Lessons from Egypt and Zimbabwe

The ongoing US protests have the potential to change the face of race relations in America but there are concerns that sinister groups are bound to misdirect the genuine struggle by blacks in the US. That’s the view of analyst Siyabonga Hadebe who says protest leaders should take note the recent so-called revolutions in Egypt (2011) and Zimbabwe (2017) ‘that brought no material changes but priests in new garbs’. Writing for IoL, Hadebe argues true revolutions result in losses for the deposed and major structural gains for victors. ‘In both Egypt and Zimbabwe, this did not happen. In both instances, the army facilitated the “revolutions”. The argument is thus advanced that the military simply wanted to channel the course of political developments in the two countries to achieve their selfish ends. The army, as witnessed in Egypt and Zimbabwe, can show signs of altruism only if its intentions is to misdirect the wishes of the people. In America, however, it is unlikely that the army can play a similar role but other forces can. Already, there are many sympathisers in the streets. Though this many appear positive, the struggle must be left to African-Americans to fight. ‘

Full analysis on the IoL site