Honest Words on Zimbabwe
- 02.19.2008 - 1:12 AMThis week President Bush is touring Africa, a part of the world where both he and the United States remain remarkably popular. This is due, in part, to the massive aid his administration has designated for HIV-prevention, truly a monumental effort (especially in comparison to the dilatory record of his predecessor.) While political analysts will bicker for a long time over practically every aspect of the Bush legacy, his record on African issues is one that even Bush’s harshest critics can admire.
Bush has spoken out consistently against Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe. Now, finally, he is denouncing Mugabe’s South African enablers, as well. Last week, in a White House speech that presaged his trip, Bush had some harsh words for Robert Mugabe, stating that the “discredited dictator” had “ruined” his country. This sort of rhetoric is par for the course, but what followed was unusual. “I was hoping that the South African government would have been more pro-active in its intercession to help the people of Zimbabwe,” he said.
In 2003, visiting South Africa, Bush called President Thabo Mbeki his “point man” on Zimbabwe. Five years later, Zimbabwe has gone from a politically tumultuous state into a full-blown humanitarian disaster. As much as a third of the country’s population now lives as refugees in neighboring countries, life expectancy is the lowest on earth, and inflation hovers somewhere around 100,000%. Mbeki’s record on Zimbabwe has been nothing short of disastrous, and his certifying what is bound to be yet another stolen election next March is his latest poke in the eye to Zimbabwean democrats. In a rare outburst, the leader of the Zimbabwean opposition — which has been nothing but deferential to the South African government throughout its struggle against tyranny — criticized Mbeki and demanded that he stop his “quiet support for the dictatorship” of Mugabe. Though neither Zimbabwe nor South Africa is on Bush’s itinerary, perhaps the president can deliver a speech in his remaining days urging Africa’s leaders to end their support for one of the world’s longest-serving tyrants.
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February 19th, 2008 at 5:22 AM
The ZANU-PF, a Stalinist political party complete with Politburo and Central Committee, has been firmly in charge in Zimbabwe since 1980. Mr. Mugabe, who is 83, could be gone from Zimbabwe politics tomorrow, but the ZANU-PF would still be in control.
There is no way that Mr. Mugabe’s party is going to lose the March elections. He will likely die in office, but the Politburo and Central Committee of the ZANU-PF will see to it that a socialist always succeeds to the presidency of the government. So long as Mr. Mbeki of South Africa shares the socialist ideals of Mr. Mugabe and the ZANU-PF, no amount of jawboning by any American president is going to have any impact on the Stalinist rule of Zimbabwe.
There is no viable ‘conservative’ or ‘libertarian’ politics in Zimbabwe to act as an alternative for voters to the ZANU-PF. Voters in Zimbabwe have a choice between voting for the entrenched Stalinists or for the ‘democratic’ socialists in the Movement for Democratic Change. Zimbabwe is a failed state: the near-universal popularity of socialism among the Zimbabwe people killed it.
February 19th, 2008 at 6:39 AM
I strongly suspect that Zimbabwe is doomed. The only way the citizenry can be saved is by an outside military force liberating the country—and that ain’t gonna happen! This is merely another example of the damaged caused by “elites” like Marty Peretz. This is the same guy who stated with a straight face:
“One of my special fields for the general examinations for the PhD was African nationalism. This was in the early sixties, and everywhere there was hope for the continent. The continent’s leaders were, it seemed, mostly graduates of the London School of Economics or had been trained in the (hypocritical) mores of French culture. No one would have imagined the catastrophe that is Africa now. No one.”
No politician in the West dares to advocate military action in Africa. Neither Barack “Barry” Obama nor even John McCain will get on this bandwagon. Oh gosh, where is Michelle Obama when you need her? She will probably ask for negotiations with Robert Mugabe. After all, the dude merely needs some compassion and understanding—and that will be enough to get him to straighten out his act.