Myrtle
The Rhodesian Revolution
Rhodesia, now called Zimbabwe, is a nation that never featured apartheid. Race relations were generally decent under the government of Ian Smith. Smith's book "The Great Betrayal" clearly spells this out. Former President, Jimmy Carter, would not even see Ian Smith in 1979 when Smith came to the White House to beg for help. Ian Smith then asked Henry Kissinger for help when Carter would not help him. Smith asked; "What about loyalty?" since rhodesians had long served the British Empire. Kissinger told Smith, "There is no place for such ideals in the modern world." Many Americans might have reservations about helping whites in Southern Africa because of apartheid. The evil deeds of apartheid killers have been tried in South African courts and apartheid is over and its worst criminals have been punished, thank God! However, all of this corruption started when a revolution broke out in Rhodesia. Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, was born out of the negotiations led by Prime Minister Ian Smith, with the moderate nationalist leaders during the course of 1978. These negotiations were held to find a lasting settlement to the Rhodesian situation. They were to set the stage for a democratic majority rule government, which would respect all the people of Rhodesia. (Zimbabwe-Rhodesia) In late 1922, settlers voted in a referendum to repudiate proposals for incorporation into the Union of South Africa, electing instead to make Rhodesia an autonomy colony under the British Crown, a status that became effective on September 12, 1923. In 1953, Southern Rhodesia became a member of the Federation of Rhodesia, despite African objections to a European-dominated federal structure. (Missed Opportunity) In the early 1960s, a new constitution was adopted that provided for limited African political participation; however, the Africans remained unappeased. In 1963 the federation broke up as African majority governments assumed control in Northern Rhodesia. After the federation’s collapse, conservative trends hardened in Southern Rhodesia, which now became known simply as Rhodesia. (McKinley) The government of stalwart conservative Ian , who had become Rhodesian’s Prime Minister in 1964, proclaimed a unilateral declaration of independence on November 11, 1965. (McKinely) Britain called the proclamation an act of insurgence but refused to reestablish control by force. “When I was in Rhodesia, we weren’t fighting the local Africans; we were fighting Cuban terrorists who infiltrated our country through Mozambique, east of Rhodesia” (Myrtle). When negotiations in 1966 failed to produce an agreement, Britain requested economic sanctions against Rhodesia. On March 1, 1970, Rhodesia formally proclaimed itself a republic. Heightened guerrilla warfare and a withdrawal of South America military in 1976, marked the beginning of the collapse of Smiths eleven years of resistance. (Zimbabwe) Negotiations were restarted in the mid-1970’s and in 1971, Britain and Rhodesia reached an agreement that provided African political participation, but without any guarantee of eventual black majority rule. Rhodesian Independence was finally recognized in 1979, the British government resuming control pending elections in February 1980. Rhodesia, now renamed Zimbabwe, finally became an independent nation within the British Commonwealth on April 18 of that year. (Rhodesian Independence) A white Rhodesian who was called for his service during the revolution noted that
