Zimbabwe

Beyond that, Mugabe is one of the less pleasant world leaders, vain and paranoid. I did love his outburst at some international conference where he said the UK should change its name to the "United Gay Kingdom".

But calling them scumbags was maybe a bit over the top. Prisoners of their class, maybe. And I do think that in attempting to destroy them Mugabe is destroying the whole country.

But this obviously isn't an option. So my tangential question for this thread is basically this: what to do? It strikes me as most desirable to find ways apart from seizure or massive redistribution to reintroduce Those Who Have Been Stolen From back into a realm of opportunity, even if it's at a significant cost to Those Who Have Been Given To -- but what manner of doing this seems reasonable and workable?

Apply to race in the U.S., Israel/Palestine, past colonial holdings throughout world, marginalized ethnic groups throughout world, etc., etc., etc. It's as if our morals have just developed enough to recognize the havoc and injustice our history has wrought.

http://rhodesia.nl/Cheetah%20RLI%20Souvenir%20Oct1980.pdf

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/11/14/tanks-seen-heading-towards-zimbabwe-capital-harare/

That feeling when you hope a military coup succeeds because it can't get worse than it already is

Does look like something is definitely going down.

Def, but reports are so shady, no one seems to know what's going on.

so seems like the story is afaict: mugabe sacked the vice-president, and is purging zanu-pf a little bit in preparation for his death and the succession which he hopes to bestow on his wife.

head of military has moaned about this, says army will step in if he keeps purging folks with a liberation background (people who fought the liberation war). government has strongly rebuked him for that. now there are military manouevres and a takeover of the state broadcaster.

it's got coup written all over it

BREAKING - #Zimbabwe soldiers take over state broadcaster ZBC, staff tell @Reuters. It's looking more and more as though Mugabe may be gone

— Ed Cropley (@edwardcropley) November 14, 2017

Perfect summary imo, Jim.

xp Whoa, it's on.

Damn, didn't realize Mugabe was 93.

Basically the army don't want Mugabe foisting his wife on them.

Subtle indication there may be a coup: your news anchor is suddenly this guy, telling you it’s totally not a coup. pic.twitter.com/lKOX5uQGnW

— Carl Fridh Kleberg (@FridhKleberg) November 15, 2017

What’s next here

democracyyyyyyyyyyy

sad lol :(

http://www.heraldscotland.com/business_hq/opinion/15663443.Analysis__Firing_Mnangagwa_was_Mugabe___s_biggest_political_misjudgement_in_a_long_career/?ref=twtrec

thought this was a decent piece

His trump card in negotiations after the military’s action is likely to be a broad reluctance among regional and Zimbabwean leaders to embark on a new era as a direct result of a coup.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/16/world/africa/zimbabwe-coup-mugabe.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-mw9U5Fq4g

Mapfumo's got to be watching this closely from his Oregon home (at least that's where I last remember him living)

The Mugabe family whatsapp group tonight pic.twitter.com/PW7gTllsEP

— Not a coup, coup (@Lambo_Th) November 19, 2017

Some divine violence might just be necessary to get rid of this vile old scumbag.

he's only two years away from topping malawi's hastings banda in the nonagenarian autocrat stakes

(and only six from outliving him)

lol zambia sends the retired kenneth kaunda (also 93 but retired 26 yrs ago) over to talk RM down

i mean it isn't really lol i suppose

93 year-old who's known nothing but absolute power in 'doesn't know how to relinquish absolute power' shocker

tbf he's known 50-odd years of less than absolute power

we left their country in a bally darling state

This is why (from a practical rather than moral standpoint) you kill the people you depose. They cause a lot of hassle otherwise. They need to read more Luttwak.

BREAKING: Zimbabwe Parliament speaker says Mugabe has resigned, has received letter from him.

— The Associated Press (@AP) November 21, 2017

ok, but have they also opened and read the letter? i don't want to believe RM just wrote "PSYCH!" in huge letters with felt-tip psychedelic amplifiers all round it...

... however i bet he did

It's still early, but is this the closest we will ever get to a relatively peaceful transition of dictatorial power?

transition from franco in spain was entirely peaceful

pinochet also iirc

But Franco was transition to democracy, right? More or less? And came with Franco's death? Zimbabwe is a peaceful transition from Mugabe to ... military rule?

Pinochet stuck around after he was ousted, right?

oh, sorry, i misread, you mean from dictator to dictator (or similar)

transition from franco in spain was entirely peaceful

― mark s, Tuesday, November 21, 2017 4:58 PM (five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

uhhhhhh

there was an attempted coup in the early 80s but i don't think anyone died were shots even fired in anger? anyway it failed immediately as the army as a whole didn't support the plotters

But Franco was transition to democracy, right? More or less? And came with Franco's death? Zimbabwe is a peaceful transition from Mugabe to ... military rule?

Pinochet stuck around after he was ousted, right?

― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, November 21, 2017 9:02 AM (eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

pinochet, awful POS scumbag that he was, didn't try and hold on to government after losing the plebiscite. lost in in 1988, elections were held at the end of 1989, and the Aylwin government was installed in 1990.

however he did make sure him and his cronies were immune from prosecution.

The years just after Franco's death were the deadliest ETA years. And they weren't even alone, the Maoists of GRAPO killed politicians, police men etc.

also this (against eta): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far-right_terrorism_in_Spain

so not a very accurate claim on my part, there, no

you could maybe just about defend a distinction between the claim that the "transition was peaceful" but that the "period of the transition was not peaceful" -- the former being roughly what i had in mind -- but on reflection i don't think it's a very helpful distinction

Zimbabwe is a peaceful transition from Mugabe to ... military rule?

... to his former right hand man, not the military.

brazil had a bloodless transition too. the junta was ok with dissolving and having democratic elections b/c they fucked up the economy so hard that they couldnt wait to hand over the hot potato for civil society to deal with.

Given the way things are going in Brazil right now..but that's for another thread.

This, on what we are transitioning to seems good and well, it argues there won't be much change.

More analysis:

Royal Central‏ @RoyalCentral

BREAKING: The Queen becomes the world’s oldest living Head of State following Robert Mugabe's resignation

I could listen to Zimbabweans talk all day, I love their accent.

Mapfumo's got to be watching this closely from his Oregon home (at least that's where I last remember him living)

― curmudgeon

http://registerguard.com/rg/news/local/36205712-75/african-music-star-in-exile-awaits-real-change-for-zimbabwe.html.csp#.WiT3xP5TsAM.facebook

Terrible cyclone in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and elsewhere

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/mozambique-mourns-cyclone-deaths-as-rescuers-struggle-to-reach-those-affected/2019/03/20/aa48c260-4a87-11e9-8cfc-2c5d0999c21e_story.html?utm_term=.dab8cad57b2a

When the mudslide struck, students at the St. Charles Lwanga School had nowhere to go. So they waited for days with their classmates’ corpses, hoping for rescue.

The survivors huddled together in dining halls and classrooms at their boarding school in eastern Zimbabwe, waiting out the aftermath of the devastation wrought by Cyclone Idai in Mozambique and neighboring countries — and waiting for help as they mourned two students and a security guard who were crushed to death on Friday evening.

Two days passed before a group of students finally braved the treacherous conditions and walked for miles, taking turns carrying the dead in makeshift coffins until they reached safety.

More than 300 people in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Malawi and elsewhere in the region have been declared dead since Idai came ashore near the central Mozambican port city of Beira on Friday, destroying infrastructure across the city of half a million.

The cyclone brought severe rain and winds exceeding 100 mph, and road and weather conditions slowed the disaster response — leaving the most affected communities in limbo. Although aid is now trickling into Zimbabwe, boulders from mudslides are still blocking some roads. Floods washed away bridges that connect a number of the most devastated areas, forcing some military and aid workers to move by foot.

High floodwaters have made aid distribution difficult in Mozambique....WFP said that about 1.7 million people were in the cyclone’s path and that “the extent of the human suffering is not known.” Given the vast size of the affected region, “we do expect the death toll to increase significantly,” the agency said.

jesus fucking christ

this is happening more and more and will continue to accelerate. people in places like mozambique are going to suffer the worst -- are already suffering the worst -- from our collective climate inaction.