July 17: Mugabe
I have never been a fan of Robert Mugabe. I think he is a turd. If I was
writing this in Zimbabwe, I would probably be executed for writing
that. In fact, if you live in Zimbabwe, you probably can't read this. I
bet Mugabe's ZANU-PF party censors everything.
I am a conservative but Robert Mugabe is too conservative for me. I decided this very very early on, about 22 seconds after I learned who Robert Mugabe is. I was in Stettler, Alberta and the year was 2002 and I was interviewing a lady who had just come back from Zimbabwe, where she'd been volunteering her time helping the country organize its election. She brought with her an eight-page newspaper insert that totally redefined everything I knew about political smear campaigns. You know those nasty TV spots you see whenever a federal election is approaching - the ones where we learn that Governor so-and-so voted against expanding health care to seniors and how he wishes old people would just hurry up and die? Well, those commercials look like Strawberry Shortcake cartoons compared to what Mugabe and his ZANU-PF cronies put together.
Mugabe's chief opponent in that election was a dude named Morgan Tsvangirai, who fronted a party called Movement for Democratic Change (MDC.) Over the course of those eight pages, I was pretty much told that Tsvangirai was a modern day Judas Iscariot whose sole raison d'etre was to sell Zimbabwe to British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
TSVANGIRAI AND HIS MDC CRONIES THINK ZIMBABWE IS TEA one of the headlines trumpeted. Underneath was a cartoon of Tsvangirai dressed as waiter, serving a cup of tea, actually fashioned to look an outline of Zimbabwe, to Tony Blair (who the newspaper insert referred to as B-LIAR.)
"Is this what you want on March 9-11, boss?" Tsvangirai inquired of B-liar, who responded with "Yes yes Morgan my boy."
Another page charged that Tsvangirai's pledge to sell some of the country's resources was akin to "Judas Iscariot, the traitor of traitors, selling his Lord for 30 pieces of silver."
The lady I interviewed said that the ZANU-PF owned a bunch of newspapers that pretty much operated as propaganda machines.
Here is what the ZANU PF website tells us we can learn about Robert Mugabe:
"Convinced that Zimbabwe is not yet a fully politically and economically emancipated nation, President Mugabe continues to lead Zimbabweans in the fight against the axis of human evil perpetrated by some western governments and their proxies under the guise of democracy, respect for the rule of law and other notions never practiced when whites invaded Zimbabwe and butchered those who resisted.
"President Mugabe is a principled cadre renowned for his tenacity and dynamism. He leaves the idea of a free Zimbabwe from all forms of bondage and has vowed to cling on to Zimbabwe, the only country he knows to have, loves, incarcerated for and arduously fought for."
I think it's pretty safe to assume that President Robert Mugabe is not a big fan of Team Canada's men's ice hockey team.
-
In politics there's a saying: "There are three sides to the story: Your side, my side, and the truth."
The lady I interviewed told me that ZANU-PF was not opposed to violence and would sometimes kill Tsvangirai's followers and carve the letters MDC into their backs.
Of course the ZANU-PF website (along with several of the state run newspapers) would have us believe that Tsvangirai is the violent one - that the ZANU-PF are a bunch of lambs who want nothing more than what's best for Zimbabweans (the black ones anyway.)
That Tsvangirai is a saint, I doubt. That Mugabe is a saint, I really doubt.
Mugabe is probably not a fan of the Internet. It has given a voice to independent journalists who can write about the travesties of his government and print them without fear of violence.
Mugabe is 90 years old and it is likely that he will die in office. I am not one given to schadenfreude but if I could choose, I'd like to see the man lose the next election to the hated Tsvangirai before he is finally called home to answer for his crimes.
I am a conservative but Robert Mugabe is too conservative for me. I decided this very very early on, about 22 seconds after I learned who Robert Mugabe is. I was in Stettler, Alberta and the year was 2002 and I was interviewing a lady who had just come back from Zimbabwe, where she'd been volunteering her time helping the country organize its election. She brought with her an eight-page newspaper insert that totally redefined everything I knew about political smear campaigns. You know those nasty TV spots you see whenever a federal election is approaching - the ones where we learn that Governor so-and-so voted against expanding health care to seniors and how he wishes old people would just hurry up and die? Well, those commercials look like Strawberry Shortcake cartoons compared to what Mugabe and his ZANU-PF cronies put together.
Mugabe's chief opponent in that election was a dude named Morgan Tsvangirai, who fronted a party called Movement for Democratic Change (MDC.) Over the course of those eight pages, I was pretty much told that Tsvangirai was a modern day Judas Iscariot whose sole raison d'etre was to sell Zimbabwe to British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
TSVANGIRAI AND HIS MDC CRONIES THINK ZIMBABWE IS TEA one of the headlines trumpeted. Underneath was a cartoon of Tsvangirai dressed as waiter, serving a cup of tea, actually fashioned to look an outline of Zimbabwe, to Tony Blair (who the newspaper insert referred to as B-LIAR.)
"Is this what you want on March 9-11, boss?" Tsvangirai inquired of B-liar, who responded with "Yes yes Morgan my boy."
Another page charged that Tsvangirai's pledge to sell some of the country's resources was akin to "Judas Iscariot, the traitor of traitors, selling his Lord for 30 pieces of silver."
The lady I interviewed said that the ZANU-PF owned a bunch of newspapers that pretty much operated as propaganda machines.
Here is what the ZANU PF website tells us we can learn about Robert Mugabe:
"Convinced that Zimbabwe is not yet a fully politically and economically emancipated nation, President Mugabe continues to lead Zimbabweans in the fight against the axis of human evil perpetrated by some western governments and their proxies under the guise of democracy, respect for the rule of law and other notions never practiced when whites invaded Zimbabwe and butchered those who resisted.
"President Mugabe is a principled cadre renowned for his tenacity and dynamism. He leaves the idea of a free Zimbabwe from all forms of bondage and has vowed to cling on to Zimbabwe, the only country he knows to have, loves, incarcerated for and arduously fought for."
I think it's pretty safe to assume that President Robert Mugabe is not a big fan of Team Canada's men's ice hockey team.
-
In politics there's a saying: "There are three sides to the story: Your side, my side, and the truth."
The lady I interviewed told me that ZANU-PF was not opposed to violence and would sometimes kill Tsvangirai's followers and carve the letters MDC into their backs.
Of course the ZANU-PF website (along with several of the state run newspapers) would have us believe that Tsvangirai is the violent one - that the ZANU-PF are a bunch of lambs who want nothing more than what's best for Zimbabweans (the black ones anyway.)
That Tsvangirai is a saint, I doubt. That Mugabe is a saint, I really doubt.
Mugabe is probably not a fan of the Internet. It has given a voice to independent journalists who can write about the travesties of his government and print them without fear of violence.
Mugabe is 90 years old and it is likely that he will die in office. I am not one given to schadenfreude but if I could choose, I'd like to see the man lose the next election to the hated Tsvangirai before he is finally called home to answer for his crimes.
Comments
Post a Comment