Mugabe: "...Unjust wars such as those of Iraq and Yugoslavia (were)
waged against innocent societies made culpable through blatant lies and
propaganda..."
[ Un discorso del presidente dello Zimbabwe, Mugabe, al recente meeting
del gruppo G15 a Caracas. La Jugoslavia fu tra i fondatori del gruppo,
che si riuni' per la prima volta a Belgrado nel 1989... ]
Da: Petokraka78
Data: Mar 2 Mar 2004 13:33:04 Europe/Rome
Oggetto: Mugabe: "The Spirit of Belgrade, Yugoslavia"
[In light of the US fomented coup against Aristide, Mugabe's speech at
the G15 convention in Caracas, Venezuela is eminently salient and
relevant.]
The Herald (Harare)
NEWS
February 28, 2004
Posted to the web March 1, 2004
By Innocent Gore
Caracas, Venezuela
The international situation has changed for the worst in political and
economic terms and Third World countries stand threatened by the
arrogant and bullying leaders of the North, President Mugabe said
yesterday.
Addressing the 12th summit of the G15 on behalf of African countries
which are members of the grouping, President Mugabe said the amity that
the Third World countries were told would follow the destruction of
communism had proved to be a mirage and had created a new and dangerous
situation in which civilisations confront and seek to annihilate each
other with disastrous consequences for mankind.
"We see unjust wars such as those of Iraq and Yugoslavia waged against
innocent societies made culpable through blatant lies and propaganda
chanted on the CNN, BBC and other media to sharpen the insatiable
appetites of greedy neo-imperialists for aggression and aggrandisement.
"We see societies being destroyed and occupied merely because God gave
them rich resources coveted by the powerful nations of the North. This
is the tragedy of Iraq; this is the curse of Simon Bolivars Venezuela.
This is also the basis and cause of the current aggressive British
imperialism against my own country Zimbabwe. We are surely back to
those colonial times of unmitigated plunder. This is the environment
within which we exist as the Third World, indeed as members of the
G15," the President said.
In such circumstances, he said, the need for meaningful solidarity
could not be overemphasised because Third World countries needed to
believe in their collective means and capacities.
They needed to stand together and not against each other and the more
each one of them sought Western or Northern accommodation or
ingratiated themselves with the North, the weaker and more divided the
countries of the South would become.
"It would appear that our fear of the North is causing us to retreat
from our pledge to multilateralism as the North gets the better of us
through the politics and economics of divide and rule effected through
bilateralism.
"Why have we lost confidence in ourselves? We surely need to go back to
the basics of the vision of the founders of the G15, nay, of the Third
World and Non-Aligned Movement," Cde Mugabe said.
He said the debt burden continued to cripple Third World countries,
with diminishing earnings from the marginalised economies going to the
North, and not to the starving and ignorant children of the South.
"Across countries of the South, poverty balloons, begrimes and devours
the poor as our nations battle for credit-worthiness. More policies,
wrought through the World Trade Organisation, are mortgaging our
economies and our societies to the rich North."
President Mugabe said the challenges of the Aids pandemic were manifold
and the disease was increasingly becoming an epidemic of the poor as
cartelised economics and politics of anti-retroviral drug manufacture
and distribution bite deeper.
Many economies of the South suffered the double tragedy of losing vital
skills as well as the ability and capacity to import drugs to mitigate
the effects of the pandemic.
As if the misfortune of HIV/Aids was not enough, President Mugabe said,
several Third World countries were constantly afflicted by other
devastating natural phenomena such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions,
cyclones, hurricanes and tornadoes, in addition to the ravages of
droughts.
"Yes we may get sympathies and aid from the international community.
But what are our own united efforts and measures of the blocs of the
Third World?"
Cde Mugabe said for Africa, the New Partnership for Africas Development
provided a vehicle for South-South co-operation and interaction.
Nepad provided means for economic growth through trade, economic
development through joint investments and infrastructural development,
through shared skills and skills development and through technology
transfers with other regions of the South.
Above all, President Mugabe said, Nepad focused on collective
self-reliance, itself a hallmark of the G15.
He said there was need to utilise Nepad and some such initiatives in
the South so that the developing countries could take forward the
spirit of Belgrade, Yugoslavia, where the G15 was formed in 1989, for
the benefit of their peoples and societies.
He said the 12th G15 summit, which was officially opened by Venezuelas
President Hugo Chavez here yesterday afternoon under the theme "Energy
and Development", was a very important event and should focus its
attention on the modalities of facilitating development in the Third
World countries through the ready availability of energy without
interference from those who seek to control their resources.
"In international relations, we need to insist on the authority of the
United Nations being recognised in international conflicts. Indeed, we
need to persist in our demand for a restructured Security Council so we
can secure our world, which today stands threatened by warrior states
and kingdoms. This is the challenge for we dare not shirk our
responsibilities," Cde Mugabe said. He paid tribute to the people of
Venezuela for their determination and perseverance to host the summit
against all odds.
"Indeed, let us emulate the courageous leadership President Chavez
continues to show in seeking better prospects for the Venezuelan people
who deserve to enjoy the full benefits of the resources God gave them
and their country," President Mugabe said.
"I am only too aware of the many challenges and impediments that have
been put in your way by counter-revolutionary forces in the hope of
shaking your commitment to the G15 and solidarity with fellow Third
World peoples. We in Zimbabwe are no strangers to such wiles of
imperialism and can only salute you and your people for standing up to
such bullying tactics that have come to characterise international
relations, particularly as defined by some powerful nations of the rich
North."
Now comprising 19 countries, the G15 was born out of a realisation of
the asymmetrical relations between the rich, powerful and dominant
countries of the North and impoverished, weak and marginalised
countries of the South.
President Mugabe said these relations were by and large, an unwholesome
legacy of the imperial interface between most Third World countries and
the dominant North.
The relations have mutated over the years and even centuries but
without improving the South "and thus proceeding clearly in ways that
have been detrimental to all of us", the President said.
"Collectively, we of the South are the underdogs of a world shooed by
the powerful North and our relative and contrasting fortunes as members
of the surbodinate and constellating South must be cause enough for us
in uniting our efforts in shaping our own socio-economic destiny," he
said.
The G15 was founded out of a realisation that interaction between
countries of the South as collective victims of a cruel history of
imperial dominance and exploitation, was quite insignificant as
compared to rival interaction between the countries of the South and
their erstwhile colonisers of the North, President Mugabe said.
The G15 comprises Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Egypt,
Jamaica, Kenya, India, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria,
Peru, Sri Lanka, Senegal, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.
Seven leaders from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Iran, Jamaica and
Zimbabwe had by yesterday arrived for the summit.
President Mugabe and his delegation were last night scheduled to attend
a dinner hosted by President Chavez.
waged against innocent societies made culpable through blatant lies and
propaganda..."
[ Un discorso del presidente dello Zimbabwe, Mugabe, al recente meeting
del gruppo G15 a Caracas. La Jugoslavia fu tra i fondatori del gruppo,
che si riuni' per la prima volta a Belgrado nel 1989... ]
Da: Petokraka78
Data: Mar 2 Mar 2004 13:33:04 Europe/Rome
Oggetto: Mugabe: "The Spirit of Belgrade, Yugoslavia"
[In light of the US fomented coup against Aristide, Mugabe's speech at
the G15 convention in Caracas, Venezuela is eminently salient and
relevant.]
The Herald (Harare)
NEWS
February 28, 2004
Posted to the web March 1, 2004
By Innocent Gore
Caracas, Venezuela
The international situation has changed for the worst in political and
economic terms and Third World countries stand threatened by the
arrogant and bullying leaders of the North, President Mugabe said
yesterday.
Addressing the 12th summit of the G15 on behalf of African countries
which are members of the grouping, President Mugabe said the amity that
the Third World countries were told would follow the destruction of
communism had proved to be a mirage and had created a new and dangerous
situation in which civilisations confront and seek to annihilate each
other with disastrous consequences for mankind.
"We see unjust wars such as those of Iraq and Yugoslavia waged against
innocent societies made culpable through blatant lies and propaganda
chanted on the CNN, BBC and other media to sharpen the insatiable
appetites of greedy neo-imperialists for aggression and aggrandisement.
"We see societies being destroyed and occupied merely because God gave
them rich resources coveted by the powerful nations of the North. This
is the tragedy of Iraq; this is the curse of Simon Bolivars Venezuela.
This is also the basis and cause of the current aggressive British
imperialism against my own country Zimbabwe. We are surely back to
those colonial times of unmitigated plunder. This is the environment
within which we exist as the Third World, indeed as members of the
G15," the President said.
In such circumstances, he said, the need for meaningful solidarity
could not be overemphasised because Third World countries needed to
believe in their collective means and capacities.
They needed to stand together and not against each other and the more
each one of them sought Western or Northern accommodation or
ingratiated themselves with the North, the weaker and more divided the
countries of the South would become.
"It would appear that our fear of the North is causing us to retreat
from our pledge to multilateralism as the North gets the better of us
through the politics and economics of divide and rule effected through
bilateralism.
"Why have we lost confidence in ourselves? We surely need to go back to
the basics of the vision of the founders of the G15, nay, of the Third
World and Non-Aligned Movement," Cde Mugabe said.
He said the debt burden continued to cripple Third World countries,
with diminishing earnings from the marginalised economies going to the
North, and not to the starving and ignorant children of the South.
"Across countries of the South, poverty balloons, begrimes and devours
the poor as our nations battle for credit-worthiness. More policies,
wrought through the World Trade Organisation, are mortgaging our
economies and our societies to the rich North."
President Mugabe said the challenges of the Aids pandemic were manifold
and the disease was increasingly becoming an epidemic of the poor as
cartelised economics and politics of anti-retroviral drug manufacture
and distribution bite deeper.
Many economies of the South suffered the double tragedy of losing vital
skills as well as the ability and capacity to import drugs to mitigate
the effects of the pandemic.
As if the misfortune of HIV/Aids was not enough, President Mugabe said,
several Third World countries were constantly afflicted by other
devastating natural phenomena such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions,
cyclones, hurricanes and tornadoes, in addition to the ravages of
droughts.
"Yes we may get sympathies and aid from the international community.
But what are our own united efforts and measures of the blocs of the
Third World?"
Cde Mugabe said for Africa, the New Partnership for Africas Development
provided a vehicle for South-South co-operation and interaction.
Nepad provided means for economic growth through trade, economic
development through joint investments and infrastructural development,
through shared skills and skills development and through technology
transfers with other regions of the South.
Above all, President Mugabe said, Nepad focused on collective
self-reliance, itself a hallmark of the G15.
He said there was need to utilise Nepad and some such initiatives in
the South so that the developing countries could take forward the
spirit of Belgrade, Yugoslavia, where the G15 was formed in 1989, for
the benefit of their peoples and societies.
He said the 12th G15 summit, which was officially opened by Venezuelas
President Hugo Chavez here yesterday afternoon under the theme "Energy
and Development", was a very important event and should focus its
attention on the modalities of facilitating development in the Third
World countries through the ready availability of energy without
interference from those who seek to control their resources.
"In international relations, we need to insist on the authority of the
United Nations being recognised in international conflicts. Indeed, we
need to persist in our demand for a restructured Security Council so we
can secure our world, which today stands threatened by warrior states
and kingdoms. This is the challenge for we dare not shirk our
responsibilities," Cde Mugabe said. He paid tribute to the people of
Venezuela for their determination and perseverance to host the summit
against all odds.
"Indeed, let us emulate the courageous leadership President Chavez
continues to show in seeking better prospects for the Venezuelan people
who deserve to enjoy the full benefits of the resources God gave them
and their country," President Mugabe said.
"I am only too aware of the many challenges and impediments that have
been put in your way by counter-revolutionary forces in the hope of
shaking your commitment to the G15 and solidarity with fellow Third
World peoples. We in Zimbabwe are no strangers to such wiles of
imperialism and can only salute you and your people for standing up to
such bullying tactics that have come to characterise international
relations, particularly as defined by some powerful nations of the rich
North."
Now comprising 19 countries, the G15 was born out of a realisation of
the asymmetrical relations between the rich, powerful and dominant
countries of the North and impoverished, weak and marginalised
countries of the South.
President Mugabe said these relations were by and large, an unwholesome
legacy of the imperial interface between most Third World countries and
the dominant North.
The relations have mutated over the years and even centuries but
without improving the South "and thus proceeding clearly in ways that
have been detrimental to all of us", the President said.
"Collectively, we of the South are the underdogs of a world shooed by
the powerful North and our relative and contrasting fortunes as members
of the surbodinate and constellating South must be cause enough for us
in uniting our efforts in shaping our own socio-economic destiny," he
said.
The G15 was founded out of a realisation that interaction between
countries of the South as collective victims of a cruel history of
imperial dominance and exploitation, was quite insignificant as
compared to rival interaction between the countries of the South and
their erstwhile colonisers of the North, President Mugabe said.
The G15 comprises Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Egypt,
Jamaica, Kenya, India, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria,
Peru, Sri Lanka, Senegal, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.
Seven leaders from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Iran, Jamaica and
Zimbabwe had by yesterday arrived for the summit.
President Mugabe and his delegation were last night scheduled to attend
a dinner hosted by President Chavez.