The reason for the creation of this site was so men and women who saw the need for genuine liberation in Zimbabwe could present ideas... network and channel their energies into productive endevours either military or business...STRAIGHT REALITY HERE NO SANITIZED B/S.
The tyranny has got to go Zimbabweans need to get up and get working to get our country back...Too many pseudo intellectual analyzers...pacifists.. blog posers and political pimps and hoes in our midst when real revolutionaries are who we need.
The reality is out there folks ...
The posting has been slow of late but that was more to do with contributors undergoing training...nothing to do with forgetting about you guys... we say we are REAL we must walk all our talk....
In answer to the question 'why do many talented Zimbabweans not get involved?' The answer remains they see no leadership and thus reduce Zimbabwe to an issue of circumstance outside of their input or control.
The wrong switching of this issue from a governance platform to one of economics opened the flood gates to population flight instead of consideration and focus on national worth and rights.
Zimbabweans are not homogenous or idealouges regardless of expressions of concern... individual pragmatism and the politics of the belly rules... the global identity of the 'consumer' has made people re evaluate their political position in relation to their financial need and quality of life. The world has changed and the old style politics presently offered as hero worship is irrelevant to the new global existence. MDC take orders from outsiders and never created a resistance or built safety nets or economic structures at any grass roots level.
Dialouge was conducted with corporate interests when most of the rest of the Zimbabwean population as kept in the dark regarding these months of wasted talks that have lead to nowhere. The coming democratic 'paradise' is like most systems, there for the new elite, the MDC shefs and their corporate masters.
Beyond the branch system that many have used to exploit fellow asylum seekers and entrench a political kingdom for themselves under a guise of the ONLY force there to remove Mugabe THEY HAVE NOTHING. They gained much milage out of that SOLE AND ONLY PARTY lie and talented people were excluded as no structures existed within MDC to harness their vision for a new Zimbabwe or talents, as MDC has a strict agenda to follow from its outside backers.
Diasporan Zimbabweans already work or live in stable second countries or have nothing to return to in Zimbabwe so why should they care if the material needs of food clothing shelter and security are not being met in Zimbabwe...as for Zanu PF followers they are entrenched in the lowest forms of national kleptomania that corrupts all who partake in their criminal network.
People will enter a secure foundation where they SEE security and that their skills and talents can be rewarded and appreciated but in any population only a tiny percentage are the founding thought leadership in terms of initial vision and foundation building everyone else wants to walk into the office and be shown their place.
The trouble is that so long as MDC command the monopoly of resources due who their puppet strings are attached to..'talented' Zimbabweans (the nation)will like all others be shunted to a corners as bystanders in a struggle between THE STATE (the owners fronted by MDC) and THE GOVERNMENT (the errant administrators the once favoured Zanu PF)
Alternatives and plans have existed for ages but without appropriate material support where can these plans go?
As to dealing effectively with the bad people ...As Orwell stated regarding the safe guarding of all freedoms. "We Sleep Safe In Our Beds because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those that would do us harm."
Andrisson Manyere and Jestina Mukoko and others murdered and brutilized and abducted cant say that about MDC as no such policy exists in that party.
Saturday, 15 November 2008
HONDO...
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Some regulars may have been wondering ...’WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON WITH THE SITE?????????’. Visitors wont know the feeling of loss quite so badly but since the last post on 28 July much has gone on as much as its all stayed the same. For a while the blog posts were more graphic in nature as they say a picture says a thousand words, but not every sentiment can be expressed by a visual image.
Anyway because of the events back in Zim. The pretence of power sharing talks that some wanted to turn into power transfer talks which resulted in there being no talks. People took their foot off the gas peddle and their eye off the ball.
Not to say attention was not being paid to issues or events more that you gotta give people time to know when a dead end is a dead end and in relation to the struggle in Zimbabwe people won’t begin any serious fight back until they realise the whole nature of the feudalist OPFOR and neo-liberal OPPOSITION game being played at their expense.
Anyway this particular piece is about people power...More importantly about the power that folks must claim from politicians and big business and all the other opportunist vultures waiting in the wings to pluck at the rich pickings of a post liberation Zimbabwe. The word here is AGENCY...the ability of people to break out of the status quo 'mindless' field and think and do for self.
It is a well known fact that most of Africa must break the patronage system and the dependency culture; the idea of creating a culture of small business owners fails to materialise within most minds short of as an extension of the eternal cycle of more charity and dependency.
In the first 10 years of the struggle against dictatorship there has been an economic meltdown caused by both OPFOR corruption but also by politically inspired economic sanction like ZDERA. The issue here being one raised before... that a country may fail within a period of time but why did the national coherence of Zimbabweans turn towards rank opportunism and detachment so quickly. In the first 6 months of 2008 starvation is a grave concern affecting many within the country, the OPFOR dismissed many NGOs that were feeding people and this was seen as the issue. Yet how human is it to let yourself starve to death waiting for help that may never come, merely because that was the assumed and constant direction of help yesterday? On the surface the problem is known and the answer is aid...but aid creates dependency so can a remedy with a worse side efffect really be a cure? Independence is more than aid alone.
I recommend that something has taken place that has changed the fundamental character of our culture into something new, something worse. I would argue that at a certain level Zimbabweans in the main are business minded. In fact, the death of the ‘formal sector’ and its rapid conversion into an informal economy of ‘cash barons’, ‘get rich quick’ middle men and opportunistic short termist wheeler dealers should be required study for every business student.
the Zimbabwe insurgency argues that this rapid switch from citizen to chaotic character willing to feed upon itself outlines the reasons for the greatest failing and gives a plan which, if followed, will significantly decrease the probability of faltering in the future.The crux of this argument is that each person literally divorced themselves from responsibility when what was needed was to think through every operation and ultimately set themselves and their environment up the way franchises do. Can you use the field you plough for food as your toilet? Of course not, yet over the past decades we have learnt that the only method of survival is one where people destroy the very environment that is meant to sustain them culminating in an externalisation process.
A society thrives through the correct use and interpretation of just on word – ORGANISATION. Can we really find comfort if we have yet to come to terms with the nature of our own insecurity and the levels of destructiveness we are willing to create or accept in the pursuit of a state of survival we claim is living?
"Corruption and hypocrisy ought not to be inevitable products of democracy, as they undoubtedly are today”
~Ghandi~
"In any country where talent and virtue produce no advancement, money will be the national god. Its inhabitants will either have to possess money or make others believe that they do. Wealth will be the highest virtue, poverty the greatest vice. Those who have money will display it in every imaginable way. If their ostentation does not exceed their fortune, all will be well. But if their ostentation does exceed their fortune they will ruin themselves. In such a country, the greatest fortunes will vanish in the twinkling of an eye. Those who don't have money will ruin themselves with vain efforts to conceal their poverty. That is one kind of affluence: the outward sign of wealth for a small number, the mask of poverty for the majority, and a source of corruption for all.”
~Denis Diderot~
"A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murder is less to fear."
NO SOLUTION for Zimbabwe will be found in the AU Dictators Club 2008, Or Western neo-liberal hypocrisy... THOSE IN GLASS HOUSES CANNOT ever THROW STONES.
This post is about the issue of getting and using the right 'tools', personnel, ideas, and resources to do the job of making change.
Thus far history has shown us that no such efforts have been made. The issue is now little more than yet another international talking shop for a new breed of professional bureaucrats and other verbose global DO NOTHINGS.
Please read the following...taken from the tome...
Thinking of worthies...The best doctor treats the state. The next best doctor treats sickness. A person who governs a state is indeed like somoeone who cures the body. Illness is sickness of the body; disorder is sickness of the state. With the body's illness, we rely on medicine to cure it; with the state's disorder, we rely on the worthy to render it orderly. For bringing order within the body, we have the arts of the Yellow Emperor('s medical classic); for bringing order to the world, we have the classics of Confucius. Hewever, when an illness cannot be cured or a state's disorder rectified, it is not that the method of acupuncture is wrong and the sayings of the five classics are perverted, but that the one who uses them in not the right man. If he is not the right man, then the compass will not draw circles, nor the square corners. The inked string will not lie straight, nor the balance be level. The fire-starting drill will not produce flame, nor will ore melt into metal. A goaded horse cannot be driven fast, nor a boat be propelled across a river. All eight of these instances are manifestations of the Way of Heaven: they take shape, appearing in objects. However, if one is not the right man, he cannot accomplish anything. How much truer is it that those who comfort the people need to embrace the Way, and those who harness the six dragons need to transmit the mind of Heaven? Trying to bring order to the world without obtaining real worthies is like trying to cure an illness without obtaining the right medicine. It is as if, in curing an illness, when one ought to use ginseng, a turnip is used instead;... If a ruler seeks the worthy and his subordinates respond with the mediocre, or if a ruler does not investigate discerningly but appoints the mediocre to official positions, he will be in danger.
Of the Zimbabwean opposition a commentator once wrote...'It is in this area of strategising in the face of patent risks where the MDC has appeared to stutter in the past. The MDC’s Achilles Heel has always been an almost infantile innocence in the face of a ruthless and crafty rival. The MDC appears to operate in anticipation of the best outcome but without accounting for the probability the worst possible outcome. But its approach in dealings with Zanu PF is reflective of the society in which it exists. We are taught that democracy is for good men and women, who believe in peace, use peaceful methods, co-operate and do all the ‘right’ things. We live in a world in which we observe older and mature democracies where democratic values have been inculcated over time. What we are not taught, however, is that even in these older democracies, things were not always that straightforward. Democracy has come a long way and they have had and, in many ways, still have to deal with ruthless and crafty opponents in the Zanu PF mould. We operate in anticipation of peace, fair-play and togetherness. What we are not taught is that, in fact, there are considerable levels of conflict at all levels of society – family, community, national and indeed international. We overlook the obvious reality that in society there are crafty and ruthless individuals who will employ every tool and method in the book to outdo us in various endeavours. We are taught to abhor conflict and violence but we are not taught to be prepared for the reality in which conflict is, in fact, prevalent. We are, therefore, often unprepared to deal with crafty and ruthless individuals and, indeed, situations of conflict. This is the same predicament in which the MDC finds itself. It is fighting for democracy using ‘democratic’ means and tactics but is not prepared for the reality presented by the crafty opponent that it faces.'
The meaning is clear, opposition leaders have played politics whilst the OPFOR regime is fighting a variation of the last war. Dangerously, these people are not considering what is happening and relating it to what they are really facing. They are following a defunct political model whilst seeking regime change within a dangerous political environment; ignoring more effective counterinsurgency models for effecting change altogether. After so many years stagnation has set in to our politics of struggle. Activism is now a salaried career, not a calling based on energy and conviction. If the anti OPFOR section of Zimbabwe's politics are guilty of one thing it is that they see ony what they want to see, without consideration for the very different political culture they have now entered into. This failure in openmindedness and lateral thinking is a lesson in how the resistance must not operate. In life, very few things come without a price, and in terms of lives, time, money, energy and committment securing a nations freedom from the grip on entrenched dictatorship is one of the most costly activities imaginable. Thus all resources must be used wisely.
Backed by outside money and intentions Zimbabwe’s opposition have no internal plan, they consider the OPFOR as one man and ignore the group as a whole. Devising a regime change strategy from a wrong series of assessments, they are constantly surprised. They ignore the sage advice of Sun-tzu who said, "What is of supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy's strategy." That should always be your starting point--looking outward, but not letting arrogance and insecurity cloud inward critique and assessment.
It is a known fact that from 2005 onwards much valuable time and energy has been wasted entrenching a leadership clique and creating a new cult of personality, rather than fighting the OPFOR.
'A prince must be a fox... to recognise the traps and a lion to frighten the wolves.'
In war and politics the Machiavellian perspective holds sway. Power is taken by those organized to take it, from those organized to hold onto it. During that journey there will be bloodshed, false declarations, and manipulating of the public. The point of a power struggle against dictatorship is to gain supremacy; one can seem good, so long as one does what is necessary to overthrow the obvious tyranny. At times it wont be easy to defend a political action, but often the means justify the ends and the ends justify the means, all can be backed by sincere motives and intentions. A quite complicated situation must always be tempered by always asking the question --what is really going on?
In the last few years discontent has spread throughout the country. Yet no new ideas have been forged in this period, during which the OPFOR has begun to weaken in power. With greater initiative and without the present terror campaign, Zimbabwean history might have taken a much different path on March 29th. The present terror campaign has broken up opposition momentum and sown the seeds for the introduction of a much greater level of repression, this drama is part of an old OPFOR plan for a one party state agenda; planned from a very long time ago. It has taken them some thirty years but as history shows us State terrorists, usually give alot of time.
The response by the opposition to the OPFOR tyranny is not calibrated to the type of the threat, but rather to the international spectacle, and so ends and means and need and purpose are greatly confused. The old mistakes and patterns of a history of failure are continuously justified and repeated. No attempt is made to see or counter the OPFOR intentions with alternative structures that are organized purposefully. Time and again the OPFOR are able to use disinformation, feeding the nation and world whatever story they want; without any effective counters, the nature of their opponents are as clear as day to them whilst they themselves seem overly simple or worse a total mystery.
Using a mix of political and military processes gives the OPFOR more strategic options and faster thought paths in acclimatizing to incidents. They murder at will, whereas their opponents have to tiptoe through a self imposed moral minefield. Rifts created among allies and in the public are widened and polarization sets in. Part of the chaos strategy is to exacerbate the divisions into a full blown 'divide and conquer' dynamic in which allies are split apart.
State terrorism is complex and adaptable; it can be used in tandem with other forms of warfare or the legal system. It uses technology and media creating alliances between all kinds of groups including criminal elements that benefit from the terrorist acts of the regime. In looking this complexity is the strategy itself--to stir up and then repress.
In the end we are all in this together and have played into the OPFOR hands for too long, we must break down the reasons for our failure as impersonally as von Clausewitz analyzed the Prussian defeat at the hands of Napoleon. We have a situation that was manageable and now see an orchestrated slide into tremendous insecurity and disorder.
Finding a proper response to the OPFOR regime is a question based upon on first understanding the dynamic nature of how they as a political / military machine operate. The OPFOR are not dim, they are hardened veterans of political and military conflict fighting for what they see is desperate survival against an imagined enemy that in their minds is real. History reveals the various political traps set, the intelligence network, the fear and paranoia they spread to glean an under responsive response or overreaction. The manipulation of opposition peacefulness and impatience and desire for immediate reprisals, the polarization must be studied carefully. All these issues can only be countered effectively if they are recognised and understood as part of the wider OPFOR strategic plan.
To dismantle this oppressive system we must be aware that this is a complex social political economic military organism we are facing. No insurgency is made up of a military endevour alone. Our blows MUST be aimed at all their centres of gravity and weaknesses, we must be certain of the right targets, be dissatisfied at the illusions they create that may seem real. The opposition has proclaimed victory after victory without causing any damage. The OPFOR centre has NEVER been touched, their message, their ability to communicate, to gain funding, to direct sympathizers, to hold what we have been told is a dying movement together.
We needed to know these centres and carefully cripple and destroy them, always starting at a point of knowledge of OPFOR points of vulnerability.
During this time the reverse has been the case however, it is the opposition that has steadily been degraded. For all their rhetorical statements of 'VICTORY' and of success, are not matched by what has been the true nature of their progress. Funded from abroad their ability to fund themselves is not any indication of popular support, the OPFOR controls the state media and there is little coordination able to communicate a single liberation message among the ‘independent free Zimbabwean media’. Indeed the brutal and churlish OPFOR actions have assisted the opposition to gain recruits, but what productive ends have these people been put to besides being channelled into the role of praise singers in the leadership cult of personality of as vote fodder for yet more rigged elections? We are told parties have been working to gain more political goodwill in the region and the outside world yet deaths are occurring and much talk has still lead to no intervention.
The OPFOR have begun to reveal more weaknesses. But no parties are working flat out to attack any of these central pillars, when weakened the OPFOR side leans on other legs to keep itself up. These represent targets to be aware for the day of the inevitable strike against these structural supports.
The key to any anti OPFOR counterstrategy, is the idea of STRENGTH in DEPTH, of leadership, of resources, but most importantly of ideas. The country is in a bad place, repression and manipulation holds sway. It is for those who seek to resist the OPFOR regime to counter that systems cunning and savagery with ability, to show strength, to unify the population. Avoiding the polarization trap fallen for so easily by so many others in the past.
The resistance must operate precisely and must always target appropriately, resisting the temptation of emotion that seeks nothing more than revenge and over-reaction. It is no longer a question of being the same over hyped opportunistic politicians leading cults of personality with rhetorical statementts on roads that lead politically to nowhere. Instead it is a question of quality of leadership and strength of conviction and use of intelligence. What standards have been set and reached for the 'leadership' role, what vetting procedures weed out undesirable traits and elements?
At present fear is the greatest weapon in the OPFOR arsenal, often initiated via brutal means in selected places at selected times it spreads subconsciously throughout as a series of ripple effects, rumours, enactment of unjust laws, and citizen’s passivity and indifference in the face of obvious wrong doing. The end products are pacification of the people and doubt. Indifference, mistrust and apathy gaining ground within the body of the wider population at an exponential rate.
The terror is real for many, but for the majority of Zimbabweans it is largely purely psychological. It is up to the resistance leadership to build confidence and show the nature of the situation in a realistic light. When you overreact to a large attack, or react to rumour without proper verification you dance to the OPFOR tune; you show the enemy your own impatience and weakness; they take note and succeed with their next level of manipulation.
The resistance must respond with carefully calibrated campaigns and actions aiming greater and greater pressure at the OPFOR weaknesses and vulnerabilities. In the past the opposition to the OPFOR never sought to take any initiative; their use of intelligence and plan of attack has ALWAYS been reactive never proactive... However in situations such as these, actions that show you mean business are the ones that ACTUALLY matter.
This analysis is purposefully abstract with many gaps to be filled in by the cadres themselves. In time topics pertaining to the use of technology and Open Source information will be raised. But here we seek to understand strategy at its highest, most abstract level. An overall idea waiting to be made flesh via inputs of other good ideas. It is the overall picture that filters down and makes everything else come together as more sense. As stated in von Clausewitz ‘On War’.
To counter the OPFOR threat I contend and stress that we need to constantly revisit and study the tactics used by the OPFOR during the second Chimurenga war, Gukurahundi and other pogroms and be fully aware of Mao’s approach to ‘cultural revolution’ and guerrilla warfare.
The acts of State terrorism are frightening but we must not be so paralysed not to see the variations and adaptations applied to an overall theme. The OPFOR system of fighting within this present phase is based upon ‘chaotic’ strategy, one where operatives have their own independent missions command systems. What seems like a disordered front is very ordered and has method in its seeming madness. Let us not forget 200 military officers were tasked with coordinating this spate of violence on the ground. Seeing this clearly depends on your capacity to not fall for the illusion and to see the enemy's strategy and its multiple inputs realistically.
The future will belong to those who are nation builders and reconstruction thinkers at all levels; those within and outside political office. Those among ourselves whose ideas and actions will facilitate a greater life for future generations due to the fact that when it mattered they were at the forefront of this fight for change breaking apart the OPFOR influence. The temptations are great: to fall into the destructive habits of the past, to become obsessed with the style and fashion and surface details, of the technology and ideas we use without digging into the real depth of any substance of how these things work or are produced. A resurgent Zimbabwe can be a catalyst away from the fruitless cycles of bad governance and promises that bring only more of the same status quo rather than real change; the endless back and forth of the global addiction to Africa’s wealth and constant undermining and denigration of Africa’s people.
The key to this process, will always be the strategy itself. The lack of a viable 'own' vision is our greatest enemy--not their corporations or leaders, but the lack of strategy itself. In each case we, must continually return to the question of what actions will enable this vision, allowing the intended strategy we own to be made manifest. What psychological and behavioural patterns made past errors possible. Let us be clear in war all mistakes are potentially punnishable by death. There can be no ambiguity in this; thus our thoughts must be objective and our judgements based upon honest and clear analysis. The wholly subjective and often self indulgent analysis of the situation and political environment held by the opposition, is based upon seeing the world through a very narrow self-righteous prism...'the good guys dont make mistakes'. Opposition situational analysis has been lead by a COLOUR REVOLUTION template constructed outside Zimbabwe. In war both tactically and stratigically, an over reliance upon self delusion only serves to hand victory to the opponent. The intention to create mass protest movement to unseat the OPFOR regime was only a viable option if carried out as part of a full blown insurgency strategy; too much was left to chance and fate and hope and circumstance.
Much like Adolf Hitlers last gasp Ardennes offensive in December 1944. The Ardennes Offensive ( 16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945 ) was a major German offensive on the Western Front and was launched towards the end of World War II . This offensive was called Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein and it is pertinent due to the fact that the two main prongs of its attack are prime examples of strategic and tactical considerations at work and are relevant to the Zimbabwe case due to the following reasons.
As with political power struggles, the success of any military offensinve is based upon how closely the plans written on paper and theorhetical ambitions reflect the objective reality of the situation on the ground. The battle is a classic example that shows that merely wishing for victory is worlds away from the type of correct ground analysis that makes victory a certainty.
In brief summary the German offensive relied on the false hope that the enemy wold not resist, the false hope that kinetic momentum and pressure would sweep all before them, the false hope that all that they said would happen would take place; that INTEL was only needed to the front but not in any depth.
The two tank armies charged with gaining the objective, are the equivalent of political ideas...they failed because there was little flexibility in the plan. The 6th Tank Army had the more direct route to the objective it held the weight of the strategic success on its line of attack; yet it had the least hospitable terrain to traverse. The comparison could be to the use of the direct arguement raised in 2002 of OPFOR LEGITIMACY...here the thrust of the opposition case was to fight with a direct strategy based upon the simple point...our country is now in the hands of an illegitimate regime...this was the toughest terrain but success here would have meant knowing a fight had to be properly prepared for; but winning that fight would have meant winning the battle. The 5th Tank Army had the path easier to traverse, but it was an indirect route, its attack lead largely away from the objective...This example is akin to the economic arguement we are now faced with....we/you are poor because these people are in charge.
Indeed tactical blows have been landed but to only a very limited strategic effect. The planned goal for these arguements has not been achieved.
Rather than heed this call as hoped many Zimbabweans elected to adapt to the harsh circumstances or leave. The political arguement that national economics wholly determined the state of the individual rejected as a firm rallying point of protest, when reality showed individuals choosing to determine the state of their own economics. The switching to the economic arguement allowing the OPFOR to stage its own anti-colonialism defence where much of the intellectaul and psychological damage done by their poor record was turned into a race baiting rallying point...The idea that sanctions rigged the elections against the OPFOR, the propaganda document released on the 25 March 2008 and threats that the opposition are Western stooges seeking to reverse the gains of the land take overs and the liberation struggle, being examples of such. A check steeling the minds of their supporters against 'surrender' due to the fear of consequences of defeat; much like the hardening of resolve created when American prisoners were found executed.
Though many have predicted a major OPFOR political / physical offensive for months if not years, the present attacks still seem to surprise some. The degree of surprise achieved today similar to that suffered by the Allies. The causes overconfidence, a preoccupation with their own offensive plans, poor reconnaissance, and the relative lack of intelligence contacts in vital areas.
For the Germans gaining and consolidating a series of limited objectives along the tougher but more direct path would have served a greater strategic purpose over a longer period of time, taking manageable steps to victory, rather than placing all hopes on one ill concieved gamble, but these considerations were dismissed for transient reasons.
Just as Western 'gun-boat', 'megaphone' diplomacy, and financial ties force the opposition to resist commonsense today.
The main assault was checked so emphasis was placed upon the secondary movement. Indeed a level of tactical progress was made but at the expense of overall strategic success. In Zimbabwe we are faced with a situation where we are told constantly that election success is victory yet no regime removal strategy exists. As with the German attack there seems little point hailing success if your real path is denied and all 'success' is on the wrong front. The economy is crippled, yet no damage has been done to the real power of the state.
The success of the battle on the economic front will not prevent a direct confrontation in the battle of legitimacy. Hobbled by a failure to create an organised committed radicalized and fearless base of discontent. Reliance upon 'peaceful-nonviolent' civic groups that are all bark and no teeth, to highlight regime brutality and over reliance on a form of political rhetoric which has no depth in relation to peoples discontents and no means of allaying security fears has stalled the real effort. In short a plan that owed more to theory than reality; relying on a politics that is heavily padded with wholly useless name calling, populist slogan chanting and faith in hidden political alliances and agendas bringing forth a non-existent international pressure is going no where.
As in the Ardennes, enemy stubbornness, German lack of realism and loss of momentum cost them the day.
The rhetoric fuelled / hidden agenda based strategy of the opposition has lead to the great levels of self delusion and rejection of honest critique that forms the foundation of self deception that over the years has lead to completely unnecessary failure and losses.
As the new wave of struggle approaches we must be clear what inputs make the new vision different from everything else that has gone before it. Our mindsets and how we communicate our ideas are the first and last line of defence.
No organizational structure is perfect, neither 100% strong nor 100% weak. Success in this endeavour rests upon correct situation awareness and the right calculations; constantly pitting our strengths versus known OPFOR weaknesses.
I saw the above headline and read the following line ...."would you recognise a coup when you saw one? Yakatorohwa kupu kudhara!" (the Coup has already happened!) ... These two compelled me to write a series of opinion pieces on the issue of war in relation to the ongoing and as yet forthcoming conflict in Zimbabwe. Passive resistance, motivated by the hope of 'change' has failed... The method arose through faith in the idea that turning the other cheek...contorting self into accepting savage brutality... being what one is not, in order to be given what one could be...could soften the heart and open the mind of cunning, insecure, barbaric oppression.
Resistance to tyranny relies on a deep sense of self worth, self-knowledge that can suffer all attempts at negation, that can imaginatively obtain victory from bitter set-back and sacrifice; as sacrificing the self for another self is the only means to that greater end that we call freedom. Until thinking, feeling and speaking focusses and remoulds Zimbabweans beyond their differences, beyond our indifference, with insight and awareness that extends beyond fear and selfish self preservation, Zimbabweans will not have the strength or imagination to resist the naked Emperor. I sat and wrote this as Part 1.
· What is war?
A conflict of state interests solved through the use of force of arms.
· What should be the ultimate aim of war?
Peace.
· What should be the highest form of warfare?
To defeat your enemy spiritually and psychologically before any physical encounter takes place.
Sun-Tzu’s idea, expressed in The Art of War: “The highest form of warfare is to attack strategy itself”. Don’t focus on something as nebulous as breaking “the enemy’s will to win”. Break tangible things, like the enemy’s objectives, plans, and ideas. Break his strategy.
· What should be the purpose of war?
The purpose of war is to use violence in order to achieve political (sic. economic) ends.
· What should be learnt before war?
That the march to war can often be prevented by consideration of what might be lost; but that the march to war will not be stopped because so many believe they have so much to gain from waging war.
· What should be learnt during war?
That there will always be more to learn; and that what we thought was certain, is at times not certain at all.
In each of these cases, the reason the previous generation fails against the newest generation is simply that the previous generational strategies cannot account for the new dimensions of the conflict, or were not formed to address the new dimensions. Rather, the previous generational strategies were formed to address the dimensions of the generation before, with no leap-frogging to x+2: When the goal is to win and the present exigencies are pressing, the need is only to be ‘one-upped’, and resources will be targeted accordingly.
· What should be learnt after war?
That better ways of solving state problems exist, that societies and governments talk about peace but justify unresolved aggressive tendencies and have short memories; that history is bound to repeat itself. That all past efforts, lessons and sacrifices will be forgotten and preparations should be made, because the next war is just around the corner.
The men who pulled up in three white pickup trucks were looking for Patson Chipiro, head of the Zimbabwean opposition party in Mhondoro district. His wife, Dadirai, told them he was in Harare but would be back later in the day, and the men departed.
An hour later they were back. They grabbed Mrs Chipiro and chopped off one of her handsandboth her feet. Then they threw her into her hut, locked the door and threw a petrol bomb through the window.
The killing last Friday - one of the most grotesque atrocities committed by Robert Mugabe's regime since independence in 1980 - was carried out on a wave of worsening brutality before the run-off presidential elections in just over two weeks...
'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security...'
The crisis in Zimbabwe has been pigeonholed as a human rights crisis, the helpless victims versus all powerful victimizers tag suits some interests; but this label does not give full agency to explore all solutions, nor does it offer the overall picture of a crisis of political and fiscal control in which human rights violations are a warning sign of worse to come. I am sure the unwritten motto of the 21st Century is something like...dont blame others if you failed to find a way to help yourself.
Zimbabweans at home and abroad face a hard battle ahead. The work needed to be done to free the nation is real; pointless gestures and simplistic arguments do nothing but offer distraction away from that very real task.
The paternalistic view that economically the resolution to this problem must come from outside...contradicted when the world waxes lyrical about how terrible things are, and then states that Zimbabwe's present mess is for Zimbabweans to resolve.
The first post regarding this topic touched on issues relating to the need to create a strong community foundation. This post looks at the methods and psychology behind that same need.
The term ‘Strategy’ means different things to different people. For some, it is classical military front-line strategy; a master plan. For others, it is an amalgamation of flashpoints that create an overall ‘tipping Point’. However what is required by any useful strategist is a rapid cognition of systems and opportunities within competitive situations. It is the ability to condense information into important ‘bullet points’ within, detailed analysis.
In a world that increasingly presents power as the power of economic blocs, and credits skilled and organized human resources, decent service provision and sound infrastructure as the secret to success; any nation that functions upon the old foundations of fractious, cut-throat, internal competition and which is not designed to help people in complex situations where there is, at the same time, too little information and too many unknowns will lag behind.
Let us be clear African nations are not 'poor', because Africa the continent is poor. African nations are ‘poor’ because they are badly organised. An inefficiently managed social political mechanism will never bring forth any level of widespread ecomonic potential and because many countries are dominated by narrow-minded ideas relating solely to the retention of power; policies of ‘divide and rule’ remain the order of the day, drastically undermining the full development of national human resources potential.
The social political systems and structures of economic growth and governance absorbed by many of the continents nation states since their ‘Independence’ lacked credible nation building policies and strategies.
It often remains the case, that when describing the state of things the account of gross levels of poverty and mismanagement are qualified by counter argument that presents a carnival of the luxury exists on the wealthier side of the ‘African’ street, in the form of lavish consumer consumption that is an indication that progress exists, because some are leading an ostentatious lifestyle.
The educated opinion then becomes that, although conditions are tough for the majority, things are not really that bad when one considers the latest levels of investment, the mansions and various types of exclusive automobiles gracing the streets of various capitals. Observers conclude, on the evidence of that veneer of luxury, that, despite the gloomy picture often portrayed, Africans are progressing and competing with the competition at the highest global levels.
Frantz Fanon’s, ‘The Wretched of the Earth’ is a significant work with regards to this topic. Fanon was writing about things that he observed during the fifties and sixties about the behaviour of people in the aftermath of independence; on the behaviour of the state and elites in relation to the rest of the populace. “The accepted rule is that the greatest wealth is surrounded by the greatest poverty and nothing can be done about it”.
The lessons remain true today; those pitfalls that are still discernible and obvious. The flaunting of luxury by what is little more than an elite caste of privileged political gangsters, preying on national economies and calling it a celebration of success.
Allied to these is a ‘sophisticated’ well educated African imitation of the industrial middle class that exists in form, but without any real substance or understanding of their function within the wider social political eco system.
A general acceptance of injustice and underdevelopment as just the way things happen to be, must surely be an unflattering reflection on the condition of morals, common decency and principles within the society.
This is NOT an unnecessary rant against members of society that are doing exceptionally well, under the harsh circumstances. The major concern is that the self centred behaviour demonstrated at the individual level is largely a reflection of the behaviour of the state in relation to development. Post-independence Africa has seen evidence of excessive incompetence spearheaded by nepotism, unchecked spending on status projects – the presidential palaces, mansions, tenders given to numerous non-productive projects. All to satisfy insecure political ego; feeding on the illusion of development and modernity, while productive sectors are neglected and eventually sold off. It is in this context that unsurprisingly, a large amount of money is spent on sprucing up the image of the tarnished and flawed for state visits while at a deeper level services are crumbling. Sadly, for some people, these prestige projects – the mansions and flashy motor cars represent growth/modernity – even though many of the roads on which they travel are in disrepair and pot-holed or the nation lacks the power to light those mansions or drive its own manufacturing base.
The pursuit of individual wealth is okay, but not when that policy feeds into and is symptomatic of the larger problem – the absorption with superficial, unproductive ideas that exist at the expense of genuine national progress. Instead of talking up luxurious consumer goods as symbols of success in a country swamped by such poverty, it should be a cause for concern as a warning sign of something that’s gone out of kilter both at the individual and national level. Rational judgment rebels against naked poverty, causing men and women to pursue and define success in the insubstantial and shallow terms of unbridled ‘conspicuous consumption’. This becomes the end in itself when resources could be channelled into causes that are more worthy, that could benefit the national good.
Fanon defined it as not harnessing intellectual and technical capital for the good of the people, says Fanon, this underdeveloped middle class becomes cynically bourgeoisie. Instead of demanding the development of systems and products that would give their nations a competitive edge, the elite and counterfeit middle class in Africa simply put resources into exploring and pursuing the pathway of limited gain and wholesale self-indulgence, trying hard to keep up with the lifestyle of the middle classes of the industrial nations without ever offering trends and ideas of their own.
Little interest exists in developing anything which offers no immediate personal gain. The profitable spaces within the social economic system are subject to “raiding” tactics, developing a ‘gangster’ economy with those in the most advantageous positions seeking maximum personal advantage. The original excuse was that their behaviour was a demonstration of the effects of the past marginalisation. Progress is replacing the former masters and living their lifestyle, even if that means keeping alive the same system of divide and rule, conspicuous consumption and arrogant display. Fanon wrote that African elites are, “senile before they know the fearlessness or the will to succeed of youth”. Their ambitions limited only to acquiring the superficial glitter that the world has to offer. That is why a new level of thinkers must replace the old.
It is the necessity of understanding what is important when we are drowning in day to day events; what information must inform our decisions for a productive long term end.
To succeed at a national level, decisions made in the moment, should come with the underlying questions regarding preparation to face the consequences of those decisions, making the right decision means making the mental room to comprehend all.
Effective strategy implementation dictates that eventually no one shall be an island cut off from all others. That in the end the group is a stronger engine of generating human progress than the individual. History shows this; over and over when people have combined their individual strengths to negate individual limitations.
The stability of a group depends on two factors: 1) Cancellation of any policy of divide and rule, those blocs that succeed recognise the value of their own humanity and turn that recognition into a strongly shared mission (goals and values) and 2) Awareness of the natural potential that can be harnessed not just exploited; a widespread knowledge regarding national strengths in four key areas: environment, land, social make-up, and method has lead to those who know gaining ground over those who know too little. Once people understand how the relative weaknesses of their individual position, can be offset by collective strength plans can be made and structures created to address any weaknesses. In comparing the five dimensions of a position, complete domination in one or two areas is less powerful than a slightly dominant position in three or more areas, and subjective impressions of positions are easier to change that their physical attributes. To simplify what needs to be done:
· The way forward: Clarify the national mission and tie every other element to it. Any vision has to be clear and simple, a desire that most people share that they can contribute to investing in and building.
· Environment: You cannot sail against the wind. Natural opposition to stagnation will always mean a desire to make progress. To counter suspicion and fear plan and execute small achievements to build confidence, highlight these as stepping stones to achieving bigger schemes. Obstacles WILL be present but don’t constantly blame the politicians or ‘the other’, the key is to know where the mindset of each participant is at in relation to the plan. No matter how like-minded; each person has a SPECIFIC special interest; decisions should be based upon honest understanding of the objective and how this corresponds with personal gain.
· Methods:
a. Allow yourself the mental discipline to get rid of bad ideas and productively utilise mistakes. Any fiasco terribly executed in terms of setting, audience, and speech that hurts is a lesson, become brilliant by comparison when the bell sounds for the next round.
b. Study success to gain success, it is good to recognise that which is done well as well as shy away from that which was done poorly, the objective is to manifest a productive model.
c. Contrast different methods. Give ONLY what works and Be SPECIFIC, humble and approachable.
Strategic cognition requires seeing the environment from the clearest most objective perspective the balancing of opposing forces. Most of us are trained, incorrectly, that all suspicions are good. Thats bad. Strategic cognition demands seeing opportunity and potential even in the midst of seeming defeat and adversity. The surrender when things dont go exactly our way mentality that we are exposed to since birth, unfortunately, teaches the opposite. Admit it we’ve all gone along with much of this backward thinking. This battle being fought by Zimbabweans is for the soul of the nation. Circumstances demand we give our best, if we remain distracted by empty rhetoric and futile gesture we will lose far more than our freedom.
Time within this struggle has shown me that what seems like substantive proposal is often feeble demanding vacuum; that often the issue is about being seen to be doing something even if ultimately it is a show that does nothing. Empty gestures DO NOT address the problem they HALT proper analysis and examination, by setting the terms of the question wrongly, they become instrumental in creating further setbacks. The challenge is to understand the meaning of ‘success’ when weighed against opulent displays of ‘diversion’.
It is a damning picture that we do not feed or progress our nation but celebrate the buying of top of the range cars as a symbol of accomplishment. The infection now so deeply spread that those watching from the outside do so with envy knowing they want nothing more than to indulge mindlessly in those same superficial luxuries.
Colonialism has gone but something worse than physical subjugation has replaced it; something within the mind; we are trying to break out, but we cannot so long as we continue to build the high prison walls that help contain us and decorate them with false images and displays of progress.
The recent acts of brutality in South Africa exposed the economic, social and political weakness and vulnerability of many within the Diaspora. This post seeks to present ideas as to WHY and HOW the community might pool their talents and resources as an organized 'bloc' that has the ability to pool resources, invest in and own assets and add value to the national and 'international' brand.
Ask any number of people living within the diaspora and they will tell you the same two things, that 1) The diaspora like the rest of the nation is full of talent and under utilized potential; 2) that all that potential can be pooled and put to great use if only people would get together and organize among themselves .
It is important to recognise five things 1) Talk is cheap; this is about prompting people to actively partake of productive actions 2) Good time management and good ideas are valuable assets 3) Having a long term national vision; the desire to create a national owner enterprise culture is an equal to the short to medium term goals of earning money as someone elses employee...one must be mindful however how to ballance each set of ideas for a productive end 4) The political situation in Zimbabwe will not last forever. We will not impress upon anyone the latest inflation figures or talk about the addition or subtraction of one zero or twenty from the currency. As much as people now fling themselves into partisan political camps, this series of posts is about solution via the creation of politically neutral social-economic institions. History shows us that eventually its the money that has the power. All political turmoil makes way for economic monopoly and exploitation as also shown by the number of multinational companies, and the various foreign governments (SWF) waiting to gain an economic advantage in Zimbabwe once all the political troubles are over 5) The globalized world is moving on and places of significance are only available to those who are ready and willing and organized enough to take them...
Nationally Zimbabweans are going through a very tough time but opportunities for growth exists and others can be created; to facilitate the emergeance of a greater nation rising out of the ashes of a now failing political status quo.
As strange as it may seem...the community does have a choice, to become leaders in Africa and the rest of the world, or give in to dire circumstance and follow so many others, trapped in a social political rut as yet another independent African statethat is heavily dependent on aid and charity. Zimbabwe moving through the world with begging bowl in hand, without any motivation or means to completely turn away from such an undignified and unnecessary state of existence.
How to organise is based upon investing in ideas and projects that come from those innovators that exist within many of the familiar institutions that are already within our midst, church groups, family genius, existing or fledgling business ventures...individual entrepreneurship.
Why we dont organise is often based upon an attitude of mistrust and the fact that many now place more value in the psychology of the 'short-term gain' seeking hustler, and overlook the vision and the long term program of the astute business profressional.
Over the years a culture of corruption and patronage has undermined genuine enterprise culture. Skill and ability within business and community organisation have been downgraded in favour of nepotism and seeking favours due to loyalty to some chef or another. Thus what people know is deemed less important that who they were connected to. The result of this being that a few gained much in a culture that rewarded its own wrong doing rather than properly good, sound ideas.
The effect of a culture of political patronage has been to produce a nation that no longer believes in ability as the foremost route to success. A culture that fails to understand that human society is a fragile eco-system that functions or falls based upon the quality of its management structures and institutions.
Instead of a society based upon ability we have state sponsored incongruity, a system created to serve the interests of a tiny parasitic minority at the expsense of the vast majority. An 'every man for himself' - dog eat dog culture that fails to take stock of its dangerous inability to produce its own material wants or serve its own maintenance needs. It is a sin born of the OPFOR regimes incompetence and lack of experience of civilian governance. Inexperience covered up with profligate displays of commercial spending sprees, constant political paranoia and obscene bouts of violence to silence critics. A pipe bursts, it remains burst, a generator fails it remains broken, a rubbish pile mounts up it remains uncollected and unprocessed...a health service deteriorates it remains dysfunctional...A manufacturing base crumbles..private capital or foreign nations will deal with it. Cash in hand rather than innovation and skill is now king. If the solution cant be bought it... the issue will remain neglected and in a state of disrepair...
The one arguement in favour of the 28 years of the OPFOR regime, is that it created one of the most educated populations in Africa. Part of the reason why many fellow African nations are said to be reacting so slowly to the ongoing crisis is that Zimbabwe's downfall has benefitted many of them in terms of inputs of skilled labour. Be that as it may; the question remains... why make so much of Zimbabwe's great education system or business class under the OPFOR regime, when that same education system and same business class was not used properly to serve the needs of the nation? Surely the point of educating the populace is not merely to satisfy the boastful ego of politicians. What happened to giving people the ability to turn around a crumbling economy and infrastructure? What empirical standard makes party loyalty more important than national efficiency? Where was the sense in offering commercial farms or businesses to people that have no skill as commercial farmers or business owners?
The OPFOR regime claim that these acts safeguard a black racial heritage, while its militias brutilize, torture and kill fellow Africans for voting against the regime. Violating the very idea of one person one vote that so many died for during the liberation war.
In reaction to this, the official opposition has responded with a protest model that at certain levels uses the economic downturn as a weapon and uses the helplessness and destitution caused by OPFOR profligacy as a main tool to beat the regime in front of the court of internaional opinion. The greater the level of suffering on display, so the arguement goes, the greater the moral case against the OPFOR. 80% unemployment, hunger, a fall in life expectancy...these are now political tools rather than issues to be addressed immediately. This strategy of using the misfortune of others for gain has bred what many refer to as a donor money dependency culture. Highlight an issue, write a funding plan, seek finances. So long as the crisis exists the cash will flow.
Within this framework the crisis has become a money spinner for various parties; some Zimbabweans have becme a new level of mercantile opportunist feeding off the nation's misery. Alongside these a wealth of crisis orientated 'save Zimbabwe' charities and NGOs and individuals have gained materially or forwarded dubious political agendas entering Zimbabwe claiming to cater to the ongoing destitution and substituting the role of government rather than offering the people freedom through schemes that deliver econmic agency or helping them to demand the services that the government offered to uphold and provide within its manifesto.
Sadly it is common knowledge that certain personalities within the opposition have gained or stand to gain significantly financially from the global backlash against the regime; thus it is no real surprise that no sense of social responsibility, or care, or economic interest has been displayed by the leadership in the form of building up the community via strong economic organization. When asked about this the answer always given, is that it is not the responsibility of the opposition to carry out any of the functions of government while not in the role of government. It is stressed that it is for the OPFOR regime to act in the government role materially, even though the basis of all opposition to the OPFOR regime is that it is illegitimate in its role as a government.
The worsening economic situation was used to over ride the earlier arguements of political legitimacy, it was to be an irresistable weapon used to create a critical mass of public resentment within the country. The plan failed on two accounts, the OPFOR smashed the urban protest base during Operation Murambatsvina - Operation Drive Out Trash or Operation Drive Out Rubbish), also officially known as Operation Restore Order, is a large scale Zimbabwean government campaign to forcibly clear urban 'slum' areas across the country. The campaign started in 2005 and according to United Nations estimates has affected at least 2.4 million people. OPFOR officials characterize the operation as a crackdown against illegalhousing and commercial activities, and as an effort to reduce the risk of the spread of infectious disease in these areas. Along with this many of Zimbabwe's workers elected to vote with their feet and leave the country rather than stay and fight.
We are told that OPFOR regime assets have been frozen and that a US$ 2 billion reconstruction package exists once the OPFOR regime has been removed. However what prevents anyone building up the diaspora community as an economic base that surpasses the power of the OPFOR financially?
The issue at hand is that no one that cares should be satisfied with this level of wasted national potential. Why flaunt shallow bought western consumer style as the eptiome of wealth within a developing nation, knowing that behind it there is absolutely no substance nor development? What is African Independence beyond an indulgence in Western consumerism; with no means, ideas or ability to manufacture or decide any of our needs, or maintain any of our required systems?
The coup de tat that took on March 29 2008, replacing the civilian power of the OPFOR regime with their securocrats, former defence ministers and the commanders of the OPFOR security services.
The concern written of here is the inability of many to recognise this reality. The Military is at this moment running Zimbabwe; creating and consolidating a nationwide infrastructure of terror and intimidation (torture camps, widespread militarisation, violence and intimidation of opponents...) a parallel set up to their entrenched, nationwide information gathering network.
The promise of the re-emergence of order is welcome but it is spun as if the promise of change is as good as the reality of change.
On March 29 the voting process was dismissed out of hand, THIS event should be the spark that concluded the pretence that the election process in and of itself is a means to bring a viable change to the country.
History shows however that this is not the case.
We are not pawns.
Rather than see reality political opponents of the OPFOR dictatorship have opted for a continuance of their dangerous idealism and approved state of denial.
People having chosen to promote the act of the VOTE process knowing that voting in Zimbabwe has nothing to do with changing the current OPFOR regime.
The current state of play is one where fear is rationalized and dismay made into social theory and excuse, today the act of taking the change so long denied is dreaded more than the present disorder that exists.
This inability to confront the bullies at the level of reality rather than promises of impending jam tomorrow has created a bitter yet sweet state of focus upon an ever crumbling day to day survival and historic amnesia.
It has cleared the national mind of all but a hazy sense of national identity or loyalty. The exclusion of Zimbabweans from their own nation, both as an identity, a thought or feeling is reaching its climax. There is no difference between the refugee and the new found refuge.
It is the failing state that is seen as the hopeless cause; a view that grows exponentially. We are promised that 27 June will be the end...the latest of a string of protests euphemistically promised as the ‘FINAL PUSH’.
Begun in 2002/3...it was a civil revolt brutally put down...the rhetoric of peaceful democratic change versus the reality of dictatorship. It provided yet another upside down, back to front parade that one only experiences once in a while in dreams. Those wonderful visions of a new Heaven on Earth that are totally contradicted by the nightmare reality of the lucid waking moment.
Zimbabwe's liberation is now more resident in our hopes and dreams...all suggestions of confronting the murderers is ignored as a return to order would be forfeiting this new fantastical domain where chaos has so many beneficiaries.
This is the strength of this seemingly endless struggle for the nation Robert Mugabe has turned into his feudal kingdom.
It has weakened all but those who will gain the most at the end, it has fed the imagination more than the belly...but this furore of fantasies and dreams has tempted Zimbabweans to pastures new.
The full grocery range of political nihilism is there for all to pick and place within their protest basket: from an empty will to power; hoping that (SOMEONE-God, UN, AU, US, EU, SADC- WILL DO SOMETHING!) to a will to helplessness; where people assure themselves that individually they are too powerless to do anything beyond satisfy their own lives.
Powers exist that could influence things but they exist with their own agenda and behind a front of moral asceticism, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_internal_defense doing overtly what the CIA used to do covertly. It is wrong for Zimbabweans to be fooled. The dishonest promotion of a political activism bordering on Ghandism is killing more than it saves. The basis of its moral theme is one of resentment, the revenge of the socially weak against the morally weak. A critical mass is sought but terror of ‘Mugabe’ as demagogue, the needs and requirements of survival and a wholly inadequate opposition strategic and tactical base have communicated a storyline and sequence of events that is appealing to the apathy of a politically and in parts morally bewildered population.
The line of approach should be that we shall have our freedom in Zimbabwe though the heavens fall. The idea that we recognise what the military hawks are doing via the back door and we will oppose it to the very last.
The idea that national liberation can be found in never ending promises of change alone, or in dreams like the ‘final’, FINAL PUSH or rigged March 29 votes, or 27 June RUN-OFFs sponsored and controlled by the military dictatorship; is a dangerous fallacy promoted for mass appeal without any serious planning of realistic contingencies.
The promotion of ‘the change dream’ as reality does not allow people caught within the mess to adequately re-imagine the parameters of their own agency and act upon these new ideas. Confusing the dream of an election victory with the reality of forming a new government will not prepare people and will not force them to strategise for the coming worst case scenario.
Without a realistic view the past will repeat itself, the cycle will continue in language and deeds both all encompassing and degenerative. Until the next ‘FINAL’ PUSH.
Today I write seeking to correct a fatal flaw that was highlighted by a visitor to this sight. In the process of trying to raise awareness... I was told... do not write continuously in the negative but sometimes to save lives offer due credit as well as the steps to make change. So as well as the bitter truth that must be the hardest pill to swallow more will be added to give a more rounded progressive view.
If truth be told the smart money in Zimbabwe wants a healed nation, very few people want the current level of 'scortched earth', 'last man standing', winner takes all' politics we have seen recently and over the past 28 years. Where all calculated strategy is based upon negative mudslinging or attacks that have little to do with building policies or constituencies; but everything to do with tearing political opponents (sic percieved enemies) down.
Pointing to the public failure that has befallen the institutions most intimately involved in shaping the spiritual and moral lives of Zimbabweans; that could lead to a moral resistance and uplift is mandatory. However also suggesting ways we can build objectively, is better than just breaking down fault through argument. Offering sound alternatives is also key.
(Does it mean the OPFOR dictatorship is off the hook? Of course not.)
Between ever changing roles as bystanders and apologists and the dysfunctional nature of the leadership culture, there exists a consensus of ordinary people seeking to express their own agency. It is a body of thought formed outside the current partisan political arena and it is gaining influence. For those who disagree, I ask one simple thing: quote one inspirational sentence from our modern ‘political leaders’. For all our culturally inflicted acts and displays of social deference, all our forgiveness of any sin of political manipulation and mendacity, or turning the other cheek over any murderous transgression, what gains have we made in ten years of rancour?
In a time that cries out for brilliance of thought and a keenness of minds that are pregnant with solutions; who remembers a word uttered by any of them that was not born of expedience or combative?
For all the intellectual investment and examination that has been unloaded onto this Zimbabwe issue, who can remember an effective theory that captures the imagination or demands enthusiastic reflection? Who has foresight in this time of loss of visionary sight? That spirit others call greatness? Within this situation, we are all the potential contributors of the better or worse that is to come.
Visionary foresight and insight is ours. The founding basis of any great leap forwards into the future of all progressive nations. Often stifled by a small-mindedness that is the path of least resistance.
Today, all to many are distracted by a quest for survival that only offers a narrowness of view. The crime is that when the best should have been found, some reduced the potency of reason;reduced it to a vehicle of limited imagination, reduced it to one question that now dominates all thought about our nation.
Where is the real power now in Zimbabwe? Where that answer is found, is precisely my point.
At this very moment Zimbabweans are being asked to resist something that both sides of the political divide call, evil (the word has acquired an imperfect and impotent association overly used by both sides.)
What one side of 'intellectuals' have called decisively a fight against oppression, the other side calls a fight against colonial imperialism. This argument though occurs in a restricted world that has been reshaped into new-fangled immoral order that misuses and reuses for its purposes the very language that once shaped the parameters of our imperfect yet developing order. That both political camps claim to stand for moral resistance but breed an infernal confusion in the body politic is telling; because that moral resistance is never fully articulated as productivity for the country only destruction, either as manipulation and terrible violence or economic hardship guided and instigated from outside the country. What is required was a feat of ingenious proportion, to pass the political test of ‘authenticity', the holy grail of all political ideology...to actually create the better world one claims to be fighting for.
Some place all hope in the approaching model, personified in the hopeful speeches and oft filmed bloody sacrifices, of the MDC and certain civil groups. Yes they are correct but wide of the mark to stop asking questions of our would be saviours, or giving up all powers of agency. When have political promises of economic recovery and good governance alone ever been ample enough to change actual reality? Yes the poetry of politics articulates the problem as inflation, the rise of the parallel market, the loss of democratic practices, human rights abuses.
We must not forget what sort Zimbabwe people are now living in; where many Zimbabweans via sins of omission or commission have become parties in the very culture of abuse so many want to see end. Adapting to on the nations misfortune, hoping its affects will trouble others and benefit ourselves.
We must not forget the sort of Zimbabwe we want to live in. The exclusion of Zimbabweans from their own future, either as an expression of moral fibre, a deliberation or sentiment has reached its end.
What large ideals can be sought, where nothing but the actions of narrow minds now exist?
When will we remember the simple contribution of being able to allow opposing views, to hear as much as we want to be heard; the ability to say sorry and mean it; to know that greed is wrong as much as making others live in fear is wrong. To understand the all too human concept of do unto others as you would have then do unto you.
Zimbabwe’s new dawn will be a tabula rasa; a ‘clean slate’; we place upon it what we will. This will be based upon self-knowledge founded within a void of indifference breeding nihilism; or genuine progressiveness; but not both.
The longer a bullet is in flight the slower it begins to travel and the more it loses altitude. This is called "the drop". A hunter takes into account the drop, the temperature, barometric pressure and wind direction and velocity when lining up a money shot. Over distance you want to have your crosshairs above the target. The bullet will then "drop" where you want it.
Special Forces: Spetsnaz / Vympel / Survival skills
NEO-LIBERAL 'LIBERATION' (control)
SHOCK DOCTRINE (created) problem ~ (orchestrated) reaction~ (manipulated) solution
FAILURE / SUCCESS Tony Robbins ~ Andrew Mwenda ~ Financial Literacy: Harrine Freeman Pt. 2
KEEPING AFRICA SMALL - DENYING TRADE KEEPING DEPENDENCY CULTURE AND AID addiction alive
truth versus mind control
"I care not what puppet is placed on the throne of England to rule the Empire. The man who controls Britain's money supply controls the British Empire and I control the British money supply."...Nathan Rothschild [1777~1836] Financier, Founder of Rothschild banking dynasty
"...what foolery to be toasting an 'independent press.' We are tools, and the vassals of rich men behind the scenes. We are jumping-jacks. They pull the strings and we dance. Our time, our talents, our lives, our possibilities, all are the property of other men. We are intellectual prostitutes"...John Swinton Chief Editorial Writer of the New York Times when asked to toast an 'Independent Press'
The technotronic era involves the gradual appearance of a more controlled society. Such a society would be dominated by an elite, unrestrained by traditional values. [T]he capacity to assert social and political control over the individual will vastly increase. It will soon be possible to assert almost continuous surveillance over every citizen and to maintain up-to-date, complete files, containing even most personal information about the health or personal behavior of the citizen in addition to more customary data. These files will be subject to instantaneous retrieval by the authorities."...Zbigniew Brzezinski 'Between Two Ages'
Take away humanity’s willingness to oppose tyranny and life will lose all meaning. Liberty does not stay long, with those that take its presence for granted.
Assata Shakur
Non Violence Disclaimer :-)
The authors of this site do not recommend or support the overthrow of any 'legitimate' government. The information contained herein is for purely academic purposes. Use or application of any of the techniques or ideas described herein could result in injury, death or incarceration. If you choose to use this information... (If you encounter any difficulty uploading the site pleaseREFRESHthe page)
Sanctions dont remove tyrants Sanctions just weaken populations
The problem with genocides... is how they've been framed. Genocides, like in Armenia, Rwanda, Darfur and Iraq, have repeatedly been (and still are) framed as conflicts. Conflicts imply that there are two sides to a problem - a problem that can be solved with the intervention of an impartial third party. "But with genocides...there's nothing to work out. One side is being targeted by another for the sole reason that the bully or genocidaire has contempt for the target. [... purposefully calls them targets, not victims, because it means the action and the responsibility lie solely with the bully.] There's nothing - at all - that the target can do. The only solution is for a third party to intervene and physically safeguard the target from the bully [or genocidaire]."
'In Zimbabwe it's a state of existence written about in the book, 'Animal Farm' a situation, where all are meant to be equal but in reality some are more equal than others. What was promised to the people has not been delivered.'
"...we are fighting an oppressive system, a system which we must dismantle. Once it is dismantled the evil has been removed so we can meet and mix as Zimbabweans." tongogara
'Evil' happens because speaking out against it..and actually stopping it are 2 different things...
I don't blame the Politicians alone; I blame the Ignorant, irresponsible citizenry that always seems to Put The same sleazy, lying mutha*fckers in Office in the First place. The selfish, greedy, opportunistic people that keep the corrupt in power long after they reveal that they are no good... I now look to All those people who claim to know right from wrong... to act with enough strength of conviction to correct a bad situation.
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