By Nick Mangwana
Barack Obama has just
repeated what George Bush said in an Executive Order signed on 6 March 2003. In
this order he wrote that the government of Zimbabwe and its leadership posed
"an extraordinary threat to the foreign policy of the United
States". He went further to declare
a national emergency to deal with Zimbabwe. 12 years later and almost to the
day, on the 4th of March 2015, Barack Obama said, " These actions and policies ( of Robert Mugabe) continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary
threat to the foreign policy of the United States. ".
Why would a man that leads a nation of 14 million, with a
$10 billion economy considered a threat to the foreign policy of a country that
has a population of 320 million people and an economy of nearly $17 trillion.
Does it even make sense? The United States is
currently the sole super power in the world. It has nuclear weapons with
almost 2 million of its population under arms. It has squashed and subdued
richer countries. Why does such a giant feel so threatened by a seemingly insignificant
minion? Well, the answer lies in the capacity of Robert Mugabe to impact, influence
and inspire a change to the current world order.
Influence trumps brute force. When influence is wielded by a
charismatic and articulate individual even hard edged power yields. Everyone
who seeks power, seeks either the ability to do things or the ability to
influence things. President Mugabe has
become the beacon or guidepost for all those who are not happy with the
American hegemony, bully boy arm-twisting and other strong arm tactics. Should
his defiance succeeds, then it might inspire other nationals and a crop of third
world rulers who will scorn the will of the United States. It is this loss of influence which the US
cannot brook.
The United States
feels that it cannot allow this type of
defiance to succeed. This President who
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When he laments the American skulduggery in dealing with Israel and the Palestinians it echoes with the Arab
nations. When he challenges the rest of the world to have some courage and
speak out, that is considered impiety towards
the great god the US. But this is not only about politics. There is economics
involved in this foreign policy matrix.
Slavery and colonialism were all not just about imperial
arrogance. They were not simple vain ego
trips. They were all about resources. Human resources was the slavery.
Material resources was colonialism. 85%
of the Africa's resources are used by
only 8 developed nations of the world as raw materials. Now here comes Robert
Mugabe who says, there should be beneficiation of these resources in the
country of origin. That Africa should stop selling primary goods. That the
majority owners of resource based companies should be local indigenous
population. The United States realises straight away that this man has to be stopped. Remember even when he took over the
chairmanship of SADC he focussed on beneficiation of the resources and the
conference was themed, " SADC Strategy for Economic Transformation:
Leveraging the Region's Diverse Resources for Sustainable Economic and Social
Development through Value Addition and Beneficiation". This small fire of one country advocating for
the control of its own resources had suddenly set the whole region in a
conflagration with catastrophic consequences to the foreign policy of the
United States and all other resource hungry Western countries.
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The United States would like to control who is sold what.
They want to know who is being sold uranium by the Congolese. Remember the atomic bomb constructed in
Second World War came from the Shinkolobwe Mine in the Democratic Republic of
Congo! Should the Congolese emulate the Mugabe philosophy and controls its
cobalt, Uranium, silver tantalum and niobium what would happen? Now imagine the
Congo has 80% of the world's coltan! They are then inspired by Robert Mugabe's
doctrine of Indigenisation, Value Addition and Beneficiation and do what Venezuela did with its oil? Wouldn't
that be an extraordinary threat to the US foreign policy? During the
Liberation Struggle American foreign policy towards sanctions against Rhodesia
was shaped by its need for Rhodesian chrome. America did not really enforce the
sanctions as they were importing and stockpiling chrome from Southern Rhodesia.
Their whole foreign policy was shaped their need for resources. That imperative as a determinant of foreign
policy still subsists.
SADC is just 14 countries. Now this Robert Mugabe is also
chairman of 53 other African countries besides his own through his chairmanship
of the AU. Being the iconic figure that he is, if he influences other African
countries to adopt the same ideology where will Uncle Sam be in all this? Then
there is the Non-Aligned Movement; an organisation of over 120 countries! If they
are also inspired to defiance. What would remain of the United States'
influence?
The biggest casualty of this Mugabe defiance is Corporate
America. Were the Iraqis, the Saudis, Libyans, Angolans and Nigerians start to
"indigenise" their oil, where will Corporate America be?
If one then considers that the United Sates was built on some
land taken from Native Americans (Indians) many years ago, and now Robert
Mugabe has claimed his land back. His actions have already inspired those in
South Africa, Kenya and Namibia amongst many others. There is a real risk that if this is
glorified enough it might even inspire countries further afield including the
Aborigines in Australia and the Maori in New Zealand. Things should not be allowed
to be influenced by the land reform in Zimbabwe. It should not be allowed to
impact other countries lest it changes the order of things.
Zimbabwe has been under sanctions for 15 years now. President
Mugabe has stood up to the West and won the fight to see who blinks first. It is that bold resistance to the raw power
of the United States which threatens the power of its foreign policy. It
threatens a world order where its rule are a command upon all other nations. If
Robert Mugabe prevails in his refusal to
conform and toe the line there will be other Robert Mugabe's out there. Patrice Lumumba died for his potential
influence. Zimbabwe must be sanctioned so that there will be no economic
development lest Robert Mugabe's success a big awakening and motivates others
to follow suit.
The genie is out of the bottle. The major issue why Zimbabwe
is under ZIDERA (Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act '01)and sanctions
is not because of its domestic policy. It has nothing to do with human rights.
It has completely little to do with its own electoral contestations. It has a lot
to do with the stance which its leader takes on the international arena. It has a lot to do Robert Mugabe antagonistic
stance against the US hegemony.
Let us never forget that the stated foreign policy of the
United Sates is "to sustain a democratic , secure and prosperous world for
benefit of the American people". It then adds the benefit of the world as
an afterthought. This is what President
Mugabe poses an extraordinary threat to.
When defiance breaks from a tradition of acquiescent pliancy it is a threat to the world order
when seen through the eyes of a
predominant super power that is used to having its way. President Obama and the
whole American establishment believes that this bold and open defiance must be
crushed. It is not about human rights. It is not about democracy. Those are
just dulcet guises. Remember slavery and colonialism were packaged as the
spreading of Christianity and civilisation. We now know what the whole
intention was about. The new sweet
sounding terms are now, spreading democracy and law and order and
development. The world knows where this
will end but chooses to turn a blind eye.
Those that point this out should be stopped. Be it Fidel Castro, Hugo
Chavez, Nicholas Maduro or Robert Mugabe.
Visit : ZANU PF UK Official Website
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Nick Mangwana is the Chairman of ZANU PF UK
