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Courtney Fesette
LBST 2102- H75
Prof. Robert Arnold
2 May 2016
Rhodesian Bush War
Before delving into the Rhodesian War of Independence, or the Second Chimurenga, one
must know where the internal conflict first arose within the Rhodesian country. Chimurenga is a
Shona word which has its political origins tied in the uprisings of the 1890s as the Africans north
of Limpopo River fought to prevent white settlers from the south occupying their land. (Martin
and Johnson XVI). For the next seventy years the Africans witnessed their most fertile lands
being taken away while at the same time they were repressed and degraded to slaves in their own
land. As the years went on, Chimurenga, or liberation, was passed down in folklore from
villages to villages by elders who never forgot the white settlers who took their land. In the
1960s, a second Chimurenga war inevitably broke out when the Africans realized the only way
they could get their land and respect back was through armed forces and war. (Martin and
Johnson)
On Tuesday, March 6 1980, White Rhodesians received the news from a radio announcer
that they had lost the war through the election of Robert Mugabe. Expecting to hear moderate
Bishop Muzorewa, who was going to form the first Black government of the new Zimbabwe,
would win, but instead Mugabe, who classified as a Marxist terrorist according to the

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Rhodesain Prime Minister Ian Smith, won the majority in the British-supervised parliamentary
elections. (Godwin and Hancock) (Martin and Johnson)
Mugabes election victory presented the Whites with three clear options: they could
pack up and leave; they could remain behind, live in the past, and effectively become expatriates
in their own country; or they could emigrate with their hearts and minds to the new Zimbabwe
(Godwin and Hancock 2). Rhodesia faced many challenges after the war, especially for White
Rhodesians who called it home. The Fuller were part of the majority who decided to stay and
who alternated between their acceptance of change and their refusal to face its implications.
ZANU(PF)s electoral triumph in 1980 forced the majority to confront a reality it had tried to
evade (Godwin and Hancock 6).
The contemporary experience of living and acting across cultural borders means both
the loss of traditional meanings and the creation of new symbolic expressions (Steger 80).
When the British established a colony in Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, they lacked the
cultural sensitivity aspect which comes with emigrating into a new culture. Rather than sharing
each others culture with one another, they chose to take their land and make them feel like
expatriates in their own country. They did overtime, however, mix their cultures into new
symbolic expressions. This can be seen through Alexandra Fullers mother. She carries her love
for tea with her from England and listens to Irish music, yet when she leaves her Rhodesian
home to go back home to England she feels as though she is a stranger. She has emigrated into
a new way of living and therefore left her old ways for a new and culturally diverse one.
Rhodesians boasted of their standards of living, however usually looking over their
dependence on cheap Black labor. Families inlower (income) categories which, on average,
employed 0.9 of a servant, also lived sparingly compared to the 34 per cent of households which

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earned more than $400 a month and employed 1.5 servants. (Godwin and Hancock 29).
Rhodesians shared one objective in 1970: to enjoy their way of life. (Godwin and Hancock
28). One can truly see this White Rhodesian view through the Fullers lifestyle. They may not
have owned much, but they made due with what they had and without a doubt enjoyed life. Also,
Fullers novel points out their dependence on Black labor; even though they were a part of the 30
percent who were low income, they still had servants for they embodied the belief to enjoy their
way of life no matter the cost.
The liberation movement by the Rhodesian Front-led government employed many
aspects of propaganda and violence in their war for independence. Their goal was to spark a
flame in the rural people by using delusive propaganda to influence individuals to fight for their
freedom. The government, however, went about it the wrong way. They used violence as their
basis for influence. (they) punish(ed) the rural population for cooperating with the liberation
fighters. Such random acts of violence rebounded and did not produce the desired results
Guerilla violence was selective and generally did not alienate the liberation guerilla fighters from
the rural populace (Dzimbanhete). Conducting a war in this manner is what gave these
liberation fighters labels of terrorism.
When the British Parliament learned of the situation in Rhodesia in May of 1972, they
made an attempt to initiate dialogue between the European and African parties in Rhodesia, but
they were unable to avoid the inevitable slaughter which proceeded for the next decade. Wanting
independence from the British control, the United Nations refused to grant White Rhodesians
independence until they had firm guarantees of genuine majority rule within the country
(McDougal and Resiman 2). Prime Minister Wilson explained that his government had a
solemn duty to be satisfied that before granting independence it would be acceptable to the

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people of the country as a whole (McDougal and Resiman 5). Given that Rhodesia had a land
mass of over 150,000 square miles and a population of four million blacks and only 220,000
whites, the United Kingdom felt as though Rhodesia was not yet prepared for political
independence. In 1965, however, the Rhodesian Front Government rebelled against the British
Crown and declared itself the Unilateral Declaration of Independence, or UDI. Ian Smith, the
prime minister of Rhodesia for the Rhodesian Front, declared the UDI to be a white-only, selfgovernment independent from the control of the British government.
This separation, however, lead to the United Nations Security Council to impose
sanctions, such as boycotts, on Rhodesia. The UDI was designated as being "the usurpation of
power by a racist settler minority" and as having no legal validity. The General Assembly then
called upon all states to not recognize the illegal authority andto refrain from any action
which would assist and encourage the illegal regime andto desist from providing it with arms,
equipment and military material, and to do their utmost in order to break all economic relations
with Southern Rhodesia, in-eluding an embargo on oil and petroleum products (McDougal and
Resiman 3). The UN went as far as to call upon the Portuguese Government ensuring no trade or
shipment of oil was to be made to Rhodesia.
Clearly, the Rhodesian War for independence brought about many conflicts. It was not
only an internal conflict within the country, but also engaged in external conflicts with the United
Kingdom. The entire war was based on violence and using propaganda of fear and terrorist acts
in order to elicit the type of freedom and reform it wished to gain. ideologies help organize
the tremendous complexity of the human experiences into fairly simple claims that serve as
guide and compass for social and political action These claims are employed to legitimize
political interests and to defend or challenge dominant power structures (Steger 103). Societies

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use their ideologies as a map in which they must follow their preferred norms and values
(Steger 103). As Steger said, the social elites have the ability to speak to their audience in
narratives that persuade, praise, condemn, distinguish truths from falsehoods, and separate the
good from the bad. The ZANLA (Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army), led by
Mugabe, used propaganda in order to persuade the rural civilians to fight for them. He convinced
them they had the same desires and aspirations when in reality Mugabes ideologies were
inspired by power and violence rather than passion and dedication for the greater good of
Rhodesia.
After the Rhodesian War of Independence, or Rhodesian Bush War, it did not take long
for the people, on both sides, to see that Mugabe was not fit to lead the new Zimbabwe. Within a
few years of his rule, or tyranny, many black Zimbabweans would have preferred Ian Smiths
leadership rather than Robert Mugabes. Today, human rights for Zimbabweans have been
violated by the black government still in power over the last three decades. His government
keeps a faade of peace and democracy, when in reality he has perpetrated serious crimes against
his own people; no matter what race or side they are on, even if it is his own. (Moyo)
Not too long after his election, Mugabe declared If white settlers just took the land from
us without paying for itwe can, in a similar way, just take it from them without paying for it
(Power). The Fullers were one of the million farm workers who were displaced and put at risk
for starvation with nowhere to go and nowhere to farm. Even though many white farmers were
initially resilient in giving up their land, Mugabes regime proved to be far more determined for
they murdered whoever resisted and stood in their way. The worst part of the land distribution is
that in actuality its white farmers were not necessarily replaced with black farmers, but instead
with the Presidents friends and ruling-party officials. Although Mugabe's people seem to view

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the possession of farms as a sign of statusthese elites don't have the experience, the equipment,
or, apparently, the desire to run them. About 130,000 formerly landless peasants helped the ruling
elites to take over the farms, but now that the dirty work is done, many of them are themselves
being expelled (Power). Rather than give these 130,000 landless peasants land and proper
training to learn how to farm, he decided to do what he thought best for his political agenda; no
matter what economic or political disparity would follow.
In 1980 Mugabe signed an agreement with North Korean President, Kim II Sung, to have
trained forces for Mugabes Fifth Brigade. To many, the Fifth Brigade was a genocide. With the
help of the North Korean army and highly trained North Korean officers, over 20,000 people
were massacred just for Mugabes political gain. Mugabes campaign of terror was waged
against the Ndebele people in Matabeleland in western Zimbabwe. The so-called Gukurahundi
massacres remain the darkest period in the countrys post-independence history (Doran).
The Rhodesian Bush War was much more than a bloodshed for independence. From the
1890s, Black Rhodesians kept the Chimurenga light burning from within and all they needed
was a big enough spark to ignite it. After 70 years of oppression and poverty, Black Rhodesians
knew it was time to fight back, and the Fullers found themselves in the middle of it. Whether one
was part of the majority or the British colony minority, ones love for Zimbabwe-Rhodesia
burned with passion no matter where he or she was from. Both sides were fighting for their
country, and in the end lost it to Robert Mugabe. Will global crises eventually contribute to
more extensive forms of international cooperation and interdependence, or might they stop the
powerful momentum of globalization?... a close look at modern history reveals that large and
lasting social crises often lead to the rise of extremist political groups. The larger-scale violence
they unleashed proved capable of stopping and even reversing previous globalization trends

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(Steger 132). The social misconduct which resulted from the United Kingdom globalizing
Southern Rhodesia caused a negative impact for its past and future. Globalizing spreads culture
and ideologies, but it also tampers and interferes with already existing ones.

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Works Cited
Doran, Stuart. "New Documents Claim to Prove Mugabe Ordered Gukurahundi Killings." The
Guardian. Daily Maverick, 19 May 2015. Web.
Dzimbanhete, Jephias A. "Drawing Lessons from Zimbabwe's War of Liberation." Small Wars
Journal. N.p., 10 Dec. 2013. Web.
Godwin, Peter, and Ian Hancock. 'Rhodesians Never Die': The Impact of War and Political
Change on White Rhodesia, C. 1970-1980. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1993. Print.
Martin, David, and Phyllis Johnson. The Struggle for Zimbabwe: The Chimurenga War. London:
Faber and Faber, 1981. Print.
McDougal, Myres S. and Reisman, W. Michael, "Rhodesia and the United Nations: The
Lawfulness of International Concern" (1968). Yale Law School Faculty Scholarship
Series. Paper 674
Moyo, Faith. "Life in Rhodesia Was Better Than Zimbabwe." American Renaissance. The
Zimdiaspora, 7 May 2012. Web.
Power, Samantha. "How to Kill a Country." The Atlantic. N.p., Dec. 2003. Web.
Steger, Manfred B. Globalization: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2003. Print.