Posted on 07/04/2005 3:09:34 AM PDT by Clive
JOHANNESBURG - Irish rocker Bob Geldof fired a broadside at President Robert Mugabe at the weekend branding the Zimbabwean leader "a thug" who has destroyed his country.
Geldof, who organised the Live 8 aid concert for Africa at the weekend, was speaking during an interview with South Africa's 702 Talk Radio on Saturday.
"What about the absolute, absolute thuggery, brutality and mayhem of that mad creep Mugabe (President Robert)? Why does Africa refuse to acknowledge what is happening in that country? This man is mad. He's destroying his country, he's killing his people," he said.
Geldof also criticised South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki for failing to intervene and help address the crisis in Zimbabwe and said Mbeki's stance was a "serious negation of responsibility."
South Africa has consistently refused to openly chide Mugabe over human rights violations in Zimbabwe and prefers "silent diplomacy" in dealing with the veteran Zimbabwean leader.
The policy has been criticised in the past by Western governments and the main opposition in Zimbabwe who want Mbeki to adopt a much more robust approach in dealing with Mugabe who is accused of stealing elections and human rights abuses.
The Zimbabwean government is under fire from the international community for demolishing houses in urban areas in a campaign that that has left close to a million people without shelter.
The United States, Britain, human rights groups and churches have all condemned Mugabe for the "clean-up" exercise which Mugabe says is necessary to crush the illegal foreign currency market and spruce up the image of cities and towns.
A United Nations special envoy Anna Tibaijuka is already in Zimbabwe to assess the "clean up" exercise while the African Union which had refused to intervene in the crisis finally bowed to pressure from the international community and dispatched an envoy last week to assess the controversial exercise. - ZimOnline
Moral clarity issuing from the pop culture? Must be Bush's fault.
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Well ever since the Scotus Screwies ruling, we have no more moral footing to complain about Mugabe's version of 'helping the public good' by eminent domain, as daffy as it looks.
Cognitive dissonance ... evil thug = let's give him money.
That's going out on a limb, hey?
Jimmuh Carter & Andrew Young remain silent.
I guess now that Bob Geldof has annointed Mugabe a thug the rest of the world will listen?
Hey, Mugabe is black, you can't say that. He is one of the politically protected minorities that are off limits even if he did murder thousands of "evil white" farmers and stole their land. Finally a liberal (Geldolf) with enough balls to speak out about this racist thug.
Because the western media doesn't care, since Mugabe is black, a leftist, and blaming everything on whites.
What an a**hole. On one hand he criticizes these thugs, yet on the other hand he is trying to intimidate other nations into forgiving debt ranging in billions that these thugs pocketed AND has the gall to ask for billions more for these same thugs. How do these lunatics ever manage to garner world wide following is beyond my comprehension. Perhaps my lack of understanding is due to my never having worshiped before the altar of rock-n-roll. I enjoyed the music but didn't deify the performers.
"What about the absolute, absolute thuggery, brutality and mayhem of that mad creep Mugabe (President Robert)? Why does Africa refuse to acknowledge what is happening in that country? This man is mad. He's destroying his country, he's killing his people," [Geldof] said.
Well heck, here I've been deriding Geldof all weekend, and now he makes more sense than anybody. He is right in every particular in this statement anyway. Thanks Bob, sorry I've been putting you down!
Huh?!?
Poster no offense but I thought you altered the headline so I had to check, but yep that's what it is.
The reason I checked is that Geldof is far from a "rock legend". In fact he's one of those infamous "One Hit Wonders". He was a member of the Boomtown Rats' and their only US hit was "I Don't Like Mondays".
And unless one followed punk rock, you wouldn't have heard of the group either. So IMHO that's far from being a "rock legend".
My first reaction as well. But if you consider him as an "event promoter" responsible for the 3 largest multi-venue events on record...
You know I was thinking the same thing except I couldn't even remember what band Geldorf had been with.
Rock Legend--What a laugh.
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