Posted on 08/13/2002 2:01:35 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
The drama of hunger in southern Africa is proceeding along its inexorable course. In Zimbabwe alone, five million people face food shortages. And this is despite the fact that Zimbabwe, leaving aside oil-rich Libya, is probably the richest country in Africa.
The excellent infrastructure inherited by Robert Mugabe when he took over Zimbabwe in 1980 would have been adequate to overcome the current shortages. But at this point the policies he is pursuing can only be described as paranoid, while holding on to power seems to be his sole concern. His regime has now issued an ultimatum ordering all white farmers to vacate their property. The goal is not the implementation of equitable land reform, but the wanton destruction of property belonging to whites.
Africa's richest country has been destroyed by the irrational behavior of the president and the inadequate international response. This judgment applies, however, not only to the wealthy north, but also to Zimbabwe's neighbors in Africa itself. Not five weeks have passed since the founding of the African Union, which announced to great fanfare the goal of finally leading the continent to better times. Yet none of the AU members have acted to put a stop to Mugabe's disastrous policies. And thus has the sin of an individual redounded to the shame of many and the detriment of all.
The ANC countered by claiming that the SACP, which is the oldest communist party in the world outside of the former Soviet Union, was "run by whites." In the 1920's the SACP was formed under the banner "Workers unite to keep South Africa white."
The SACP's deputy general secretary, Jeremy Cronin is a white man who has come under criticism from the ANC ranks. Cronin recently blasted the ANC for its "concentration of power," "Stalinist currents" and the "bureaucratization of the liberation struggle."
Cronin's whiteness has put him on trial in the eyes of South African blacks. The fact that he served in the apartheid-era navy also has been mentioned, despite the fact that he actively opposed the former pro-West regime.
The former intelligence official Snow said the "SACP's best tactics are covert. That is how they were trained to operate by the Soviets."
"To the face of the international community, they fly the flag of so-called 'democracy' to attract foreign investment, tourism, NEPAD dollars and politically-correct sympathy," Snow said. "But when Jesse Jackson and Louis Farrakhan come to South Africa and meet with the Marxists here, do you think they are only having a cup of tea? They are formulating their international strategy."
Last week, SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande said that there is a possibility that the SACP will take over the ANC "from within," and that the "working class must dominate ANC policy." "The African nationalism of the ANC has always been revolutionary, but it doesn't mean you don't find backwards elements," Nzimande said.
He also believes that a coming crisis in the capitalist West will provide an opportunity to further the communist cause.
"A new type of global robber baron is emerging - look at what has been happening with all these companies in the United States," Nzimande told the South African media.
"For us [the SACP] this is not a deviation - it's inherent in the system," he said. "The relevance of communist parties worldwide is that they represent an alternative society, an alternative to capitalism. When the Soviet Union collapsed there was a neo-liberal triumphalism that said: it's the end of history, there is one route for countries to develop. But poverty is widening. At our congress we are going to reflect on how we link up with this mass creative expression of anti-capitalist sentiment."***
Outside the southern African state's parliament, there was no sign of a planned protest march by pro-democracy activists after police warnings that the demonstration would be crushed. Mugabe said Zimbabwe, in the grips of its worst economic and political crisis since independence from Britain in 1980, was facing "considerable challenges" from what he called "British machinations" and a regional drought.
The economy is in its fourth year of recession with record high inflation and unemployment and a severe food shortage. "Our sovereignty is constantly under attack from the bullying states ... which seek to use their political and economic prowess to achieve global hegemony," Mugabe said. At 78, Mugabe is a left-winger who counts Cuba's Fidel Castro and Libya's Muammar Gaddafi among his foreign allies. Monday, the European Union extended a blacklist of Zimbabwean officials subjected to a visa ban and asset freeze. The move is aimed at piling more pressure on the country whose human rights record it says has deteriorated since Mugabe's re-election in March. ***
1. Robert Mugabe is willing to starve a significant portion of his populace in order to further his "land reform" agenda.
2. Dick Gephardt et. al. are willing to impoverish a significant number of Americans in order to improve the prospects of the Democratic party in the 2002 elections (his reported "40-seat gain" statement).
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They voted him out of office in the last election only to have it stolen away. I don't have any sympathy for Mugabe or people who support him, I do have sympathy for the people who attempted to do something about it despite the long odds against them.
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