Eyewitness report from Zimbabwe
Published Apr 2, 2008 11:26 PM
The Brooklyn-based December 12 Movement issued the following statement
titled “West launches preemptive propaganda strike to depose presidency
of Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe” on March 30 from Harare,
Zimbabwe.
D 12’s International Secretariat sent an official observer team to
Zimbabwe for the presidential and parliamentary elections.
The 8-year Western-led campaign to overthrow the leadership of Zimbabwe
President Robert Mugabe and the ZANU-PF Party is quickly escalating. Western
media, in particular CNN and the BBC, are banned from reporting in Zimbabwe,
but have nevertheless acted as conduits for disinformation reports circulated
by Western intelligence sources (i.e. CIA, MI5) on the inability to hold a free
and fair election in Zimbabwe.
Before the voting for president took place on March 29, the Western press had
reported that the only way President Mugabe and ZANUPF would win was by
“electoral violence” or “rigging the voting.”
This “vote rigging” accusation was a pre-emptive strike against the
anticipated victory of President Mugabe and ZANU-PF. It was intended to create
the false perception in the minds of the Western public that ZANU-PF lacks
popular support from the masses of the Zimbabwean people and that any victory
could only come from cheating.
The December 12th Movement delegation is in Zimbabwe as one of a large
contingent of international observers to the voting. We went to several sites
and spoke with polling officials as well as agents from all of the parties
running for office.
All found the election peaceful with no problems in people being able to cast
their votes freely. By the close of voting yesterday, the West, realizing that
it could not play the “electoral violence” card, immediately moved
to its next tactic, “vote rigging.”
Prior to the March 29 voting, all parties agreed that there should be no
premature claims of victory until all the votes were counted. Nevertheless, the
MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) declared victory only a few minutes after
the polls closed when it was both physically and factually impossible to have
actually known the results.
By doing so the MDC laid another brick in the false “pre-emptive strike
accusations.” The logic being that when all the votes did finally come
in, if MDC lost, it could only happen because the votes had been rigged.
Be clear, the United States and Britain’s real contradiction with
President Mugabe and ZANU-PF has everything to do with African people
reclaiming their stolen land and nothing to do with a concern for democracy.
They have unsuccessfully tried to overthrow President Mugabe and ZANU-PF,
through vicious economic sanctions (like the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic
Recovery Act of 2002), media demonization and the establishment and funding of
opposition parties like the MDC.
The West believes that by “making the economy scream” they can
create enough popular discontent in Zimbabwe to remove President Mugabe and
ZANU-PF. This election was their last best shot. We urge those in the West to
critically analyze Western media reports and to not believe the “vote
rigging” hype.
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