On Zimbabwe: 'The best within the confines of the law' can be enough

Evan Mawarire. Credit: BBC

The nation state of Zimbabwe, Southern Africa is yet again in the grip of an economic and social crisis. This is nothing new in Zimbabwe given its travails of the last 10 years which has seen its creeping authoritarianism given full vent under Dr Robert Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party.

Poorly thought through economic policies, cronyism and the recalcitrance of a ruling elite has meant that a country deemed the bread basket of Southern Africa has become a shadow of itself.

The high literacy rate Zimbabwe is famously known for has not been able to be employed to grow the economy and improve ties with the rest of the region and indeed the world, as Mr. Mugabe has become more entrenched in his paranoia about the West. Instead the young , educated and entrepreneurial have been forced to seek greener pastures elsewhere, where their worth is either under- appreciated or envied to the point of being a risk to their lives.

Suffice it to say that the situation in Zimbabwe has given room for an entrenched few and their interests, to perpetuate themselves in power to the detriment of the self-actualization of the many.

Against this backdrop, enter Evan Mawarire. The Zimbabwean Pastor has taken to social media to exhort his fellow citizens of Zimbabwe to down tools and not leave their homes because of the corruption and mismanagement of the economy which has essentially stagnated Zimbabwean society, and prevented the likes of him from self-actualizing and looking after their family's needs.

It can perhaps be said that since Zimbabwe made news headlines in 2009 with the near collapse of its economy and the resultant threat to its social fabric including peaceful co-existence, this is a first for an ordinary citizen to speak out in such a manner against the difficulties he and people like him face every day in Zimbabwe.

He has asked for "Non- violence, non- inciting and stay at home" of his fellow citizens, to spur change. This should force the government of Zimbabwe to deal with the situation in the country, which amounts to a decimation of the economy, and a threat to peaceful co-existence. He describes the action he proposes as "the best within the confines of the law".

The mantra of his #Thisflag movement might well be the cry the citizens of Zimbabwe have been waiting for, to snap the many out of the torpor, that allows for the destructive excesses of the very few.

A threat to societal cohesion and peaceful co-existence writ large

Photo Courtesy of VOA

The aftermath of events in which the police killed two black men in Minnesota and Louisiana, and in which an army veteran- a black man- killed 5 police officers in Dallas Texas, is put in perspective.


Yet again, the loss of innocent lives has prompted soul searching in a nation that prides itself as having built its democracy on a foundation of constant striving for peaceful co-existence, justice and the self actualization of its citizens.


As Barack Obama, President of the United States expressed in his address to some 2000 people in the city of Dallas at a memorial service of the killed police officers, "I've seen how inadequate words can be in bringing about lasting change. I've seen how inadequate my own words have been".


Now that is quite some admission from a leader who it can be argued and with good reason, prides himself in the ability of his words to fire the imagination, to provide perspective, to inspire a fervor for justice.


But how is this so? The answer perhaps lies in the extent to which a people are engaged with a co-existence rooted in fairness and in truth...


It can perhaps be said that an individual, a group of people, an institution or indeed a nation would adopt a position or justify actions however inimical to societal cohesion and hence peaceful co-existence, if nothing serves to challenge these ideas and actions.


It must also perhaps be said that only a constant and committed striving for the values of fairness, inclusion, compassion and justice could possibly be able to pose such a challenge.

On Syria,whither the good choices?

culled from theatlantic.com



An editorial piece in the New York Times of 22nd June 2016 titled 'The false lure of military intervention in Syria', is put in perspective.

 It quite aptly details the difficulties that the United States faces with bowing to suggestions made by its diplomats, that confronting the Assad regime with the threat of military force is a way of nudging him towards seeking a peaceful resolution to a civil war that has destroyed much of his country, and caused as much as 400,000 deaths as well as untold suffering.

It is quite easy to see how the dynamic on the ground creates a scenario of choices ranging from 'limited', to 'not good' as the editorial has so eloquently described,  Russia's ambiguity on the matter of Assad and Syria being perhaps the most potent variable that serves to perpetuate the crises.

The editorial however asks 'whither a workable and rational alternative strategy' from these diplomats, without giving this question as much weight as the detail of a quagmire that is the Syrian war.

On Syria, whither the good choices? Perhaps the answer lies in a United States that must change its mind and fast, about not just what it justifiably sees as Assad's role in bringing about death and destruction, but also his role real or potential, in achieving a desperately needed peace.



The Middle East Peace Process- A fading hope

Culled from Isrealmatz.blogspot.com

The latest attempt, this time by France, to kick-start the peace process by holding talks on the 3rd of June 2016, is put in perspective.

The talks that was no talks has served to highlight the sad reality of what the Mideast peace process has become. It is an exercise that none of the stakeholders seriously believes would lead to meaningful dialogue, which creates opportunity for peaceful co-existence  between the state of Israel and a Palestinian state, long the wish of the Palestinian people.

Dare one ask how it has come to this? The answer is not far removed from the truth that is a lack of moral courage of the principal players to seize the opportunities presented thus far, from the Oslo accords of 1993 to present day.

With a significant proportion of the Middle East embroiled in strife, this lack of moral courage has very little opportunity to be called out as it should.

In 2016, the hope for a meaningful peace process is dimmed by a lack of moral courage which has as its crutch, a wider Middle East in the throes of an upheaval, the effects of which is being felt well beyond Its geographical borders.

On Syria, the matter of Assad

Militants pointing Kalashnikovs at an image of Assad 

 The current development that has seen the United States of America pledge to coordinate activities with the Russian Federation with a view to finding a constructive solution to the 4-year old civil war in Syria, is put in perspective.

Russian troop build up in the country in spite of America's objections has led to an acceptance that Russia is in Syria to stay, and a lack of acknowledgement of this fact would most likely lead to a situation that serves to worsen rather than ameliorate the crises.

While the United States is grappling with the new reality of Russia's presence in Syria, a recurring question keeps interjecting itself into the conversation- the fate of President Assad.

The position of United States and the generality of the West is to declare that Assad has no place in a peaceful and secular Syria, whilst Russia's view on this is ambiguous at best.

As America does what amounts to the right thing under the current circumstances by agreeing to cooperate with Russia on the issue of Syria, it should be mindful of this ambiguity.

Due to the presence of ISIS, thousands of Syrians have either lost their lives or have been displaced by a war that has evolved beyond President Assad's conflict with the Syrian opposition. It is perhaps important that an acknowledgment of this be put front and center as the United States attempts to reach a meaningful accommodation with the Russians on the issue of Syria.

Failure to do this would lead to Russia wielding its ambiguity on the matter of Assad in a manner that delays respite for the millions of Syrians desperately in need of an end to this war.

 

Nigeria: The weight of a decision.

Muhammadu Buhari

The recently concluded presidential election in Africa's most populous and ethnically diverse nation, is put in perspective.

After what at times was a fraught process that threatened to end in chaos and violence even in the very last moments, Muhammadu Buhari a former military General and dictator, emerged as winner.

What transpired in Nigeria during the March 28 election was a case of the volition of ordinary people to embrace change, pitted against the rapacious appetite of an entrenched ruling  party to hold unto power at all cost.

On assuming power in a few weeks, Muhammadu Buhari would be faced with an incredible weight of expectation from a people that for the last 16 years, has had to contend with a leadership that essentially established a 'culture' by condoning corruption and impunity not just from elected officials, but also from ordinary people themselves.

The newly elected president and his government would therefore not only face the challenge of building credible institutions and establishing the rule law which punishes elected officials for delivering for self rather than for the people. It would also have to deal with a people that are essentially cast adrift by years of direction-less leadership to the extent that it has become a challenge to appreciate and be committed to the basics of civic responsibility.

Nigeria's future peace and prosperity will depend on not only curbing the excesses of the political class, but also rekindling the meaning of love of country in a people thirsting for change.

Contemplating Charlie Hebdo two months later

The news seems to have moved on since the terrible happening of the morning of 7th of January 2015, when the Kouachi brothers stormed Offices of satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo and sprayed the place with bullets, leaving 11 people dead and 12 people injured in their wake.

As a close follower of news event and analysis from  around the world, one is left with the perception that the world, much of which was united with the people of France to declare "Je suis Charlie" has taken a back sit and is waiting for the next event that would give a sense of how the French government and its people have adjusted to the new realities that are an inevitability of happenings as profound as one that, as in this case, threatens the philosophical  bedrock of  a people.

Emotions ran high in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attack as one would expect. It caused a lot of generalization which at its best, seemed to suggest that the Kouachi brothers were disaffected youth from marginalized Parisian suburbs whose lot could perhaps have be bettered by a more attentive government. At its worst, they were Islamists whose wholly embraced jihad- fueled nihilism had been fatefully employed to threaten freedom of expression, a critical cornerstone that makes France the country it is today.

As things continue to evolve however, It is perhaps best to be reminded that there are dysfunctional individuals, people with a poverty of spirit, that would latch unto any excuse to wrought mayhem on society, tarring the collective black, and instigating wars if necessary whilst they are at it. The Kouachi brothers can safely be put in this category given the terrible wantonness of their crime which has no justification.

However, a balanced approach to getting to the bottom of the happening of the 7th of January which sees France question not only fundamentalist Islam but itself would go some way to guaranteeing that such dysfunctional individuals remain on the fringes of society, where they belong.