The case of the
economic sanctions against Zimbabwe has seen the truly ugly face of ‘imperialism’
raise its head again and again with Mr Obama fronting the cause of the
establishment. The narrative and the level of dishonesty has been breathtakingly
unforgiveable and the dubious double standards are not coming from the Zimbabwe
government side but Mr Obama himself. The architects and engineers of these illegal
economic sanctions have continued with this carrot and stick game at the
expense of the sanctions-induced destitution of the masses in Zimbabwe. The
local opposition has been handheld into abyss and the outcome of their naivety
has been the continued attempts at meddling into Zimbabwe's internal affairs
through the illegal regime change agenda and the accelerated economic chaos
that followed. The US President, Mr Barrack Obama recently came out stating
that the US will continue to maintain the economic sanctions against Zimbabwe
because “President Mugabe and his policies pose an unusual and extraordinary
threat to the foreign policy of the United States”. What is so ‘unusual and extraordinary’ about
an African leader reconstructing the biased colonial legacy where the
indigenous population was deliberately dotted onto the margins of all economic
activity in the country? The EU on the other has continued to show willingness
to re-engage Zimbabwe and that has to be acknowledged and applauded.
The economic
sanctions against Zimbabwe were never about the hollow and high-sounding themes
of democracy, rule of law or civil liberties as the local opposition
marionettes and those who hold the strings would try to make the world believe.
They were never about 'championing for the rights of the downtrodden ordinary
people of Zimbabwe'. They were never about the love for the people of Zimbabwe.
The reality of the matter is that the sanctions were meant to separate the
people of Zimbabwe from the meaningful and potent Mugabe policies of economic
emancipation and the land reform which addressed and redressed a colonial wrong
(there are no colonial rights by the way). History should have taught Morgan
Tsvangirai and his bunch that American foreign policy only caters for American
interests and not some uninspiring opposition leader in Zimbabwe. The sanctions
are meant to further US foreign policy and anything or anyone who goes against
this poses a threat to US foreign policy. President Mugabe and Zimbabwe fall in
that category and hence the continued use of economic sanctions against the
country as punishment.
What threat to US
foreign policy is Mr Obama talking about? Surely Morgan Tsvangirai's High Seas
voyages are more of a threat than what President Mugabe is trying to achieve in
ensuring that the indigenous Zimbabwean is empowered to enable them to
participate fully in the economy and benefit from this participation. That cannot
be classified as a threat to US foreign surely? Could it be that Mr Obama is
concerned about the increasing Russian and Chinese engagement with Zimbabwe and
the emerging closer ties? There is no point in being vague, Mr Obama should
just come out and state clearly what this threat is. Why should ordinary
Zimbabweans continue to shoulder the burden of the economic sanctions for
another year for an imaginary or cooked-up threat that does not exist?
Zimbabwe's current
economic misfortunes are a direct result of these illegal and unwarranted
economic sanctions against the country. Mr Obama is more concerned about US
foreign policy, not the depravation and destitution that has been inflicted on
the ordinary citizens of Zimbabwe. The economic sanctions were never and will
never be about the people of Zimbabwe but the permanent interests of those who
imposed these sanctions. It is the poor ordinary citizens of Zimbabwe who have
to bear the full brunt of the sanctions so if these sanctions were indeed about
the people of Zimbabwe then they should have been lifted unconditionally to alleviate
the suffering of the people of Zimbabwe. It is disturbing and disheartening
that Mr Obama is reducing the sanctions-induced suffering of the people to mere
politics of imaginary threats to US foreign policy. The engineers of these economic sanctions
against Zimbabwe have always been less than sincere and their sole purpose has
always been to advance their own interests whilst coercing defenceless victims
like Zimbabwe into submission. This is tantamount to economic bullying through
deliberate and direct sabotage of the economy and the Zimbabwe economy bears
testimony to that. Zimbabwe has been reeling from the full force of this direct
hit at the core of the country's economic engine which has seen the economy
descend into an unstoppable tailspin. These economic sanctions against Zimbabwe
have caused upheaval and disintegration socially, politically and economically.
That is exactly the intended outcome of the US and EU foreign policy to make
the people suffer into submission and turn against their leadership and
institutions. The social malfunction, the economic disintegration and the
political meltdown that followed is what Mr Obama is pointing out as the
consequences for 'threatening US foreign policy'. The fact of the matter is
that US foreign policy is in fact imperialism in disguise. Zimbabwe as a
sovereign country should not be exposed to regime change agendas and that is
more of a threat to Zimbabwe’s own internal policy than a threat to US foreign
policy.
It is disingenuous
for Mr Obama to make such claims that it is “necessary to continue this
national emergency and maintain in force the sanctions to respond to this
threat”. What threat? But then you have to forgive Mr Obama because he is only
reading from the script. Zimbabwe does not and has never posed a threat to any
other country's foreign policy. It is in fact the US which poses a real and
direct threat to Zimbabwe's domestic policy through the continuance of these
illegal and devastating economic sanctions. For Obama to act as the mouthpiece
of these overtures of a former imperial establishment is disconcerting to say
the least. The US and EU have come to the realisation that their Tsvangirai Project
has failed dismally and as such cannot continue with their usual excuses for
maintaining sanctions. They have now craftily coined it 'the threat to US
foreign policy'. My foot! The only threat that exist is the continued and
unabated economic decline due to these economic sanctions and further suffering
of the ordinary people of Zimbabwe.
At the end of it all
we all know that these economic sanctions against Zimbabwe are illegal and
inhuman. Zimbabwe does not pose a threat to US foreign policy in any shape or
form. The US is not at all concerned about all those high sounding nothings of
democracy, rule of law or good governance which the local opposition was
trained to recite as their gateway to the Presidium. There are many real rogue
regimes that have repeatedly violated their own people’s civil liberties and
have no idea what democracy is yet the US and her allies continue to enjoy very
good relations. This has always been and will always be about permanent
interests and nothing else. The US main concern is to punish Robert Mugabe and
Zimbabwe for going against the grain and pursuing policies that seek to empower
the indigenous people. Zimbabwe's thrust towards economic emancipation goes
directly against the imperialistic agendas of exploiting developing countries
of their natural resources. The erstwhile imperial powers continue to get
richer and richer whilst the victim countries continue to wallow in perennial
poverty and destitution. The threat which Mr Obama is talking about is the fact
that these policies are resonating well continent wide with other African
countries and that pose a threat to the unrestrained exploitation of resources
these former imperial have enjoyed. That is the threat President Mugabe poses
to US foreign policy.
bernardbwoni.blogspot.com
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