Rhodes must fall, and...
Nov. 21st, 2017 08:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chanter1944Mugabe must go!
I never thought I'd see the day, barring either a truly bloody revolt or a state funeral, that Robert Mugabe would be out of power. As long as I've had an awareness of both world politics and national states of general well-being, Zimbabwe has carried with it a sense of, at least to me, both extreme deprivation and repression. I never knew Rhodesia, and I missed the earlier days of independence due to being too tiny to have a clue. If, growing up, someone had asked me where the bread basket of Africa was, I would've had no idea what to tell them. Stories of people boiling leaves for dinner, eating spoiled cabbage, and being thrown in prison for dissent, I knew. That doesn't even mention Matabeleland, which I only found out about later in college.
Even the name Zimbabwe evokes - evoked, and I'll hopefully have time to get used to that, depending on what Mnangagwa does with himself - a sense of foreboding for me, not of the people, only of their government. It's always, to me, been a vibrant nation ground under the heel of a shameless tyrant with a paranoid, prideful and gluttonous streak to rival Malawi's Banda (the first, not Joyce Banda). Elephant served at birthday celebrations, anyone? I know, I can't ignore the fight for independence and the role both Mugabe and Zanu played, but I was never aware of that side of the story, even later. It had been soundly eclipsed by the time I took an interest. Mugabe was a despot, and Zanu was a mouthpiece with a stranglehold. His stranglehold, more or less. Mugabe, Zanu, same thing.
... Maybe not anymore?
I know Mnangagwa is no angel; the man's in the thick of Zanu himself, even though that party sure seemed to be turning on Mugabe before his resignation came in, and Matabeleland gets a second mention for Mnangagwa's role in the horrors--but I can't help but be at least a little hopeful here. We'll see. At least they've set a clear term limit he'll be serving out, with elections still going ahead in September 2018. I'll be hopeful until I'm given proof of why I shouldn't be. Because the tyrant is out.
Time will tell if a second tyrant is in. It... does not feel like it, though. Not yet.
Congratulations, Zimbabwe!
Wow, this is a strange feeling.
I never thought I'd see the day, barring either a truly bloody revolt or a state funeral, that Robert Mugabe would be out of power. As long as I've had an awareness of both world politics and national states of general well-being, Zimbabwe has carried with it a sense of, at least to me, both extreme deprivation and repression. I never knew Rhodesia, and I missed the earlier days of independence due to being too tiny to have a clue. If, growing up, someone had asked me where the bread basket of Africa was, I would've had no idea what to tell them. Stories of people boiling leaves for dinner, eating spoiled cabbage, and being thrown in prison for dissent, I knew. That doesn't even mention Matabeleland, which I only found out about later in college.
Even the name Zimbabwe evokes - evoked, and I'll hopefully have time to get used to that, depending on what Mnangagwa does with himself - a sense of foreboding for me, not of the people, only of their government. It's always, to me, been a vibrant nation ground under the heel of a shameless tyrant with a paranoid, prideful and gluttonous streak to rival Malawi's Banda (the first, not Joyce Banda). Elephant served at birthday celebrations, anyone? I know, I can't ignore the fight for independence and the role both Mugabe and Zanu played, but I was never aware of that side of the story, even later. It had been soundly eclipsed by the time I took an interest. Mugabe was a despot, and Zanu was a mouthpiece with a stranglehold. His stranglehold, more or less. Mugabe, Zanu, same thing.
... Maybe not anymore?
I know Mnangagwa is no angel; the man's in the thick of Zanu himself, even though that party sure seemed to be turning on Mugabe before his resignation came in, and Matabeleland gets a second mention for Mnangagwa's role in the horrors--but I can't help but be at least a little hopeful here. We'll see. At least they've set a clear term limit he'll be serving out, with elections still going ahead in September 2018. I'll be hopeful until I'm given proof of why I shouldn't be. Because the tyrant is out.
Time will tell if a second tyrant is in. It... does not feel like it, though. Not yet.
Congratulations, Zimbabwe!
Wow, this is a strange feeling.
no subject
Date: 2017-11-22 04:09 am (UTC)-- not the firey Virginia redhead in the pic, but a rather shorter example of the same.
Maybe this is a trend? *hopehope*
It goes without saying, but because Interwebs, I will say it anyway: There is a vast difference between "my country right or wrong" and "My country has problems. Let's fix them."
no subject
Date: 2017-11-22 06:05 am (UTC)Sincerely hoping this is a trend! First Jameh in Gambia, now Mugabe, and... *hopeful*
I tend to go for 'my country, beloved even though it's got issues we need to fix.'
no subject
Date: 2017-11-22 06:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-11-22 11:47 am (UTC)The internet has for the most part, made that impossible.
Which, for no other reason, makes authoritarians of any stripe hate it, and want to censor, 'regulate' or kill it in any way possible.
Despite Mugabe, Zimbabwe's infrastructure has been improving. Even remote villages have at least cell phone connection and with that comes the internet... and ideas and knowledge.