The crisis of the state and governance in Zimbabwe has divided Zimbabweans, the country's southern African neighbours and the international community. This might suggest the main protagonists are destined to re-enact the preindependence drama in which indigenous Africans were locked in an anticolonial struggle against western imperial powers. We would do well to reject this formulation and recall Marx's caution: History repeats itself, however the second time invariably is as farce.
In Reclaiming Zimbabwe Horace Campbell makes clear why reasonable people will avoid the simplistic labels invoked by Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and his supporters. These labels wrap Mugabe in the mantel of a 'liberationist' against critics who are 'imperialists' or collaborators. While this easy conceptualisation may be tempting, it does not capture the nuances of the Zimbabwe crisis. What is clear, however, is that Mugabe's past involvement in the liberation struggle does not legitimate state-sanctioned violence against political opponents. Campbell explains why we should look elsewhere, including to the authoritarian impulse of the early liberation movement itself, to explain the crisis of governance and to envision an alternative to the current political disorder in Zimbabwe.

Campbell's book is based on over two decades of engaging Zimbabwe's politics. In an easy-to-read style the book maps the history of the Zimbabwe state from the liberation struggles to the 2002 presidential elections and after. It reminds us of the euphoria that accompanied the successful liberation struggles in Zimbabwe. The optimism resonated across the African Diaspora and was reflected in songs of freedom such as Jamaican legend Bob Marley's 'Africans a liberate Zimbabwe.' This euphoria soon dissipated. One reason is the government's failure to redress the injustices of the land distribution and the persistence of a colonial racialized class structure. Consequently, "at the dawn of colonialism those who had seized the most fertile land became the bourgeois land owners" and the vast majority of Zimbabweans had to survive on subsistence wages. Notwithstanding, Campbell rejects the regime's rationalisations for the war veterans' land grab. It is nonsensical for liberationists to redress the land injustice "by unleashing new injustices" (75-131). Another reason for a decline in optimism is the manifold failures of leadership. Campbell sees "President Mugabe [as] an excellent example of a leader who has devalued a just cause and the need to repair the injustices associated with the settler seizure of land during colonialism" (303). Further, Zimbabwe's leaders adopted the repressive apparatuses and practices of the colonial state, as well as created new intolerances (155-182). A concrete lesson learned from the Zimbabwe experience is that it is "not enough to Africanise the structures of domination" or to change the cast of characters. There must be a fundamental opposition to the "excesses of executive lawlessness, homophobia, military adventure… and the concepts of peace that reinforce militarism" (310). The Mugabe regime learned to promote the trappings of electoral or procedural democracy even as it undermined the more substantive aspects of democracy - respect for the rule of law, promotion and protection of human rights, freedom of association, freedom of speech and the like (299-312). What the current crisis suggests, "more than anything else," is a "need for new leadership in Zimbabwe" (303).

The patriarchal model of liberation in Zimbabwe has reached its apex. Patriarchy is a system of social structures and everyday practices that enable male domination and the subordination and exploitation of women. Campbell draws our attention to "the militaristic conception of liberation and the gender prejudices" held by early liberation leaders, how this conception was incorporated into the modern African state, and the ways African patriarchs "energised a national opposition movement that brought out male violence and greed that was hiding behind the masks of economic nationalism" (2). Given the character of the Zimbabwe liberation movement from the beginning, the appeals to it as a basis for resolving the current crisis of the state are misguided. Instead, Campbell offers a critical meditation on how ordinary Zimbabweans and their allies can build "new indices of democratic politics," "reclaim Zimbabwe" and bring about a more inclusive social order. The book looks beyond specific individuals, the tired leadership of Mugabe; the patriarchal model of liberation and "the masculinist basis of state power that has been inherited from colonialism." It envisions a more radical democratic order shaped by new social movements that reject intimidation, violence and the climate of fear that permeates Zimbabwe's body politic.

This brings us back to the idea that Mugabe and his supporters are 'liberationists' struggling against western imperialists such as Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair or the United States President George Bush. This conceptualisation distracts attention from the harsh realities of everyday life in Zimbabwe. We should reject this simplistic formulation. Mugabe bears some responsibility for the mismanagement of the economy. The standard of living in Zimbabwe is worse today than it was in 1980. Some 65 percent of Zimbabweans are living either in poverty or extreme poverty (300). Further, Zimbabwe has one of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS infection on the continent, giving rise to a staggering 2,000 deaths per week. The pandemic is devastating Zimbabwe's social fabric and its productive and reproductive capacities (4, 169-70, 300). These realities cannot be attributed solely to external factors; they also result from the sexist and homophobic public policies and practices of the Mugabe regime. Second, there are diverse reasons why Africans on the continent and in the Diaspora may agree with some western critics that state-sanctioned repression, the democratic deficit and the collapsing economy give reasons for pause. In July 2003, Zimbabwe has a currency shortage and an inflation rate of 300 percent. Its citizens face long queues for everything from bread to petrol. An agriculturally productive country has been reduced to seeking food aid from the imperialist countries.

The liberationist-imperialist labels occlude the profound regional and continental implications of the Zimbabwe crisis at an historic juncture when continental leaders are building a new global solidarity and partnership for Africa's development. South Africa, Nigeria and Algeria promoted the idea of an African 'peer review mechanism' that would affirm the continent's commitment to good governance. Donor countries and international critics have insisted that Zimbabwe is a litmus test of this commitment (302). Thabo Mbeki and Olusegun Obasanjo are now being called upon to intercede with President Mugabe, to encourage him to step down or to disavow farm and firm invasions, halt land seizures and stop the escalating police and military violence. Campbell is sceptical than anything short of Mugabe stepping down would work. Mugabe's tendency to dismiss or violently repress critics is a reflection of a low respect for human life and dignity (302).

A final comment on Zimbabwe's political and military liberation leaders are involved in regional destabilisation and war profiteering. On the one hand, Zimbabwe's leaders invoke the principle of state sovereignty to reject international intervention in Zimbabwe. On the other hand, Zimbabwe's army has intervened militarily in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Through the direct ownership and investments in banking, mining and diamond companies, both Zimbabwe's Defence Forces and ZANU-PF are engaged in extracting resources in the DRC and in accumulating wealth for personal benefit, while ordinary Zimbabweans and Congolese suffer (230-246). In light of these realities, Mugabe's liberation credentials of two decades ago offer cold comfort.

Ultimately, Campbell's book is a reflection on the resilience of the people of Zimbabwe, especially its women and the peace and social justice movements that continue to fight for an alternative order characterised by social inclusion. "African women, especially those connected to the various organised movements for democracy and women's rights, have emerged as the force with the strongest claim for a new liberation process in Zimbabwe" (309). In his conclusion, Campbell recalls Walter Rodney's assessment that we need to "have confidence in the capacity of our people; if they could have breached the gates of colonialism through their own effort, then it seems to me that they have brought into the neo-colonial period a capacity to breach the walls of imperialism" (311) and, one must add, to resist new modes of domination and exploitation.

Malinda S Smith is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Athabasca University, Alberta, Canada




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