The two things that should worry all concerned Zimbabweans about this new struggle to liberate our nation from the OPFOR dictatorship are...
1) the POOR quality of RETURNS from the responses of ALL opposition to the OPFOR regime and...
2) that much overused statement said by Zimbabweans at home and abroad ..."SomeONE... MUST DO... SOME-THING!!!!"
The focus of this piece is the second concern.
The reason why ALL should dislike this statement is because of its debilitating affect upon the change movement...i.e. How can Zimbabweans seek to achieve any of what we seek if we dis-empower ourselves via the statements we use, that influence the mindsets we hold and the type of situational analysis we use?
As a strategy some parties in the opposition and their various backers have chosen to represent Zimbabweans as a powerless people, this serves the emotional and financial needs of a number of charitable interests.
But while Zimbabweans continue to outsource our struggle and its associate responsibilities to an overtly concerned, yet wholly uncaring and largely uninterested and impotent rest of the world we will do nothing significant for ourselves.
The idea behind the line is that some powerful 'OTHER' will come and solve the Zimbabwe issue...while in many cases we Zimbabweans disassociate ourselves from it and just get on with the business of our day to day survival.
I will qualify my statement, the struggle we face isn't based upon conflict alone, conflict is merely one means to a greater end...
The end in itself... is our right to our collective future as Zimbabweans.
The question we must ask ourselves is what responsibility do others have to securing that future and what responsibility do we have to securing it for ourselves...???
Two sayings come to mind when I consider the above point ...
The first states that ...one should never expect others to do for you...what you are not prepared to do for yourself...But if others are prepared to be conscripted into such a task expect, to pay a high price for their services.
Within the present crisis the OPFOR seem to claim one singular advantage over the current forces of opposition; to a man they have an idea what it is that they are fighting for.(no matter how misguided by propaganda we as their opponents might feel that vision is.)
At best the opposition can offer only a form of nebulous rhetoric based on wide ranging ideals such as "change" or "to save Zimbabwe"...but what cant be answered is what those things actually look like, or whose real interests are being served.
The OPFOR regime advocates wake up every morning and see all of the ill gotten gains they stand to lose should a change of government take place and thus they have a defensive mindset which gives them a philosophy rooted in tangible things.
By turning Zimbabwe's troubles from a crisis of legitimacy of governance into a crisis founded upon humanitarian charity and economic uncertainty, the OPPOSITION sanctified the idea that Zimbabweans are largely helpless and hopeless and defenseless and that a mass exodus to pastures new was a far more valid solution than staying put and fighting for a new government and system.
This mass dispersal of potential change makers was exacerbated by the OPFOR regime pogrom of house demolitions in 2005, internal divisions which saw the focus of many in the opposition switch to narrow considerations of internal partisan politics and a lack of real depth in opposition planning and structures who outsourced their welfare role for those they were claiming to represent to a myriad of charities and NGOs, many of which are funded by dubious neo-liberal sources.
The end result being Zimbabwe is dominated by an ethos of selfishness coming from the OPFOR regime and a donor fund dependency from the side of the opposition.
The end result forming an infectious 'everyman for himself' survival instinct.
Each point of view contributes to the progress of individuals.
Neither assists in offering Zimbabweans any sense of collective agency.
Therefore how can Zimbabwe be liberated when numbers of Zimbabweans are the opportunistic beneficiaries of the continued chaos???
Yet..."SomeONE... MUST DO... SOME-THING!!!!"
The second saying I remember is the following...There are two great families of founders. There are the architects , those that see and have the plan, the visionaries. Then there are those who lay the first stones, the builders and workers.
In this uncertain time we need both but seem to have neither.
For all the clamour and din raised against this oppression, the sum total of all those parts of fervour and well meaning angst amounts to nothing more than a great deal of noise; it does not amount to any real change or a true vision of a way forward.
The great speeches and gestures of solidarity are silent because most are founded upon hidden motives and economic agendas, the small kindnesses and great suffering of the ordinary man and woman are overlooked or used for propaganda by both sides.
Our analysts hold no objectivity, their subjective views merely take us around in circles back to the same square one..
Their final conclusions always rooted in the idea that....Zimbabweans are risk averse and powerless...and that... "SomeONE... MUST DO... SOME-THING!!!!"
We stand in the shadow of death, yet the issue concerns many of us only as fleeting moments.
For years we have been on display...paraded on the international stage...an ongoing act in the international circus; a tragic-comedy, a play that seems to have no end.
Our journey through this horror regularly posted online and in the media in near pornographic images of suffering and violence and stereotypes...
Our stoic reaction to the destruction used by some and abused by others, ridiculed by many and admired the world over by only a select few.
There is no structure or coherence.
Yet sitting within the heart of the OPFOR regime, comfortable within State House, the dear leader exists, hated yet revered.
The fearful and yet for some, lavish existence created around his narcissistic, yet insecure self image, shaken but not stirred by recent events.
Within him... there is nothing but a vast emptiness, it is the same desolation projected outwards in which we are all now trapped today, all of us now so lost.
Waiting ..."SomeONE... MUST DO... SOME-THING!!!!"
For years we have lied, we lived, danced, ran, laughed, cried, died; made signs and gestures within the confines of the space we thought was freedom...
But on closer inspection ..we see that what we thought was freedom is no such thing; only an illusion confined to the boundaries of his imagination, a space where he alone is sacred.
The Alpha and Omega...Before him there was no Zimbabwe after him there will be no Zimbabwe...
He sits in a chamber of his mansion, the room furnished with gold tables and chairs. A symbol common to dictators everywhere, a shrine to the inability to cheat ones own mortality.
The king of Zimbabwe, Robert I, who would have all those he perceives as his 'subjects' buried with him.
He remembers all of the speeches, shaking the fist, along with his vivid imagination.
The fist is his legacy, his essential and enduring contribution to national progress. Zanu PF ndeye ropa.
That is not to say that he is so far from us, Zimbabwe chose him and we keep him in his place with his court of jesters, military butchers and other sycophants, tethered to his system of patronage.
All exist under the power that Zimbabweans continue to give away.
He is grateful that so many see him as all powerful, that they see him as the giver of life and the bringer of death.
He isn't as he once was, the once sharp mind now a bit distracted; a bit hazy and lost.
Madness and tiredness and bouts of order and disorder intermingled.
The epitome of the corruption and weakness in every Zimbabwean soul, the lack of reason that makes all sin admissable so long as it is economically expedient.
That such madness should hold sway over us merely because it is opposed by a greater level of incompetence...is a shame.
When did men and women become so robbed of our power to act and our desire to reason freely?
Yet the King will give no apology, each culture has its madmen at the top, all humanity deserves this via those sins of commission and omission that allow liars and madmen and fools to become the heads of States.
Zimbabwe's political 'leader'... is aware of his failings and his ever growing feeling of tiredness and fragility of mind, the strings that attach him to the money men and to his JOC generals are all that hold him up on some days.
He knows there is anger...
But they have the power, bowed and dispersed and constantly outsmarted those who oppose his rule allow his existence and the continued existence of his court...it is a tribute... a beautiful thing for the king to witness.
The fear that people have of him and his court.
For years he has heard the same cry...
"SomeONE... Must Do... SOME-THING !!!!!..."
And knows that nothing will come of it.
In this period of time Zimbabwe, we do not have the leadership that we deserve... but then what are we going to do about this?
1) the POOR quality of RETURNS from the responses of ALL opposition to the OPFOR regime and...
2) that much overused statement said by Zimbabweans at home and abroad ..."SomeONE... MUST DO... SOME-THING!!!!"
The focus of this piece is the second concern.
The reason why ALL should dislike this statement is because of its debilitating affect upon the change movement...i.e. How can Zimbabweans seek to achieve any of what we seek if we dis-empower ourselves via the statements we use, that influence the mindsets we hold and the type of situational analysis we use?
As a strategy some parties in the opposition and their various backers have chosen to represent Zimbabweans as a powerless people, this serves the emotional and financial needs of a number of charitable interests.
But while Zimbabweans continue to outsource our struggle and its associate responsibilities to an overtly concerned, yet wholly uncaring and largely uninterested and impotent rest of the world we will do nothing significant for ourselves.
The idea behind the line is that some powerful 'OTHER' will come and solve the Zimbabwe issue...while in many cases we Zimbabweans disassociate ourselves from it and just get on with the business of our day to day survival.
I will qualify my statement, the struggle we face isn't based upon conflict alone, conflict is merely one means to a greater end...
The end in itself... is our right to our collective future as Zimbabweans.
The question we must ask ourselves is what responsibility do others have to securing that future and what responsibility do we have to securing it for ourselves...???
Two sayings come to mind when I consider the above point ...
The first states that ...one should never expect others to do for you...what you are not prepared to do for yourself...But if others are prepared to be conscripted into such a task expect, to pay a high price for their services.
Within the present crisis the OPFOR seem to claim one singular advantage over the current forces of opposition; to a man they have an idea what it is that they are fighting for.(no matter how misguided by propaganda we as their opponents might feel that vision is.)
At best the opposition can offer only a form of nebulous rhetoric based on wide ranging ideals such as "change" or "to save Zimbabwe"...but what cant be answered is what those things actually look like, or whose real interests are being served.
The OPFOR regime advocates wake up every morning and see all of the ill gotten gains they stand to lose should a change of government take place and thus they have a defensive mindset which gives them a philosophy rooted in tangible things.
By turning Zimbabwe's troubles from a crisis of legitimacy of governance into a crisis founded upon humanitarian charity and economic uncertainty, the OPPOSITION sanctified the idea that Zimbabweans are largely helpless and hopeless and defenseless and that a mass exodus to pastures new was a far more valid solution than staying put and fighting for a new government and system.
This mass dispersal of potential change makers was exacerbated by the OPFOR regime pogrom of house demolitions in 2005, internal divisions which saw the focus of many in the opposition switch to narrow considerations of internal partisan politics and a lack of real depth in opposition planning and structures who outsourced their welfare role for those they were claiming to represent to a myriad of charities and NGOs, many of which are funded by dubious neo-liberal sources.
The end result being Zimbabwe is dominated by an ethos of selfishness coming from the OPFOR regime and a donor fund dependency from the side of the opposition.
The end result forming an infectious 'everyman for himself' survival instinct.
Each point of view contributes to the progress of individuals.
Neither assists in offering Zimbabweans any sense of collective agency.
Therefore how can Zimbabwe be liberated when numbers of Zimbabweans are the opportunistic beneficiaries of the continued chaos???
Yet..."SomeONE... MUST DO... SOME-THING!!!!"
The second saying I remember is the following...There are two great families of founders. There are the architects , those that see and have the plan, the visionaries. Then there are those who lay the first stones, the builders and workers.
In this uncertain time we need both but seem to have neither.
For all the clamour and din raised against this oppression, the sum total of all those parts of fervour and well meaning angst amounts to nothing more than a great deal of noise; it does not amount to any real change or a true vision of a way forward.
The great speeches and gestures of solidarity are silent because most are founded upon hidden motives and economic agendas, the small kindnesses and great suffering of the ordinary man and woman are overlooked or used for propaganda by both sides.
Our analysts hold no objectivity, their subjective views merely take us around in circles back to the same square one..
Their final conclusions always rooted in the idea that....Zimbabweans are risk averse and powerless...and that... "SomeONE... MUST DO... SOME-THING!!!!"
We stand in the shadow of death, yet the issue concerns many of us only as fleeting moments.
For years we have been on display...paraded on the international stage...an ongoing act in the international circus; a tragic-comedy, a play that seems to have no end.
Our journey through this horror regularly posted online and in the media in near pornographic images of suffering and violence and stereotypes...
Our stoic reaction to the destruction used by some and abused by others, ridiculed by many and admired the world over by only a select few.
There is no structure or coherence.
Yet sitting within the heart of the OPFOR regime, comfortable within State House, the dear leader exists, hated yet revered.
The fearful and yet for some, lavish existence created around his narcissistic, yet insecure self image, shaken but not stirred by recent events.
Within him... there is nothing but a vast emptiness, it is the same desolation projected outwards in which we are all now trapped today, all of us now so lost.
Waiting ..."SomeONE... MUST DO... SOME-THING!!!!"
For years we have lied, we lived, danced, ran, laughed, cried, died; made signs and gestures within the confines of the space we thought was freedom...
But on closer inspection ..we see that what we thought was freedom is no such thing; only an illusion confined to the boundaries of his imagination, a space where he alone is sacred.
The Alpha and Omega...Before him there was no Zimbabwe after him there will be no Zimbabwe...
He sits in a chamber of his mansion, the room furnished with gold tables and chairs. A symbol common to dictators everywhere, a shrine to the inability to cheat ones own mortality.
The king of Zimbabwe, Robert I, who would have all those he perceives as his 'subjects' buried with him.
He remembers all of the speeches, shaking the fist, along with his vivid imagination.
The fist is his legacy, his essential and enduring contribution to national progress. Zanu PF ndeye ropa.
That is not to say that he is so far from us, Zimbabwe chose him and we keep him in his place with his court of jesters, military butchers and other sycophants, tethered to his system of patronage.
All exist under the power that Zimbabweans continue to give away.
He is grateful that so many see him as all powerful, that they see him as the giver of life and the bringer of death.
He isn't as he once was, the once sharp mind now a bit distracted; a bit hazy and lost.
Madness and tiredness and bouts of order and disorder intermingled.
The epitome of the corruption and weakness in every Zimbabwean soul, the lack of reason that makes all sin admissable so long as it is economically expedient.
That such madness should hold sway over us merely because it is opposed by a greater level of incompetence...is a shame.
When did men and women become so robbed of our power to act and our desire to reason freely?
Yet the King will give no apology, each culture has its madmen at the top, all humanity deserves this via those sins of commission and omission that allow liars and madmen and fools to become the heads of States.
Zimbabwe's political 'leader'... is aware of his failings and his ever growing feeling of tiredness and fragility of mind, the strings that attach him to the money men and to his JOC generals are all that hold him up on some days.
He knows there is anger...
But they have the power, bowed and dispersed and constantly outsmarted those who oppose his rule allow his existence and the continued existence of his court...it is a tribute... a beautiful thing for the king to witness.
The fear that people have of him and his court.
For years he has heard the same cry...
"SomeONE... Must Do... SOME-THING !!!!!..."
And knows that nothing will come of it.
In this period of time Zimbabwe, we do not have the leadership that we deserve... but then what are we going to do about this?
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment