THE grand strategy of global imperialism makes use of many tools.
One of them is statistics.
The African continent is the most susceptible victim because of the so-called ‘curse’ of abundant material and human resources.
Just recently you have been bombarded with statistics of Advanced Level pass rates disaggregated by subject and by gender.
These are soon to be replicated in provinces, districts and individual schools. Teachers, parents and students will share the fan and pomp.
I remember way back in the 90s when I was a high school teacher of ‘O’ Level English Language and ‘A’ Level Literature in English.
It was a kind of harvest time for hugs and gifts of all kinds from smiling parents.
Yes, statistics are used for ranking performance.
They have been the measure; but how many times have we interrogated the validity let alone the integrity of statistics.
By the way, my purpose is not to offend those who tirelessly produce or work with statistics everyday neither am I saying statistics have no value at all.
No!
I am simply saying you need to be aware of how statistics have been tuned to the service of imperialism; that is, hiding essential truths and distorting facts and values.
This is what I want our patriots to know.
Let me begin with basics.
If two people have been attacked by a typhoon and one dies, statistics say 50 percent perished in the tragedy.
Zimbabwe has a population of about 14 million.
If 1 000 people are affected by cholera, statistics count this as 0,01 percent of the population, thus making such a huge figure appear so insignificant that those who can intervene are not alarmed.
Conversely, when HIV and AIDS incidences drop from 10 percent to eight percent of the same population we celebrate that awareness campaigns are being effective without revealing the material reality on the ground.
A nearer example is the just published ‘A’ Level results.
All local papers have been screaming: ‘Girls outshine boys!’
The Herald proceeds to quote the Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (ZIMSEC) statistics which say “girls scored a 74 percent pass rate compared to boys who recorded 68 percent although fewer girls wrote two or more subjects.”
Can you see the contradiction here?
How do you say fewer are better than more?
Besides, are they being compared for the same subjects?
No.
If they did different subjects, how then can you compare their performances?
How many times have we generated such statistics in education?
Of what value are they?
Do statistics better a curriculum?
What is the role of surpassing in futility in this overdrive paper-chase and not skills/values-chase?
In what way are stats a measure of life-skills, of creative productivity?
Are they not just a validation of directionless paper-chase?
Surely, how valid is the argument that ‘five Cs’ in totally unrelated subjects such as Maths, Shona, Metal Work, Bible Knowledge and European History are better than ‘three As’ in say Maths, Physics and Computer Science at ‘O’ Level?
Is it not time that we revise our methods of measuring production-related performance in a manner that empowers the slow, the moderate and the wizard?
What is pass rate?
Passing what?
To what purpose?
Whose purpose anyway?
If focus is all on those who ‘pass’, what plans are there for those who ‘fail’?
I am posing all these questions so that we reflect seriously on what to learn, how to learn what’s to be learnt and how to measure what is learned.
This way we avoid being fooled by statistics which have been giving us a false sense of achievement for time immemorial.
In the political arena let me bring your attention to how statistics have been used to validate false claims to democracy.
A country has 88 million people.
Only one million are registered voters.
Five hundred voted for the winning party.
The rest of the parties share the remaining half of the registered population. Statistics describe the winner as romping to victory with 50 percent of the voters.
The elections were free and fair and therefore democratic; at least because the powers that be, the self-appointed international police states have said so.
You know them.
They hail such stats.
However, when the same stats do not vindicate their hopes and wishes, the goal-posts are quickly changed.
Why?
Because they know stats are instruments of manipulation and when they fail to deliver they must be debunked.
You know very well how the Zimbabwe 2013 elections were received and re-interpreted by the US and European Union — a whopping 61 percent victory was described as free and fair, but not credible.
This teaches you that those who manufacture statistics are aware of their instrumental value.
They are used and abused in service of global capitalism.
Do you need to be reminded that the United Nations Security Council is manipulated by the game of numbers.
Statistics is a game of numbers; not of justice and fair play.
Out of the five members, three outweighed the two which vetoed against the bashing of Iraqis, because they constituted 60 percent of five countries who hold to ransom the destinies of the rest of the countries and peoples of the world.
The same statistic was used to murder Muammar Gaddafi in Libya.
In a nutshell, statistics can be used to misrepresent poverty levels, incidences of pandemics and epidemics to justify either action or inaction by varying them accordingly.
The next instalment will illustrate how world politics have been manipulated by especially the US and Europe.
Our lives are bigger than numbers.
And remember statistics are far from innocent!