The year 2025 will forever mark the year that the façade of the Global North as the upholders of democratic values, international law and free capitalism fell off. Never again will those from the cold climes and those from across the Atlantic be taken seriously when they preach freedom, equality etcetera whilst on African soil.
The Age of Convenient Capitalism
We were not paying enough attention when the sneaky British stripped Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich of an asset that he had legally acquired in the United Kingdom. In June 2003, Abramovich paid 140 million pounds for a struggling North London football club called Chelsea. Over the next two decades, he poured millions of pounds into the team and brought in star coaches like Jose Mourinho and players such as Didier Drogba. Chelsea would go on to win the UEFA Champions League twice, among many other trophies.
Fast forward to 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, and suddenly being a Russian citizen meant you needed to be punished for a war you did not instigate. Mere rumours of an active association with Vladmir Putin where enough for the public lynching of Abramovic by the progenitors of capitalism. Nationalism and Russophobia trumped property rights. The same hypocrites who had insisted on a willing-buyer willing willing-seller arrangement on our land at Lancaster in 1979 during the negotiations for Zimbabwe’s independence, were now doing their own fast-track acquisition. They robbed Abramovic of billions, and he will not get a penny from the resale of his football club to “acceptable” white folk who speak with a twang.
The stiff upper lips of England have not stopped at that. Just last week, they nationalised British Steel, a Chinese-owned smelter. Jingye Group, the owner of the steel company since 2020, had indicated intentions to close the loss-making company. “No ways!” shouted the Brits across political party lines. We cannot allow the remaining steelmaking company to close. For once, they even mentioned the need to avert job losses. They have gone on to enact a new law called the Steel Industry (Special Measures) Act, where the Business Secretary (minister) effectively dictates to Jingye Group how to run their own business.
Our hardworking Brits have now upped the ante on Sinophobia. Every Chinese investment in the UK must be looked at from a “security lens”, declare these paragons of virtue.
Breaching academic freedom
Professor Walter Kamba was the Vice Chancellor of the University of Zimbabwe from 1981 to 1992. Returning home from Scotland at Independence, he sought to create a forward-looking university that responded to the needs of a newborn country. He was a liberal leader who addressed us with civility as we did our periodic demonstrations for an increase in payouts. Sadly, his successors turned out to be spineless sycophants who gave in to Ignatius Chombo and Robert Mugabe’s vengeful tendencies.
The Chief Dununu in the Mnangagwa government should be happy – very happy – that across the oceans, they have now moved in to control the policies of public and private universities using the most powerful leverage – billions of research funds. Whilst many universities have caved in, the tense exchange between the White House and Harvard University has been interesting. Harvard has said “keep your two billion”, and the political leadership is not taking kindly to this.
Freedom of speech. Freedom of association. Freedom of assembly. These freedoms are now severely circumscribed by an authoritarian president. The much-vaunted constitution and the culture of freedom we were told was deeply ingrained in the American psyche have shown themselves to have been nothing but an illusion.
Yoweri Museveni is smiling
Since I can’t mention our own rogue and live to see another day, let me say election thieves, torturers of opposition leaders and robbers of the national purse are smiling. The spotlight is off them as the world is preoccupied with the global spectacle of tariffs and countermeasures.
The self-appointed international moral police no longer have the authority to lecture or sanction African dictators. For those in the civic sector, the periodic pilgrimages to Geneva, London and New York to appeal for intervention now look imbecilic, if not downright mercenary.
A moment of clarity met with muddled responses
The new era we have entered is an extremely uncertain one, but it has shown us that the emperor is naked. However, Africa, ever disorganised, cannot formulate a united and coherent response.
Instead of us looking up to our politicians and their fake PhDs, this could be a moment for intellectualism to come back into vogue and help us think through what this moment means for Africa in relation to the rest of the world. It may be the moment to dust up our knowledge of the work of Kwame Nkrumah, Amilcar Cabral, Frantz Fanon etc and share with all generations. The war starts in the mind. Readiness is all.
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