R IBERATION of OUTHERN FRICA December, 1979 THE
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\r IBERATION OF OUTHERN FRICA (with B.C.M.H.E.) box 8'791, bmt011, mass. 02114 December, 1979 THE PRESSURE IS ON The pressure is on and it seems that a settle- people. Smith's own power, on the other hand, ment may be reached to end the war in Zim- has been growing steadily weaker, with large babwe, which has already lasted over 12 years. numbers of whites, fearful of a Patriotic Front Negotiations, supervised by officials of the takeover, fleeing the country. The Patriotic British government, between the Patriotic Front has shown, beyond doubt, that a white Front and the Muzorewa-Smith government, settler government cannot survive in Zim- have staggered along for over two months. babwe. Both sides have been forced to make consid- Adding to these internal pressures, the erable concessions, and more than once the western powers are worried that a country talks havecome to a standstill. ruled by the Patriotic Front would undermine their economic interests. Smith, therefore has PRESSURES ON SMITH AND been forced to make some changes inside the MUZOREWA country. Determined to give up the minimum, This is not the first time that Ian Smith and and backed by the majority of Rhodesian the Patriotic Front leaders have met across the whites and by South Africa, Smith came up negotiating table. Kissinger, in 1975 and 1976, with the Internal Settlement last spring. This brought the two sides together in a U.S. ini- settlement left most of the political and tiative to try and arrange a settlement. Both economic power in white hands, while pro- these attempts failed, largely because of viding a few Black faces in the government, in a Smith's refusal to give up one iota of white pretense of relinquishing power to the Black power in Zimbabwe. people of Zimbabwe. Predictably, Smith deli- The circumstances now are somewhat berately excluded the Patriotic Front from the different. The power and influence of the continuedon next page Patriotic Front inside Zimbabwe has steadily grown. They now exercise control over large CAMBRIDGE VOTES AGAINST sections of the country, and have the support APARTHEID page 15 of the great majority of the Zimbabwean A Ray of Hope On November 14, a breakthrough was Under the proposal, a British governnor will announced for the talks on Zimbabwe in oversee elections-in which the Patriotic London. After a period of intense negotiation, Front will take part-with the help of a peace- the Patriotic Front accepted the British keeping force. This force will be made up of proposal for a transition period. They agreed, soldiers from Commonwealth coun- however, only after they had forced the British tries-Britain's ex-colonies. Debate continues to extend the transition from eight to eleven as to whether these soldiers should be from weeks. This still falls far short of their demand New Zealand or Australia, as Britain wants, or for a twenty-four week transition period. They from African countries, as the Patriotic Front will now have a major task in helping Zim- demands. There is also disagreement on the babwean refugees to return to the country in make-up of the civil service and security forces. time to vote. The Patriotic Front negotiators However, the agreement represents 'a ray of did, however, win a major concession, in that hope for the Zimbabwean people,' as Edison their forces will remain in place in the liberated Zvobgo, spokesperson for the Patriotic Front, and semi-liberated areas. said. - -- - -- Pressure continued settlement, despite the fact (or because of it) economy, while retaining control of the that they had driven him this far. country. When Muzorewa became Prime Under the Internal Settlement, elections Minister, Britain and the U.S. were ready to were held, and Bishop Abel Muzorewa was lift the sanctions. However, international elected as the country's first Black prime minis- opposition, particularly from the Organ- ter. He has since shown clearly whose side he is ization of African Unity, forced them to re- on. Brutal repression inside Zimbabwe con- consider. This brings us to the current talks in tinues. Since April, 1979, the number of war London. deaths has doubled to over 1000 a month, Earlier this year in Britain, the Conservative according to official estimates of the Party (the Tories), led by Margaret Thatcher, Zimbabwe-Rhodesian government. Other es- was elected into government. The right wing timates put the toll at a much higher figure. forces in Britain-with strong economic and The use of detention without charge against familial ties to Rhodesia-are thus much political activists remains. Furthermore, strengthened and are clamoring to have sanc- attacks against Mozambique, Angola, and tions lifted. This was, in fact, one of Thatcher's Zambia have been stepped up. In one of the election promises. In the U.S. the right wing is most recent attacks, 1000 soldiers from also demanding an end to sanctions. Less con- Zimbabwe-Rhodesia and South Africa servative forces in both countries recognize the invaded Zambia, to attack some key economic economic and political importance of not installations. Air raids in the past few months alienating the African States that have have severely damaged railroads and declared their support for the Patriotic Front. electricity supplies. Muzorewa openly defends These forces also recognize that, in the long these attacks. run, Western interests will not be served by a prolonged war. As a result, Britain and the LIFTING SANCTIONS U.S. now see this conference as their best hope The major goal of the white racists of to preserve Western economic interests in Zim- Rhodesia was to gain international support for babwe. continued on p. 10 the lifting of trade sanctions against their ZIMBABWE: THE LAND QUESTION If someone offered ysu a 3,000 acre farm The conflict which is taking place in and claims to 15 geld mines, would you be Zimbabwe today has its seeds in this earlier tempted to move? That was what Cecil Rhodes period of conquest. A key part of the struggle, promised in 1890 to the first grsup ef 200 mer- then as now, has to do with deciding who is cenaries to occupy his newly founded Zam- going to control the land and mineral rights of besia (later to be called Rhodesia) colony. the country. For it was not long after the resis- With the tacit support sf the British, Rhodes' tance of the African people to colonization had 'pioneer column' in full military uniform and been suppressed that the white land-grab accompanied by 500 armed guards, marched began in earnest. If Africans stood in the way, te the heartland of the unsuspecting Shona they were either moved or eliminated. 'I prefer people. There they established a fort which land to niggers,' Rhodes said. they called Salisbury and declared that they were taking possession of the whole of THE LAND GRAB Mashenaland in the name af the British queen. While Africans outnumbered whites 45 to 1 Earlier, en the basis of a bogus treaty, in lW, only about one fifth sf the land was Rhsdes had claimed full rights to the land of reserved for their use. By 1925, white settlers the Matebele, the other major African group in had acquired virtually a11 ef the fertile land Zimbabwe. It was not leng before the African along the railroads and all the land surround- peaale realized the enormity sf these develop- ing the urban centers. The 1930 Land Appor- ments, and in a series of wars of resistance be- tionment Act merely made the already existing tween 1993 and 1903, the white settlers, backed segregation ef land holdings efficial. Under by British troeps, were farced to pay in blood this law, 51% d the land-including most of for the land they had originally taken by fraud the good land-was reserved exclusively fer white ownership. and intimidatian. continued on next page 4 Land continued As a result white settlers-who never comprised more than 6% of the popu- lation-have always literally had more land than they could use. While population pres- sure built up in the African Areas, causing overpopulation and landlessness, an incredible 75% of arable white-owned land went unused. Much of this unused land was held by absentee owners in England for speculation. By 1960 there were 6,080 white farms averaging between 15QO and 3,000 acres as compared to 500,000 farms in the smaller and less fertile African Areas. An inevitable out- come of the evercrowding in the African Areas P was the msvement of people to the mining B tarns and other urban areas in search of emgbyment. What was a land problem for Africans was indirectly a solution to the labor ti pre)lems of the white-controlled farms, mines, , and industries. So long as Africans could not survive in the rural areas, the white settlers with large investments in Third World coun- were assured of a cheap supply of workers. As tries like Zimbabwe want to insure that the in South Africa, a pass system was established principle of private property rights is main- to insure that only enough Africans necessary tained at all cost. If there is nationalization to fill the labor needs of the whites were without compensation, they fear that their allawed into white areas. investments and profits in such countries will be jeopardized. THE QUESTION OF COMPENSATION If a new Zimbabwean government were to Both Z~PUand ZANU have insisted at the take over ownership of companies and land talks in =ondon that the zimbabwean people controlled by foreign individuals and corpor- should not have to pay for the return of land ations without payment, it would provide a was stolen from The M~~~~~~~ dangerous precedent for other countries in the government and the British, on the other hand, region which may have ideas.