Patriotism ______________________ Zambia’s liberalism is not a philosophy the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) government invented in order to liberalize the economy. Zambia’s liberalism is a birth mark of the Zambian people. Zambians share liberal values wherever they go. There has been calls by the Zambian ruling politicians on Zambians living abroad to be seen to contribute to the growth of Zambian economy. President Mwanawasa even went as far as calling them failures in 2007. While such sentiments are said in a confrontational way, their validity is subject to debate. I posit that Zambians who live abroad are as responsible and valuable to Zambia as they are to the countries in which they have settled. When they penned the national anthem, the Zambian fathers were right in coining the description: The Land of Work and Joy in Unity. This was a ground-breaking proclamation, an antithesis of bondage and a statement of freedom and progress. Zambia is indeed our land, whether living abroad or on her soil. We carry her in our hearts and souls. The spirit of work in joy inspires us to develop and nurture her every resource without compulsion. We are sons and daughters united in our diversity, from the brown marshy swamps of the Bangweulu to the flat sun-baked planes of the Bantu-Botatwe! This proclamation is not a cliché or an overused platitude – it is indeed what it says. Development is a prerogative of hard workers. People who have learned to work have also learned to reap the rewards that work brings. In Zambia, what we call donor support from the international community is in fact begging. Begging is not entirely a bad thing when it is used to stop further begging. The beauty of hard work is that we are a slave of no-one, because we become entitled to what we have and in turn we retain our honour and dignity. |