I certainly welcome Chris' support for land redistribution. This is something that needs to happen.
>But the thrust of this passage of Jim's overseas round-up column seems to
>be on the Republic of the Congo. I do not see anything progressive in
>Mugabe's intervention there. What *is* just, is the unwrapping of the
>colonial land settlement and opposition to threats from global finance capital.
My touchstone was not about what is progressive or isn't. Rather I was asking the question why the Foreign Office had reversed their policy of supporting Mugabe's regime. (As an aside, Brig. Stephen Saunders, killed recently in Greece, had just previously been on secondment to the Zimbabwean police.)
I was repeating what ZANU sources say, and I believe, that the real breakdown between Britain and Mugabe was over the Congo. Now, whether that was a progressive action on Mugabe's part, is by no means obvious. I think I suggested as much saying that it was an 'adventure'. If I were to expand I would say that it was done to divert popular sentiment with a foreign war.
On the other hand, the defeat of Paul Kagame in the Congo was a good thing, for all Kabila's faults. The arrival of the 'seventh cavalry' to save his ass indicates which side the forces of reaction are on in that conflict (recent issues of Covert Action are very good on this skulduggery). Mugabe disrupted the pax tutsiana that the US was creating in Africa. Now he is being punished.
>
>Since the election it is reported that 25 more white farms have been
>occupied apparently without reports of violence. It is better for the unity
>of people in Zimbabwe that this is without violence and that younger
>supporters of ZANU and of the MDC can work together for a more democratic
>economic and political future.
The difficulty with both ZANU and MDC is that they are compromised in their relationship with the colonial power. Renewal will need an honest break with Britain.
-- James Heartfield
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