SISHUWA Sishuwa says the country is ripe for a revolution due to the many inequalities perpetuated by government.
In his reflections on the future leadership Zambia and the rest of the world need, Dr Sishuwa, a historian and lecturer at the University of Zambia, said all over the world, people were not happy with their leaders.
“Zambia is bleeding. It is a country ripe for revolution. Zambians are wounded. Zambia is a tinderbox, a bad drama too sad and too painful to watch. It must explode. Not if, but when it explodes, then perhaps it can be reconstituted. Those in charge are, with great abandon, dragging the country towards an epic economic collapse. Everything is coming to the fore,” he said yesterday. “The tipping point is near, and it might take only a small spark to light the pent-up frustrations and heap of grievances that have accumulated over the last few years. Those in power must be extremely careful. People are angry. Many are yearning for solutions to our collective problems. They are crying for competent leadership and a sense of clear direction. To those in charge of our country, I say please earn your leadership positions by actually leading effectively.”
Dr Sishuwa said what was happening in the US could happen anywhere in the world.
“What is happening in the US is definitely historic. We are caught up in a rare moment in history. But we in Zambia must also draw lessons from there and apply them to our pitiable condition. We must pay particular attention to the structural factors or objective conditions. They are present in nearly all countries. In Zambia we are yet to have our own version of this mass anger against the status quo. It is time to forge a revolutionary leadership before it is too late,” he said. “We are in a world historic moment. There appears to be a pandemic of absence of effective and competent leadership across much of the world. Come to think of it, the problem of the political leadership in the US today is a global one. India has Modi. Brazil has a clown [Jair Bolsonaro]. Tanzania has a sweeper [President John Magufuli]. Zambia has a…my goodness, what do I even call him? Britain has a megalomaniac who is a liar and chauvinistic narrow nationalist. Egypt is back to its generals. Israel has a corrupt murderous populist cringing on to power to escape possible conviction. South Africa has a White Monopoly puppet. And it goes on and on…’’
He said in Zambians needed social revolutions.
Dr Sishuwa cited what he termed senseless killing of citizens in this country as one of the reasons for a revolution.
“There is the pathetic case of Africans starving to death when our feet walk on mineral wealth and our buttocks sleep on well-watered fertile soils while Israel has mastered the trick of desert farming. We, especially those of us in Zambia, need social revolutions. We need real change in our lives which will and must accommodate our continuously evolving power to know and create. That is our challenge,” Dr Sishuwa said. “Note that we have mass unemployment here. We have senseless killings of unarmed citizens by police right here. Remember Frank Mugala, Mapenzi Chibulo, Lawrence Banda, Vespers Shimunzhila, Mark Choongwa, Grazier Matapa and several other innocent citizens who may have died at the hands of political violence or the police while saying ‘I can’t breathe’.’’
He observed that there was also a systematic marginalisation of particular ethnic groupings in the country.
“We have what appears to be the systematic marginalisation and outright discrimination of particular ethnic groupings who are also being retired from public service jobs and denied promotions or ascension to particular jobs in the public sector for the crime of belonging to a particular ethnic group,” Dr Sishuwa said. “We have prolonged power outages and an economy that has shrank so low that it’s literally on the floor now. In short, we have right here in Zambia many of the deeply problematic or underlying factors that we see in the US today.”
He said the high levels of inequalities in the US had led to the current protests that have so far lasted 10 days.
Dr Sishuwa the murder of an African American by US police was just a catalyst to what was brewing among marginalised citizens.
“When you think about it harder, you will realise that with more than 40 million newly unemployed workers on top of the pre-pandemic numbers of the unemployed, the US as the most advanced country in which the contradictions I am talking about are most pronounced is going through its convulsions, right now. The spark is the police public murder of a black man,” Dr Sishuwa said. “The eruption is the volcano that has been building up for a long time, a prelude to the birth of a new world. Note that birth is a bloody painful process, and there is no guarantee about what will be born: it must have equal amounts of evil and good. This dielectric cannot be avoided, escaped. The question will be determined by the quality of leadership of these two forces – forces of evil and forces of good.”
He however warned of a global uprising which could be bloody under clueless leadership.
“Now, I have grave fears of the outcomes of leaderless uprisings. People die, many brutally. The old order organises but on a higher authoritarian and brutal order. Even the few liberties evaporate. You have seen Trump quickly appealing to the army. This is dark stuff,” Dr Sishuwa said. “It is better, in my view, to harness the anger and revolutionary fever by a revolutionary leadership rather than to worship spontaneity – as in the case of the US. When this happens, the masses are usually beaten by the forces of reaction. The question for us in Zambia is simple: what is to be done? Whatever progressive responses we can master cannot work if they are not accompanied by one imperative: sharply raising political awareness about our inhuman conditions and calling for rebellion against these conditions which perpetuate our subhuman existence.”
Dr Sishuwa called for building a leadership that had shared goals with citizens.
He said it was not enough to replace a sitting leader, but it was about who replaced them.
“When we interrogate the question of ‘Who leads Zambia next and why’, we are likely to find that people will be voting against the status quo, not for something more fundamental and lasting, such as progressive ideas that are above ethnic visions. It’s worth noting that people opposed to a particular leader or party often do not think about what could replace them, and then get stuck into the same cycle,” Dr Sishuwa said. “A bad leader is replaced with another bad leader, with little thought given to the underlying problems and issues. South Africans were so desperate to be rid of [Thabo] Mbeki that [Jacob] Zuma came to power. Within a few short years, many were hoping Mbeki would come back. That has been our historic experience. This must change. It is important we fight for something simultaneously as we struggle to rid ourselves of our current enslavement. This must be accompanied by consciously building a core leadership with a shared understanding of where we are coming from, where we are and where we want the struggle to take ourselves to.”
Dr Sishuwa said, “now is a profound moment for the world, and every serious leadership of any country is worried”.
He called for a mass movement with a clearly defined leadership.
“We need a mass movement with a core leadership that is clear about a post-Lungu Zambia. Constructing this core and securing consensus about the key elements of a post Lungu Zambia is where our intellectual energies must be applied. This is tough work, but we must engage in that work if our fate is to change, as it must. A focus on too much politics on some of the most trivial issues is costing us our lives,” said Dr Sishuwa. “I urge people to speak out. Do not be discouraged because you sound like a lone voice: many are reading and thinking about what we say and write. The seeds are being sowed. It is work that requires patience, consistence, determination and above all, great courage. It also, of course, requires leadership. In fact, I would say that as long as the youths do not assume their leadership role in visioning a new totally different Zambia, they are, I am afraid to say, doomed to a life of much misery, wretchedness and squalor.”
Lungu, his thugs and the whole PF must go now. Revolution is here already
Out with PF
When you use unimaginable election violence and malpractice, then rigg elections , you find even the white inoguration dove refuses to fly , then just know nothing can good of any rule.
Especially you then go and committe worse crimes during your inflated rule ……
Sishuwa is lost on world leaders. As on date the most sincere, honest and hard working leader is Mr. Modi. Tanzanian President is equally a nation focused leader. Including these leaders in his target list confirms Sishuwa is a communist libertard. Revolutions are not good for majority of populace. Jumping from one fire to another political hypocrites is not a solution. Discussing national issues and create nhvawareness, asking party leaders to release their manifestos and delivery time schedule.
Instigating hungry bellies to revolt while Sishuwa sits in his home dipping his wine with his fake revolutionaries is a crime against humanity.
Abash with communists
Abash with Socialists
Shishuwa should be very careful. He is inciting an uprising against a sitting government and president. We know that the opposition are paying him and students to incite demonstrations. This is a treasonous act and shishuwa should not blame us when the long arm of the law visits him. His kids and family are not protesting and yet he is asking you to go risk your lives for a cause that is only there to benefit him and his pay masters in upnd. I think we have been too patient for too long. It is time we started dealing firmly with these disrespectful traitors
KZ as the youth are bleeding, stop talking nonsense things are not right in our country. Stop the hate for HH. Its your leadership who have failed us. If they could put things right all these youths could not cry. Boman did wrong and you are all supporting him. Wait KZ. Watch this space not in 2021. add the remainder. That behavior you are portraying will haunt you. Where did you come from always on the negative. This is Animal Farm, All Animals are equal but some are more equal than others. Lobe. PF please listen to what the youths want from you, not to threaten them you will make a very big mistake. Retirees are not still not paid up to now. They are quiet. Pay retirees they are crying they worked for this government.
“It is important we fight for something simultaneously as we struggle to rid ourselves of our current enslavement. This must be accompanied by consciously building a core leadership with a shared understanding of where we are coming from, where we are and where we want the struggle to take ourselves to.”-LT by Dr Sishuwa.
This expression uses in concert in the sense of “an agreement of two or more persons.”
Jerabos, sleeping giant, one that has great but unrealized or newly emerging power.
PF your have run out of time-outs.
Kampyongo don’t arrest Sishuwa, Mushimba, Mumbi Phiri (former friend of HH), and that Edgar’s Political Assistant, who are not agreeing with thuggery brought back by Lusambo.
What kind of revolution is this man on about? Burning and looting is not a revolution, that’s revolt. A revoultion has longevity, is sustainable, while a revolt is short-lived, perishable. A revolution is a wind of change blowing gently. When people begin to think differently, they act differently.. and that is what changes their situation. A positive change of mindset is the kind of revolution Zambia needs.
you damb lDlOT! what revolution?
this quack is the definition of being out of touch with whats on the ground. Pathetic (HH) and cadreism in the United Poniyo Niyo D0gs (UPND).
Kaponya (HH) aka Bally Matore is inciting misguided quacks like Linda Kaswende (gonorrhea) and unSure Sishuwa to usher him into office via violence.
Why can’t you quacks wait for your 7th defeat in 2021?
Valinan’toni ma sapato. You may need to run ka? You cannot run down a beautiful country like that and then propose Bill 10 as a remedy.
Wht kind of revolution? I don’t think this is necessary. There’s an election nxt year. Get ready to stand.
The revolution has already started…..
@ Kaizar Zulu © waba amato!e ukufota !! You and your party leaders are the traitors of this country. You have turned Zambian public funds to your personal ATM’s.
Thousands in Mali’s capital demand President Keita step down, Zambians should learn from Mali and demand the same from the Pompwe in the State house., to step down!
The effects of COVID restrictions have made the masses to starkly realize how so precarious their lives are.Mr President, how could you marginalize half of your national population on tribal/ethnicity lines and think you can hold the nation together.Now your policy of non inclusion of certain tribes in national development and their sense of injustice has caused them to deny collective responsibility for the mess that is Zambia today.Believe me,they have covert sympathies from the other”privileged ” ethnic tribes.
We have such “Doctors” in Zambia kanshi? Anywhere, its freedom of expression anything can be written or spoken but with the confines of the law. Outside that, the long arm of the law will visit you; ala osalila!
Lungu has destroyed Zambia. He is practicing system regionalism, bigotry, and exclusion. I wonder why those people he appoints cannot decline those positions as people from other regions are excluded. The quack occupying State House preaches One Zambia, One Nation. Yet at the same time he finds it normal to marginalize one section of Zambia. The strength of any country requires the involvement of all the citizens. Lungu has destroyed the country. He has really stifled democracy as the police officers do not use their judgment, but follow blindly whatever the quack says.
The revolution will come in the ballot boxes next year. Just be patient.
In America and Europe COVID 19 is playing second fiddle to the fight for human rights, here tuli ndwiii busy kushapuliwa by a minister and police.
Pompous ramblings of a doubious ‘intellecual.’. Can’t he confine the practice of mental gymnastics in his lecture theatres?
Writing bolloc*ks, on social media can’t be respectable extra curricular activities. Revolution when a general election is just around the corner?
Opposition are trying to steal the right to vote peacefully because they can’t win.
Lost man, that’s your opinion, don’t Force us to agree with you,I thought you were leaned Bo shishiwa..
ONLY THE HAND OF LAWLESSNESS CAN VISIT A CANDID OBSERVER AND COMMENTATOR OF OUR POLITICAL SCENE AS SISHUWA SISHUWA. HE GIVES WORDS TO WHAT THE REST OF US EVEN FEAR TO THINK ABOUT. WHAT HE WRITES RELIEVES OUR MINDS OF MENTAL ANGUISH ARISING FROM THE CARELESS TALKING OF BALLMAN LOOSETONGUE, SATURDAY CHAMBA, KARELESS ZOO, TOOT WILDPIG AND OTHER TOXIC MOB MEMBERS. IT IS THESE UNSCRUPULOUS LOSE-TONGUED INDIVIDUALS WHO HAVE MADE THE PF TO LOSE ITS SHINING PRISTINE POPULARITY.
KZ stop being an a$shole
Revolution is coming to your house, run and hide under the rock you come from.
This dull nigga is on some drugs. Check him out.
There’s a govt in office right now. Its mandate ends nxt yr. You can dislike the govt as much as possible. That’s no crime and is the most u can do. Revolution? Perish the thought.
Something big is brewing, just wait.
To all the politically ambitious, get ready to stand in nxt yr’s elections. Go ahead and organize. Strong feelings of dislike of the current govt don’t amount to policy. Yes, we’re in a mess and no one is ready to Zambia debt relief. In fact I believe that no one should give Zambia debt relief because we’re not ready for it.
A change of GRZ is not the answer to Zambia’s problems right now as our opposition are a bunch of power hungry greedy hyenas just wanting to sieze power and chew. They have no heart for the country except for their bellies. PF are playing their part in our history and let them finish their mandate. Continuity is cardinal, not the total overhaul of the current system upnd is proposing like the blunders of 1991.
THIS SUSHUWA IS NOT ONLY A BAD WRITER BUT VERY CHILDISH.
THE LAW SHOULD VISIT HIM FOR INCITING THE POPULACE. HE BELONGS IN JAIL. NO WONDER STUDENTS AT UNZA ARE ALWAYS RIOTING WITH SUCH A HOTHEAD.
LOCK HIM UP
I actually do believe that Edgar Lungu is no good for the country. But I don’t believe in revolution. Get a book that examines revolutions. Then u will know wht I’m talking about.
So to all those itching for public office, start subjecting yourself to public scrutiny. Who are u? Wht hv u done in your life? Wht views do u hold on the big issues facing Zambia, Africa and the world? And wht are the issues anyway? So why should Zambians trust u?
Lungu and his thugs can’t afford to lose 2021, they know all thir stolen wealth will be stripped from them and lungu will be held accountable for the PF gassings and 50 deaths……
Unless lungu can find some $1 billion between now and 2021 to bribe everyone , Expect 2021 to be a very bloody year for Zambia. They will do anything to hold on to power.
The biggest problem is indeed not our leaders. The biggest problem is ourselves. Change will begin when each one of us will begin to do something and not to insinuate change while sitting in front of desk top or laptop. Even our so called intelligentia have failed to compare like terms. They compare mangoes and Masuku and draw illusions from there. If you think Zambia is ready for anarchy then you are either ahead of your time or behind it. What we need more than ever before are citizens who will do something to contribute to the wellbeing of this nation. Some People think that when you are not in Govt then you are upright or less corrupt, that is a myth that must be corrected. Some citizens are even more corrupt than some of these corrupt politicians.
Very nice writing sishuwa kudos to you. Many fear this useless government to say the things you say and wonder why the country is imploding economically. We are not advocating for bloodshed, or anarchy or any kind of destabilization of the country, what we want is that people must realize that in a democracy they have a say by virtue that democracy is by the people and for the people. People you must have a say in the governance of the country and make the servants you appoint accountable. The elected are not our bosses we are their bosses and they must hear and do what we say. The MP’S of these days in parliament most of them go there to uplift their lives only.
I respect People’s lifestyle and that entails beards too, thanks!
@ John come to my house if you are man enough. I will round kick you my friend .
Watch out for the proverbial kicks of a dying horse, during the remaining 14 months that it has to live.
Dr Sishuwa Sishuwa is pure Presidential material.
Youthful and very intelligent and patriotic too. Aka kamba vonse ni vanzelu.
Someone please sponsor a new party and we make him our candidate for 2021. Azatipasa white washi uyu munyamata monga yamu 1991, olo nama voti ligging na blibes yamene tinvela.
Not aba benangu masaka.
Besides when he becomes President he will not have to fight to be called doctor.
The law must quickly visit this Sishuwa guy, no wonder UNZA students riot; it’s people like him that incite lawlessness. Revolution yourself and your household, lost man!!
You Sishuwa, Revolutionise yourself and your household!! Leave our peaceful country alone and I hope you get visited by the fierce arm of the Law because it’s people like you that incite chaos in a country. If you’re tired of lecturing then retire peacefully.
Revolutions were before independence days. Look at what is happening Libya, Iraq and Egypt.Countries are not peaceful anymore and they are even worse.
Change is done through the box , and no life will be lost.I don’t like the PF government any more because of mismanaging the resources. However, I don’t HH is the liberator . I wish there will be another last minute candidate like the late Mwanawasa for PF. UPND is now full of political prostitutes and HH thinks he is the best in Zambia …
Too long an article just to appease your paymasters, useless @ ba lecturer with political intentions. Come out be in the front of protesters so that we kneel on you
Not revolution, the country is ready for economic take off. Abundant natural resources. Abundant human resources. Access to capital. Acces to technology. Access to information. Revolution is a waste of time. Rebellious is anti-constitutional. Bleeding, wounded, tinderbox, explode, crying and all such metaphors are imaginary impressions. The police is notorious globally when it comes to use of force. This is because criminals are armed these days. It can be the United States. It can be China. It can be Zambia. There are no clown presidents in Brazil. If so, how come Brazil is high middle income country? Elections in Brazil are regular, transparent, free and fair. The British government is led by a legitimate leader. Or are you saying Labor is entitled to rule the British? In Israel,…
The British government is led by a legitimate leader. Or are you saying Labor is entitled to rule the British? In Israel, justice may be slow to finalize corruption cases involving their Prime Minister, but that is an internal problem. Why worry about Israel’s institutions as if you are an Israeli taxpayer? Leave Egypt alone with its generals. There is nothing wrong with military leaders. They include General Charles de Gaulle and General Ariel Sharon. Judging by economic miracle in South Korea under Park and Singapore under Lee, military leaders are not necessarily economic saboteurs. On the contrary, the military leader can facilitate rapid accelerated economic transformation. Leave South Africa alone. It is a country engaged in redistribution of wealth created on difficult…
This boy belongs in jail. this is treason and evidence is there.
Sishuwa Sishuwa knows history very well. He knows or ought to know or can easily know wht has since been written by historians about revolutions. I doubt it myself that is wht we’re looking for. We just hv to get rid of the corrupt and incompetent PF govt and replace it wth better leadership. We’re still looking for that better leadership.
John,just convince enough people outside your stronghold to vote for your party and Bob is your uncle! A revolution will kill you. Shishuwa is too young to know how easily people perish in wars.
Chronically bitter people like Sishuwa must be ignored at all costs. Just wait for 2021 which is just around the corner and let the will of the people prevail.
He acknowledges the different types of revolutions. They are not always violent but warns of such, if there is no core leadership to it. His desire is for a peaceful revolution, if possible, that ushers in able thought out leadership while at the same time tackling the needed structural changes and overhaul. That’s the way I understand this. By the way, he expresses his own as well as academic freedom in this. There is no expectation that everyone will agree. People should learn to counter issues constructively, even if with vigour.
I would support a completely new cohort of a youthful intelligentsia that is needed to consign the recycled dinosaurs we have had for some time to the dustbin of history.
Sishuwa has his academic freedom and I don’t think anyone is saying he has no right to say wht he has said. I don’t see much promise even in the young people u seem to hv so much confidence in merely bcos they’re young. Wht kind of society are these young people coming from? Hw articulate are they in spelling out key issues? Can they do it without emotion?
@Sungwe.Please note that its only Lusakatimes quoting some one they are calling Sishuwa.
Just in case people did not know, Sishuwa Sishuwa is Fred Mmembe’s nephew. His thinking is cast in the same mould as that of his uncle. He has a bone to chew with the PF just like Fred Mmembe. Sishuwa Sishuwa has extended his uncle’s fight against the PF to UNZALARU. He is now using the UNZALARU platform to fight government. One just wonders what spell he seems to have cast on the current Pro-UPND UNZALARU executive that they had to live-stream the last meeting of UNZALARU to him in South Africa where he is doing his post-doc for advise on how to answer all those who were opposed to UNZALARU taking management to court over its decision to recommend the withdrawal of the recognition agreement.