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Obi Egbuna Jr Simunye

Because US-EU imperialism has built its political economic and military empire at the expense of Africans, Asians and the indigenous peoples of the Americas, all humanity has been subjected to an all-out slaughter and butchering of historical narratives aimed at exposing the countless horrific atrocities that colonialism and slavery left in their midst.

Whenever Africans at home and abroad are sitting in classrooms, reading newspapers and magazines, watching television, surfing the Internet or their social media outlet of choice, they are forced by circumstance to filter through shameless propaganda aimed at doing damage control, to justify institutional racism, economic exploitation and military repression that represent a day in the life of our people past and present.

For the most repulsive beneficiaries of settler colonialism and chattel slavery, who feel obligated to defend a political system that enables them to continue to reap all the benefits associated with our pain and suffering, the mere mention of President Mugabe and Nat Turner send chills throughout their bodies and ultimately down their spines. When the film, “Birth of a Nation”, which is a biographical account of Nat Turner’s life and slave rebellion that shook up the tormentors of our ancestral bloodline was released on October 7 2016, which is the directorial debut of the young brash and courageous so-called African American actor Nate Parker, our young brother was automatically provided a platform to explain what motivated him to make the film and why he chose to use the exact title used to celebrate chattel slavery made by DW Griffith over 100 years ago.

This young son of Africa made the following remark; “Griffith’s film relied heavily on racist propaganda to evoke fear and desperation as a tool to solidify white supremacy as the lifeblood of American sustenance. Not only did this film motivate the massive resurgence of the terror group — Ku Klux Klan — and the carnage exacted against people of African descent, it served as the foundation of the film industry we know today.

“I’ve reclaimed this title and re-purposed it as a tool to challenge racism and white supremacy in America. To inspire a riotous disposition toward any and all injustice in this country (and abroad) and to promote the kind of honest confrontation that will galvanise our society towards healing and sustained systemic change.”

We salute our young brother for evoking the spirit of the fighters in the NAACP for attempting to ban Griffith’s film, which was screened at the White House during the Presidency of Woodrow Wilson, who in his 1912 election received 500 000 votes from so-called African-Americans. Because of the cultural and historical divide that best defines African peoples experience, it would come as no surprise if those amongst our ranks, who have become all too accepting of a narrative that separates Africans on the continent from the Diaspora, arrive at the conclusion that connecting President Mugabe to Nat Turner is the equivalent of comparing apples and oranges.

Any African who, because of mental enslavement, has immense difficulty coming to terms with the fact that we are one people with one history, is more than likely in this predicament because of a lack of quality exposure that makes them vulnerable to the propaganda that demonises both President Mugabe and Nat Turner.

Both President Mugabe and Nat Turner are very spiritual brothers, who were very successful in convincing the masses of our people that any true believer in Almighty God should consider it their duty to wage a struggle on the battlefield against a system that enslaved and colonised us in the name of Jesus Christ.

In an interview with Sister Janice McLaughlin, President Mugabe was questioned on his viewpoint concerning Christian churches in Africa, having worked hand in hand with colonialism. This was his powerful response:

“The accusation is justified to a very great extent. If you study the history of the church in South Africa, Zimbabwe and elsewhere in Africa, you will discover that originally the church tended to side with the colonial authorities.

“Colonialism itself was completely wrong and unchristian but the churches at first held it as justified. Missionaries came to Africa to spread the gospel, but in the process of opening the way for themselves in jungles of Africa as they called them, they also opened the way to colonialism. Society became organised on the basis of race and the churches supported the racist and oppressive legislation to a very great extent.”

At the height of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s quest to force an illegal racist regime change in Zimbabwe, Murdoch switched allegiance from the Conservative Party and threw all his muscle behind Blair, who is godfather to one of Murdoch’s daughters. Murdoch has a seat on the strategic board of Genie oil and gas and a 5,5 percent stake in the company, which has conducted shale gas and oil explorations in Colorado, Mongolia, Israel and the occupied Golan Heights.

President Mugabe never hesitates to make the parallels between Zimbabwe’s Second and Third Chimurenga, with the struggle for a unified and liberated Palestine from the clutches of Zionism and its defenders and apologists like Murdoch.

Our young brother Parker’s film debuted on the heels of the launching of the National African-American History and Culture, which opened on September 24 2016, who allowed former US Secretary of State and US Military Joint Chief of Staff General Colin Powell and former First Lady Laura Bush along with the CEOs of Bank of America and American Express Company Brian Monynihan and Kenneth Chenault to serve on its board and leadership council.

It was none other than General Powell, who not only pushed the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001, with the same fervour that he dropped bombs on Vietnam, Libya and Panama. We wonder if the museum includes the picture of the gun he and Secretary of Defence Caspar Weinbeger, presenting former US President Ronald Reagan an AK-47 as a momento for invading Grenada and assassinating that great son of Africa, Maurice Bishop.

The museum should also have framed the letter President Obama wrote his predecessor former US President George W Bush when he was a Senator, begging him not to lift US-EU sanctions on Zimbabwe until President Mugabe, whom he described as a dark cloud, was ousted from power.

Since US-EU imperialism appears to get cheap thrills out of accusing President Mugabe of human rights violations, which includes the prisons of Zimbabwe, it is absolutely hilarious that the CEOs of the Bank of America and American Express found his way on this museum’s board.

An article titled “Capitalism — Mass Incarceration and the Prison Industrial Intelligence Police Complex written by Bob Sloan, shows that inside US borders eight energy and oil producing companies,12 energy production and utility companies,16 insurance companies,15 pharmaceutical companies,18 manufacturing companies, nine telecommunication companies and 12 banks are heavily invested in prison labour. This list includes Bank of America and American Express, who appear to find gratification in shedding tears for the slaves of yesterday while at the same time raking in billions of dollars from prison labour today.

Parker, who was born in Virginia, where Nat Turner’s rebellion took place, didn’t learn about him until he took a course at the University of Oklahoma, shared his disgust with William Styron’s book “The Confessions of Nat Turner”, which was not only a 1968 Pulitzer Prize winner for best fiction, but concocted a fantasy of Comrade Turner raping a white woman and having a homosexual encounter with a boy slave in the woods. Styron’s book, which earned praise from one of our greatest writers James Baldwin who stated “He Has Begun the Common History of Ours”, was written from the same narrative of titles of books aimed at demonising President Mugabe like “The Fear: Robert Mugabe and the martyrdom of Zimbabwe”, “Robert Mugabe: A life of power and violence”, “Robert Mugabe: Power, plunder and the struggle of Zimbabwe”, “A predictable tragedy: Robert Mugabe and the collapse of Zimbabwe”.

Since Parker is attracted to rebellions and uprisings, he must connect his film to the heroic battle waged by Reverend John Chilembwe in Malawi against British invaders in 1915. He says he would like to see children all over the hemisphere instead of playing cops and robbers run around screaming I’m Nat Turner, I’m Denmark Vesey and Gabriel Procer, keep that African fighting spirit alive. If we add President Mugabe’s name to the list then our genuine resistance comes full circle.

Obi Egbuna Jr is the US Correspondent to the Herald and External relations Officer of ZICUA(Zimbabwe Cuba Friendship Association). his email is [email protected]