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Martin Luther King: lessons for Zimbabwe
By
Tonderai
Munakiri
AS AMERICANS
and black Americans commemorate the death of one who selflessly suffered
for the cause of fellow black Americans, l am compelled to bring Zimbabwe
into focus again as we search for answers to our worst ever economic
decline as well as the twin evils of poverty and disease.
Martin Luther King Junior’s struggle for the black people could not have come at a better time given the serious governance problems currently bedeviling our Zimbabwean government in the post-independent nation state. The current state of the socio-political economy is a betrayal of the ultimate prices that were paid by Mbuya Nehanda, Sekuru Kaguvi, contemporary Josiah Tongogara, Herbert Chitepo, to name but a few. These heroes and heroines must be turning in their graves because for the “good that was interred with their bones” the returns for ordinary Zimbabweans are nothing.
I have argued before on this column, that Zimbabwe is suffering from a “dearth of champions” in the moulds of Tongogara, Chitepo, Martin Luther King, mbuya Nehanda. The current crop of activists are self-serving and are afraid to lose their middle class status. They are afraid of prison and yet they love to resolve problems of the country through conferences and workshops. Zimbabwean intellectuals and the so-called activists suffer from a “workshop” syndrome. Day in day out, workshops and seminars to discuss Mugabe are being held in posh hotels and lodges. Zimbabwe does not need “talk-shops” anymore but “action shops” as exemplified by the likes of Martin Luther King Jnr. Zimbabwe needs a torch bearer who will demonstrate to an insensitive government that enough is enough, who will point out the injustices of the current set-up, someone who can lead and has followers.
In Zimbabwe today, a formidable social movement is difficult to initiate or start given that no leader can claim to have a strong constituency. The leaders are bent on power struggles and donor money which appears to be the major lure for political participation. Martin Luther King and others were driven into political and social activism by the needs of the black Americans and this need was internally induced and not externally induced. In the present set-up, the activists in Zimbabwe are more accountable to diplomats and donors than they are to Zimbabweans. It is common sense and cause that the post-independent Zimbabwe was liberated by local resources (chimbwidos and mujibas) that were mobilized throughout the country. No wonder Mugabe and ZANU PF have successfully labeled the opposition and civic movements as puppets of the West because money seems to be a major motive for taking political risks in Zimbabwe.
Activists in Zimbabwe are busy fighting for scarce donor resources leaving the people at the mercy of a ruthless government. Activism that brings real change, activists that eliminate poverty and promote socio-economic development do not come from power mongers or people seeking to enrich themselves through the abuse of donor funds. The likes of Martin Luther King Jnr were induced by their hearts and conscience to make a selfless commitment for the cause of black Americans.
What can Zimbabweans learn from Martin Luther King Jnr and the liberation of black Americans? The King was a leader in the real sense of the word. He had followers, people who were willing to take his orders and commands, remember the Montgomery Bus Boycott which he championed together with Rosa Parks. He was able to mobilize people to walk and boycott the use of the buses for a good three months. The black Americans walked on foot for long distances to and from work because they believed in their leader.
The other lesson for Zimbabweans is that a leader suffers with the people, in Zimbabwe the so-called mass actions have been spontaneous and have been led by touts and street kids. A true leader bears consequences for his/her action/inaction(s). Additionally, a true leader does not fear jail, today’s leaders don’t know the inside of a jail, few would profess to ever have stepped inside a jail let alone charged by the police for even a traffic violation as Sikhala would put it. Martin Luther King Jnr was imprisoned for several months but he was never swayed to leave the black masses alone. He instead suffered with and for the people and when faced by the prospects of his death with the attack on his property, he never fled the country!
The other lesson for Zimbabwe is that a social movement needs to have an ideology or something tangible with which the suffering masses can identify with. The mass actions and movements in Zimbabwe have had different goals and agendas for them to be of any effect on a regime that has practiced politics since the 1960s when ZANU PF was formed. Change agents in Zimbabwe conveniently forget that ZANU PF has been in existence for the longest and it will take radical model and cohesive thinking to dislodge it from power as recent events demonstrate. The Martin Luther King social movement was premised on religious faith of non-violence which was embraced and practiced by its followers who used it to liberate themselves.
In Zimbabwe we still have leaders with different ideas of bringing about a New Zimbabwe, Welshman Ncube would participate even in “toilet elections” and Tsvangirai would use confrontation and these are leaders who for the last five years have been leading the same opposition yet their ideological thinking are miles apart. The masses need an ideology to rally behind and an ideology to believe in and they will do the rest. When MDC propounded change, it went as far as change but the ideology was never marketed and the leaders never took time to sell their agenda and now the movement for change is now a movement for destruction.
We salute Martin
Luther King Jnr for fighting so hard to bring about the Civil Rights
Act of 1965 which today is the linchpin of social and racial equality.
Whoever thought in their lifetime that America would have blacks and
whites co-exist in a non-racial society? It takes one selfless champion
to liberate Zimbabweans from the jaws of poverty, disease and an uncertain
future for our children and grandchildren. Who amongst us shall rise
to this cause? Who amongst us shall pay the ultimate price for the liberation
of our country? For the last 7 years, Zimbabwe has been without a torch
bearer who can illuminate the torch of change and it begs the question
where is our middle class? Where are the political activists? Where
are the change agents? Food for thought!
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