There are many admirable and inspiring things in Dr Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech delivered on the steps of the Abraham Lincoln Memorial in Washington but one of those is his total grasp of urgency of a solution NOW. Not next generation, next year – NOW!
“We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality,” said King.
“ … This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. …. It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment.” Argued King in total contrast to many of Africa’s failed leaders who have argued that the fight for freedom, justice and human dignity is “not an event but a process” to justify their failure to deliver.
Dictators like Mugabe have turned from being champions of justice and freedom to the worst violators human rights and freedoms. They have tramped on these freedoms and rights because only the capitalists and their petty bourgeois friends are concerned and benefit from these rights. They are serving the masses whose concerns are putting food on their table and a roof over their heads. This is false choice these tyrants present because political and economic rights are not mutually exclusive. Indeed one can even say deny a person their political rights and everything else they have is yours to do as you please including their very life!
The other great thing about Dr King was his vision; he skilfully guided the blacks away from hating those who hurt them.
“The marvellous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people,” advised Dr King, “for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.”
Tyrants like Mugabe have presented the evils whites racists inflicted on the blacks as not just as incurable and festering wounds but worse still that the whites are forever looking for every opportunity to inflict fresh wounds and therefore blacks must be on their guard at all times! Whatever he has done including the systematic denial of our people’s basic human rights and dignity it was for one principle purpose; to hit black at the whites and/or safe guard the independence and sovereignty of Zimbabwe. He has been quick to label his fellow black critics and opponents, white-man’s puppets, are thus has had no qualms them their human rights including the right to life!
Tyrants like Mugabe have hidden their continued human rights violation of millions of our people behind the smoke screen of fighting and hurting the whites. We should have never allowed Mugabe to deny whites their right to own property because that was the slippery slope that led to blacks being their right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country and ultimately to thousands losing their right to life.
Recently Mugabe has taken to blaming the whites for his failed economic policies and corrupt rule. The West has stopped the WB and IMF lending money to Zimbabwe, for example, as punishment for seizing land from the white farmers, he claims. He does not say that Zimbabwe is already up to her ears in debt to the two international institutions, amongst others; debts the country was failing to service. Mugabe is bitter the two would not give him the money regardless his failure to repay; no one would do that.
Dr King was right, the freedom of blacks is “inextricably bound” to the freedom of whites. Who have guessed that a black tyrant would drag the whole nation into the dark ages in the name of punishing the whites!
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