Mugabe is our fault
I am not having a fit of relativism, but let’s be honest: Mugabe is our fault.
When he had his opponents murdered in the ‘70s to eliminate competition for the post of head honcho we pretended not to see; when he was carrying out the genocide of the Matabele, we looked the other way; when he embarked in the whole-sale looting of the DR Congo we kept quiet; when he threatened and intimidated the judiciary, and bombed independent newspapers nary a word was spent to condemn him. The atrocities that soon followed were to be expected.
The truth is, Mugabe has not changed at all. He has always been a bitter and revengeful arseshole, with very limited intelligence and full of contempt for the people of Zimbabwe.
It was convenient in the early ‘80s to fete and praise him, hoping that this would keep him happy and he would not transform himself in the typical president for life; it didn’t work - it never does - and usually it has the opposite effect on weak minds, who feel emboldened by the hypocrites who laud them.
Even today, those who attack him feel obliged to recall how progressive and democratic he was at the beginning of his reign; but this, too, is a lot of politically correct poppycock. Mugabe, unintelligent but street-smart, had simply understood how to keep the aid money flowing; when it finished (with very little to show for it, apart from a few schools and hospitals) he had to find ways to entrench himself (he had already committed so many atrocities that could only feel safe by remaining in power) and had to start to take decisions: all wrong, all tragic, all stupid.
Despite the numerous examples on the continent he could have learned from – have you noticed how all African dictators consumed and destroyed the initial enthusiastic aid money and the inherited colonial infrastructure in about 15 years from independence before starting to really act up? – he persisted in following the same route, pinning the blame for his failures sometime on the west, sometime on homosexuals, more often on imaginary “enemies of the people”.
Today Mugabe probably feels betrayed, and with reason. He must be asking himself: “why attack me now when you all knew from the beginning where I was going?”
We should have acted a long time ago to avoid the ruin of the one country that could have lead the continent to the 21st century.
4 comments:
If Mugabe is indeed the West's fault (which is at best arguable in my opinion), the awakening you point out is apparently meaningless to present day leaders in the West. They don't care that the Chinese are proliferating their (communist) propaganda in Zimbabwe and beyond. They don't care that barbaric ammendments are being made to the constitution as we speak.
Don't mistake this for another desperate whimper from Africa for help from the West. I'm just stating what seems obvious to me; that leaders in the west have never cared about us and obviously aren't interested now.
It is up to us, the people to emanciapate ourselves. And maybe, you too in the west will realise the sanctity of human connections and bypass the inactivity of your leaders to reach out to us on the basis of our common humanity.
Hey, Zimpundit, exactly what kind of activity you looking for here? What kind of "caring" would float your decrepit little boat? You want some civilians, or Marines, come over and off-Muggie for you? You want us to come take over and run the dump since you have proven you can't? Or, do you just want that hand that reaches out to contain even more money?
I know which option I'm betting on.
If it's up to you to emancipate yourselves why don't you just get on with it? You've had, what, 20 - 30 years now?
This sure sounds like whimpering to me.
alanc,
If you're trying to insinuate that I'm calling for money and handouts, joke's on you mate.
Unlike you, I'm aware that no amount of money is going solve our problems in Zimbabwe (or much of Africa's issues for that matter). Development is a much more complex phenomenon. I won't waste the time and space extricating you from the dirges of what you do not know. (You might want to read Hernando De Soto, Bill Easterly, or Joseph Stiglitz for a start.)
What I was referring to is the higher concept that undergirds all human innovation and progress: it is the awakening of one's ability to lift oneself from any situation. We African's (Zimbabweans in particular) need to make that realization for ourselves. People like you and your grandiose ambitions for the marines to take over, leaders of the West, and other well meaning people are not going to do for us. My point is that we need hear the message that we can help ourself.
Excellent Blog!! I enjoyed going through your archives and reading your articles. Keep up the writing.
Now my two cents....
I agree that Zim cannot rest its hopes on the West. The West forced Rhodesia to hand over power to this idiot in the first place.
I also highly doubt that Zim will ever stand up to Mugabe. The people are way too docile. Mugabe will see his days out in Borrowdale without every answering for his crimes. Let's just face the truth. No amount of 'we must emancipate ourselves' will do any good. Zimbabweans simply don't have it in them.
http://abolishmugabe.blogspot.com/
Post a Comment