Not all that glitters is gold

By Obi Egbuna

ZIMBABWEAN youths, born after Independence in 1980 — the so-called born-free generation — must realise how the three Chimurengas positively impacted on their educational system, and how fortunate they are to have grown up in a country with Africa’s highest literacy rate.
Africa’s liberation movements rooted in the decolonisation era have one thing in common, the support of the majority of the people owing to the charisma and progressiveness of their leadership, a leadership Washington wants to depose at all costs.
This is why Zimbabweans must not relax when they hear the US Embassy openly saying it recognises the immense value of educational exchange programmes towards increasing mutual understanding between Zimbabweans and Americans.
On November 3 2006, on the occasion of the International Education Week, the US Embassy in Harare announced that it was offering 2 000 scholarships to Zimbabwean students to study in the US.
The Bush administration’s illegal regime change agenda thrives on such scholarships.
We Africans in the US have a saying that it is easier to kill flies with honey than vinegar, so what is being presented as a gesture of good faith by the US Embassy in collaboration with the US State Department should not fool anyone.
Because of the role that both colonialism and slavery played in the collective African experience, daughters and sons of Africa truly understand and appreciate the benefit of first rate education.
In his autobiography, “The Life and Narrative of a Slave”, the great freedom fighter Frederick Douglas openly discussed how he hid while learning how to read and write because he could have been tortured or potentially killed for daring to learn.
While addressing his party’s Ninth Annual National People’s Conference in Goromonzi, President Mugabe reminded party members that Goromonzi High School, built in 1946, was the first secondary school for black Africans even though the country had been under colonial rule since 1890.
Public schools in the US were not integrated until 1954 and only then after the Brown vs Board of Education of Topeka case argued by civil/human rights pioneer Thurgood Marshall.
Two other examples worthy of mention are the case of nine high school students in Little Rock, Arkansas who attempted to enrol at Little Rock Central High School in 1957, only to have the Governor Orval Faubus call the National Guard to prevent the students from enrolling.
There is also the case of James Meredith, who applied for admission to the University of Mississippi in January of 1961 only to be denied admission and be saved by a US Supreme Court ruling in September of 1962.
The White House had to get involved in both cases. President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent the 101st Airborne Division to protect students in Arkansas because of the support organised by the NAACP chapter under the fearless leadership of Daisy Bates.
While in Mississippi, president Kennedy sent the US marshal’s because of racist violence that left two people dead, 41 soldiers injured and 30 US Marshalls shot.
The US Embassy Public Affairs section houses an Education USA certified educational advising centre, which they claim was set up to provide comprehensive services to serious Zimbabwean students seeking to further their education in the US, which includes a pre-departure orientation programme and individual advising with trained educational advisors. There are several questions that have to be answered in relation to the interaction that will take place between Zimbabwean students and the officers at the US Embassy:
Will their political opinions and affiliation become a point of discussion?
Are the scholarships only for students who belong to the Zimbabwe National Students Union?
Do students who happen to be members of the ruling party youth league qualify as well?
Could this initiative be an attempt by the US Government to start an extension of Zinasu in the US?
The Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education along with the Ministry of Education, Sport and Culture must keep this initiative under scrutiny as it has implications for national security.
The split in the MDC that left the party extremely vulnerable, and the ZCTU’s loss of integrity, have left only one option open to Blair and Bush, that is having anti-Mugabe/Zanu-PF groups directly under their watchful eyes.
The US scholarships are being offered at a time Zimbabwe has the fourth largest student population in the US; only Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya have more students in US institutions, that in itself should raise eyebrows, the CIA’s regional office in West Africa is in Ghana.
Nigeria, at government level, has been the model military neo-colony, and Kenya lies in Africa’s most politically unstable region.
The other obvious social factor all four countries were colonised by the British, which means English is one of their official languages, which makes the students suitable for political indoctrination to serve US and British imperialist interests in Africa.
This is a typical US government strategy.
The Bush administration will try everything possible to present these students as Zimbabwe’s future leaders. All Mugabe and Zanu-PF detractors like the National Endowment Democracy and Amnesty International will roll out the red carpet for them.
The Voice of America’s Studio 7 and the nationally syndicated talk show Democracy Now would give them unlimited radio access, they may even have the opportunity to address the US Congress where they would be compared to the Chinese Students in Tiannanmen Square.
They would be asked to work with Reginald Machaba-Hove the chair of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network, making them eligible to succeed Matchaba-Hove as recipients of the National Endowment for Democracy award and become Bush’s pet Zimbabweans.
The students’ academic programmes would be tailored to ensure they can rub shoulders with as many US intelligence agents as possible.
They would be taken to the Ralph Bunche International Affairs Centre at Howard University where the previous director Horace Dawson signed the initial statement by Trans Africa Forum entitled — Why We Spoke out on Zimbabwe.
They would be introduced to the United Negro College Fund special programmes division, where they would interact with the Institute for Public Policy, that was set up to enhance US national security, global competitiveness and leadership by promoting excellence, international service and cultural competence.
It would only be a matter of time before Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government’s Public Policy and Leadership Conference seeks them out and introduces them to people who help the International Crisis Group of the European Union write disparaging articles about President Mugabe and Zanu-PF.
These scholarships come at a time, first lady Laura Bush has just launched the Global Cultural initiative, an effort by the US State Department to support a wide-ranging international cultural diplomacy effort characterised by partnerships with the US government and private sector cultural agencies and institutions.
This will be where students with artistic talent would be encouraged to be like Thomas Mapfumo who sings for his supper, instead of Oliver Mtukudzi or Cde Chinx who sing from the heart.
The born-free comrades must make a distinction between the anti-imperialist student tradition that produced the likes of Witness Mangwende, Steve Biko, Kwame Ture, Yasir Arafat, and Fidel Castro; and students who are converted into agents of imperialism.
l Obi Egbuna is an African-American, and member of the Pan African Liberation Organisation, and Zimbabwe Cuba Friendship Association.