Zimbabwe Gone Berserk
Surely those Zimbabweans so wearied of years of misrule, and now suffering intolerable want deserve far better. Much as Burmese do, but are helpless to fend for themselves against the iron resistance of their military junta. The Burmese stricken by a natural disaster that has claimed tens of thousands of lives and left millions homeless and at least a million without disaster relief must bear their crisis unassisted. For their rulers insist they are self-sustainable and will handily sustain themselves on whatever they can find to eke out their existence.And so it is too with those Zimbabweans who hope for a future that continues to elude them. For the simple reason that they cannot rid themselves of their despotic and insular tyrant. Who has deliberately engineered through ignorant misrule, his country's misfortune. One who is still, despite his depredations upon his country, protected by his fellow African rulers. One who remains the favourite of the police and the armed forces in Zimbabwe, who do his brutal bidding, secure in the knowledge that with his longevity in office their own padded futures remain secure.
Robert Mugabe and his entourage in Italy, attending the World Food Summit dine splendidly on vittles they brought along with them in their private jets. President Mugabe and his wife are ensconced on a luxury suite whose cost would go a long way to easing the plight of many starving Zimbabweans, but they are they and he is who he is. And he intends to remain where he is, as ruler of a destroyed economy, who can still eke out luxuries for himself and his supporters while the country decays.
Morgan Tsvangirai, already arrested once before, severely beaten, jailed, courageously returned to his country while knowing that in the wake of the election that saw him besting Mugabe, he would be a prime target for revenge. If for no other reason that most of the world supports the legitimacy of his claim to having secured the votes of a greater majority than Mugabe.
His supporters, the poor rural dwellers and farmers, have been the brutal targets of vengeance. A softening-up of their resolve for the upcoming run-off poll, undertaken by Mugabe supporters, the police, the military. The Movement for Democratic Change is to be prevented by all means, violence most certainly assured, from reaching success in the run-off poll. Five opposition supporters were doused with gasoline and set on fire, after being fired upon by assailants.
More than 50 MDC workers, supporters and polling agents were murdered since the March vote. Many more have been beaten, abducted, imprisoned, tortured. The government has undertaken stricter control of scarce food aid, distributing it to their supporters, denying it to their detractors. CARE International, representing one of the largest aid groups in the country, assisting a million Zimbabweans, was ordered out of the country, as the government accused them of supporting their opposition.
Those areas of the country that represented the largest support for the opposition to the Mugabe regime have been targeted for ongoing retribution. Still, Zimbabweans, fearful and set upon, are quietly defiant, determined to enact a change in government. Robert Mugabe and his supporters equally determined to ensure that no such change takes place. With the world standing by helpless to do anything concrete to alter the situation. Embarrassed at the presence of Mugabe and his cohorts in Italy, attending the food conference.
Where he confidently stood up, in the company of another world-class lunatic, to denounce Great Britain, the former colonial power in his country, for engineering the economic plight of Zimbabwe at the present time. Blaming Britain for constructing a dire situation of food scarcity in his country. For unbelievable inflation, for the entire collapse of the country's agricultural system, for mass unemployment.
And finally, Robert Mugabe has ordered the arrest and incarceration once again of Morgan Tsvangirai, along with others of the opposition. Held incommunicado. Robert Mugabe's spiralling agenda continues apace.
Labels: Political Realities, Societal Failures
posted by Pieface @ Thursday, June 05, 2008
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