Zimbabwe’s Elections and beyond: Stay Tuned (by Elizabeth Palmberg)
Will Zimbabwe's parliamentary and presidential elections, coming up Saturday, be a complete sham, like their predecessors? The government of Zimbabwe, under Robert Mugabe, has left Zimbabwe's economy in ruins and permitted the HIV/AIDS crisis rise to catastrophic levels, prompting protests among people of faith.
Here are a few websites to check for perspectives and news:
This is Zimbabwe, a blog by the protest group Sokwanele, offers on-the-ground info, including a Google Maps-based schematic of places where the government has taken steps to rig the election. At the bottom right, there's a list of other Zimbabwe-themed blogs.
ZimOnline, a South Africa-based online newspaper about Zimbabwe.
ReliefWeb's roundup of news stories and nonprofit press releases about Zimbabwe (as assembled by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs).
Elizabeth Palmberg is an assistant editor of Sojourners.
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Comments
From what I understand, Mugabe turned the country's farmland over from an elite white minority to an elite black minority with no farming experience. You'd think the results would have been predictable. I guess Mugabe displays the same acuity with long range planning on the domestic side that our own fearless leader has displays with foreign policy.
Too bad these guys couldn't find a new hobby. Most world leaders really ought to get into blogging, imo.
Posted by: Paul Maurice Martin | March 28, 2008 10:45 AM
Ah good, I knew some people couldn't let Elizabeth's commentary, completely devoid of criticism of the U.S., pass without getting in a swipe at U.S. policy. Well done Paul Maurice Martin! Way to tie it all together. Bush=Mugabe. How clever...
Posted by: Ross | March 28, 2008 11:06 AM
Ross, why don't you move to Zimbabwe if you dislike the USA so much?
Posted by: lloyd crump | March 28, 2008 11:33 AM
The people of Zimbabwe could use our prayers, not useless bickering. A pastor from Zimbabwe that my church supports just visited our congregation in Reno last week and the message he brought was please pray for our country. They need a lot of help there.
Posted by: Will H. | March 28, 2008 1:28 PM
I lived in Zimbabwe in the early 1990's and still have many friends there who keep in close contact with me by phone, internet and when they visit here. Well said Will H., quit using the tragedy in Zimbabwe to make cheap political points! Mugabe and Mbeki are the true villains here, but of course they support and are supported by a cabal of corrupt elites who continue to live like kings while their people suffer! Alas, I fear that Africa is doomed to perpetual poverty and tyranny from the elite! I am too tired to say anything more because it is almost hopeless!
Posted by: Johnny Creel | March 28, 2008 2:34 PM
its time the tyrant calls it a day am a born free but still remember when we used to get mathemba and other things for free from the gov. but that was then because they has just gone into power to gain people's confidence and support and i wonder what was injected in that food it blinded all the people in the villages and the only leader they thought was mugabe and nobody else (vakadyiswa) its time he drops from grace to grass.
shaz
Posted by: sharon | March 31, 2008 4:41 PM
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