The Sunday Mail
The 67th United Nations General Assembly starts on Tuesday in New York and as has become the tradition over the years, Zimbabwe should brace for tomfoolery as agents of regime change go overdrive in exporting and exposing what Martin Luther King Jr called “sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
One of the first African scholars to examine post-colonialism, Kwame Anthony Appiah writes about a “comprador intelligentsia” which he says refers to a relatively small, Western-style, Western-trained group of writers and thinkers who mediate the trade in cultural commodities of world capitalism at the periphery.
Appiah goes on to explain that the comprador intelligentsia in the West are known through the Africa they offer; their compatriots know them both through the West they present to Africa and through an Africa they have invented for the world, for each other, and for Africa.
As the General Assembly kicks off, some hurriedly-assembled comprador intelligentsia within Zimbabwe’s opposition will descend in New York and join their colleagues already domiciled in the US in a bid to present to the world a burning Zimbabwe they have to invent for the world and sadly even for themselves.
Zimbabwe just has to burn this week. Never mind the fact that after this burning, these regime change agents will troop back home hoping for a better future. Their script has become so obvious and predictable. It’s like watching the same boring movie over and over again. Like they have done over the years, the opposition elements make some little noise, burn a few cars, throw a few stones, burn a few tyres and some of their reckless leaders pretend to talk tough about taking the Government head-on.
The opposition media screams with headlines such as “We’ll defy demo ban: Opposition,” and “Demo ban: Opposition parties unfazed.” Reading these headlines one gets the impression that the situation is tense in Zimbabwe and it’s only a matter of time before a political explosion.
As the General Assembly got closer, the regime change plot went a gear up in laughable fashion as the CNN joined in trying to invent a burning Zimbabwe. “Rush for Change in Zimbabwe,” the CNN beamed belatedly of course.
It was not only the headline which brought laughter to those who know better. Many laughed their lungs out when they saw the CNN inventing some police officer who performed dismally as he tried to present a burning Zimbabwe to the CNN viewers and listeners. Surely, with all its imperialistic resources, we expected the CNN to do better, but then we all know that inventions are done by intelligent people, a commodity that is scarce at the CNN.
The thinking is that the groundwork for demonstrations against President Mugabe at the UN has been well laid out and as he flies into New York, the Zimbabwean leader will come under siege from fellow leaders who believe the lie that Zimbabwe is burning.
Of course, some leaders will believe this poorly invented story about a burning Zimbabwe. Frantz Fanon in the book, “Black Skin, White Masks” warned us of such people saying “there are too many idiots in this world.”
Now as the regime change agents flock to the US, the country’s security forces, especially the police should know that this invented Zimbabwe which is burning, will not only be exported to New York. This burning Zimbabwe in New York will be complemented by invented skirmishes of violence back home to make this whole invention believable.
Since the opposition elements started inventing this story through their largely ignored demonstrations, the security forces have done a commendable job by resisting the temptation to go head-on with the demonstrators despite clear provocation.
As they say “never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.” We have carrier demonstrators in the opposition who have gained lots of experience in causing mayhem and the police should not be dragged to the level of such hoodlums.
But we are not in any way suggesting that the authorities should fold their hands as the scumbags terrorise innocent citizens because there is an African proverb which says “ears that do not listen to advice, accompany the head when it is chopped off.”
Zimbabwe is not burning, was never burning and it will never burn even after the sponsored circus in New York.
EDITORIAL COMMENT: Exporting sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity
The Sunday Mail
The 67th United Nations General Assembly starts on Tuesday in New York and as has become the tradition over the years, Zimbabwe should brace for tomfoolery as agents of regime change go overdrive in exporting and exposing what Martin Luther King Jr called “sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
One of the first African scholars to examine post-colonialism, Kwame Anthony Appiah writes about a “comprador intelligentsia” which he says refers to a relatively small, Western-style, Western-trained group of writers and thinkers who mediate the trade in cultural commodities of world capitalism at the periphery.
Appiah goes on to explain that the comprador intelligentsia in the West are known through the Africa they offer; their compatriots know them both through the West they present to Africa and through an Africa they have invented for the world, for each other, and for Africa.
As the General Assembly kicks off, some hurriedly-assembled comprador intelligentsia within Zimbabwe’s opposition will descend in New York and join their colleagues already domiciled in the US in a bid to present to the world a burning Zimbabwe they have to invent for the world and sadly even for themselves.
Zimbabwe just has to burn this week. Never mind the fact that after this burning, these regime change agents will troop back home hoping for a better future. Their script has become so obvious and predictable. It’s like watching the same boring movie over and over again. Like they have done over the years, the opposition elements make some little noise, burn a few cars, throw a few stones, burn a few tyres and some of their reckless leaders pretend to talk tough about taking the Government head-on.
The opposition media screams with headlines such as “We’ll defy demo ban: Opposition,” and “Demo ban: Opposition parties unfazed.” Reading these headlines one gets the impression that the situation is tense in Zimbabwe and it’s only a matter of time before a political explosion.
As the General Assembly got closer, the regime change plot went a gear up in laughable fashion as the CNN joined in trying to invent a burning Zimbabwe. “Rush for Change in Zimbabwe,” the CNN beamed belatedly of course.
It was not only the headline which brought laughter to those who know better. Many laughed their lungs out when they saw the CNN inventing some police officer who performed dismally as he tried to present a burning Zimbabwe to the CNN viewers and listeners. Surely, with all its imperialistic resources, we expected the CNN to do better, but then we all know that inventions are done by intelligent people, a commodity that is scarce at the CNN.
The thinking is that the groundwork for demonstrations against President Mugabe at the UN has been well laid out and as he flies into New York, the Zimbabwean leader will come under siege from fellow leaders who believe the lie that Zimbabwe is burning.
Of course, some leaders will believe this poorly invented story about a burning Zimbabwe. Frantz Fanon in the book, “Black Skin, White Masks” warned us of such people saying “there are too many idiots in this world.”
Now as the regime change agents flock to the US, the country’s security forces, especially the police should know that this invented Zimbabwe which is burning, will not only be exported to New York. This burning Zimbabwe in New York will be complemented by invented skirmishes of violence back home to make this whole invention believable.
Since the opposition elements started inventing this story through their largely ignored demonstrations, the security forces have done a commendable job by resisting the temptation to go head-on with the demonstrators despite clear provocation.
As they say “never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.” We have carrier demonstrators in the opposition who have gained lots of experience in causing mayhem and the police should not be dragged to the level of such hoodlums.
But we are not in any way suggesting that the authorities should fold their hands as the scumbags terrorise innocent citizens because there is an African proverb which says “ears that do not listen to advice, accompany the head when it is chopped off.”
Zimbabwe is not burning, was never burning and it will never burn even after the sponsored circus in New York.
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