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Gibson Nyikadzino Correspondent
One of the things this writer found politically interesting this week were developments pertaining to the launch of the opposition CCC’s political manifesto or blueprint, in particular where Nelson Chamisa confirmed his willingness to represent the interests of the United States and American multi-national corporations.
That is how neo-colonialism works. It sends signals that voters should see.
Of course, before submitting arguments contrary to what the manifesto had, there was time to go through the 100-page document which is manifestly a political detour that rarely fits in the post-independent social milieu.
Semiotics in politics matter a lot! As a study of signs, semiotic analysis reads words and images as text to gain insight into the interpretive frameworks filtering and guiding the perceptions by human beings of the world.
These perceptions render more explicit interpretive frameworks.
In this era, social media is playing a key role. Where orator and rhetoric dominated the political world, social media is enhancing ways to reach out to the masses as a platform to share, exchange and disseminate ideas.
What is also important is to understand that images used in political communication offer important resources for the preservation of the status quo, including in the political world as representations of power reproductions.
Today’s response to the CCC manifesto analyses the political images in the manifesto, the context they were taken from and determine whether that represents the so-called ‘new great Zimbabwe’ the opposition is aiming to advertise.
Informational neo-colonialism
All of the images that the CCC used to illustrate and reinforce its political views do not originate in our political environment or national space.
By digital confirmation, most pictures used were imported from spaces and institutions in the USA, Britain, Netherlands, Sweden and Germany.
They resemble foreign livelihoods, Western orientations and recognise the importance the CCC attaches to the outer world and its representations.
For the CCC, it is intending to condition people and initiate them into disparaging what they have and be satisfied with what they do not have, which is only presented through images that seek to domineer the genuine efforts of reconstruction being undertaken, which are speaking to the spaces the people are operating in.
Images used by the CCC are therefore neither progressive nor uplifting. The party is entrenching the existence of unequal social and economic power relations for political benefit to please their masters.
Consider how the global North influenced by liberal-western values, uses images to visually depict the state of affairs in the developing world, or how the West has influenced the world’s understanding of terrorism following the September 11 attacks.
The aftermath of the September 11 attacks resulted in increased Islamophobia, Western xenophobia against Muslims and hate crimes against those who practice Islam.
This confirmed the objectives of what the Western political establishment wanted through the use of those images.
Today, as digital media technologies continue to become an integral part in political communication, it is unfortunate the opposition elements in Zimbabwe are failing to guide their imaginations to adapt to the changes associated with the technological revolution and politics.
The same is true with what the CCC has done. It is difficult for the opposition party to disassociate itself with the West or the view that it is a functionary and neo-colonial reactionary when it cannot provide political counter-arguments within its environment.
The dialogue surrounding neo-colonialism in the political, economic and social development field is here represented through images.
The consciousness of Zimbabweans in particular and Africans in general is changing.
The people are becoming convinced that Western projects like the CCC do not meet the demands of national interests espousing sovereignty, economic and political independence.
Now, it is highly likely going to be easy for Zanu PF to speak to the masses using visuals of what they have built over the past five years and campaign on the basis of visible infrastructure projects that Government embarked on.
Theocratic-authoritarianism
In a section of the CCC manifesto’s vision, there is a danger posed by the opposition outfit to the nation’s religious diversity by the failure to recognise the existence of other forms of religious expressions as outlined in Section 56 of the Constitution that speaks of non-discrimination on the grounds of “religious beliefs”.
While Christianity may be the dominant religion, Zimbabwe remains a secular state that does not consider anyone’s religion as an official religion and treats all its citizens equally.
By attempting to impose a particular religion and institute governance mechanisms through religious decrees makes the country gravitate towards theocratic authoritarianism.
The CCC vision also says once in government it will make the church “custodians and guardians of conscience, morals and ethics of society” a role that is currently held by traditional leaders and chiefs.
The danger of theocratic-authoritarianism being advanced by the CCC and its leader Nelson Chamisa in Zimbabwe is that it is searching for the establishment of a political system that will reject political plurality and use a strong central power to keep people divided.
Puppetry and neo-colonial dependence
For CCC leader Nelson Chamisa to think that the US and President Joe Biden are the anchors to the foundations of Zimbabwe’s economic reconstruction is as equivalent as condescendingly thinking Zimbabweans are incapable of anything.
By looking at development happening in West Africa where some nations’ leaders are resisting and fighting the “Franc Africa” phenomenon, here Chamisa is wholesomely advocating for “Atlanta Africa” publicly availing himself as a neo-colonial instrument.
By association and interaction, the CCC and Chamisa remain neo-colonial dependants whose thinking patterns are a discursive exercise and reproduction of foreign interests.
Neo-colonialism has the same goals as colonialism, only that it works in at times sophisticated subtle ways, affecting the spheres of ideology, culture, politics, education and information, collectively having a global character through soft methods, and at times, combining them with traditional economic, financial and military pressure.
It is the neo-colonial policy of the West that is being facilitated by opposition parties in Africa, including the CCC, that hopefully should lead to a final decolonisation of Africa.
In post-colonial Africa, Western neo-colonialism remains happy with its projects like Chamisa to which by using him, the West knows he is ideologically weak, powerless and generally, strangely abnormal in political orientation.
Online Reporter