------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the June 19, 2003 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
IMPERIALISTS STEP UP ATTACKS ON ZIMBABWE By Monica Moorehead The Bush administration and its European allies, especially Britain, have stepped up their political and economic destabilization machinations against Robert Mugabe, president of Zimbabwe. Cybercast News Service announced on June 7 that the U.S. government plans to condemn Zimbabwe's "flagrant and devastating human rights abuses" at the United Nations Human Rights Commission hearing scheduled for this week in Geneva, Switzerland. Patrick Chinamasa, Zimbabwe's justice minister, responded by stating that lobbying efforts will begin to defeat this U.S. campaign. Last year Britain attempted to pass a similar resolution in Geneva. But at the behest of Nigeria and a number of other African, Asian and Middle Eastern representatives, the resolution was defeated. The U.S., through a presidential order, has just extended economic sanctions against Mugabe and 76 other governmental officials. The sanctions, imposed in early March by Bush, freeze these officials' financial assets in U.S. banks. The sanctions also prevent U.S. corporate interests from doing business with these representatives. The U.S. and Britain are demanding that Zimbabwe carry out "free and fair elections" before the next scheduled elections in 2007. Furthermore, the U.S. State Depart ment has released a study entitled, "Zimbabwe's Manmade Crisis." This "study" supposedly documents how Mugabe single-handedly transformed Zimbabwe from being a self-sufficient country that could feed itself into an indebted nation. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has also suspended Zimbabwe's membership rights. The reason given by the IMF is "failure to deal with its serious economic problems." (CNSNews.com, June 7) Zimbabwe's debt to the IMF is estimated at $233 million--much lower than other African countries that cannot pay the interest payments on their debts, let alone the principal. The IMF also reported that for the past four years, Zimbabwe's inflation rate has risen 207 percent and its production output has fallen by one third. The unemployment rate is 70 percent. Anti-government protests are being carried out by the Movement for Democratic Change, a Zimbabwean opposition group backed by the U.S. and Britain. The main goal is to create political and economic unrest to bring down the Mugabe government. WHAT'S REALLY BEHIND THESE ATTACKS? Why are Bush, Blair and their European imperialist allies so hell bent on ousting Mugabe? Mugabe is not targeted for being a socialist, like Cuba's President Fidel Castro. Mugabe is a former leader of a national liberation movement that helped to bring an end to a racist, apartheid-like regime led by Ian Smith in 1980. In fact, Mugabe is a bourgeois nationalist, similar to other African leaders. But what distinguishes Mugabe from others is his willingness to stand up against U.S. and British imperialists. Mugabe has let the world know that he will not bow down to imperialist threats and schemes without a struggle. When the U.S. demanded that new elections take place in Zimbabwe sooner than later, Zimbabwean officials stated that it is the U.S. that should have new elections, since Bush stole the presidency in 2000. It is this kind of heroic defiance that has generated great ire and scorn at imperialist bullies like Bush and Blair. There is no doubt that the Zimbabwean people face tremendous hardships daily, as do millions of people throughout the rest of southern Africa. Years of drought have created a famine that has affected at least 6 million Zimbabwean people alone. Who believes that one person can cause a drought? How can a governmental policy cause such a catastrophic inflation rate when 96 percent of the economy is still in the private hands of the former colonial oppressor of Zimbabwe--Britain? The greatest "crime" that Mugabe has carried out in the eyes of the U.S. and Britain is his support for the confiscation of land from the white commercial farmers, initiated by its rightful owners--landless African farmers. The State Department claims that Mugabe has "displaced" 2 million farmers, meaning white farmers. These privileged farmers are part of a racist legacy of colonialism that began when the first British occupiers carried out a bloody conquest of Zimbabwe in the late 1880s. This included a campaign of massive forced removals of the indigenous population from the most arable lands. To this very day the relationship between the white farmers and the indigenous population in Zimbabwe is comparable to U.S. slavery a few centuries ago. A large sector of those who fought for the liberation of Zimbabwe were landless indigenous farmers, now commonly referred to as war veterans. They are the ones who pressured the Mugabe government to remove the commercial farmers, by force if necessary, once the British government reneged on its 1980 Lancaster House agreement. This agreement held the British government accountable for financially compensating these white farmers so that Black farmers could reclaim their lands. The U.S. and Britain want to give the impression that only the white farmers can save the Zimbabwean people from starvation. This falsehood is meant to justify the reintroduction of colonization. These white farmers are tied to the worldwide capitalist market. This means that they grow and cultivate crops, like tobacco, to be bought and sold for a profit, not to alleviate the hunger and suffering of the Zimbabwean people. These schemes should be viewed within the overall context of Bush's quest for endless war and imperialist empire building. Progressives and revolutionaries here and worldwide must understand that defending the Mugabe government from imperialist attacks is synonymous with supporting Zimbabwe's ongoing struggle for sovereignty and complete independence. - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe wwnews- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] Support the voice of resistance http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
