The Sunday Mail (Zimbabwe)

‘Persuasion’, Zim’s foreign policy thrust

Besides being a journalist, I am also a literature student. As much as I am attracted to contempora­ry literature, I am equally an avid reader of old English literature in the tradition of Virginia Wolf, Charles Dickens, John Keats, Thomas Hardy, Charlotte

- Ranga Mataire ◆ For f eedback co n t a c t ranga. mataire@ gmail. com or lovemore.mataire@zimpapers.co.zw

Ilike Jane Austen — particular­ly the fact that she represents the old English literature tradition that is always looking ahead towards a new existence.

“Persuasion”, published posthumous­ly in 1818, is among my all-time greats.

A story is told that on 8 August 1815, English newspapers took note of the departure to Saint Helena of HMS Northumber­land and, with it, a prisoner. Napoleon Bonaparte, whose army had been defeated at Waterloo.

The former French Emperor was to spend the remainder of his life incarcerat­ed on that tiny South Atlantic island. He died there in 1821, almost unremarked. But, even before his death, Napoleon had become a has-been; a relic of a bygone era.

On the same day that her contempora­ries learned of Bonaparte’s journey into exile, Jane Austen started writing “Persuasion”, which was to be her last completed work, and the one which Virginia Wolf was to remark as a novel that typifies a journey of self-discovery.

While it might sound incongruen­t to an ordinary eye, many parallels can be drawn from the current transition­al period in Zimbabwe with what is depicted in “Persuasion”.

The heroine in “Persuasion”, Anne Elliot is 27 years, an age regarded as old enough to have sex appeal — if we are to use the idiom of the time. Zimbabwe — at 39 years, is in terms of growth very ripe to chart her own course without the tutelage of a guardian.

Just like Jane Austen then, the Zimbabwe of today has managed to internalis­e the lessons of prudence and self-restraint. Like the heroine in “Persuasion”, Zimbabwe has outlived the age of emotional psychologi­cal tumult. We are now looking ahead to a new social vista.

The character of our current foreign policy is telling in terms of the trajectory that the country has embarked on.

Just like in “Persuasion” our country takes interest in modern ways of conducting foreign policy; only looking backwards in order to review our steps, but conscious of the fact that there cannot be any change without the practice of leave-taking that people use to put the past behind.

The questions that arise in Zimbabwe today are the same as those reflected in “Persuasion”.

How can the past be recalled and memories kept alive without disturbing the domestic cosmos?

How can people keep faith with their memories, but remain true to their past without isolating themselves from the dynamism of historical change?

We need to preserve and recalibrat­e our national memory in order to have a clear view of where we want to go as a country.

In the aftermath of Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s foreign policy is anchored on re-engagement — a deliberate reach-out initiative meant to unlock foreign direct investment, mend sour relations, re-integrate the country into the community of nations and solidify relations with longtime allies.

President Mnangagwa is the begetter of our foreign policy, which is predicated on economics rather than politics.

It is a foreign policy much informed by domestic subtleties just as it is also shaped by internatio­nal political, social, economic and cultural dynamics.

The intonation of the “Zimbabwe is Open for Business” is a strategy that settles well with the internatio­nal community and an assurance to the West about Zimbabwe’s willingnes­s to break from a past characteri­sed by open hostilitie­s.

Under President Mnangagwa, Zimbabwe’s foreign policy is a combinatio­n of pragmatism, realism and neo-liberalism. But, some of the ideologica­l thrusts have no permanence beyond the attainment of the desired goals.

In terms of change, Zimbabwe acknowledg­es the centrality of Western countries such as Britain, the US and counties of the European Union. Zimbabwe is mindful of the need for new alliances, new investment partners and the need to re-integrated into the global society.

Foreign policy is about actions, reactions and interactio­ns to situations, events, issues, demands and pressures from the internatio­nal arena.

Zimbabwe’s foreign policy is intended to move away from isolationi­sm and belligeren­ce towards the West to a policy of re-engagement.

At every enduring epoch, a country must be able to define its national purpose.

The overriding national purpose that currently obsess foreign policy drivers is to extricate the country from more than two decades of economic quagmire and this is precisely the reason why there is an affix of internatio­nal trade attached to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

This is why each ambassador has been given a template of deliverabl­es — create friendship­s, generate foreign direct investment­s, explore markets for our products, quantify the tourists you have managed to bring to Zimbabwe and identify appropriat­e technology for use back home.

The matrix consists of what is called the concentric paradigm of three circles with the inner circle being the ideas on economy, surrounded by the society and the bigger outer circle consisting of the ecological environmen­t.

Attaining the set goals is not an overnight event. However, no one doubts that a lot of work has been done. We need to remain rooted to the constancy of our founding ethos even during times of global economic turbulence.

Just like “Persuasion”, which was written towards the end of the Napoleonic Wars, Zimbabwe is writing its own story following the end of an old dispensati­on.

Zimbabwe resembles a woman who has no choice, but to remain faithful to her past. She has the vigour and hope to move forward into a future where new realities of existence are to be born.

 ??  ?? President Mnangagwa
President Mnangagwa
 ??  ?? Minister SB Moyo
Minister SB Moyo
 ??  ?? Jane Austen
Jane Austen
 ??  ??

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