Category: Opinions

    Socialist Easter Greetings!

    Socialist Easter Greetings!

    April 18, 2019 by Socialist Party Zambia in

    Jesus came into our world to launch God’s revolution – a kingdom revolution, a revolution of the Spirit, a world-changing movement that would overcome evil with good and hatred with love. And Jesus himself was the most radical revolutionary leader who ever lived.

    All too often, however, we look at Jesus as the founder of a “lovely home and garden religion,” called Christianity, a harmless spiritual leader who left behind some lovely platitudes and inspirational thoughts, a man whose memory we celebrate at the annual Easter egg hunt.
    But that is hardly the Jesus of the New Testament. His message was a threat to the religious establishment. He called for dramatic, sweeping – yes, revolutionary – change. He taught his followers to pray radical prayers like, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” – meaning, the displacement of the corrupt kingdoms of this world by the perfect kingdom of God. He called his disciples to revolutionary commitment, urging them to leave everything and follow him, and in his platform message, he promised freedom to the captives (Luke 4:18–21).

    That is the language of a revolution, and that is the language we must recover today, as our nation teeter–totters on the verge of moral and social – not to mention economic – collapse. We need a Jesus-based cultural revolution that will recover the fear of God, the respect of honour, the dignity of family, and the beauty of morality.

    Join our socialist revolutionary cause and fulfill Jesus’ call to change the world, a life-changing book filled with challenging examples from saints and martyrs of the past.

    “We socialists would have nothing to do if you Christians had continued the revolution begun by Jesus,” these words were spoken by a leading socialist in the 1920s. Yet more than 90 years later, they remain foreign to many Christian ears. What “revolution” did Jesus begin? And was Jesus in any sense a “revolutionary”?

    As Dr. Martin Luther King warned decades ago, “If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority.”
    Let’s accordingly examine our present methods of leadership against the biblical grid.

    There is reason for great hope. As expressed by the Vernon Grounds, “A Christian who… becomes a revolutionary will serve as a revolutionary catalyst in the Church; and by the multiplication of revolutionised Christians, the Church will become a revolutionary catalyst in society; and if society is sufficiently revolutionised, a revolution of violence will no more be needed than a windmill in a world of atomic energy.”

    Wishing you a Happy Easter!

    Issued by Fred M’membe on behalf of the Politburo of the Socialist Party

    Statement of the Socialist Party on the UPND led Opposition Alliance

    Statement of the Socialist Party on the UPND led Opposition Alliance

    March 25, 2019 by Socialist Party Zambia in

    The Socialist Party is not going to join the UPND led Opposition Alliance.

    And we have not been invited to do so – probably because our colleagues in the UPND and other opposition political parties know our principled position on this score.

    While the UPND and its allies, together with the Patriotic Front, are seeking to entrench capitalism in Zambia, our objective is to build a totally different type of society anchored on justice, equity and peace and on the values of honesty, humility and solidarity – a socialist Zambia.

    For all their differences, quarrels or squabbles and mock engagements, there’s more in common between the UPND led Opposition Alliance and the Patriotic Front – which are all pro-capitalist political parties – than they can ever individually or collectively have with us.

    For them winning elections is everything; for us it can never be political alliances just for sake of winning elections. We can only join political alliances for socialism and the struggle for a more progressive, just, fair and humane world.

    We will, however, respectfully cooperate, work together with our colleagues in the UPND and other opposition political parties to remove the cruel, tyrannical and despotic impediments placed by the Patriotic Front and its government on the holding of free, fair and peaceful elections in Zambia.

    Issued by Fred M’membe on behalf of the Politburo of the Socialist Party

    Sunday, March 24, 2019
    21:56 hours

    Garden Compound,
    Lusaka.

    General Secretary’s international Women’s Day message

    General Secretary’s international Women’s Day message

    March 8, 2019 by Socialist Party Zambia in

    From: Socialist Party General Secretary, Comrade Cosmas Musumali

    To: Socialist Women’s League

    Dear Comrades, I would like to wish you a revolutionary International Women’s Day.

    As revolutionaries, let us not lose sight of the history connected to this day, and how its commemoration is borne from a deep desire by women to free themselves from patriarchy and class-based oppression within the capitalist system.

    This day came up from the working class women of the U.S.A. They could no longer tolerate the levels of patriarchy and capitalist exploitation directed at them for merely being women. The International Women’s Day also bears the hallmark of the women of the Tsarist Russia, whose wave of protestations against bread-related issues, led to the 1917 Russian Revolution.

    With the increased levels of economic exploitation, patriarchal marginalisation, globally, high levels of political and gender-based violence in Zambia, it is only appropriate that we commemorate this day by maintaining that revolutionary legacy.

    Let us extend solidarity to the needy and marginalised people in our communities. A visit to one detained at a correctional facility or a lonely brother or sister admitted to a health facility, for instance, is sufficient revolutionary solidarity which speaks to our humanity and our programme of Justice, Equity and Peace (JEP).

    The revolutionary path the Zambian working masses have embarked upon through the Socialist Party can only become a reality if women lead the class struggle against and if they also take each day as Women’s Day.

    Long live the socialist revolutionary women.

    Press Statement for immediate release and circulation

    Press Statement for immediate release and circulation

    March 7, 2019 by Socialist Party Zambia in

    For some time now, The Zambian Observer has carried articles crediting me, Fred M’membe, which I have not written. A strange but worrying pattern.
    Until now, I have not complained about the Zambian Observer’s knack for publishing falsehoods under my name. We had hoped their figment of imagination would have an end!
    But their propensity to slander me is getting out of hand.
    The Zambian Observer’s conduct is not a mistake. It is a premeditated activity whose motive they themselves know. It’s not just unprofessional, unethical but it’s both immoral and dirty.
    It cannot continue. Don’t go all the length to destroy the noble platform and profession of journalism because doing so will rob the human race greatly.
    I have not authored the article circulating in the Zambian Observer under the headline: A Must Read: The truth Fred M’membe voices out.
    We urge the Zambian Observer to observe clearly and report truth.
    It doesn’t hurt to cultivate news and inform our citizens but please don’t use my name for the sake of your circulation and capital.

    Issued by Fred M’membe
    18:18 hours
    Lusaka.

    Statement of the Socialist Party on the National Dialogue and Reconciliation initiative by the Church

    Statement of the Socialist Party on the National Dialogue and Reconciliation initiative by the Church

    February 8, 2019 by Socialist Party Zambia in

    From the very moment the Socialist Party received an invitation to attend the preliminary meeting of the stakeholders to the National Dialogue and Reconciliation process, we did not hesitate for a second to embrace both the need for these talks and the spirit of the letter from the conveners – the Church.
    And we issued a press statement in which we categorically stated our belief that national dialogue deserves our attention as a tool with the potential to facilitate peaceful political transformation while recognising that it is not a magic wand in itself.
    Clearly, even those who defend the status quo – which for a moment benefits them – do appreciate the need to attend to a number of conflict-fuelling themes of political rights, basic freedoms, institutional reforms, election procedures, above all the need to have a Constitution that befits a multiparty democratic dispensation.
    And we believe a national dialogue process, devoid of shadow boxing and other ulterior motives, should provide for substantive conversation around the major grievances of all key interest groups as well as the national good.
    The nation for once needs civility, humility and selflessness. Let us all set aside the fears of losing power, mirroring dialogue to regime change, having preconceptions, or setting it as a means to electoral win or loss.
    The world over, where need be – dialogue has been used to hear voices and possibilities. Why? It’s because it can encompass tensions and paradoxes – the only way to reach decisions that are acceptable to everybody. And Zambia today needs these means to avoid, or resolve, conflict.
    Everyone, whether in denial or for the sake of it, once they hibernate; by themselves – reckon that what separates democracy from other political philosophies is the principle and practice of solving differences first and foremost through dialogue. So why derail or attempt to put bottlenecks to the process that seeks to cleanse our nation of its vices, weaknesses?
    We cannot endure the status quo any more than we have already done. We seek to transform the current conflictive political and social environment, relationships and enhance governance.
    We are alive to the fact this dialogue cannot hold unless there’s a safe space in which the actors can interact with trust and respect. What the nation desires is a dialogue that consolidates the participation of social, economic, political, cultural, and institutional actors. One that strengthens the values of democracy and fosters actions that are more inclusive and sustainable.
    For this to happen, the convenors should be respected by the majority of citizens and should not have any political aspirations or goals that would present an obvious conflict of interest.
    And the Church has the long-standing moral authority and broad constituent bases to lead this long overdue process in our country.
    None of the Bishops or individual three church mother bodies is seeking political power. It has nothing to gain politically out of this dialogue save the preservation of peace, societal stability, and safeguarding the path to sustainable development.
    We cannot wait until the obtaining violent political winds degenerate and envelop the entire fabric of society for all political actors to see sense to put off all these red lights flashing in our faces.
    Accept that in a multiparty democratic dispensation change of government through elections is unavoidable – it is the essence of plural, multiparty politics.
    Just as there will be generational change of leaders, governments will fall, be voted out. At times a ruling party will have an internal leadership contest which ushers in new leadership.
    The abuse of the public order Act, the police, the courts, electoral process and the current Constitution that is full of lacunas – are all but premised on the principle or desire to perpetuate the PF’s hold on power. But it will not work.
    Rise from your comfort zone, come to the dialogue table. Let us get away from pettiness. We have a country to lead, a people to serve. The choking poverty is not simple statistics; these are our fellow citizens enduring the direct effects of poor and indifferent leadership.

    Issued by Dr Fred M’membe on behalf of the Politburo of Socialist Party ( Zambia),

    22:42 hours
    Lusaka