Skip navigation

 Login or Register | Member Centre

Mugabe's partisans begin the witch hunt

STEPHANIE NOLEN

From Wednesday's Globe and Mail

Latest comment posted at 11:17 PM EST 16/04/08

Militias take measures to ensure that none of the constituencies that voted for the opposition will do it again in a run-off election ...Read the full article

This conversation is closed

  1. Joe V from Canada writes: Where are those British colonial imperialists when you need them? Too bad what happened to Rhodesia under native rule.
  2. Roop Misir from Toronto, Canada writes:
    Does "witch hunt" have anything to do with "witchcraft"?
  3. Stude Ham from Outremont, Canada writes: reports of mugabe's demise were premature. even the most naive would have noted that the military and police and other armed militias had not given up allegiances or loyalties to this once 'democraticlly' elected dictator. therefore, the exercise of counting slips of paper was farce... high farce.

    there are limits to ballots and very sadly these get trampled on so easily by brute force.
  4. Robert Boyd from Windsor, Canada writes: No,just the standards set by the UN's declaration of human rights - and the constitution of Zimbabwe - or don't those rules apply to the wimpy heirs of pierre Trudeau.

    JD Wood from Canada writes: Well the first poster, Joe V (who could very well just be Stephen Harper), has shown what kind of racism exists in the world today. Although our cultural values differ vastly, we should never, ever measure Africa by our own biases.
  5. J C from Canada writes: If the MDC really wants to change the political face of Zimbabwe, maybe they oughtta just send someone to North America with a bomb strapped to them. Then the rest of the world might stand up and take action -- because apparently the brutal dictatorship, bloody oppression, government-sanctioned recruitment of child soldiers, and outright abuse
  6. deliciously uncanadian from Canada writes: Outrageous, but tough luck. Without American involvement this story has limited appeal.
  7. Martyn Whitt from toronto, Canada writes: JD Wood makes a allegation of "racism" against Joe V for his post. The irony is, that if you read between the lines, he is the racist. He is implying that we can't judge Africans by our (european?) standards of justice and democracy. What do they say JD about people who live in glass houses?
  8. Bob M from Canada writes: When these Mugabe toughs eventually apply to Canada as refugees, what do you think will happen?
  9. John Steckley from Bolton, Canada writes: The situation is this. British colonialism created the situation, as Belgian colonialism created the Rwanda/Burundi situation. Colonial powers create the ideal situation for dictators to follow. Mugabe is a hideous dictator, it is not racist to say this. He is a racist; it is not racist to say this. However, the power was given to him by those he followed. He was made in Britain. The U.N. should be doing something about this; Canada should be doing something about this. We could make a more positive impact here than we ever could in our cleaning up the American mess in Afghanistan.
  10. Ralph green from nb from Canada writes: Just curious what do you people think that canada and the US should do about this dictater.
  11. High and Mighty from Toronto, Canada writes: Ugh
    I thought Zimbabwe was a great country.

    Now this is where intervention would have been better served (rather than Iraq)
  12. San Tomas from Kelowna, Canada writes: So why is this tyrant Mugabe still roaming around?
  13. Mr. Justice from Canada writes: Joe V: Typical comment from someone on the Right.

    FYI, "natives" (your term) = "people who live there". Historically, "natives" were "people who lived there when the Europeans arrived to slaughter, rape, and steal resources". Too bad the latter activities can ALWAYS be justified by the Right, usually as a way to "civilize" or "Christianize" all those "natives".

    Too bad your hero, Ian Smith, wasn't required to do the sort of slave labor that he and his "Christian, civilized" fellow-parasites made so many of those "natives" do. He was a prettified slave-owner; too bad the Right worships him, but . . . the Right will never change its core values.
  14. Mr. Justice from Canada writes: Bob M: To answer your question . . . since these Mugabe thugs are anti-freedom, folks like Joe V. would likely welcome them here.
  15. Nigel Rollo from Smiths Cove, Canada writes: Shades of Pol Pot and the Khymer Rouge. When the lies dont work any more use violence.
  16. Philip Fraser from Ottawa, Canada writes: In following this story I remember Haiti, sometime in the mid eighties, when Jean-Claude Duvalier, their dictator, fled the country after a popular revolt. The people then massacred Duvalier's supporters. Their favorite way was necklessing (placing a burning tire around their necks). To this day I remember the pictures. One day Mugabe will die and the same thing will happen in Zimbabwe, which is sad because it doesn't need to end that way.
  17. Alonso Garnet from Canada writes: Why does Ms Nolen rarely mention the involvement (or lack there of) of South Africa. In her Saturday piece in the G&M she referenced that when Mugabwe threw the white farmers off the land Britian imposed sanctions because they were white. When Mugabwe killed 300,000 of his own people (black) the world did nothing and referenced the fact they are black and therefore there must be racism. That's a big conculsion to draw (when the massacre occurred most Western nations had cut ties with Mugabwe, the only thing that could be done to step up pressure was to invade, something the UN and AU forbade and South Africa and other nations (black based) moved to cut any debate at the UN about Zimbabwe. Ms Nolen might have referenced that in her article instead of indicating its a white versus black situation. We do we give Soth Africa a free ride? Why do we give Ms Nolen a free ride on her slanted opinions?
  18. Nancy Gilbert from Canada writes: Reading this article I feel sick and helpless. What can we as individual Canadians do? Contacting your member of parliament is a start. Our government could be more pro-active in raising awareness and pressuring key players, notably South Africa's Mbeke.

    Other suggestions?
  19. JD Wood from Toronto, Canada writes: As you will notice from earlier comments, I had posted a pro-Africa comment but it is interesting how the Globe and Mail censors anything that does not correspond with their view of reality.
  20. bob london from Canada writes: Roop Misir, Witchhunt is a practise developed by Government Bureaucrats if you do not support their actions. Ironically to support their party of "liberals" no guns, just financial and social attacks.
  21. Mark P from Saint John, NB, Canada writes: A terrifying tale. Good on the Globe for getting this account. It's quite disheartening to see the evils humans inflict upon themselves. And apparently we're this planet's most advanced species? What a shame.
  22. Rob R from Canada writes: Why would anyone be surprised by this intimidation? Did anyone really think that Mugabe would sit quietly by and accept the vote and then fade "gracefully into the sunset?" Not a chance. My question is "where does the Un stand on this?" If this organization was acting properly it would take action against Mugabe, but then a whole bunch of dictators and thugs are running the UN so why would they act? Mugabe's actions, and the lack of response from the UN, once again shows it up for the useless, toothless joke that it has become! And what will Canada do? Cutting off funding for a start would help and please don't give me the cr*p that it will hurt the people - we all know most of the aid goes into Mugabe's pocket anyway - that's how he pays the cowardly thugs we heard about in the G&M's story!
  23. Michael Folkerson from Lennoxville, QC, Canada writes: To me, there seem to be few options. While I realize the AU is far from a cohesive regional organization, they have demonstrated recently (intervening in Comoros coup attempt) that they are, in fact, capable of accomplishing certain goals. They are, to a certain extent, organized. While I abhor sanctioning other countries for the errors of one, in the face of the AU's refusal to intervene, could we not apply such sanctions to the AU as a whole, or perhaps to the South African Development Community (SADC)? It is the most prosperous of the sub-regional blocs.

    As Mugabe has essentially banned all foreigners from getting involved, rendering any outside civil power meaningless, and in view of the regionally destabilizing effect his policies are having (continent-wide food shortages, flood of refugees) not to mention the massive human rights violations, I would see the UN as being fully justified under Chapter VII to intervene with force if necessary. In response to claims about state sovereignty, I direct your attention to a report by the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (http://www.iciss.ca/menu-en.asp). Force is a last resort, however, and all other measures should first be applied.
  24. dave sadler from halifax, Canada writes: What is the UN doing about this tragic situation? Nothing!!!!!!!!!!!

    Today SADC is having an important discussion about the woes of other African countrys and no mention of Zimbabwe at the UN.

    Can you believe this????????? I gave up on the UN a long time ago.
  25. Dan Van Gageldonk from Toronto, Canada writes: Disgusting. Good on the Globe for this truly disgusting stroy. I agree with a previous poster about some journalists denouncing the Wests role in this. My biggest complain would be with that hack in South Africa Mbeki. He is out there preaching patience with Mugabe and this patience that we supposedly must exert is giving Mugabe the opportunity to torture and brutalize his own people into submission. Mbeki is a fool who should be speaking out about this attrocious situation instead of sitting back and molly coddling this black leader. TAlk about racism. Ignoring horrible human rights abuses only because the leader of the country is the same color as you. Shame on you Mbeki you groveling piece of ......
  26. p m from Canada writes: colonial powers did this? what utter rubbish...this is inter-tribal warfare..just like in kenya and south africa and most places in africa.

    why don't the reporters indicate the tribal loyalties of the "political parties" instead of trying to mask this as a 'democratic' voting situation.

    If the information flow isn't honest, then the outsiders, read western powers, aren't going to do anything...and rightly so!!
  27. D C from Canada writes: Democracy cannot work in this state ... yet. This region is not ready for it. Public floggings are exempliary of an unequipped and undeveloped social state. Cultural changes are needed first.
  28. country boy from Canada writes: South Africa is complicit in this nightmare by omission, and more directly through Mbeki's person friendship with Mugabe. It is similar to Chinese support for the Burmese ruling gangsters, and makes it extra hard for anyone else to intervene. And we might as well forget about help from our "world cop", the US played and lost its chips (and credibility) in Iraq.

  29. John Steckley from Bolton, Canada writes: To p.m. You will find that the "tribal hatreds" (e.g., such as Hutu vs Tuutsi, Kikuyu vs Luo etc) were carefully seeded, nurtured and grown by the colonial powers with indirect rule, well applying the principle of divide and conquer. The divide and conquer becomes divide and set time bombs off for years after colonialism.
  30. Iain Scott from Calgary, Canada writes: If Saddam was reason enough to invade Iraq, what has happened to George on this one?
  31. The Skipper from Canada writes: I was hoping that Mugabe would take me up on my offer of a free fishing pole and a sign "Gone Fishing."
  32. Mike Sumners from Toronto, Canada writes: "The liberation struggle", that long, hard-fought struggle against the evil white man. Congratulations to the blacks in Zimbabwe, you've been liberated...African style.
    This story makes me wonder what the enthusiastic young followers of Mugabe (his "Hitler Youth"?) are doing to the whites left in that liberated country. Of course, whites probably don't have the vote anyway.
  33. Offshore Reg from bridgetown, Barbados writes: Come on now......is this really any surprise ????
  34. Andrew E from Canada writes: JD Wood from Canada writes: Well the first poster, Joe V (who could very well just be Stephen Harper), has shown what kind of racism exists in the world today. Although our cultural values differ vastly, we should never, ever measure Africa by our own biases.

    In that case, we shouldn't be accountable for the AIDS crisis over there.... or natural disasters, or famines.
  35. Brenton Walters from vancouver, Canada writes: Alonso Garnet from Canada writes: Why does Ms Nolen rarely mention the involvement (or lack there of) of South Africa....We do we give Soth Africa a free ride? Why do we give Ms Nolen a free ride on her slanted opinions?

    I actually think that Stephanie Nolen is one of the Globe's best writers. I can't remember reading anything by her that I thought was particularly biased, and to even get this story is pretty amazing. Read this Q&A re: South Africa, Mbeki and such: theglobeandmail.com
  36. Richard Roskell from Canada writes: Be it Black, Caucasian or Asian; left, right or center; inspired by religion or inspired by its lack, political oppression looks the same the world over. It's a jackboot smashing into a face forever.
  37. Frank Lee My Dears I Don't Give A Damn from Toronto, Canada writes: Why would Mbeke give a hoot about what's happening in Zimbabwe? If he doesn't believe that the AIDS situation in SA is real, he doesn't believe the black Hitler, Mugabe, is evil. It's all political B$, protecting your own a$$ and seeing how much money you can steal and hide.
  38. Rollie Beethoven from Canada writes: The worst is yet to come. Are there any surprises here??
  39. Sam Patel from Vancouver, Canada writes: Richard Roskell

    Right on! Left, right, colonialist, native. The jackboot is bad all around, and represents one thing and one thing only: totalitarian repression. Democratic freedom lovers can support totalitarianist repression (Reagan and Central America).
  40. No Name Necessary from Canada writes: democracy is a long way off in places like this...
  41. Jeff Kelly from Kitchener, Canada writes: John Steckley - Right, I guess everything wrong in Africa must have originated with Colonialism... It was a shangri-la paradise beforehand, right?

    It's awfully simplistic to blame this situation on the British, when many other former colonies have avoided this situation and gone on to be successful developing democracies. This is tribal conflict at its most obscene.
  42. Terry Terry from Brantford, Canada writes: Somewhere between the insanity that is Zimbabwe and the apathy that is Canada, perhaps there is a place where democracy works.
  43. Jesse Winger from Calgary Centrist, Canada writes: Mugabe has gone mad and the people will suffer until...
    someone stops him.
  44. gerhard beck from Canada writes: Liberation from colonialism? I bet the majority of Zimbabwes citizens would like a return to the law and order of Rhodesia pre Mugabe.
  45. Ralph green from nb from Canada writes: Hey jesse how do you suppose we stop him
  46. Henry Wysmulek from Winnipeg, writes: The uproar over this from the high and mighty u.n. is deafening!
  47. Alonso Garnet from Canada writes: Benton Walters, I would not question Ms Nolen's courage and conviction and does a very good job at putting a human face to the problems in southern Africa. However, at determining causes and moving forward in development in Africa, I find that she relies a lot on the historical racism, tribalism and colomialism arguments. So when she indicates that Britian sanctioned Zimbabwe because they removed whites from the land and didn't take action when Mubage directly killed blacks that this is a form or racism, I find the logic teneous at best.
  48. Nigel Rollo from Smiths Cove, Canada writes: I wish that the"blame it all on colonialism" bunch would get off the pot. Most of Africa received independance from their coloniosers more than 45 years ago. Many of those countries were colonies for not much longer. Zimbabwe was only a British colony for about 80 years and has not been a colony since UDI in 1965.
  49. Michael Peters from Toronto, Canada writes: I've said it before and I'll say it again: nothing will change in these kind of places until the majority of the population starts to demand change and are willing to make the sacrifices needed to make it happen. Such a pitty that the people of Zimbabwe seem to care less about their situation than some of the people here do, otherwise they'd be doing something about it. Heck, they can't even be bothered to take part in a general strike!
  50. Chris Henry from Toronto, Canada writes: How do you stop Mugabe? I heard that he's not bullet-proof.
  51. Harbinger from Out West from Prince George, Canada writes: Like the Godfather. Give the guy an offer he can't refuse. If life is cheap there, so is his.
  52. John Steckley from Bolton, Canada writes: To Jeff Kelly - Africa wasn't paradise before colonialism, no sane person says that, but it wasn't the hell that colonialism made it.

    To Nigel Rollo - Outright political colonialism might have ended in some countries in the 1950s and 1960s, but the economic colonialism continued, and sometimes grew (e.g., Shell Oil in Nigeria).
  53. Alonso Garnet from Canada writes: John Steckley, if I buy your argument that colonialism made Africa hell, would you buy an argument that the sexual culture of the African's that has spread AIDS (I think the article mentioned 1 in 5 in Zimbabwe have AIDS) has replaced colonialism as the dominating force in the African disaster (even more dominating than tribalism)? I'm just trying to see if you'd shift just a small amount of the problems back to those most directly involved in both the problem and the solution.
  54. John Steckley from Bolton, Canada writes: Alonso - The extreme poverty of Zimbabwe (colonialism Mugabe) has led to excesses commercial sexual exploitation as well as Mugabe's armed forces raping women and children. This is the source of the AIDS, not some stereotypical sexual culture of the people.

    P.S. That's "Africans" not "African's"
  55. May Loo from Calgary, Canada writes: I'm not surprised by this story. Robert Mugabe, and other dictators (eg. Augusto Pinochet) don't give up their power voluntarily-they leave via a coffin due to natural causes. What bothers me is that the leaders of the neighboring countries like South Africa are willing to stand by and let this idiot destroy his country. And please, spare me the rhetoric about outside interference-nobody who deplores this situation thinks that the country should be colonized again. It reminds me of the situation of Burma (now Myanmar) whose brutal military dictatorship is supported by its neighbors China and Thailand which have economic ties with the junta.
  56. Nigel Rollo from Canada writes: To John Steckly: Yes and who allows it to continue. Who runs Nigeria and has done so for nearly 60 years. No, not Shell Oil.... Nigerians do. And very badly. It is up to them to take resposibility and they (Nigerians) choose the way that they run themselves! If Nigerians dont like to do bussiness with Shell they dont have to. They are INDEPENDANT!
  57. Alistair McLaughlin from Canada writes: Yes, of course this is all the colonialists' fault. What colonialists did 50 years ago forces people today to continue their age old tribal rivalries and mercilessly slaughter each other.
  58. Michael Peters from Toronto, Canada writes: Nigel Rollo - easy now...don't you know how convenient it is for certain parties to blame all of Africa's woes on the West? Why risk trying to make things better NOW when it's so easy to history as a crutch?
  59. Alonso Garnet from Canada writes: John Steckley - although poverty and war has some things to do with the spread of AIDS in Africa, how do you expalin the recent findings that middle and upper class African's have been just as prevalent at getting AIDS. How to you explain the ANC leader Zuma, saying that a woman he had sex with consented because she "wore a skirt" and "crossed her legs, the African sign that you want sex". How do you explain that Zuma, the South African minster in charge of AIDS prevention stated that he taook precautions after having sex with the woman that he knew to be HIV positive by having a shower after sex/rape. Just wondering.
  60. Iain Scott from Canada writes: John Steckley - I don't go for this "white man's burden" garbage. The developing world has to take responsibility for itself. After all, aren't the deficiencies of Caucasians all rooted in the fact that Cro-Magnon was driven out of Africa?
  61. neil b from edmonton, Canada writes: And to think Chretien defended Mugabe when he was in power.
  62. Joe V from Canada writes: It is delicious how riled up some posters have become over my comment. All I did was point out that Rhodesia was better off under British colonial rule than Zimbabwe is under native rule. Apparently that threatens the world view of many posters that colonial powers were inherently evil, and that natives always know best. But alas, I shouldn't judge Zimbawe without taking into account cultural relativism, as Robert Boyd points out. Maybe Zimbabweans value rampant inflation, famine, and authoritarian rule as part of their society. Who am I to judge their nation with my biased Western viewpoint? So, as Robert Boyd suggests by induction, this entire story is a non-issue. Zimbabwe is doing great folks! This is all just a part of their culture that an ignorant European like myself cannot possibly understand.
  63. Jamie Wilson from Englishtown, Canada writes: Apparently Mugabe believes four legs good, two legs better. Typical leftwing tyranny.
  64. Do The Math from Edmonton, Canada writes: Mugabe's thugs will learn soon enough that those who make peaceful evolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable. Faced with a choice between letting the Mugabe's moribund regime finally die and killing Zim's moribund democracy, they have chosen to kill democracy. We'll see if they are still laughing at what follows in its place.
  65. K Ordos from Canada writes: How can anyone argue that these African countries weren't better off under English rule? They clearly don't have the social maturity to govern themselves. It's because of despots like Mugabe that I pine for the days of targeted CIA assassinations.
  66. Mark Orr from toronto, Canada writes: Neil B. Mugabe was initially not a bad leader, but he grew stale and despotic like many others have. It's sad to see such horrors, but the people of Zimbabwe must fight once again for their freedom. Perhaps they need to head out to the encampment and kill a few of these Militia members in the night. Sadly, it appears only violence will ignite change, while I hate violence, when it is being inflicted, one must defend oneself. I don't think it will take a great deal of force to incite change, just a sharp poke will do it.
  67. V. Rick from Canada writes: Where is that imbecile Louise Arbour? Why isn't she speaking out? Oh, not a Palistinian issue....can't be critical of black government no matter how wicked, evil and corrupt they evidently are.. Heck no. Remember Idi Amin? The fools in the lily white west (prior to recent demographic changes) laughed at his antics but he killed, tortured, ate human flesh and he threw out the only people working the economy because they were not black enough/ Talk about racism. Explain that to me someone?
  68. GlynnMhor of Skywall from Canada writes: Robert Boyd from Windsor, Canada writes:"... we should never, ever measure Africa by our own biases."

    Biases like wanting an inflation rate in the double digits? Or maybe biases like wanting food, fuel, water, employment, medical care, and other 'western' cultural things?

Comments are closed

Thanks for your interest in commenting on this article, however we are no longer accepting submissions. If you would like, you may send a letter to the editor.

Report an abusive comment to our editorial staff

close

Alert us about this comment

Please let us know if this reader’s comment breaks the editor's rules and is obscene, abusive, threatening, unlawful, harassing, defamatory, profane or racially offensive by selecting the appropriate option to describe the problem.

Do not use this to complain about comments that don’t break the rules, for example those comments that you disagree with or contain spelling errors or multiple postings.