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Zimbabwe: US Interference Backlash
By Ayinde
rastafaritimes@yahoo.com
April 09, 2007
How do people feel knowing that Western powers have been paying people to criticize the Zimbabwe government? They should feel duped; especially if they actually believed most of the anti-Mugabe news that has been pushed by the Western media ever since the land reclamation exercise that forced some Whites to stop occupying large tracts of land that were to be distributed to Blacks.
The US did state their intentions in 2002 following an election that saw Mugabe victorious at the polls. In August 2002, Chris McGreal writing for the Guardian UK stated:
The United States government has said it wants to see President Robert Mugabe removed from power and that it is working with the Zimbabwean opposition to bring about a change of administration.
Mr Kansteiner [the then US assistant secretary of state for African affairs] said the US was working with trade unions, pro-democracy groups and human rights organisations to bring about change. He did not say how he believed Mr Mugabe could be brought down...
A senior Zimbabwean foreign affairs official replied:
The legitimacy of our political system or our president is not dependent on America, Britain or any other country, but on Zimbabweans.
The bullying tactics that America and Britain are using against us are meant to frustrate our quest for social and economic justice, to stop our programme to redistribute some of the very large tracts of land held by whites here to the indigenous black people.
The Guardian UK article continued:
The US attack on Mr Mugabe came after police began arresting white farmers for defying an August 9 deadline to vacate their land and homes.
The US failed to recognize the results of the elections although African observers stated that the "2002 elections in Zimbabwe were 'free and fair'":
Apart from the result, the main jolt yesterday was that election observers from South Africa, Nigeria and Namibia effectively endorsed the election. "It is our considered view that the election was free and fair and reflects the wishes of the people of Zimbabwe," Namibia's observer team said in a statement, adding that the poll was "watertight, without room for rigging".
The South African team described the election as "legitimate" while the Nigerian observers said they had seen nothing that threatened the integrity of the poll.
Many do not consider the US elections that saw George Bush become the president as "free and fair". There were no independent observers to the US elections but there certainly were observers in the elections in Zimbabwe.
The US has once more confirmed what some of us have been saying all along. The US is funding opposition activities for regime change in Zimbabwe. The US is working with unions and opposition groups in Zimbabwe. The evidence has been there all along. Simply read the latest admission in the "US State Department's reports on Africa".
Several recent articles could have been buried if it were not for the vigilance of a few who are sensitive to negative attitudes towards Africa and African people. The story was first carried by Pravda.ru in an article "The U.S. acknowledges sponsorship of public events in Zimbabwe to undermine the President" and was followed soon after by the Guardian UK's article, "US reveals its efforts to topple Mugabe regime".
The US "supported workshops to develop youth leadership skills necessary to confront social injustice through nonviolent strategies." This is important to understand the wave of "leftist style" protests that are being used against the Zimbabwe government.
The US government agencies have co-opted the style of protest that is usually used against them, and trained and funded groups to do the same towards the government in Zimbabwe. How many believe the US and UK Governments are supportive of the type of change that the "left" demands?
Unfortunately, there are many social activists who genuinely feel they are part of a noble cause and are unaware that the wave of protests they are supporting against the Zimbabwe government are being paid for by the US and UK Governments.
The US and UK Governments are using the "left" to serve their imperialistic agenda.
The US and UK have done a disservice to genuine calls for development in Zimbabwe. Some of the anti-Mugabe reports may be true, but these reports have all been skewed by the deliberate antigovernment propaganda activities of the US and UK in collaboration with the opposition forces in Zimbabwe, especially the MDC.
Sanctions should be lifted and Britain should honour the agreement to fund the land reform exercise. The West should leave the Southern African states to help work out the genuine concerns of the people. Failing this, every anti-Mugabe protest remains skewed by the interferences of western governments.
Now that the real story is out, check your favorite media to see how many of them carried that news or linked these articles. I know several websites that would usually link stories from the Guardian UK and Pravda.ru, but somehow they happened to miss these, among other articles, that dispute what many claim is taking place in Zimbabwe. Many did not pick up these or similar articles while they continue to carry the stories bashing the President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe and his government.
It seems that most websites among other media are simply comfortable spreading the bogus news reports about Zimbabwe that are written by persons and organizations that are financed by the US and UK Governments.
The simple truth behind the Western concern with Zimbabwe is that Mugabe took back land from White settlers and returned the land to Africans in Zimbabwe. He also shifted from the IMF and World Bank policies. White Western powers, in their anger at being defied, are underhandedly doing everything at their disposal to crush this movement.
That is the simple story, and as I previously stated:
"Their aim is to ensure that Zimbabwe collapses under President Robert Mugabe and that this collapse serves as a deterrent to other African leaders and nations from reclaiming lands that were seized from Africans during colonial rule."
The US and European governments want African nations to continue to be trapped by the World Bank and IMF policies that favour the US and other Western powers and rob African nations. If they had their way, Africa would remain a cheap source of raw materials and a recipient of their paternalistic, false-sense-of-self-serving charities.
Most of the news reports that are against the Zimbabwe government following the beginning of the land reclamation exercise are just to cover up these simple facts.
This does not mean that the government in Zimbabwe is perfect. As should be expected, the Zimbabwe government is struggling with colonial issues without compensation from the colonizers, as are many African governments. Most African countries have not successfully addressed the theft of their land, as well as other natural resources during colonialism. There is a direct link between these unaddressed issues and poverty.
It is easy for any government that believes it is being unfairly attacked to become repressive, and in the case of Zimbabwe, there is sufficient proof that the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is aligned and funded by imperial powers. There is sufficient evidence that the US and Britain have targeted Zimbabwe for regime change.
Many have witnessed how the corrupt and brutal White governments got away with their crimes and have adopted similar backward conduct.
I know the struggles of African governments and the unaddressed issues that few dare tackle. I also know the attitudes of many towards Africa and Africans in general. The West has long portrayed Black African governments as corrupt while the impression remains that White, Western governments, even in Africa, are somehow graced with greater virtues. So it is easy for people to believe that problems in Africa are as a result of corruption and mismanagement and not the history of slavery, colonialism and land theft on the continent. Of course, corruption and mismanagement contribute to poor governance but the underlying unaddressed racial and land issues are at the heart of the poverty and dependency in many post-colonial countries, including Africa.
So-called successful African countries are so judged by the wealth of Whites and the ease at which they extract wealth from the countries in Africa. For the most part, the indigenous African population remains poor and part of the underclass in their own countries.
There are corrupt governments all over the world that are financed and endorsed by the US and UK, so their claims of being against corruption and trying to assist in developing democracy in Zimbabwe are just lies that any honest person can see through.
To them Africans must never try to remove the noose of White Supremacy from around them.
African nations must develop better governments, but this must not be done at the behest of imperialistic powers that want institutions in Africa to primarily serve their economic interest.
Where are the most murderous regimes on earth? Which governments continually lie to the people in order to wage war?
The answer is not Zimbabwe, but the US and Britain. They have left a long murderous history of their example of good governance.
Email: zimbabwecrisis@yahoo.com
Visit: Zimbabwe Watch
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