‘An independent Zimbabwean election monitoring group expressed doubt on Tuesday over the credibility of the results of the presidential election and accused the ruling ZANU-PF party of attacking observers.

The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) was the first observer group to publicly question the results, which showed opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai had failed to beat President Robert Mugabe by enough to avoid a second round run-off.’
http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/Zimbabwe_observers_question_preside_05062008.html

ZESN described as Independent…and no mention is made of its links to MDC..

If by “left” you mean organizations that are prepared to ally themselves with imperialism to undermine governments, armed forces and movements that are pursuing traditional leftist objectives, then, yes, this is indeed the voice of Zimbabwe’s left. It should be out that your first link is to a report by the ISO (Zimbabwe), a founding member of the MDC, hardly a left party, in either its aims or sources of funding and support.

A much stronger argument can be made that a real(istic) anti-imperialist left in Zimbabwe is represented by Zanu-PF.

Zanu-PF led a struggle for national liberation against Rhodesian apartheid, culminating in the achievement of Zimbabwe’s political independence. It reclaimed land alienated from the indigenous people by European settlers and returned it to its rightful owners. Today, it advances the project of investing national liberation with real content, through a program of economic indigenization.

What has the ISO (Zimbabwe) achieved in comparison? It has access to flashy web sites and magazines…and it works to alienate left support for Zimbabwe’s national liberation project. On top of that, it helped found, along with Britain and the EU, a party bent on reversing the gains Zanu-PF led the struggle for. That’s Zimbabwe’s left?

If you want to find out what Zimbabwe’s left thinks, go here http://www.gta.gov.zw/ . At the very least, you’ll read something different from you can read in the New York Times, Times of London and Links.

Steve

http://www.links.org.au/node/352
&
http://www.links.org.au/node/380

I sense you’re jealous that 007 is monopolizing the attention, and are eager to draw some your way. Okay Piers. Fair is fair.

You were a senior researcher at the Center for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation before stepping into your current role as director of the South African History Archives.

Maybe you never checked, but the violence and reconciliation center is backed, among others, by some organizations that aren’t all that committed to non-violence.

Anglo-American Chairman’s Fund
Australian High Commission
British High Commission
Mott Foundation
Ford Foundation
Heinrich Boll Foundation (German Green Party)
George Soros
Rockefeller Brothers
Southern Africa Trust
USAID
USIP

The CSVR’s mission is to contribute to the building of violence-free societies. This is entirely unbelievable, given the list of the center’s funders, especially the last two — USAID (the US State Department) and USIP (the US State Department and Pentagon) — aren’t really the peace and reconciliation types. They’re more the “get out of the way or we’ll blow you away and string up anyone who resisted” types. The same can be said about the UK, represented here by the British High Commission, and the German Green party, represented by the Heinrich Boll Foundation, whose leader, as a member of the German cabinet, discovered that the perks of power were more important than any qualms he might have over the bombing of Yugoslavia and Afghanistan.

To be a little more nuanced, I should point out that the US and Britain are indeed opposed to violence – but only when used to defend and promote the interests of those they, or their allies, are trying to oppress. They’re for non-violence in Iraq, now that the country has been conquered, but were all for using violence to conquer it. They’re for non-violence in Gaza and the West Bank…on the part of Palestinians, but not the Israelis. As for South Africa, they’re for non-violence and reconciliation, now that the apartheid regime is a memory, but were happy to allow the old apartheid rulers to exercise whatever violence was necessary to keep the black majority in check.

In the NGO world, violence is illegitimate, except when exercised by the state on behalf of the interests of Ford, Rockefeller, Soros, Anglo-American, and so on. Then, it’s perfectly all right, necessary, even laudable. Interesting how that works.

In another time, Piers, you would have made a good priest. Today, you’re making a living as the modern equivalent — an intellectual whore (though I could be mistaken on the intellectual part.)

For my money, Piers, what’s far more absurdly comedic than what I’ve written is your working to promote non-violence while being paid by the Pentagon and State Department to do so. It’s good to see satire is alive and well in certain orbits.

Steve

Stephen Gowans - simply smokin!

oh dear, oh dear - seems like Mr Gowans has been smoking his tik pipe again. Must be all those sanctions that render a rational deliberative process impossible as the politics of ‘cowboys and injuns’ take centre stage disguised as some sort of intellectual narrative.

Does Gowans really believe that ZANU-PF in its current mutated madness has the interests of the majority at heart? Where precisely does he suck that from - the buffet table at the Harare Sheraton? The mind boggles, but hey maybe there’s an empirical basis for this - does Mr Gowans care to share this with us? Or will we simply be referred to back copies of the Herald, or maybe that awfully exciting magazine, New African …. another forum for comic genius judign from those wonderful supplements paid for by the Zimbabwean government last year (please, for anyone who has them, do reread the Gideon Gono interview - priceless!)

I detract .. apologies….

It’s certainly not news that civil society ‘chefs’ (in Zimbabwe or many other places for that matter) have been relying on neo-con funds for some time now - pretty inneffective if regime change was the cunning objective of the marionette masters in Washington, don’t you think?! That folk such as Hove and Tsunga accept awards from dubious source or the organisations they front are funded from western (often right wing) sources hardly adds up to some sort fo coordinated initiative to undermine the ‘revolutionary’ programme of the great liberators (as Chinamasa and it would seem Mr Gowans would have us believe). If it were, it’s been about as inneffective a strategy as you could get - and assumes the loons in Washington and London really know what they are doing and who they are dealing with. But I suppose with all that satelite technology, anythings possible …

I rather enjoyed the Gowan’s bits on Patrick Bond and now have images of him in a rather large swivel chair behind his control centre at the CCS pushing Zimbabwean and South African civil society buttons as part of some cunning conspiracy to keep the true revolutionaries in place. I always wondered what he was doing at those Free Burma Campaign meetings when there were only 6 of us in the room - was it really part of his cunning entryist politics to prepare Burma for the beauties and beneifts of capitalism. Gadzooks, who can one trust Mr Gowans? well, apart from Patrick Chinamasa that is …..

Once again the truth of what has actually transpired in Zimbabwe falls victim to a form of dot-to-dot matric marxism that’s not alas even saved by the footnotes. The inference that Zimbabweans have no agency in the decisions made and actions taken, but are simply manipulated by Washington and the evil Dr Bond is grotesque and probably racist.

Nevertheless, I do hope these gems from Gowans and his fellow travellers are archived for futrue generations to guffaw at - my particular favourite from this latest offering is - “That Zimbabwe’s government has tried to preserve space for the exercise of political and civil liberties in the face of massive hostile foreign interference is to be commended.” I have to say I spat my coffee all over my expensive computer monitor when I read that - sheer comic genious! Churchilian stuff - I’m sure Bob would be ‘fighting them on the beaches’ if indeed there were any ….

But let’s suppose for a moment that Cde Gowans is indeed a serious soul, I would say he does raise some important questions about a range of economic and political interests in Zimbabwe - at least external capaitalist interest. The suggstion that they are rowing all in the same direction is a little far fetched, as is the notion that the indiginisation policies of ZANU-PF is a meaningful attempt to spread ownership to the masses - Indeed, the problem is that Gowan’s analysis (dare I call it that?) falls apart on the alter of ideological lunacy that suggests that the ruling party in Zimbabwe is a revolutionary one and that the neocons are desperate for its popularity to spread across the region and beyond, attacking the very heart of the capitlaist behemoth! I’ve always wondered whether ZANU-PF isn’t a cunning plot by the imperialists - given Bob the Builder’s penchant for Saville Row and Fortnums, i thought this was a dead giveaway - but what do I know? Indeed, what do I know?

Anyway, thanks for the light relief Mr Gowans - it’s good to see that satire is alive and well in certain orbits.

Yours in the struggle for more revolutionary comedy!
A looting continua
Piers Pigou
[Declarator - born in Britain, of Hugenot descent (blasted Catholics!), emigrated to South Africa in early 90s - I have lived 35 years of my life in southern africa as a deep cover agent recently activated by the neo-cons to mock Mr Gowans and his sixth columnist fellow travellers who I understand have themselves recently been activated after several years training in Albania at the Enver Hoxa Militia Training Camp for revolutionary nicompoops!]

I think a much closer parallel would be me, co-authoring with a key member of the Liberal Party, an article with a title like “Afghanistan’s political rollercoaster hits another dip.” You’d have a better case, then. Maybe Zunes can lend you another straw to grasp at.

Nice to know you’re keeping such close tabs on my blog and are so prompt to comment. Do you hover over “what’s left” with bated breath waiting for me to mention your name, or did Q send you an alert?

Now, on this matter of your frequent — and at times rather lengthy — commentaries here: I’m concerned that this is taking you away from more serious pursuits. You could be applying for another foundation grant or trying to line up Morgan Tsvangirai (Zimbabwe’s Lech Walesa — except not as effective as old Lech) to co-author another one of your penetrating Z-Net articles on what’s happening just across the Limpopo River from where you’re at, at the Center for Civil Society — that is, where you’re at, when you’re not gallavanting around the globe, in Australia now, Canada next, now the US, and then back to your Center in South Africa, from where you can keep tabs on the activities of the “independent” left across the Limpopo, as they receive instructions, with Zunes cheering them on from the sidelines, from the Peter Ackerman/USIP/Freedom House/CFR crowd on how to overthrow the nasty Mugabe and deliver Zimbabwe into the hands of the…hmm…Peter Ackerman/USIP/Freedom House/CFR/NED/WFD/USAID/Anglo-American crowd. Funny how that works. Oh well, it that happens, you’ll have occasion to pen many a biting article on the neo-liberal tyranny of your friend Grace Kwinjeh’s MDC. just think — she might even be a cabinet minister.

By the way, I’ve always wondered where your travel budget comes from. Are you independently wealthy, or are generous travel allowances available to those who are willing to preach the gospel and burnish the reputations of fifth columnists paving the way to neo-colonialism? Just thought I’d ask.

Back to your next Zim article: If Tsvangirai isn’t available, there are a whole bunch of NED/WFD/USAID/Soros/Ford Foundation-supported activists I could steer you in the direction of as potential co-authors…that is, if Q hasnt already.

Steve

The reports we see here in the West don’t seem very reliable.
Thomas