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You are here: Home / Archives for Sanctions

Sanctions

Rally Against Sanctions on Zimbabwe at the U.S. Mission to the UN

Mon., October 25, 2021,
12 noon,
US Mission to the UN,
45th & 1st Avenue, New York (see directions/map).

Easy to get to on the subway. Just take the 4, 5, 6, 7, S to the Grand Central Terminal stop.

Join us on International Anti-Sanctions Day as we Rally Against the Sanctions on Zimbabwe by the US government.

Let us know you’re coming at 718-398-1766; d12m@aol.com.

U.S. Hands Off Zimbabwe!

(4, 5, 6, 7, S to Grand Central Terminal stop)

“Lift Illegal Sanctions Off Zimbabwe Now!”  –  “Zimbabwe Will Never Be a Colony Again!”

Sponsored by the December 12th Movement. Join Us. RSVP to 718-398-1766.

Filed Under: Event, Featured, Zimbabwe Tagged With: December 12th Movement, Pan-African, rally, Sanctions, U.S. Mission to the United Nations, United Nations, Zimbabwe

Rally for Zimbabwe at the United Nations!

Sat., September 18, 2021,
11 am sharp,
United Nations,

Dag Hammarskjold Plaza,
1st Avenue & 47th St., NYC. – See map.
(4, 5, 6, 7, S to Grand Central Terminal stop)

“Lift Illegal Sanctions Off Zimbabwe Now!”  –  “Zimbabwe Will Never Be a Colony Again!”

September 18, 2021, Zimbabwe Rally at UN.


Download 8.5″ x 11″ flyer (PDF).

Sponsored by December 12th Movement. Join Us. 718-398-1766.

Filed Under: Event, Featured, Zimbabwe Tagged With: December 12th Movement, Pan-African, rally, Sanctions, United Nations, Zimbabwe

Trump Illegal Sanctions Devastate Zimbabwean Economy

SANCTIONS BY THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE EUROPEAN UNION, THEIR IMPACT ON ZIMBABWE (March 10, 2019)

1. Introduction

Zimbabwe's Flag Flying Proudly1.1 Zimbabwe’s land reform programme of 2000 led the United States of America to impose illegal sanctions under the so-called Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act, 2001 (ZIDERA) which is subject to annual extensions, the latest being in January 2019. Supplementing the USA legislative sanctions of ZIDERA are Executive sanctions (Executive Order 13288) of March 2003 also renewable on a similar yearly basis. The European Union also introduced its own sanctions in February, 2002. While the EU lifted much of its sanctions in 2014, political sanctions against former President R.G Mugabe, Mrs. Grace Mugabe and Zimbabwe Defence Industries are still in place. The EU’s de-escalation posture, unlike the USA’s position, is positive in that it acknowledges the Second Republic’s re-engagement policy.

2. EFFECTS OF SANCTIONS ON THE ZIMBABWEAN ECONOMY

2.0 The sanctions have had a devastating effect on the economy of Zimbabwe.

2.1 Access to credit lines / Decline in BOP Support

2.1.1 Zimbabwe’s balance of payments position has deteriorated significantly since the introduction of sanctions.

2.1.2 Zimbabwe’s access to international credit markets was blocked effectively after the enactment of ZIDERA. The country has been forced to virtually operate on hand to mouth, and there has been a significant buildup of external debt arrears. This unfavorable development has worsened the country’s creditworthiness as the country’s international financial risk profile escalated. This subsequently led to the drying up of traditional sources of external finance from the International Financial Institutions (IFIs).

2.1.3 The effect of the arrears situation has resulted, in Zimbabwean companies finding it extremely difficult to access offshore lending thus crippling their operations. Where the private sectors manage to secure offshore financing it is usually at punitive and exorbitant interest rates.

2.1.4 Consequently Zimbabwean importers are asked to pay cash upfront resulting in a significant squeeze on private sector cash flows. This has led to bigger challenges, including under capacity utilization. Due to declining external budgetary support, Zimbabwe’s budget deficit has largely been financed from domestic borrowing which has triggered high inflation.

2.2 Sustained Decline in Long-Term Capital

2.2.1 The sustained decline in long-term capital inflows has had ripple effects on the country’s employment levels, and its ability to provide basic goods and services to its people, ultimately leading to a decline in the standards of living. This is has led Zimbabwe to be a net importer of virtually everything especially from the neighboring including from South Africa, a dependence syndrome detrimental to the country’s industrialization. This has resulted in large scale emigration, especially of skilled labour, thus further straining the economy’s capacity to hasten the pace of economic turnaround and development.

2.3 Impact on the Financial Sector

2.3.1 Due to the decline in Balance of Payments (BOP) support, Zimbabwe’s BOP position has been deteriorating significantly since the imposition of sanctions. This unfavorable development was exacerbated by combined effects of poor export performance, high import demand, and reduced capital inflows, on the back of adverse publicity. The withdrawal of the multilateral financial institutions from providing BOP to Zimbabwe had a ripple effect as some other bilateral creditors and donors also followed suit by either scaling down or suspending disbursements on existing loans for both Government and Parastatal loans.

2.4 Regional Cooperation

2.4.1 Sanctions are affecting the smooth running of regional groupings such as SADC and COMESA. The European Union through the European Development Fund (EDF) compensates COMESA member states for revenue losses suffered under the tariff phase down exercise under specific conditions, which take into account macroeconomic policies and governance issues. Zimbabwe has not benefited from the fund and this could affect, in the long term, its tariff reduction process in line with other countries in COMESA, thereby undermining regional integration initiatives. Sanctions have also resulted in Zimbabwe failing to be effectively represented at regional meetings such as ACP- EU meetings as some targeted individuals especially high-ranking government officials are denied visas. This means that the country is not represented at international fora where crucial decisions and commitments are made. A recent case is where “Trade Mark Southern Africa” (TMSA), a DFID financed project aimed at promoting regional integration and trade in Southern Africa working with SADC and COMESA was shut down after providing direct support to the government of Zimbabwe for fruit fly eradication project. TMSA financed most SADC and COMESA programmes including the establishment of a One Stop Border Post at Chirundu.

2.5 Impact on Investment and Growth

2.5.1 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) stimulates economic growth and employment creation in any economy. FDI also positively impacts on the country’s balance of payments position. The negative perception that has come with sanctions has negatively impacted on FDI inflows as investors tend to shy away from economies that are perceived as risky.

2.6 Impact on tourism sector

2.6.1 Bad publicity has dealt Zimbabwe’s tourism sector a painful blow. Zimbabwe has been falsely perceived as an unsafe and risky country to visit, thus drastically reducing the number of tourist arrivals. Similarly, ordinary Zimbabwean travelers are finding it difficult to obtain visas to travel abroad due to negative perceptions and xenophobia arising indirectly from the sanctions.

2.7 Impact on Health Sector

2.7.1 Health Services Support Programmes which were suspended include the following:
i) Supporting the provincial health service capacity building and policy issues to Ministry of Health & Child Welfare (MOHCW);
ii) Development of a gender strategy Support to HIV/AIDS activities;
iii) Integration of Zimbabwe Essential Drugs Action Program (ZEDAP) to national laboratories;
iv) Establishment of the health information system; and
v) Support to the Health Services Fund Transport Management.

2.8 Impact on international financial transactions

2.8.1 Zimbabwean companies have found it extremely difficult to effect payments through the international payment platforms as these transactions are intercepted and blocked in the hostile countries especially the US. The Industrial Development Corporation has reportedly lost over $20 million to the “United States Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control” (OFAC). The Zimbabwe Fertiliser Company, a subsidiary of the IDC, still has its $5 million frozen to date. The Minerals Marketing Corporation also lost over $30 million in revenue to OFAC. Zimbabwe has lost a total of $42 billion in revenue over the past 13 years because of the sanctions. Another IDC subsidiary, Olivine, lost the $2 million it had secured from the PT A Bank to recapitalise and the firm is currently struggling to produce some of its popular household products.

2.9 Other Socio-Economic effects

2.9.1 Zimbabwe has seen widespread reversal and cessation of donor funding in the areas of social development such as health, education, and infrastructure development. Ordinary citizens were thus, adversely affected by the sanctions. Sanctions have also had adverse and downstream social and economic effects on the Zimbabwean economy’s key sectors. Zimbabwe took years negotiating to gain access to the Global Fund to fight Malaria, TB, and HIV / AIDS.

2.9.2 A significant number of Non-Governmental Organizations have moved their operations out of Zimbabwe since the enactment of the ZIDERA for instance, DANIDA and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) pulled out of Zimbabwe in 2001 and 2003, respectively, terminating all projects in progress and retrenching their employees.

2.9.3 It is believed that Zimbabwe lost donor support amounting to approximately US$ million annually since 2001, US$ million in loans from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and African Development Bank, commercial loans of US$ million and GDP reduction of US$ billion.

2.10 WAY FORWARD

2.10.1 Sanctions are a blunt coercive instrument with far-reaching implications for the ordinary people hence there is need for unity of purpose from all Zimbabweans, SADC and AU in lobbying for the removal of these sanctions.

2.10.2 There is also need to liberalise the business operating environment in a manner that enhances confidence, in order to unlock value in the country for vast investment opportunities strewn across all sectors, including agriculture, tourism, manufacturing and mining.

2.11 Conclusion
2.11.1 It is evident from the foregoing that sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe adversely affected the vulnerable groups and the economy in general. Beyond the country’s borders, neighbouring countries continue to feel the strain of the implosion of the Zimbabwean economy, which continues to reel under illegal Western sanctions. Significant progress that the country had made in the development of infrastructure, health and social service delivery systems was severely affected by the imposition of sanctions. The sanctions must therefore be removed to allow the country to move forward.

Filed Under: Featured, News, Zimbabwe Tagged With: economic sanctions, Growth, Health, Investment, Sanctions, Tourism, Zimbabwe

African Liberation Day, May 25, 2019 – – March on the White House!

Get On The Bus To Washington, DC to End Trump Sanctions Against Zimbabwe!

Get full-sized flyer

Saturday, May 25, 2019,
March on White House — Washington D.C.
African Liberation Ain’t Over!
Assemble and Rally at 12 pm
African American Civil War Museum
1925 Vermont Ave. NW @U St. NW (plaza across the street)

Sponsored by December 12th Movement and ALD Coordinating Committee

FOR BUS TRANSPORTATION INFORMATION – WHITE HOUSE MARCH ON WASHINGTON DC  – CALL NOW 718-398-1766

SEE VIDEO OF PRESS CONFERENCE HELD ON MAY 15

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December 12th Movement International Secretariat
456 Nostrand Avenue, Brooklyn NY
PH 718-398-1766 * D12M.com

May 23, 2019

PRESS STATEMENT

For Immediate Release
Contact – Media Relations, Amadi Ajamu
Cell# 917-495-6979

March & Rally to White House
to Demand Trump Lift Sanctions on Zimbabwe

AFRICAN LIBERATION DAY
Saturday, May 25, 2019, at 12 PM
African-American Civil War Veterans Memorial Plaza
Vermont Avenue and U Street NW, Washington DC

“On Saturday, May 25th, African Liberation Day, the streets of Washington, D.C.. will echo to the thunder of voices of hundreds of people marching to the White House,” said December 12th Movement member Iman Essiet at a press conference last week in Washington, DC. She went on to state that, “a national coalition of organizations and individuals, led by the December 12th Movement and the Friends of Zimbabwe will demand that President Trump lift the racist economic sanctions daily killing scores of children and adults in Zimbabwe.”

December 12th spokesman, Omowale Clay elaborated, “Nearly two decades ago, the U.S. passed the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001 [ZIDERA] to punish Zimbabwe for having had the audacity to return to its people the land stolen by white colonial settlers. The goals of the sanctions imposed by ZIDERA were to make the Zimbabwean economy ‘scream’ – to make conditions so bad for the masses of the people that they would overthrow the ZANU-PF -led government and stop the confiscation of land from white settlers. President Trump has just renewed the sanctions for another year.”

Salim Adofo, Chair of the D.C. Chapter of the National Black United Front, stated that “Black people in the U.S. must make it crystal clear to President Trump and to the Congressional Black Caucus, which has co-signed ZIDERA, that these killer sanctions have to end now.”

For those interested in traveling to D.C. by bus with the December 12th Movement, call (718) 398-1766. For those from or traveling on their own to D.C., we will gather at 12 noon at the African-American Civil War Veterans Memorial Plaza at Vermont Avenue and U Street, NW. [U Street/Cardozo Metro Station] and begin our march to the White House at 1 p.m. We will rally in front of the White House on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Black activists holding banner saying "Stop U.S. Sanctions on Zimbabwe Now!"

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DECEMBER 12th MOVEMENT INTERNATIONAL SECRETARIAT
456 Nostrand Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11216, USA
(718) 398-1766 (tel)   D12M@aol.com (email)   web: D12M.com

PRESS STATEMENT

May 15, 2019

MARCH TO WHITE HOUSE TO PROTEST U.S. SANCTIONS ON ZIMBABWE CAUSING HUMANITARIAN CRISIS

There is a humanitarian crisis in the Republic of Zimbabwe caused by U.S.-imposed sanctions. The December 12th Movement, the Friends of Zimbabwe and other organizations are here to announce a Rally and March on the White House on Saturday, May 25, 2019 – African Liberation Day, to demand that President Trump enter just and fair negotiations with the government of Zimbabwe to lift the economic sanctions. For nearly two decades the people of Zimbabwe have suffered under these very racist U.S. sanctions imposed solely to punish them for exercising their right to self-determination in returning land stolen by European colonizers to the indigenous citizens of their country.

Toward this end we are petitioning the Congressional Black Caucus to return to its roots and, in the tradition of the late Congressmen Ron Dellums and Charles Diggs, fight for the interests of Black people at home and abroad. Specifically, we urgently request the Congressional Black Caucus to:

1)     Publicly support the urgent need for direct talks to occur between United States Government and the Republic of Zimbabwe toward negotiating a just and fair diplomatic solution to the current conflict that hinders the lifting of the economic sanctions against the people of Zimbabwe; and to

2)     Conduct investigative hearings on the devastating health crisis and economic collapse caused by the U.S. sanctions on people of Zimbabwe;

3)     Review objective reports on Zimbabwe’s 2018 national elections that international observer missions declared as being free and fair; and

4)     Extend invitations to diplomats from the Republic of Zimbabwe to share testimony before the distinguished U.S. House of Representatives.

The Congressional Black Caucus cannot remain silent co-conspirators in Donald Trump’s racist and “shithole” foreign policy towards independent and sovereign African countries already historical victims of Western crimes against humanity.  The allegedly “targeted” sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe have negatively affected every aspect of life of the ordinary people of Zimbabwe. Sanctions are not benign – they kill. They destroy lives. Since their imposition, government access has been blocked to international and bi-lateral commerce and loans. The U.S. sanctions have also caused:

  • Shortages of medicines and medical supplies
  • Inability to purchase water treatment chemicals and mechanical parts
  • Increases in cholera and diabetes
  • Significant deterioration of Zimbabwe’s balance of payments position
  • Blockage to international access credit markets
  • A significant buildup of external debt arrears
  • Increased government debt arrears resulted in Zimbabwean private companies finding it

difficult to access offshore lending thus crippling their operations

  • Lack of medical treatment of and/or screening for HIV/AIDS
  • Declining external budgetary support, Zimbabwe’s deficit is largely been financed from domestic

borrowing which has triggered high inflation

  • A radical decrease in life expectancy
  • Historic increase in unemployment which ultimately hurts the overall quality of living
  • Zimbabwe being falsely perceived as an unsafe and risky country to visit, thus drastically

reducing the number of tourist arrivals

Despite all of this Zimbabweans have persevered and continued their support for their elected government’s leadership and land reform policies. The Unite States’ Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001 (ZIDERA) and its’ sanctions violate international law and the United Nations Charter in its blatant interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign nation. A land-locked, developing African nation like Zimbabwe, of 16,000,000 people, poses no existential threat to the “National Security Interest” of the United States. It is being punished for the example it has set for other African countries in their fight for land reform – the only road forward for development.

We support the Zimbabwe government’s request for negotiations and their just resistance to intimidation.

On Saturday, May 25, 2019 – 12 noon EDT the streets of Washington, DC,  will echo to the thunder of hundreds of voices marching to the White House to demand the lifting of the racist economic sanctions daily killing scores of children and people in Zimbabwe. Meet us and assemble at the African American Civil War Veterans Memorial Plaza located at Vermont Ave. and U St. (NW), in Washington, D.C.

Distribute everywhere!

Download larger flyer

Saturday, May 25, 2019,
March on White House — Washington D.C.
African Liberation Ain’t Over!
Assemble and Rally at 12 pm
African American Civil War Museum
1925 Vermont Ave. NW @U St. NW (plaza across the street)

Sponsored by December 12th Movement and ALD Coordinating Committee
FOR BUS TRANSPORTATION INFORMATION – WHITE HOUSE MARCH ON WASHINGTON DC  – CALL NOW 718-398-1766

#EndSanctionsOnZimbabwe • D12M.com

Filed Under: Event, Featured, Zimbabwe Tagged With: 2019, African Liberation Day, Sanctions, Venezuela, Washington D.C., White House, Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is Open for Business!

https://youtu.be/CRIiuHMBcL4

Africans in the Diaspora, led by the December 12th Movement, continue the fight for Zimbabwe to be free of European/U.S. sanctions and to be allowed self-determination. Hear about the opposition:

Filed Under: Featured, News, Zimbabwe Tagged With: European imperialism, imperialism, Open for Business, Sanctions, Self-Determination, U.S. imperialism, Zimbabwe

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