Stop the sanctions against Zimbabwe!

Africa says no to economic terrorism

Since 2001, Zimbabwe has lost more than $150 billion from the sanctions imposed by the United States and European Union, according to the country’s Vice President Constantino Chiwenga.

That’s around $9,000 stolen from each of the African nation’s 17 million citizens. Just the higher bank fees and interest rates that result from these sanctions cost Zimbabwe a billion dollars per year. 

As Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa noted, “It is the ordinary people, particularly the vulnerable, who bear the brunt of these heinous and inhumane measures, which also stifle economic and social progress in Zimbabwe.”

What crime did Zimbabwe commit to earn such severe punishment? Is it accused of laundering money for the drug cartels, like TD Bank did? No.

The Canadian bank with over 1,100 branches in the United States just paid a $3 billion fine after it confessed to funneling drug profits. Meanwhile, Canada, along with Australia, still sanctions Zimbabwe.

The great offense that Zimbabwe’s people committed — in the eyes of the wealthy and powerful — was that they took back their land. After being colonized by British settlers for 90 years, Africans said their time was up.

Cecil Rhodes’ British South African Company invaded Zimbabwe in the late 1880s. The obscenely rich diamond king modestly proclaimed the country “Rhodesia” after himself. The Rhodes scholarships are named after this war criminal.

Freedom fighters including the woman resistance leader Nehanda Charwe Nyakasikana were hanged. 

Theodor Herzl, the founder of Zionism, was so impressed by the stealing of African land that he wrote to Cecil Rhodes asking for his support. Since Zimbabwe won independence, hundreds of white settlers have moved to the Zionist state.

“Israel” — which is really occupied Palestine — will be wiped off the map just like “Rhodesia” was.

Anti-Sanctions Day backed by millions

The cruel sanctions against Zimbabwe have been protested by the 16 countries belonging to the Southern African Development Community. More than 384 million people live in these countries.

Since 2019, SADC has designated Oct. 25 as anti-sanctions day. This year, SADC’s chairperson is Zimbabwe President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa.

President Mnangagwa is the world’s only head of state to have been on death row. As a teenage freedom fighter, his life was spared, but the future president spent 10 years in prison.

Zimbabwe’s president spoke to thousands in Bulawayo, the country’s second-largest city, on Oct. 25, denouncing the sanctions. Also speaking in Zimbabwe was December 12th Movement chairperson Omowale Clay.

The December 12th Movement held a meeting on Anti-Sanctions Day at Sistas’ Place in Brooklyn, New York. D12 member Colette Pean chaired the event. Videos were shown, including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa denouncing the sanctions on Zimbabwe.

Pean described how the European settlers seized Zimbabwe’s land. Cecil Rhodes allowed them to grab as much land as could be ridden around by a horse.

Yet the U.S. and European capitalist governments are howling about the righteous farm seizures by the African inhabitants!

The vicious sanctions were meant to break Zimbabwe, but the country is moving forward. Colette Pean explained how Zimbabwe has one of Africa’s two highest literacy rates.

Hospitals are being built, and drought-resistant crops are being developed. Zimbabwe’s “Look East” policy has greatly increased trade with China and other Asian countries.

Minister Plenipotentiary Donald L. Charumbira, a member of Zimbabwe’s mission to the United Nations, was the special guest. He said that 80% of manufactured goods are domestically produced despite the sanctions.

The diplomat described how British Prime Minister Tony Blair double-crossed Zimbabwe when he refused the promised compensation for the white farmers. This necessitated the farm takeovers, many of which were led by veterans of Zimbabwe’s liberation war, called the Chimurenga.

Blair also refused to reveal where the body of Field Marshal Dedan Kimathi was buried. The freedom fighter, a leader of Kenya’s Land and Freedom army — which the corporate media called the Mau Mau — was hanged by the British on Feb. 18, 1957.

Dedan Kimathi was avenged every time a white farm was seized in Zimbabwe.

Rosemari Mealy brought greetings from the Cuban solidarity movement. The Caribbean nation has been sanctioned by the United States for over 60 years.

Sanctions are a war crime and must be stopped.