Posted on 04/26/2008 12:04:05 PM PDT by Dog Gone
HARARE, Zimbabwe — I had never been arrested before and the prospect of prison in Zimbabwe, one of the poorest, most repressive places on earth, seemed especially forbidding: the squalor, the teeming cells, the possibility of beatings. But I told myself what I’d repeatedly taught my two children: Life is a collection of experiences. You savor the good, you learn from the bad.
I was being charged with the crime of “committing journalism.” One of my captors, Detective Inspector Dani Rangwani, described the offense to me as something despicable, almost hissing the words: “You’ve been gathering, processing and disseminating the news.”
And I’d been caught at it red-handed, my notes spread across my desk, my text messages readable on my cellphone, my stories preserved by Microsoft Word in an open laptop.
At one point, 21 policemen and detectives milled about my room at a small lodge in Harare, the capital. They knocked against one another as they ambled about, some kneeling, some on tiptoes, searching for clues in the cabinets and drawers. Men with rifles guarded the door.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Yes, such liberaton from Britain - wonderful that they have their own leadership!
The NYT has a problem. They hyped Mugabe into power and vilified the whites in Rhodesia. Now they have to admit the whites and Ian Smith were right. Of course they NYT are genetically unable to do this. So articles like this are meant to be an admission without losing their face. That’s all.
It isn’t a good read, it’s a great read. This guy must be one of the token honest reporters at the NYT.
Judging from his name, he’s not American and perhaps has not been corrupted by the New York mentality.
I found the story to be very compelling. It’s probably too long for the readers at FR to read. Got to get to the next CAPTION THIS thread, I guess.
Anyway, thanks for reading it.
Uh, do a Google on his name.
I’m surprised the Slimes let this see the light of day.
Fine. This makes his piece of reporting even more astonishing from the New York Times.
It is what it is.
This guy graduated from the same type of school as one can tell from the names he took down, the completeness of his story and the utter lack of central interest in passing on his personal opinion as the factual backbone of the story.
Few modern urinalists would put themselves into a dangerous situation without ample opportunity for fame. Fewer still would have the the wisdom to record this level of detail during their ordeal.
I was a communications major in undergraduate studies, and I thought this was a stunning story. I was aware of his arrest because I’m following the Zim debacle, but when I read this account, it easily became visual.
This reporter is good.
It’s very much in contrast to most of what we can get in our daily newspapers.
Plus the story of Zimbabwe is compelling on so many levels. It’s a tragedy of colonialism, replaced by Marxism, combined with racism towards whites.
Zimbabwe is still in turmoil, perhaps a country only coming to grips with what it means to be an independent and modern country.
Except with inflation in exceoss of 100,000% it’s not getting modern very fast.
Not many people here care. I do.
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