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| Africa: Southern | |
| Tutu slams South Africa's stand on Zimbabwe | |
| 2003-12-17 | |
| Hmmm... That does come as a surprise... South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu has rebuked his government for its dogged support of Zimbabwe, which is facing growing international isolation over its human rights record. In an emotional statement, he rejected arguments used by both Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and South African President Thabo Mbeki, who has denounced the Commonwealth for extending its suspension of Zimbabwe at a summit this month. "I am at a loss to understand the reasoning for a lifting of the suspension of Zimbabwe," said the Nobel laureate, who won global fame for fighting racism in South Africa and for helping to lead a drive for reconciliation when white rule there ended. "What most observers seem to say is that the unsatisfactory status quo which led to the suspension remains unchanged," said Mr Tutu, whose statement did not mention Mr Mbeki by name, but picked holes in his argument and his endorsement of Mr Mugabe's election. Mr Mbeki had implicitly backed Mr Mugabe's argument that "white Commonwealth" members, notably Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, were punishing Zimbabwe for Mr Mugabe's policy of seizing white-owned farms for landless blacks. Aid agencies say disruption to agriculture caused by the farm seizures is partly to blame for chronic food shortages likely to affect more than five million Zimbabweans by year end. Mr Tutu drew a parallel between Zimbabwe's isolation and South Africa's own battle against white minority rule, or apartheid, which ended in 1994. "We appealed for the world to intervene and interfere in South Africa's internal affairs. We could not have defeated apartheid on our own," Mr Tutu said. "What is sauce for the goose must be sauce for the gander too."
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| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #8 "Neocolonialism" is the new punchbag that the basket case leaders of the world are using to justify their failures now that the Western powers have withdrawn ... Mugabe has made his own failure, but TCS has an article by Carlos A Ball that delves into the systematic problem that all the South American democracies have run into: Dictator or Democracy. I think it could be applied to Africa as well. It may also apply in Iraq if their Constitutional Convention becomes an excercise in incoprating handouts and unrealistic social programs into the document. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2003-12-17 6:48:43 PM |
| #7 Actually Tutu *is* a man of principle, which is why it was a tipoff how badly our U.S. leadership communicates to the rest of the world when he reacted reflexively and saw only neocolonialism and *not* principle in our Iraq policy... Must've been the principle that got in the way of him not singling out Mr. Mebeki by name... |
| Posted by: Pappy 2003-12-17 6:20:01 PM |
| #6 Actually Tutu *is* a man of principle, which is why it was a tipoff how badly our U.S. leadership communicates to the rest of the world when he reacted reflexively and saw only neocolonialism and *not* principle in our Iraq policy... "Neocolonialism" is the new punchbag that the basket case leaders of the world are using to justify their failures now that the Western powers have withdrawn. The old canard they peddled was that things would be hunky dory once the colonial "exploiters" left, and native leaders took over. And what happened? Things got worse - substantially worse. Some of the locals are starting to think that maybe - just maybe - they weren't being exploited under their colonial rulers, after all. Hence, basket case leaders have come up with a new explanation - they are still being ruled by European imperialists - only this time, the rule is covert, through free flows of trade and capital. The great thing about this new explanation is that they can point to just about any kind of foreign influence as evidence of neocolonialism - it's their new anti-Christ - every time something goes wrong, it's those neocolonialists up to their nefarious ways. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2003-12-17 9:38:04 AM |
| #5 If Tutu reacts reflexively then he has the problem - not the "U.S. Leadership". Whacking the US for everything is equally as disingenuous as forgiving these principled holier-than-thou judges of all mankind. They need to get their holy heads out of their holy asses and find out what they're talking about before they hold the fucking press conference. The good deeds in the world due to the efforts of the US so far exceeds the imaginary work of these bullshit voyeurs that it's absolutely breathtaking. What a load. But I don't have any strong feelings on this topic. |
| Posted by: .com 2003-12-17 8:17:35 AM |
| #4 Playing the good cop bad cop routine with Bob? Think he is listening? |
| Posted by: john 2003-12-17 8:00:23 AM |
| #3 Actually Tutu *is* a man of principle, which is why it was a tipoff how badly our U.S. leadership communicates to the rest of the world when he reacted reflexively and saw only neocolonialism and *not* principle in our Iraq policy... |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-12-17 7:48:02 AM |
| #2 Guess millions of Zimbabweans starving, begging, and stealing got to be a bit much to ignore. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2003-12-17 12:51:35 AM |
| #1 Or found again... |
| Posted by: SLO Jim 2003-12-17 12:31:48 AM |