daniel chigunwe
Gibson Nyikadzino
Herald Correspondent
While some African countries are only concerned with wanting to get out of poverty, Zimbabweans put their freedom above all else.
If there are African countries facing a threat of sliding back to colonialism, it is those that glorify being independent and making steps out of poverty while their people do not own the means of production. It can only be Zimbabwe, a true African country that is both independent politically and economically, where its citizens envy their sovereignty over eating bread crumbs provided for by the erstwhile coloniser in the name of ending poverty.
A key takeaway towards the road of independence was that Zimbabweans in all their diverse backgrounds, they fought settler colonialism as one family.
The educated and the illiterate, the courageous and the cowards, the pious and the profane, they all live in an independent country that was borne out of sacrifices by those conscious to the need to end colonialism.
Both men and women successfully fought for Zimbabwe’s independence despite the huge British attempt to squash the rebellion of independence.
It was the Zimbabwean “family name” that all sons and daughters of the soil wanted to preserve.
When it comes to the family name, there are many things we can learn, especially from China.
There is one distinctive cultural element that the Chinese have adopted and perpetuated over the years as a significant part of their values and norms, that is the preservation of the family name.
Unlike the Western naming tradition inherited in many colonies where the family name comes after the forenames, the Chinese are different.
In China, the family name always comes before the given name. A quick lesson: Western cultures have always propped individualism, egoism and self-centredness while the Chinese prioritise the collective in that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
For the Chinese, that is a victory for cultural nationalism.
In the giant Asian country, when one is working, they do so for the sake of the preservation of the “family name”. The individual can never be greater than the family. In the West, it is mostly the opposite! The reason has been the West is a “land of the free” and even so, one can flourish, alone, without their family because they should enjoy their democratic rights without restrain.
From African countries that value the spirit of ubuntu, moral apprehensions are raised by this Western tradition. In families, as much as in a country, people either fail or triumph together.
The family is greater, as much as the nation and country are greater than the individual.
It is in this belief that the culture of denigrating the country has been curved by people whose values are individualistic and most operating overtly and covertly against Zimbabwe.
It is impractical for one to claim love for the Zimbabwean “family” name while acting contrary to what family is about. A few weeks ago, this writer was one of the discussants at a media event that focused on what media should do to promote peaceful, fair and credible elections.
After the event, a young lad who writes for an online media publication owned by a Zimbabwean in the diaspora approached and made a candid confession.
He said he was aware of the progress the New Dispensation under President Mnangagwa is doing and appreciated the direction the country is taking.
The major hindrance, however, his employer told him to only focus on the negatives and rough patches the country is going through because they say that is “democracy”.
That did not come as a shock because the ‘Zimbabwean’ who this young lad is working for is now a permanent resident in Britain and no longer has courage to know that he only has one place he will call home. The warmest, most welcoming home of cultural nationalism is appeal to the provenance of the Zimbabwean story.
The success of this story, just like that of the Chinese, is anchored on the need to see development, democracy and self-determination as authored by Zimbabweans.
Nationalist thinkers frequently use concepts such as “the spirit of a people” and “collective mentality” to protect that which is a national value.
In Zimbabwe under the Second Republic, the idea of nationalism is not only seen in political terms, but as an emotional identification with fellow countrymen on the basis of shared language, customs, values, religion or culture. It explains how the rebuilding exercise of the country under the leadership of President Mnangagwa, opening development and democratic paths should not be divorced from the liberation values.
As such, Zimbabwe as a family is shaping its “personality agenda” that is encapsulating the country’s anti-colonial dispositions weaved with the nationalist fervour and rational thinking to attain Vision 2030 premised on cultural thought patterns in diversity.
A significant re-conceptualisation of democratic development has since emerged in association with the resurgence of Zimbabwe’s cultural nationalism with a fusion of political nationalism to provide a matrix economic revival.
Forging a national essence is the business of nationalists which the Second Republic has not abrogated.
The interlink of nationalism, culture, democracy and development therefore remains a constant reminder which is in tandem with the values and ethos of the preservation of the post-independent Zimbabwean family name.
Name preservation is part of the rationale in nationalism and development that has been used by states throughout history to achieve high levels of growth. For instance, the victory against the white regime in Rhodesia was won first because of the nationalist organisation of the masses that ultimately ushered development.
Zimbabwe’s nationalist aspirations are espoused in the country’s identity based on our history and belief system.
Nationalism, either political or cultural, has an element of defence and Zimbabweans as a diverse family have the prerogative to protect and defend that identity.
The watchtowers of cultural nationalism in Zimbabwe today should be understood as moral innovators who have established ideological movements at times of social crisis in order to transform the potential of communities, providing models of socio-political development guided by strategies of modernisation.
Zimbabwe’s foes, both within and outside borders, have engaged in vicious lies and well-orchestrated attempts to distort and manipulate historical aspects that maintain the unity of Zimbabweans.
The name of Zimbabwe, the country, is being threatened by some whose existence is hanging by the benevolence of the West and them being in foreign lands.
Paid cultural mercenaries continue to whimper at their failure in undermining the good in the development journey being done.
The forging of national sentiment, or nation building, involves cultural domains, history and values being central. Zanu PF looks at Zimbabwe and understands it beyond one aspect. The party has managed to explain the complex challenges faced in the past and how they were overcome in ways the opposition failed to comprehend.
The spirituality of the country’s heroes and heroines like Sekuru Kaguvi and Mbuya Nehanda must not be de-sacralised by using foreign thoughts and practices that contaminate the purity of Zimbabwe’s identity.
More so, the strength of Zimbabwe’s national symbols are derived from the coining of national messages that resonate with these genuine beliefs underlined in the nation’s fabric of values.
What the Zanu PF government is doing is the advancement of a historical mission of liberating Zimbabwe from the clutches of neo-colonialism.
Any other wild illusion about it constitutes a classic example of self-betrayal and self-condemnation to the ranks of perpetual servitude.
The stampede for neo-colonial version of democracy as advocated by others, therefore, should not undermine Zimbabwe’s anti-colonial democratic values.
To achieve Vision 2030 as a family, Zimbabwe is seized with a moral regeneration which seeks to re-unite aspects of the nation that include the traditional and modern, agriculture and industry, through returning to the creative life-principle that happened before.
By revisiting Zimbabwe’s values are a unique way to preserve the country’s name and aspirations in a collective manner. As Marcus Garvey said: “The ends you serve that are selfish will take you no further than yourself but the ends you serve that are for all, in common, will take you into eternity.”
Just like what a family name is to the Chinese, that is what Zimbabwe is for all. All efforts should be harnessed to make the Zimbabwe “family name” better.
As no child can speak against their family name, no one should do the same as that is a clear indication of betrayal. As a family, we either triumph or lose together.
Zimbabweans, remember we are one!
Online Reporter