In the central highlands of southern Africa are numerous, scattered remnants of gigantic fortresses and massive stone walls stretching over thousands of acres. These are the ruins of the majestic cities of Great Zimbabwe (1200 - 1450). This ancient African kingdom organized and controlled the gold and ivory caravans that proceeded from the interior to the southeast coast of Africa where trade was conducted with Arabia and India for textiles, utensils, glassware and weaponry. Great Zimbabwe was eventually replaced by the Mutapa Empire (1450 - 1630) which, in its turn, was succeeded by the kingdom of Changamire.

The Mutapa king had ultimate religious authority over the Shona people. His power was symbolized by the Divine Flame that burned continuously in his court. His subordinate rulers in the countryside had their own individual flames lit from his central Royal Fire. By 1630, the Portuguese, who had been exploring the coasts of Africa for more than a century, conquered the Mutapa Empire. In 1685, though, a local ruler, Changamire, defeated, and drove out, the Portuguese and established a kingdom, named after himself, Changamire, that lasted well into the 19th century.

By the 1880s, however, the nations of Western Europe, having been vastly enriched by centuries of free African labor, were moving determinedly from their largely coastal encampments to carve the continent up into a patchwork of colonies. (The Berlin Conference of 1884 formalized the process.) Britain, of course, was a key player in all of this. Its African gold and diamond mines were essential to the development and maintenance of its globe-spanning empire.

The individual who personified British power and influence in Africa was Cecil Rhodes. In fact, the south central highland region we are referring to, which is today the nation of Zimbabwe, was for a time a British colony called Southern Rhodesia in honor of Cecil Rhodes. Rhodes consolidated the thousands of individual gold and diamond claims by white miners in South Africa, and formed the fabled DeBeers Gold and Diamond mining company which today controls the price of gold and gems worldwide. He worked mightily to create and maintain the adjacent British colonies of South Africa, Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) and other British holdings.

Rhodes and his followers waged a series of bitter military campaigns, supported by the British army, against the Shona, Ndebele and other African peoples. By 1895, in Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), for example, the Africans were forced off all the good farmland, their movements restricted, and ultimately left no recourse but to work as laborers on "white owned" land. The white population of Southern Rhodesia, never more than 4%, completely controlled the land, the resources, the economy and the government.

During the 1950s and 60s, while most of the European colonies in Africa were gaining their independence, the southern tier of the continent remained firmly under white control. The region was fully occupied by 7 different British and Portuguese colonies. In 1965, when it appeared that Britain intended to grant independence to Southern Rhodesia, with equivalent rights for Blacks and whites, the white settler government seceded from the Empire and declared themselves the independent white-ruled country of "Rhodesia."

The UN instituted some ineffectual sanctions, and Britain looked the other way, refusing to use force to bring its former colony into line. A small, but persistent, guerilla movement soon developed. The well-equipped white Rhodesian army held its own for awhile. However, in 1975, when the adjacent Portuguese colonies of Mozambique and Angola, won their independence with military aid from Cuba, things began to change. Robert Mugabe and other guerilla leaders were soon mounting devastating military attacks in Rhodesia. By 1980, the white Rhodesians surrendered power to the black majority led by Mugabe. They promptly renamed the country Zimbabwe.

For more than 20 years afterwards, Robert Mugabe and the government of Zimbabwe peacefully negotiated with Britain, the white settlers and other interested parties to regain at least some of the land of the Africans. But all to no avail. Finally, now, 22 years after coming to power, they are taking forceful steps to regain their land. These actions have been greeted with hostility by the white farmers, Britain and America. Despite the fact that Rhodesia is a fully sovereign nation, the US is openly threatening to topple the Mugabe government.

The land question is the ultimate question, not only in Zimbabwe but throughout Africa and around the world. Can any country anywhere really be free if its people do not own the very land beneath their feet? No one is watching events in Zimbabwe with more concern than the white minority in South Africa which, though no longer in power, still controls the land, the precious, invaluable land of the richest nation in the Motherland...

As far as returning the land to Africans, can we just get specific here....

Lets take for example, my family's house in Durban.

Id like to understand exactly how you think this land redistribution scheme of your is supposed to work, and how your idea is supposed to affect me.

1 ) Are you saying that, my family, should hand over the keys to the house, to say.. the African man they employee who comes around once a week to do the garden?

2) What about Indians, and other ethnic people of South Africa, who are not white, but not African... under your land redistribution scheme, do they have to pack up and go back to India or where ever there ethnicity is traced?

3 ) What about mixed race people, or families that are intermarried, black/ white? What about there kids who are mixed race?

4 ) Are you looking for only pure bred Africans, or do you have a set of rules as to who gets to stay and who gets to go?

5 ) What happens if your African, but your parents are American by birth, and you are born and grown up in the states? Does that give you more right to live in South Africa, then mixed race people born in South Africa? Does that give you more right to live in South Africa, then an Indian person who was born and raised there?

Good post Nubianman, I agree with you.

Tiger,

You never got around to answering my questions on land redistribution? Seeing as it one of your main concerns, why not answer my questions and get a bit more in depth on this topic.

Waiting....

Or are you just going to sit there and hide behind other peoples posts, while you fluff there tails?

Tiger32 is one proud idiot.

quote:

---

Originally posted by thiswoundedsoul
Tiger32 is one proud idiot.

---

Where is your evidence?

quote:

---

Originally posted by thiswoundedsoul
Where is your evidence?

---

Hey seppo

How are you going? Whats going to be your racial, black power, backed by God comments today?


Just another black American with a chip on his shoulder.
So tell us... hows life in America? Let me guess... its very very different to Africa.... oh sorry you wouldnt quite know that, seeing that youve never been to Africa.

You know, i bet if you ever did get out to South Africa or any part of Africa,which as I, and every other person on this forum knows will never happen, you would probably moan and winge ..

You may have a black skin, but you aint no african. The sun would melt you in a second, you havnt even got an idea what its like to live in such a country...lol oh... and how do you plan to comunicate with other Africans... with sign language? You cant even speak and African Language..lol

I have stated before that my grandparents were friends and partners of Alan Paton, himself against racism. I have, all my life, been non-racist.

The history books, everywhere, plainly say that the 'settlers' of Suid Afrika were Dutch Calvinists, French Hugenots, and German Protestants. And then the British came. What is the common denominator here? Simply that the settlers were persecuted by Catholic nations. They came to Africa because they were homeless. Being, again, the minority, their impulse was to take control, which admittedly was bad. But, as a result of British colonialism, South Africa has some very fine universities and Victorian architexture. Yet, oddly, you want to keep all that, but you want the white man out...And neither do you ever mention the FACT the settlers WERE THEMSELVES VICTIMS OF PERSECUTION AND HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO RE-ESTABLISH THEIR CULTURE.

And so, in answer to your question, I have read history, hence the accuracy of my statements.

quote:

---

Originally posted by thiswoundedsoul

I have stated before that my grandparents were friends and partners of Alan Paton, himself against racism. I have, all my life, been non-racist.

---

lol

That's funny because none of my friends think I'm racist. None of my enemies think I'm racist. My family doesn't think I'm racist. My professors don't think I'm racist. My neighbors don't think I'm racist. My employer's don't think I'm racist. My acquaitences don't think I'm racist.

So, that leaves you. Tiger32 is the only person in the world who thinks I'm racist. Strangely enough, he has no evidence. I have as much evidence that Tiger32 is secretly plotting to take over Mars.

Just because I don't hate white south africans, like he does, does not mean I'm a racist. In my view, if a man is born in SA, then its HIS country, no matter the colour of his skin. Tiger32, on the other hand, likes the taste of white blood.

The only "racist" here is you, Tiger32. Now get out of my face, junior.

I think everyone on this site knows that Tiger calls every white person a racist. So when he says it now, it holds no value.

You got to remember that his sole intention is to get under your skin.. thats all. Hes here to **** with white people because he has nothing better to do.

You're right. But what I find most amusing is that many Africans themselves don't agree with his politics. By his reasoning, all blacks everywhere should live only in Africa. Because according to him SA land is 'stolen.' Well, North American land is stolen too, isn't it? But blacks live there, too, don't they? So, by his reasoning, he himself, a black man, should GET OUT OF AMERICA.