December 20, 2004 - April 13, 2005
Of course Zimbabwe criticism unfair
Posted: Wednesday, April 13, 2005
By Ayinde
The US and British, as well as the mainstream media's concern are over one issue: Mugabe took back lands from whites and returned them to blacks. Black Zimbabweans will have other internal issues that are more about their day-to-day survival, but the Western interest is about controlling Zimbabwe's Land. They also want to destroy the Zimbabwean land reclamation example, before it takes hold throughout the continent.
There are Black Zimbabweans taking fair positions that can appear to be against Mugabe based on how things impact on them locally, but there are also those who are just regurgitating the White U.S. /Europe's demonizing propaganda in the hope of getting some economic rewards. If these elitist Whites cannot directly control something, they then settle for remote control, so some blacks position themselves to be willing puppets.
In Africa and the wider African Diaspora, the position many Blacks have taken, supporting the move to return lands to Blacks, is in the best interest of all Africans. This support is not limited to Mugabe and/or Zimbabwe but is about what many desire for all of Africa. So even if many Diasporan Africans do not understand the nuances of the local political issues in Zimbabwe, they do understand the West. They know the Western concern about Zimbabwe is over maintaining white control (remote control) of African resources. A few whites getting killed is their excuse to interfere. Their remote control program is simple. They fund misleaders who put elitist White interest over that of the indigenous population. Then they deny resources to countries as well as demonize the leaders who put the interest of the majority of their citizens first. Venezuela and Haiti are recent examples of this.
There are detractors who want us to believe that the anti-Mugabe sentiment is widespread among Blacks in Zimbabwe. They distort what is taking place there to project a dissenting image. Some Zimbabweans are also making bogus anti-Mugabe claims to get to stay in foreign countries (at least one poster explained how this is being done in Britain).
Here is a quote from Margaret Lee, who is definitely no friend of Mugabe:
"Now one of the problems right now, I think, in the country with respect to the opposition, the Movement for Democratic Change is that just like many other opposition movements, it has compromised itself. So one of the things that was very clear when I was in Zimbabwe in January was that there was not the same level of fear about the MDC that existed at the end of 1999 going into the elections of 2000. When I say compromised itself, specifically it aligned itself with the white farmers, many of the white farmers who had a vested interest in making sure that the land was not returned to the indigenous African population. It aligned itself with many individuals in South Africa that were not deemed to be pro-post-apartheid South Africa. It even aligned itself with RENAMO in Mozambique and that was the so-called liberation movement that was involved in incredible atrocities against the indigenous population in Mozambique. So there exist a lot of problems within the MDC."
(Source: The Zimbabwe Elections)
The anti-Mugabe demonizing campaign was also about promoting the MDC as the alternative - a party that has shown its willingness to return to IMF policies. Most Black Zimbabweans feared this, and it directly contributed to past elections violence in Zimbabwe. It is not simply about Mugabe attacking the opposition; poor blacks in Zimbabwe did not trust the MDC because of their alliances. Many Blacks experienced the hardship under the IMF policies in the 90's before Mugabe abandoned the program, and they do not want to repeat the destructive past. This recent election was more peaceful because ordinary blacks did not feel the MDC was a threat; they did not feel the MDC could win because their pro western allegiances were exposed.
Truly free and fair elections do not exist anywhere as yet, and the US and Europe are not elections or democracy role models. The US and Europe do not promote democracies. They manipulate/further corrupt the politics in vulnerable countries to get misleaders who will serve their interest first. That is not democracy. It will be a good idea for these 'leaders' to develop democratic principles in the U.S .and Europe.
There can be no democracy when the volume of information and critical issues we cover on these Websites are not given fair media space that would allow people to vote after considering the effects of their choices on ALL of us.
As I said earlier,
"We must first keep in mind that the ongoing U.S./European attempt to demonize President Robert Mugabe is not just about Zimbabwe or President Robert Mugabe, but it is also a campaign that attempts to ensure all efforts to correct colonial wrongs in the interest of blacks will not succeed. They fear that if the campaign to return lands to indigenous Africans in Zimbabwe is allowed to succeed, then other African nations will follow suit."
(Source: Sloppy Criticisms of Zimbabwe Elections)
The West has no problem manipulating to create brutal African misleaders, who they supply with weapons in abundance to protect and serve elitist White interest. Supplying weapons to poor nations is not about protecting their sovereignty from foreign threats. These arms are supplied specifically to allow the misleader to subdue ordinary citizens as protection for Western interest. That is their unspoken policy the world over. Africans who are taking a position on what is in the best interest of Africa as a whole have every right to be concerned about who wants to profit from Africa's misery; who is creating the misery; who wants to choose our heroes; who wants to demonize another African in order to promote their interest.
Most of these anti-Mugabe critics are not simply local Zimbabweans playing for the hearts and minds of Zimbabweans over their local politics. They are not local Zimbabweans who are sharing with the international community while welcoming views and ideas from Diasporan Africans. They have one mission and they come over like this: 'I am from Zimbabwe, and this is how it is. You should believe me because I said I am from Zimbabwe.' Their 'worldview' dictatorial tendencies are so evident, which turns their criticisms of Mugabe into massive displays of hypocrisy.
Rarely do White misleaders demonize each other over their massive brutality and genocides of non-white peoples. Bush and his cronies are the obvious mass murderers today. We are not seeing European misleaders telling it like it is. France played the game of being opposed to the invasion of Iraq, but not on principle. The U.S. knew that. France had no problem instigating more violence in Africa. They were key players in removing the first democratically elected leader of Haiti. Conflicts in Africa are proxy wars; they will disagree over sharing the spoils, but at the end of the day their White elitist solidarity remains intact.
No country has an open door policy, particularly to hostile countries. It is common knowledge that in every country there will be those who put their narrow material interest ahead of the well-being of the majority. These are the weak links that White interest exploit, arm and then promote as good Black leaders. For most of Zimbabwe's young 'independence' it has been held in the trenches of a hostile White controlled environment, first from attacks during the Apartheid Era, then the IMF. Even when they claimed Zimbabwe was doing so well, it was mostly for the economic prosperity of Whites in and out of Zimbabwe. Cuba and North Korea are not open to much western influences, media etc. because of the ongoing threat to their sovereignty. There is action and reaction, and we cannot come down on the effect, and ignore or play down the cause.
Many Whites pay lip-service from the comfort of knowing that they are not first in line to be slaughtered. Many are too weak and do not even try to do better. So they can protest one day and then go back to their jobs. They can try to tell blacks how to think, but they are not first in line to be killed. They want to preach patience to blacks, and try to tell those who are most affected and/or sensitive how to speak, and what measure of urgency to place on issues that directly impact on Africans in general, and dark-skinned-kinky-hair Blacks the most.
What gives anyone the right to determine the language, and urgency to be placed on addressing issues that are not negatively affecting them the most? The answer is arrogance. There are serious issues in Africa that demand more attention than trying to make all of Africa seem to be about Robert Mugabe and Zimbabwe.
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Mbeki says Zimbabwe criticism unfair
Posted: Monday, April 11, 2005
english.aljazeera.net
South African President Thabo Mbeki has rebuked Zimbabwe's critics for focusing on that country while ignoring bigger African crises such as the war in Congo.
Speaking at a meeting of the South African Communist Party, an ally of his ruling African National Congress, Mbeki contrasted Zimbabwe's situation with the instability that kills 1000 people daily in the Democratic Republic of Congo, mostly from hunger and disease, on top of the 3.8 million people who have died since the war began in 1998.
"You get reports that something like three million people have died in the Congo over the last few years because of the wars that are going on," he said.
"But the amount of noise that you will hear about Zimbabwe, and no noise about the Congo, must surely raise questions as to why," he said at the meeting in Durban on Saturday.
"Why is it so easy to ignore the death of 3 million people and make extraordinary volumes of noise about another country where only a few people have died? There is something not right about it," he said.
Mbeki also questioned why the killing of 300,000 people in Burundi's civil war was "also not spoken about".
Reprinted from:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/49596521-829B-4A44-A369-DA094A6B0268.htm
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Zimbabwe slaps price control on food
Posted: Wednesday, April 6, 2005
The government of President Robert Mugabe announced new price controls of basic food commodities in Zimbabwe to combat hyper-inflation.
In a related action, the women's league of his ruling Zanu-PF party threatened to seize food manufacturing companies.
All companies producing and selling maize meal, which forms Zimbabweans staple diet, cooking oil, soft drinks, milk and sugar have to reverse recent price increases to their previous levels, the state-controlled daily Herald quoted Samuel Mumbengegwi as saying.
Full Article : news24.com
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Zimbabwe Elections Free And Fair, Says Tonchi
Posted: Wednesday, April 6, 2005
THE head of the Electoral Commission Forum of Southern African Development Countries' observer mission to Zimbabwe, Victor Tonchi, has given his blessing to that country's elections, declaring them free and fair.
Tonchi led an 11-country observer mission to Zimbabwe and said the mission was encouraged by the "peaceful environment" in which the election took place.
"The mission hereby records its satisfaction with the high level of compliance with regulations and election rules which was displayed by the electoral staff at all stations visited," said Tonchi, who is also Chairman of the Electoral Commission of Namibia.
Tonchi's teams observed the opening procedures and voting and counting at 65 polling stations in 28 constituencies.
Full Article : namibian.com.na
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Call for Tsvangirai to resign after poll
Posted: Tuesday, April 5, 2005
By Christopher Thompson in Harare
Independent (UK)
05 April 2005
Zimbabwe's main opposition party is in crisis as the fallout from a heavy, if disputed, election defeat at the hands of President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF turned to criticism of its campaign and tactics. Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), is expected to face calls to stand down in favour of its spokesman, Welshman Ncube.
Mr Tsvangirai has attacked the "rigged result" and called for a rerun but has so far been unwilling or unable to mount mass popular protests in the wake of a poll called "phoney" by the European Union and dismissed as flawed by the United States.
Eric Bloch, a regional political analyst, said there was growing resentment and "tremendous disillusionment" with the party among MDC supporters over his handling of the election. It will now need a period of "extensive restructuring" to survive, he told The Independent. The ruling Zanu-PF took 78 seats from a possible 120, with the MDC taking 41. That was 17 seats less than in 2000 and the result gives Mr Mugabe the power to change the constitution and install a successor without first having to call elections, as presently necessary. It is feared that Mr Mugabe will use his majority to bring in a senate system of government, which was rejected in a 2000 referendum.
Mr Tsvangirai has come under fire for failing to sufficiently capitalise on spiralling inflation, widespread unemployment and food shortages. His policy of threatening to boycott the elections back in September 2004, only to do an about turn in February this year, led to far fewer MDC voters registering than anticipated. This was reflected in the low turn-out of MDC support, especially in rural areas, where Zanu-PF dominated. Analysts said the MDC had, in part, been a victim of its own early success.
Since 2000 Zimbabwe went from bad to worse, principally because of Mr Mugabe's controversial land-reform programme, which saw the economy contract by 30 per cent.
Instead of harnessing popular support by presenting alternative policies, the MDC campaigned on an anti-Zanu-PF ticket. Consequently the opposition was perceived as a party of protest rather than a credible alternative. Its open-door approach to international financial institutions, such as the IMF and World Bank, did not play well with an electorate that has painful memories of the "structural adjustment" of the 1990s.
Reprinted from:
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/story.jsp?story=626477
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British Councillors guilty of postal votes fraud
Posted: Tuesday, April 5, 2005
A Judge has delivered a devastating indictment of the postal voting system championed by ministers as he found six Labour councillors guilty of electoral fraud. He said checks against corruption were "hopelessly insecure" and accused the Government of being in denial about the risks to democracy.
Richard Mawrey QC, sitting as an electoral commissioner in Birmingham, found "overwhelming" evidence of fraud in last year's city council elections that would "disgrace a banana republic". The elections, where several Labour candidates bucked the trend to win, were dogged by claims of intimidation, bribery, "vote-buying', impersonation and even the creation of a "vote-forging factory". The judge's comments yesterday, a day before the expected announcement by Tony Blair of a 5 May general election...
Full Article : news.independent.co.uk
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Sloppy Criticisms of Zimbabwe Elections
Posted: Sunday, April 3, 2005
By Ayinde
We must first keep in mind that the ongoing U.S./European attempt to demonize President Robert Mugabe is not just about Zimbabwe or President Robert Mugabe, but it is also a campaign that attempts to ensure all efforts to correct colonial wrongs in the interest of blacks will not succeed. They fear that if the campaign to return lands to indigenous Africans in Zimbabwe is allowed to succeed, then other African nations will follow suit. They are waging the same type of demonizing campaign on President Aristide of Haiti, President Chavez of Venezuela and other African countries. Intense 'white' media and political campaigns always tie back to the command or acquisition of the resources of non-white people.
Most of the U.S./European critics of President Robert Mugabe are not able to see what is taking place on the ground, and they are of the racist view that African nations cannot monitor other African nations. In their view, African nations need the U.S. and/or European powers to validate their political process, although the U.S. and Europe's election processes have proven to be corrupt.
They are using the structural deficiencies that most politicians usually exploit in all so-called democratic countries, as an excuse to demonize President Robert Mugabe. The same 'democratic deficient structure' exists in the U.S. The state media is usually dominated by the party in power, while they all seek the interest of their investors. Members from their party are appointed to the best government jobs. Bush and Blair are leaders in these type of party politics. The ruling party and opposition use scare tactics compounded by inflammatory statements.
(See: Judge quashes 'fraudulent' council elections -UK)
U.S. Presidents have used 'popular wars' sold to an unwitting public to increase their electibility. The United States of America holds the record when it comes to political scare tactics to further their agendas.
(See: US Crusade, U.S. Vote Fraud 2000 and U.S. Vote Fraud 2004)
The U.S. and U.K. are the world's leaders in manipulating 'democracies', so it is extremely hypocritical for them to criticise President Robert Mugabe for working the system in his favour. The western dominant idea of democracy, often being emulated or forced on nations, does not serve the best interest of the majority of people. What takes place in Zimbabwe cannot be viewed as either unique or exclusive to Zimbabwe.
In an Interview on Democracy Now, Margaret Lee made some good points, but her criticism of the politics in Zimbabwe, under the leadership of President Robert Mugabe, can apply to any number of countries and leaders who have embraced the capitalistic idea of Democracy. They are ALL shams. Margaret Lee gave the impression that these problems are exclusive to Zimbabwe, by her not clearly stating these same flaws exist in most, if not all, 'democratic' countries.
Full Article : raceandhistory.com
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Contradicting views on Zimbabwe elections
Posted: Saturday, April 2, 2005
The election observer team of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) today gave a generally positive assessment of yesterday's general elections in Zimbabwe, saying they were "peaceful, credible and dignified." The opposition however protests, and is supported by the British government, saying the polls were "seriously flawed."
South Africa's Minister of Minerals and Energy, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, who leads the SADC election observer mission, today issued a statement generally positive on yesterday's polls in Zimbabwe. Ms Ngcuka in the statement extended SADC's "congratulations to the people of Zimbabwe following the holding of a peaceful, credible and dignified election."
SADC's 55 election observers had been deployed throughout the length and breadth of Zimbabwe in both rural and urban areas during the last two weeks. With regard to the polling process, it was SADC's overall view that "the elections were conducted in an open, transparent and professional manner," Minister Ngcuka said this afternoon.
The polling stations had opened and closed at the appointed times and SADC observers were "impressed by the orderliness and patience of voters, who we believe, were able to express their franchise peacefully, freely and unhindered." The picture that emerged at the close of poll was "an election day, which was peaceful." As counting continues in various polling stations, SADC was "convinced" that the process would be transparent.
The Southern African observers only had registered some minor irregularities. The SADC mission was "concerned with the number of people who were turned away from polling stations." Further, although there had been efforts to ensure equitable access to the public media, "there is still considerable room to improve in this area to allow the access to the state media by the opposition," Ms Ngcuka noted.
Full Article : afrol.com
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Opposition, monitors call Zimbabwe vote flawed
Posted: Saturday, April 2, 2005
Under international pressure to produce a credible result, Mugabe's government and party stanched the bloodletting that has marred previous elections in this southern African country. For the first time in years, Tsvangirai's party, Movement for Democratic Change, was able to campaign openly.
Mugabe was confident the gamble would pay off, saying he was "entirely, completely, totally optimistic" of victory for his Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front. He said he voted only to increase the margin of the win.
However, encouraged by the drop in violence, Tsvangirai held out hope his party could muster enough support to claim Parliament.
Full Article : baltimoresun.com
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Zimbabwe Opposition Seems to Crumble after Parliament Elections
Posted: Saturday, April 2, 2005
In spite of knowing itself in possesion of over 20 seats in urban zones against two of the ruling party ZANU-PF, Zimbabwe opposition seems today on the verge of lowering their flag after Thursday΄s elections. As Prensa Latina got to know, the general headquarters of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) informed that the main opposition force estimates it won΄t obtain even 50 of the 120 benches in discussion. If that is so, the Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) is about to obtain the two-thirds of the seats it expected according to the Constitution in order to deepen the program of transformations begun after achieving independence in 1980.
Full Article : plenglish.com
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SADC observers happy with Zimbabwe elections
Posted: Saturday, April 2, 2005
The Southern African Developing Community (SADC) election observer mission says Zimbabwe's parliamentary elections were conducted in an open, transparent and professional manner. The mission has issued its report on yesterday's poll, the first by a major observer mission.
Full Article : sabcnews.com
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Voting ends smoothly
Posted: Friday, April 1, 2005
Herald Reporter
Zanu-PF is not gunning for a two-thirds majority in Parliament in order to amend the Constitution in preparation for President Mugabe's retirement.
Speaking to journalists after he and the First Lady Cde Grace Mugabe had cast their votes at Cyril Jennings Hall in Highfield constituency yesterday, President Mugabe said his retirement had nothing to do with the two-thirds majority the ruling party is aiming for in the parliamentary elections.
"My retirement comes at its own pace; it will come for certain," Cde Mugabe said in response to a question on whether Zanu-PF was eyeing a two-thirds majority in Parliament to amend the Constitution in preparation for his retirement.
There had been wide unsubstantiated speculation that the ruling party was gunning for a two-thirds majority to amend the Constitution and prepare for President Mugabe's retirement.
Cde Mugabe said a major reason for constitutional amendment would be to re-introduce the Senate so that Parliament reverts to a two-chamber system, the Upper House and Lower House. Zimbabwe had such a system soon after independence but later abolished it.
But now people, including the opposition MDC, were of the view that the Senate should be re-introduced, President Mugabe said.
He said the MDC was also agreeable to the re-introduction of the Senate, which was suggested during earlier talks between the opposition party and Zanu-PF.
Cde Mugabe said this was despite the fact that the MDC had opposed the draft constitution sponsored by Government in 2000 which proposed the re-introduction of a Senate.
Asked how the senators would be chosen, he said that would be decided between the parties that would have made it into Parliament after the election.
"Those are some of the things to be debated. In fact, it (the reintroduction of Senate) is an outcome of discussions between the two parties (Zanu-PF and MDC)," Cde Mugabe said.
He hinted that the Senate would be made up of traditional chiefs, retired politicians and eminent Zimbabweans. The President said his eventual successor would be chosen by the Zanu-PF congress.
"The successor will be chosen by our congress," he said in response to suggestions he was grooming Vice President Joice Mujuru to succeed him.
Cde Mugabe said the two-thirds majority would also enable Zanu-PF to make other important constitutional amendments.
Commenting on the election, the President reiterated that Zanu-PF was poised for victory in the election and expressed confidence it would amass the two-thirds majority.
"I have just voted in order to increase the number of votes for Zanu-PF and we know that we are going to win. So there it is, it is going to be victory for us, by how much that is what we will want to see. Zanu-PF is never a loser," Cde Mugabe said.
He dismissed claims of intimidation by the MDC and reports that Government was using food as a political weapon, saying: "My response is that they are talking nonsense."
"There can never be anywhere else where elections can be as free as they are here."
President Mugabe repeated that Zanu-PF would not form a government of national unity with the MDC but would continue to work with the opposition in Parliament and could also hold discussions with it outside the legislature. He, however, stressed that the MDC should be a loyal opposition party.
The President hailed the peaceful election campaign and voting process, saying the violence that marred previous elections was instigated by the MDC through its endless misguided mass actions and demonstrations.
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Democracy Now: The Zimbabwe Elections
Posted: Friday, April 1, 2005
Opposition Accuses Mugabe of Rigging the Vote
Yesterday, parliamentary elections took place in Zimbabwe. Reports from the country say that the elections went off relatively peacefully. And for the first time- the opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change, was able to campaign openly. The party is the first to seriously challenge President Mugabe's government since Zimbabwe won independence in 1980.
But even before the election, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, Morgan Tsvangiari charged that the election was rigged. He said "we are not happy with the way the electoral playing field has been organized...This is not going to be a free and fair election."
Opposition leaders and human rights groups claim that the voter roles were inaccurate and that many who tried to vote were turned away. They also point to widespread fear and intimidation before the voting began. President Mugabe dismissed these complaints calling the elections completely free- and the Movement for Democratic Change a pawn of British Prime Minister Tony Blair and other Western governments. Mugabe stated that he was "entirely, completely, totally optimistic" of victory for his Zimbabwe African National Union -Patriotic Front party. He called the election the "anti-Blair election."
Full Article : raceandhistory.com
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Anatomy of Racism
Posted: Thursday, January 6, 2005
By Habib Siddiqui
January 04, 2005
"This chauvinism about western superiority is not limited to their history and social etiquette and ethics, but also to their philosophical, ethnological, anthropological, neurological and psychological assumptions and theories."
Webster defines racism as a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial difference produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. While racism has existed in some form or another, probably its worst manifestation has had been seen in the history of Europe and the Americas.
Truly, the history of Western civilization is littered with the corpses of the 'other' peoples. The blueprints for justifications of murder, genocide, annexation, plunder and colonization - all can be found in the Bible [1] and in the statements of its interpreters, Church fathers and leaders, and those who came later as philosophers believing Christians and non-believing atheists, let alone the slave-traders and masters, colonizers and warmongers.[2] Strictly speaking if there ever were just one factor around which all of them agreed to it was in their basic belief about the superiority of their white European race.
Thus we are not surprised to find that the West presented our world with the Crusades,[3] the Inquisitions,[4] the near-extinction of the Native Americans and the Australian Aborigines,[5] the Pogroms,[6] Witch-burning and gypsy-hunting,[7] the Ghettos[8] and the Embargos,[9] the two World Wars,[10] Ethnic cleansing,[11] the Jewish Holocaust[12] and the Genocides,[13] and not to forget the African slavery (or Holocaust).[14] Let us also not overlook the western contribution to such ideologies as Nazism, Fascism, Zionism and Marxism/Socialism/Communism. (The list above is by no means a comprehensive one.) Nor are we astonished with the monstrosity of the crimes that were committed against prisoners and detainees in Afghanistan, Iraq, Guantanamo Bay, Diego Garcia and other places around the world (including the United States). She was the first to try out her latest WMDs on the 'other' people (actually the only one to ever drop atom bombs and there too, the bombs were dropped on Japan and not Germany).[15] She is also responsible for total extermination of some human races from the face of our globe.[16] Over and above all these acts of mass-murder, demonic savagery and violence she has also systematically destroyed the culture, religion, identity and way of life of the peoples that she conquered. But none of these really troubles her. Like a megalomaniac and one gravely afflicted with cognitive dissonance, she is convinced of her 'civilizing' mission and has chosen to be amnesic about her troubling past.[17]
The chauvinistic attitude of European superiority has given rise to western egocentrism something that has always existed since the time of ancient Greece. For a European (and American), civilized world always meant the West; history thus begins from Greece, and ends in England, France, Germany and America. Forgotten are the contributions of Islamic civilization to make that dotted connection possible from Ancient Greece to new Europe (and America). Forgotten also are the Sumerian, Egyptian, Persian, Chinese, Indian, Arab and other civilizations in making our world history. It was all too natural therefore to rediscover Jesus, born in Bethlehem in Palestine, as a European with blond straight hair and greenish eyes. As the (so-called) Son of God,[18] he had to appear European for the collective spirit of the West! His birthday had to be transplanted to December 25 to match the pagan festivity around Sol Invicticus, popularly observed across the Roman Empire.[19] Even his mother Mary had to appear European looking. So complete is this transformation that all his disciples also, minus Judas Iscariot, had to appear European!
The western egocentrism was reinforced by the period of colonial domination, when much of the non-Western (including the Muslim) world fell under European domination. This is what late Prof. Edward Said called "Orientalism."[20] Belief in their own cultural (religious and racial) superiority helped Europeans to justify colonialism; Europeans were fulfilling a God-given (or evolutionary) duty by educating and enlightening the ignorant non-Westerners.
Racism is so much entrenched within the western psyche that many westerners are unaware of its very existence until put the test. The Clinton Administration won't send troops to stop the genocide in Rwanda. The treatment of the other people, e.g., the Afghans or Iraqis or other Muslims in the prisons and detention camps, is directly linked to that racist mentality. The highly offensive remarks of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, General Boykin, Pat Robertson, Bush and Blair all are part of that contemptuous mindset. So is the contemptible U.S. donation for the five million victims of the Tsunami earthquake that hit 11 Asian countries on the Boxing Day!
Many Westerners genuinely believe in their supremacy! Their scholars and teachers have cemented this mentality. As a matter of fact all western philosophers (with very few exceptions) from David Hume (1711-76),[21] Georg W. F. Hegel (1770-1831),[22] Theodor Noldeke (1836-1930) and Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) [23] to Sigmund Freud and Andrι Siegfried (1875-1959) [24] have shown a very prejudiced attitude towards their white race. Even Ernest Renan (1823-92), a great anthropologist and philologist, suggested that the western or northern race was superior to all others and that the blacks of Africa, the aboriginals of Australia and the native Indians of America as members of the "inferior race". According to Count Joseph-Arthur Gobineau (1816-82), mankind is divided into three basic races. The most inferior is the black race, closely followed by the yellow race; the white race is the most superior.
Hegel was arguably the greatest intellectual mind of the West. His philosophy gave rise to almost all the western intellectual movements of the 19th and the 20th century. Marxism, Existentialism, Psychoanalysis, and historiology - all have their roots in Hegel. Speaking about him, Dr. Ali Shariati (d. 1977), one of the great intellectual minds of the East, remarked some 30 years ago: "Hegel who purported to be a great genius said that the Spirit was 'unconscious' before it entered into the world of nature and animal. There it reached a stage of self-consciousness and then in the form of a spirit it entered into man. Then it started its first evolutionary stage when it entered into the Eastern man. Having completed its Eastern evolution it entered into the Western man. Then it entered into the Germans to achieve further perfection, and then it entered into the German government. And finally it entered the kingdom which rules us now." Wow! Look how far Hegel's whole reasoning and arguments have gone!"[25]
To a westerner, the ancient war between the Persians and the Greeks was a war with the barbarians. This, in spite of the fact that the Medo-Persian Empire under Dhul Qarnain (King Cyrus) had a superior culture and that he defeated the Greeks very badly (see the Qur'an: Surah al-Kahf for details).[26] So is the war between the Persians and the Byzantines during the time of the Prophet of Islam.
This chauvinism about western superiority is not limited to their history and social etiquette and ethics, but also to their philosophical, ethnological, anthropological, neurological and psychological assumptions and theories. To elaborate on this thread, Dr. Shariati remarked, "Professor Siegfried states that, "God or Nature has created two kinds of races in nature: the boss who must direct, and the laborer who must obey. Which one is needed more? Obviously the laborer. Every thousand laborers calls for two to three bosses. So, God has created a European race - who is the boss, and an Eastern race - who is the laborer. This is why the birth rate of the East is 3%-5% annually, while for West is 1%."
He [Siegfried] further says, "What you see and tend to ignore on the sidewalk is a French gentleman, an average worker with blond hair and blue eyes, who can easily direct huge organizations and offices of the East. While, if you go to the East, you will find great thinkers and personalities who are incapable of directing a six-man organization. Why? Because the Western brain creates civilization and organization while the Eastern brain is sentimental, poetical, and theosophical. [Reference: L'Ame des peuples (Spirit of Nations), tr. into Persian by Ahmad Aram, Tehran]"[27]
There were times when many in the once-colonized Eastern countries believed in such baloney about supremacy of the Western mind.[28] But those days are numbered, thanks to genuine and progressive native intellectuals who were able to sort out symptoms from root causes behind the apparent lagging of their newly independent countries. The best minds in many prestigious western universities today are those of non-westerners. [Already every other faculty member in Engineering in many top-rated American universities is a foreign-born Easterner. And their proportion is steadily rising.] Many non-westerners now run some of the biggest corporations on both sides of the Atlantic. [This, in spite of the not-so-subtle prejudice or discrimination that is so common in the corporate world.] The advancement in areas of science and technology in the western world owes heavily to these non-western experts. So much claptrap about western superior race!
Now the question is: why does the West propagate such falsehoods? I infer it is because of two main reasons: 1) repeating the mantra of White supremacy helps psychologically to inflate the Western ego and renew the faith among her own rank and file (necessary for further exploitation of the East), and 2) (something that sociologists, since the days of Ibn Khaldun have known) she knows very well that cultural slavery is the worst form of slavery. In order to achieve this purpose, the exploiter searches for ways to deprive a nation of its personality, which is defined as the unique aspects of a culture that differentiates it from another.[29] The exploitive sociology of Europe and America, therefore, has realized that in order to rob and exploit the East, it has to strip her of her personality; she has to be defeated and denuded completely. She has to be proven that she is inferior to the European race; everything she produces is also inferior. Once this is accomplished she will proudly follow the West, and become a happy consumer of western goods that are produced by the Capitalist West.[30] [Yes, it is all about exploitation and greed.] She will have European/American advisers to even choose and decide for herself. He who has a past but cannot recognize it is an easy prey in this vicious game of exploitation.
This task of cultural imperialism is, therefore, shouldered by two forces one imperial/occupational, carried out by its 'imperialist' intellectuals, think tanks and 'experts' - and the other native, comprising of culturally alienated 'house niggers' or (whom I call) 'cultural coolies.' These 'house niggers,' acting like vultures and hyenas that wait to devour the corpse, are often more zealous than their masters. To defeat racism, it is, therefore, necessary to identify these two forces and confront their untenable messages.
Racism and West-mania have worked in the past and will continue to work for a foreseeable future until the East can reclaim and redevelop her personality.
Notes:
[1]. See the Book of Genesis 9:21-26 for justification of racism against the children of Ham, identified with the African race. The concept of e Chosen People is also limited to the Children of Judah, or the Jewish people, something that has become a rallying cry to justify the Zionist annexation of Palestine, at the exclusion of its indigenous people the Palestinians.
[2]. Contrast the Christian attitude on racism with Islam. The Qur'an says: "O mankind! Lo! We have created male and female, and have made you nations and tribes that you may know one another. Lo! The noblest of you, in the sight of Allah, is the best in conduct. Lo! Allah is Knower, Aware." (39:13) Also, reflect on the verse 30:22 (And of His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the difference of your language and colors. Lo! Herein indeed are portents for men of knowledge.) In his Farewell hajj speech, the prophet of Islam said, "All mankind is from Adam and Eve; an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action."
[3]. To understand the Crusades, it is imperative to analyze Pope Urban II's statement, "Oh, race of Franks, race from across the mountains, race chosen and beloved by God, as shines forth in very many of your works, set apart from all nations by the situation of your country, as well as by your Catholic faith and the honor of the Holy Church!
From the confines of Jerusalem and the city of Constantinople a horrible tale has gone forth and very frequently has been brought to our ears: namely, that a race from the kingdom of the Persians, an accused race, a race utterly alienated from God, a gene ration, forsooth, which has neither directed its heart nor entrusted its spirit to God, has invaded the lands of those Christians
" According to western historians, anywhere from 1 to 5 million Muslims were killed during the Crusades. (See Anthony Nuttings' book on The Arabs for an account of Christian brutality and savagery.) As far as Jewish victims are concerned, in Jerusalem the Jews fled from the Crusaders, locking themselves in the main synagogue, where all 969 were burnt to death. Outside, the Crusaders, who believed they were avenging the death of Christ, sang, Christ, We Adore Thee, holding their Crusader crosses aloft. Earlier that day, as the Crusaders ran over the mutilated bodies of those slaughtered, one leader, Raymond of Aguilers, quoted Psalm 118:24: 'This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.' Approximately a quarter to one-third of the entire Jewish population in Germany and northern France was murdered during the First Crusade. In Germany, in return for royal protection they were made 'serfs of the Imperial Chamber'. Required to pay vast sums for this privilege, the Jews eventually became a very real source of royal revenue. As the king's property, they could be -- and were -- bought, loaned and sold, to pay off creditors. The custom spread to other countries. Church leaders justified this status theologically on the basis of earlier Church teaching that the Jews were doomed to perpetual servitude for having crucified Christ. At the time of the Third Crusade one of the most tragic anti-Jewish riots in England occurred in York where nearly a thousand Jews were casualties.
[4]. In 1480 King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain established a tribunal to purge the Church of those who clandestinely clung to their Muslim and Jewish faith. Wholesale arrests followed. In 1481 the first victims were burnt at the stake. Over the years an estimated 30,000 marranos were consigned to the flames. The Spanish Inquisition had a long history (from the fifteenth century until the threshold of the nineteenth century, and a wide geographical reach, spreading with all its well-documented atrocities to Latin America.
[5]. Estimates of death tolls amongst the Native Americans as a result of annexation of their land by Europeans vary between 20 to 145 million. In 1788, during the early phase of British colonization of Australia, there were probably a million Aborigines. In the 1920s, by the time they completed colonization of their land, there was only 30,000 of them left alive. In the nearby New Zealand, the Maori population declined from 240,000 to just around 40,000 in 1896. (Mark Cocker, Rivers of Blood, Rivers of Gold (1998))
[6]. During the reign of Czar Alexander III, Russia's first major pogrom began at Easter 1881 and spread to a hundred Jewish communities. The czar's adviser intended to solve the Jewish problem by causing a third to emigrate, a third to die, and a third to disappear (i.e. to be converted). Pogroms and accompanying mass emigrations continued under Czar Nicholas II (1894-1917), who regarded the Jews as Christ-killers
Even after World War II, pogroms occurred in Poland, despite the horrors of the Holocaust and the greatly decimated Jewish population.
[7]. The Reformation did not convert the people of Europe to orthodox Christianity through preaching and catechisms alone. It was the 300 year period of witch-hunting from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century, what R.H. Robbins called "the shocking nightmare, the foulest crime and deepest shame of western civilization,"...that ensured the European abandonment of the belief in magic. The Church created the elaborate concept of devil worship and then, used the persecution of it to wipe out dissent, subordinate the individual to authoritarian control, and openly denigrate women." (The Dark Side of Christianity, ch. 8) In The Killings of Witches, Bethancourt lists 628 named and 268,331 unnamed witches killed as of Dec. 2000, and estimates that between 20,000 and 500,000 people were killed as witches. [www.illusions.com/burning/burnwitc.htm]
[8]. In the second half of the sixteenth century ghettos were introduced, firstly in Italy and then in the Austrian Empire. The ghetto was considered an additional demonstration of the error of Judaism: 'A Jewish ghetto is a better proof of the truth of the religion of Jesus Christ than a whole school of theologians' (G. B. Roberti, eighteenth century).
[9]. Just the latest embargo on Iraq in the 1990s resulted in the death of 1.5 million Iraqis, of which nearly half a million were infants under the age of five.
[10]. Fifteen million died during the First World War. Fifty five million people got killed during the Second World War (of which 30 million were civilians).
[11]. In the last decade alone (1990s) a quarter million of Muslims in the former Yugoslavia were ethnically cleansed by the Orthodox Serbs.
[12]. Much of the crimes against the Jewish people were sanctioned by the Church since the days of Paul of Tarsus. Speaking about Jews, Justin (c. 100-165 C.E.), an early Christian father, said, the 'tribulations were justly imposed upon you, for you have murdered the Just One.' The third-century Christian theologians, including Hippolytus and Origen, elaborated on this theory. In the fourth century it was to dominate Christian thinking. Under Emperor Justinian I (483-565) many laws protecting Jewish religious and civil rights were abolished and restrictions were imposed. Later, in the seventh century, the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius imposed forced baptism upon the Jews in order to ensure unity within his realm. France's Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) declared that they were 'a race who had not God for their father, but were of the devil'. Following the custom of theologians of his day, he had taken a scripture (John 8:44) and applied it to the whole Jewish people for all time. Centuries later Nazi leader Julius Streicher carried this further, recommending 'the extermination of that people whose father is the devil.' Hitler claimed, as he chronicled his sixteen steps to Nazi policy, 'I am only doing the work of the Catholic Church. The Protestant leader Martin Luther was also the one who said, 'Verily a hopeless, wicked, venomous and devilish thing is the existence of these Jews, who for fourteen hundred years have been, and still are, our pest, torment and misfortune. They are just devils and nothing more.' In the tract Concerning the Jews and Their Lies (published 1542) Luther wrote: "Firstly, their synagogues should be set on fire
Secondly, their homes should likewise be broken down and destroyed
Thirdly, they should be deprived of their prayer-books and Talmuds
Fourthly, their rabbis must be forbidden under threat of death to teach any more
Fifthly, passport and travelling privileges should be absolutely forbidden to the Jews
Sixthly, they ought to be stopped from usury
Seventhly, let the young and strong Jews and Jewesses be given the flail, the axe, the hoe, the spade, the distaff, and spindle, and let them earn their bread by the sweat of their noses
We ought to drive the rascally lazy bones out of our system
Therefore away with them
'To sum up, dear princes and nobles who have Jews in your domains, if this advice of mine does not suit you, then find a better one so that you and we may all be free of this insufferable devilish burden -- the Jews." Luther's anti-Jewish teachings were to be applied literally in the Third Reich.
[13]. In the post-Soviet era alone, more than a hundred thousand Muslims were killed in Chechnya by the Russian Orthodox Christians. Let us also not forget the genocide of Muslims in the Caucasus during Czar and Stalin's rule in Russia.
[14]. No definitive estimate is possible. According to some historians, eighteen million Africans are estimated to have died during the trade. In American Holocaust (1992), David Stannard estimates that some 30 to 60 million Africans died being enslaved.
[15]. Here let's also not forget the use of Agent Orange, depleted uranium, and Tuskegee experiment on the Vietnamese, Iraqis/Afghans and Black Americans, respectively.
[16]. In Tasmania, the native population declined from 5,000 in 1800 to 200 in 1830 to 3 in 1869 to zero in 1877. (Jared Diamond, The Third Chimpanzee (1993))
[17]. See this author's article "The White Man's Burden: the never-ending saga" or "The burning itch to civilize others."
[18]. Islam rejects Trinity. Jesus is accepted as a prophet and messenger of God, who foretold the coming of the last messenger Muhammad (S).
[19]. According to the Gospel accounts (Luke 2:8), Jesus was born when the shepherds used to graze their cattle in the fields. An objective analysis leads us to the conclusion that he probably was born between April and September (spring-summer), and surely not during the winter season in December.
[20]. Edward Said, Orientalism, New York: Vintage, 1979.
[21]. In a 1748 essay, "Of National Characters," Hume said: "I am apt to suspect the Negroes to be naturally inferior to the Whites. There scarcely ever was a civilized nation of that complexion, nor even any individual, eminent either in action or speculation. No ingenious manufactures amongst them, no arts, no sciences. On the other hand, the most rude and barbarous of the Whites, such as the ancient Germans, the present Tartars, have still something eminent about them, in their valour, form of government, or some other particular. Such a uniform and constant difference could not happen, in so many countries and ages, if nature had not made an original distinction between these breeds of men. Not to mention our colonies, there are Negro slaves dispersed all over Europe, of whom none ever discovered any symptoms of ingenuity; though low people, without education, will start up amongst us, and distinguish themselves in every profession." (Philosophical Works, Vol. III, pp. 228-9.)
[22]. Hegel says: "In Negro life the characteristic point is the fact that consciousness has not yet attained to the realization of any substantial objective existence-as for example, God, or Law-in which the interest of man's volition is involved and in which he realizes his own being. This distinction between himself as an individual and the universality of his essential being, the African in the uniform, undeveloped oneness of his existence has not yet attained; so that the Knowledge of an absolute Being, an Other and a Higher than his individual self, is entirely wanting. The Negro, as already observed, exhibits the natural man in his completely wild and untamed state. We must lay aside all thought of reverence and morality-all that we call feeling-if we would rightly comprehend him; there is nothing harmonious with humanity to be found in this type of character." "What we properly understand by Africa, is the Unhistorical, Undeveloped Spirit, still involved in the conditions of mere nature, and which had to be presented here only as on the threshold of the World's History." [GWF Hegel, The Philosophy of History, New York: Dover (1956), pp. 93-99]
[23]. See the book: The Birth of Tragedy and The Genealogy of Morals, Doubleday Anchor Books, 1956.
[24]. The French political scientist and educator Andrι Siegfried (18751959) was regarded as one of the most perceptive political commentators of his time.
[25]. Man and Islam Lectures by Ali Shariati, tr. Ghulam M. Fayez, Univ. of Mashad Press, Mashad, Iran (1982), pp. 160-161.
[26]. According to Mowlana Abul Kalam Azad (Tarjumanal Qur'an), Dhul Qarnain was the title for Emperor Cyrus of Persia who ruled around 536 B.C. He is also recognized as the Messiah (the anointed one) in the Bible (Isaiah 45:1).
[27]. Op. cit., p. 162.
[28]. However, there still remain some culturally alienated individuals, promoted and pampered by the West as "intellectuals," who see no evil with the West or its atrocities against the East. They are the Fuad Ajamis, Amir Taheris and Khaled Durans of our time.
[29]. The development of the personality of a generation results from the collective flow of the spiritual, mystical, intellectual, humanistic, aesthetic, artistic, and scientific currents of the past generations.
[30]. It is thus no wonder that western 'experts' like Pipes call for total defeat of Palestinians and Muslims.
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UK deportation of Zimbabweans, a ploy
Posted: Monday, December 20, 2004
By Rangarirai Shoko, www.zimbabweherald.com
At a glance, reports that Britain intends to deport thousands of Zimbabweans it had lured in the last five years as proof of political repression in Zimbabwe, do not invite instant suspicion.
After all, British authorities justified the move perfectly within the country's sovereign rights by saying most of those targeted had been found unqualified for asylum which they had sought, claiming political persecution at home.
And Zimbabweans back home, anyway, have no collective sympathies beyond family bonds for the "failed refugees" to be suspicious of the British move.
The asylum seekers, instead, are generally viewed as accomplices in London's campaign of destabilisation against the country over its land policies.
The "would-be refugees" were lured to Britain with money and other rewards in schemes that involved some local opposition parties and groups, to "flesh" the former colonial power's "heart-rending" lies of persecution by the Zimbabwe Government against its political opponents.
This was meant to help London build vital international consensus in fora such as the United Nations to deal with "a rogue regime" in Zimbabwe that had stepped out of line of accepted global norms of state behaviour.
While some of the Zimbabwean "would-be refugees" in Britain were unwitting recruits in the plots against the motherland, the majority were willing tools of the former colonial power's destabilisation schemes, which have had a devastating economic and political impact on the country.
Hence, the little sympathy the majority of their compatriots who stayed behind, and endured the poisonous fruits of their political treachery in Britain, feel for them in their deportation predicament.
But, if analysed critically, there appears to be new, less obvious sinister political motives behind the deportations.
Deeper under the surface, the deportations appear more linked to parliamentary elections next March, than the unsuitability for "political asylum" of the targeted Zimbabweans which Britain claims to have suddenly discovered.
Theory number one is that London, eager to prop up the waning political fortunes of its proxy parties and groups in Zimbabwe ahead of the poll, is deporting the country's citizens en masse to beef up votes for the opposition, assuming erroneously that all the returnees were anti-Government.
That the announcement of the mass deportations comes hard on the heels of a prolonged "consultative" visit to London by opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai raises credible suspicions.
This is particularly so because Britain knew, from five years ago when it began to encourage Zimbabweans to "flee persecution" at home that these were not real asylum seekers in the mould of members of Iraq's Baath party fleeing American and British thuggery in their country.
Instead, they were simply the "flesh" to the monstrous lie, peddled with such puzzling expansiveness and intensity around the world, of political persecutions in Zimbabwe on a holocaust scale.
The other theory, on the deportations, is that among the returnees would be some planted and paid by Britain to carry out subversive activities, including possible killings, in the run-up to the March elections to discredit the polls.
With its proxy local political groups, including the MDC, in tatters politically ahead of the elections, London's options in Zimbabwe's power game appear to have narrowed to just disrupting the poll even preventing it taking place to buy time for its surrogates to regroup.
This is where some of the "deportees" would come in handy, and explains why Tsvangirai is calling, unusual to most Zimbabweans, for the March elections to be postponed to a later date.
All along the MDC, confident of winning elections, has wanted the polls to be brought forward instead.
The upcoming elections in Zimbabwe are critical for Britain in many ways, but mainly that a poor showing by the MDC which is almost certain will sever its remaining colonial leverage on the country.
The party is London's only remaining lever of influence in Zimbabwe, and its severance through a drubbing in the upcoming parliamentary elections is a daunting political prospect for Britain, which it fears could open up similar challenges to its colonial authority and prestige elsewhere.
All Britain's so-far-failed attempts to deal with what it regards as a "rogue" ex-colony have revolved around effecting regime change via elections by deploying a plethora of proxy opposition parties and groups.
The main one among these is the MDC, which British Prime Minister Tony Blair earlier this year openly admitted to working with to further his country's, not Zimbabweans', interests.
But the plot, despite being well financed, and loudly projected internally and around the world, has failed because its agenda lacked real substance; just a philosophical promise of post-regime change prosperity in Zimbabwe anchored on imagined donor financial and investment generosity.
This proved no match for the tangible and empowering attraction of land reforms proffered by the Government, on the other hand.
Reprinted from:
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