RED ZIMBABWE

It used to be called Rhodesia, named after its colonial founder, Cecil Rhodes. Before that it was Southern Rhodesia, distinguished from Northern Rhodesia, now called Zambia after the Zambezi River. It was one of the most beautiful and productive countries in the world when I was first there in the early seventies. Now it is hell on earth. It is, of course, Zimbabwe.

As most all African countries, it is a national fiction, a colonial construct with no historical or cultural viability as a country. It has been run since “independence” in 1980 by one of the world’s most racist dictators on earth, Robert Gabriel Mugabe, who changed Rhodesia’s name to Zimbabwe after the ruins of a stone fortress built 800 years ago by the Karanga people:

Initially, Mugabe suppressed his virulent Marxist beliefs and let the white farmers feed the country. As he became more deranged with power, he progressively destroyed political and economic freedom until today Zimbabwe’s citizens, white and black, are among mankind’s most terrorized people, with 80% unemployment and millions facing outright starvation. Zimbabweans are at a point where they finally can stand no more.

All elections are completely rigged by Mugabe’s party, the ZANU-PF. The parliamentary elections held today will be no exception. It was patently rigged elections that caused the recent overthrow of the corrupt governments in Georgia, Ukraine, and last week in Kyrgyzstan. These were hailed as “velvet” revolutions, peaceful and bloodless. You can have no such hope for Zimbabwe. Africa doesn’t do bloodless.

The likely scenario is Mugabe will proclaim massive electoral victory for his party, and Zimbabweans, who have heard BBC broadcasts on their radios about Condoleezza Rice calling their country an “outpost of tyranny” and revolutions in Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan, are going to assault the Presidential Palace in Salisbury (oh, excuse me – now it’s “Harare”). Thugs with guns will be waiting – lots of thugs with lots of guns. It’s going to be a bloody mess.

I have a number of friends in Zimbabwe, and my advice for years has always been the same: there is no hope until Mugabe is terminated. But rather than effect this simple solution, they continued to tolerate Mugabe’s murderous rapacity. Now instead of one man dying, thousands are about to. All we can do now is hope that Mugabe will be swept away in the torrent of blood about to flood across Red Zimbabwe.