It’s not how well you say it
When the cock crowed, euphoria filled the land. Five year plans were brandied about with enthusiasm, gusto and the future seemed bright. We looked beyond our borders and thought, just like the South Africans do now, “Thank God we are not like those countries up north.”
When Mozambiquean refugees sought haven from the RENAMO stoked civil strife in their homeland, we were prone to treat them with contempt, calling them mamoskeni” while we gloated in our own sense of wealth, success, stability and invincibility.
We laughed at our Zambian brothers and their “worthless” Kwacha (back then) and how they needed wheelbarrows to carry enough money to buy a loaf of bread… Little did we know that bearer cheques lurked in the shadows or that a new currency would have the suffer a fate similar to that of the bearer cheques in a short, short period.
Is it true after all, that the only thing that we learn from history is that we do not learn from history? In The Wretched of the Earth, Frantz Fanon outlined the shortcomings of post- colonial Africa, particularly in the chapter, “The Pitfalls of Nationalism.”
Gaining independence late as we did, long after the independence boom of the late 1950s and the 1960s, we had so many lessons to learn from. But because the promise of the revolution had already been sacrificed on the altar of mercenary tendencies, masked by fiery rhetoric of patriotism, and dressed in the same parochial garb that made us contemptuous of the suffering of our African brothers and sisters, we walked into chasm literally with our eyes open.
Why, when most of the leaders were seemingly highly educated and the nation, too, boasted of a high literacy rate? Someone once cynically, but perhaps truthfully, observed that as far as the leaders are concerned the destruction and plunder is deliberate for it is self- serving and as long as they get fat bellies, bank accounts and lately free hand outs of all kinds out of it, everything is kete as far as they are concerned.
Writing way back in the 1960s the African- American brother Madhabhuti observed: “There are institutions in this country that do nothing but create, study and solve problems. It doesn’t matter what the problem is. These institutions tackle everything from the ‘necessity of nuclear warfare in the 21st century’ to the ‘urbanisation of the rural Negro…These study groups are generally referred to as “think tanks” and work in conjunction with and in many cases exclusively for the… government.”
In 28 years of independence where are Zimbabwe’s “think tanks”? Every time I read in the papers that a high powered committee made up of senior government officials has been set up to look into problems I shudder. Who was on watch when these problems arose, why were they not foreseen in the fist place? How come there are never any contingency measures except for insipid ineffective fire fighting measures? Why these obsessions with repairing the kraal after the prize bull and cow have bolted? When a high powered delegation was set up to look into the efficacy of diesel oozing out of a rock, I threw up my hands to the heavens above! No thinking caps here and definitely no thinking tank!
The only efficiency and swiftness characterized by near superb organization that I have seen has only been galvanized for things like Operation Murambatsvina and the June 29 Reorientation Programmes. Again, a flair for destruction, not creation.
We laughed at the plight of our African brothers and sisters, as we also ignore the plight of our brethren within our own borders today, because our liberation movement and we as a nation never gained a new level of sophistication in the next stage of our struggle for total liberation. We also lacked the prerequisite automatic association among our people in particular and Africans in general- apart from giving lip service to this while our actions on the ground were an antithesis to whole idea.
We inherited institutions created in the image of their creators and which once functioned smoothly. But we failed to instutionalise our own values, ethos, creative vision. Instead, we instead ran down what we had inherited. This is why today an African can argue that there no such things as African values because we live in a global village while those behind the so- called globalization are tightening immigration controls, run on election campaigns that put their values at the centre. A Tony Blair or George Bush does not develop in a vacuum but is a product of the institutions set up by their respective nations and cultures…
In the absence of solid institutions we flounder in the face of adversity. We fail to see the value of hunhu/ubuntu in the way we conceive the world and practice (business, politics, et al) in a way akin the Japanese did as they rebuilt from the ashes of Hiroshima and Nagasaki or even as the Chinese did - because even they would not be achieving the success they are achieving if they lacked the Chinese essence, - or as the Indians are doing. Instead, even when we look east, we are not grounded and we flounder still…
Despite all the fiery rhetoric of Never ever, we flounder still because we failed to make that necessary transition. We failed to move away from a definition of ourselves in terms of the evil that had been done to us. We failed to define ourselves in terms of the positive. But it’s not too late. We have, to quote Mdhabhuti, to start to “live for the people, not die for the people. Every time we lose a brother or sister we lose a worker, a builder, an energy force for tomorrow. Regulate your life toward life. Be aware of the complicated and sophisticated world we face. Don’t let us in our naiveté and Afrikan emotionalism drive ourselves to the point of no return…Watch your words while improving your actions. It is not how well you say what needs to be done, but how well you do it. “
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On The Zimbo Jam- Emeline Michel - Haiti's Queen of Song Set for HIFA 2010She has been hailed as the “Joni Mitchell of Haiti” and has catapulted to global renown with concerts and albums that have seen her recording and performing all over the Caribbean, Europe, North and South America. Recently she performed at Hope for Haiti Now - A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief. Now, Emeline Michel comes to Zimbabwe.
- Why We Don't SucceedWe received this in an email titled "Why We Don't Succeed" last week and found it quite hilarious. Are we really that bad that we think someone who is intelligent "akangwarisa" or that an extrovert is someone "akavhengedzera?" or even that someone who is free spirited is a "nzenza?" Hameno. Read on for more wild and whacky "Shona perceptions"...
- Power FM Top Twenty- 20 March 2010Presented by DJ Chilli (Hazvine Sakarombe) on Power FM. 10:00-12:00hrs, 20 March 2010 Position Song Artist 20 Battle Field Jordin Sparks 19 If We Ever Meet Again Timberland ft Katy Peri 18 Falling Underdog 17 Emperor’s State of Mind Jay Z 16 How Low Luda Chris
- Emeline Michel - Haiti's Queen of Song Set for HIFA 2010
“Unless we Afrikans rediscover ourselves, our roots and heritage, and embrace and understand, even love everything that made our ancestors survive and thrive for millions of years, unless we understand how our ancestors succeeded so well in creating a dynamic society in the past, we cannot create a new, modern Afrikan society” Prof. M Rukuni in his book Being Afrikan
To further borrow from Rukuni, the Japanese and Chinese have/ are modernising but not westernising. They practice intelligent borrowing. Taking whats valuable from other cultures, societies, nations what is valuable and useful and not discarding their history and the valuable bits from their own domain.
rmupfudza you raise the issue about highly ‘educated’ leaders, Rukuni jokes that “Asians going to Europe…will ‘borrow’ the best ideas and technology, take them back to Asia, culturise them and do better than the Europeans. If you send an Afrikan professional like myself, then the best thing that is borrowed are European table manners!”
It’s interesting that when Chinese goods started flooding Zimbabwe, all sorts of derisive names were applied to them. Remember there was a time when negative comments were made about Japanese products. I recall people saying Japanese cars are not strong and they are made of plastic. Not appreciating that that ‘plastic’ was part of the technological process of improving the car. Today Toyota a Japanese car maker is best in class in every conceivable quality metric. Our attitude shows failure to appreciate the ethos of building and creating- something manifested in products, services, music, art, sport etc
Whilst we are calling the Chinese derisive names they are taking over the world.
We need a new attitude, encouragingly we see it in the endeavours of some Zimbabweans to build new institutions and new paradigms to govern those institutions. To create this new attitude education is key. Not just formal education but an attitude that fosters a passion for continuous learning (some on this blog have rightly advocated for a reading culture). An attitude that goes beyond stuffing the mind with facts, figures and processes into your head. We know this is not enough because as you point out rmupfudza our ‘leaders’ are highly ‘educated’ yet they are also highly incompetent.
As demonstrated by Dominic and The Council for Zimbabwe there are things that can be done to start building rather than tearing down. I think sometimes if you focus on the negativity to the point of obsession you lose the motivation and power to effect a positive change.
I’m convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that Zimbabwe and Afrika offer unique once in a lifetime opportunities. Zimbabwe and Afrika’s situation calls for people who have a passion to confront and solve complex problems in creative and highly impactful ways.
The basic challenge though is one of leadership. Not leadership in a narrow political sense but leadership relating to all those who have been given the privilege of higher education, and by virtue of this have critical expertise, are levers of change and are custodians of public trust. We need a new crop of leaders who are stewards rather than vampires. Leaders who inspire rather than set people on fire.
As Zimbabweans we ALL have the ability to contribute significantly to a renaissance and dare I say we all have an obligation. Just as Rosa Parks took a stand, the individual can make a difference and together our efforts will swell like raindrops in a thunderstorm flooding a parched land. The task at hand is great but not greater than our collective will and ingenuity.
“Frantz Fanon said…each of us, and especially African people, must ask ourselves three fundamental questions: ‘Who am1?’, and ‘Am I really who I am?, and ‘Am I all I ought to be?’ These are historical questions. These are questions about history. It is not simply about some personal place you live, your address or personal name. That is not what Fanon is asking. Fanon is asking where do you stand and fit in the process and struggle of history? On whose side do you stand? On the side of liberation and higher level of human life or oppression? Fanon is asking us to answer this not only theoretically, but to answer this in practice. And when we ask this question, remember it is an historical question and it has to be answered on two levels: identity, in terms of our ORIGIN and ACHIEVEMENT, but also identity in terms of our POSSIBILITIES based on that achievement” (Dr Maulana Karenga).
Thanks Brian, my brother and your quote from Prof Rukuni is apt. It is reinforced by another from Dr Karenga:
“The rescue and reconstruction of African history is also important because it offers us models to emulate… There are heroines and heroes of African history that give us models of human struggle and human possibility. When you look at the world today, it is often depressing.
“You can be disillusioned because what is now is so temporary, so contingent. But history offers us models of human struggle and human possibility that we need in order to make a new history. When we read the history of Yaa Asantewaa, and when we read the history of Mary McLeod Bethune or Harriet Tubman, or W.E.B. DuBois, or Kwame Nkrumah, or Sekou Toure, or Martin Luther King, or Queen Nzinga or Amy Ashwood Garvey, or Amy Jacques Garvey; when we read the history of Anna Julia Cooper or Hatsheput, or Nat Turner or Malcom X, we are given clear models of human possibility. And what we see is what Garvey said, i.e. we see the basic principle of ‘what humans have done, humans can do.”
Yes we can.
I found the story of Mary McLeod Bethune profoundly inspirational. Man, there are so many of these unsung heroines neatly tucked away in the hems of history
@rmupfudza looking up Yaa Asantewaa on wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaa_Asantewaa] made me see the parallels between her courage and those of the women pushing for social change in Zimbabwe. Women activists have been dramatising the dire consequences of our country’s bankrupt economic policies taking to the streets in Bulawayo and Harare. I gather that in Harare they have been marching in town beating pots, some with babies strapped on their backs.
And where are the men? Someone who has a special place in my heart bought me a book called “Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man’s Soul” by John Eldredge. The book talks about the essence of masculinity and as the title indicates helps men discover the passionate, wild at heart boy/ man they once were. A passage in the book compares most men in today world to a lion in a zoo.
“Our local zoo had for years one of the biggest African lions I’ve ever seen. A huge male, nearly five hundred pounds, with a wonderful mane and absolutely enormous paws. Panthera leo. The King of the Beasts……This wonderful, terrible creature should have been out roaming the savanna, ruling his pride, striking fear into the heart of every wildebeest, bringing down zebras and gazelles whenever the urge seized him. Instead, he spent every hour of every day and every night of every year alone, in a cage smaller than your bedroom, his food served to him through a little metal door.”
Today in the morning as I went to the office I passed by Newlands shopping centre and the two of the banks there had crowds of soldiers and policemen milling outside rather despondently, waiting to get some cash. Sigh, even the most manly of men have now been emasculated like that lion in a cage. It’s up to the women with their pots and babies strapped on their backs to show us how it’s done. It’s Yaa Asantewaa and Nehanda all over again!!