The ongoing attempts to isolate Zimbabwe
By Monica Moorehead
President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe is
reportedly being disinvited to the 2003 Commonwealth Heads of
Government Meeting beginning Dec. 5 in Abuja, Nigeria. In
response, Mugabe has stated that he plans to boycott and wants
other members of the CHOGM to do the same. So far, other
countries have not pulled out of the meeting.
The Commonwealth is the successor to the British Empire, and
is made up of Britain and most of its former colonies and
"dominions." The first CHOGM was held in 1931, with Great
Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the once-apartheid
South Africa participating.
The first four, but not liberated South Africa, have said
they would not attend the Commonwealth meeting if Mugabe was in
attendance.
Today there are 54 member countries in the Commonwealth, 50
of whom are poorer, developing countries. A substantial number
of them are located in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific
Islands. In about a third of these countries, Queen Elizabeth
II is still officially the ruling monarch.
Commonwealth members are "independent" countries
representing 1.7 billion people, or 30 percent of the world's
population. The CHOGM website claims its "key areas of
achievement" are in "initiatives promoting democracy, racial
equality, conflict resolution, cultural diversity, education
and economic development." These are all prettified words, but
in truth, the Commonwealth is but another imperialist-dominated
organization that holds the purse strings in terms of putting
the brake on true economic development and political
sovereignty for the formerly colonized world.
If this wasn't so, the vast majority of the 1.7 billion
people would not be drowning in unbelievable poverty, hunger
and wars, all rooted in imperialist plunder. Zimba bwe is
facing many of the same crises as the other developing
countries, including triple-digit inflation, famine-induced
hunger, the AIDS crisis and much more.
The difference is that Mugabe is standing up to the threats
of U.S. and British imperialism which have been working
overtime since the late 1990s to remove him from office. The
straw that broke the camel's back was when Mugabe supported a
radical land reform plan to return arable lands in Zimbabwe to
Black African farmers. Millions of acres had been confiscated
by white farmers ever since colonial rule was brutally
instituted in what was called Rhodesia during the late 19th
century.
Under the 1979 Lancaster agreement, signed by an indigenous
guerrilla movement and the British government, white farmers
were to be financially compensated for the land and Black
farmers were to become the rightful owners. When Britain did
not adhere to the agreement, displaced Black farmers led a
revolt against the white farmers, prompting Mugabe to support
their efforts.
This support enraged both U.S. Pre sident George W. Bush and
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who led a racist worldwide
campaign trying to demonize and criminalize Mugabe. The U.S.
government passed the Zimbabwe Demo cracy Act in 2000.
"Democracy" was just a cover for imperialist support for the
white colonial farmers. This act, which cut off U.S. assistance
to Zimbabwe and also refused any leniency in debt forgiveness,
was a slap in the face to Mugabe and the Zimbabwean masses.
The capitalist press gives the impression that Mugabe is
being disinvited by Olusegun Obasanjo, president of Nigeria.
But that's not the essence of the matter. The real pressure is
coming from the imperialist leaders who want to send a message
to the entire CHOGM membership as to which class holds the
reins of power and what may be in store for them if they dare
try to break from imperialist domination, even nominally so, as
Mugabe is attempting to do. This is why the progressive
movement, especially inside the U.S. and Britain, must stand in
solidarity with Mugabe and Zimbabwe against any imperialist
intervention.
Reprinted from the Dec. 11, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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