A detest of opulence and extravagance - By Cde Treasure Basopo.
I am penning down this short piece in response to an article published on page 7-8 of Varsity News Volume 21 on Monday 15 February 2021.
The above cited article sought to create an impression of a former student leader who was once passionate about a pro-poor revolution but has since negated the cause after a flickering lick of what is supposed to be a share of capitalism.
An unbridled flop from the socialist ideology of organising society.
The motivation of this thread fits squarely on correcting the misconceived and misbegotten notion that the revolution is about perpetual poverty, deprivation and economic suffocation.
Varsity News sought to strike a false equivalence by creating a shoddy conclusion of opulence , surprisingly equated to the American based Passion Java and the late Genius Kadungure.
By drawing a summative conclusion from a few public photos on my Instagram account, Varsity News is not only deceiving , but deliberately misleading , which is immoral and criminal as well.
I am boggled and obfuscated by an attempt to equalise and equate a modest and peasantry student life and adventures to bounty being pampered and sponsored by unknown and otherwise unclean sources of money by the two socialites as highlighted above .
Infact, there is no room for gallivanting as hedonists amidst a revolution that is necessitated by an unprecedented long-stay in power by a once revolutionary political outfit – Zanu PF.
I am a staunch proponent of the freedoms of the press, journalistic privileges and freedom of conscience but must not prejudice other fundamental human freedoms and rights in the process.
However, revolution is about pain, not perpetual suffering and dispossession , for fighting is a process to eradicate and liquidate squalid conditions of leaving not a lifestyle of poverty and misery.
The revolutionary intellectual Amilcar Cabral a.k.a Abel Djassi (assassinated January 20 1973) said, ‘ Always bear in mind that people are not fighting for ideas, for things in anyone’s head. They are fighting to win material benefits , to live better and in peace , to see their lives go forward , to guarantee the future of their kids.” .
The major difference arise between two kinds of people , those who seek to individualise and those who seek to nationalise, regionalise or even continentalize the above aspirations of Cabral, for the central and strategic objective of any revolution is creating comfort zones, safety nets and total happiness for the maximum many not the few or cabals.
It requires neither Solomonic wisdom nor Shakespearian wit to recognise without blinkers that the big elephant in the room within the context of our country is ZANU PF and has to be the focus of our struggle, asking each other hard questions on when and how ZANU PF is supposed to go!.
The struggle continues !
Under my hand!
Cde Treasure Basopo
