Mr Brown, what is an international emergency?

“Gordon Brown declares Zimbabwe in state of international emergency,” read a headline article in the United Kingdom’s The Guardian newspaper dated December 6, 2008.

Official Zimbabwe Government statistics and the World Health Organisation (WHO) say the epidemic has so far killed 575 people and left another 13,000 sick since an outbreak in August.

In a statement Mr Brown said there was a duty to give the Zimbabwean people a "better future".

This was a very ironic statement coming from a leader of a country currently embroiled in one of the worst global financial crisis in the history of the U.K. economy and where many jobs and people's livelihoods are threatened.

Indeed the cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe is a crisis; but to elevate the crisis to a “state of international emergency” is not only politically mischievous, but ignorant, to say the least.

The body count from Iraq and Afghanistan of British servicemen today has reached almost 200, with foreigners fighting in the British army excluded from that count.

97,828 Iraqi civilian deaths have been recorded through Iraq Body Count’s extensive monitoring of media and official reports, since Britain and the U.S. started the illegal offensive in that country. Civil security in Iraq remains in a parlous state.

In describing the U.S. servicemen body count in Afghanistan, Libertarian Jake, the Champion of the Constitution writes: “Imagine you are in a room, alone with 20 American soldiers for one day. At sunset, all their bodies thud to the floor, stone dead. At dawn, 20 more enter the room and again die at sunset. It repeats every day for 7 years. It will repeat tomorrow. This is what I know of their story, their sad statistics.”

154 Americans have died in 2008, breaking the 2007 record of 117 deaths. A total 609 Americans soldiers have died in Afghanistan, 4,177 in Iraq, and another 444 American contractors, bringing the total to 5,230 Americans dead in the War on Terror.

There are also staggering levels of suicides by American military veterans.

Dr. Ira Katz, the U.S. Veteran's Affairs Head of Mental Health reports: "There are about 18 suicides per day among America's 25 million veterans. This follows from CDC findings that 20% of suicides are among veterans. It is supported by the CBS numbers. Veteran Affair's own data demonstrate 4-5 suicides per day among those who receive care from us."

This is just a tip of the iceberg. There are many deaths elsewhere in the world where the British have either kept quiet, or taken part in.Yet, the British PM did not see it fit to call these crises "international emergencies" and convene the U.N.'s Security Council.

Gordon Brown did not declare 3,000 pre-election deaths in Kenya in 2007 as an “international crisis”, nor the 1,500 that followed that election. Over 50,000 people have been displaced and twice that figure are homeless today.

Today more than 20 children die daily on the streets of Kenya, 400 people from violence on the streets of Johannesburg, 200 daily in the DRC from the conflict perpetuated by the West. In Somalia, millions have been displaced and approximately 100 people die daily from the violence there.

Yet the British PM thinks diplomacy in these countries is enough, not change of Government.

Brown says of Zimbabwe: “This is now an international rather than a national emergency." He continues: "International because disease crosses borders. International because the systems of government in Zimbabwe are now broken. There is no state capable or willing of protecting its people.”

We should remind British PM that the credit crunch which is threatening millions of jobs in Britain and people livelihoods, and tens of millions worldwide is the international crisis. It has crossed borders and is dealing a huge blow to villages in Zimbabwe, Kenya, Somalia, etc.

The world food crisis caused by the skewed policies of the West and the manipulation of trade laws by the West, is the international crisis.

Indeed Zimbabwe has a crisis; but the British PM should be told in no uncertain terms that Zimbabweans can think, and therefore know how to contextualize their problem. We might not be able to help ourselves at the moment, but we can understand those problems and do not need anyone to think for us.

We can think and see the machinations of the West in this crisis. We need help in resolving our crises, but we do not need the West to own and hijack our crisis and manipulate the context within which that problem is placed.

The British PM should also be reminded that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights he quotes in relation to Zimbabwe applies also to the UK. The right to food is a human right. The preamble to that declaration says “it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,” and “recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.”

We have seen these two declarations not respected by Britain in Iraq and Afghanistan and also in Zimbabwe and the African region.

Indeed Britain has pledged emergency response to the cholera crisis in Zimbabwe, but has not given that aid yet and people are dying in Zimbabwe as we speak. We are tied of such gesture politics.

As we write the EU is tightening sanctions on the country, which will hurt more people and kill thousands, while our brothers in Namibia are at Manyame Air Base offloading kits to save lives threatened by the cholera crisis.

Gordon Brown thank you, but no thanks.

Ranganai Chidemo is the Zimbabwe Guardian subeditor based in Harare, Zimbabwe
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