Posted on 12/27/2002 8:02:58 AM PST by Apolitical
ICONOCLAST DAILY NOTEBOOK....
Where Have All The Protestors Gone?....
December 27, 2002: Funny how back when Zimbabwe was called Rhodesia and ruled by a repressive white oligarchy, there were protestors aplenty outside of the region's diplomatic offices around the world. However, now that Zimbabwe is ruled by a just-as-repressive (and perhaps more tyrannical) black despot, Robert Mugabe, the vocal mobs of leftist protesters against world injustice seem to have gone AWOL.
Not that life for black Rhodesians was exactly a picnic under the white-supremancy regime of Ian Smith, but at least there was still something to eat occasionally; and the nation's most lucrative employment opportunity hadn't yet become government-employed bully-boy or torturer .
In that context, our recommended reading today is a column by long-time liberal rights activist Nat Hentoff, entitled "A True Police State". Here's how Mr. Hentoff describes life under the savage and incompetent Mugabe regime:
If there were a contest naming which nation's government is the most vicious at crushing human rights and the human spirit, many countries would be leading contenders. I would vote for Zimbabwe, ruled by Robert Mugabe -- once its liberator, now its tyrant.
The United Nations' World Food program reported on Nov. 30 that food shortages in Zimbabwe are so severe that half the population -- more than 6 million people -- will be in acute need of food by March. But Andrew Natsios, the administrator for the United States Agency for International Development, testified before Congress in August:
"We now have confirmed reports in a number of areas in the most severely affected region of the country, which is the south, that food is being distributed to people who are members of Mugabe's political party and is not being distributed based on need. The children of opposition party members have been driven away from school supplementary feeding programs in rural areas."
In September, Adotei Akwei, Africa Advocacy director of Amnesty International U.S.A., told The New York Times that "people have been detained and tortured. In (Zimbabwe) now, literally, no one's safety and security is guaranteed if there is even the slightest doubt of support for President Mugabe."
Yet, in November, The New York Times reported that "the South African foreign minister, Dr. Nkosazana Zuma, said it was time for Western nations to consider ending penalties they imposed on Zimbabwe. South Africa hailed Zimbabwe's presidential election in March as legitimate, even though officials eliminated polling stations in opposition strongholds, and the police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of people who were waiting to vote."Well, actually we all know where Jesse Jackson is -- getting it on in a luxury hotel room somewhere with his latest female protege, or busy extorting funds (for himself and his cronies) from some guilty white corporate executive or other. But that still leaves millions of other professional voices of conscience in the West who don't seem to have a word to say in defense of the starving masses of Zimbabwe or anti-Mugabe political opponents rotting in Mr. Mugabe's many prisons.
Where is Nelson Mandela, who fought so long and courageously for democracy in South Africa? Where, in this country, are women's groups; the black and white clergy that organized against slavery and gang rapes by government militia in Sudan; editorial writers; and the clamorous commentators on cable television? Where is Jesse Jackson?
(Excerpt) Read more at iconoclast.ca ...
Let's take a look. In Zembabwe, massive numbers of people are dying of rapid weight loss, lethagy, secondary bacterial infection, diarhia, and skin lesions. Yep, without available lab facilities, these are all symptoms of AIDS; ergo, the epidemic is rampant. ...More money, please...
I think they had finals before going home for Christmas break.
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