Comments for "Z" is for Zimbabwe: Turmoil & Silence as a Country Potentially Unravels at http://www.izania.com , comment 1 to 9 out of 9 comments http://www.izania.com Sat, 30 Aug 2008 08:51:43 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.izania.com/articles/political/%22z%22-is-for-zimbabwe%3a-turmoil-%26-silence-as-a-country-potentially-unravels/#comment-181 Roger, I accept your personal experiences with some credibility, but also I hope readers would accept your personal experiences and mine with some credibility. This type of dialog is much needed. Thanks for allowing my comments. Best Wishes. Dwight - Dwight W. Hayes, M.S. Mon, 21 Apr 2008 16:52:08 +0100 http://www.izania.com/articles/political/%22z%22-is-for-zimbabwe%3a-turmoil-%26-silence-as-a-country-potentially-unravels/#comment-180 Dwight, Thanks for this dialog. There are two interesting things I would like to point out. First, it is interesting that trading two propaganda machines' version of the reality of Zimbabwe in attempts to support the credibility respective positions is not the real answer to getting to the truth, nor eliciting concern. The "offial Zimbabwe Government Website" is more of a propaganda machine than the NY Times, in my opinion. I would ask that you indulge me on this one. I lived in Southern Africa in South Africa for three years. I have personal friends who live in Zimbabwe, and colleagues who live in the USA who are desperately trying to assist their family members still back home. I was there in the late nineties when Zimbabwe was initiating its "indigenous transition program." The idea then was that all resources should be turned over to indigenous people, or any outside interests should leave the country. When international businesses, and post colonialist interests resisted this move, the Mugabe government appropriated these resources by force and occupation. I just returned from a trip to South Africa, and met with several Zimbabwe citizens who are decrying the suffering in a very sad way. South Africa is flooded with refugees, and the influx has now created a humanitarian crisis in South Africa. At the same time, the South African government was making a similar transition to "Black economic empowerment." The notion in South Africa was that previously appropriated land, and government owned housing, should also be turned over to native people. The housing transition from previously government-owned housing only required the occupants no longer pay rent, but pay for the utilities as new owners. In other cases, the government paid "a fair price" even for land which obviously the colonial occupiers had stolen, but passed down to their descendants (similar to actions of eminent domain in the USA). Following this transition to the government, then through the RDP (Reconstruction and Development Program), more than 3 million homes have been built and provided to native homeowners based on a sliding scale ranging from free to a very small payment. The idea was to transfer property and responsibility. Similarly, business ownership is transitioning to Black ownership -- not through appropriation, but through collaboration and government pursuasion. Nelson Mandella called it the Spirit of Ubuntu. It isn't perfect (some complain about the newly created wealthy Black middle class), but there is a slow but steady transition to national prosperity under democratically elected Black leadership that collaborates with those who were former oppressors. The common question from across the country is "How do you like OUR new South Africa?" I am sharing this information, not as an instrument of the U.S. press, but as one who is personally invested in relationships with real people who are suffering through this crisis. This is not an intellectual or academic exercise for me. It is deeply personal. I am trying to share a perspective on this crisis in an attempt to enlighten the readers at iZania, not to parrot the views of the Western press. I hope readers would accept my personal experiences with some credibility. - Roger Madison Jr. Mon, 21 Apr 2008 09:59:46 +0100 http://www.izania.com/articles/political/%22z%22-is-for-zimbabwe%3a-turmoil-%26-silence-as-a-country-potentially-unravels/#comment-179 Roger, I read the Times piece, but I still do not think we are in position to judge the Zimbabwe government based on it, especially since the NYTimes and the New York establishment have a Zionist slant to their politics. We have to free ourselves from the dependency on the U.S. press to present to us a fair and unbiased viewpoint. Another point to keep in mind is this Administration plants story in the New York times as you witnessed in the demise of Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson. So I would erg caution about making a judgment based on the information printed in the Times. When I was in college I attended a recruiting program for AID in Washington DC and to my chagrin, I found out that it and the Peace Corp are tools of the CIA. So these would not be credible agencies for Zimbabwe. I found a link that you may want to visit that is a source for additional information about Zimbabwe. http://www.gta.gov.zw/ Best wishes, Dwight - Dwight W. Hayes, M.S. Mon, 21 Apr 2008 09:10:08 +0100 http://www.izania.com/articles/political/%22z%22-is-for-zimbabwe%3a-turmoil-%26-silence-as-a-country-potentially-unravels/#comment-178 Dwight, There comes a time for every one of us to leave the stage. That includes Robert Mugabe. Regardless of what you think about the Western Press, I was recently in South Africa, and stories like this are real. Take a look at this NY Times article -- [url]http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/21/world/africa/21zimbabwe.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin[/url]. Pressure needs to be brought to bear from the African Diaspora to influence Mugabe to leave and let others move Zimbabwe to the next phase of liberation. Sadly, there is much to be undone in order to recover from the horrific human toll of recent policies. Roger - Roger Madison Jr. Mon, 21 Apr 2008 08:06:20 +0100 http://www.izania.com/articles/political/%22z%22-is-for-zimbabwe%3a-turmoil-%26-silence-as-a-country-potentially-unravels/#comment-177 Roger thanks for allowing me to comment here but Bill Fletcher,Jr. can take President Robert Mugabe apart if he want too, but I not going to be apart of it and I hope your readers are not either. - Dwight W. Hayes, M.S. Mon, 21 Apr 2008 04:43:12 +0100 http://www.izania.com/articles/political/%22z%22-is-for-zimbabwe%3a-turmoil-%26-silence-as-a-country-potentially-unravels/#comment-176 I have found that this comment is similar to those I get when sharing my passion for the people of Africa and the affairs of the world beyond the borders of our community. As mentioned above, Bill Fletcher is past President of TransAfrica Forum. This organization has been an advocate for issues of the poor and disadvantaged in Africa for many years, including the fight against Apartheid in South Africa. I am often asked why I am concerned about Africa when we have problems here in the USA. The answer is simple. Life isn't a single thread, but a multi-faceted blend of actions taking place concurrently in many places. To have an interest in Africa is not an assumption that all is well in this place, nor an abdication of engagement in the problems facing us here. We cannot wait until "we have handled the problems here," nor wait until "our act is together here" before we can express interest in, or even engage in helping to solve the problems of our brothers and sisters elsewhere in the world. Most people who are focused on Africa are contributing more than their fair share to solving problems here as well. I shared this article written by Bill Fletcher because the situation in Zimbabwe is an important development in the march of progress on the African continent. We shouldn't close our eyes or minds to the need to focus on the issues of this region from across the African Diaspora. - Roger Madison Jr. Sun, 20 Apr 2008 23:22:40 +0100 http://www.izania.com/articles/political/%22z%22-is-for-zimbabwe%3a-turmoil-%26-silence-as-a-country-potentially-unravels/#comment-172 Well, I do not know much about Bill Fletcher, Jr or his real motive for presenting this thread, but I do know that these are difficult times for everyone and not just Zimbabwe. Our people are being murdered, jailed and their votes miscounted or secretly counted just as alarming rates as Zimbabwe. We have third world levels of infant mortality and HIV/AIDS also, and the press buries it. We must first start handing problems here before we can effectively help our friends. In other words we need to get our act together. Those holding the view that our act is together now are mistaken, most likely deaf, dumb or blind or under the thumb of a corporation or the thumb of our present piss poor to unbelievable Government. - Dwight W. Hayes, M.S. Sun, 20 Apr 2008 20:20:13 +0100 http://www.izania.com/articles/political/%22z%22-is-for-zimbabwe%3a-turmoil-%26-silence-as-a-country-potentially-unravels/#comment-171 I have lived in Southern Africa, and it is interesting that the potential for African American leaders to influence the affairs of Africa is something that is not rejected by the people of that region. The SADC Leaders understand the influence that US leadership can have anywhere in the world where it is focused. Currently, there is a keen interest in the candidacy of Barack Obama. There is the hope that his success will help unleash some of the economic and political clout of the African American leadership, and cause more of us to take an inerest in the affairs of the continent -- not to meddle, but to positively influence the policies of America and the influence it has with the nations of Europe and the major powers of the world. It is the meddling, and then "unannounced sanctions" of European nations that is hurting the potential for Zimbabwe to recover from the Mugabe years when he leaves the stage. - Roger Madison Jr. Sat, 19 Apr 2008 15:34:19 +0100 http://www.izania.com/articles/political/%22z%22-is-for-zimbabwe%3a-turmoil-%26-silence-as-a-country-potentially-unravels/#comment-170 It is my view that President Mugabe and his administration are a civil matter for the people of Zimbabwe to resolve. Americans are outsiders who need to stop nosing into other peoples business and start taking care of business here at home. With that said let me add, that I am not insensitive to the suffering of others, but the Bush administration would like nothing better than to have a reason to intervene into the affairs of Zimbabwe and strip them of the sovereignty they have earned. - Dwight W. Hayes, M.S. Sat, 19 Apr 2008 03:36:49 +0100