GOOD NEWS FOR CONSERVATIVES
LIBERALISM IS BEING BURIED IN AFRICA
By: Jan Lamprecht
My first article here on Etherzone.com was entitled "Liberalism will be buried in Africa."
The events in southern Africa in the past 3 months, since that article was written have indeed confirmed and underlined that idea. I wish to draw the attention of conservatives everywhere to the African continent. Here in Southern Africa, we have been fighting the Marxists and have been drowned by them. Yet, we have not been destroyed completely yet. We are still breathing. I want to impress upon conservatives everywhere, the importance of familiarising yourselves with the events here in Southern Africa, because in our ongoing struggles, you will find many pieces of information which you will be able to use in America, and elsewhere in order to further the cause of the Western world, and of conservatism everywhere. I say this, because here in Africa, we are busy burying Liberalism, as you know it, at a very fast pace.
Let me tell you some of what has been happening in Zimbabwe and South Africa because in both countries, Liberalism is dying, or being transformed into an animal which is completely alien to you Americans, and which bodes great hope for all of you (and for the world!).
A black Zimbabwean political analyst predicted, a few days ago, that by October - November, we would see black civil unrest in that country. I am curious to see Mugabe's response because I expect it to be vicious and repressive.
When Rhodesia was destroyed, and Mugabe took over, 60% of the whites fled in the next 5 years. These were the conservatives, and we left because under no conditions were we going to co-operate with, or live under Mugabe's rule. We became known as the "Rhodesians" because almost all of us refused to accept the name "Zimbabwe." Thus the whites were divided into two distinct camps, the "Zimbabweans" who lived there and wanted "to make a go of things", and the "Rhodesians" who left and wanted nothing to do with Mugabe.
The "Rhodesians" were the poorer of the two groups because we lost much of what we had in the process of leaving. The "Zimbabweans" made a lot of money. Because we came from the same country, we still shared a lot of the love for that country, and a concern for what was happening there. Within a few years, a worldwide Rhodesian Network was established and we kept in touch via magazines and newsletters, and we watched events keenly inside Zimbabwe. But we always differed with the "Zimbabwean" whites who believed it was OK to stay there, and we always urged them to leave. We knew that Mugabe had it in for the farmers and he would never leave them in peace. He bought and took over many farms during the last 20 years (prior to the land invasions).
All was well for the liberal "Zimbabwean" whites until the year 2000. From then onwards they came under attack. During that time, the CFU [Commercial Farmers Union] used all the normal liberal strategies of negotiating. They were always calm, always reasonable, and they always negotiated and worked within the law. The result, was that in the end, they lost and lost until Mugabe ordered 2,900 farmers off their land. In the last few weeks, a completely new spirit of rebellion has begun among whites in that country. Since then, the farmers have been defying the law, and even deliberately giving the Police the run around. Their numbers are too few to fight, but now they have a spirit of defiance. Even Cathy Buckle, that famous liberal voice from Zimbabwe (author of: "African Tears"), has said people must begin to resist. Ian Smith has played a role in this new spirit of resistance. Once, Smith was completely discredited in that country, but now, he is regaining a lot of his credibility. Zimbabwe is finished, and the whites have no hope. But in its dying moments we see a final burst of spirit and we see a final conversion of these people away from their former spineless liberal position. Finally they are accepting Mugabe as an enemy who cannot be trusted. Perhaps the final nail in the coffin for liberalism there was when Colin Cloete, the head of the CFU was thrown in prison. Colin had always advocated talk and negotiation. In the end, it came to nothing.
This has a direct influence on South Africa. Here we have several farming organisations: TAU and Agri SA. TAU is conservative and is also the biggest agricultural union in South Africa. TAU is warning South African farmers of what is coming. Agri SA, on the other hand, behaves exactly like the CFU in Zimbabwe. The recent events in Zim are resulting in the rug being pulled from under Agri SA's feet. Agri SA is continuously wanting to work with the government and wanting to "share" land, etc. But more and more people here are saying that this is a sure recipe for defeat. This week, the ANC [African National Congress] even declared that TAU was behind an attempted "Coup D'etat" here in South Africa. This coincides with the arrest of an unknown number of whites last week who were plotting against the government. This is of course total nonsense. I know the senior officials at TAU quite well and none of them are idiots who would try that sort of stuff. Their approach is to fight the ANC in a propaganda war. They would never do the dumb thing and end up in prison. This is no doubt an ANC smear, but it also highlights the ANC's own fears.
The ANC, which was foisted on this country by the entire world back in 1994, is becoming extremely unpopular. It is losing popularity among all sectors of the population - black and white alike. Indians and coloureds, who have a distinct political outlook of their own, have also been turning against the ANC. Coloureds, for example, often vote along the same lines as conservative whites. Indians tend to be liberal, and are often the owners of businesses. The Indians have suffered grievously under the ANC's socialism, and many have left the country or been turned against the ANC. Then there are the whites of South Africa. The whites are divided into two very distinct cultural groups. The english-speaking whites make up 40% of the white population. They tend to be liberal, and upper class (to some degree). The remaining 60% are Afrikaners and they are traditionally conservative and opposed to the ANC. Prior to 1994, the liberals wanted the ANC to come to power. But in the last 8 years, the liberals have done an amazing 180 degree about face. They are now the most vocal opponents of the ANC in South Africa. In fact, you can hardly hear the shouting of the conservatives because it is the liberals who are shouting the same things even louder!! (Note, the Liberals here, still refer to themselves as liberals, but if you look at their political stance, it has now become almost identical to that of the conservatives!
Among blacks, there is a great deal of despondency. It was reported some months ago, that in the last few years, the ANC has lost about two-thirds of its black members! The ANC is becoming more unpopular for many reasons.
Firstly, all South Africans, across the board, agree, crime is out of control and everyone wants the death penalty back. The ANC opposes this. Secondly, there have been many scandals and instances of corruption on a vast scale. All South Africans agree that the ANC is corrupt and they are lining their pockets in a big way. Thirdly, the ANC is sabotaging capitalism and investment in this country through its socialism and its hideous labour laws. American and European businesses do not want to invest here. Our stagnant economy has the highest unemployment rate in its history. A study by Norwegians estimated that we have 45% unemployment in South Africa. Fourthly, the blacks in general did not benefit from the new government. Apartheid might be gone, but their lives are hardly any different. Once again, it was ANC fatcats and their buddies who benefited the most from Black empowerment businesses. Blacks did get some benefits in terms of affirmative action, but this only works for a small segment of their entire population since there are not that many jobs which can be taken from the whites. So in general, blacks have not benefited. The vast majority are living as they did before, or are even worse off. Fifthly, President Mbeki is hugely unpopular among all segments of the population. Whites are firmly convinced he hates them. Blacks on the other hand believe he is a "white capitalist" pandering to the interests of the "white elite".
To sum up, therefore, whites in general, all agree the ANC is a disaster. The ANC has lost all the support it once had from liberal whites. Whites are quite convinced the ANC is a disaster and must go. But it is among blacks that a really insidious change is taking place, and I warned of this in my book, Government by Deception. The SACP [South African Communist Party], has deliberately manoevred and positioned itself to win the blacks to its side. The ANC are seen as "sellouts to the whites", and the SACP is seen as the genuine defender of the blacks. In my book I assert that this is a deliberate "scissors" strategy. The West, especially the USA, would court the ANC, but the ANC has colluded with the SACP so that the SACP actually benefits. There is a secret agreement which South African Military people have known of for a long time. It states that during the revolution, the ANC would be the vanguard party leading the transformation of South Africa, but after the revolution, the SACP would become the vanguard party. We are now seeing this agreement being implemented quietly as the SACP gains credibility among the blacks. In my book, I warned that this could lead to a racial conflict of the worst possible kind as the communists use their hate speech to get the blacks to turn on the whites.
But all this is good. I am a happy man, and war and conflict does not bother me. I've lived through enough to understand how these things go, and I'm definitely going to play my role. Why am I happy? Because with each passing hour and day, the volatile situation in Southern Africa, which was triggered by the events of 2000, is giving us a chance to expose the web of lies which the communists and liberals wove for decades.
With each day, the ANC finds itself under more world pressure to deal with Zimbabwe. The ANC's true colours are being exposed. Where is Saint Mandela? Where is that old communist dog who supposedly cares so much about human rights? Where is he now that Zimbabwe is starving to death? The ANC is strangely silent. However, as world pressure mounts, the communist dialectic manoevres will of course kick in as they "criticise" Mugabe in public just for the purpose of political theatre while helping and assisting him on the sly. They will of course keep their criticism of him to the absolute minimum possible.
Nevertheless, the fluid and volatile situation here has within it, all the arguments and proofs that a conservative can wish for to expose the myriad of lies told about Africa for so long and to thereby help discredit the liberals in America. Africa is also a great place where one can disprove so many of the notions proposed by Liberals in America. Lots of Liberal ideas and concepts there fall completely flat on their face over here.
Let me end by telling you why I am absolutely full of hope for our world, and for the final victory of the Truth, and therefore, Conservatism. When we lost in Rhodesia, and we left, we spread out in different directions. Most of us came to South Africa because that was our only option, but the others spread across the world. They went to the USA, Britain, Australia, Canada, etc. We may have lost our country, but we never lost our spirit and our memories. In the first few years, very little happened. We lost touch with each other, and we felt our cause had been lost and forgotten. But then, bit by bit we heard that new organisations had been formed, someone was publishing a magazine. Others were writing newsletters. Others were writing books. Bit by bit we found that we had been spread as seeds across the world, and yet we had forgotten nothing. We regrouped, we renewed contact with each other, and across the world a small but active Rhodesian Network came into being which later spread to the Internet as well. When Robert Mugabe began his land invasions in 2000, the Rhodesian network, (which was always watching Zimbabwe and spreading news of Zimbabwe), jumped into action and Rhodesians across the planet spread news of events inside Zimbabwe. We, the conservative diaspora, were in place to help the remaining liberal whites and the blacks inside Zimbabwe. The Rhodesian Network played a big role in helping to get the word out and in causing Mugabe much of the embarrassment which he has subsequently experienced. In a number of speeches, he spoke openly about the Rhodesians, saying that they wanted to take the country back. He admitted that we had caused him grief.
As I view the world today, I see conservatives everywhere going through the same process that we Rhodesians went through. One can see conservatives organising, and working together, and "finding each other". One can see that at a grassroots level, conservatives are sick of Political Correctness and are tired of their leaders ignoring them.
America still has the most freedoms left on this planet, and Internet is a crucial part of that. I believe that Internet might yet be the one thing which will enable free speech to survive and enable us to yet save this planet by allowing hundreds of millions of people across the planet to interact. It pleases me to see conservatives across the globe, starting to band together, forming small organisations and groups, and starting to fight back. And most of these conservatives are also sick and tired of retreating. This is the only hope for the world. It is possible to win, even at this late stage because of the Internet and Talk Radio. If we use the same tactics which were used against us, we can win. I have watched our enemies in action all my life, and I assure you, that if conservatives would stand FIRM, and be more outspoken, and if they would be far more activist at a grass roots level, then we will win because the truth is on our side. That is one thing the left does not have. They had to invent "facts" in order to advance. We do not need to.
I leave you with this final thought: The Worst thing a conservative can do, is to keep quiet. That is a recipe for certain defeat.
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Jan Lamprecht grew up on a small farm in Rhodesia. He moved to South Africa after Mugabe came to power and spent a short time in the South African Navy. He ventured into the world of politics after Mugabe began his land invasions in 2000. He is a self-employed IT Consultant in Johannesburg and a regular columnist for Ether Zone.
His new book "Government by Deception" - Psychopolitics in Southern Africa, is now available for purchase. Click here to read comments by famous Americans who have read the book.
We invite you to visit his website at Southern Africa In Crisis
etherzone.com
Jan Lamprecht can be reached at: pbs@iafrica.com
Published in the September 3, 2002 issue of Ether Zone.
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