Local media must unite against propaganda onslaught

makes Zimbabweans working for some radio stations overseas join their anti-Zanu PF, anti – President Mugabe propaganda that tarnishes Zimbabwe’s image.
True, the money that lures the Zimbabweans into turning their backs on the motherland, has a charismatic character. But to gang up with the enemies of your own people purely for pecuniary reasons can only go down as a tragic irony of ironies.
Listen, for instance, to the Voice of America Radio Station which set up “Studio 7 for Zimbabwe” which daily broadcasts to this country and has employed Zimbabwean men and women to do its dirty work against Zimbabwe, using American taxpayers’ money with the Americans themselves probably unaware of the abuse of their hard-earned money.
Then there are other private radio stations mounted on roof or tree-tops in Zimbabwe to complement those foreign radio stations that fall over each other trying to besmirch Zimbabwe’s image in the eyes and ears of the world at large to protest the empowerment of the black masses in Zimbabwe through land reform.
The propaganda onslaught has done a great deal in promoting competing even contradictory, visions of the country’s future with no hint or sign of their convergence for the good of this nation.
There is on the one hand in Government and outside of it people whose perceptions and actions are informed by the revolution that brought freedom and civilization to this country with, on the other hand, those whose thinking and feeds are at behest of imperious powers that want to treat Zimbabwe as though she were their Other. Were the Zimbabweans employed by unfriendly radio stations in the diaspora ‘honey-traps’, especially the women among them, this country would have been grateful of any valuable information send home by them on the enemy.
Regrettably, both the female and male broadcasters are what socialists would describe as the ‘running dogs of imperialists’ with sections of the Zimbabwean press also turning themselves into running dogs by publishing stories that also demonise Zanu PF and its political leaders.
Yet if truth be told the press in Zimbabwe as a whole should be joining pens in celebrating the country’s triumph over adversity, difficult though the victory might be.
To have survived the harsh, Western economic sanctions at all and even notch an economic growth estimated at just over 9% this year, is certainly no mean achievement when compared with the economies of the countries that embargoed Zimbabwe and which have deteriorated seriously with the growth of Britain’s economy this year having around one percent with worse news the following year and who knows in the foreseeable future.
Indeed, the economic challenges facing Europe, in particular have turned the much-vaunted ‘Western democracy’ from being an elective to a selective process. Like chieftainships in Africa, witness Greece and Italy.
In fact, the economic crisis in Europe and its attendant political repercussions are such that the leaders there have even taken a recourse to unlikely sources for solutions with the British Broadcasting Corporation fishing among students for a panacea to Europe’s wolves.
The BBC recently hosted a panel discussion by students drawn from the London School of Economics and nationalities of several European countries as well as the United States. The students brainstormed on various causes of the economic and political challenges now dogging Europe including a lack of synergies among leaders in tackling critical political and economic challenges that underpin Europe’s unity and strength.
Yet in spite of all this paper-tiger image of the West, some in the Zimbabwean media no doubt because of their precarious knowledge of shifts in economic and political dynamics on the international arena, continue to celebrate the West touting it as a model of development and democracy for the rest of the world this country included. Zimbabwe’s survival under harsh economic sanctions and only by the Grace of God amid confusion by some political players in the inclusive Government is the kind of tenacity that this pen believes deserves celebration by all of our media.
Because the period covering the introduction of land reform in 2000 and the inclusive government is critical in Zimbabwe’s living history. It is an economic and political epoch in its own right and worthy of celebration by the people of this country not withstanding the bruises and scars inflicted by those baying for of Zimbabwe’s liver. When historians finally immortalize this epoch for posterity, Zimbabwe authors in particular must have carved out a niche for themselves in the history of this country’s triumph over the forces of darkness. Stories published by journalists in newspapers are nothing but just rough drafts of history, whereas books penned by writers are the stuff that make for real history. Unfortunately, however, Zimbabwe’s book publishing industry is at present seriously depressed, needing a positive cultural policy by the Government and the political will among leaders to revitalize the industry. As things stand only books that are purely for academic consumption turned to see the light of day because publishers see their own survival in those books.
Ideally, the government should be seriously involved in sustaining the publishing industry and writers, as is the case in Norway, according to renowned author Phathisa Nyathi. He noted that when a book was published in Norway the government bought a quantity of copies of the new titles for redistribution to schools and libraries and this put money in the hands of the author, the publisher and any middleman involved.
The upshot of state involvement in the book publishing industry was a stimulation of a reading culture in the country with obvious spin-offs for any enlightened societies vis-à-vis national development as a whole.
Besides, the works of writers are stringently protected by copyright law, so that if one photocopies a book, for instance, the person pays money to a body overseeing the copywriting protection of the author and the money is in turn used to support writers in their research or other activity associated with their craft.
Of course, if there is no political will among the leaders in promoting writers a gem of literature is lost and lost for good as writers become demoralized and throw away their pens in frustration. For the moment, the recent opening of Zimbabwe’s airwaves with the granting of private radio licences to Zimpapers and Zi FM looks set to augment the Zimbabwe. Broadcasting Corporation in countering foreign enemy propaganda. Zimpapers spokesperson Mr Pikirayi Deketeke said three days ago their station would serve Zimbabwe’s ‘national interest’ as no doubt will do the other station that has already been described by some detractors as being aligned to Zanu PF. Of course being aligned to a party that brought about the independence and freedom and on which the critics are constipated is not something to be ashamed of by any patriot. It would be an absurdity of absurdities had those licences been given to add more stations for use by the enemies of this country, among them Zimbabweans with misdirected agendas.