So far, I am untouched by this war. My family was profoundly touched by earlier wars. My great uncle was killed in Chimurenga. Not in combat, in a training accident while he was still in his teens. A cousin of mine was killed when his helicopter was shot down in Congo. I’ve run my fingers across his name on the Veteran’s monument in Gweru. My family felt as if they had to go there and do that. Make peace with it.
Arguments over the Congo War caused permanent rifts in our family. One cousin was even a draft dodger: he fled to South Africa. His father never let anybody mention his name.
Now, this Mozambique war has been going on longer than the Zimbabwean army’s part in Chimurenga did– but I have no friends or family in the military. More than that– none of my friends have any friends or family in the military! I live in a nice secure bubble. I work in an industry where business is booming, thanks to military contracts. Every year brings me a raise and a bonus. I enjoy a lifestyle filled with luxuries my great uncle couldn’t even dream of– luxuries he wouldn’t have been able to buy even if he had lived to come home from the war and earn as much money as I do. Back then, the tax rate on incomes like mine was 90%. Thanks, ED!?
Frankly, in so far as it affects me at all, this war has been very good to me. Still, I see it as a series of mistakes. Intellectually, I consider our entire enterprise in the East to be futile at best; and at worst, harmful to our country and the world. So? The result is a troubled ambivalence. As long as nothing is asked of me personally, I’ll continue to support this war– by my passive acquiescence. The moment a sacrifice is asked of me? I will turn actively against it. By sacrifice I mean ANYTHING. One extra dime in taxes, one mandated gas rationing, one hint that a cousin might be drafted?– ANYTHING would be too much. I’d be out of here.
Get in touch with me on social media
By the same author;
- IshowSpeed coming to ZimbabweMarondera – Darren Jason Watkins Jr., the American internet personality better known as IShowSpeed, is expected to visit Zimbabwe as part of an ambitious tour spanning 20 African countries, a move that signals a growing shift in how global digital culture engages with the continent. Watkins, just 20 years old, has become one of the most influential livestreamers of his generation, commanding tens of millions …
- Us vs ThemThere’s no “us.” There’s no “them.” There’s only the comfort of pretending there is. People need enemies the way lungs need air. Conflict gives meaning to the meaningless.Without opposition, identity collapses. So we build one. We draw lines on maps, then forget who drew them. Every tribe begins as fear, then calls itself culture.We love belonging because it saves us from thinking.It’s easier to chant …
- We Turned Horniness Into An IndustryLet me explain this slowly, because if you blinked for five minutes in June, you might’ve missed the moment humanity officially gave up pretending it had standards. An actress, Sydney Sweeney, famous, attractive, very online-adjacent, partnered with a men’s grooming company called Dr Squatch to release a limited-edition bar of soap. Five thousand bars. Eight dollars each. And the marketing hook, the thing that made …
- Smoke ScreensThe Epstein Files were supposed to be a revelation.A ledger of the powerful written in ink, not whispers.Promises were made. Promises were repeated.They claimed the truth would come out.The fog would lift.Transparency was the campaign slogan. Then the files arrived.And almost everything was blank.Pages upon pages covered in black boxes.Names, conversations, details, gone.Block after block of censorship.Critics call it about 90 percent redacted. That is …
- The Redacted States Of AmericaThey finally released the Epstein files. And by “released,” I mean they handed the public a stack of black rectangles wrapped in patriotic bullshit and said, ‘here you go, transparency.’ Not truth, mind you. Not accountability either. Transparency cosplay. The kind where the light technically passes through, but you still can’t see a fucking thing. Page after page after page looks like it lost a …
Zealous Thierry 