By Albert Brenner
September 14, 2007 01:44 PM EST
The last meeting of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) saw Robert Mugabe, the despot of Zimbabwe, lauded and applauded like no other African leader since god Mandela himself.
Now, one will definitely be justified in asking why a brutal dictator, who has deliberately ruined his country (80% unemployment, 12 000% inflation, one-third of the population in exile, etc), is treated as a hero by his African peers.
Well, the answer can be found in what Mugabe has termed the 'Second Liberation'. The First Liberation obviously being de-colonialization followed by black self-rule. Brushing aside the obligatory old-hat Marxist rhetoric and fashionable anti-White platitudes, one quickly comes to the stark realization that what Mugabe has in mind is firstly, a recipe for ruin untold and, secondly, rationally unavoidable.
His current endeavour to rid Zimbabwe of all whites, and all that they represent (e.g. modern science, Western morality, capitalism, etc) is coldly indicative of his intention to reassert his country/culture's original African identity. His methods might appear insanely irrational to us, but the rationale underpinning them is faultless. For to reassert (re-actualize) the original identity of an African country automatically implies the negation of all that which is not historically indigenous to it.
Unlike all the cultures of the Alpha-civilizations (Hindi, Sino, Western and Arab), primitive cultures, like those in Africa, have absolutely no innate relation to the 'Gestalt' ('form/content') of the modern world. So to get rid of all that is not originally yours is perfectly rational, if you want to 'find' your authentic self (identity) again. And this is precisely the reason why Mugabe is so admired by his peers in Africa. He has, like the prophet of yesteryear, shown them a way to forever overcome that which the modern environment has so ruthlessly foisted on them - without their implicit permission and pro-active participation.
Mugabe's 'Second Liberation' ideology is spreading rapidly. In a keynote address delivered at an African Diaspora conference held in Paris recently, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, the South African Foreign Affairs Minister, boldly stated; "Our task henceforth is to interpret ourselves, to define ourselves, to give shape to our own identity, to believe in our own ethics…". The idea of mineral-rich South Africa persuing its "own ethics" must certainly send a chill down the spine of big business and forever-meddling CIA policy-advisors. A fear certainly not unfounded given South Africa's blatant anti-Western stance as the current Head of the UN Security Council. 'As jy dom is moet jy kak' (foretold is forewarned), as the Boere would say.
Be that as it may; blaming the environment (the pale male, of course) no longer butters the bread because none of the other civilizations have experienced any real difficulties in reaching the most important benchmarks set for progressive survival like, inter alia, the Industrial, Nuclear and IT Revolutions. Sub-Saharan Africa, on the other hand, has proven time and time again that it is still in the dark, literally. And, given Mugabe's hero status among his peers, it would seem that they would rather remain in the dark than be willing passengers on the bus of progress.
To endeavour to seek reasons for Africa's inability to adapt to the demands of the modern world would, like it or not, also have to include examining the nature side of the Nature vs. Nurture dichotomy - something that must be avoided at all costs, lest a pale male wants to stand accused of being a Nazi, a baby seal clubber, a pedophile and an uprooter of saplings. Be that as it may; the PC excuse to always blame black failure on white prejudice (i.e. the Western-dominated current global environment) has lost all credibility.
The current state of South Africa is a sterling example of what is fated to happen to a modern country when a primitive people have the leeway to reassert their identity....at all costs. This process, known as indigenization, or re-primitivization, is characterized by, inter alia, abysmal levels of corruption, brutal inter-tribal conflict, nepotism and a collapsing infrastructure. Alas, the sad story of post-colonial Africa.
The results of this specific utopian experiment by the West to enforce cultural integration between a modern people (the whites) and a primitive people (Africans) is clear to see when one looks at the near complete collapse of the criminal justice system, the dismal failure of the black government to deliver even the most basic state services and the flight of 1.5 million whites since Mandelatopia was dreamt up.
Doomed from the start, this experiment has been underpinned by the feel-good assumption that both peoples have/had the same skills (be they psycho-social, moral or cognitive) to start off with. But is this really so? How should one then otherwise explain, for example, the fact that only 700 out of the 380 000 black South African matrics in 2006 passed HG Maths at C+ level and above? Similarly, why is it that the blacks who took over the (erstwhile) world-class white-owned commercial farms in Zimbabwe are producing 87% less than their 'evil' original owners?
Be that as it may; even a very basic understanding of evolution, as applied to human progress/development, shows that the sustaining and development of a specific environment is inextricably linked to the innate skills of those who have adapted (to) it. For example, an 14th-century European would've perished in an environment in which an Eskimo has thrived for ages. Similarly, a 16th-century Pacific Islander would most probably have died ignobly in London at the time from some or other venereal disease, or smallpox. Nature is merciless and morality is, unfortunately, a mere contingency when it comes to brutal survival.
Getting back to Mugabe's 'Second Liberation' (or Afro-fascism, to term it more appropriately); one shudders to contemplate the consequences of his quest to reassert Africa's original identity, especially given the results of a not dissimilar endeavour currently underway in the Muslim world. Driven by a handful of fanatics, this quest on the other side of the world has even managed to put a spell on moderate (real) Muslims tired of having to dance to the tunes of the over-bearing West. But then, who can blame them. The hubris of the West has sacrificed natural diversity on the altar of enforced equality in order to placate the feel-good sensibilities of those who have lost their sense of self (identity). Alas, the logical outcome of a relativist world-view desperately trying to ground itself.
Whether Robert Mugabe is morally entitled (or right) to lead Africa back to the Iron Age is not for us to judge. How could we then....seeing that we regard human progress as relative? Be that as it may; the journey will continue, with or without Africa, because the rest of the passengers on the bus will only wave once, then continue to station future.....as always.
Source: The Conservative Voice
Author: Albert Brenner
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Stop! Africa wants to get off the bus(09/13/2007)
How to shave a Liberal(08/19/2007)
Woodstock's last Lullaby(07/31/2007)
Revolutions eat their children(06/16/2007)
The death of the Noble Savage(05/09/2007)
Mandela Has no Clothes(12/10/2006)
Affirmative Action is an Oxymoron(10/09/2006)
The feel-good history of Africa(09/26/2006)
Africa has no conscience(08/27/2006)
The modern myth of childhood innocence(08/20/2006)
The Dictatorship of the 'I'(08/11/2006)
Africa and the guilt fatigue of the West(08/08/2006)
Whites no longer welcome in South Africa(08/03/2006)