctly predicted, after losing classical empires, imperialism is now bidding for neo- colonisation leading to neo-empires.
When at Lancaster House we settled for land redistribution after 10 years, little did we know that the Anglo-Americans were buying time to manoeuvre against the exercise. This became evident only when the pledge to fund land redistribution was rejected in 1997 followed by imposition of illegal sanctions amid demonisation of the ruling party, its leader and the society, with support glued onto the then labour based opposition. The country has been singled out for neo-colonisation and the machinations were aimed at pre-empting land redistribution and otherwise rendering the country’s resources available to imperialism at the cost of continued marginalisation of indigenous Zimbabweans.
At least people’s mass media in the country had to mount sustained exposure of imperialism’s sinister programme, and the cadres who have accordingly manned the media in the society’s time of struggle for its land are heroes who should be left alone to do their work.
By banning them from this world, imperialism wants to hide the need for the correct move of banning the journalists manning imperialist media from the entire justice-cum-peace loving world.
That can jog imperialist circles into human sense. Without that sort of move, imperialism will continue to think that it is doing wonders in its neo-colonisation machinations.
What imperialism is doing against Zimbabwe is reminiscent of Anglo-American propaganda directed at making Germans hate Jews and Communism. The result was Nazism which emerged with a program of holocausts meant to result in world domination.
Mankind owes defeat of that to communism which by then had become sufficiently united and organised to stand their ground in the former Soviet Union (in World War II) for a full five years at the end of which the allied forces emerged victorious.
The morale is that devilishly demonising Zimbabwe can lead to untold consequences, and it should be viewed as quite proper for the evil program to be countered not only by Zimbabwe people’s mass media but also by all other mass media which aspire for peace and justice on the planet. Because of imperialism’s evil programme against Zimbabwe our situation has gone past ordinary circumstances.
Illegal sanctions which have been with us for a decade now have reduced the economy close to shambles, making life extremely difficult for Zimbabweans.
This is a most serious economic war against Zimbabwe which imperialism wants to comprise the basis of an insurrection against the Government, not because there is no democracy in Zimbabwe, but because the government has been needful of the people’s demand for land redistribution.
While imperialism is persecuting the two journalists for their duty to the nation, , among the so-called independent papers here are some which are financed by global bourgeoisie specifically to be part and parcel of the demonising campaign against Zanu-PF and the government. We are not against objective criticism because that has the goal and duty of drawing attention to something going wrong so correction may be effected in time.
That is not what is being alluded to here, but to a policy of demonising the liberation movement in order to bring about change to a neo-colonialist regime.
Editor’s Note: This article by national hero, Cde Don Muvuti, was published in The Voice, under the column The Way Forward on August 10, 2008.