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While many Zambians are uninterested in US Vice President Kamala Harris' visit to Africa, one of the country's leaders delivered a stinging rebuke of American lawmakers' enduring colonial attitudes toward the continent.

One politician's vehement condemnation of the US government "killers" who overthrew many of the continent's governments and killed their leaders has gone viral, as the US Vice President visits the region in an attempt to rein in African nations that have charted an independent foreign policy path and refused to join Western economic sanctions against Russia.

"The killers of Patrice Lumumba, those who toppled Kwame Nkrumah, those who killed Nasser, those who killed Muammar Gaddafi, today are coming to teach us about democracy," explained Fred M’membe, president of the Socialist Party of Zambia, in a speech given March 23 at the International Forum on Democracy in Beijing.
 
Videos revealing excerpts of the speech on Friday were posted on social media, where they quickly racked up hundreds of thousands of views.

Zambian opposition leader slams Kamala Harris visit:

“A country that has killed so many of our leaders in Africa… the killers of Patrice Lumumba, those who toppled Kwame Nkrumah, those who killed Nasser, those who killed Gaddafi… today are coming to teach us about democracy.” https://t.co/wIDuc2eEhL

— Wyatt Reed (@wyattreed13) March 31, 2023

M’membe continued, calling the US in a blistering critique of its double standards, "a country that has toppled so many governments in Africa, that has led so many coups in Africa and other parts of the world, a country that has killed so many of our leaders in Africa and other parts of the world."

As the Zambian politician pointed out with incredulity, "a country that has been built on brutal force, on the enslavement of other human beings, on the humiliation of Africans, the exploitation of Africans, the plunder of Africa, today is coming to teach us about democracy."

He explained that "if you have no respect for the dignity of others if you have no respect for the sovereignty of other countries, you cannot claim to be a champion of democracy."

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Last week, M’membe also criticized and condemned the US government’s ongoing "anti-China crusade" in comments given to US state-affiliated media. "It’s not democracy and human rights they are pursuing in Africa. They are pursuing their geopolitical interests. They are pursuing their own economic interests. It is not for us—it is for them."

On a similar note, a spokesperson for Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF party told reporters on March 16 that African countries are becoming increasingly resistant to the West's "bullying" as a consciousness of their own strengths as African nations are growing. 

"African countries, they are now much more interested in developing themselves without being bullied by the West and there is a lot of resistance now against [the West]… it is the resisting America, that's why we were punished, it is the resisting England, that's why we were punished… now the African countries, they know their resource base is one of the best in the world… and they know western countries are jealous and they want to take away the resource like they always used to do in the colonial era," said Christopher Mutsvangwa, spokesman for the ZANU-PF.

Read next: West stole Africa's culture, destroying its future: Report