HOLDING STRONG IN HARARE

On April 4th, 2006, while sons and daughters of the African soil all over the world were paying tribute to Dr. King by commemorating the 38th Anniversary of his assassination by the FBI-CIA, I was on my way to the People’s Democratic Republic of Zimbabwe. It is not by coincidence that a country, whose government is strongly influenced by Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana’s first President who led the Convention Peoples Party that overthrew British Colonial Rule and established Africa’s first independent nation on March 6th 1957), happened to be my destination. Nkrumah was also Dr. King’s favorite African President.

I am in Zimbabwe on behalf of the Pan African Liberation Organization (PALO) and the Zimbabwe Support and Solidarity efforts in the United States. Dr. Simbi Mubako, who served as Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to the United States from 1999 to 2005, first made the invitation in the fall of 2003. The idea stemmed from a meeting I had with Zimbabwe’s President, Comrade Robert Gabriel Mugabe, while he was attending and participating in the United Nations General Assembly. The President simply wanted to thank us for our work on behalf of Zimbabwe, and stressed the need to intensify our efforts because Imperialism never sleeps.

I hope my extended time in Zimbabwe will serve as an alternative to “splash delegations,” which is when national organizations and spokespeople in the United States visit countries that have been politically and economically blacklisted by the Democratic and Republican Parties, but do not follow-up with any programs of action when they return. Many of these groups receive red carpet treatment and gain a lot of attention from mainstream media once they set foot back in the US, and use this press coverage to highlight the promises made to the leadership who graciously received them. However, two or three months down the line, we forget why they went in the first place because of mediocre follow up. Because these countries are usually in Africa, Asia and Latin America, it does irreparable damage to the links of unity and solidarity that need to be built for Africans to have their total liberation and have their human dignity restored. We must follow the positive examples of people like WEB DuBois and Julian Mayfield in Ghana; Kwame Ture in Guinee; Shirley Graham DuBois in Guinee and Peking; and lastly Assata Shakur and Eugene Godfried in Cuba, as inspirations of how one contributes to a struggle on the ground in liberated territory.

I am not in Zimbabwe on a fact-finding mission or on a cultural pilgrimage, even though it’s great to be back on our mother continent for the first time in 30 years. I am here to work with ZANU-PF (Zimbabwe’s ruling political party) on the HIV-AIDS pandemic, at a time when there are 1.6 million AIDS orphans and a HIV rate of between 20.1 and 22% for the general population. I will be corresponding with the National Medical Association, Black Nurses Association, NAACP, National Of Islam’s Health Directors, the American Medical Students Association and the Student National Medical Association, hoping to have them draft a joint resolution to be submitted to the UN and World Health Organization about how the Blair (Britain’s Prime Minister) and Bush administration are using their clout to prevent Zimbabwe from receiving humanitarian assistance because of their fear of President Mugabe and ZANU-PF’s political direction.

I will be corresponding with the National Newspaper Publisher Association (NNPA) and the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), seeking stronger support from them in defeating the misinformation campaign against Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe’s Minister of Information and Publicity, Dr. Jokonya, is correct when he says information is the first line of defense.

I would like to thank the hosts of certain shows of XM satellite radio and Radio-One, who have agreed to have me make several radio appearances while I am in Zimbabwe, to give updates of the work on the ground. I also am grateful to those on Pacifica radio who have extended the same courtesy, especially since the host of Democracy Now, Amy Goodman, has done just as much to demonize President Mugabe and the Government of Zimbabwe as the BBC and Voice of America. We also will be reaching out to Black Electorate.com, Black Commentator.com, Black Press International and the Talking Drum.com

Additionally, I will be reaching out to the Congressional Black Caucus, National Conference of Black State Legislators and World Conference of Black Mayors, to develop the most effective strategy to have the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001 lifted. The examples of Cuba, Libya and Iraq, and most recently Palestine, demonstrates that the pen is how diplomatic terrorism is used by US Imperialism to impose its will on courageous people who refuse to capitulate. This is important because I can tell you the US Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Christopher Dell, behaves more like an intelligence agent at the height of J Edgar Hoover’s Counter Intelligence Program, which lead to the deaths of Malcolm X and Dr. King, than a diplomat here to show the compassionate face of Uncle Sam. The elected officials who represent us need to take this seriously, especially since Condeleeza Rice called Zimbabwe an outpost of tyranny and her assistant Jendaye Frazier, while US Ambassador to South Africa, called for an invasion of Zimbabwe. We must fight to make sure when President Mugabe makes his transition to the ancestors, it is of natural causes, and he is surrounded by comrades and friends as opposed to bombs or bullets courtesy of Blair and Bush’s obsession with re-colonizing Zimbabwe under the guise of a regime change.

I will also be reaching out to the advocates of reparations to be more vocal about defending Zimbabwe. They have gained incredible momentum since the United Nations Conference against Racism, Xenophobia and other related intolerances, five years ago. However, since land and self-determination is the basis of the reparations argument and merging the experiences of slavery and colonialism are their biggest challenges, Zimbabwe is a natural fit. The conference took place in Durban, South Africa, where today after 12 years removed from apartheid, 83% of the land is still in the hands of the former colonizer. President Mugabe and ZANU-PF has done for land reclamation what Nkrumah did for positive action at the height of the anti-colonial movement. Zimbabwe must become for Africans what Palestine is for Arabs and Muslims, their common battle cry irrespective of geography or economics.

Since the beginning of the 21st century, Africans in the US have organized two major marches: the 40th Commemoration of the March on Washington in August of 2003 and the 10th Anniversary of the Million Man March (MMM) in October of 2005 (also known as the Millions More Movement). The issue of Zimbabwe was not treated as a top priority at either event, which is shocking because the main organizers of both of these events are very familiar with the challenges Zimbabwe faces at the moment. Reverend Walter Faunteroy, one of the main planners of the March on Washington commemoration, visited Zimbabwe in 2003, had audience with President Mugabe, and promised that Zimbabwe would be the main African issue raised at the march. I was invited by Matsimela Maphumo and Malika Asha Sanders to speak at the march and was the only speaker to mention Zimbabwe all day. Minister Akbar Muhammad, the Nation of Islam’s International Representative, brought 36 Journalists to Zimbabwe in 2002 and they too met the President; but during the international segment of the MMM, Viola Plummer of the December 12th Movement only had 2 minutes to call for the lifting of the sanctions on Zimbabwe. There was satellite capability that made it possible for the President of the Cuban National Assembly, Ricardo Alarcon, to speak, along with Prime Minister Patterson of Jamaica. I was expecting President Mugabe to be included via satellite, especially since he can’t travel to the states because of sanctions. The irony was two days later he spoke at the United Nations Food and Poverty Organization meeting and received a standing ovation for calling Blair and Bush the world’s biggest terrorists and made the front page of the Washington Times, which is owned and controlled by Reverend Sun Yung Moon.

Our religious and spiritual institutions must take a courageous stand on Zimbabwe and not buy into the propaganda of Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Zimbabwe’s Catholic Bishop Ncube, who breaks bread at the White House when he visits the states. Specifically, we seek the support of those who claim to be the disciples of the social gospel and liberation theology, especially those who can be found at the anti/war demonstrations speaking out against the U.S. involvement in Iraq, Haiti, Afghanistan and Palestine, but are absolutely silent on the issue of Zimbabwe. Our religious and spiritual community must lend their voice to the HIV-AIDS pandemic and the natural droughts in Zimbabwe because Hurricane Katrina is not the only environmental challenge we face on the planet earth.

Our academic institutions at all levels must embrace the country with Africa’s highest literacy rate (94%), which is ignored when non-governmental organization (NGO) and other critics and detractors highlight human rights abuses. I have witnessed some significant developments even though I have been here only a month. The Commercial Farmers, which is a group of white farmers in Zimbabwe, are in full support of the land reclamation program. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) informed the International Monetary Fund (IMF) representatives in Brussels and Belgium, that they will stand behind Zimbabwe. Furthermore, the MDC, which is the opposition group in Zimbabwe that represents the political ideas of Blair and Bush on the ground, is now split in two. Sweden’s Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Sten Rylander, said that the world doesn’t benefit from Zimbabwe’s isolation; and President Mugabe was recently honored in Malawi last week by President Mutharika, who named a road after him despite the European Union asking him to un-invite the President.
I will also reach out to Harry Belafonte and Danny Glover of TransAfrica Forum, concerning Bill Fletcher’s 2002 statement, “Why I Spoke Out Against Zimbabwe!” We will be seeking a retraction of this statement, which should call for the lifting of sanctions and support of the Land Reclamation program, along with an apology to President Mugabe and ZANU-PF, on the basis that revolutionary freedom fighters deserve a certain courtesy, especially from those who claim to walk that same path. I will write an article dealing specifically with this issue in the near future.
I am also in Zimbabwe to strengthen links between the Cuban Solidarity Efforts in Southern Africa and the efforts of Africans in the states. I recently joined the Zimbabwe Cuban Friendship Association (ZIMCUFA) and am happy to be reunited with Mr. Cosme Torres, the Cuban Ambassador to Zimbabwe and the highest ranking Cuban Diplomat to be deported from Washington since the establishment of the Cuban Interests Section in the United States.

In conclusion, I hope my visit plays a major role in the unity and communication between Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe support and solidarity efforts in the United States. A crabs in the barrel approach to this work is to our detriment, therefore, let us remember that ZANU-PF is a government and party that formed a patriotic front to win their total independence. I know our struggle in the belly of the beast (U.S.) intensifies by the second. I close in love, unity and resistance.