Why #Zimbabwean Protests Should Not Emulate #Belarus Protests

Colour revolutions should come with a product label: MADE IN THE USA. For more that two decades we have the US and its allies manufacturing, incite or back color revolutions as the most economical way to destabilize and change governments they don't like. That moment you see headline splashes like PRO DEMOCRACY REVOLUTION, its unlikely to be a spontaneous grassroots uprising if it looks like, talks like or walks like a colour revolution. 

The Covid 19 pandemic has been the perfect cover for the US empire to expand its clandestine regime agendas to un-precedent levels. This is despite profound demands for change in its own backyard. The black community has finally had enough of state sponsored violent killings of black people at the hands of a brutal racist police. Anger amongst the black community has been raging across the US since the murder of an unarmed black man, George Floyd in Minneapolis. His subsequent death at the knee of the now

former police officer, Derek Chauvin, ignited a tinderbox moment for race relations not just in the US but across the world. Spurred on by the #BlackLivesMatter movement, demonstrations are a daily occurrence across US cities and beyond, with citizens across the racial spectrum demanding an end to state brutality and racial inequality. The legacy of the slave trade and colonialism is firmly under the spotlight, the symbols of that legacy such as statues of slave owners are falling in many cities. This has not gone in un-noticed even in smaller nations like Zimbabwe, a country that has suffered 40 years of brutal oppression under Robert Mugabe and current leader Emerson Mnangagwa. The hashtag movement #ZimbabweanLivesMatter was trending a few weeks ago and was a successful media campaign bringing the spotlight on the plight of Zimbabweans. The inflation rate is hovering above 850% and public services have virtually collapsed under the stench of massive corruption. There is no running clean water in all the major cities, electricity is available for about 2 hours a day and their healthcare delivery are non-existent. The online protests did not amount to any action on the ground, demonstrations called upon by the opposition and prominent social media activists for the 31st of July did not materialise.  There were no protests on the ground, except for a brutal crackdown by the regime which saw the kidnappings and murder of opposition members including the arrests and detention of prominent journalist, Hopewell Chin'ono, opposition politicians Jacob Ngarivhume and firebrand Job Sikhala. A stark comparison to previous protests shows that #ThisFlag movement catapulted to prominence by a fearless Pastor Ewan Mawarire was both successful online and on the ground. It can be argued this was a catalyst to the demise of Robert Mugabe. The response of the West to the #ZimbabweanLivesMatter was quite muted when compared to the frenzy going on with #Belarus protests. The attacks on Europe's longest serving ruler, Alexander Lukashenko by the West has been relentless with the customary democratic regime change mantra. He is described as an authoritarian ruler, bearing in mind that the US itself is an authoritarian corporate oligarchy controlled by a military industrial complex, whose wealth is derived from waging racist wars and plunder.  My advice to Belarusians is "beware of what you wish for".  The regime change playbook has long been at play, it was a question of the right timing for a Belarus "soft coup".  Zimbabwe was thriving until its leadership succumbed to western conmen represented by the IMF in the early 1990's. They were fooled into believing that the privatisation is the route to economic success and the government should have minimal or no role in a free market economy. 

I have reason to believe the "coup" that catapulted Emerson Mnangagwa had foreign hands behind it. Zimbabweans have been left stunned by the speed at which he has gone on to reverse the land reform programme.  Mugabe had presided over black Zimbabweans taking back their land from former white colonialists after the British reneged on the Lancaster agreement which they agreed to compensate white farmers for land retaken to resettle disenfranchised black masses. Mnangagwa has not only signed an agreement to pay the white farmers US$3.5 billion compensation, he is also giving them back their farms that were taken by black Zimbabweans. This is a clear victory for white imperialist hegemony and hence their lack of appetite for supporting any protests in Zimbabwe. The message is clear, if Zimbabweans want to dislodge Mnangagwa they have to do it themselves.

The prize for dislodging Alexander Lukashenko is first of all geographic location. Remember the US sponsored colour revolution that created a NATO ally in Ukraine 2014, Belarus borders Ukraine to the south, another perfect addition NATO military bases at the doorstep of Russia. The US empire and its powerful media are colluding non-stop 24/7 to bring about a similar colour revolution. The Wikileaks Cablegate documents exposed this desire.  Ben Norton of Gray Zone News has demonstrated how mainstream media, NGO's and CIA affiliates are enabling these so-called colour revolutions. The second reason is Belarus’s strong socialist state-controlled economy, just over 80 % of it is publicly sector owned. Lukashenko has kept the corrupt western corporations and Russian oligarchs out of Belarus, yes, they are non-existent. 

 

 Therefore, both the west and Russians have not been a fan of Lukashenko. So, you can imagine what a gold mine the Belarus economy is for the oligarchs and neoliberal fascists to privatise and loot. Remember what neo-liberal privatisation did to Zimbabwe.  Belarus economic and social indicators show a country performing well, way more than all former Soviet republics and even comparable to standards of living of some US states. Workers in the Belarus enjoy family centred good pay, universal access to healthcare and social guarantees.

 Zimbabweans used to enjoy similar conditions, it now has 95% unemployment and people who worked all they are lives are getting pensions equivalent to US$100 or less. For those who are not aware, working conditions for American workers are terrible, believe me, they do not get a living wage, paid sick leave, paid family leave, universal healthcare, free education, decent childcare support, decent pensions and unions not allowed. What the mainstream media doesn't show us is that it’s not Belarusians that want revolution but the west. The few Belarusians protesting is mostly the rich and affluent who stand to benefit more in a rigged market economy. Belarus internal affairs ministry in an interview with Strana.ua indicated that foreign provocateurs, US, Poland, Ukraine, the Baltics were preparing the riots in Belarus. A look at the main characters fomenting and co-ordinating the protests have ties to western security apparatus. A channel called Nexta is the

biggest co-ordinator and broadcasts protests plans to follow, it is based in Poland and run by pro-western activists. Moon of Alabama revealed it is run by Roman Protasevich who previously worked for Radio Liberty, a CIA cut out. The founder of Nexta is Stepan Putila who worked at Belsat, a channel funded by the Polish Foreign Ministry.  Lukashenko has no choice but to revive the 1999 treaty he signed with Russia to form a union state, but had dragged his feet to finalise.Putin appears to have given his backing and with security assured Lukashenko can now focus on quashing the protests. The Zimbabwean government has hired more than 4 lobby and public relations (PR) firms in its desperation bid to rebuild its tarnished international image and its diplomatic engagement. It wasted US$500 000 on Ballard PR firm and US$1 million to Avenue Strategies Global LLC in 2019 to lobby Trump to end sanctions. A recently engaged US firm Mercury International Limited has already been paid US$270,000 and was reported to be also lobbying to project MDC-T president Thokozani Khupe as the legitimate leader of Zimbabwe’s opposition, The MDC. The legitimate opposition party MDC-A led by Nelson Chamisa been infiltrated and largely neutralised. It’s not certain whether these lobbying firms were instrumental in Mnangagwa's shocking decision to compensate for colonial white farmers. My point on this is that, the opposition in Zimbabwe has no clear purpose and direction. The lack of geopolitical and research knowledge is laid bare when you see the its leaders just retweeting protests in Bolivia, Honduras, Venezuela, Ecuador, Lebanon and Belarus without context in their haste to mobilise Zimbabweans to rise up.

The question is, do they know what operations and activities these lobbying firms are engaging in on behalf of the Zimbabwe government. Take for example The Gray zone News investigation into a US government-linked PR firm located next to the White House that ran a fake news operation on social media to support US backed authoritarian right-wing coup regimes in Latin America, Bolivia, Honduras, ex Mexican President Peña Nieto (He has threatened to topple Mexican Andrés Manuel López Obrador); drug and death squad-linked Colombian President Uribe; the opposition in Venezuela and Nicaragua.

If you are wondering about the protests in Nicaragua (2018-2020), in the 2018 the US sponsored a coup attempt against its Sandinistas socialist government but it failed. They are back trying again, new leaked documents revealed by Gray Zone News show that they are planning to use USAID (is it even a humanitarian agency?) to bring about their goal of a market "looting" economy. It can be argued that Lukashenko maybe have won for now, but they will be back. Lukashenko's mistake was to try an appease the West by allowing the establishment of a US embassy and a myriad of NGO's and Think Tanks, he may be reviewing their presence now. These PR firms are linked to the US government.

CLS Strategies is reported to have spent US$3.6 million in Facebook ads pushing non-stop propaganda on behalf of the right-wing Venezuelan opposition and the Bolivian coup regime. If you stop for a moment to think, a country like Zimbabwe without running clean water spends millions paying these PR firms which also work on behalf of the US government, it’s a cycle of corrupt looting by the US empire. They destroy your economy; in turn your government has to hire their corporations to beg for mercy. Max Blumenthal is an award-winning journalist who published an article (“U.S. government meddling machine boasts of laying the groundwork for insurrection in Nicaragua") detailing how US backed organizations spend millions of dollars for years bankrolling most of the opposition groups that are now destabilizing the country.

The case of Lebanon's protests following the deadly explosion is obvious, the US long standing goal has been to remove Hezbollah from the government, it exploiting the crisis to carry out a "colour revolution" to push for regime change. The Atlantic Council (a think tank funded by the US/UK/NATO/UAE/ Weapons and Oil corporations) involved in a myriad of regime change operations, blamed the explosion in Lebanon on Hezbollah. You also have the case of pro imperialist publications like Jacobin in the US and Novara Media in the UK that for example helped set the stage for the fascist military coup in Bolivia by disseminating a disinformation campaign blaming Evo Morales for Amazon fires caused by US sponsored coup puppet Brazil's leader Bolsonaro.  The US also directly trains a country's own citizens to be regime change operatives at its elite schools such as the Harvard Kennedy School.  According to Ben Norton, it is a haven for a haven for expat regime-change cadres since the progressive wave swept over Latin America. I am still not sure what prominent Zimbabwean activist, Ewan Mawarire who led the #ThisFlag protest movement was doing here pictured above with Bolivian US trained regime change operative Jhanisse Daza. Is it possible that he also received training and funding by the US, was he co-opted? Those Hong Kong protests were not homegrown spontaneous grassroot movement. The front-line activists in Hong Kong’s Occupy Central protests like Joshua Wong were trained  by the Oslo Freedom Forum (dubbed  “a school for revolution”) including US-funded leaders of the Uyghur World Congress . They were taught “how to be successful and topple a government for good

The wise thing to do is to take a breadth and do some research. It’s never what it seems for the most part. There are reasons why it has been difficult to mobilise Zimbabweans to free themselves from 40 years of tyranny from their Zanu PF government. If the opposition was strong and effective, if the civic society was organised and effective, they would have instituted some research to analyse the causes. The opposition is divided, the civic society is divided, still it is possible regardless for a grassroots movement to grow free from internal aware of internal and external interference with ulterior motives.  Sudan protests were successful in the brutal first stage to topple the government, Tunisia seems to be enduring, Egypt was initially successful before the US empire reversed that revolution. The tools to fight for change are there, what is lacking is decentralised organised grassroots that harness learning from past and modern-day revolutions whilst avoiding being co-opted by governments, agencies or organisations with ulterior motives. I therefore argue that when you see protests happening across the world, do not rush to make judgement on the basis of what the mainstream media, think tanks, NGO's and governments expressing interest in the matter are saying.  Best to reasearch, analyse and beware of the wolf in sheep's clothing.

Author: Ashe

 

 

 Zimbabwe Opposition party MDC-A Secretary General Deletes Belarus Protest Tweet After Being Called Out. Its obviously imperative that when trying to rally your troops and constituents, using the example of Belarus protests out of context is unfortunate for someone at his level of power and influence.

 

 

Below are some Tweets to add extra context:

Common Ignorance Parroting US Empire Media Propaganda

 

 

Its incredible just to see how much planning goes into these destabilisation efforts

There is nothing democratic about the claims of western countries regime change agendas.

1. Western regime-change operatives launch campaign to blame Bolivia’s Evo Morales for Amazon fires

https://thegrayzone.com/2019/08/29/western-regime-change-operatives-launch-campaign-to-blame-bolivias-evo-morales-for-the-amazon-fires/

 2. Right-wing Nicaraguan opposition boasts of support from US and EU in campaign to oust Sandinista gov’t

 https://thegrayzone.com/2020/02/07/nicaragua-opposition-support-us-eu-coalition/

 3. U.S. govt-linked PR firm ran fake news networks for right-wing Latin American regimes

 https://thegrayzone.com/2020/09/06/cls-strategies-facebook-propaganda-venezuela-bolivia/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

4. Technocracy now: The US is working to turn Lebanon’s anti-corruption protests against Hezbollah

https://thegrayzone.com/2019/12/01/us-working-lebanon-corruption-protests-hezbollah/