Aaron Gono
When I was growing up in the early 1980s in Hippo Valley, Chiredzi; it was classy to be seen visiting Kingstons bookstore. All world magazines from, Time, Newsweek, Drum, Scope, etc, were locally found in the bookshop.
It was also a sign of acclimatisation to changing global needs and also embracing western way of life. By then it was a hallmark of civilization and enlightenment. And the West was marketing democracy as the way to go and prosper. Any other ideology like socialism, communism, islamism, hinduism, which transgressed against theirs was berated.
Around 1985 and thereabouts, there was one household which had a television antenna in Chishamiso village, Hippo Valley Estates, Chiredzi. I still remember the owner of that television handset, was Mr Chinogwenya, from Shurugwi. On Thursdays and Saturdays, the handset was available to all the children and adults of the compound. Mr Chinogwenya would make sure by 5: 00 pm, the handset was set outside his house to accommodate everyone. It was communalism at its best; “Ubuntu or Hunhu”; ‘let’s share the little that we have and let everyone enjoy the party.’
Ezomgido ( Mvengemvenge), Wrestling, Sounds on Saturday or Music Box were our favourites. Although television reception in Chiredzi was poor and there were no color televisions by then, we enjoyed that creeping of civilization. Soft power was what made America great, not Trump’s belligerence and indulgence. “Make America Great Again” is something that most people take easy. America was always great and nobody weakened it. It is the world’s superpower and coining that MAGA ideology leaves a lot to be desired. It is only a supremacists’ way of thinking.
As the 45 and 47 the American president wants to make history, he developed a hawkish approach to issues he could have won diplomatically. Although many people around the world were starting critiquieng America’ s approach to trade, and its democracy. Trump thought it wise to use force. First he tariffed every country in the world, friends and foes alike. He also threatened to annex Greenland and Canada. When his allies saw that the King had abandoned them, they all told him to behave and he backed off from his original plans.
As he was someone determined to make history and create a ‘ Trump Empire,’; he looked at faults on third world countries. Venezuela was picked and America’ s special forces were unleashed on it. They raided it in the middle of the night and captured its president (Maduro) and took him to New York city, where he is now a resident prisoner. The attack was swift and didn’t give the Venezuelan forces a chance. Many people were killed, and always the Western world calls it “collateral damage.” A nice word to sanitize war crimes. Shortly after his triumph, Trump imposed or chose someone of his tastes to run the affairs of the country.
The new interim government was told how to behave and not to bend any American omerta. Oil executives were called to the West wing of the White House, to discuss how quickly they can siphon oil from Venezuela. Unfortunately, many declined to join the melee. Trump frothed to the mouth by their decisions of refusal.
What made America great was its soft power, of pop culture- music, movies, propaganda, and its big media and tech giants. America only won one war, that was in 1945, when it nuked Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It went on to Vietnam from 1955 to 1975, this war was the same like the current Iran- Israel and America war. It was a war of domination, with all imperialistic features aboard. Six American presidents failed to suppress the spirits of the Vietcong guerrillas.
The presidents were,from 1955, Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Gerald Ford. The war lasted for 20 years, all six US presidents failed to reach consensus that this war was mosaic. Many American lives were lost and also Vietnam was bombed with napalm bombs, that even today some places are no longer cultivatable. It was a war of attrition.
That was when the world considered the US as a good cop. All its mainstream media houses were rallying behind the star spangled banner. See no evil, hear no evil and America is always right. That opportunity now has been badly damaged by Donald Trump.
From 1975 it also intensified its cold war with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) which ended in 1991 after the dissolution of the USSR. America won this game of chess, from there it remained a one centre of world power (unipolar).
Lemme take you a little bit down the memory lane. In 1957 the ” winds of change” first began blowing in Africa. Ghana under Kwame Nkrumah was the first to taste fruits of freedom. And gradually many African countries began to follow suit in the early 1960s.
Although many of them who tried to be ” clever ” were overthrown by coups staged by the Central Intelligence Agency of America and M15 of Britain. Although Belgium also played a row in deposing newly elected African presidents, the CIA and M15 were the Dons (vana Makuruwani).
In 2001 till today, America began its ” War on Terror”, so America never rested on its fascist objectives. Although they change in color and pedigree, its objective remains the same ” Conquer with Love” (Vincere Caritate). They dream big dreams where people of Aryan race become custodians of all rare earths.
” How long shall they continue, killing our Prophets”- Bob Marley
It also reminds me to like and follow, the late president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe ‘s speeches in the United Nations conferences. Bob was ahead of his time, he always warned us not to trust these ” brood of vipers.”
Why is the US causing instability in the Middle East, the same old fixation with Vietnam is now upon Iran. Israel is not the problem in the Middle East, America is.
” Until the philosophy
Which holds one race
Superior and another inferior
Is finally and permanently
discredited
Everywhere is war,
Me say war”- Bob Marley.
