Obama Read Zimbabwe Right... More Than a Year Ago

posted by John Nichols on 06/29/2008 @ 08:54am

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The world is suddenly paying a measure of the attention that is necessary to the democratic crisis in Zimbabwe, where strongman President Robert Mugabe has used violence and intimidation to prevent the competitive election that would surely have forced him from office.

Former South African President Nelson Mandela is leading a chorus of condemnation for what Mandela describes as the "tragic failure" of Mugabe as a leader of his country and as an advocate for Africa.

Even President Bush, who has not exactly been a leader when it comes to addressing the concerns of southern Africa or promoting democracy (in Africa or the U.S.), has denounced Mugabe's use of military, police and paramilitary thugs to impose a result that could not have been secured by the electorate.

Bush is right to be making noise now. And he may even be right to propose sanctions against the Mugabe government, although sanctions always seem to fall harder on innocent citizens than upon the dictators they are supposed to target.

But, as usual, even when Bush gets a foreign-policy issue, he does so after he might have been able to avert murder and mayhem.

The same goes for Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who can barely be bothered to pay attention to African affairs.

And what of Barack Obama, who critics, including McCain, suggest is inexperienced and inept when it comes to scanning the globe for trouble-spots and responding to their challenges?

The likely Democratic nominee, far from having to play catch-up, is in the forefront.

Having rallied fellow Senators Joe Biden, D-Delaware; Chris Dodd, D-Connecticut; Dick Durbin, D-Illinois; Russ Feingold, D-Wisconsin; Chuck Hagel, R-Nebraska; John Kerry, D-Massachusetts, and Joe Lieberman, I-Connecticut, as co-sponsors -- and working in conjunction with the late Tom Lantos, the California congressman who made human rights in Africa a priority during his tenure as chair of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs -- the senator from Illinois moved last spring to get the Congress to pay attention to what was unfolding in Zimbabwe.

On June 26, 2007, Obama won unanimous Senate support for a resolution condemning Mugabe's disregard for democratic processes and calling for U.S. action to prevent the degeneration of circumstances on the ground in Zimbabwe.

Obama's resolution condemning violent acts by the Zimbabwe government, serves as a powerful reminder that some officials get it while others get lost.

Here's the Obama resolution on Zimbabwe:

Whereas in 2005 the Government of Zimbabwe launched Operation Murambatsvina (``Operation Throw Out the Trash'') against citizens in major cities and suburbs throughout Zimbabwe, depriving over 700,000 people of their homes, businesses, and livelihoods;

Whereas on March 11, 2007, opposition party activists and members of civil society attempted to hold a peaceful prayer meeting to protest the economic and political crisis engulfing Zimbabwe, where inflation is running over 1,700 percent and unemployment stands at 80 percent and in response to President Robert Mugabe's announcement that he intends to seek reelection in 2008 if nominated;

Whereas opposition activist Gift Tandare died on March 11, 2007, as a result of being shot by police while attempting to attend the prayer meeting and Itai Manyeruke died on March 12, 2007, as a result of police beatings and was found in a morgue by his family on March 20, 2007;

Whereas under the direction of President Robert Mugabe and the ZANU-PF government, police officers, security forces, and youth militia brutally assaulted the peaceful demonstrators and arrested opposition leaders and hundreds of civilians;

Whereas Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangarai was brutally assaulted and suffered a fractured skull, lacerations, and major bruising; MDC member Sekai Holland, a 64-year old grandmother, suffered ruthless attacks at Highfield Police Station, which resulted in the breaking of her leg, knee, arm, and three ribs; fellow activist Grace Kwinje, age 33, also was brutally beaten, while part of one ear was ripped off; and Nelson Chamisa was badly injured by suspected state agents at Harare airport on March 18, 2007, when trying to board a plane for a meeting of European Union and Africa, Caribbean, and Pacific Group of States lawmakers in Brussels, Belgium; Whereas Zimbabwe's foreign minister warned Western diplomats that the Government of Zimbabwe would expel them if they gave support to the opposition, and said Western diplomats had gone too far by offering food and water to jailed opposition activists;

Whereas victims of physical assault by the Government of Zimbabwe have been denied emergency medical transfer to hospitals in neighboring South Africa, where their wounds can be properly treated;

Whereas those incarcerated by the Government of Zimbabwe were denied access to legal representatives and lawyers appearing at the jails to meet with detained clients were themselves threatened and intimidated; Whereas at the time of Zimbabwe's independence, President Robert Mugabe was hailed as a liberator and Zimbabwe showed bright prospects for democracy, economic development, domestic reconciliation, and prosperity;

Whereas President Robert Mugabe and his ZANU-PF government continue to turn away from the promises of liberation and use state power to deny the people of Zimbabwe the freedom and prosperity they fought for and deserve;

Whereas the staggering suffering brought about by the misrule of Zimbabwe has created a large-scale humanitarian crisis in which 3,500 people die each week from a combination of disease, hunger, neglect, and despair;

Whereas the Chairman of the African Union, President Alpha Oumar Konare, expressed ``great concern'' about Zimbabwe's crisis and called for the need for the scrupulous respect for human rights and democratic principles in Zimbabwe;

Whereas the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Council of Non-governmental Organizations stated that ``We believe that the crisis has reached a point where Zimbabweans need to be strongly persuaded and directly assisted to find an urgent solution to the crisis that affects the entire region.'';

Whereas Zambian President, Levy Mwanawasa, has urged southern Africa to take a new approach to Zimbabwe instead of the failed ``quiet diplomacy'', which he likened to a ``sinking Titanic,'' and stated that ``quiet diplomacy has failed to help solve the political chaos and economic meltdown in Zimbabwe'';

Whereas European Union and African, Caribbean, and Pacific lawmakers strongly condemned the latest attack on an opposition official in Zimbabwe and urged the government in Harare to cooperate with the political opposition to restore the rule of law; and

Whereas United States Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Christopher Dell, warned that opposition to President Robert Mugabe had reached a tipping point because the people no longer feared the regime and believed they had nothing left to lose:

Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), That-- (1) it is the sense of Congress that--

(A) the state-sponsored violence taking place in Zimbabwe represents a serious violation of fundamental human rights and the rule of law and should be condemned by all responsible governments, civic organizations, religious leaders, and international bodies; and

(B) the Government of Zimbabwe has not lived up to its commitments as a signatory to the Constitutive Act of the African Union and African Charter of Human and Peoples Rights which enshrine commitment to human rights and good governance as foundational principles of African states; and

(2) Congress--

(A) condemns the Government of Zimbabwe's violent suppression of political and human rights through its police force, security forces, and youth militia that deliberately inflict gross physical harm, intimidation, and abuse on those legitimately protesting the failing policies of the government;

(B) holds those individual police, security force members, and militia involved in abuse and torture responsible for the acts that they have committed;

(C) condemns the harassment and intimidation of lawyers attempting to carry out their professional obligations to their clients and repeated failure by police to comply promptly with court decisions;

(D) condemns the harassment of foreign officials, journalists, human rights workers, and others, including threatening their expulsion from the country if they continue to provide food and water to victims detained in prison and in police custody while in the hospital;

(E) commends United States Ambassador Christopher Dell and other United States Government officials and foreign officials for their support to political detainees and victims of torture and abuse while in police custody or in medical care centers and encourages them to continue providing such support;

(F) calls on the Government of Zimbabwe to cease immediately its violent campaign against fundamental human rights, to respect the courts and members of the legal profession, and to restore the rule of law while adhering to the principles embodied in an accountable democracy, including freedom of association and freedom of expression;

(G) calls on the Government of Zimbabwe to cease illegitimate interference in travel abroad by its citizens, especially for humanitarian purposes; and

(H) calls on the leaders of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) and the African Union to consult urgently with all Zimbabwe stakeholders to intervene with the Government of Zimbabwe while applying appropriate pressures to resolve the economic and political crisis.

As a first-term senator with little more than his conscience and his understanding of the world to guide him, Obama read the circumstance in Zimbabwe right -- and he did so before the crisis spun out of control.

Imagine what might have been if George Bush and Condoleezza Rice had taken the situation in southern Africa as seriously as did Obama -- and responded in so savvy and responsible a manner as the Illinoisan.

Imagine what someone who actually paid attention to the world -- and recognized the responsible role that the United States can and should play in rallying world opinion to stand on the side of human rights -- could accomplish as president.

Comments (18)

It only takes one spark to start a prairie fire.

Barack Obama will be brought down for his support for Greek racism against its ethnic Macedonian minority

Every racist, every fascist, every ethnic cleanser in the Balkan looks to Greece's treatment of its ethnic Macedonian minority as a model on how to treat its own minorities.

John, when this story hits the mainstream media, what will your.

See: Denying Ethnic Identity: The Macedonians of Greece Human Rights Watch (read it for free at Google Books)

Here is what Obama has to say when the Macedonian government speaks up for the Macedonian minority.

110th CONGRESS, 1st Session, S. RES. 300

Expressing the sense of the Senate that the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) should stop the utilization of materials that violate provisions of the United Nations-brokered Interim Agreement between FYROM and Greece regarding `hostile activities or propaganda' and should work with the United Nations and Greece to achieve longstanding United States and United Nations policy goals of finding a mutually-acceptable official name for FYROM.

Memo to "The Nation": You have fallen so far!

For more information: See Oprah, Obama Will disappoint You. http://the-macedonian-tendency.blogspot.com/2007/12/oprah-obama-will-dis apoint-you.html

Posted by David Edenden at 06/29/2008 @ 09:52am
Amen.

Posted by ramara at 06/29/2008 @ 10:13am
Where are the neo-cons calling for invasion and overthrow of Mugabe???

Posted by Mask at 06/29/2008 @ 10:23am
Scanning the resolution text, I'm having a little trouble finding the "calling for U.S. action."

Posted by man00ver at 06/29/2008 @ 12:52pm
On 24APR08 at microbrother.blogspot.com, I called for Mr. Mugabe to step down as president of the southern African country that was once considered the bread basket of Africa, Zimbabwe.

Mr. Mugabe's 1980 historic revolutionary overthrow of the former Rhodesian government has been marred by his ruthless hold on power of the now impoverished Zimbabwe. Today, President Mugabe succeeded in thwarting the democratic election candidacy of Mr. Morgan Tsvangirai as president. According to Tsvangirai, he is pulling the plug on his campaign due to the violence caused by the highly contentious contest.

This is a sad day in southern Africa because this region has the greatest potential to fuel progress for the whole continent. We have seen the overflow of Zimbabwean refugees into South Africa. The strain of this influx on the South African government revealed ugly images last seen during its own liberation struggle.

The heroes of the new South African are too old to see southern Africa through these latest challenges of the region. I believe President Mugabe is not a well man. And in his medical/psychological dilemma, a whole region of Africa can be destroyed. Therefore, I am calling on respected organizations such as TransAfrica to lobby the United Nations and non-governmental organizations to assist in the resolution of the problems in southern Africa.

As in the middle-east, regional problems can become international problems if left unattended.

Posted by microbrother at 06/29/2008 @ 9:22pm
JM

You know better. These are democrats...intentions are what matter, not results. But you gotta love those resolutions...make you feel all warm and fuzzy, accomplishing nothing.

"calling for US action..."

Ummm, since when do democrats want to go meddling in other sovereign nations' affairs?

Posted by usc1 at 06/29/2008 @ 9:41pm
Let me correct some liberal "facts": 1. In 2003, President Bush imposed sanctions on specific individuals and businesses in Zimbabwe. More than two years later, he expanded the list of sanctions to include immediate family members of Zimbabweans already sanctioned and others who were providing them with financial assistance. Obama wrote a toothless resolution in 2007.

2. Mandela has been silent about his fellow thug. The 1st weak "comment" came at his 90th birthday celebration - JUNE 2008. Mugabe has been murdering innocents for years !

Posted by dilip11860 at 06/30/2008 @ 12:20am
'It is, meanwhile, practically impossible to open the New York Times without reading a solemn admonition, either from the Administration or from the paper itself. Colin Powell lectures Robert Mugabe. George Bush takes a high moral tone with Serbia. All are agreed that wanted men should be given up to international law. All are agreed that however painful the task, other societies must face their own past and shoulder their own grave responsibilities.' -- The Nation -- 25 June, 2001 -- http:// www.thenation.com/ doc/20010625/hitchens

Posted by HonestLiberal at 06/30/2008 @ 09:20am
David Edenden: you are a racist.

This is why Obama should be prez., because he GETS IT! Hell, all you have to do is pick up a copy of foreign affairs magazine and read a little bit and any of us would be more informed than George Bush concerning international relations. Bush and his cronies are obsessed with the M.E. as is John McCain.

Posted by Organotic at 06/30/2008 @ 11:44am
I am in agreement with the author on sanctions, the people of Zimbabwe are suffering enough with unemployment and a lack of food. They don't need sanctions. An arms embargo might be more appropriate, and emergency food aid is needed. BBC America covers Africa, and the world in general, far better than the American media. I do like CNN International too, if I could get it on a regular basis.

Posted by P. J. Casey at 06/30/2008 @ 1:23pm
Let me correct some liberal "facts": 1. In 2003, President Bush imposed sanctions on specific individuals and businesses in Zimbabwe. More than two years later, he expanded the list of sanctions to include immediate family members of Zimbabweans already sanctioned and others who were providing them with financial assistance. Obama wrote a toothless resolution in 2007.

So Buch imposed sanctions on "individuals and businessess". How did that turn for them? Seems like they were toothless as well.

Posted by k330k at 06/30/2008 @ 1:30pm
Hey! I see timestamps. 'Bout damn time.

Posted by k330k at 06/30/2008 @ 1:31pm
Posted by lvliberty1 at 06/29/2008 @ 9:55pm

While Bush and some Europeans were outraged at Mugabe for taking back land from whites, they essentially tolerated the regime as long as certain multi-national corporations were allowed to continue to exploit the natural resources there.

If this is what Chris Dell means by "quiet diplomacy", I think the world has had more than enough of that.

Posted by Metteyya at 06/30/2008 @ 4:36pm
Posted by Metteyya at 06/30/2008 @ 4:36pm

"If this is what Chris Dell means by "quiet diplomacy", I think the world has had more than enough of that."

I'm sure we can expect more than 'quiet diplomacy' from Barack. At times, I'm sure it will even reach the level of a loud whine.

Posted by pontificus at 06/30/2008 @ 9:32pm
Organotic , Obama will disappoint you, just as he will disappoint Oprah.

I am sorry to insert this issue in this thread, but Obama's judgment on Zimbabwe may be right but his "judgment on Macedonia.is wrong.

The Nation along with all other media is ignoring it.

What is interesting to me is what will the Obama supporters in the media do when this issue hits the mainstream media?

What will The Nation do? Will it say that Macedonians in Greece don't exist?

It is the media reaction that interests me. Search my blog for: Oprah Obama McCain

David Edenden My blog: the Macedonian Tendency http://the-macedonian-tendency.blogspot.com/

Posted by David Edenden at 06/30/2008 @ 9:33pm
Well, we had to wait 28 years for Jimmy Carter's second term, perhaps we will get it this November if Obama is elected.

Posted by pontificus at 06/30/2008 @ 9:34pm
Posted by Maskbeta at 06/30/2008 @ 10:16pm

"Except the deficit is TREMENDOUSLY larger...."

Thanks in large part to the Congress, which has authority over spending, and yes, to Bush for failing to stop them. But remember, most governmental spending is due to liberal programs of the type you blindly support.

"the military twice (or thrice) as in bad shape..."

Utterly wrong.

"and nobody likes us (whereas they did kind of like Jimmy and US at that time)."

Nobody likes us? What laughable nonsense. Where the hell do you get that sort of nonsense? Media propaganda? Here's a hint for the left - never make the mistake of believing your own propaganda.

Posted by pontificus at 07/01/2008 @ 12:56pm
Scanning the resolution, I am disappointed not to find any mention of human rights abuses against LGBT people. It may seem trivial in light of everything else, but the reason I first read about Mugabe was that he has long been--arguably, of course, since many can share in this dubious honor--one of the most vociferously homophobic national leaders in the world.

At a time when people still endure extreme violence and even death for their love of people of the same sex here and around the world, it is discouraging to see that many consider standing up for the value of our lives to be too marginal or controversial of an issue. LGBT rights are not special rights; they are human rights.

Posted by joyfulspark at 07/01/2008 @ 4:46pm