The Western imperialists were very quick to brand the recent elections in Zimbabwe
undemocratic, but there is no shortage of undemocratic and rigged elections in the African
continent. Jordi Martorell takes a timely look at the history of the country since
independence in 1980; its relations with the IMF, and why the imperialists have switched
their support from Zanu-PF to the MDC. He says the main lesson to be drawn from the
history of Zimbabwe in the last 20 years is precisely that genuine national liberation
cannot be achieved simply by winning formal independence and democratic rights, but only
by the overthrow of the capitalist system itself. Capitalism has sufficiently proven its
inability all over Africa to solve any of the problems facing the masses. It is time for a
socialist alternative, based on the democratic planning of the continent's vast resources
by the workers and peasants themselves.
Jordi Martorell reviews this new book by Patrick Bond and Masimba Manyanya. It traces the
economic history of Zimbabwe over the last 100 years but pays special attention to the
last 20 years since the coming to power of Zanu-PF. But while they make a damning
condemnation of the IMF and their policies that have wrecked the Zimbabwean economy, the
authors are proposing reformist solutions of tariff barriers and exchange controls, which
will not solve the main problem which is the over-exploitation of the workforce. There is
no way forward on a capitalist basis.
We publish this translation of an article that originally appeared in the last issue of La Riposte,
the Marxist journal in France. The article analyses the role of French
imperialism in the latest conflicts, and looks at the perspectives for
future French involvement in the region.