Book Launch of "Facets of Power"
28th April 2016
Speech given by the Rt. Rev. Dr Sebastien Bakare Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Harare
It is indeed a great honour to be asked by Weaver Publishers, a renowned company, to launch this book Facets of Power. When Irene invited me, and having read the book through, I said to myself: Why me? I am not a politician or economist but a theologian. So you have to bear with me.
Facets of Power - Politics, Profits and People in the Making of Zimbabwe’s Blood Diamonds is a very fitting title that describes the dilemma surrounding the discovery of diamonds at a time when the scramble for political and economic power was at its height in the midst of a galloping inflation.
Reading this book with the people of Marange in mind, I was reminded of the biblical story of creation in the Book of Genesis:
“When God had finished creating the earth and everything and saw that it was good, then God said, and let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness (1v27)”.
In this story God appreciates what he has created and allocates a sacred worth to human beings - regardless of ability, capability or disability. It therefore follows that human beings are to be treated equally with the respect and cheapest au cialis honour due to them. This sacredness of human being is unmitigated by economic, social or political status, because it is God’s gift that should not be taken away from an individual or a group of people.
The book we are launching here today is about a community which is supposed to enjoy life with all the resources at its disposal as a gift from God to be shared equally by all. When God said it was good, yes, it was good for all - but not just for powerful and greedy elite.
FACETS OF POWER is a case study which exposes human tragedy and illustrates the defacement of human dignity. By defacement I mean a total distortion of human image so that it ceases to be what God intends it to be. FACETS OF POWER tells the reader how the community of Marange has been robbed of the goodness God created for them. When the Marange people were first told that they were walking on diamonds, the news was welcomed with great joy. They thought that their arid district was going to be transformed into a flourishing area providing opportunities for employment and better standards of living. Little did they know that their feet were walking on landmines that would soon explode and deface the image of the environment and its inhabitants, defacing that which God created and saw as good and beautiful, but it has now been turned into an area with permanent, ugly open shafts, craters and viagra price costco graves to remind generations to come of the story of Blood Diamonds.
The owners of the mining companies that descended like vultures on this arid area of Zimbabwe to exhume precious stones have been merciless and compassionless disregarding the basic needs of the Marange people for food, clothes, shelter, education and health. They have instead centred their interests on the profit they could make from the diamonds driven by greed and avarice. How I wish I could remind all those who have more than they need, of the biblical story of the Children of Israel in the desert where those who collected more Manna than they needed, found it full of maggots and therefore useless.
Today we in Mutare and the communities surrounding Chiadzwa see families who have been displaced from their traditional settlements, robbed of their future and left abandoned in a desperate state whereby nobody seems to care for them. One does not have to be an expert to know that an economic dispensation that favours a small elite benefitting from political patronage while the majority languishes in poverty, has no future in a country that aspires genuine democracy. The current system disregards and buy generic nolvadex effaces the image of God. Members of the Chiadzwa community have been arrested, tortured and even killed while women and girls were raped - with no authority to turn to for reporting these crimes.
I happened to ask a woman from Chiadzwa at a workshop last year, why people were not reporting criminal offences like rape, and she said there was no one to report to as police and soldiers were involved in these criminal activities.
My friends, Reading through the pages of this book, one cannot fail to understand the plight and struggle of the powerless peasants of Marange caused by a selfish and brutal elite with no regard for human dignity. My sincere appreciation goes to the contributors of FACETS OF POWER for their remarkable in-depth research and insights into the Chiadzwa disaster whereby the discovery of diamonds, instead of transforming and online levitra with prescription developing the district, ended in de-development which has led to displacement of the people of Marange leaving them poorer and more miserable than before. The Chiadzwa mining area has been declared a no-go area for its people and anyone found there will be prosecuted for trespassing.
The story of BLOOD DIAMONDS, however, has not only scandalised, shamed and destroyed the image of the Marange Community alone, but also that of the entire nation. The recently announced disappearance of $15 billion affects us all since all natural resources should benefit the nation as a whole. I would therefore highly recommend this book to every concerned Zimbabwean who cares about the future of this nation and its natural resources. One is forced to conclude: Never again should we allow a power-hungry, shameless and corrupt elite system that denies equal opportunities to all.