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[alfie]

The thought occurred to me this morning while watching more coverage of events in Libya etc - I bet there are a lot of people in Zimbabwe who wish that country had plenty of oil under its surface.


I wonder if our government has double standards regarding who it helps to overthrow.

[Lizzie_Zoom]

The thought occurred to me this morning while watching more coverage of events in Libya etc - I bet there are a lot of people in Zimbabwe who wish that country had plenty of oil under its surface.


I wonder if our government has double standards regarding who it helps to overthrow.

It always has and always will Alfie

[Lizzie_Zoom]

The thought occurred to me this morning while watching more coverage of events in Libya etc - I bet there are a lot of people in Zimbabwe who wish that country had plenty of oil under its surface.

I'm not convinced that oil, or rather lack of it, comes into the question as far as Zimbabwe is concerned. Rather, the West has felt for a long time now that any African adventure would be suicidal due to the racial and rich/poor overtones. When the chips are down, the African Union would always back one of its own. However, the northern African states are seen as more Arabic than Black African and do not command the same support. However, that's merely my opinion.

There is a lot of truth in that Nick, and as in the case of the French, we do not want to be seen to go back to our colonial days.  We do not want that kind of hassle anymore, and this time for no reward!

[albitz]

You may be right Nick, im not sure. Might depend on just how much oil was there ?
I do think it shameful though that what is being done in Zimbabwe is largely ignored now by the mass media. I would bet my last penny that if the skin colours of those oppressing/ being oppressed were reversed, the whole world would be falling down on their heads. The pressure from every available source (pop concerts to papal preaching) would have reached a deafening crescendo by now.

[Banjax]

You may be right Nick, im not sure. Might depend on just how much oil was there ?
I do think it shameful though that what is being done in Zimbabwe is largely ignored now by the mass media. I would bet my last penny that if the skin colours of those oppressing/ being oppressed were reversed, the whole world would be falling down on their heads. The pressure from every available source (pop concerts to papal preaching) would have reached a deafening crescendo by now.

Zimbabwe was never going to work when the white 1% of the population owns three quarters of the land, systems that are demonstrably racist, prejudice, bigotted, elitist or oppressive will always collapse.

And I've never heard anyone complain about the 100's of thousands of white zimbabweans  coming into this country as refugees, presumably if they were black we'd call them illegal immigrants?

Having said all that, mugabe is an oppressive, murderous  tyrant allowed to gain power and popular support precisely because the white minority tried to control the country since we brutally colonised the area over 100 years ago   

[albitz]

Much of what you say is true, but what "we" did over 100 years ago in no way justifies the reign of terror Mugabe is currently waging on his own people- both black and white.
And if it was a predominantly white regime, the international community would undoubtedly take a very different approach to the problem imo. Postive discrimination gone too far ?

[Mysteryman]

You may be right Nick, im not sure. Might depend on just how much oil was there ?
I do think it shameful though that what is being done in Zimbabwe is largely ignored now by the mass media. I would bet my last penny that if the skin colours of those oppressing/ being oppressed were reversed, the whole world would be falling down on their heads. The pressure from every available source (pop concerts to papal preaching) would have reached a deafening crescendo by now.

Zimbabwe was never going to work when the white 1% of the population owns three quarters of the land, systems that are demonstrably racist, prejudice, bigotted, elitist or oppressive will always collapse.

And I've never heard anyone complain about the 100's of thousands of white zimbabweans  coming into this country as refugees, presumably if they were black we'd call them illegal immigrants?

Having said all that, mugabe is an oppressive, murderous  tyrant allowed to gain power and popular support precisely because the white minority tried to control the country since we brutally colonised the area over 100 years ago   

Took a few years for the British empire to collapse though.

[Dishevelled Den]

Zimbabwe was never going to work when the white 1% of the population owns three quarters of the land, systems that are demonstrably racist, prejudice, bigotted, elitist or oppressive will always collapse.

And I've never heard anyone complain about the 100's of thousands of white zimbabweans  coming into this country as refugees, presumably if they were black we'd call them illegal immigrants?

Having said all that, mugabe is an oppressive, murderous  tyrant allowed to gain power and popular support precisely because the white minority tried to control the country since we brutally colonised the area over 100 years ago   

was never going to work when the white 1% of the population owns three quarters of the land, systems that are demonstrably racist, prejudice, bigotted, elitist or oppressive will always collapse

Yes I agree to a point B but now that Bob has put the boot on the other foot little seems to have changed as the majority of those who are white or not of the ZANU-PF persuasion, seem to be numbered amongst the oppressed.

It's quite possible that had certain parts of Africa not been colonised in this way little progress would have been made towards some form of unified and cohesive economic structure within those countries.

With the tribal system being so much to the fore there I have no doubt that even in the absence of colonisation there would have been more than sufficient tensions displayed by the native peoples to have resulted in many of those examples of oppression, violence and exploitation so often blamed on the non natives who settled there.