One of the most efficient and effective strategies of dictatorships – that has been used since time immemorial – to suppress any form of opposition, has been the employment of ‘false flag’ operations, which they will blame their opponents in order to justify their widespread persecution and suppression.
Zimbabwe’s main opposition said a crackdown on civilians by the new government was worse than anything in years under ousted leader Robert Mugabe. Picture: AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi
A ‘false flag’ is a covert operation designed to deceive; the deception creates the appearance of a particular party, group, or nation is responsible for some activity, disguising the actual source of responsibility.
One of the most popular and typical ‘false flag’ operation was The Reichstag Fire, that most of us studied in history at school.
This was an arson attack on the Reichstag building in Berlin on 27 February 1933. The fire started in the Session Chamber, and, by the time the police and firemen arrived, the main room was engulfed in flames.
The fire was used as evidence by the Nazis that the
Communists were beginning a plot against the German government, subsequently leading to the arrest of Communist leaders.
Adolf Hitler, who was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany four weeks before, on 30 January, urged President Paul von Hindenburg to pass an emergency decree to counter the “ruthless confrontation of the Communist Party of Germany “.
With civil liberties suspended, the government instituted mass arrests of Communists, including all of the Communist parliamentary delegates. With their bitter rival Communists gone and their seats empty, the National Socialist German Workers Party went from being a plurality party to the majority; subsequent elections confirmed that position and thus allowed Hitler to consolidate his power.
There have been numerous other false flag operations throughout history, but the modus operandi has been the same.
A government conducts an attack on itself and makes the attack to appear to be by enemy nations, terrorists, or opposition parties – giving the nation that was supposedly attacked a pretext for domestic repression or foreign military aggression.
In fact, one of the most debatable recent alleged false flag operations – which had global repurcussions – were the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York, USA – which were blamed on Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda group – which resulted in the so-called ‘war on terror’ disasterous attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq.
An increasing number of scholars and investigators, both in the USA and globally, believe they have evidence that the 9/11 attacks were planned by the USA on itself to justify the subsequent wars.
This brings us back to Zimbabwe.
Who really has been behind the recent violent protests that have resulted in a brutal crackdown on the opposition MDC Alliance – the most gruesome being the 14th to 16th January 2019 destruction of property in the country’s major cities?
On 1 August 2018, two days after an otherwise peaceful election, the country was rocked by violent protests in the capital Harare, allegedly perpetrated by the MDC Alliance – as they were not happy with the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission’s (ZEC) apparent delay in releasing presidential election results – leading to the fatal shooting of at least six unarmed people by security forces using live ammunition.
According to reports, none of those killed was part of the violent protestors.
Why?
Are Zimbabwe security forces not good enough to aim at their targets, such that they missed any of the violent protestors, but shot bystanders?
From the testimonies presented to the subsequently established Monthlante Commission of Inquiry, most of those arrested for the protests actually did not take part, but were arrested whilst going about their duties at the MDC Alliance head offices.
The more violent protests of 14th to 16th January 2019 had the same hallmarks, except that this time they were more widespread – covering some major cities.
However, as before, the violence was blamed on the opposition MDC Alliance – despite the fact that this was supposed to be a STAY AWAY, and called for by the labour movement.
People were urged to simply STAY AT HOME – and, no one was ever encouraged to demonstrate, no matter how peacefully – let alone go on a violent rampage.
Nonetheless, there was widespread looting and vandalism of business properties, and the country’s security forces did not seem to do anything to stop these so-called hooligans.
