Capturing, conquering, lynching and incarcerating sanctions

DURING his 13 years of constant daily struggle and sacrifice, Dr Martin Luther King Jnr addressed the trappings of our collective confusion with the following statement: “Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” While this powerful analysis by Dr King of a stumbling block many encounter in battle may not specifically speak to how certain Africans have mishandled the Zimbabwe question in the 21st century, it certainly captures the essence of how and why we find ourselves not only parroting US-EU imperialism’s rhetoric, but shamelessly doing their dirty work.

It can no longer be denied that at the exact moment in history that you have irrelevant blabber mouths with blogs being trumped up to declare Pan-Africanism dead, US-EU imperialism seeks to ruthlessly exploit a tendency Africans have to embrace an amputated narrative of their collective experience. This very methodology has been used by imperialists and their neo-colonialist vessels when choosing and identifying the regime change agents on the ground in Zimbabwe, they will give unconditional support.

The now defunct TransAfrica Forum (TAF) would camouflage their regime change activity by stating that they were in solidarity with the workers in Zimbabwe. Unfortunately for them, it was exposed that the blood money to jump-start the civilian neo-colonialist opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) was funnelled through the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU).

What this provided ZANU-PF’s most consistent and loyal defenders was ammunition to go for the kill, not only because the late Prime Minister and MDC founder Morgan Tsvangirai was the secretary-general of ZCTU, but TAF knew the African masses in the Diaspora would view supporting MDC as the extension and equivalent of supporting UNITA in Angola and RENAMO in Mozambique.

Because of the solidarity and camaraderie Africans in the Diaspora provided for ZANU and ZAPU, TAF, Africa Action and the Priority for Africa Network bit off more than they could chew by naming their initiative to funnel National Endowment for Democracy money to civil society groups in Zimbabwe through the Zimbabwe Solidarity Fund.

Anyone with the least amount of appreciation for the Marxist-Leninist adage, “Workers of the World Unite”, rolled on the ground like break-dancers with laughter when watching that masquerade unfold.

Another equally entertaining initiative was watching the AFL-CIO, the CIA front called the International Labour Solidarity Centre and the Congress of Black Trade Unionists, attempt to join the party by forcing their way into Zimbabwe in defence of exploited workers.

This opportunism and confusion was nipped in the bud when Zimbabwe’s late Vice President and national hero Joseph Msika informed these groupings if they wanted clarity about the role of trade unionists in the Second and Third Chiumrengas, all they needed to do was meet him in person instead of attempting to sneak into Zimbabwe like thieves in the night.

After that charade was exposed, we then saw ZINASU, through Mr Briggs Bomba, attempt to portray their organisation as an extension of Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the South African Student Organisation, General Union of Palestinian Students, and University Federation of Cuban Students. However, the decision to rub shoulders with the Voice of America and Congressional Black Caucus, whose activity was being steered by their Zionist counterpart, the late Congressman Tom Lantos, curtailed this effort.

In the case of the Congressional Black Caucus, they simply underestimated the intellect and resolve of their children. One could catch the late Congressman Donald Payne at the bar in Union Station not too far from Capitol Hill, spouting off how he felt the December 12 Movement were too extreme in their defence of Zimbabwe. What Payne failed to realise was that the products of the 1990s generation that had grown sick and tired of watching the lapdogs of the Democratic Party turn their nose up at our grassroots organisations, have and will always be the engine of our genuine resistance. And it would be this entity who would reveal to the world how the CBC attacked the Bush administration on the question of Iraq, but were their willing partners working for regime change in Zimbabwe.

The CBC made the fatal error of putting too much importance on the length of time that former president Robert Mugabe was in power, when it was glaringly obvious that virtually all of Mother Africa’s shameful neo-colonialist heads of State from Mobutu Sese Seko to Felix Houphouet Boigny remained in office until the last ticks of their hearts.

The feminist circles in the Diaspora attempted to validate reactionary efforts like WOZA, which stood for Women of Zimbabwe Arise, but ran into difficulty when it was discovered that 68 percent of farming, courtesy of the historic land reclamation programme, was done by women.

Zimbabwe’s 97 percent literacy rate also heightened the interests of women everywhere, especially in the Diaspora where in the US, for example, we know our captors were more threatened by us learning how to read and write than being part of the Underground Railroad or a rebellion or uprising.

We cannot forget the anti-war and peace movement circles, which are compromised by racism and a time-warped perception of aggression that prohibits them from addressing diplomatic terrorism with the same tenacity they address conventional imperialist warfare.

What all these entities are guilty of is not confronting the devastating impact of US-EU sanctions on Zimbabwe. In the name of every captive forced on a slave ship, every sister and brother hung from a tree with a noose, every African that was called a colonial subject, every African gunned down by trigger-happy policemen, or sitting in a prison cell, we carry on the fight to lift US-EU sanctions on Zimbabwe. ◆ Obi Egbuna Jnr is the US Correspondent to The Herald and External Relations Officer to ZICUFA(Zimbabwe Cuba Friendship Association). His email is obiegbuna15@gmail.com