I too have a dream

September 15, 2008 by Virtugirl Africa ·
Filed under: Politics, Zimbabwean diaries

Based on Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech (1963)

The day is coming when every Zimbabwean will sing in the words of Morgan Tsvangirai: "Change you ways! Chinja maitiro! Guqula izenzo! Thank God Almighty, change has come!"

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as a turning point for freedom in the history of our nation.

One score and eight years ago, some great Zimbabweans, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, witnessed the victory celebration of their hard won fight. This momentous ocassion came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Zimbabweans who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their subjugation.

But 28 years later, the Zimbabwean still is not free. One hundred and twelve years after Mbuya Nehanda inspired the first war of Chimurenga, the life of the Zimbabwean native is still sadly crippled by the manacles of power mongering and the chains of corruption. One hundred and twelve years later, the Zimbabwean lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred and twelve years later, the Zimbabwean is still languished in the corners of Global society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we’ve come here today to start to put an end to a shameful condition.

In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a cheque. When the architects of our revolution wrote the magnificent words of the original Constitution and, they were signing a promissory note to which every Zimbabwean was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all people- yes, black as well as white, coloured as well as Indian , Ndebele as well as Shona - would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that Zimbabwe has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens who are not ZANU PF big wigs are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, Robert Mugabe has given the Zimbabwean people a bad cheque, a cheque that has come back marked “insufficient funds.”

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so we’ve come to cash this cheque, a cheque that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and security of justice. We have also come to his hallowed spot to remind Zimbabwe of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of corruption to the sunlit path of real justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of political injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Zimbabwean’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. September 2008 is not an end but a beginning.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here after great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police and army brutality. Your homes have been burnt and your fathers murdered. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Gwaai, go back to Uzumba, go back to Zaka, go back to Binga, go back to Kezi, go back to the slums and ghettos of our cities, knowing that somehow this situation CAN and WILL be changed, praying that God will give Morgan strength to walk the journey that he has begun. Change WILL come.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today my friends - so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I too, like Martin Luther King before me, have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in Nehanda’s dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its real name: “Great Zimbabwe.”

I have a dream that one day on the fertile hills of the Eastern Highlands, the sons of our soil and their brothers and sisters across the arable parts of Zimbabwe will bring down the bounty of our land so that we are once again the bread basket of Africa.

I have a dream that one day now barren ranches of Kezi and Plumtree will bring forth herds that will feed a nation.

I have a dream that my little brothers and sisters will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the political party they belong to but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day down at OK Mbare the shelves will be full again. That up at the petrol station there will be fuel once more, that ZESA will supply the whole country with power and have an excess for our neighbours, that ZINWA will actually work and the Reserve Bank will provide a currency that is stable.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that my brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles in the Diaspora will come back home and help to build a prosperous new Zimbabwe. I have a dream that millions of dollars will pour into our country as an investment of confidence in a future that is certain to come.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go into this day with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will ALL be free one day.

This will be the day, this will be the day when every Zimbabwean will be able to sing with new meaning “My country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my father’s died, land of Nehanda’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring!”

And if Zimbabwe is to be a great nation, this must become true. And so let freedom ring from the highest hilltops of Nyanga. Let freedom ring from the mighty plains Matebeleland. Let freedom ring from the thundering waters of Victoria Falls. Let freedom ring from the all knowing rocks of Great Zimbabwe.

Let freedom ring from the Zimbabwean-filled neighbouhoods of Luton in the UK and Hillbrow in Jozi, SA.

But not only that; let freedom ring from ZANU PF headquarters.

Let freedom ring from Harvest House.

Let freedom ring from every gesti-less household across the country.

Let freedom ring. And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring - when we let it ring from every village and every shack, from every province and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all Zimbabweans - black men and white men, coloureds and all - will be able to join hands and sing in the words of Morgan Tsvangirai: “Change you ways! Chinja maitiro! Guqula izenzo! Thank God Almighty, change has come!”

Written by Virtugirl Africa

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