My father was one of the revolutionaries of the Zimbabwean struggle and he used to say to me all the time “A revolution swallows its leaders” when we get into political debates. I remember asking him once what he meant by this statement and he simply said, “If a leader does not know or choose when to step down graciously, then the law of nature (in the form of a revolution) is bound to take them down!” I nodded as if I understood his explanation, but I really did not grasp it. I was only 10, maybe 12 years old. My father was my inspiration for loving politics. He had a lot of charisma about his tolerance of it.
But before this statement, I also remember once asking him why, despite all his past sacrifices for the struggle for Zimbabwe and present political engagements, he never hungered for political power? For political positioning and why he stood by and watched his compatriot curve out political power and got positioned into lucrative political positions at the independence of Zimbabwe? It angered me that he got nothing out of his struggle for the liberation of Zimbabwe! That he never got acknowledgement for it, in some way or other after the sacrifices that he made….which included us having our house bombed with Molotov cocktails (home-made petrol bombs) during the Zhanda days of the Zimbabwean revolution. (My mom, sister and I almost died in that bombing incident).
Zhanda - For years I had a dream that haunted me of an all consuming fire flames lapping at me and a cloudy white mushroom overcoming me such that I could not breath! Then suddenly I would wake-up in a cold sweat. I had that dream for many, many years and could never understand why it always recurred or repeated itself so identically? It was not until I was an adult living in America I realized that the dream was my babyhood trauma of remembering that Molotov cocktail bombing incident of our house! I was only a baby when the incident occurred! The dreams also stopped when I left my homeland. I also remember my father always in hiding from the Rhodesian government, so the family story goes. Growing up, for years, I was used to my father disappearing and then reappearing with no logical explanation! The disappearing acts coincidentally stopped when he went to the Lancaster House Conference in the UK to participate in the “negotiated” the peace treaty for Zimbabwean independence!
Anyway, moving forward in 1996, the first time he mentioned “a revolution swallows its leaders” statement, I was home on vacation from America and my father stopped by the house one afternoon and we found ourselves talking about his political passions. Just him and I. It was the time he was passionate about the promise of the new opposition political party –the Zimbabwe Unity Movement (ZUM). I was concerned. I had asked him, why he was now aligning himself with ZUM, which seemed infested by disgruntled political pariahs, and I also felt that they were “using” him as their sounding board because he was non-threatening to the ruling regime, so if anything, there did not seem much for him to gain by supporting the opposition, except putting himself and us in danger! For years, I had felt that he had sacrificed so much and yet he had never benefited from his sacrifices! I also felt that he was always inventing excuses of why he did not get his own! I had secretly thought he was always pulling his punches when it came to his politics, thus he was a political coward! How wrong I was!
That afternoon, I realized he made political scarifies for the common good, not for his personal gain! I remember telling him that politics was not for idealists! Then I also remember that after I said that, he looked at me with the pride of amusement at my passion yet at the same time the wise look in his eyes told me I had a lot to learn. His eyes also told me (now I realized) I reminded him of his younger, passionate political self! But in response to my belligerent, enthusiastic comments and reasoning, he remained engaged in our conversation and that’s when he said to me – “A revolution swallows it leaders!” It sounded like a profound statement, but I did not understand the insightful depth and wisdom of it! Not then anyway. My father was a great orator so I was used to profound statements whether I understood them or not. In this case, it was a statement out of context and ahead of its time for me to grasp or appreciate its meaning! Yes he tried to explain, but the, magnitude of his meaning – the epiphany - was to come later!
What did I know? In 1996, I was a newly graduated MA political student from an American University. I was a newly “educated” self-confident radical twenty something, I looked at things differently and had my head full of new perspectives and ideologies (not that I necessarily agreed with them but I understood the logic or rational for them). So I had experienced (theoretically) different political world views and had drunk a diversity of political views in my education! You did not negotiate with betrayers, with sell-outs and there were other ways of doing politics…and government!
Well now in 2011, with all the events unfolding in North Africa and the Middle East, a revolution swallows its leaders makes sense! Overwhelming sense! When a people are willing to die for liberation, a leader, no matter how powerful needs to realize that the beginning of his end has come!
In Part 1 of “A revolution swallows its leaders” published February 2010, I wrote that:
“A revolution swallows its leaders. This is the natural progression of socio-political dynamics. It’s not their choice to be swallowed, but it’s a factor of time, trends and change. But they have options. These options are: Reinvention; Innovation and Diversification. Unless they are willing to reinvent themselves; innovate and diversify their ideas, their political platforms, their agenda, their worldviews, their values, beliefs, culture, geography and paradigms then being swallowed is inevitable. It’s a natural progression of human evolution.” @2/2010 –DocNdoro/SLIPPA
Today, I must add a fourth option: Gracefully stepping down!!! So, I am not surprised at what’s happening in Yemen, Egypt, Bahrain, Libya..etc…even Milwaukee, WI, USA. It happened in Eastern Europe with the fall of the Soviet Union. What I do not understand in this dynamic revolutionary process though is how these leaders are so out of touch with the fact that the wheels of change are turning and its beyond their humanly control to hold on to power? I guess power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely….even the common sense of the mind!!!
I once wrote a college paper about Democracy and my argument was democracy is not about the regime, the government in power…it’s about the people, therefore “elections’ are not a definition of democracy but an process of how power changes hands. On the other hand, democracy is about how the people exercise their power whether it’s by the ballot or by protest! It was a paradigm shift from how I defined as well as regarded democracy!
Copyright @ February 23, 2011, Dr. Tendai Ndoro (DocNdoro) – Founder, SLIPPA/Brighten the Corner Foundation; CEO EDCTrainers, LLC
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