Monday, January 14, 2008
White's using rock and hip hop to send racist messages.
A few years ago heavy metal strong man Phil Anselmo of the metal band Pantera got up on stage at a concert to make an indictment of todays White youth.Phil went on about how he has the balls to say what most Whites feel about White kids following rappers and acting Black.Now I know many of you are going to ask why does this matter?Well first We Blacks and Latinos are a minority group in this country.We don't control the wealth or the power structure.Whites are part of that power structure so the government does not want White kids listening to socially relevant hip hop.I mean remember Ice T 'cop killer',NWA 'F@#$ tha police'?Or Ice Cube's 'Amerikkka's most wanted'.Unlike the east coast early hip hop the west coast was marketed directly to suburban middle America. Kid Rock came along stealing a culture to promote his Whiteness as he calls it whatever that means.The hip hop community embraced him,but hidden in his lyrics is White racist lingo and bravado.I remember the Championship basketball game three years ago in Detroit he sat in the arena with a shirt that said 'White Boy'.I said to myself,doesn't Kid Rock big up Detroit and claim to be from the streets and at one time had a flat top?Wasn't it hip hop and Black Detroit that made him rich?'Why the racial antagonism?This is done to pull the White kids away from any Black rappers to give them White alternatives.The bigger question for the straight out of the trailer cowboy,why are Whites allowed to be racist even when doing Black music and we Blacks have gotten rid of all race conscious
out of our music?Why do country music stars sing about the love of their culture and rail against their enemies but the only time Blacks can hate it is with another Black?Where is the Black mans hip hop like back in the day?Who speaks for us?Why do I only see sellouts, cowards,self hating sambos in the culture could it be that our music has lost its soul?
Above are three videos two by Pantera one by Kid Rock.On on of the Pantera videos he talks about White pride,the other he fights with a Black security guard.On the Kid rock song 'Amen' a subtle jab at Black people.Kid Rock cleverly uses the race card by saying he is persecuted for being White.This will sell him more records in redneckville.
Slumping record sales may be a good thing for hip hop.
2007 was the year that the gloss, floss, and "status of a boss" image that made rap music so commercially successful in the early 1990s stopped impressing people so much. Suddenly, rap artists were forced to create real art -- or just hustle, hard -- to be heard.
Hip-hop, it seemed, was going out of fashion. It just wasn't cute anymore. Not after 'hood hero Michael Vick got caught dog fighting, and definitely not after we taught Don Imus to call the Rutgers women's basketball team a bunch of "nappy headed hos." The act had worn thin and consumers rebelled, deciding to go out and spend their money on better things than "Curtis," 50 Cent's latest album. Nevermind the prize-fight worthy hype for "Curtis" and a record sales war waged against Kanye West. By industry standards, the album was an utter flop, barely crawling past the 1 million mark. That's quite a contrast to the over 5 million sales on his last album.
This might have hurt 50's feelings -- and pockets -- had he not been making millions off of his "Formula 50" vitamin water venture, or his ever-popular G-unit clothing line. Because, you see, '07 was also the year of diversifying your game. Creating and finding more avenues for revenue was the mantra of the past year. That entrepreneurial spirit kept the game afloat in a time a when perpetually multi-platinum artists (multi-million unit pushers) had to scratch and crawl their way to gold (500,000 sales).
Rapper Jay-Z, who was also the president of Def Jam Records from 2005 to the end of 2007, started the year with a "back from retirement" album that was a critical and commercial flop, despite a marketing blitz that was the hip-hop equivalent of the "Spiderman 2" campaign. Undaunted, he returned to the studio months later to record and release a concept album and soundtrack to Denzel Washington's street hustler epic "American Gangster," which was received better by both critics and the record-buying public -- a shot at redemption he likely would not have gotten if he, as Def Jam president, didn't give it to himself. He's also co-owner of the New Jersey Nets, and is said to have just bought my favorite clothing line, Artful Dodger. Soulja boy, Hurricane Chris, Mims, and any other new artist with a hit would do well to follow these hustling examples.
But not all rappers are in it for the money. For years, Bay Area rap artists have been at the forefront of the independent music hustle. This has long been a region where one can be commercially successful and financially comfortable with a fan base of fewer than 50,000. For an independent artist, the money is quicker, more direct and more easily accountable, meaning that you can control your business with greater accuracy than most major labels. With the consignment deals most independent artists make with local record stores, they receive between half and two-thirds of the profits generated. Not to mention live shows, which are usually a major artist's bread and butter.
The risk in being an independent artist is higher. If you are not commercially successful, not only are you not making any money, but you're losing it. Not to mention the fact that your art will never be recognized on the same level as more mainstream artists -- so, no Grammies for you. But that is a small price to pay if you can sell one-third of 50 Cent's albums and still make big money. The Bay Area's E-40, San Quinn, Messy Marv, Tha Jacka, Keak da Sneak, Mr. F.A.B., Bavgate and Beeda Weeda are artists who, for the most part, have never been on a major label and are still eating fat. Some of these dudes own homes, and with Bay Area property values being some of the highest in the country, that should tell you something.
If major labels or mainstream America lose interest in hip-hop culture and rap music, it is of no consequence. In fact, this current recession in the hip-hop economy will be a good thing if it runs off all the rappers and potential moguls who only got into the game for the money, hos and clothes. In fact, it seems like recently hip-hop has retreated aesthetically and sentimentally back to the 'hood. Some of the biggest songs of the last half of 2007, like "Duffle Bag Boy" and "I'm So Hood" and even "Crank That," have been directly and definitively made for the 'hood. Artists are trying less to cross over into white America and more to gain respect and notoriety from people who look like them. And that is a beautiful thing because hip-hop first and foremost is a street culture and rap is street music. Maybe this will be the beginning of a new golden age: one where the culture controls, exploits, and owns its image and therefore directly reaps the financial benefits.
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Wednesday, January 9, 2008
From African Queen to Porn Queen.Have most Black women sold their souls and the community out?
I know this is going to bring controversy,but I think since we are facing such dire conditions in the Black male/female relationship that we need to discuss these issues.Above are videos by a brother named MMMayor of the group Church for men only,and the website www.blacktown.net.He was the first to attack the myth of the strong Black woman.In these video series he exposes Rapper Queen Latifah who used to have to love and respect of the Black male across the country.Now she dyes her hair blond in an attempt to look White.A clear sign of self hate and loathing.It is one thing to self hate,but when you are in the public eye and little children look up to you then I and many others who actually care about our people will expose you.For the past 40 years since the murder of Dr Martin Luther King jr more Black women have been educated and went into the corporate world.In the sixties it was about a common struggle with our community.But many Black women like Angela Davis bought the communist/feminist line about male oppression.For Black girls the chance to sit next to Blond women who they've worshiped since they've gotten their first doll was a chance many could not resist.Am I making some of you uncomfortable?Good the truth always do.So to is the myth about the strong Black woman.This myth is designed to humiliate Black men and boys.Black men are still running most of the successful Black households,not women.It is Black men who are building businesses at the highest rate among any other group in America.Most African American organizations,churches,charities,businesses are run by Black men.This is in spite of opposition from a racist White America.Black females are helped by the government.After 1968 White feminist convinced the proleteriate Black women that being'independent' was the key and the result is every thug mama's boys,gangsta rapper you see.Get rid of strong men and the young bucks will rule.Now a solution to all of this is to mentor young men in your community.Lets fight these entertainers who are encouraging the thug criminal life just to peddle a few clown records.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Ghana's President John Agyekum Kufour's flop in Kenya.
So Kenya has no need for Ghana’s President John Agyekum Kufuor’s mediation in the on-going "Kenyan situation." As embarrassing as it is, I see it as an invitation to the plane-hopping-overseas-travel-addicted Ghanaian head of state to stay home in bed and reflect on the question “what have you done lately for Africa?” I believe it the same question the Kenyans asked and found the Ghanaian so empty that they had no difficulty telling him to take a hike. This is in spite of the fact that Mr. Kufuor is listed as chairman of the AU an organization for which Kwame Nkrumah sacrificed, suffered and eventually died.
For the years that this man has been in power in Ghana, we have endured the painful irony of a him doing his damndest to deny the Osagyefo while at the same time basking in the sunshine of a great man’s enduring legacy – the independence of Ghana linked with the total liberation of all Africa. We have watched in utter dismay as his government assumes positions that sullies Ghana’s commitment to the unity of purpose that Africa needs to battle the unrelenting designs by Europeans to take what they can from Africa and not pay for them.
Under him, Ghana has behaved at the UN and other international arenas the way neo-colonialist western nations would have it. Kufuor has not passed on any opportunity to visit western capitals to buy designer suits, be received in private audiences, be feted at state banquets and prompted to smile for cameras in photo events. No wonder he is listed as one of the best dressed suit-wearing heads of state in the world. Among his rewards (and other African leaders like him) have been invitations to useless photo-taking/dinner events during G-8 summits in recent years. I suspect Mr. Kufuor has somewhere in his trophy case an autographed replica of the torch he carried around Accra in commemoration of the golden jubilee of Queen Elizabeth’s ascension to the British throne.
When British slave trade apologists needed a “native” to help white wash their role as originators, prosecutors and beneficiaries of the devilish enterprise, they sought Mr. Kufuor out. And he obliged. Back in March of the past year, he stood at Elmina and literally repudiated the fight for the payment of reparations to the descendants of Africans enslaved by Europeans and Americans. He said among other things that Africans should look within themselves and “show remorse” rather than pursue demands for the payment of reparations from foreign nations who initiated and principally executed the heinous Trans Atlantic Slave Trade. He was speaking at a ceremony sponsored primarily by the British to mark the 200 years of the passing of legislation by the British government to abolish slave trade in its territories.
Mr. Kufuor made it be known that paying reparations to Africans as compensation for the evil commerce may prove difficult and complex owing to the fact that Africans themselves played primary role in the trade. He pinned the blame squarely on Africans because they themselves actively participated in the capture and sale of their kith and kin to foreigners. He suggested that Africans would find closure and move forward if they would “show remorse and accord those who suffered enslavement and their successors their full human rights."
No one knows whose interest the Ghanaian leader was representing by these pronouncements. Certainly it wasn’t Africa.
Everywhere you turn, Africa is choked with leaders who cannot see, let alone understand, what the Nkrumahs, the Sekou Toures, the Kenyattas, the Haile Selassies etc saw and understood, that “no single part of Africa can be safe, or free to develop fully and independently, while any part remains un-liberated, or while Africa's vast economic resources continue to be exploited by imperialist and neo-colonialist interests. Unless Africa is politically united, under an All-African Union Government, there can be no solution to our political and economic problems." (Kwame Nkrumah)
Let’s hope and pray that our dream of continental/regional integration expressed in the form of the African Union /ECOWAS etc survives the current crop of gutless leadership on the continent.
Otherwise when the epitaph of the ECOWAS comes to be written, it will record the names of the likes of Ghana’s Kufuor and Ivory Coast’s Laurent Gbagbo in infamy. In recent negotiations with the European Union over trade protocols, these two gentlemen took their countries out of ECOWAS’ official position that sought to deal with the EU as a block. Simply put, Ghana and Ivory Coast broke rank with the regional body and left their less endowed neighbors in a lurch. They betrayed the single most important bargaining chirp we have – strength in solidarity. By signing individual interim protocols with the EU, Kufuor and Gbagbo effectively broke the back of regional solidarity and allowed the time tested imperialistic divide and conquer strategy to triumph.
And it isn’t like the deal they went slobbering for is in even in their best interest. It is loaded with dangerous implications such as the permanent elimination of all forms of export taxes, which governments all over the developing world including Ghana, to discourage the excessive export of locally produced materials in their raw form, so as to encourage value added processing and export. This is in addition to an EU proposal calling for liberalization of government procurement, investment rules and capital flows.
Even the EU acknowledges that what they were offering could result in the country losing some revenue when import duties on EU goods were removed. For that the EU promises to put in place a fund to compensate for such revenue losses.
The history of our dealings with the European is littered with countless treaties they wrote in their languages that they had never honored. Let alone what amounts to nothing but a promise. And you bought that? An imperialist’s promise? What ever happened to the funds Britain agreed to provide Zimbabwe to buy back the land colonialist had stolen from the Africans by force or arms and colonial usurpation?
You know you have sold out, betrayed Africa, if you take an action or a position that earns the praises of the agent of western imperialism. So when Mr. Filliberto Ceriani Sebregondi, Head of European Union Delegation in Ghana, on December 12 hailed Ghana's decision to sign the go-it-alone interim Economic Partnership Agreements with the European Union he was in fact saying “sucker, Africa, you’ve just been had!!” Thanks to the likes of Kufuor and Gbagbo.
Those who do not learn from history’s lessons are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.
By G. Ofori Anor
New York City
Lunatic The Messiah cause a stir.
Cadre Press Release 1-7-08
CONTROVERSIAL LOCAL HIP-HOP ARTIST LAUNCHES NEW ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKING SITE WITH A REAL LIFE WEEKLY EVENT AT THE US BEER COMPANY IN CHICAGO
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2008-01-07 09:07:51 - Loud.com $100K Contest Semi-Finalist Launches New Social Networking Website
(Chicago, IL) January 7, 2008
A local Hip-Hop recording artist, LUNATIC The Messiah, born Christopher Tolen, who recently became a semi-finalist in Loud.com's online rap contest (where the 1st place winner receives $100,000 cash and a Universal recording contract), has officially launched a brand new social networking website dedicated to Chicago's Hip-Hop recording artists and music industry professionals. www.cadrequarters.com boasts many
advanced features such as content-rich user profiles, hi-tech, up-to-date forums, user groups, uploading and sharing of photos, videos and audio (way more mp3's than Myspace allows!), promotion to real people, powerful yet easy-to-use blogs, much insider knowledge about the entertainment business from real industry veterans and much more.
With many online social networking sites focusing on the quantity rather than the quality of users, www.cadrequarters.com aims to divert more attention towards building a useful network of music fans, real industry professionals and business resources related to Hip-Hop culture'.so don't be surprised at the lack of spam and the abundance of quality resources and edutainment.
To celebrate the grand opening of www.cadrequarters.com, LUNATIC has announced the official launch of his new Hip-Hop-oriented networking event series at the U.S. Beer Company (1801 N. Clybourn) in Chicago called 'Cadre Quarters- which will focus on creating a comfortable atmosphere where Chicago music industry professionals can network, promote and discover new business resources.
LUNATIC, a successful Hip-Hop recording artist and owner of independent Chicago Hip-Hop record label Cadre Enterprises has built a formidable reputation on his incredible lyrical prowess, his ever-developing roster of talent collectively known as 'The Cadre Crew- and his 'Enterprise- mixtape series with over 50,000 hard copies distributed to the public for free since 2005. LUNATIC has become a force to be reckoned with on the Chicago Hip-Hop scene and aims to redefine it on an international level.
Visit www.cadrequarters.com and register NOW while membership is FREE!
Contact Information:
Cadre Enterprises
Contact Person:
Teresa M. DePriest
PR Dept.
Phone: 312-388-6016
email: email
Web: http://www.cadrequarters.com
Press Information:
CONTROVERSIAL LOCAL HIP-HOP ARTIST LAUNCHES NEW ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKING SITE WITH A REAL LIFE WEEKLY EVENT AT THE US BEER COMPANY IN CHICAGO
Print article Print article
Refer this article Refer to a friend
2008-01-07 09:07:51 - Loud.com $100K Contest Semi-Finalist Launches New Social Networking Website
(Chicago, IL) January 7, 2008
A local Hip-Hop recording artist, LUNATIC The Messiah, born Christopher Tolen, who recently became a semi-finalist in Loud.com's online rap contest (where the 1st place winner receives $100,000 cash and a Universal recording contract), has officially launched a brand new social networking website dedicated to Chicago's Hip-Hop recording artists and music industry professionals. www.cadrequarters.com boasts many
advanced features such as content-rich user profiles, hi-tech, up-to-date forums, user groups, uploading and sharing of photos, videos and audio (way more mp3's than Myspace allows!), promotion to real people, powerful yet easy-to-use blogs, much insider knowledge about the entertainment business from real industry veterans and much more.
With many online social networking sites focusing on the quantity rather than the quality of users, www.cadrequarters.com aims to divert more attention towards building a useful network of music fans, real industry professionals and business resources related to Hip-Hop culture'.so don't be surprised at the lack of spam and the abundance of quality resources and edutainment.
To celebrate the grand opening of www.cadrequarters.com, LUNATIC has announced the official launch of his new Hip-Hop-oriented networking event series at the U.S. Beer Company (1801 N. Clybourn) in Chicago called 'Cadre Quarters- which will focus on creating a comfortable atmosphere where Chicago music industry professionals can network, promote and discover new business resources.
LUNATIC, a successful Hip-Hop recording artist and owner of independent Chicago Hip-Hop record label Cadre Enterprises has built a formidable reputation on his incredible lyrical prowess, his ever-developing roster of talent collectively known as 'The Cadre Crew- and his 'Enterprise- mixtape series with over 50,000 hard copies distributed to the public for free since 2005. LUNATIC has become a force to be reckoned with on the Chicago Hip-Hop scene and aims to redefine it on an international level.
Visit www.cadrequarters.com and register NOW while membership is FREE!
Contact Information:
Cadre Enterprises
Contact Person:
Teresa M. DePriest
PR Dept.
Phone: 312-388-6016
email: email
Web: http://www.cadrequarters.com
Press Information:
Kala Nation podcast
http://kalanation.podOmatic.com/entry/2008-01-07T01_55_07-08_00
Click here to get your own player.
Kala Nation's first of many voice podcast.Listed the topics are the into to Black politics in the new age.Dwayne talks about racism,the hidden hand of mass confusion.The growing threat to Black achievement,and the deception of color blindness,and interracial marriage.
Click here to get your own player.
Kala Nation's first of many voice podcast.Listed the topics are the into to Black politics in the new age.Dwayne talks about racism,the hidden hand of mass confusion.The growing threat to Black achievement,and the deception of color blindness,and interracial marriage.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
The end of White Supremecy.
To the vast African diaspora,to the brothers and sisters on the great Continent of Africa where civilization was born on the banks of the Nile river 3000 B.C.We are now seeing 400 hundred years of White supremecy come to an end.Africa is now standing up to its former colonial masters and looking him eye to eye.Recently Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was branded a dictator by the Western media.I t seems any Black man holding power who does not buck dance for the White man is a dictator.A prominent Zimbabwe writer wrote a letter for the official record chronicling the events in that country this is the Kala Nation Official record on the Pan African state of unity in Zimbabwe.
ZimbabweBy Reason Wafawarova
December 29, 2007
NOW that the year 2007 is coming to an end and inflation is not at 1,5 million percent, Zanu-PF is still intact, Zimbabwean soldiers are still in the barracks and not at State House and Munhumutapa Building and the Government of Zimbabwe is still going strong it may be necessary to look at some of the political predictions and events of the year that may pass for the highlights of the year.
The year 2007 began with the suspicious "attack" on Lovemore Madhuku’s residence on January 1 that many neutral observers believe was a self-inflicted and convenient sympathy-hunting antic meant to hoodwink gullible Western donors as well as to attract international attention.
Two days later, Morgan Tsvangirai, the faction leader of one of the two fragments of the MDC capitalised on the Madhuku incident in his New Year address and claimed that the "attack" was a sign that President Mugabe and Zanu-PF were "on the verge of collapse". In the same address, Tsvangirai also claimed, authoritatively, that there was irreparable disenchantment within Zanu-PF and he even invited the so-called reformists to join his "democratic forces".
Arthur Mutambara weighed in with his own New Year message in which he bragged that he was going to lead a "defiance campaign" that would see laws being disregarded. Tsvangirai and members of the so-called Save Zimbabwe Coalition joined in the campaign for defiance.
This led to the terrible cruising for a bruising when some of those who chose to defy the law went on a collision course with the police in Highfield, Harare and as history now records the opposition activists ended up inviting the full wrath of the law on that fateful March 11. Before March 11 there were a number of interesting developments that showed that the opposition was either acting on faulty intelligence or plain naiveté. There was a belief that members of the police force would sympathise with the violent revolters, for example, and Tsvangirai even invited the police to join the "march".
The events of March 11 turned out to be the turning point where the MDC began to take African lessons down the throat, as events would show. While the West found good politics in displaying the bruises of those who front-lined the defiance campaign particularly the pictures of Tsvangirai, Africa through Sadc, decided to look at what had caused the bruises in the first place or put analytically, to look beyond the bruises and burns on both sides of the collision.
Sadc sought to tackle the issue at its ExtraOrdinary Summit held at the end of March and the prediction within the MDC and the Western circles was that President Mugabe was going to be condemned by fellow Heads of States at the Summit and that Africa through Sadc, was going to stand by the MDC.
The 14 Heads of State and Government held their closed-door session and came out to meet a legion of journalists ready to "scoop on Mugabe’s downfall". Jakaya Kikwete, the Tanzanian President and then Sadc chairman delivered a communiqué with resolutions that left a bitter taste in the mouths of MDC activists and Western journalists present.
He said Sadc noted that Zimbabwe had carried out free and fair elections in 2000 and 2002 and therefore fully believed that President Mugabe and his Government was the legitimate choice by the people of Zimbabwe – that Britain had an obligation to honour its Lancaster House commitments, that sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the Western alliance had to be lifted and that Zanu-PF and the MDC should mediate under the auspices of Sadc.
Britain immediately announced its disapproval of the stance taken by Sadc and Tendai Biti charged that Sadc was playing "ping pong with the people of Zimbabwe". Mutambara inferred that Sadc was a "club of dictators" and the US administration expressed dismay at the failure by Sadc to play to the Western bidding while the BBC marvelled at the sight of President Mugabe coming from the summit "with a spring in his step".
Then came Christopher Dell’s departure from Zimbabwe on a lower-level posting to Afghanistan in June, well coinciding with the departure of Tony Blair from No. 10 Downing Street.
These two men had a commission to see the demise of the Zimbabwean Government – a commission deriving its roots from the legacy of Western "supremacy" as well as from the mandates of imperialism as enforced by corporate democracy. Blair was going to leave his MDC political project at the mercy of these African natives who in his eyes were so mean and primitive that they seemed to okay images of terrible bruises and to be going along with a "ruthless dictator". Not least – Blair was going to suffer regime change ahead of President Mugabe and there was no sign or hope that the millions of pounds he had poured into the MDC project would yield any positive result.
As for Dell, it was a combination of shame, humiliation and self-cursing for a complete failure of a Milosovech replay on a turf he had thought to be an easy stroll in the park. He could not believe that the natives could not be stirred into an uprising and he had to make face saving predictions to the effect that inflation would be 1,5 million percent by year-end and that "the regime cannot survive."
Many will remember that Dell’s predictions were immediately followed by a sharp rise in commodity prices and that the price madness had to be arrested by a price blitz from the Government – that resulting in the current commodity shortages.
It was back to the African forum in July when all African leaders gathered for the 9th Ordinary Session of the AU in Accra, Ghana. The MDC still thought there was something fundamentally wrong with Sadc and they sent a delegation led by Thokozani Khupe to impress upon the African leaders that Zimbabwe was under a "ruthless dictatorship".
Not only were the African leaders clearly not interested in Khupe’s presence at the summit – but the Ghanaians as well as their Press also demanded to know from Khupe and her colleagues – why such a revolutionary as President Mugabe is, could suddenly just turn into the monster Khupe was preaching. They also demanded to know why her party was so much liked by the West and why they were receiving western funding and why they were opposed to the land reform programme.
Meanwhile, President Mugabe was addressing multitudes and was being honoured as a successor to the Kwame Nkrumah legacy of Pan-Africanism.
For the second time Africa was speaking to the MDC and telling them that it was the African way or the high way – and no midway measures.
In August, Sadc was once again meeting in Lusaka, Zambia for its 27th Summit, and again the MDC dispatched the battle-weary Khupe to try another demonisation campaign against the Government of Zimbabwe – this time with the support of hired protesters. Most of the hired thugs were deported at the Zimbabwe-Zambia border post while those who sneaked in had to make do with humiliating booing from the Zambian public as well as the Zambian political leaders from both sides of the divide.
The message was the same. Africa did not take kindly to the treacherous identity of the MDC.
This continued show of solidarity with Zimbabwe by African leaders was clearly not going down well in the Western circles and immediately after the Lusaka Summit something had to be done. In came Australia’s Alexander Downer with his enormous victory over eight Zimbabwean university students who were studying in Australia at the time. Downer, the then Foreign Minister reckoned that these youngsters had a case to answer in all that was happening since they happened to be born to Zimbabwean politicians and senior officials whose policies differed from the Australian government’s perspective.
During this time Downer, personally invited Tsvangirai to Australia and Tsvangirai enthusiastically thanked Downer and the Australian government for the isolation of Zimbabwe and pleaded for more isolation and more sanctions, only to be restrained by Downer who had to tell him that the measures in place then were adequate.
There was an announcement about funding of "democratic forces" in Zimbabwe to the tune of 18 million Australian dollars and while addressing invited guests at the Lowly Institute in Sydney Alexander Downer told Tsvangirai that "we definitely want to see the back of Mr Mugabe".
It is ironic that from Sydney, Tsvangirai went straight for a weaker target and showed the world the back of a poor woman by the name Lucia Matibenga, much to the surprise of Downer – whose own back was to be seen by President Mugabe as the Howard government was dismissed by the Australian electorate in an election in November.
Anyway, on September 18, 2007 Zimbabwe witnessed the first fruit of the talks between Zanu-PF and the MDC. The two parties co-sponsored Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 18) Act, which harmonised elections for Zimbabwe beginning 2008.
There was apparent disquiet from Western quarters with Tsvangirai rushing to Washington to explain issues but there was nowhere to rush in order to pacify marauding voices from Zinasu, NCA, Woza and other pro-MDC civic organisations. Madhuku literally went mad and accused the MDC of "treachery" and many political hangers-on of the MDC complained bitterly about being left out of the talks.
Britain could not understand the MDC move of moving in unison with Zanu-PF and Gordon Brown made the biggest mistake of his political life on the 21st of September when he chose to reinforce his resentment for what was happening by declaring that he would boycott the EU-Africa Summit in Portugal if President Mugabe was invited. It was game on about who would be watching the other’s empty chair.
President Levy Mwanawasa of Zambia, the Sadc chair, immediately declared that Sadc would boycott the Summit if President Mugabe was not invited, and when the Ghanaian foreign minister, whose country chaired the AU, announced that the AU position was that all African leaders were to be invited that made it minus 53 countries or NO summit.
Faced with this scenario, and a history of a Blair boycott in 2000 and a cancellation of the Summit in 2003, Europe was divided; with German, Portugal and other countries insisting that the Summit had to go ahead according to the wish of the African leaders. That left the unelected, Blair-appointed Gordon Brown with egg in the face.
Of course the Summit did materialise on December 8/9 and President Mugabe was right there watching a little lady of the African colour sitting in Brown’s chair and clearly overwhelmed by events. Attempts by the MDC to build up Brown’s case at the Summit through anti-Zimbabwe demonstrations backfired when pro-Zimbabwe protesters countered their hired protesters.
On October 30, Tsvangirai sent Khupe to preside over what is now known as the "restaurant congress" at which one Theresa Makone was "elected" to replace the ousted Lucia Matibenga. Civic groups, MDC senior officials and the private media went berserk after this and on November 7, Nelson Chamisa ranted against the media blitz claiming that there was no fall out in the MDC and accused everyone of being delusional.
On November 30, the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association organised the Million Men and Women March in support of President Mugabe’s candidature in March 2008 and the crowd that turned up shocked the MDC the most. Zanu-PF’s Extraordinary Congress followed the March and and again the opposition was shocked by the unanimous endorsement of President Mugabe as the ruling party’s candidate in the harmonised elections in March 2008.
All the predictions of pandemonium and fireworks from perceived factions within Zanu-PF were just not there at the Congress and there was no sign of a political party coming out of Zanu-PF as had been predicted throughout the year.
On December 18, amendments Bills for the Broadcasting Services Act, the Public Order and Security Act and the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act were all fast-tracked through the House of Assembly – again co-sponsored by both the MDC and Zanu-PF and the same voices of descend are crying foul.
This writer has chronicled these events in light of the new orientation the events have given to the MDC. While some argue and say the MDC just did not do its work in creating synergies in Africa, this writer asserts that it is the MDC ideology, or is it lack of it, that actually alienated the MDC from the African polity.
No government can be comfortable with a foreign funded and foreign directed opposition party, even if the party was just next-door. If the MDC were standing for African values and not doing such treacherous things as calling for sanctions against their own country they barely needed to mobilise friends in Africa – they would just get them. Is it not surprising that even other opposition parties in other African countries like Zambia have a problem with the MDC?
Now that election 2008 is around the corner and the Government of Zimbabwe has not collapsed it is time for the MDC to evaluate itself and not to blame the Constitution, food distribution, chiefs and so on and so forth for its defeat.
A clearly disintegrating opposition cannot keep blaming outside factors for its lack of organisational skills and now that the African language has been spoken loud and clear it is time to go back to the drawing board for the MDC and an introduction of an ideology might be the starting point. Abandoning the imperial agenda might be second and selling alternative policies in place of vilification might be third. That way we can start talking of movement for democratic change.
ZimbabweBy Reason Wafawarova
December 29, 2007
NOW that the year 2007 is coming to an end and inflation is not at 1,5 million percent, Zanu-PF is still intact, Zimbabwean soldiers are still in the barracks and not at State House and Munhumutapa Building and the Government of Zimbabwe is still going strong it may be necessary to look at some of the political predictions and events of the year that may pass for the highlights of the year.
The year 2007 began with the suspicious "attack" on Lovemore Madhuku’s residence on January 1 that many neutral observers believe was a self-inflicted and convenient sympathy-hunting antic meant to hoodwink gullible Western donors as well as to attract international attention.
Two days later, Morgan Tsvangirai, the faction leader of one of the two fragments of the MDC capitalised on the Madhuku incident in his New Year address and claimed that the "attack" was a sign that President Mugabe and Zanu-PF were "on the verge of collapse". In the same address, Tsvangirai also claimed, authoritatively, that there was irreparable disenchantment within Zanu-PF and he even invited the so-called reformists to join his "democratic forces".
Arthur Mutambara weighed in with his own New Year message in which he bragged that he was going to lead a "defiance campaign" that would see laws being disregarded. Tsvangirai and members of the so-called Save Zimbabwe Coalition joined in the campaign for defiance.
This led to the terrible cruising for a bruising when some of those who chose to defy the law went on a collision course with the police in Highfield, Harare and as history now records the opposition activists ended up inviting the full wrath of the law on that fateful March 11. Before March 11 there were a number of interesting developments that showed that the opposition was either acting on faulty intelligence or plain naiveté. There was a belief that members of the police force would sympathise with the violent revolters, for example, and Tsvangirai even invited the police to join the "march".
The events of March 11 turned out to be the turning point where the MDC began to take African lessons down the throat, as events would show. While the West found good politics in displaying the bruises of those who front-lined the defiance campaign particularly the pictures of Tsvangirai, Africa through Sadc, decided to look at what had caused the bruises in the first place or put analytically, to look beyond the bruises and burns on both sides of the collision.
Sadc sought to tackle the issue at its ExtraOrdinary Summit held at the end of March and the prediction within the MDC and the Western circles was that President Mugabe was going to be condemned by fellow Heads of States at the Summit and that Africa through Sadc, was going to stand by the MDC.
The 14 Heads of State and Government held their closed-door session and came out to meet a legion of journalists ready to "scoop on Mugabe’s downfall". Jakaya Kikwete, the Tanzanian President and then Sadc chairman delivered a communiqué with resolutions that left a bitter taste in the mouths of MDC activists and Western journalists present.
He said Sadc noted that Zimbabwe had carried out free and fair elections in 2000 and 2002 and therefore fully believed that President Mugabe and his Government was the legitimate choice by the people of Zimbabwe – that Britain had an obligation to honour its Lancaster House commitments, that sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the Western alliance had to be lifted and that Zanu-PF and the MDC should mediate under the auspices of Sadc.
Britain immediately announced its disapproval of the stance taken by Sadc and Tendai Biti charged that Sadc was playing "ping pong with the people of Zimbabwe". Mutambara inferred that Sadc was a "club of dictators" and the US administration expressed dismay at the failure by Sadc to play to the Western bidding while the BBC marvelled at the sight of President Mugabe coming from the summit "with a spring in his step".
Then came Christopher Dell’s departure from Zimbabwe on a lower-level posting to Afghanistan in June, well coinciding with the departure of Tony Blair from No. 10 Downing Street.
These two men had a commission to see the demise of the Zimbabwean Government – a commission deriving its roots from the legacy of Western "supremacy" as well as from the mandates of imperialism as enforced by corporate democracy. Blair was going to leave his MDC political project at the mercy of these African natives who in his eyes were so mean and primitive that they seemed to okay images of terrible bruises and to be going along with a "ruthless dictator". Not least – Blair was going to suffer regime change ahead of President Mugabe and there was no sign or hope that the millions of pounds he had poured into the MDC project would yield any positive result.
As for Dell, it was a combination of shame, humiliation and self-cursing for a complete failure of a Milosovech replay on a turf he had thought to be an easy stroll in the park. He could not believe that the natives could not be stirred into an uprising and he had to make face saving predictions to the effect that inflation would be 1,5 million percent by year-end and that "the regime cannot survive."
Many will remember that Dell’s predictions were immediately followed by a sharp rise in commodity prices and that the price madness had to be arrested by a price blitz from the Government – that resulting in the current commodity shortages.
It was back to the African forum in July when all African leaders gathered for the 9th Ordinary Session of the AU in Accra, Ghana. The MDC still thought there was something fundamentally wrong with Sadc and they sent a delegation led by Thokozani Khupe to impress upon the African leaders that Zimbabwe was under a "ruthless dictatorship".
Not only were the African leaders clearly not interested in Khupe’s presence at the summit – but the Ghanaians as well as their Press also demanded to know from Khupe and her colleagues – why such a revolutionary as President Mugabe is, could suddenly just turn into the monster Khupe was preaching. They also demanded to know why her party was so much liked by the West and why they were receiving western funding and why they were opposed to the land reform programme.
Meanwhile, President Mugabe was addressing multitudes and was being honoured as a successor to the Kwame Nkrumah legacy of Pan-Africanism.
For the second time Africa was speaking to the MDC and telling them that it was the African way or the high way – and no midway measures.
In August, Sadc was once again meeting in Lusaka, Zambia for its 27th Summit, and again the MDC dispatched the battle-weary Khupe to try another demonisation campaign against the Government of Zimbabwe – this time with the support of hired protesters. Most of the hired thugs were deported at the Zimbabwe-Zambia border post while those who sneaked in had to make do with humiliating booing from the Zambian public as well as the Zambian political leaders from both sides of the divide.
The message was the same. Africa did not take kindly to the treacherous identity of the MDC.
This continued show of solidarity with Zimbabwe by African leaders was clearly not going down well in the Western circles and immediately after the Lusaka Summit something had to be done. In came Australia’s Alexander Downer with his enormous victory over eight Zimbabwean university students who were studying in Australia at the time. Downer, the then Foreign Minister reckoned that these youngsters had a case to answer in all that was happening since they happened to be born to Zimbabwean politicians and senior officials whose policies differed from the Australian government’s perspective.
During this time Downer, personally invited Tsvangirai to Australia and Tsvangirai enthusiastically thanked Downer and the Australian government for the isolation of Zimbabwe and pleaded for more isolation and more sanctions, only to be restrained by Downer who had to tell him that the measures in place then were adequate.
There was an announcement about funding of "democratic forces" in Zimbabwe to the tune of 18 million Australian dollars and while addressing invited guests at the Lowly Institute in Sydney Alexander Downer told Tsvangirai that "we definitely want to see the back of Mr Mugabe".
It is ironic that from Sydney, Tsvangirai went straight for a weaker target and showed the world the back of a poor woman by the name Lucia Matibenga, much to the surprise of Downer – whose own back was to be seen by President Mugabe as the Howard government was dismissed by the Australian electorate in an election in November.
Anyway, on September 18, 2007 Zimbabwe witnessed the first fruit of the talks between Zanu-PF and the MDC. The two parties co-sponsored Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 18) Act, which harmonised elections for Zimbabwe beginning 2008.
There was apparent disquiet from Western quarters with Tsvangirai rushing to Washington to explain issues but there was nowhere to rush in order to pacify marauding voices from Zinasu, NCA, Woza and other pro-MDC civic organisations. Madhuku literally went mad and accused the MDC of "treachery" and many political hangers-on of the MDC complained bitterly about being left out of the talks.
Britain could not understand the MDC move of moving in unison with Zanu-PF and Gordon Brown made the biggest mistake of his political life on the 21st of September when he chose to reinforce his resentment for what was happening by declaring that he would boycott the EU-Africa Summit in Portugal if President Mugabe was invited. It was game on about who would be watching the other’s empty chair.
President Levy Mwanawasa of Zambia, the Sadc chair, immediately declared that Sadc would boycott the Summit if President Mugabe was not invited, and when the Ghanaian foreign minister, whose country chaired the AU, announced that the AU position was that all African leaders were to be invited that made it minus 53 countries or NO summit.
Faced with this scenario, and a history of a Blair boycott in 2000 and a cancellation of the Summit in 2003, Europe was divided; with German, Portugal and other countries insisting that the Summit had to go ahead according to the wish of the African leaders. That left the unelected, Blair-appointed Gordon Brown with egg in the face.
Of course the Summit did materialise on December 8/9 and President Mugabe was right there watching a little lady of the African colour sitting in Brown’s chair and clearly overwhelmed by events. Attempts by the MDC to build up Brown’s case at the Summit through anti-Zimbabwe demonstrations backfired when pro-Zimbabwe protesters countered their hired protesters.
On October 30, Tsvangirai sent Khupe to preside over what is now known as the "restaurant congress" at which one Theresa Makone was "elected" to replace the ousted Lucia Matibenga. Civic groups, MDC senior officials and the private media went berserk after this and on November 7, Nelson Chamisa ranted against the media blitz claiming that there was no fall out in the MDC and accused everyone of being delusional.
On November 30, the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association organised the Million Men and Women March in support of President Mugabe’s candidature in March 2008 and the crowd that turned up shocked the MDC the most. Zanu-PF’s Extraordinary Congress followed the March and and again the opposition was shocked by the unanimous endorsement of President Mugabe as the ruling party’s candidate in the harmonised elections in March 2008.
All the predictions of pandemonium and fireworks from perceived factions within Zanu-PF were just not there at the Congress and there was no sign of a political party coming out of Zanu-PF as had been predicted throughout the year.
On December 18, amendments Bills for the Broadcasting Services Act, the Public Order and Security Act and the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act were all fast-tracked through the House of Assembly – again co-sponsored by both the MDC and Zanu-PF and the same voices of descend are crying foul.
This writer has chronicled these events in light of the new orientation the events have given to the MDC. While some argue and say the MDC just did not do its work in creating synergies in Africa, this writer asserts that it is the MDC ideology, or is it lack of it, that actually alienated the MDC from the African polity.
No government can be comfortable with a foreign funded and foreign directed opposition party, even if the party was just next-door. If the MDC were standing for African values and not doing such treacherous things as calling for sanctions against their own country they barely needed to mobilise friends in Africa – they would just get them. Is it not surprising that even other opposition parties in other African countries like Zambia have a problem with the MDC?
Now that election 2008 is around the corner and the Government of Zimbabwe has not collapsed it is time for the MDC to evaluate itself and not to blame the Constitution, food distribution, chiefs and so on and so forth for its defeat.
A clearly disintegrating opposition cannot keep blaming outside factors for its lack of organisational skills and now that the African language has been spoken loud and clear it is time to go back to the drawing board for the MDC and an introduction of an ideology might be the starting point. Abandoning the imperial agenda might be second and selling alternative policies in place of vilification might be third. That way we can start talking of movement for democratic change.
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