Zimbabwean Youth Attend GAC solidarity dinner for Zimbabwe

LONDON - As Zimbabwean Youth living in the UK, we had an unprecedented opportunity to attend a fund raising dinner hosted by Global Afrikan Congress (GAC) for the forthcoming Global Afrikan congress to be held in Harare from the 1st- 6th October 2006.

It was an opportunity to have a first insight and analysis on how the African Community perceives the Zimbabwean crisis. The GAC resolution is to "Break the Embargo Against Zimbabwe" – “repairing the damage, re-addressing the injustice and recognise Robert Gabriel Mugabe and the Government of Zimbabwe as the only structure mandated and committed in dealing with the land reform programme in Africa”.

The most insightful moment of the evening was that the solidarity event was a clear indication that Mugabe has successfully sold the current economic and political meltdown in Zimbabwe as being due to “illegal” sanctions imposed by EU and US because he has “returned” Zimbabwe's land to its “rightfully owners” and has provided a “promising future” to all African people worldwide.

It was painful to sit there and listen to all these people who were speaking in solidarity with a leader who has lost the mandate to rule the former breadbasket of southern Africa, a leader who unleashes riot police armed to the teeth and the army on poor workers crying to a better deal, a leader who has literally destroyed the country as he continues to maintain his stranglehold on power. If only they could all see the amount of suffering that is going on in Zimbabwe at the moment – of course they have been told that people are suffering because of the targeted sanctions because Mugabe has successfully sold his story to those willing to listen to him.

Global Afrikan Congress is a network of well-established African communities. These are true African moguls of Caribbean and Eastern African roots who been in the UK for more than 30 years and are working flat-out in keeping the African (Black) history alive.

The Congress is behind the fighting for enslavement and African Colonisation to be declared as a crime against Humanity and for reparations. The dinner was served with African food with some conchies reggae music, with the delegates Gee Bernard,Priestess Ifayoriju, Glenroy Watson, Kijanji Bangarah and guest speaker George Shire chanting and referring to the history of Marcus Garvey, Haile Selassie and claiming fighting for the emancipation from mental slavery.

So the solidarity message was to condemn the targeted sanctions against Zimbabwe. The Council said “the Bush and Blair blockage has no legal foundation and no United Nations mandate”, and called on all Africans to be in the forefront of breaking what they called internationally illegal blockage against the southern African country.
It is sad that Mugabe has managed to penetrate these well-developed African communities in his quest to divert attention from his misrule and submitting "Agrarian land reform" as his idea of emancipation from colonial rule when infact only a few have benefited from the chaotic programme. It is a fact that people in Zimbabwe today are suffering because of Mugabe’s knee-jack policies, his iron-fisted rule, the stolen elections and related issues.

In their press statement, the GAC said it considered the current situation in Zimbabwe to be a “direct result of the betrayal of the Lancaster House Agreement by the United States of America and the United Kingdom and association supported from their fellow European family”. “The Global Afrikan Congress wishes to inform the world that it is holding its 3rd Biennial Family Gathering in Harare, Zimbabwe from the 1st – 6th October 2006 in solidarity with the people and Government of Zimbabwe.”

It continued: “GAC notes that the Western blockades against Zimbabwe are totally illegal and unjust and above all have no legitimate mandate or approval from the United Nations. The GAC by decree of its Congress at the historical Gathering of Afrikans/Descendants in Bridgetown Barbados 2002 fully supports the people and Government of Zimbabwe to break the British/US Western illegitimate blockade, and calls upon all Afrikans to be at the forefront of this struggle against this unjust act of blatant racist imperialist ploy.”

It was sad to note that such an articulated event did not have any representative from the Zimbabwean community except for Mugabe's visible Central Intelligence Officers (CIO) present which was a clear indication that our opinion as ordinary Zimbabweans on our crisis is not valid by our African counterparts standards.


This has given us young Zimbabweans and the Zimbabwean Community as a whole homework to revise our strategy on fighting the regime in Harare. It’s high time we respect and follow the fundamental principles of art of war, our attack formation has to change. For the past six years the deterioration of the political and social climate in Zimbabwe has proven that the only feasible resolution is in the hands of ordinary Zimbabweans (Pro-democracy forces) and the major influence of our African counterparts. It is high time we use Mugabe's tactics (not violence) to disintegrate Zanu PF rule which has become a culture and which needs to be eradicated at grass roots level.

We Zimbabweans need to penetrate within our fellow African communities and submit them with our own vivid analysis of the state of affairs in our motherland. We need to get involved in these African communities, civic societies and articulate with them and explain that land reform is very crucial but in 2000 it was used as another trick from Mugabe's propaganda book to avert a looming defeat at the hands of the popular MDC after massive defeat in the Constitutional referendum. A worthy cause was used to divert attention from his misrule and present the world with total lies and fabrications on the situation on the ground.

The real story of Zimbabwe is the police and army brutalities, oppressive laws such as AIPPA and POSA, the effects of operations Murambatsvina, Gukurahundi atrocities and the gross human rights abuses that continue in Zimbabwe today. There is an urgent need for the emancipation of the people of Zimbabwe from Mugabe’s terror rule. At this point in time it is very crucial for all pro-democracy forces to put their differences aside and use one attack formation to deal with Mugabe and his government.

One wonders whether Munyaradzi Gwisai was right on his Socialist ideology towards confronting Mugabe's tyranny?

Free Zim Youth can be contacted on http://mail.yahoo.com/config/login?/ym/Compose?To=freezim6@yahoo.co.uk