Patriotism or jingoism? Jabulani Sibanda
Jabulani Sibanda

Jabulani Sibanda

Reason Wafawarova On Thursday
This column has in the past described a true nationalist as one not defined by mere statements of ideology, not a slave to foreign influences, nor someone who lives on borrowed reasoning. He is not a purist who is paralysed by inflexibility.

A true nationalist has a soul and a character; he educates the nation, values self-government, nation building, and puts the economy ahead of everything else, is guided by national production and development, and will develop institutions of democratic accountability.

A true nationalist will always delegate power, and educate younger generations on values that will ensure continuity of the nation’s legacy.

True nationalism is not trapped in obsessions with the past, and will not sideline or exclude the present; will never negate the future.

We have a thorough going concern in regards to the present and the future of Zimbabwe at the moment.

The ZANU-PF leadership in its present form is dangerously populated with some personalities of legendary pretences, some of them masquerading as well-meaning comrades of the party’s intrepid leader, a man who indisputably operates in spite of fear, a revolutionary who is ever energised by confrontations of fearful situations.

This is the indisputable person and character of President Robert Mugabe, lauded by many people across Africa, until one takes a closer look at what and who surrounds him.

There are some vacuous political characters who hide their egregious shortcomings behind unhelpful high sounding revolutionary rhetoric, inept politicians who survive scrutiny by dredging up the past, contriving unwarranted credibility from the achievements of those who paid the supreme price for our freedom.

Commenting on propaganda recently, Professor Jonathan Moyo tweeted that propaganda is about securing “temporary interests”, adding that education is about securing “permanent interests.”

My problem with propaganda is how it creates this unhelpful political scenario where people easily confuse patriotism with jingoism.

I also have serious concerns when propaganda breeds spectacular political prostitution of the magnitude we saw Jabulani Sibanda exhibiting at Zimbabwe grounds in his latest marriage with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

The dramatic turnaround would be hilarious if it was not showcased on the stage of a family tragedy for the Dzamaras, and if it was not being spiced up by manufactured statistical exaggerations relating to the sad historical chapter of Gukurahundi — itself fast becoming the easily available football for any budding politician, especially from the South Western part of the country.

This narrow-minded pursuit of temporary interests is what makes propaganda the despicable phenomenon it is.

I shudder to imagine what Jabulani Sibanda would be saying about Itai Dzamara’s fate if his bidding within ZANU-PF had not been jeopardised.

He is a lucky man because the opposition is desperate to be joined by anything ZANU-PF, or former ZANU-PF, otherwise in any other setting he would have had eggs thrown in his face.

We have in our midst a lot of jingoists masquerading as the country’s leading patriots, and for as long as these miscreants are fronting our cause, we will forever remain in the realm of pursuing “temporary interests.”

Robert Hendrickson describes jingoism as “bellicose chauvinism”. But what is “bellicose,” and what is “chauvinism?”

Many of us have heard so much about “male chauvinism,” or about “white chauvinism,” but the linguistic reality is that chauvinism has nothing to do with sex or race, as feminists and leftists would want the world to believe.

Nicolas Chauvin is a legendary character that was reportedly wounded 17 times in the service of his nation under the army of Napoleon Bonaparte, and despite his tremendous commitment, he was later to be ridiculed as Bonapartism became increasingly unpopular.

His name became the eponym for chauvinism, originally referring to excessive nationalistic fervour, but later used to refer to any form of bigotry or bias, that way paving way for feminists and leftists to borrow the term.

Bonapartism as a revolutionary idea was at one time as popular in France as is any of our three versions of Chimurengas, but it would be sad for Zimbabwe if we came to this sad point in history when those who make sacrifices for the revolutionary cause of the nation would become targets of ridicule.

Good intentions with not so good results will lead to one’s name being tainted, and that is why the late Minister Zvobgo’s idea of cheap houses in Masvingo’s Mucheke suburb, when he was Local Government Minister, ended with his name becoming the eponym for the pitiful habitats, popularly known as “ZviZvobgo.”

For those of us who make sacrifices for the revolution, the honour for such sacrifices is not in the number of times we are wounded, but in the credibility of the cause for which we are wounded.

Bellicose is from the Latin word for war, “bellum, or belli.”

So we can simplistically conclude that jingoism is “warlike excessive nationalism,” or exaggerated nationalistic rhetoric.

The term jingoism can be traced to 1878 when pro-war British zealots were singing, urging Britain to fight the Russians so as to stop them from taking Constantinople. The propagandists were vowing to fight “by Jingo,” a euphemism for “by Jesus.”

Jingoism is not about developing or building a nation.

It is about antagonising a nation in the name of nationalism, and it is what the populist politician will use when confronted with threatening opposition.

Most of our jingoists in power thrive on monopolising credit for the achievements of our liberation history, deifying the heroics of the liberation struggle not for what such heroics brought to the nation, but for the sole purpose of manufacturing exceptionalism for themselves as compared to all others.

Patriotism, unlike jingoism, is a virtue. It lies between the two extremes of excessive love for one’s country and deficiency of one’s love for one’s country.

A patriot’s love for his country is within bounds and ordinate.

He is neither a jingoist nor a neutralist, as Robert Koons says.

Both the jingoist and the neutralist are anti-patriots.

A patriot is to a jingoist what a dissenter is to a traitor.

While we mistake jingoists for patriots in ZANU-PF, we also sometimes erroneously view dissenters as traitors in the opposition.

We know jingoists and chauvinists will often hide beneath the mantle of patriotism, just as traitors always easily camouflage themselves as democratic dissenters.

Ordinate love for one’s country does not entail hatred or fear of other countries and their inhabitants, and for this reason a true patriot is not a xenophobe.

Equally, ordinate love for one’s political party does not entail hatred or fear of other parties and their supporters, and for this reason patriotic party cadres are not polarised and intolerant goons.

Is this ordinate love of, and loyalty to, one’s country justifiable?

Is ordinate love of, and loyalty to one’s party of choice justifiable?

While such love and loyalty is not xenophobic, it does come with a certain level of partiality for one’s own country or political party, precisely because it is one’s own.

This is how we love Zimbabwe, for the reason that it is our own, not that it is better or superior to any other nation.

Those with ordinate love for their political parties must have that kind of love on the justifiable reasons that the party is their own choice, not that the party has monopoly of existence over all others.

That is the epitome of chauvinism.

We are patriotic to Zimbabwe because we are a product of the country’s laws, such laws that have overseen our nurturing through education, and the forming of our collective character as a people.

There is that unique Zimbabweanness in us that will never be found in a personality nurtured elsewhere, and the love we have for our country is in respect to this unique identity.

Our political community is a necessity for the fulfilment of human nature, and it must not be allowed to be manipulated by the whims of power, just like the family or the work place are necessary in fulfilling the purpose of humanity.

It is not the best for any country to have the wheels of its political community hijacked by maverick jingoists.

Under such circumstances, the fulfilment of human nature is lost to the vices of corruption, stagnation, backwardness, brutality, intolerance, and power obsession.

ZANU-PF is a party defined in revolutionary terms, and by every means survives on the credo of patriotism.

But it must always be remembered that both revolutionarism and patriotism are national affairs in context and in definition.

There is no single individual or political organisation with a monopoly over patriotism, just like a revolution in its true context cannot be a party affair, unless the revolutionary cause has been hijacked by the flames of propaganda; that reckless pursuit of temporary and partisan interests.

True patriotism teaches us that every nation owes a debt to its fore-bearers; that every countryman owes a debt to a fellow countryman, and every generation owes a debt to generations past, and to generations to come.

Every country has a legacy to protect, be it of peace, justice, freedom, or prosperity.

The pursuit and protection of a national legacy is founded in accountability before all others, not this unhelpful chef culture where power only reports to its own hierarchy, frowning upon the masses with impunity.

Thousands of patriotic people risked their lives for our liberty, and thousands more made the supreme sacrifice for the independence of our country.

We cannot afford to deny or negate the claims of patriotic duty without allowing ourselves to sink in the shameful act of ingratitude and impiety.

While a loyal opposition must be made of with patriotic dissenters, unprincipled traitors have often hijacked the dissenter’s cause: motivated by selfish ends and short-term benefits.

This is what we have seen with Zimbabwe’s opposition politics over the last 15 years.

We have watched in despair as the genuine workers’ cause has been hijacked by traitors seeking personal fortune.

In the end these hijackers fighting fiercely against each other for the spoils of power, split the opposition into countless irreconcilable factions.

It is a very painful observation for some of us, and unless the ruling party rids itself of pretentious rhetoricians, propagandists and jingoists, it will remain a task impossible to pursue the genuine patriotic agenda for which ZANU-PF stands.

Zimbabwe we are one and together we will overcome. It is homeland or death!

  • REASON WAFAWAROVA is a political writer based in SYDNEY, Australia

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