Sara S
07-21-2008, 08:39 PM
Over the last few months, the dictator Robert
Mugabe--author of that country's extreme political
repression
and hyperinflation--has again overcome opposition to
maintain his grip on power. Here is an excerpt from a
1999 Zimbabwean high school textbook which
presumably
captures that government's propaganda on the United
States--and supports the storyline that Mugabe stands
up for African independence in the face of U.S. and
British neo-colonialism. The excerpt is a discussion of
the
international
pressure on South Africa to end the practice of
apartheid:
"South Africa responded to international pressure and
to the crisis at home by tightening the screws and by
exporting terror and genocide to neighboring African
countries. At home, the press was gagged. African
activists were incarcerated or murdered and new laws
to deprive the masses of any form of freedom of
expression were promulgated. ... Reactionary groups
were sponsored by the regime to fight wars of
destabilization in Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe,
Botswana, Lesotho and periodically Jonas Savimbi's
UNITA in Angola and Alfonso Dhlakama's bandits in
Mozambique wreaked havoc in those countries. In
this, South Africa was supported by the USA
administration which had publicly admitted giving aid
to Jonas Savimbi.
"The unholy alliance between South Africa and
Reaganism in America gained strength during the
early 1980s when the Reagan era began. The Black
American Republican, Jeane Kirk Patrick [sic],
believed that rightest authoritarian regimes, no matter
how oppressive, were natural allies of the USA as they
were useful in combating the spread of
communism. ...
"Ronald Reagan once asked of South Africa: 'Can
we
abandon a country that has stood by us in every war
we have ever fought, a country that is essentially
strategic to the free world?' One might ask, 'how
free a
world was that of the South African blacks?' The point
being made was clear. Thereafter, the USA vetoed
every resolution that was intended to bring down
apartheid at the UN."
[Note: Jeanne Kirkpatrick served as U.S. Ambassador
to the U.N. under President Reagan from 1981 to
1985. She was part of a Republican administration,
but not black.]
M. Sibanda and H. Moyana, The Africa Heritage:
History for O level Secondary Students, Book 3,
Harare, Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe Publishing House (Pvt)
Ltd., 1999, 115-116.
Mugabe--author of that country's extreme political
repression
and hyperinflation--has again overcome opposition to
maintain his grip on power. Here is an excerpt from a
1999 Zimbabwean high school textbook which
presumably
captures that government's propaganda on the United
States--and supports the storyline that Mugabe stands
up for African independence in the face of U.S. and
British neo-colonialism. The excerpt is a discussion of
the
international
pressure on South Africa to end the practice of
apartheid:
"South Africa responded to international pressure and
to the crisis at home by tightening the screws and by
exporting terror and genocide to neighboring African
countries. At home, the press was gagged. African
activists were incarcerated or murdered and new laws
to deprive the masses of any form of freedom of
expression were promulgated. ... Reactionary groups
were sponsored by the regime to fight wars of
destabilization in Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe,
Botswana, Lesotho and periodically Jonas Savimbi's
UNITA in Angola and Alfonso Dhlakama's bandits in
Mozambique wreaked havoc in those countries. In
this, South Africa was supported by the USA
administration which had publicly admitted giving aid
to Jonas Savimbi.
"The unholy alliance between South Africa and
Reaganism in America gained strength during the
early 1980s when the Reagan era began. The Black
American Republican, Jeane Kirk Patrick [sic],
believed that rightest authoritarian regimes, no matter
how oppressive, were natural allies of the USA as they
were useful in combating the spread of
communism. ...
"Ronald Reagan once asked of South Africa: 'Can
we
abandon a country that has stood by us in every war
we have ever fought, a country that is essentially
strategic to the free world?' One might ask, 'how
free a
world was that of the South African blacks?' The point
being made was clear. Thereafter, the USA vetoed
every resolution that was intended to bring down
apartheid at the UN."
[Note: Jeanne Kirkpatrick served as U.S. Ambassador
to the U.N. under President Reagan from 1981 to
1985. She was part of a Republican administration,
but not black.]
M. Sibanda and H. Moyana, The Africa Heritage:
History for O level Secondary Students, Book 3,
Harare, Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe Publishing House (Pvt)
Ltd., 1999, 115-116.