Author
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Topic: Zimbabwe
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Vansterdam Kid
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 5474
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posted 23 May 2004 07:44 AM
I'll comment more on this story later but right now it's past 3:30 in the morning and I'm tired. quote: Zimbabwe MP defiant after brawl A Zimbabwe opposition MP who assaulted a minister in parliament has said he will not be intimidated by the ruling Zanu-PF party. "No amount of threats will intimate me, I have lived with them for four years," Roy Bennett told the BBC. On Thursday Zanu-PF supporters attacked the Movement for Democratic Change party headquarters in Harare. Continued atbbcnews
quote:
Zimbabwe MPs brawl in parliament An opposition MP attacked a minister in Zimbabwe's parliament in retaliation for "personal and racist abuse". Roy Bennett, one of three white MPs, assaulted Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, after the minister said Mr Bennett would never return to his farm. The state-run Ziana news agency said Mr Bennett "grabbed Chinamasa by the throat, shook him violently and pushed him to the ground". Mr Bennett has been chased off his land despite court orders in his favour. continued atbbcnews
One thing I'll say in the story there's allegations of Zanu-PF (Mugabe's party) cheating in a bye-election if a specific link to that can be put on this thread that would be great
From: bleh.... | Registered: Apr 2004
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Vansterdam Kid
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 5474
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posted 08 June 2004 03:22 PM
Zimbabwe ends private Land ownership. quote: Zimbabwe ends private land ownership Last Updated Tue, 08 Jun 2004 11:34:51 HARARE, ZIMBABWE - Zimbabwe will nationalize all farmland and abolish private land ownership, the country's land reforms minister said on Tuesday. John Nkomo said all land will become the property of the state and property deeds will be replaced with state-issued 99-year leases. "There shall be no such thing as private land," Nkomo said. Under President Robert Mugabe's controversial land reform measures that began in 2000, almost 5,000 white-owned farms have been handed over to landless blacks. Mugabe had argued the seizures were necessary to resettle blacks kicked off their land during British colonization. "Ultimately all land shall be resettled as state property," said Nkomo. Critics say much of the best farmland is not being used because the resettled farmers are too poor to afford equipment, supplies and seed. Production of two of the country's biggest money earners – food and tobacco – has dropped dramatically. Humanitarian groups have warned that the country is facing a food shortage. The United Nations estimates Zimbabwe will produce half the food it needs for this year.
source cbc I believe in private property (so long as things like water sheds, public parks, important heritage & cultural sites etc. aren't privatized) -- so I'm not fan of this move. Although I'm more worried about the people that are facing starvation because the country isn't self-sufficient in food production anymore and the economy is in the tanks so therefore the people can't even afford to buy food!
From: bleh.... | Registered: Apr 2004
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Vansterdam Kid
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 5474
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posted 01 April 2005 06:18 PM
Not very surprising quote: Rivals cry foul as Mugabe wins poll Zimbabwe's opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, accused Robert Mugabe of stealing parliamentary elections yesterday as the president's party was declared the winner. With results declared for 98 of the 120 constituencies being contested, the ruling Zanu-PF had taken 62 seats - enough for a majority in the 150-member parliament, where 30 MPs are appointed by Mr Mugabe. Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) had won 35 seats. [snip] Before the voting, Mr Mugabe changed electoral law to allow army officers, largely loyal to the ruling party, to serve as election officials.
And so on...
From: bleh.... | Registered: Apr 2004
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NDP Newbie
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 5089
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posted 01 April 2005 09:54 PM
I hate Mugabe.One second he demeans all things European, the next he uses the Bible, introduced to Africa by European colonialists, as justification for his regime's persecution of homosexuals. This in spite of the fact that homosexuals, being more left-wing than the average, were more likely than most Whites to back Mugabe in the civil war he led against neo-Nazi White supremacist Ian Smith. When I see what the American religious reich has done to Africa, I am sickened. Even Mbeki was under their fascist spell at one point, judging by his unwillingness to accept that HIV is the cause of AIDS, which he has since accepted.
From: Cornwall, ON | Registered: Mar 2004
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Cueball
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 4790
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posted 02 April 2005 12:35 AM
quote: Originally posted by voice of the damned:
No one, that is, except for all the trade unionists, intellectuals, artists, gay activists, journalists, and just plain ordinary Zimbabweans who hate Mugabe's guts for reasons totally unrelated to his alleged battles against Anglo-American imperialism.
Since when did the "trade unionists, intellectuals, artists, gay activists, journalists, and just plain ordinary" folks not hate the goverment. It is our sacred obligation, que no?
From: Out from under the bridge and out for a stroll | Registered: Dec 2003
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Boom Boom
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 7791
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posted 16 April 2005 09:51 AM
From a friend in South Africa not too long ago:(edited to remove personal references) "I no longer subscribe to the "Mugabe's lost it" school of thought. He is certainly paranoid and that has made him insular. He's a bitter man with several imaginary enemies, most notably "British Colonialism" which can mean anything he wants it to. But I believe he knows what goes on, stays on top of the game, and out-manoevres his rivals and opponents at every turn. No, Mugabe's not mad. He's evil which is a different thing altogether. About the elections: these are Parliamentary elections. The last ones were fought in 2000, amid bitter violence, and the opposition MDC which at the time was only 7 months old, managed to wipe out Mugabe's big majority (though he still won, he did not have power to mess with the Constitution). That gave him a big fright and ever since he's been destroying political and civil rights that make opposition possible. It's in character; though Mugabe was a freedom fighter, he was never a Democrat." (this letter was sent prior to last month's elections)
From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004
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Rand McNally
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 5297
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posted 16 April 2005 10:08 AM
The Atlantic did a interesting article on Zimbabwe in their Dec 2003 issue, called "How To Kill A Country: Turning a breadbasket into a basket case in ten easy steps—the Robert Mugabe way". quote: although Zimbabwe is as broken as any country on the planet, it offers a testament not to some inherent African inability to govern but to a minority rule as oppressive and inconsiderate of the welfare of citizens as its ignominious white predecessor. The country's economy in 1997 was the fastest growing in all of Africa; now it is the fastest shrinking. A onetime net exporter of maize, cotton, beef, tobacco, roses, and sugarcane now exports only its educated professionals, who are fleeing by the tens of thousands. Although Zimbabwe has some of the richest farmland in Africa, children with distended bellies have begun arriving at school looking like miniature pregnant women.
Did Tommie forget sarcasm tags? If not, I would be curious to see his definition of progressive.
From: Manitoba | Registered: Mar 2004
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tommie
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 8455
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posted 16 April 2005 02:30 PM
The entire "Mugabe turned Zimbabwe from breadbasket to emptybasket" is a racist argument. It implies that blacks are completely unable to do anything right and that the former apartheid regime was so wonderful and benevolent for having the compassion to let all those silly blacks live.There are problems in Zimbabwe but most of those are results of external actions. The IMF imposed devastating structural readjustment programmes on the country in the early nineties and Mugabe has just recently managed to get out of them and re-nationalize aspects of the economy. After the just land reforms of 2000 the international community failed to provide training and support to peasants who had reclaimed the farmlands. Thus, many farms turned into wastelands because they didn’t know what they were doing. Things are improving, however. Unemployment was reduced by about 20% last year and some parts of the country are actually starting to export food again. The fact of the manner is that Mugabe has made some mistakes, but as a progressive I certainly support the ZANU-PF in it’s struggle to take Zimbabwe down an independent socio-economic path.
From: Canada? | Registered: Mar 2005
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Rand McNally
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 5297
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posted 16 April 2005 04:34 PM
quote: Mugabe turned Zimbabwe from breadbasket to emptybasket" is a racist argument. It implies that blacks are completely unable to do anything right and that the former apartheid regime was so wonderful and benevolent for having the compassion to let all those silly blacks live.
I have to disagree; one can oppose the policies of Mugabe, without pining for the days of white rule. I think I can criticize one man, without criticizing his people. quote: as a progressive I certainly support the ZANU-PF in it’s struggle to take Zimbabwe down an independent socio-economic path.
So you support such “progressive” policies as: Race-based politics, I am not just talking about the white farmers here, but the ~25,000 Ndebele who were killed by Mugabe's troops; State controlled media, clamp downs on foreign reporters, and human rights groups operating inside the country. Election tampering, repression of rival political parties, manipulation of food distribution by the government-controlled Grain Marketing Board, denying opposition supporters access staple foods; Use of torture and political violence, such as the burning of homes to quell political dissent; His stated “progressive” views on homosexuality. If that is a progressive socio-economic path then I guess I am a regressive. I have stated on this site before that my political principles are liberal democratic; what is happening currently in Zimbabwe falls far short of those principles. For more information http://web.amnesty.org/library/eng-zwe/index [ 16 April 2005: Message edited by: Rand McNally ]
From: Manitoba | Registered: Mar 2004
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Rufus Polson
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 3308
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posted 18 April 2005 03:07 AM
While I'm not convinced by Tommie's optimism, I'm not necessarily convinced by the media's demonization either. No matter what Mugabe's actually like, I think we can all figure that his policies of nationalization and of taking land away from rich whites are going to make the media say lots and lots of nasty things about him.After all, the media say lots of nasty things about Hugo Chavez as well, and when one gets the fact it turns out that in his case they're about as wrong as you can be. Yet for some time leftists were lukewarm and defensive in their support for Chavez because of those reports--it was all, "Yes I expect he's authoritarian, but . . . " We had internalized the media's reports, concluded no smoke without fire. Only gradually did the truth begin to come out. Now, I'm not saying Mugabe's a Hugo Chavez. I really don't think he is. But then, it might be dashed hard to be a Hugo Chavez without oil. And however bad he may be, he also seems to have recently been re-elected again, in elections that international observers concluded were free and fair. So I think maybe we need some nuance in how we look at Zimbabwe and Mugabe, and to pay attention to how discussions of them are framed, and certainly question the depictions we get from the mainstream media. They may be telling the truth, but on the other hand we know that if Mugabe were the second coming of Christ they'd still be saying what they're saying.
From: Caithnard College | Registered: Nov 2002
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