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On Jul 28, 2011, at 9:23 PM, Godwin Murunga wrote:
> You are spon-on Chambi:
>
> Ken, you are correct that the strength of this list rests on "solid arguments utilizing credible points...." You are however only partially correct about Mugabe's "own land grabs and redistribution to his political and military cronies." This is only a proportion of the full story; and as someone said, excellence can never be a proportion. Which is why you, like Jamaine Abidogun before you, need to cite credible research on the ground (not that manufactured by journalists peering into Zimbabwe from outside its borders), and conducted over years to establish a consistent historical pattern that all that Mugabe has done in his 'land grabs' is "redistribution to his political and military cronies." We have to go beyond this standardised Africanist model of dismissing Africans.
>
> Sam Moyo, who has done research over the years in Zimbabwe acknowledges the "achievements and limitations" of land redistribution in Zimbabwe but concludes that "the popular assumption about failed land redistribution in Zimbabwe is wrong on several counts: the character of Zimbabwe's land reform has been redistributive, and the extent of this has been wide enough to trigger significant progressive changes in the agrarian structure." He adds that "the productivity of small producers has grown slowly with output escalating recently. Three decades of land reform has recast land-based social relations in important ways, with the poor gaining more than previously believed." [see Journal of Peasant Studies, vol. 38, no. 3, July 2011]. Let us have your empirical evidence, Ken, which I suspect is somewhere but I haven't sufficiently engaged. Only this way can we have "solid argument utilising credible points."
>
> Godwin
>
>
>
> On Thu, Jul 28, 2011 at 12:32 AM, kenneth harrow <harrow@msu.edu> wrote:
> what is the issue here? not the injustices of whites in their colonization of southern rhodesia, and their reprehensible land grabs, but the excuses mugabe has given for his own land grabs and redistribution to his political and military cronies.
> this is not real land redistribution, but an abusive leader replicating injustices, and whose rhetoric, all so transparently self-serving, is replicated here on the list as if it were gold coin.
> the same with chinweizu's anti-arab rants, which have the same depth of analysis as msjoe's support of ghaddafi.
>
> i don't feel that we get anything from racist blasts, be they anti-white or anti-arab or anti-black or anti-semitic. instead of communicating historical information that we need to know, they communicate ideological venting that no one needs to hear.
> there are two strengths to this list that stand out: solid arguments utilizing credible points made by people even when opposing each other; and great ironical retorts that quicken the brain.
> ken
>
>
>
>
> On 7/27/11 10:09 PM, Abidogun, Jamaine wrote:
>> While I am sympathetic to the many injustices that are the result of colonial regimes and neo-colonial regimes, forced land redistribution without a plan for peaceful transition or economic maintenance is dangerous. I don't think that the issue is land reform; most would agree that Africans of European descent (just like Americans of European descent) obtained their land historically through invasions. Mugabe has a reputation for redistributing land to his political allies regardless of their ethno-national claim to the land and regardless of whether they can or want to maintain the farm production. This has resulted in a significant decrease in food production over the past years, as well as created more political conflict among Black Zimbabweans as Mugabe uses land to gain political ground.
>>
>>
>>
>> It is not this individual that is the issue nor should he be the main issue. It is how to compensate for past losses without further destroying the country that is at issue.
>>
>>
>>
>> While South Africa is far from a perfect example of land reform (as they have probably given too many concessions to Euro-Africans), they do have some lessons to offer Zimbabwe.
>>
>>
>>
>> Sincerely,
>>
>> Jamaine Abidogun
>>
>>
>>
>> From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Michelle King
>> Sent: Wednesday, July 27, 2011 11:45 AM
>> To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
>> Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Mugabe and the White African
>>
>>
>>
>> I really have no sympathy for any so called native born whites in Africa. The only reason they are native born there is because they are illegal immigrants and remnants of european imperialism, a crime against africa, that still has not been accounted for. Its interesting when whiites want to dictate to Black Africa what their rights are, but the hundreds of years of injustice that they pervasively stole African land that did not belong to them is never an injustice that needs to be addressed.
>>
>>
>>
>> While the tactics of the Mugabe regime have not all been correct, he at least started what most African countries should have done, and that is remove the white parasites who have now disguised themselves as 'white africans' they are europeans period, and if they are so concerned with justice, they should be demanding that Britian, France and the other colonial interlopers pay reparations for the years of destruction they impededed upon African soil, which continues to be the core problem in Africa today. Africa is still reeling from this injustice and not one imperial power has had to pay for their genocidal wars upon Africa, Zimbabwe, South Africa etc.
>>
>>
>>
>> So while this one european has been given a lens to tell his story of injustice, its too bad the story of injustice against the Africans that the British put upon Zimbabwe has yet to be fully told.
>>
>>
>>
>> M.King
>>
>> On Wed, Jul 27, 2011 at 2:03 PM, Tracy Flemming <cafenegritude@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Mugabe and the White African, much of which was filmed clandestinely,
>> tells an alarming story from one of the world's most troubled nations.
>> In Zimbabwe, de facto dictator Robert Mugabe has unleashed a "land
>> reform" program aimed at driving whites from the country through
>> violence and intimidation. One proud "white African," however, has
>> challenged Mugabe with human rights abuses under international law.
>> The courage Michael Campbell and his family display as they defend
>> their farm — in court and on the ground — makes for a film as
>> inspiring as it is harrowing.
>>
>> http://www.pbs.org/pov/mugabe/full.php
>>
>> Film Description
>>
>> The Campbell family of Zimbabwe — Mike Campbell, his wife, Angela,
>> their daughter, Laura, and their son-in-law, Ben Freeth — may have
>> been white people determined to hold on to their farm, but they were
>> not in the mold of colonialists hanging on to land extorted from
>> blacks. They were among the native-born whites who did not flee in
>> 1980 when Zimbabwe, the former Rhodesia, achieved full independence
>> and black majority rule. Embracing the new country, Mike and Angela
>> expanded their small farm that same year, buying additional land to
>> create a game preserve, with the full approval of the newly elected
>> government led by independence fighter Robert Mugabe and his Zimbabwe
>> African National Union–Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party.
>>
>> Twenty years later, the Campbells found themselves in the crosshairs
>> of a brutal land redistribution program enacted by the same Robert
>> Mugabe. Lucy Bailey and Andrew Thompson's Mugabe and the White African
>> is an inspiring and chilling account of the Campbells' efforts to
>> fight the government.
>>
>>
>> Mike Campbell (l.) , Ben Freeth (r.) and workers on their farm in
>> Chegutu, Zimbabwe. Credit: Arturi Films Ltd.
>>
>> Filmed over 12 months in 2008 in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia and
>> Great Britain by Bailey and Thompson, with Thompson and sound
>> recordist James Snowden working clandestinely in Zimbabwe under risk
>> of arrest, Mugabe and the White African discovers a family of
>> remarkable courage, one that stands up to violent intimidation and
>> dares to take a despot to an international court. The secretly shot
>> footage in the film also shows the violent methods that despot used.
>> On April 6, 2011, Mike Campbell, age 79, paid the full price of his
>> courage: He died in Harare, Zimbabwe from the brutal beating he
>> received on June 2, 2008, as recounted in this film.
>>
>> It is widely recognized that land redistribution is a ticking time
>> bomb in Zimbabwe and neighboring South Africa, where native-born
>> whites continued to own most of the land even after the arrival of
>> black-majority rule. To avoid violence and keep their skilled white
>> populations, many of whom, like the Campbells, identified as white
>> Africans, governments in both nations adopted cautious approaches to
>> land redistribution. In South Africa, such caution has so far
>> succeeded in averting violent civil conflict. But in Zimbabwe, by
>> 2000, something had gone seriously amiss.
>>
>> That was the year armed gangs of supposedly landless former
>> independence fighters, urged on by Mugabe, who had "cancelled" all
>> title deeds and declared all land to belong to the government, began
>> invading white-owned farms. The gangs squatted on the land, threatened
>> and beat owners and workers and, if all else failed, burned the farms
>> to the ground, killing those who got in their way. The land invasions
>> were soon exposed and widely condemned as a cynical land grab meant to
>> entrench Mugabe's power while lining the pockets of the ruling circle.
>> Adding insult to injury, the removal of so much land from productive
>> use sent food prices and hunger soaring — especially among poor black
>> Zimbabweans.
>>
>>
>> Deputy Attorney General Advocate Prince Machaya, Lead Council in
>> President Mugabe's legal team, at SADC Court. Credit: Arturi Films
>> Ltd.
>>
>> When Mugabe and the White African opens in December 2007, Mike
>> Campbell and his family are among a handful of holdouts against
>> Mugabe's tactics. The film affords a harrowing taste of the constant
>> vigilance and physical courage required of Mike and son-in-law Ben to
>> defend their land. They must be ready to confront dangerous thugs — or
>> well-connected Zimbabweans — at all hours. They typically arm
>> themselves, but it soon becomes clear that cool heads, brave fronts
>> and fast talk are their best weapons. They must also attend to the
>> fears of the farm's workers and their families (some 500 people), who
>> face equally violent intimidation. In one revealing and terrifying
>> scene, the son of a government minister shows up in an expensive car
>> and berates Ben for not abandoning the land, saying that he wants the
>> farm, that there is no place for whites in Mugabe's Zimbabwe and that
>> worse retribution awaits the family members if they don't give up.
>>
>> The Campbells realize they won't be able to hold on to their farm in a
>> country where the police offer no recourse and court orders halting
>> the invasions are simply ignored. As 2008 opens, they have two hopes.
>> In presidential elections that year, Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for
>> Democratic Change (MDC-T) presents credible democratic opposition to
>> Mugabe. And, in an unprecedented and highly public challenge, Mike has
>> charged Mugabe with racism and human rights violations in an
>> international court, the Tribunal of the South African Development
>> Community (SADC), sitting in Windhoek, Namibia. The tribunal, created
>> by the 14 nations forming the SADC, is charged with protecting the
>> individual rights of citizens of the member nations.
>>
>>
>> Mike Campbell (l.) and Ben Freeth (r.) at the SADC court, Namibia.
>> Credit: Arturi Films Ltd.
>>
>> On June 29, 2008, just two days after a stolen presidential run-off
>> election, Mike, along with Angela and Ben, suffer horrendous beatings
>> at the hands of ZANU-PF thugs. With hope for democratic change all but
>> gone, Mike and family pin their hopes on the SADC court, which is due
>> to hear their case in November. Their lawyers are precise and
>> articulate in pressing their claims. The judges are solicitous and
>> scandalized. Mugabe's large team of lawyers offers little defense. The
>> sight of Ben, still hobbled by the beating, being wheeled into court
>> in a wheelchair is heart-rending but also heartening. Yet it is also
>> an ominous sight. And when the court rules decisively in the family's
>> favor, the critical question remains: Does the court have the means
>> and the will to protect the Campbells in Zimbabwe?
>>
>> Mugabe and the White African is a rare inside report on a growing
>> economic and human rights disaster in a country that should be one of
>> Africa's richest. It is also a portrait of almost unbelievable
>> fidelity and bravery on the part of a family that, in other
>> circumstances, might seem quite ordinary.
>>
>> "There's been a lot of reporting on the deteriorating situation in
>> Zimbabwe, but we felt the white farmers' story had been mostly
>> overlooked and needed telling," says co-director Lucy Bailey. "For one
>> thing, the SADC court case represented a watershed moment in southern
>> Africa, where those nations were challenged to stand up for basic
>> human rights."
>>
>> "The film is a window on what is happening in Zimbabwe now," says co-
>> director Andrew Thompson. "It is also fundamentally a story of the
>> bravery and faith of ordinary people confronting corrupt power, and
>> that's a story that seems to be breaking out a
>>
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> --
> kenneth w. harrow
> professor of english
> michigan state university
> department of english
> east lansing, mi 48824-1036
> ph.
> 517 803 8839
> harrow@msu.edu
>
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> --
> If you are going to have parallel students, why not also have parallel
> lecturers.
> Taban Lo Liyong at meeting 19th Sept. 2008
>
>
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