Peru does not usually make the news in Australia. Our heavily monopolised corporate media have a very narrow Anglophone perspective; it’s only worthwhile news if it happens in the Anglo-American cultural sphere. However, there are exceptions – and it is interesting to note that there are lessons for us from non-Anglocentric nations.

Keiko Fujimori, daughter of longtime Peruvian constitutional dictator Alberto Fujimori, has been indicted for corruption and leading a criminal organisation. A former presidential candidate, pivoting off the fame of her father, it is good to see a high profile politician held to account for their criminal behaviour. Her party, Popular Force, is accused of being a criminal organisation. Good to see that in the Americas – South, not North – accountability still applies, even to public figures.

Why is this important? Her father, Alberto, built his reputation as a strongman political operator after capturing the longtime head of the rebellious Communist Party of Peru, widely known as Shining Path. The Maoist rebels had waged a stubborn guerrilla struggle over the decades, and their determination seemed unstoppable.

Alberto Fujimori, coming to power as a neoliberal candidate in 1991, quickly set about making the defeat of terrorism (as he portrayed Shining Path) in an early 1990s Peruvian version of the ‘war on terror’.

Suspending the constitution, and relying on the secret police, Fujimori the elder waged a relentless campaign to capture the leader of Shining Path, Abimael Guzman. The latter was commonly known as Comrade Gonzalo.

Alberto Fujimori was hailed as the hope of the future for Peru by none other than former US President George Bush (the elder). Heroised as a great statesman, Fujimori rammed through neoliberal policies and entrenched the power of the financial oligarchy. The capture of Guzman in 1992 seemed to confirm Fujimori’s success, and his far right administration received favourable coverage in Australia at the time.

It is interesting to note that Fujimori’s constitutional violations and suspension of civil liberties were not discussed in the adulatory coverage of his regime in Australia. At about the same time, 1991, the corporate media could barely hide their malicious glee with the defeat of Zambia’s longtime president, Kenneth Kaunda.

The latter had led the anti colonial liberation struggle to expel the British from northern Rhodesia, as Zambia was then known. From the 1960s onwards, Kaunda lent his support to other African liberation struggles, such as that of the African National Congress (ANC) against the racist apartheid regime in South Africa.

Kaunda was a charismatic, eloquent politician, frequently smiling, sports-mad (he loved football), rode his bicycle everywhere, and danced at the drop of a hat. His passing in 2021 marked the end of an era, the last of the great anti colonial freedom fighters. His rule, that of a one-party state, came to an end in 1991 with the first multiparty elections in Zambia.

The corporate media were virtually beside themselves with happiness; Kaunda, who had triumphed over British imperialism was humbled by his own people. Kaunda took the defeat gracefully; peacefully handing over power, and settled into the role of an active elder statesman. He still smiled, and laughed, and danced.

Zambia, throughout Kaunda’s reign as president (1964 – 1991), nationalised most sectors of the economy, pushing out foreign (mainly British) capital. While maintaining friendly relations with the USSR and the Eastern bloc, Zambia charted its own noncommunist course of African socialism. Agreeing to multiparty elections, Kaunda’s time had seemed over in 1991. While he was electorally defeated, he maintained his popularity with the people throughout his post-presidency life.

Let’s remember that Kaunda, in 1964, inherited a nation who main resources (copper mining) were dominated by English capital. Ian Smith, racist leader of southern Rhodesia, and apartheid South Africa, imposed economic sanctions on Zambia. Most of Zambia’s revenue was derived from mining.

Exports from Zambia had to pass through Rhodesia and South Africa to reach their destination. Economic sanctions are considered acceptable behaviour by pro-western nations when the targets are newly independent countries charting their own course. Embarking on state-led industrial independence, Kaunda was never forgiven by the Anglo-American imperial axis for his resource nationalism.

Fujimori, after losing the presidency in 2000, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for murder, kidnapping, corruption and crimes against humanity. After serving 15 years, he was controversially pardoned and granted early release. Peru has had a succession of corrupt oligarchic presidents since 2000. From July 2016 to December 2022, Peru had seven presidents in six years. Fujimori’s legacy is one of institutional corruption.

Kenneth Kaunda never lost his stature as one of the great presidents of Zambia, and a pan-African leader. He died in 2021, at the ripe old age of 97. Since 2021, 4000 people have achieved literacy as a result of educational programmes implemented by the Socialist Party of Zambia in conjunction with Cuban educators. I think Kaunda would be proud.

I like to think that his indomitable spirit is still among us, smiling, riding his bicycle, playing football – and dancing.