Déjà vu in Southern Africa
If you follow the story of Zimbabwe on social media and in the Western-sponsored regime-change media, you will have been subjected to a barrage of negative stuff over the past few days.
Empty store shelves! Fuel queues! Bulk buying! Crisis! Crisis! Crisis!
Of course, that my people have been sleeping outside banks for a year, and there’s no fecking money to be had anyway, is momentarily forgotten. Anyway.
The prevailing “panic” has it that Zimbabwe is headed for 2008, or it’s not and this is the problem of social media, or profiteers, or The West, depending on who you’re listening to.
And in the midst of all this, there are some who default to the annoying rhetoric of “Zimbabweans are docile cowards who deserve their leadership and will have to suffer more before they do something vague and mumble mumble find solutions something something solve their problem mumble.”
In the middle of a crisis, any crisis, you’ll always find assholes who will blame the victims of that crisis, not the actual perpetrators.
People are scared, and rightly so – “2008” is not some abstract bogeyman of a year that we use to scare our little kids and political opponents and soron. It was a real thing and a real time.
The fear of 2008 is a palpable thing, an actual visceral fear, a horror, but I guess you wouldn’t understand it if you didn’t experience it. If you were cushioned from the worst of it, or were thankfully absent, I’m not sure how much empathy you can feel for people who crumble at the thought of returning to that dark time.
People died of hunger. People struggled to find food. Those are the lived experiences of our people who went through that period.
Hell, I suffered through that shit.
If a person chooses to spend all their money in a supermarket today that’s their money.
If someone decides they’d rather keep cooking oil or sugar, rather than “bond notes” (whatever the hell they are) in their house, I can’t fault them for that.
Insulting and criticising them makes you an asshole, and as King of the Assholes, I know what I’m talking about.
Those people don’t eat sadza at your house.
Behave.
Other things
What else is inspiring a sense of deja vu? They’ve arrested the flag pastor again. Evan Mawarire was arrested outside his church yesterday, a day before his trial commences today, for … speaking into his telephone on Facebook. Or something.
While the government of Zimbabwe is engaging in their usual repressive bullshit, and can always be counted on to take the worst possible course in any situation, let’s hope the guy is safe.
We know how ZANU-PF does.
In related hilarity, I took a short sarcastic dig at all the people who were moaning about being abandoned by their man in their time of need. I was wondering just where they all were, now that he was back again, being arrested again, and whether they’d Fill Up The Courts again.
“Pastor E sold us out, he used us then he fled to America …”
*lights cigarette*
— Joe Black ?? (@joeblackzw) September 24, 2017
The spectacular failure in comprehension displayed by some of my fellow Zimbabweans, in response, is interesting to behold. I guess being a TouchNot reduces your ability to see past The Anointed One’s name, and everything else is ignored.
So much for the most educated nation in Africa. Stupidity offends me.
And soron
Oh yeah. Almost forgot. That June hiatus was actually to focus on a temporary migration to faraway lands to do bookish things and soron. So I’ve left for a bit, but I haven’t Left left. I’ll be back soon.
Speaking of books, you can now get my book in these stores – Amazon, iBooks, Barnes & Noble, Kobo. and many other places in Brasil, Portugal and so forth.
