« Previous · Home · Next »
"Let's try America"
By John
Fascinating article from the Raleigh News & Observer on the situation in Zimbabwe. I don't want to call it a "deteriorating" situation, because -honestly- I don't think it's possible for matters to get much worse out there. I love the way the N&O chronicled the Herbsts' quest to rediscover the economic (and personal) freedoms that afforded them so much success in Rhodesia.
I am, however, left wondering how many times communism has to fail before people realize it's a shitty idea?
They start over after all is lost in Africa
In Africa, Herbst worked a 13,000-acre farm, part of which had been in his family for generations. He grew paprika that was exported to Spain, ran a successful safari business, raised cattle and employed more than 150 people during the busy harvest seasons.That life ended in 2002 when men armed with automatic weapons evicted the Herbst family from its farm. In a land redistribution campaign overseen by President Robert Mugabe, political loyalists seized thousands of white-owned farms in Zimbabwe and turned them over to impoverished blacks.
The seizures wrecked the country's agricultural infrastructure, leading to extensive food shortages and stratospheric inflation. The United Nations estimates that 1 million people have lost their livelihoods and homes as a result of the redistribution.
Herbst and his wife, Helen, are among them.
It gets much, much worse. Read the whole thing, if you can stand it.
Reminds me of reader RL's quote from the comment section on this post:
..let us reflect on the words of President Samora Machel of Mozambique and President Julius Nyerere of Tanzania to Robert Mugabe, at the moment of independence, in 1980:"You have the jewel of Africa in your hands," they said. "Now look after it."
Hotel Tango - Hot Air
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://op-for.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1906
Comments
Think also "reparations."
And remember, all of Comrade Mugabe's actions were preceded by the most stringent GUN CONTROL measures.
The white ruling regime in Rhodesia was a abhorent, racist symbol of everything wrong with European colonialism is Africa. Mugabe and his ZANU PF thugs have, through their corruption and violence, managed to make that look good. And while communism does suck, equating Zimbabwe with Communism is like equating Somalia with capitalism. Some of the trappings are there, but even Mao would say Mugabe's gone too far.
"political loyalists seized thousands of white-owned farms in Zimbabwe and turned them over to impoverished blacks...."
I'm willing to bet that it mostly went to loyal party members, none of whom were actually poor!
Mauther- I'm not sure about Mao & Mugabe not getting along- not many realise Mugabe was very much a Chinese protege, he spent a lot of time in China, back in the '60's I think. ZANLA was always a Chinese backed group, and has a lot of North Korean connections to.
Wilbur - your right of course. All of the "revolutionary" actors were active in Rhodesia: China, Cuba, North Korea, Eastern Europe. I'm just a slave for alliteration. My point was just that Mugabe, especially once he got power was/is more a populist dictator than a communist. His leadership is entirely tribal/racial based, not economic.
Any white person who was STILL living in Zimbabwe in 2002 failed a basic IQ test. As soon as the corrupt, incompetent, murderous, racist black dictatorship took over, I'd be out of there. Same logic applies to South Africa right now, BTW.
Post a comment
Potential comment conditions listed here. Oh, and you may use basic HTML for formatting.
"land redistribution campaign" Sure sounds a lot like Obama's wealth distribution plan.