Mugabe Has Recolonised His People

Just for peoples info, Castro has this to say about Mugabe and Zimbabwe:

Co-operation with Cuba
The pro-ZANU Zimbabwean Herald reported in uncompromising terms on July 22, 2002: "President Mugabe arrived home yesterday after a successful working visit to Cuba during which Zimbabwe got more doctors from its ally while more assistance in the health sector is in the pipeline.
"Comrade Mugabe and his delegation spent four days consulting with his Cuban counterpart President Fidel Castro and officials from his government to explore ways on how the Caribbean country could increase its support to Zimbabwe.
Castro "confident of Zimbabwe's victory"
"Consolidation of co-operation between the two countries was also discussed. President Castro, who met with President Mugabe for three consecutive days during the visit, said Zimbabwe would triumph in its quest to equally redistribute land, saluting Zimbabweans for their heroic efforts to control their resources.
"He added that the country would overcome the present problems despite pressure by some powerful Western countries.
"'There is no country weak enough to be crushed. That is why I am confident in Zimbabwe's victory despite the obstacles', said President Castro, whose country has for 43 years resisted a United States-led isolation.
African support
"African ambassadors accredited to Cuba met President Mugabe and reiterated their countries' support for Zimbabwe in its fight against imperialist forces.
"Cuba has helped Zimbabwe since the days of the liberation struggle. After independence it continued to assist in developmental programs such as training of science teachers and of late has been providing Zimbabwe with doctors."
http://www.cpa.org.au/booklets/zimbabwe.pdf

'Human Rights Watch is a highly lauded international human rights organization that highlight human rights violations regardless who the victim is and who the perpetrator is. They don't publish anything without proof. Are you saying that what they describe didn't happen? If so, you'd better damn well have proof.'

highly lauded by whom?Not by most venezuelans, who can see it attack its electde govt.

'Nice diversional tactic about the land reform. This is about what is happening right now, the fraudulent election, and the violence and intimidation that surrounds it.'

stephen, land reform is the central issue...its the reason UK and its servile media have gone ballistic.
The elections were as free and fair as is permitted when the country is under economic siege, and the opposition is funded by foreign govts.

I'm most definately not a Mugabe lover, but backing Mugabe and ZANU-PF into a corner won't make for peaceful change in Zimbabwe. Neither will megaphone diplomacy practiced by Britain, the EU and the US. South African President Mbeki acted very constructively with his neighbor and deserves praise, not criticism. Instead of giving Mugabe and ZANU-PF the stick, the world community might want to offer carrots. Britain needs own up to the fact that it reneged on it's commitments to land reform pushing Zimbabwe over a cliff and thereby instigating the current debacle. To those posters who said that Britain can longer be blamed, I say that they and Britain are in serious denial. Britts remind me too much of Americans, their respective governments go around stirring up trouble, and then they blame the people that were harmed by the policies of Britain and the US. Britain has ZERO credibility on this issue and can't say a damn thing. While Mugabe's behavior may not have been all that helpful, blaming Mugabe while denying Britain's fault is hypocritical at best.

I have seen no evidence of Human Rights Watch blanketing the global media with information about police brutality against African Americans in the United States, the racism in the U.S. criminal justice system, the denial of loans by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to African-American farmers, the disparity between crack(black)/cocaine(white) sentencing, the searching of students by the police of children from black schools for drugs while students from white prep schools aren't searched, etc. I can go on and on.

There is a plethora of American human rights issues that Human Rights Watch can address. But it doesn't. Do not refer me to your website. Address those issues then bombard the global media with your findings the same way you are doing with Zimbabwe then perhaps I can take you seriously.

The land issue isn't diversionary. African people on the continent live predominantly rural lives, over 70% for that matter. For them, land is a matter of life and death. Without land they will die slow and horrible deaths. It is insensitive, at the very least, for you to say that the land issue is diversionary. Maybe it is a reflection of your utter ignorance of the realities of African life. Or perhaps it is your perverse desire to see African people paraded on your television screen as hapless and hopeless people yearning for white intervention to save them from starvation.

President Mugabe's program for the economic empowerment of Zimbabweans is the only viable solution for the centruries-old problems of African poverty. The diversion is "democracy" and "human rights" because there is no evidence that your idea of "democracy" and "human rights" has elevated African people out of the depths of poverty and despair.

There are a few people here talking about 'You Mugabe-haters'. I think it is valid to also start talking a bit about 'You Mugabe-lovers'. I think one thing that you all have in common is that you are a safe distance away from Mugabe's political thugs, probably you don't even know any Zimbabweans or people who have been there recently personally and you have a terribly naive and awkwardly romanticized view of what 'the struggle' is all about. One thing I can also advise to you, and it is what the author of the article also advises: Read Frantz Fanon, his writings are more than forty years old and still extremely topical; this is really not the first time that his writings seem 'prophetical'.
I think Mugabe has lost all credibility and he just strikes me as a tragical authoritharian who has lost his powers, just like a colonialist Englishman who still dreams of the times when 'Britain was great'. A tragical figure, who is completely under the control of his own military and completely dependent on them. In one news article I read that all that Mugabe wants is 'a little bit of respect'. How many have to die for that little bit of respect ?
Instead of a frontline against 'White supremacy', Zimbabwe has become a pawn in the 'little empire' that the new regional superpower is building up: South Africa. South Africa is one of the few countries worldwide who have still been exporting weapons on a grand scale to Zimbabwe and South Africa's own military-industrial complex (a remnant from the former apartheid state) thrives on such a conflict just next door. Mugabe has just lost it and is controlled by his own generals. Mbeki, the president of South Africa is completely isolated even in his own government for his support for Mugabe (he still thinks himself as a 'neutral' negotiator, but everybody thinks he is just supporting Mugabe). In Africa there is only Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo that are still supporting Mugabe. Even other authoritarian leaders such as Paul Kagame from Rwanda and King Mswati from Swaziland are criticizing Mugabe and think he is going too far. People and politicians across Africa see him as an 'embarassment' for the continent. I think we can extend that to you 'Mugabe-lovers' as well. You are an embarassment for our beautiful mother continent and we don't need your false solidarity. Go fight against white supremacy there in your United States, there is still a lot to be done there. Fight for your rights to vote and to get it counted for example. After you have learnt a bit about the state of your own democracy (which I think formed an inspiration for Mugabe: how to steal an election and to get away with it, what the U.S. can do, we can do in Zimbabwe as well) and you read up a bit about the anti-colonial struggle in Africa (again Fanon, Amilcar Cabral, Steve Biko, Basil Davidson and many others), you can try to win the friendship of Africans again.

Human Rights Watch is a highly lauded international human rights organization that highlight human rights violations regardless who the victim is and who the perpetrator is. They don't publish anything without proof. Are you saying that what they describe didn't happen? If so, you'd better damn well have proof.

Nice diversional tactic about the land reform. This is about what is happening right now, the fraudulent election, and the violence and intimidation that surrounds it.

This is not about the United States either. HRW has done a lot of work on the States. You might want to check out their site since you obviously know nothing about them.

I find it curious that Human Rights Watch and other so-called "human rights" organizations conveniently ignore the land question in Africa. If one speaks to the average African on the continent, his or her major concern isn't "democracy", "human rights" or "one man, one vote" it's land. "Democracy" is a western pre-occupation - venting activity to keep its citizens distracted from the alienation in their lives and the fact that in spite of their opposition to the war in Iraq, for instance, it still goes on, "democracy" notwithstanding.

Human Rights Watch needs to focus its attention on New Orleans if it is serious about internally displaced persons. I challenge Human Rights Watch to seek out all those African Americans who were uprooted from their homes in New Orleans and scattered across the length and breadth of the United States. Find out how they are doing. Compile that in a report and distribute it to the global media. Speak to the African Americans who aren't being allowed to return to their homes in New Orleans. Compile that in a report and distribute it to the global media. Speak to the African Americans who haven't received any assistance from the federal government to rebuild their homes in New Orleans. Compile that in a report and distribute it to the global media. And, while you are at it, conduct a study documenting the pattern and practice of police departments across the United States of killing unarmed African Americans. Distribute the results of that study to the global media. Then take a look at courts across the United States acquitting those police officers. Distribute those findings to the global media.

Human Rights Watch, handle your business in the United States before you meddle in the business of Zimbabwe - a jurisdiction about which you know nothing. Until you do that, you have no moral authority to comment on Zimbabwe.

Thomas More

Global warming in the last few years has caused climate change in the Southern African region causing draughts. Land in the rural areas started to produce less and less. This also resulted in the need for land reform. It is not Mugabe who caused the draughts. What Mugabe has done is give his people more land in better areas which were reserved white people by the Ian Smith regime.

Zimbabwe being a bread basket for Southern africa is not true. Zimbabwe produced more in the absence of draughts.

I have to remind you that lies will not work this time. "Not this time..." Obama says. Truth is becoming more powerful than the sword. Check your facts.

Stephen K June

Who do you think you are fooling? MDC used economic sanctions to force Zimbabweans into voting for the MDC and that almost succeeded in March29. The economic Sanctions and the biased media by the West is designed to create hardship for Zimbabweans so that they will turn against Mugabe. ZANU PF had to counter this somehow and they did on June 27.

There is not going to be a fair and fair election as long as there economic sanctions. Economic sanctions are also violence in disguise causing a lot of suffering for Zimbabweans.

Zimbabweans will keep the land now and after Mugabe is gone. They will fight a real war again for that land if they have to. All ZANU PF did was avoid another war which would have cost more lives.

Stephen K June, you are not fooling anyone. We know what the west is up to even when they think it is a stealth operation.

Stephen, is this the same HRW that has allegde human rights abuses by Chavez govt?

http://hrw.org/doc/?t=americas&c=venezu

sorry but HRW has little credibility.

Treacherous JRW doing americas dirty work
http://hcvanalysis.wordpress.com/2008/06/05/venezuela-treacherous-human-...

'The documentation of violence against MDC supporters has been gathered by the US Embassy in Harare, which is hardly neutral and has an interest in discrediting Zanu-PF to bring its favored vehicle, the MDC, to power. Human Rights Watch (HRW), which is dominated by former members of the US foreign policy establishment, has also been involved. But even HRW acknowledges the violence isn't exclusive to supporters of Zanu-PF. "Eyewitnesses told Human Rights Watch that…MDC supporters had burned homes of known Zanu-PF supporters and officials." [12] Louise Arbour, the UN's top human rights official, who, in previous jobs has invariably sided with the US and Britain, notes that the information she has "received suggests an emerging pattern of political violence" that is not exclusively inflicted by supporters of Zanu-PF. [13]'
http://gowans.blogspot.com/2008/05/zimbabwes-political-opposition-finds....

From Human Rights Watch, dateline June 29, 2008:

Human Rights Watch documented numerous incidents of intimidation, violence and manipulation of the vote by Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party before, during and after the June 27 runoff vote. In the capital, Harare, Human Rights Watch documented incidents of reprisal attacks by ZANU-PF supporters against people who did not go out and vote for Mugabe. In the neighborhoods of Chitungwiza and Westlea, several people told Human Rights Watch that in the early hours of June 28, ZANU-PF supporters went door to door, forcing people to show their fingers for signs of the indelible ink which shows that a person voted. The ZANU-PF supporters took those who did not have ink on their fingers to ZANU-PF bases in the areas and beat them with batons and thick sticks. Others were targeted because their names did not appear on a list compiled by ZANU-PF that showed who had voted in particular polling stations.

Zimbabweans told Human Rights Watch that at several polling stations in Harare they were forced to pass through unofficial stations set up by ZANU-PF outside polling booths, and submit their names and details to ZANU-PF officials. They were given cards and ordered to write down the serial numbers of their ballot papers so that ZANU-PF officials could trace those who had voted for Mugabe and those who had not. Human Rights Watch received similar reports from Marondera in Mashonaland East province. In Mkoba, Gweru in the Midlands province, people told Human Rights Watch that ZANU-PF supporters and youth militia were checking people's fingers for signs of indelible ink and ordering those without the ink to go and vote.

In the days before the vote, ZANU-PF supporters rounded up and beat scores of people in the suburbs of Epworth and Chitungwiza on the outskirts of Harare. Many people sustained serious injuries, including multiple fractures, and were hospitalized at Parirenyatwa hospital in Harare. In one incident, three people told Human Rights Watch that ZANU-PF supporters forced them to attend a rally in Epworth at which former Minister of Mines Amos Midzi spoke. He told people that they would be beaten because they supported the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC); then ZANU-PF supporters beat them with batons and sticks.

After the beatings ZANU-PF supporters informed people that if they valued their lives they would go and vote for Mugabe. The ZANU-PF supporters also told the people that they would go door to door after the vote checking peoples' fingers for the ink. Human Rights Watch received similar reports of threats and intimidation by ZANU-PF supporters in other suburbs in Harare. People informed Human Rights Watch that ZANU-PF had dubbed this new campaign of violence and intimidation "Operation Where Is the Ink?" or "Operation Red Finger."

http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2008/06/28/zimbab19221.htm

I praise Mugabe for standing up against the white world. Sometimes the truth is more powerful than the sword.

For you Mugabe haters: If George Bush and his allies are not guilty of mass murder and prosecuting illegal wars, then Mugabe is guilty of nothing.

Sango is right on. The issue is land and Mugabe got it back and gave it to his people.

MDC is a puppet organisation ( funded by foregn organisations and governments which are enemies of Zimbabwe) and such a political party will never be allowed to run for office in any western democracy

'Zimbabwe is currently on the frontline of the struggle against global white supremacy. The white world, popularly referred to as the "international community", is determined to prevent Zimbabwe from asserting its sovereignty as a nation and the humanity of her people'

absolutely right, Sango, and its pitiful but revealing to see left wing types being frog marched by the MSM!

'The so-called "international community" that's demonizing President Robert Mugabe are all culpable in the mass murder of African people and the grand theft of African people's resources. That ought to be the background of all discussions about contemporary African problems.'

the 'international community'( a euphemism for very unrepresentative mostly white neocolonials govts) have the gall, when they have engaged in wars that killed millions of people, from WW1 to Iraq. The brits, US and Israel backed Idi Amin, armed Suharto and protected Pinochet.

In comparison, Mugabe and ZANU have ended the colonial rule of their land, aided Congo when it was attacked by western patsies Uganda and Rwanda, helped end a[artheid in SA AND began Reconcoliation long before Mandela.

Gopals article is scripted straight out of the Hollywood the Interpretor.
Mugabe has not installed a dictatorship, the people HAVE installed Mugabe and ZANU-PF BECAUSE that is the ovt that looks after their interests, from land reclamation to prevention of the privatisation of the economy.

'Professes to despise'? He does despise those who would submit Zimbabwe to foreign remote control. Where is Gopal getting her information? Where is she? Not in Zimbabwe!

more fact free propaganda:
'A party of freedom fighters has degenerated into thugs brandishing liberationist sticks to starve and brutalise an entire population'

Really? Id like to know the source of that bit of antizanu propaganda....

'Fanon died young but he would probably have had this to say: Robert Mugabe, it is time for you to return the power which the Zimbabwean people once vested in you but which they now legitimately wish to reclaim. Liberate them from the rule you have exercised for too long and without a continuing mandate. You have weakened the great tradition of African anti-colonialism which has never been about blaming the coloniser alone but has also held African leaders and elites accountable.'

Rubbish. How does she know whart Fanon would have said. She's putting her words into Fanons mouth.

Gopal is indian...but already she hasnt learnt the lessons of colonialism and their aftermath.That is unless the liberators continue to remains watchful, their freedom will be slowly eroded...by new neocolonial tricks.

Mugabe is a tyrant, a brutal dictator, and there is no excuse for his recent behaviour.

Yes, the IMF, the World Bank, and the Brits bear responsibility for the economic ineqality that exists in Africa today. That does not excuse Mugabe stealing an election and sending gangs of thugs to find and assault political opponents.

He has brought Zimbabwe to the brink of a nation-wide massacre. We have to stand up and state our opposition to Mugabe, NOW.

Sango181818 June 28th, 2008 1:41 pm

I remember Zimbabwe as the breadbasket of Africa. Perhaps Mugabe hasn't been as good as you think. And I really don't think you can blame the poor old Brits for Zimbabwe's problem's now. They've been gone for years.

28 years is a bit long to attempt scapegoating.

"Zimbabwe is currently on the frontline of the struggle against global white supremacy"

Oh brother.

Africa's problems have nothing to do with "human rights" and "democracy". Africa's problems are directly related to the inequitable distribution of Africa's resources among African people. The so-called "international community" that's demonizing President Robert Mugabe are all culpable in the mass murder of African people and the grand theft of African people's resources. That ought to be the background of all discussions about contemporary African problems.

Zanu-PF and President Robert Mugabe understand the historical prerogatives that's responsible for Africa's current economic predicament. Specifically, Zimbabwe's current economic condition is linked directly to the centuries-old white minority unjust seizure and control of Zimbabwe's land and Zanu-PF's program of taking the stolen land back. That's the history. Now the present.

Zimbabwe is currently on the frontline of the struggle against global white supremacy. The white world, popularly referred to as the "international community", is determined to prevent Zimbabwe from asserting its sovereignty as a nation and the humanity of her people. This cabal of the descendants of slave traders and colonisers has resorted to its centuries-old trick of employing collaborators to undermine Zimbabwe. The MDC, whose spokepersons are quoted extensively without any effort of verification by the corporate and alternative press, is an organization that was created and is funded exclusively by the so-called "international community". Recent funding included 3.3 million pounds sterling from the United Kingdom, 18 million dollars from Australia and 7 million dollars from the United States. It's akin to the Democratic Party in the United States being funding exclusively by China and Russia. Any statements emanating from representatives of the MDC must be taken with a grain of salt. The MDC is advocating a neo-colonial agenda not a Zimbabwean agenda.

Zimbabwe isn't asking for reparations from the descendants of European slave holders and colonizers. That's not forthcoming. Instead, Zimbabwe is taking back its stolen land and placing major segments of the Zimbabwean economy into the hands of black people. So far over 400,000 families have been resettled on reclaimed land. Many Zimbabweans now control banks, insurance companies, mines, etc. Of course, there are many Zimbabweans, perhaps the descendants of those who collaborated with the Europeans who enslaved and colonized Africans, who oppose President Mugabe's program of economic empowerment for the people of Zimbabwe. However, this is a new dawn. They will not prevail.

Not to excuse Mugabe's excesses, but it was Britain that pushed Zimbabwe over a cliff. It is just as much Britain's fault as it is Mugabe's. I'm sure Mugabe and the late Ian Smith would agree on one thing: Britain sucks!

It's yet another reason I support reparations, not just for African Americans, but for Africa herself. Imperialism has created the poverty and desperation required for despots like Mugabe and others throughout the globe to take root.

Things like "Idol Gives Back" 'aint gonna cut it.

bligh3 June 27th, 2008 5:02 pm

I'm sure you don't mean that. Its a shame we can't help them.

Yeah, who cares. The tyrants are only killing their own people-they aren't bothering us.

Mugabe, Mugabe, Mugabe... If Britain and the US want to help, then let them help the Zimbabweans with AIDs which is almost at the 40% level in the population. Let them help Africans out by getting the US and European imperialist powers to pull their bulldog Ethiopia back out of Somalia. Let them close AFRICOM down.

Instead,the colonialists want to put their men back in control of things. They want Zimbabwe to have a puppet regime, like they have put into place in Iraq and Afghanistan. What is the deal with liberals who always have their heads pulled back and forth to where the capitalist media wants their focus to be? Aren't we getting a little bit sick of all this 'humanitarian' imperialism by now? How many times are we going to be jerked around like this.

There are a million and one tyrants in the Third World. And you know what? Most of them are in place because they are allies of the colonialists. Mugabe is just a minor figure in this board game (Risk) the Pentagon and its allies are playing.

I'm not clear at all what Britain is supposed to be getting from Zimbabwe.

If Zimbabwe is not a British colony and has been gone from there for many years, why would this person think that Britain has any responibility now.

This really makes no sense.