Zvakaipei Kutoodza Tsika Dzevamwe/Is It Necessarily Bad To Copy Foreign Customs?

“Kana tsika nemagariro evanhu vakasiyana siyana dzikaunganidzwa panzvimbo imwe chete, mumwe nemumwe anotora tsika nemagariro enyika yake, sezvo vanhu vese vachifunga kuti dzavo tsika dzakanaka kukunda dzevamwe vese” – VaHerodotus, Nhoroondo Dzepasi Chigare.

Uyo mubvunzo wandabvunza pamusoro apo uyo wakauya mupfungwa dzangu mwedzi wapfuura, sezvo ndakwanisa kufunga nezvawo kwemwedzi wese, mhinduro ndave nayo. Vazhinji vanoteedzera zvandinonyora paFacebook pangu vanoziva kuti ndiri pakati pekunyora bhuku rangu pamusoro petsika nemagariro evanhu vemuZimbabwe. Mubhuku iri ndirikuda kunyatsocherechedza kuti ndione kuti tichiri kuchengetedza tsika dzedu here, uye takasiyana papi mumagariro edu nevanhu vedzimwe nyika. Bhuku rangu parinopera, richakwanisa kuudza avo vachateera kumashure kwedu kuti vanhu veZimbabwe vanobvepi, vanoendepi, uyezve ndevapi vanokodzera kunzi vana veZimbabwe. Pamusoro peizvozvi, richadzidzisa vanhu kuti ndedzipi tsika dzakakodzera kuchengetedzwa uye ndedzipi dzakakodzera kuraswa sezvo dzinenge dzisisafambirane nenguva.

Nekuti handisi kuda kurembesa munamato sadza richiripora pano apa, ndichangoti ga ga pakudaira mubvunzo wandabvunza pamusoro apo uyo. Bhuku rangu rinoshoropodza mauyiro akaita vachena munyika yeZimbabwe, asi parinosiyana nevatongi vedzimwe nyika vanoshoropodza kuuya kwevachena zuva nezuva asi ivo vachiteedzera tsika dzevachena, pamwe chete ipapo vachinyara tsika dzedu dzechitema ndepekuti, rinoti; hazvisi zvese zvakaunzwa nevachena zvakashata. Chakashata chete mauyiro avo. Aya haasi mashoko angu aya, mashoko avaCesaire pavainyora Nhoroondo Yavo Yemauyiro eVachena kuAfrica. VaCesaire vanoti ivo vanhu vega vega vanoda kusangana nevamwe kuti vadzidzisane zvinhu zvakasiyana siyana zvinenge zviri zvitsva kwavari. Ivo vachena vacho vakakwanisa kubudirira nekuti vaifamba munyika dziripedyo navo vachiteedzera zvakanaka zvavainge vasina munyika dzavo. Dai vakauya pahushamwari kuAfrica, ropa rakawanda ringadai risina kumbo deuka.

Kuti ndinyatsopindura mubvunzo wangu regai ndikupei mufananidzo uyu: handizive kana makaverenga here bhuku rinonzi Mapatya. Mapatya ibhuku rinoti pasi chigare kwaiti kukazvarwa mapatya, vanhu vaiti zvinoshura munhu kuzvarwa vana vaviri, saka mwana mumwe chete aitourayiwa kosara mumwe chete chete. Regai ndibva ndangokuudzai kuti iyi ingori ngano, hazvireve kuti ndozvaiitika zvechokwadi, asi chidzidzo chatinogona kuwana ipapo chakakosha zvakadaro. Ngatitii vamwe vanhu vedunhu rakavakidzana neredu vobva vangokwanisawo kuziva kuti chii chaicho chinokonzera kuti mapatya azvarwe, vosiya tsika iya yekuuraya mumwe chete wemapatya – poshaya shura rinoitika kwavari - vakatishanyira vakatitsanangurira magariro avavakuita kubva pavakaziva izvi, isu tinogona kuteedzera tsika yavo yavave kuita zvisinga kanganise kana chinhu chimwe chete pamagariro edu. Zvishoma izvozvo zvandataura izvi zvinofanirwa kutiudza kuti hazvina kuipa kuteedzeera tsika nemagariro evamwe akanaka kana pasina zvakaipa zvinobva zvawira vanhu vemunyika medu patinoteedzeera zvekunze izvi. Zvinhu zvatinenge tateedzera kubva kunze zvinofanirwa kuti zvingoitwa kuti zvive zvinoenderana nezvimwe zvakanaka zvinenge zviri mutsika nemagariro edu nekare.

Is It Necessarily Bad To Copy Foreign Customs?

“For if one should propose to all men a choice, bidding them select the best customs from all the customs that there are, each race of men, after examining them all, would select those of his own people; thus all think that their own customs are by far the best”- Herodotus, The Histories.

The above question occurred to me about a month ago, as I have had a full month to think it over, I also now have an answer for that question. As many who have seen my Facebook posts are well aware, I am in the middle of writing my own book. My own book interrogates what it means to be Zimbabwean, interrogates our national identity and how we are distinctly different from people from other countries. On completion, my book will inform posterity on our origins, our future and on who has the right to claim to be Zimbabwean. Moreover, my book will locate Zimbabwe’s place in the international system in such a manner that Zimbabweans will know where exactly to draw their red lines against encroachment by the forces of globalisation (in all spheres).

For brevity’s sake I will just answer the question I asked above without taking the circuitous route. Although, in essence, my book is a nationalist’s playbook, it differs from politicians’ rhetoric in that it is sober in its assessment of the impossibility of maintaining pure identities, customs and cultures. The mixing of cultures was inevitable, what was wrong about it was how the white cultures imposed themselves in Africa. These are not my own words but those of Cesaire when he wrote his A Discourse on Colonialism. In that discourse, Cesaire maintains that contact between civilisations is the oxygen that keeps civilisations alive, he only says that Colonialism was not the best way of making contact. He also points out that Europe's polities developed by learning from others who were in close proximity. The Renaissance and Enlightenment being typical examples. A different kind of contact between Europe and Africa would have spared so much bloodshed.

To answer my above posed question with imagery, let me give you this example; I don’t know if you read the Shona book, Twins. In this book, the birth of twins was thought of a something foreboding doom, and that doom could only be averted if one of the twins was killed soon after birth. I do not need to tell you that Twins is a work of fiction and that this did not necessarily happen in a particular epoch, still an important lesson can be drawn. Suppose a neighbouring people finds out, by trial and error, that no doom will descend on the people because both twins were allowed to live, and suppose these people visit us and tell us this, we can easily adopt their way of doing things without any cost to our polity. This is my whole point, that we can adopt other people’s customs as long as they do not ruin our people. What we will adopt from foreigners will then just be streamlined and adapted to go along with the great customs we already have.

I still have not settled on a book title.

President Robert Mugabe's 2015 State of the Nation Address

President Robert Gabriel Mugabe. The Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces.

The story is told of the (improbable) encounter between five blind men and an elephant (possibly sedated). Whatever part of the elephant each person came across became his view of what an elephant was really like. The one who held the trunk thought it was a like a thick rubbery hose, the one who held the leg thought it was like a tree trunk or pillar, while the one who held the tail thought it was like a rope. 

The story does not explicitly say this but I assume they all agreed that it was an animal. I hope they did. It is the same with our recently delivered State of the Nation Address. We must all agree that the state of affairs in Zimbabwe are not ideal at all. But, beyond this agreement, we can become like the 5 blind men and highlight different things in the address owing to our 'contact,' prejudices, world views, and levels of understanding. Thus, I beg to differ with anyone who has ever uttered, written or thought that the State of the Nation address was a pointless exercise.

What President Mugabe mentioned almost in passing in this speech, is for me the fundamental issue. He mentioned the fact that the security services have ensured that there is peace and security in the most trying of circumstances. Everything must build on this foundation of security. A passage by John Stuart Mill is instructive as to how impossible it is to achieve anything where there is no security. I am well aware that security has since been broadened to include economic, climatic, personal and political security in the 21st Century, but still, all these aspects of Human Security depend on there being peace in a given territory.  

Applying "Swarm Theory" To Zimbabwe's Re-Development Agenda

This concept above by Ben Zweibelson for the Canadian Military Journal (CMJ) illustrates how a traditional hierarchical organisation works. For our purposes, development projects should be done at the tactical level without necessarily being directed from the operational or strategic levels.  

The dimensions and implications of "Swarm Theory" are elegantly explained in this article here, and could easily be applied to Zimbabwe's re-development agenda - provided there are sufficient dedicated adherents. I have taken the tenets of Swarm Theory to mean, for what I have in mind, Zimbabweans using their talents and expertise to develop their rural areas relying neither on foreign sponsored NGOs nor State funds/approval. There are excellent reasons for this approach which I will list in later instalments when I come round to explaining the feasible prospective projects. For now I must list the hurdles this course of action must encounter.

Swarm Theory, for all its elegance and promise, must falter on the differences observed by Thomas Hobbes as to why the selfless cooperation that occurs in the animal kingdom cannot be replicated in human affairs. He noted; "Some man may perhaps desire to know, why mankind cannot do the same (Swarm behaviour). To which I answer, first, that men are continually in competition for honour and dignity, which these creatures are not; and consequently amongst men there ariseth on that ground envy and hatred... Secondly, that amongst these creatures, the common good differeth not from the private, and being by nature inclined to their private, they procure thereby the common benefit. But man, whose joy consisteth in comparing himself with other men, can relish nothing but what is eminent. Thirdly, that these creatures, having not (as man) the use of reason, do not see, nor think they see any fault, in the administration of their common business: whereas amongst men, there are very many, that think themselves wiser, and abler to govern the public, better than the rest; and these strive to reform and innovate, one this way, another that way; and thereby bring it into distraction."

Heroes And Heroines Of Zimbabwe's Liberation Struggle

Mbuya Nehanda - The Heroine of Chimurenga I and our inspiration in Chimurenga II.

Cecil John Rhodes and his Pioneer Column came into present day Zimbabwe in 1890 and set themselves up as the overlords of Zimbabweans, having duped King Lobengula into signing away this role to them. They then displaced the black population from their land and enacted racist laws which further disenfranchised blacks in all spheres. This carried on for nearly a hundred years, until after an armed struggle - Chimurenga II (1966 to 1980) - Zimbabwe gained its independence from this servitude to foreigners.

Of course, the colonial settlers and their descendants have, from time to time, tried to present themselves as having been welcomed as saviours by the black population. This lie is easy to dismiss because they arrived in 1890, under false pretences, between 1893 and 1896 there was already an armed revolt - Chimurenga I - by the blacks, as the white settlers' pretence was discovered. The leader of Chimurenga I - Mbuya Nehanda - was executed by the whites, but not before she prophesied the coming of Chimurenga II with these words: "My bones shall arise!"

Video: A Short And Accurate History of Zimbabwe's Liberation Struggle.

Britain Does Not Owe Zimbabwe Reparations

Balancing Rocks, Harare, Zimbabwe.

The speaker in this video argues that Britain does not owe any reparations to the countries it colonised as it was welcomed in most of those countries. The prime example of this welcome, according to him, is that; "Sometimes they showed humility, King Lobengula of the Matabeles famously started his first loyal address to Queen Victoria with the words; 'we who are but as lice on the edge of Her Majesty's blanket.'" 

Such condescending attitudes and conceit. 

President Barack Obama Jokes About That All Important Third Term!

AU Chairperson HE Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma with President Barack Obama. Picture Credit: African Union.

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 

President Barack Obama joked, while addressing the African Union, that he would win if he ran again for the office of President of the United States, but cannot run again, because the Constitution does not allow it and the "law is the law." While his message and joke was delivered without malice, he still overlooks objective conditions and structural constraints that African countries face which are absent in the United States.

Progressive Nationalism: Primus Inter Pares.

I am a Zimbabwean (and will always be).

Having been unable, of necessity, to talk about Zimbabwe for the past few years, I am now able to discuss Zimbabwe in explicit terms. I can now tell everyone where I really stand politically in Zimbabwe. My (re)entry into explicitly discussing all things Zimbabwean will be focused by one question, and one question only: does it serve Zimbabwe? Hence, Progressive Nationalism. 

Progressive Nationalism is the simple idea that everything that a Zimbabwean does should privilege Zimbabwe in its standing among nations. For example, how does externalization of wealth serve Zimbabwe? Will Zimbabwe be held in high esteem because it has people who are proficient at externalization of wealth?

Politicians will try to expropriate this long standing idea of mine for their political campaigns and what-have-you but, here, on this platform, I have the scales to weigh whether their actions match their grand pronouncements. This is what this platform will do initially; scan past, present and (likely) future actions by Zimbabweans as well as other nationalities, and from that mosaic, extract what is useful and what is harmful to Zimbabwe.

But that's not all, because, as Aristotle already told us in Nichomacean Ethics, the end of political science is action not knowledge.