When Kenya and Africa were fighting for independence, Jomo Kenyatta, Julius Nyerere, Kwame Nkrumah and other African leaders asked the free world to give them support and solidarity. The solidarity and support they got finally weakened colonialism and made it easier for African and Asian countries to be free.
But in taking solidarity and support from other countries, Kenya and other African countries incurred a moral debt that they must now repay by supporting and expressing solidarity with other states such as Venezuela and Cuba, which are suffering from oppression from bad leaders such as US President Donald Trump.
The truth is that American leaders such as President Barack Obama were better for the poor and weaker countries like Venezuela than Trump, who regards African states as shithole.
An African proverb says, firewood drying in the rack would be foolish to laugh at dry firewood burning in the fire. Equally, African countries that Trump calls shithole countries and are drying in his rack will be ill-advised to deny Venezuela and Cuba that are firewood burning in the fire of President Trump.
At this point, we must pause and congratulate the Democratic Party that through Congress denied President Trump use of military force against Venezuela.
It must be clear to Congress and everybody else that if Trump is a bad leader for America and Europe, he cannot be waging a just war against Venezuela. He is already waging a political war against America, his own country.
He is also waging an economic war against China, which he intends to bring down the same way he wants to bring down Venezuela and Cuba.
Tragically President Trump is also waging a medical war against poor Americans by negating insurance scheme for the poor, which Obama initiated in his first term.
President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro may not be a perfect leader but that does not give Trump moral right or authority to change the country’s leadership by substituting him with what western countries are calling “interim President” Juan Guaidó.
Every country is entitled to its own leadership, however, bad it maybe, and it is upon the citizens to change it, not foreign powers. And while it is tempting to ask for support from other countries to topple a government you may not like, it is better for people to change their government rather than rely on foreign military that is bound to interfere and negate a country’s sovereignty. This is what Trump is doing in Venezuela.
Yes, all people desire a good and democratic leadership for themselves. They must, however, not rely on others, who might impose their own rules when changing the incumbent government. The consequences will not only limit rights and freedoms but also independence and sovereignty.
Even Trump’s so-called desire to give Venezuelans aid cannot be an excuse to change their government and substitute it with a puppet that will serve US’s interests rather than those of their country.
President Maduro is right when he argues that £20 million aid to turn Venezuelan support against him cannot substitute the country’s right to have their own £60 billion returned home by the US, Britain and other western countries to buy whatever they need and want. If you impoverish someone by taking away his money, you cannot claim mercy when returning a drip of the same money to stop him from dying.
Ultimately we must not just have a free world, we must also have a just world that defends everyone’s right to life, equality, freedom and sovereignty.