US image tarnished, maybe it’s for the best

The country which calls its president “leader of the free world”, is in turmoil.
The outgoing president, Donald Trump, is claiming voter fraud and his supporters yesterday attempted a coup.
According to Samuel Holliday, director of scholarship and operations with the US Capitol Historical Society, the stunning display of insurrection was the first time the US Capitol had been overrun since the British attacked and burned the building in August of 1814, during the War of 1812.
Trump himself has claimed that the US election is “worse than that of Third World countries”.
He has gone a Twitter frenzy since then leading the social media giant to delete some of his tweets.
Facebook and Instagram, which are owned by Mark Zuckerberg, blocked Trump from posting on his accounts for 24 hours while any information that seemingly praises the anarchy that took place at the US Capitol is being given treatment usually reserved for “terrorists”.
From being the role model – always trying to “teach” others how to be democrats and the peaceful ways of handing over political power – the US finds its “political situation being watched closely” by the likes of Venezuela, Iran, Russia and Turkey.
China has even mocked the Americans with the Asian giant’s internet “erupting in mirth at America’s troubled democracy”.
On Thursday morning, state media tabloid Global Times tweeted side-by-side photo comparisons of Hong Kong protesters occupying the city’s Legislative Council Complex in July 2019 with Wednesday’s Washington riots.
“@SpeakerPelosi once referred to the Hong Kong riots as ‘a beautiful sight to behold’,” the Global Times said in the tweet, referring to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s June 2019 comment about Hong Kong’s mass pro-democracy demonstrations, which at that time were mostly peaceful.
“It remains yet to be seen whether she will say the same about the recent developments in Capitol Hill.”

How the mighty have fallen!
While others revel at the way the US’s image has been tarnished – what is has become clearer to us is how racist the country remains and is set to continue to be.
The predominantly white “patriots” that stormed the US Capitol were met with less police force than many of the Black Lives Matter protests that rolled across the country in the wake of George Floyd’s killing at the hands of Minneapolis police officers last year.
While federal police attacked peaceful protesters in Lafayette Square outside the White House over the summer, clearing the way for Trump to take a photo in front of a nearby church at the time, protesters on Wednesday were able to overrun Capitol police and infiltrate the country’s legislative chambers with ease.
However, this is not the most important lesson for us.
What is more important is for those that think that the US and the West in general are the epitome of democracy and civility to think again.
They are not. They employ the “do as I say, not as I do” principle.
It is time we realise that we are our own liberators, our destiny is in our own hands and not anyone’s. Did any political commentator or even ordinary citizens call on Russia, China or Britain to come and help solve the US’s problems?
They can handle their own problems and it is high time everyone in Zimbabwe learnt that.
No one owes us a good life, orderly politics, a vibrant economy, a top-class health care system and good quality education. We have to do it ourselves. We have to deliver these for ourselves, our children and future generations.
Looking at the US and other countries as saviours or protectors is what has led to laziness. Where people should find ways of feeding themselves, they wait for handouts; where they should liberate themselves from tyrants, they wait for some imaginary foreign intervention.
It is time for every Zimbabwean to wake up, to understand that we are our own liberators, our own educators, growers of food that will feed the nation and custodians of our culture, traditions, and natural resources for future generations.
This is not to say there is nothing to emulate from the US or other countries. But we should copy, rather learn what we can which works for us and leave the rest.
But we cannot be copying how to lock away anyone who disagrees with Government or how to plant bombs and plan anarchy when things do not go their way.
Reports in the US say federal agents responded to pipe bombs in multiple locations in Washington, DC. A pipe bomb was actually found at the Republican National Committee’s headquarters earlier Wednesday while at least two suspected pipe bombs were rendered safe by law enforcement, including the one at the building that houses RNC offices and one in the US Capitol complex.
To the generality of Zimbabweans, ZANU PF, various MDCs and other political parties – our message is simple – Zimbabwe’s destiny is in our hands. Nhau/Indaba