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Mugabe Sworn In After Discredited Vote
Robert Mugabe is inaugurated for a sixth term as president of Zimbabwe after results from a widely discredited election -- in which the 84-year-old leader was the only candidate -- show him winning by a landslide. His main rival calls the inauguration "an exercise in self-delusion." more...
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Right now, Robert Mugabe, the current President of Zimbabwe, is slaughtering the families and supporters of his opponent.
Mugabe has ordered his troops to tear apart all opposition to his Presidency; limb by limb if need be. The environment is so bloody, that Mugabe's opponent, and winner of the most recent election Morgan Tzvangirai, has withdrawn from "run-off" elections scheduled for this week and has sought refuge in the Dutch embassy. Tzvangirai says he "could not ask people to die voting for him."
Did you know that innocent Zimbabweans are being tortured and murdered by troops sympathetic to Mugabe? Do you care? ...
Here is one example as reported by CNN:
A spokesman for the MDC blamed Mugabe's Zanu-PF party for the five most recent deaths, saying they brought to 70 the number of MDC party members killed since a bitterly contested election three months ago.
The body of the mayor's wife, 27-year-old Abigail Chiroto, was found in a mortuary close to the couple's house north of Harare. She had been beaten so severely with rocks and iron bars that her face was almost unrecognizable, MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said.
Chiroto was kidnapped, along with her 4-year-old son, on Tuesday. Some of her kidnappers wore military uniforms,
Chamisa said. Chiroto's son was released unharmed. Her husband, Emmanuel Chiroto, is an MDC member who was recently elected mayor of Harare. He was not home at the time of the kidnapping. Also (last) Thursday, the MDC said that four other activists were found dead in Chitungwiza. The victims' bodies showed evidence that "they were heavily tortured until they died," an MDC statement said.
And at the end of every international, blood splattered, politically motivated mass murder, we Americans collectively wring our hands, act outraged while watching the pictures on cable TV and ask, in unison, "How could this have happened?"
It happens, in part, because we just cast a side glance and keep on going with our lives. We'd rather not think about human beings being torn apart because of their political affiliation or the family they were born to. We won't break for a minute from the celebrity glossies and gossip.
And we certainly don't stop long enough to pressure our Congressional representatives into mobilizing the U.S.'s considerable influence and resources to deal with the situation. Hell, we are at war, in two countries, and you wouldn't even know it if not for a Presidential campaign.
Comments: (31)
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By: Cocoa Delight on 6/25/2008 1:23PM
We only care at a distance. If it means us sacrificing something, no, we want no part of it. Africa is being lost to America. The Motherland of the world is rich in resources and America is ignoring it. If America thought that the "National interest" was our being closely linked to Africa, yes, indeed, we would be there. Look at Iraq and its abundant supply of oil -- we're there! How stupid are Americans. Africa too is rich in resources and China is grabbing as much as possible of it and then selling it back to Americans. The Chinese politicians are so much worse than ours in that they REALLY don't care about Africans, only their resources and they're doing a better job of pitting one group against another. Americans just don't see how important that continent is to our survival, even though its filled with black people. What a shame.
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By: big downer on 6/25/2008 2:21PM
The people of Zimbabwe are brave. They have risked, and in over 100 instances - sacrificed their very lives for the chance to vote - something we take for granted. They are being starved and brutalized by Robert Mugabe and his ZANU-PF thugs. Finally Obama condemned this yesterday. I hope Black America - whom call themselves "African - Americans" - finally make their collective voice heard. When they do, it will be the "shout" heard round the world...
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By: Marsha on 6/26/2008 2:05PM
I know it seems like much of America doesn't care, but there ARE lots of people who do care. I just wrote a blog post yesterday about two films exposing the horrors of rape-in-conflict in Zimbabwe and the DRC (humaneconnectionblog.blogspot.com). I am fortunate to work for an organization that promotes comprehensive humane education, focusing on the interconnectedness of human rights, environmental preservation, animal protection and media and culture. All of our students care about these issues and are working to make positive steps and to educate others about the power of their choices. There are other organizations out there working to inspire and empower others and to help transform this world into one that is humane, just and sustainable.
We also have to realize that there are so many horrors occurring daily around the world, with so many people and animals suffering and dying, and so much of the world being destroyed, that people get fatigued. They start to tune it out, because they feel powerless to do something, especially when it's occurring in a geographic region that seems so far away to them. I'm certainly not excusing their lack of positive action. But I think it's important to understand that many people just don't know what to do. The more people we can educate and empower others to make humane choices for all, the more voices we have speaking out and the more hands we have to take positive action.
Please keep speaking out and helping others to do the same.
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By: Deanna on 6/26/2008 4:04PM
Dear Carmen--
You often have posts that that make me want to jump up and do something right now--and often I feel I don't have all of the facts or the right tools in front of me to know exactly what to do.
So, since my blog is growing to be about personal accountibility in fighting prejudice/racism, rather than asking you to do something I suppose I am offering to help by somehow working with you to make it easy for people to act quickly--e.g. here's the issue, here's a sample letter to personalize and send, and here's where to send it (e.g. with specific addresses in the case of the inflammatory media images), or, in the case of contacting government visit www.house.gov and enter your zip code for your Representative, and enter www.senate.gov to get your senators, etc.
You are phenomenal in researching, relaying, reporting, analyzing in a fair and thought provoking way really timely relevant issues (I'm convinced you don't sleep!) related to race. Could it be a 'click here tell your elected officials to take action on this issue' kind of mechanism?
Like Marsha says, often you don't know what to do that is effective. As a model, the Illinois Arts Alliance is incredibly effective at mobilizing and making it easy for arts leaders to advocate for the arts in Illinois; my sister has extensive letter writing campaigns on behalf of animals at Kinship Circle that make it easy for people around the globe to advocate for animals. I'd welcome an opportunity to talk to you more about a setting up a similar mechanism related to some of the issues you bring up at allaboutrace. What's that quote, Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequete. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure." I want to 'be the change I want to see in the world,but sometimes I'm not sure where to begin
Deanna
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By: DWMF on 6/27/2008 3:59AM
Nobody has hit on the real reason why Mugabe has been allowed by the rest of the African leaders to lay waste Zimbabwe: what has been happening in the Congo for the past 10 to 15 years.
The Congo has been systematically pillaged of its natural and mineral resources by nearly all of the rest of black Africa.
Quote: "Uganda and Rwanda, who support the rebels fighting the Congolese regime in Kinshasa, as well as allies of President Laurent-Desire Kabila - Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe - have had no qualms about helping themselves to the riches in territories under their control.
...
Unconfirmed sources in Kinshasa say each allied country makes off with whatever valuable materials that exist in its sector. The Ugandans and Rwandans plunder gold, diamonds, coffee and wood, the Zimbabweans diamonds and copper, and the Angolans, oil.
According to the Diamond Office, a division of the Belgian customs bureau which exclusively oversees the import and export of diamonds, Uganda, Rwanda and Zimbabwe have become exporters of diamond, although not one mine exists on their own soil.
Statistics for last July published by the Diamond Office show that Zimbabwe exported 19 000 carats worth of diamonds, Rwanda 1 500, and Uganda 11 000.
The government in Kinshasa says the Ugandans and Rwandans seized 185 216 carats worth of diamonds and 447 kilogrammes of gold during the first eight months of the war."
If Mugabe goes down he will sing like a birdie, and that the other African leaders do NOT want.
The plunder from the gang-rape of Congo's resources is propping up the economies of all the aforementioned countries. Understandably, they do not want it to stop.
Google for the link http://www.namibian.com.na/Netstories/Econ10-99/natural.html and open the _Cached_ content, for the main link has been removed.
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By: angel on 6/29/2008 7:40PM
We care. We just can't do anything about it. Americans are stretched thin and African American's are stretched even more. The problems of the day are unfortunately on our own soil. We should be more angry at the Government that has ignored the genocide, disease and famine in Africa for decades. The US has been so poorly run by the 'all for me' Republicans that this country is now in chaos. Some of our cities are just as bad, just as poor and just as disenfranchised as the poorest of countries. We can't even rebuild New Orleans, what in the world do you expect us to do for Africa? We care alright and to care and not be able to do anything about it is the worst feeling.
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By: buydow on 6/29/2008 10:59PM
Imagine for a moment if Mugabe were white. What would your reaction be then. Mugabe was cheered when he brutalized whites, stole their farms and gave the land to his cronies. Only now that he is killing other blacks is their even a hint of outrage.
Until blacks feel the same anger without regard to the race of the villain or victim, this will continue.
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By: Squeek on 6/30/2008 6:12AM
Dont nobody give a f*ck bout black people not even black people sh*t i bet if they had hella oil in africa they would give a sh*t
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By: Annette on 6/30/2008 7:04AM
Rwanda, Darfur and Zimbabwe. How long will we sit and watch our brothers and sisters be maimed, raped, murdered for freedom?
This election is a sham. The United States claims to have the most powerful military in the world - they could send in mercenaries/a covert operation to take Mugabe to another country and install Tzvangirai with the UN monitoring the election process. There are many of Mugabe's henchmen who need to be removed as well.
Write to your elected officials and demand that congress pass a resolution condemning the violence and authorizing military action.
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By: John on 6/30/2008 7:10AM
Yes,I care. However, since when has the USA cared about anyone being killed, tortured, or raped when they are African, especially black!
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