A brand new ethnic cleansing they're not telling you about: Zimbabwe

[Bucky]

Operation Murambatsvina in Zimbabwe involves the destruction of tens of thousands of "illegal" homes in the big cities where Robert Mugabe's political opponents just happen to live and vote, resulting in literally hundreds of thousands of new homeless. Apparently Mugabe's buddies, Chinese businessmen, don't like the market competition from locals who are prospering in the anti-Mugabe neighborhoods.

This story, of course, is not showing up on any major news outlets, unless you're willing to search deep for it. No one's interested in telling you about an atrocity if it's not going to help sell Big Pharma's latest cholesterol medicine.

The only way the world can tell Mugabe that he's evil right now is to go to his website and vote on his "Am I a good president?" poll. Currently "You suck big time!" is winning with 76% of results. It may be the only time in his life Mugabe has lost an election.

But I wonder, why in the world would no one care what evil this guy does? Here's a hint: go here and then do a Cntl+F for "coal, gold, platinum, copper, nickel, tin, clay, numerous metallic and nonmetallic ores" The Chinese aren't pissing him off and thus neither are we.

[Nye Bevan]

1. The Zimbabwe situation is horrifying beyond belief.

God help those poor people.

from http://www.sokwanele.com/blog/2005_06_19_blogarchive.html#111944154518419955

I have stared into the face of evil, and I do not believe I will ever forget the sights of pure wickedness that have become commonplace in Zimbabwe.

A woman sheltering in a local church courtyard gave birth hours after her home was torched and there lay the two day old baby, perched upon a pile of rags, like a discarded, broken doll. How long will this tiny creature survive? If she does what does the future hold in store for her?

Another woman with burns on her leg - she refused to leave her home, her shack, her only refuge, so the police just burnt it with her inside.

A mother of four who managed to save her clothing, only to have her last possessions ripped from her hands and thrown back into the flames.

The traumatized families, eyes devoid of joy, uncertainty casting a pall upon their lives. The horror is extraordinary.

My child asked me today when we dropped off some groceries at a church shelter why it is that the very people tasked to protect society are hurting them. My warm, protected, nurtured child knows nothing of the pain tearing apart this country, please God it all ends before she grows up.

It’s freezing cold tonight, I pray the evil dictator is wracked with nightmares, dare I pray for a slow, tortuous death for him.

[Bucky]

2. Thanks for the link.

This is such a horrid problem in the making, but it's in the preventable stages. Obviously African nations with their own human rights issues don't want to publicize this, but the rest of the world's countries don't have to fall for that conspiracy of silence crap. The thing I noticed on that site was something that struck me about the situation in Zimbabwe. No one outtalks Mugabe when it comes to anticolonialism, but here he is sucking up to the Chinese who seem hell bent on economically dominating his country along a pretty familiar pattern.

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. Mugabe has got to go. Where's pRez "spread democracy and freedom"

now?!

[Nye Bevan]

5. That is the really frustrating thing....

situations like this are likely to be ignored while chimp & co are occupied with their grand Iraq misadventure.

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. Actually it's big news in the UK

Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, called on the African Union to comdemn it (as the EU has, and the US, actually), and they told him to stay out of African business:

Africa rejects action on Zimbabwe

The African Union has rejected calls from the UK and the US to put pressure on Zimbabwe to stop its demolition of illegal houses and market stalls.

An AU spokesman told the BBC that it had many more serious problems to consider than Zimbabwe.

The UN says that 275,000 people have been made homeless. At least three children have been crushed to death.

Urging the AU to take action, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described recent events as "tragic".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4618341.stm

[Tomee450]

6. How do we know that what's being

reported is true? Most of the information about Zimbabwe is coming from biased sources. The British in particular, are furious at Mugabe over the way he has treated the white settlers. I want information from unbiased sources. I notice that the South African president and other African leaders have not joined in the attacks against Mugabe. The British still want to have great influence in Zimbabwe but Mugabe won't allow it.

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. It's the UN who say 275,000 are homeless

Who else would you suggest?

Would the catholic archbishop of Bulawayo do?

The southern city of Bulawayo's section of the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) said the campaign had worsened the plight of Zimbabweans already grappling with food shortages it said were "approaching a famine situation".

"At such a time...the launching of the (crackdown) is in our view particularly insensitive and inappropriate. Indeed the whole operation smacks of a callous indifference to the plight of the poor," the group said.

Pius Ncube, Bulawayo's Catholic Archbishop, has been vocally critical of Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwean president, as the country battles an economic crisis widely blamed on his government's mismanagement.

http://www.sabcnews.com/africa/southern_africa/0,2172,106824,00.html

Archbishop of Bulawayo, Pius Ncube who is on a visit to the Vatican told Channel 4 News in an excl;usive interview: "I saw that these men sent by Mugabe were stealing property, clothing, footwear, cosmetics which they obtained from south Africa, and they stole all this and went to auction this.

"I saw them even steal decoders for TVs and radios, turn over vendor stalls and often destroy them. I saw all this with my own eyes."

When asked who the targets were he answered: "The targets are by and large urban dwellers, it seems there is peasantrification drive here, they are taking revenge for voting for the MDC (opposition party) who won the elections in the towns.

"These people are being forced to go to the country but there is a drought in the country, Zimbabwe only produced a quarter of the food it produced five years ago."

http://www.channel4.com/news/special-reports/special-reports-storypage.jsp?id=281

[QC]

17. Is Amnesty International a corporate/KKK front group now? n/t

[sintax]

8. Thanx/ nominated

Keep this story alive in small way you can.

The inevitable and horrific consequences of colonization and resource grab.

[pointless]

9. for years now

I have been trying to get people to look at what this crazy guy is doing. He has literally destroyed his country. He did steal the election. If I remember correctly something like 99% of the population voted and he got 99% of the votes.

He destroyed the farms in his country and has been killing off his opposition ever since he took power. Not only were the farms destroyed and the country left without it's main export but all the people who used to work the farms are out of work. I never knew anyone could dessimate a country so fast.

[Bucky]

13. He's among the worst. But he's not sitting on oil, so who cares?

And we extract minerals from Zimbabwe at a price we set--there's no OPEC for copper or silver, alas. So no one gets overthrown.
All those displaced farmers have moved into the cites, like Harare, where they've taken up "illegal housing" that he's just evicted them from.

If there's ever a bloodbath there, no one will notice.

[FlemingsGhost]

10. Ethnic Cleansing? Isn't this more of a vengeful class warfare?

Mugabe has declared war on the urban poor; those who never supported him, and resist his regime.

The same thing is happening here, friend.
Only "kinder and gentler."

[Bucky]

11. Could be. But having studied Africa in order to teach geography in HS

It seems like behind most conflicts in southern and central Africa, you find boiling ethnic tensions. I'm still reading up on this. But if the dislocated urban communities are not from ethnic groups separate from Mugabe's political base, I'll be damned surprised.

That said, there's obviously a economic angle on this too, given than Mugabe is pretty much turning his country into a Chinese colony.

[FlemingsGhost]

12. I too, am researching the situation. Please share your finds.

I wish more at DU were as thorough, before bestowing their "wisdom."

Thanks for your efforts.

[Mr.Green93]

14. South Africa is Ok with Mugabe's actions

Why shouldn't we be?

[muriel_volestrangler]

15. That depends on which South African you talk to

Archbishop Tutu thinks Mugabe is awful, for instance.

The archbishop told South Africa’s Sunday Independent newspaper that Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe was making a mockery of African attempts to improve governance and defend democracy as the continent tries to secure more aid from rich countries.

"We have a responsibility. People should see that we do really care about things like freedom, justice ... the basic freedoms for which we have fought," he was quoted as saying.

"We have to say, places like Zimbabwe make almost a mockery of our saying that we are committed to these things and makes it difficult for those who are our friends."

http://www.tiscali.co.uk/news/newswire.php/news/reuters/2005/02/06/world/tutuslamszimbabweoverdemocracy.html

[Mr.Green93]

18. South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki

seems to support Mugabe’s actions. It is feared the same 'reforms' may be coming to South Africa soon.

[The Magistrate]

16. Why Should That Make Any Difference, Mr. Green?

We must each make up our own minds on such events, it seems to me....