What is Independence about?
How to celebrate your countries Independence?
For some it is seen as a day that can finally be spent at home, sorting all the things pushed aside for too long, or maybe just kicking back and enjoying a day off. But thirty-three years on, what do we celebrate as an independent country?
As I watch the Independence celebrations on ZBC, I notice there is not much enthusiasm – the crowds are small and barely awake throughout the long, hot day. Even away from the main event there seems to be little interest.
Times have changed, thirty tree years ago, it was a big deal. Even Bob Marley came out to celebrate with us! Yet the excitement is gone, and I wonder … is it that Zimbabweans have forgotten their great struggle, or maybe they are just tired of dwelling on the past and would now rather look to the future?
Friday, April 19th 2013 at 12:57 pm
I beg to differ, for myself and most people I know in and outside Zimbabwe (Diasporas), and believe me that is a lot of us, we celebrated our independence day with a hope for the best in the future and we looked at the good that has come out of the past 33 years. We are a well educated, well traveled and well read bunch; educated in government schools and worked all over the world in our various professional capacities. There is no country on earth that does not have problems of governance, finance, poverty and other social issues of one degree or another. What we choose to focus on are those things that matter the most to us. We value family in Zimbabwe, we value policies that empower those marginalized by a former system of racist government, we value our traditions and lifestyles over western values that do not fit with ours; i could go on.
I also watched the celebrations on television and I don’t recall seeing crowds that were barely awake as you put it; what I saw was quite the opposite. The stadium was packed to capacity and the events/entertainment were quite lively in my opinion. Mr Tsvangirai and President Mugabe were in good spirits and it was quite encouraging to see this. Evidence of this is available online in stills and videos online, I could give you some links to see for yourself if you wish. There was also a 30min feature of the events on Al Jazeera last night; please watch again with an open mind, you might be able to see things different.
For most of us I feel that Independence is still important and dear to our hearts. We will never forget our great struggle for Independence and we are definitely looking into the future as we always have.
Be blessed…