A different view of Zimbabwe

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Recently i have noticed with delight the way media hypocrisy and the information war have been exposed, it has shown the world that not everything they see in the news is the truth. This has emboldened me to finally speak up.

The world condemned and literally forgot about Zimbabwe as we were placed under an illegal sanction regime, with full un-obscured intent to influence regime change, much like Russia is facing now. They claim that the sanctions are targeted and only affect those on the list, this is simply untrue and has resulted in a series of humanitarian disasters because even those who wished to help, were bullied into submission.

Zimbabwe, as reported has a human rights problem, but it is no more as pronounced as that which has been exposed in Israel or in the U.S. Like any other country we excel in some areas and fail in others. Noone is proud of our failings and we work to improve ourselves. Most people think that the Government of Zimbabwe represents us as a people, but in truth we view them more as the guys we give the job of "dealing with everything else".

As many of the politically aware already know, Zimbabwe thus far has shocked the world by 1) Not falling into civil war, 2) Not becoming a failed state. This is mainly because as a people, we suffer/enjoy some key elements that have changed the way we view the world and how we respond to foreigners. While your media and leadership demonized us and our "leadership"  , our media and "leadership" returned the favor. No matter what VOA said, we were on the receiving end of this and the truth was in the pudding. We began to resort to methods long employed by nations like Cuba who have also been forced to their knees for refusing imperial hegemony.

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Let me start with a back story.  I'll be brief.

After we gained our Independence (i wasn't even born yet), there was a promise that the liberators had made, and that was that land would be re-allocated in a more equal fashion. This was not just an economic promise, but one with very very strong cultural meaning and significance.

Initially, our former colonial masters, the British, agreed to help the new government purchase land from the white farmers and to help grow our agricultural industry. This all went well until two things happened, 1) A new government in the UK that refused to honor this agreement, and 2) pressure on the Zimbabwean government from former freedom fighters to allocate them land. This reached a tipping point when some of the leaders in the party began an illegal occupation of land, this was set to spiral into a very ugly battle. However President Mugabe quickly took control of the situation (he had sort of lost his grip on power), by taking control of the land occupation process and building a structure to it and creating policies that supported it. His argument to the people was bolstered by the non-forthcoming support from the Brits and the fact that nearly 20 years had passed and the previously agreed format for land re-distribution was very very slow.

This created a desperate situation for British interests in the country, can you imagine that spreading across all of southern africa nations? If they had all decided that the land issue (still very hot in the remaining countries) could be resolved by forced re-allocation? It would severely harm external interests and restrict their hold over the locals.

There were abuses of power and many disgusting abuses of human rights, including murder during that confusing time, some were not only displaced but also disfigured. I cannot and will never support the violence that was used in some cases , but let us not lay all the blame on one man. The president of Zimbabwe never sanctioned the use of deadly force and those who were caught were arrested and sentenced to jail, some are still serving their terms, and others will never get out.

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The fast track land reform program created the possibility of a revolution in southern Africa, to squash this, the powers that be decided to destroy Zimbabwe and use it as an example. That, coupled with inept management of the economy led to some amazingly disastrous, yet simultaneously hilarious situations. We laughed while we suffered, i remember one year in high school, i went to school with $5000, and was considered a wealthy student, only that lasted a little over three weeks. In the fourth week (boarding school), i had to call home and request $250K, hoping it would last the semester.

Anyway, It's good to know that somewhere in the world there are people who don't just accept things as they are given to them by the media. Zimbabwe looks forward to joining the rest of the world once again.

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00863/zimbabwe-dollar-460_863285c.jpg