Published in European Action No 15, March/April 2008
BY PETER KENDALL
There were no accolades for Ian Smith the former Prime Minister of Rhodesia who died in 2007. There was no gathering of world leaders to bid farewell to this great statesman, or any attempt to praise his sincerity. Ian Smith was branded a ‘racist dictator’ and was then betrayed by dictators within the British Commonwealth of Nations – the institution that he had so admired and for whom he had fought as a Spitfire pilot during the Second World War.
His post-war fight for civilised democracy and European culture was opposed by Harold Wilson, a British PM suspected of links with the KGB, an organisation within the USSR whose Red doctrines dictated that African ‘colonialists’ had to be attacked on all fronts. South Africa and Rhodesia were seen as enemies by the USSR, mainly because most of the new gold flowing into Zurich was either from South Africa or from the USSR. The Kremlin fought only for the interests of the USSR and it is a sad delusion that it was concerned for the welfare of the indigenous African population. The truth is that gold was the only thing that counted.
The denigration of Ian Smith by the British press often exploited his cold-looking austere facial expression which in fact was due to horrendous injuries sustained during the war when his Spitfire crashed on takeoff. These injuries included loss of one eye, speech impediment and partial paralysis of the face. These dreadful war wounds were never mentioned in the press, nor was the fact that he had volunteered for the RAF aircrew service immediately war was declared, nor that he had continued combat flying after his appalling injuries. Of course, these truths, if commonly known, would have accorded Smith the respectability and admiration he so richly deserved, a possibility that Comrade Wilson and his Red chums would have abhorred. Also never mentioned was the fact that he was involved in a later air crash when his Spitfire was brought down by enemy fire in Italy, or that he joined the local partisans to continue the fight.
When Ian Smith entered politics at the end of the war, he set off on a journey that would take him to premiership and to ultimate betrayal by the Commonwealth that he had so deeply loved and admired. There can be no doubt that the communist sympathisers that ruled Britain in the 1960s deliberately stuck a knife into the backs of their Rhodesian kith and kin. Who knows, perhaps those who have the right to live in all countries also wanted Smith out – because of their extreme interest in gold. Once again, the tired old men in Westminster, many of whom had never even set foot in Africa, dictated to those who had devoted their lives to European civilisation and advancement of the African nations and all their peoples. It had been perfectly acceptable to send innumerable ‘black’ African troops to certain death during the war but an entirely different matter to rule them with justice, law and order. The British Government favoured ANC thugs: Smith was a gentleman. Faced with total intransigence from London, the Rhodesian government was forced to declare independence (as the American colonialists had been forced to centuries earlier). Instead of recognising this action as defence of European civilisation, justice and advancement, Wilson and his fellow-traveller cronies forced sanctions on Rhodesia without a care about the bankruptcies or other hardships they might cause. Henry Kissinger fully realised that the American demands he must deliver to the War Hero politician
were tantamount to placing a pistol into Smith’s hands and demanding that he commit suicide. Shame on Kissinger, because he comes from a country that also declared unilateral independence, having rebelled against and then left the British Empire because of English tax greed.
When Ian Smith was finally forced to step down, many intelligent, thinking people had already realised what was in store. Farmers would be brutally butchered, land and property owners disowned while the Rhodesian economy would be pushed into free fall. The inevitable shortages arose while the local populations rejoiced in not having to work for a boss anymore. But, the following year brought desperate food shortages combined with lack of the foreign currencies that production of natural resources and Rhodesian tobacco farmers had previously earned.
Brutal dictatorship was just around the corner: Ian Smith had presided over a country where law and order had ruled and where nobody was above the law, where everybody had sufficient to eat and where medical attention was available to all.
Now that the enemies of freedom have completed their goals people could be put to death by placing tyres filled with petrol around their necks and burning them to death, whole townships can be removed from the face of the earth if the inhabitants do not vote for the ignoramus who now heads the country. At the same time, inflation gallops away in unbelievable multiples and many once-healthy businesses fall into ruin. The children who could formerly expect at least a basic education must now count themselves lucky to be alive and not molested. Bravo, the British Government, for sending Rhodesia back to the dark ages.
There is nothing new about the phenomena: it is happening in Kenya today: a delicate blend of political corruption combined with death tolls from riots set the all too familiar scene. Uganda, freed from the European, rapidly fell into the dark ages with mass murder served up as entertainment for an insane leader, while the county’s agriculture and industry were ruined. Tribal hatreds will never go away.
When Ian Smith passed away, there were no grand obituaries or national grief. This old war hero must be forgotten, if only to cover up the disastrous mistakes of the tired old men who made the fatal decisions. There may be a grudging admission that perhaps he had been right about one or two things. But, nobody will ever admit that Rhodesia would now be a rich, stable and powerful Nation if Smith had not been removed.
The uninformed, perverted doctrines of the Whitehall moralists had to be preserved. The resulting mayhem will never be acknowledged. Never would they admit that Ian Smith maintained his Rhodesian farm without let or hindrance, because the locals had deep respect if not affection for him even after UDI. No, his farm was not attacked once, and yes, unbelievably, the locals loved and respected this great man who had ensured one of the highest living standards in Africa for the indigenous peoples. They had been, in Smiths words, the happiest black faces in Africa, until he was deposed!
Smith once remarked that if he and Mugabe walked into a township only he would emerge alive. Smith knew the African peoples. Conversely, the African peoples know the Mugabes of their world.
There were no accolades for Ian Smith the former Prime Minister of Rhodesia who died in 2007. There was no gathering of world leaders to bid farewell to this great statesman, or any attempt to praise his sincerity. Ian Smith was branded a ‘racist dictator’ and was then betrayed by dictators within the British Commonwealth of Nations – the institution that he had so admired and for whom he had fought as a Spitfire pilot during the Second World War.
His post-war fight for civilised democracy and European culture was opposed by Harold Wilson, a British PM suspected of links with the KGB, an organisation within the USSR whose Red doctrines dictated that African ‘colonialists’ had to be attacked on all fronts. South Africa and Rhodesia were seen as enemies by the USSR, mainly because most of the new gold flowing into Zurich was either from South Africa or from the USSR. The Kremlin fought only for the interests of the USSR and it is a sad delusion that it was concerned for the welfare of the indigenous African population. The truth is that gold was the only thing that counted.
The denigration of Ian Smith by the British press often exploited his cold-looking austere facial expression which in fact was due to horrendous injuries sustained during the war when his Spitfire crashed on takeoff. These injuries included loss of one eye, speech impediment and partial paralysis of the face. These dreadful war wounds were never mentioned in the press, nor was the fact that he had volunteered for the RAF aircrew service immediately war was declared, nor that he had continued combat flying after his appalling injuries. Of course, these truths, if commonly known, would have accorded Smith the respectability and admiration he so richly deserved, a possibility that Comrade Wilson and his Red chums would have abhorred. Also never mentioned was the fact that he was involved in a later air crash when his Spitfire was brought down by enemy fire in Italy, or that he joined the local partisans to continue the fight.
When Ian Smith entered politics at the end of the war, he set off on a journey that would take him to premiership and to ultimate betrayal by the Commonwealth that he had so deeply loved and admired. There can be no doubt that the communist sympathisers that ruled Britain in the 1960s deliberately stuck a knife into the backs of their Rhodesian kith and kin. Who knows, perhaps those who have the right to live in all countries also wanted Smith out – because of their extreme interest in gold. Once again, the tired old men in Westminster, many of whom had never even set foot in Africa, dictated to those who had devoted their lives to European civilisation and advancement of the African nations and all their peoples. It had been perfectly acceptable to send innumerable ‘black’ African troops to certain death during the war but an entirely different matter to rule them with justice, law and order. The British Government favoured ANC thugs: Smith was a gentleman. Faced with total intransigence from London, the Rhodesian government was forced to declare independence (as the American colonialists had been forced to centuries earlier). Instead of recognising this action as defence of European civilisation, justice and advancement, Wilson and his fellow-traveller cronies forced sanctions on Rhodesia without a care about the bankruptcies or other hardships they might cause. Henry Kissinger fully realised that the American demands he must deliver to the War Hero politician
were tantamount to placing a pistol into Smith’s hands and demanding that he commit suicide. Shame on Kissinger, because he comes from a country that also declared unilateral independence, having rebelled against and then left the British Empire because of English tax greed.
When Ian Smith was finally forced to step down, many intelligent, thinking people had already realised what was in store. Farmers would be brutally butchered, land and property owners disowned while the Rhodesian economy would be pushed into free fall. The inevitable shortages arose while the local populations rejoiced in not having to work for a boss anymore. But, the following year brought desperate food shortages combined with lack of the foreign currencies that production of natural resources and Rhodesian tobacco farmers had previously earned.
Brutal dictatorship was just around the corner: Ian Smith had presided over a country where law and order had ruled and where nobody was above the law, where everybody had sufficient to eat and where medical attention was available to all.
Now that the enemies of freedom have completed their goals people could be put to death by placing tyres filled with petrol around their necks and burning them to death, whole townships can be removed from the face of the earth if the inhabitants do not vote for the ignoramus who now heads the country. At the same time, inflation gallops away in unbelievable multiples and many once-healthy businesses fall into ruin. The children who could formerly expect at least a basic education must now count themselves lucky to be alive and not molested. Bravo, the British Government, for sending Rhodesia back to the dark ages.
There is nothing new about the phenomena: it is happening in Kenya today: a delicate blend of political corruption combined with death tolls from riots set the all too familiar scene. Uganda, freed from the European, rapidly fell into the dark ages with mass murder served up as entertainment for an insane leader, while the county’s agriculture and industry were ruined. Tribal hatreds will never go away.
When Ian Smith passed away, there were no grand obituaries or national grief. This old war hero must be forgotten, if only to cover up the disastrous mistakes of the tired old men who made the fatal decisions. There may be a grudging admission that perhaps he had been right about one or two things. But, nobody will ever admit that Rhodesia would now be a rich, stable and powerful Nation if Smith had not been removed.
The uninformed, perverted doctrines of the Whitehall moralists had to be preserved. The resulting mayhem will never be acknowledged. Never would they admit that Ian Smith maintained his Rhodesian farm without let or hindrance, because the locals had deep respect if not affection for him even after UDI. No, his farm was not attacked once, and yes, unbelievably, the locals loved and respected this great man who had ensured one of the highest living standards in Africa for the indigenous peoples. They had been, in Smiths words, the happiest black faces in Africa, until he was deposed!
Smith once remarked that if he and Mugabe walked into a township only he would emerge alive. Smith knew the African peoples. Conversely, the African peoples know the Mugabes of their world.
