MANY people living in the United States, who believe that the right to vote is the most effective political expression, consider the leverage that the Democratic Party recently gained in both Congress and the Senate as the strongest statement sent to the Bush administration since 2000.
Civil/human rights organisations, churches, and other grassroots efforts serving as eyes and ears of democracy inside the African (American) community cited Iraq, George W. Bush’s negligence around Hurricane Katrina, and corruption associated with presidential elections in 2000 and 2004 as their main ammunition in voter registration and education nationwide.
These three issues played a major role in determining the outcome of the mid-term elections and made Democrats confident about their chances to reclaim the White House in the forthcoming presidential elections in 2008.
While the common sentiment of African (American) organisations aligned with Democrats is that they have some breathing room and much-needed momentum to deal with issues Africans face inside US borders, it would be naive to ignore that there is little change for Africans and other oppressed people worldwide, who are targets of US imperialist aggression, in military or diplomatic form.
The Government and people of Zimbabwe, under the courageous leadership of President Mugabe, will gain absolutely no sympathy as a result of a Democratic majority in the House or Senate.
Malcolm X once said Democrats were foxes and Republicans were wolves and in the final analysis both belonged to the canine family.
On July 28, a resolution (HR 409) condemning Operation Murambatsvina was introduced in the House of Representatives by Democrat Tom Lanton (California).
The resolution called on President Mugabe to recognise that the absence of meaningful corrective actions on his part would taint his legacy as a freedom fighter.
It also accused President Mugabe of harassing, and threatening to expel US Ambassador to Zimbabwe Christopher Dell.
While Lantos serves on the Committee for International Relations which is headed by two Republicans, Henry Hyde of Arizona and Christopher Smith of New Jersey, this resolution was co-sponsored by 43 Congressional representatives, 27 of whom are Democrats.
Some of the names that stood out were Congressman Jesse Jackson (son of civil/human rights pioneer Reverend Jesse Jackson), Dennis Kuchinich of Ohio, and Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) member Albert Wynn of Maryland.
The resolution was endorsed by all members of the International Relations Committee of which four are CBC members — Gregory Meeks, Diane Watson, Barbara Lee and, lastly, the chair of the African brain trust of the CBC Donald Payne.
This September at the CBC, Congressman Payne invited Condoleezza Rice’s mouthpiece on African Affairs, Jendayi Frazier, to participate in the second panel.
While she didn’t mention Zimbabwe (Frazier doesn’t speak in public if there is going to be a question-and-answer session), she admitted to the African Ambassadors’ Group that the decision not to have dialogue with Sadc countries was because they refused to support Washington on Zimbabwe.
Congressman Payne is seen by his CBC colleagues as an expert on African affairs, which is why they all sat by and allowed him to co-sponsor House Resolution 2601 calling for action to authorise appropriations for the Department of State’s budget for the years 2006 and 2007.
This resolution contains section 903 which calls for US$12 million to be designated annually to provide the logistical framework to implement the so-called Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act whose main focal points are:
- The restoration of democratic legitimacy and fostering a free and fair electoral process in Zimbabwe, particularly through legislative process training for Members of Parliament;
- Capacity building for civil society organisations to effectively provide information on the political process to citizens and to defend the legal rights of minorities, women and youths;
- Document the level of adherence by the Government of Zimbabwe to civil and human rights standards and monitor and report on the entire electoral process in Zimbabwe;
- Organisational capacity building training in Zimbabwe;
- Poll watcher training for party and civil society election observers in Zimbabwe; and
- The re-establishment of "independent" media through overseas broadcasts and Internet sites.
This should explain to Africans worldwide why the majority CBC members endorse the illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe while the two who abstained in the original vote in 2001, Cynthia McKinney and Earl Hilliard, didn’t feel comfortable enough to vote against it.
Congressman Lantos must be a big admirer of British Prime Minister Tony Blair because his track record shows he is hell-bent on overthrowing President Mugabe and Zanu-PF. There is a resolution — 4319 — that focuses on action to improve trade between sub-Saharan African countries and the US.
The sixth section of the resolution focuses on the State Department and Congress noting that sustained economic growth and development in sub-Saharan Africa will depend on building strong, effective enforcement of international standards and democratic trade unions that can reasonably represent workers’ interests.
This is where ZCTU leader Wellington Chibebe received the go-ahead to try to disrupt the normal flow of things in Zimbabwe and why MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai recently said he would mobilise people around civic issues like high water charges, uncollected garbage and general economic hardships.
This piece of legislation was co-sponsored by three Democrats — Congressman Jim Moran of Virginia, CBC member Albert Wynn, and Congressman McDermott from Seattle — and once again International Relations vice chair Smith from New Jersey.
While the main focus of this article is to expose the hypocrisy of the Democrats in relationship to Zimbabwe, the Republicans, who share the convictions of Bush, have to be revealed.
There is Resolution 5476 that condemns the old United Nations Commission on Human Rights for allowing countries who are, in their opinion, the "worst abusers" of human rights, cited as Zimbabwe, Cuba, Sudan, Libya, Belarus and China, to be part of the commission.
The resolution was drafted by five Republicans — Congressmen and Congresswomen Stearns from Florida, Norwood from Georgia, Westmoreland from Georgia, Cubin of Wyoming and Otter from Idaho.
There is also Resolution 3057 that has section 6078 which states that the Secretary of the Treasury shall instruct the US executive director to each international financial institution to vote against any extension of loans to Zimbabwe unless the Secretary of State (who, ironically, has already listed Zimbabwe among the so-called outposts of tyranny) determines to committees on appropriations that the rule of law has been restored in Zimbabwe.
Republican Jim Kolbe of Arizona sponsored this resolution.
In short, Africans in the US must understand that Bush got the US involved in Zimbabwe to ensure that Blair was his partner to the very end in Iraq.
Therefore, if the elected officials who represent African (Americans) appear to be working hand in hand with the White House in their attempt to overthrow Cde Mugabe and Zanu-PF, then they will have a very difficult time over the next two years.
When African (Americans) talk about the blood shed to have the right to vote in the US and how the Bush administration was trying to repeal the Voting Rights Act of 1964, there comes a responsibility to use these positions to defend our brothers and sisters all over the world.
This means that helping Bush and Blair in Zimbabwe is a betrayal of this fundamental right all CBC members would swear on a stack of Bibles the size of Mt Kilimanjaro, they would never betray.
The Pan-African Parliament of the African Union, Non Aligned Movement, and United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva must be urged to take a stand on this issue.
The writing is not on the wall; Zimbabwe has done nothing wrong.
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