This is the headline of an article by Kalinga Seneviratne in today's Daily News.
His thesis is that the problems of Zimbabwe are largely due to the opposition, NGO's and Western powers and the whole thing is in anycase being blown all out of proportion by the Western Media.
The article does not draw any parallels but it is obvious to the reader that this is the same set of foes that are ranged against the government of Sri Lanka.
As the writer points out 'Human-rights violations worse than those committed by Zanu-PF’s thugs have been reported from Darfur, Tibet and Guantanamo Bay' and also that 'Zimbabwe had been a very peaceful country before the coming of Morgan Tsvangirai as a political party leader.'
In a speech at the FAO Rome summit last month, President Mugabe has highlighted steps that are being taken to improve food production, something the Western Media seems to have ignored.
President Mugabe, along with President Rajapakse and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran were the only Heads of State to grace this important summit, the rest of the world being represented by minor officials.
We must truly be cursed by the gods to have ended up with the same set of foes that the besieged government of Zimbabwe faces. Or perhaps its no accident at all; a plot perhaps? By treacherous forces possibly.
6 comments:
Very true anon....
Not to defend the lunacy that is Mugabe but his early history is certainly interesting. He initially appeared to be an extremely enlightened leader who offered the hand of friendship to the white Rodesian farmers. Unfortunately they chose to stay behind their high walls and not engage the new powers that be. Also the Brits crippled any effective means of land reform by the political system they left when they granted independence to Zimbabwe. My details are a bit sketchy but George Alagiah's book is my source for these claims, Passage to Africa.
N, I think there is some truth to what you say.
There is a new book out which I am trying to get: 'Dinner with Mugabe';
see this link for more details:
http://www.dinnerwithmugabe.com/
Independence generally came upon a native population that was unprepared for it- this was the curse. The only nations that really prospered were those that maintained the institutions that were handed down to them. Those that did not understand their value and either undermined or abolished them generally went downhill.
There is an old saying that I am rather fond of quoting :"The worst thing the white man did to Africa was to come there; the next worst thing he did was to leave".
I believe that applies to Sri Lanka as well.
there you go! well done! you have managed to twist and turn and avert any responsability from yourselves again! how typically srilankan...yes, it's the white man's fault, not your incompetence! it's always other people, nver YOU. until you have this attitude/cancer in your society you will NEVER rise to any decent level.
Anon,
what I say is that it is entirely our fault. The only fault of the white man was to leave in hurry leaving us to govern ourselves.
Mugabe has tarnished his legacy in his desperate bit to cling to power. The problem with Mugabe, like it has been for so many of our leaders, it that he has allowed too many of his acolytes to drink from his trough. These barnyard dogs have no moral or ideological compulsions. They have no national interest and only concernend about extending their time at the trough. To this end, they wind up the old man and pull him to the extreme.
There is no doubt that Britain did its share to muck up Zimbabwe's race relations in the past, but this is no longer about blacks and whites, not by any stretch of the imagination. At best there are some tribal (black on black) issues being played out, but for the most part Zimbabwe is being wrecked for political reasons. Fortunately, there is no wealth of oil or mineral resources at stake - which explains why the Axis of Britain, USA and Australia have done little more than wag a finger.
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