Young people must unite and rise up against Dictactorship in Africa!

What binds us together as young people living in Africa? Are we just a collection of individuals stuck in a continent? 

By Prince Gora

It was in early December of 2018 when I first had a real appreciation of the need for African youths to cooperate in their struggles. We were camped

at Africa University in Mutare for a Southern African Freedom Regional Advocacy Program (SAFRAP) meeting organized by Youth Empowerment and Transformation Trust (YETT). 

Until that point in time, I had lived with the false belief that Zimbabwe had a unique struggle. It quickly became clear to me that despite the physical borders imposed by the imperialists in the 19th century, Africa is still one big village and all our struggles are but an extension of the other as I watched in awe as one speaker after another narrated the challenges they were facing back home and the struggles they were fighting. 

The barbaric shooting of civilians in Nigeria a few days ago was frightening but it is by no means an isolated case. We had a similar thing in Zimbabwe in  January 2019 and in a style similar to that of Buhari's government switching off street lights while shooting people, the Zimbabwean government switched off the internet while it butchered its own people. Th

e South African government massacred workers at Marikana in 2012, the likes of Magufuli and Museveni are persecuting young people in their countries on trumped up charges everyday and millions of young Africans leave the continent yearly because their homelands have been made uninhabitable by filthy dictactors.

As young Africans, we must not sit back & hope that this will go away on its own because of the very simple reason that it won't. However, it will also be folly to act alone. We need to work together and cooperate. If there's one thing we can learn from these old dictactors, it is their ability to cooperate and to have each other's back. With the madness going on in Nigeria right now, that association of old dictators - the African Union - will most likely, to the surprise of noone, not speak a word against the barbaric actions of Buhari and his government.

Young people must rise up against DICTATORSHIP in African politics. Like young Africans who won independence for mother Africa, we need to cooperate and work with each other. Perhaps we need something in the form of an Organization of African Youth (OAY) inorder to fully cooperate. Our chances of winning are very slim when we are as divided as we are and fighting a group of united dictators as the AU.

Resisting ZANU Pf's oppression is risky, but doing nothing is riskier..!

Prince Gora | Zimbabwe's political environment is, in all honest, a very volatile environment. The price that one pays for being politically active  in this country is often times too high a price to pay. For simply being concerned about the affairs of his or her country, a Zimbabwean can easily get arrested, detained, beaten, harassed, abducted and even murdered. Mention names like Takudzwa Ngadziore, Tawanda Muchehiwa, Joana Mamombe and my point need not be made any more clearer.

Unsurprisingly, most of the Zimbabwean citizenry not only shun away from politics but actively, and innocently, encourages others to stay away from the so called 'dirty game'. "Unofira mahara (You will die for nothing)", "ZANU inoponda (ZANU murders people)", "Unopisirwa imba nadzo politics idzi (Your house will be set on fire -by ZANU PF supporters - because of  your political participation)", etc, are advises that are freely given to anyone who cares to listen to the average Zimbabwean. 

I am not here to rubbish such talk or advise for what my fellow countrymen and women say is indeed the truth. The Zimbabwean political history is littered with more than enough testimonies to validate these claims. 

But then, ....

This mentality plays right into the hands of Zanu Pf. If activists of our beloved motherland were not doing and saying the right things, the state wouldn't be spending so much money and resources to pursue them. Isn't it clear then that what the state desires is a citizenry that suffers in silence? A people that sees corruption but remain quiet? And that hears all the evil deeds of their government but still choose to direct their voices and energies elsewhere?

They may rig elections, steal our resources and taxes and harrass us however they want but that's not a victory for them nor a lose to us. Such a thing will only happen if we stop calling them to order, if we stop fighting for justice and our future. We must therefore never tire to raise our voices, we must never lose hope and we must never, ever stop fighting the oppressors.

Every time you raise a voice, every time you speak out, every time you stand up for a brother or sister, you are doing what the regime loathes so you're a champion because you are fighting!

There's nothing to be gained by abstaining from politics and I need not do anything more that just quote the wise words of men who lived a long time before me to prove my point:

"If you do not take interest in the affairs of your government, then you are doomed to live under the rules of fools" ~ Plato

"One of the penalties of refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors" ~ Plato

"The worst illiterate is the political illiterate. He hears nothing, sees nothing, takes no part in political life. He doesn't seem to know that the cost of living, the price of beans, of flour, of rent, of medicines, all depend on political decisions. He even prides himself in his political ignorance, sticks out his chest and says he hates politics. He doesn't know, the imbecile, that from his political non-participation comes the prostitute, the abandoned child, the robber and, worst of all, the corrupt officials, the lackeys of exploitative multinational corporations." ~ Beltort Brecht.

Fellow countrymen, we're lions, we need to roar. Remember no one is coming to liberate us so it's upon our shoulders to liberate ourselves, children, grandchildren and all those who will come after us!