Comments on: March Out Like the Lion (In Zimbabwe, That Is)

By: scratchy888

scratchy888 — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 04:28:22 +0000

Yes, agreed for the most part.

I don’t quite agree that neocolonialism is an entirely meaningless scare term in its technical sense — although I do concede that it has been used in that way.

I also think that that the ideology of self-determination has been behind much of a political push (including here in the West) that has turned out to be rather simple mindedly racist. The idea that if it is blacks ruling blacks, no harm can come to the governed is the naive ideological position I am criticising here.

So, all up, it will be a good thing if people in Zimbabwe can finally eat, and find jobs, and so on. Yet, I also perceive that there is the loss of a certain ideal at stake. The loss of self-determination is also going to mean the loss of certain cultural aspects of Zimbabwean life. It is hard to say what these will be, at this stage, or even whether it really matters, ie. whether what is lost is really missed. (I’m not trying to set up an idea of false opposition between the right to eat and the right to continue with certain non-Western aspects of one’s culture, but nonetheless, the two things seem to be related in some way.)

By: Timothy Burke

Timothy Burke — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 16:50:40 +0000

I think undermining the ideological self-determination of Zimbabwean nationalism would be a good thing for Zimbabwe. Because I think that the particular way that Zimbabwean nationalists imagined sovereignty has been one of the causes of the country’s decline. The term neocolonialism really does strike me as a meaningless scare term that carries a lot of water on behalf of this troubled understanding of sovereignty as an absolute goal of politics.

By: scratchy888

scratchy888 — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 08:13:56 +0000

I agree that almost everybody would welcome foreign investment in Zimbabwe, especially now. That is what is ironic about the Mugabe regime and what it has achieved. It has virtually pushed the country to the point where encouraging foreign investment is pretty much the only logical solution for kickstarting the economy. Nonetheless, the outcome of this solution, if achieved, would be to undermine the ideological self determination of Zimbabwe nationalism. Perhaps the term, “neo-colonialism” is what makes the recourse of inviting foreign investment seem worse than it is. After all, few people, even in the West, are free of corporate ideological control and interventions in state politics.

By: Timothy Burke

Timothy Burke — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 03:54:04 +0000

You know something? I think almost everyone in Zimbabwe would welcome direct foreign investment at this point, and rightfully so. Capital doesn’t grow on trees; it would in fact be irrational to vote against MDC on the basis that they’re going to try to encourage investment in the Zimbabwean economy. Talk of “neocolonialism” within ZANU-PF is in my view almost wholly cynical. I think there may be a few people who genuinely believe what they’re saying, but for most, it’s just an alibi.

By: scratchy888

scratchy888 — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 22:15:10 +0000

Well the other aspect is the threat of neocolonialism. This is the card that wins support for Mugabe. The inevitable strategy of MDC will be to invite commercial investment from richer countries. This would facilitate the structural and economic basis for neocolonialism, and this is what a lot of people (Mugabe supporters) in Zimbabwe fear. So Mugabe supporters are not entirely irrational.

By: peter55

peter55 — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 21:46:59 +0000

Assume either Morgan Tsvangirai or Simba Makoni take office, and desire to bring inflation down to reasonable levels from its current 300,000 percent pa rate. How do they do this? They will have to NOT print money, which means lots of constituencies not being paid handsomely for their support. This will likely be upsetting for those supporters who feel it is their turn to be rewarded after years of watching ZANU-PF fat cats take all the cream. Things could get nasty. If so, could either of these two men as President really rely on the military and the police to keep order. Probably not, both because senor officers are loyal Mugabe placemen and because the lower ranks cannot be bought off.

Sadly, whether Comrade Bob wins or not, the future is most likely not pretty for this beautiful country.