If you only have a hammer

Yes, US of A. The thinking is the same in all cases; prove to these potential investors that their money will be safe with us and, with the military in control, officials will no longer be corrupt and the workers will be suitably subservient. A story even leaked out that Zimbabwe was on the list of two dozen or so African countries named in the Feinstein report on the conduct of their “war of terror on terror” as being ready to help the Yanks interrogate “terrorism suspects” by methods that would be illegal in the US itself and would attract too much attention at Guantanamo Bay.

Unfortunately, a number of people who should know better seem to have decided that we won’t see an improvement in our political situation soon, so they are ready to settle for an improvement in “the economy”. I put that in quotes because I thought the economy was about the welfare of the whole nation. In fact, you won’t see the economic position of most of the people improve unless their political rights are recognised, and neither of these will happen if the government doesn’t respect the people.

One sign that the people are not respected is the call from the usual quarters to weaken the labour laws, so that wages can be reduced and workers sacked more easily. That sounds as if ZIMASSET is going to mean another dose of ESAP. Do we need to destroy what ESAP left of our industry, of employment and of social services in order to save the economy?

That sounds as if “saving the economy” means paying all the illegitimate debts incurred by Zanu (PF) or its senior members in their personal capacities. That means squeezing more out of you and me to keep the bankers happy and leave the people who robbed them undisturbed.

There are those who say democracy is a luxury we can only think about when we’re feeding all our people. History shows that governments don’t bother to feed all their people until the voices of those people are heard.

I’ve just been reading about the origins and results of the French revolution. The old regime of King Louis XVI gobbled up all the nation’s wealth and remained obstinately deaf and blind to the plight of the ever-increasing number of poor, landless and jobless people, so Louis, his extravagant wife and many of their court hangers-on died under the blade of the guillotine. France just before that catastrophe sounds very much like a country we all know much more recently.

The Chinese, the Russians and the Americans all believe, like Zanu (PF), in military solutions to political and economic problems. Our military seem to be trying to assure them that there won’t be a repeat of the French revolution, or any revolution, here, so they can come and help themselves to our minerals, while our brave soldiers keep the revolting peasants from revolting in reality.

A wise man once said “If you only have a hammer every problem will look like a nail to you.” Our current administration (what do they administer?) doesn’t have legitimacy, it doesn’t have the support of the people and it doesn’t have a single real economist in its ranks, but it does have guns. How long can a regime in that position survive?

So if the Russians, the Chinese and probably the Americans rely on ZNA to keep the screws tight while they make away with everything from our minerals to our baby elephants, they are making a mistake many made before them.

The military aren’t equipped to deal with economic or political problems. The people don’t need guns. As long as they are ground down they won’t produce as free and well-paid workers do. No amount of guns can change that fact.