The Working Group on Cyber Laws and Digital Security in Zambia, a consortium of Civil Society actors advocating for human rights-based internet legislation in Zambia, calls on telecommunications operators and other digital players to enhance cyber security for internet users in the wake of increased online transactions due to the outbreak of COVID-19.

Companies, individuals, businesses, governments and other stakeholders are still trying to find their way around the Covid-19 pandemic. In the hope of protecting the employees’ health, several entities have resorted to unfamiliar systems of work, allowing their employees to work remotely, and adjusting some of their approaches. More than ever before, workers are spending extended time remotely logging into secure computer network systems to continue their work activities from home.

The Working Group notes that during these times of distress for individuals and entities, the breach of personal and institutional data is also at its peak. This makes cyber security a top priority for everyone using online tools to seek, receive, share, store, manage or process data. This is more so of a priority for cyber security agencies that are working to thwart the inevitable upswing in cybercriminal activities.

More people working from home means more people are creating, opening and sharing files online, conducting online transactions such as banking, purchases and payments. Online meetings and instant messaging have replaced many aspects of the daily routines of entities. This increase in remote access traffic can create additional vulnerabilities in otherwise secure internal computer systems. For example, in the last few weeks we have seen an increase in the number of “Zoom Bombing” cases, where unscrupulous characters find their way into virtual meeting spaces, and “bomb” with unwanted content.

It is our view as a Working Group that during this time, users of internet-based platforms must be protected from cyber security threats and cybercrimes. This calls for relevant government cyber security agencies to focus more on minimizing the chances of cyber breaches and protecting citizens against cybercrime. Their work must be driven by the need to protect citizens’ rights to privacy and freedom of expression, not an overly security-based focus of managing cyber activities considered crimes against the state.
The increased use of the internet during this COVID-19 threatened period is a manifestation of the importance of the internet as one of the modern prime movers of economic development and democratic societies. It has also brought to the fore the human rights principles associated with internet use as enshrined in local and international human rights instruments such as the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Zambia ratified in 1984. These instruments guarantee citizens the right to freedom of expression which includes freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, and protection from arbitrary or unlawful interference with their privacy, family, home or correspondence, as well as unlawful attacks on their reputation for integrity.

In the course of executing their duties to curb internet breaches and cybercrime, cyber security agencies have a responsibility to uphold the human rights of citizens to use the internet to conduct their businesses without undue interference to their rights to privacy and freedom of expression.

Agreeably there are incidences of internet abuse, but these cannot warrant arbitrary violation of people’s cyber rights.

On the other hand, the Working Group recognizes the need for organisations and other stakeholders to popularize digital safety and security among internet users in order to curb the escalated cybercrimes during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic period. Each organisation has a duty to teach its employees and other stakeholders the basic security concepts to protect confidential personal, customer/client and institutional data, as well as avoid abuse of the internet while they work remotely.

We also urge all internet users to exercise maximum caution in the use of internet and virtual platforms as they do their work, socialize or to procure services and goods as they continue working remotely.

By Faston Mwale

Recently, there has been a growing debate contending that the UNIP government ran a socialist state which failed and ultimately led to the ouster of the party from government. This is a popular bourgeoise narrative driven by agents of capital to counter the resurgence of socialist consciousness in Zambia and across the world. In the context of limited time and space vis-à-vis the widespread nature of the topic, I find it practically difficulty to delve into all the ramifications of the debate. Be that as it may, I will try to highlight a few salient issues that perhaps could be of help in the creation of the correct context. The very fact that socialism is openly being subjected to public discourse with much intensity than ever before is, first and foremost, a reflection of the crisis in the capitalist-imperialist mode of production, exchange and distribution. My rebuttal to the erroneous popular notions is not intended to generate unnecessary controversy but to lay ground for further ideological discourse on the same.

In the wake of the re-emergence of socialist consciousness across the world, there has been an insidious attempt from the bourgeoise world to identify the failures, the evils, the calumny, the social, economic and political maladies of the capitalist system with the noble struggle for socialism. Zambia was not and has not ever been a socialist state. The objective truth is that UNIP pursued state capitalism. Anti-apartheid activist and economist, professor Ben Turok described state capitalism as the concentration of political power in the state, the predominance of the state in the economy and the persistence of profit as the principle economic criterion in a class divided society. This characterization includes ownership relations, market relations and political relations each being an essential aspect of state capitalism. In the Zambian context, key production forces such as land, industries, banks, transport, tele-communications, energy, retail chain-stores, etc were under state ownership.

Having had the experience with the brutality, exploitation, oppression and inequality perpetrated by colonial capitalism, the first crop of African leaders rightly aspired for a more humane and just socio-economic system – socialism. In one of my write ups recently, I did allude to the fact that socialism does not arise of itself, it emerges as a response to the unjust nature of the capitalist system. The abysmal material conditions under colonial capitalism ultimately created the necessary conditions for the overthrow of colonial rule in pursuit for a better society. On the premise of socialist thought, masses were mobilized and coalesced around socialism and waged a decisive struggle against colonial rule.

The colonial masters did not underestimate the growing strength of socialism during the approaching end of colonial rule. It is worth noting that at the attainment of independence from Britain in 1964, Zambia was not only given a certificate of political independence, the exiting colonial powers dictated the economic system that Zambia should follow. They also prescribed how and where Zambia’s mineral resources should be sold at and at a price determined by them. In order to buttress the capitalist mode of production, they provided the intellectual and ideological cover for capitalism through perpetuation of Eurocentric education.

In attempting to dispense with the prescriptions of the former colonial powers, the majority of the first crop of African leaders made genuine strides to entrench socialism in their respective territories. History is replete with accounts of the consequences of this option. Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was overthrown, Thomas Sankara was toppled and assassinated while Seiko Toure of Guinea faced massive repression from France. Under the circumstances, the much envisaged genuine working class democracy failed to materialize. Scientific socialism did not fail, it did not exist.

An ideological attempt was made to humanize state capitalism through Humanism. The truth is that capitalism has no human face. In my view, this is what perhaps has been misconstrued as socialism. I stand to reject this notion on three grounds. One, socialism without the socialization of the principle means of production does not amount to socialism at all, two, humanism, misconstrued as socialism, was a utopian ideology that did not underscore class struggle and three, it lacked a radical transformative content, in other words, it lacked the revolutionary theory. So those claiming that Zambia was a socialist state should test their analyses against these key premises. At best, humanism served to manufacture a kind of a ‘consenting attitude’ of the working class to the unjust nature of the capitalist system. Humanism, to a certain extent, worked to conceal oppression, exploitation, expropriation and the yawning inequalities that had emerged under state capitalism.

Since 1891when the territory now called Zambia was first colonized by Cecil John Rhodes, Zambians have been subjected to a series of the crudest forms of capitalism. In all phases of capitalism, Zambians have resisted capitalism with enduring pain and extraordinary sacrifice. The struggle for socialism is a historical vocation. We are merely taking over from where our forefathers left. The possibility to create an egalitarian society and in which all kinds of inequalities, repression, exploitation and malice are eradicated lies within our reach. To realize this possibility, we have to wake up and get organized and fight for that which is rightfully ours together. Be wary, however, of the petty bourgeoise elements around the world who are carrying an ideological onslaught against socialism and its theoretical weaponry provided by Marxism. By slandering socialism and stigmatizing those committed to the struggle, capital is trying to extinguish the fire that illuminates the road to the liberation of the struggling masses. Masses of Zambians from all walks of life are joining the bandwagon for the struggle for justice, equity and a peaceful Zambia, a duty that must be accomplished against all odds.

The Author is the Socialist Party’s Copperbelt Provincial Spokesperson