Brother Moh'm,
Now that I have awoken from my passivity in this discussion, I will
give Bra Aki a break and step in to say you are treading on the
slippery Kingtom stones by making allusions to that most POWerful of
schools in that vicinity. There are a lot of us around and April is
our month. So just be careful, we will defend it it with POWer.
Humbly :-)
Melbourne
--- In SALONEDiscussion@yahoogroups.com, "onemohm" <MohmJ@...> wrote:
>
>
> Bra Cecil:
>
> I am honored to receive such an endorsement of my humble efforts
from
> one of the sharpest authorities on the practice and principles of
> governance in Africa. I am additionally honored to note that you
share
> with me an Old Edwardian heritage of dedication to the truth. 
>
> That, of course, is consistent with the motto of our alma mater, St.
> Edward's Secondary School in Freetown: Dirige nos in veritate. For
the
> benefit of our non-Edwardian friends, that translates from the
Latin as:
> Lead us in truth.
>
> BTW, Aki Faulkner, please do not misconstrue my statement of fact
about
> our school above as an invitation to post rumors of the alleged
> excellence of that other school across the street from St. Edward's
in
> Kingtom!
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Moh'm
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --- In SALONEDiscussion@yahoogroups.com, CECILBLAKE@ wrote:
> >
> > Dear Brother Moh'm:
> >
> > Your reply to my questions is excellent and instructive. I could
not
> have wished for more. Thanks for the lucid clarification and for
your
> take on maximum participation by all citizens able to do so, in
> performing our duties as we seek to enhance the quality of life in
> African nations.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Cecil Blake
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: MohmJ@
> > To: SALONEDiscussion@yahoogroups.com
> > Sent: Tue, 10 Apr 2007 7:17 AM
> > Subject: [SALONEDiscussion] Re: A Step Backward for Democracy in
> Africa
> >
> >
> > In a message dated 4/9/2007 11:32:44 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> CECILBLAKE@ writes:
> >
> > Happy Easter! Two quick and short questions regarding the title
of the
> subject line of the posting below: (1) Is the content in the subject
> line a priority for Africa among its numerous structural and social
> problems? (2) Is the key issue in Zimbabwe one that is dealing a
blow to
> "democracy," or one that is involved with the leadership quagmire in
> Africa as the struggle for organizing national and continental
> priorities is marred by misplaced interests?
> >
> > Bra Cecil:
> >
> > Thank you for your reply and for your best wishes. Happy Easter
to you
> in return. With your kind indulgence, I would like to answer your
> somewhat loaded "quick and short questions" in inverse order in
order to
> ensure a seamless progression in my response.
> >
> > At the outset, I would like to offer a necessary clarification in
view
> of your insertion of quotation marks around my use of the word
> democracy:
> >
> > First, I did not use the term democracy in the subject heading of
my
> posting yesterday in the same context as U.S. President George W.
Bush
> has been using it to attempt to mask the fact that he has run out of
> fraudulent excuses for illegally invading Iraq in violation of a
U.N.
> resolution prohibiting military action against that country pending
the
> conclusion of the then intense search for its alleged weapons of
mass
> destruction.
> >
> > Second, my use of the term democracy is not synonymous with its
use by
> British Prime Minister Tony Blair to attempt to conceal his racist
> motive for calling for the ouster of Zimbabwe's President Robert
Mugabe
> for alleged abuses of power that are dwarfed by the far more
egregious
> and dangerous abuses of power by President Bush whose lawful removal
> from power Mr. Blair has carefully avoided advocating.
> >
> > Now to your questions, in inverse order: To the extent that the
> development of Zimbabwe is most enhanced by the participation of the
> greatest number of its citizens in all aspects of such development,
> including the political process, any action that limits that
> participation poses a danger to Zimbabwe's development. It is in
this
> particular sense that I used the term democracy yesterday -- to
refer to
> the free and fair participation by each and every Zimbabwean who
choose
> to do so in the political process that forms a key component of the
> general development process. It is that development process which
holds
> the greatest promise for leading Zimbabweans to a free and
prosperous
> society.
> >
> > Accordingly, in direct answer to your second question, the issue
of
> democracy as defined above is key to Zimbabwe's bright future. Even
> though it has been complicated by the meticulously concealed,
> self-serving interests of mainly Western entities, as you correctly
> noted and as I alluded above, that does not diminish its crucial
> importance over the transient current leadership struggle between
> President Mugabe and his opponents.
> >
> > Which leads me, finally, to your initial question ("Is the
content in
> the subject line a priority for Africa among its numerous
structural and
> social problems?"
. As I opine above, the development of Zimbabwe
(as
> is true for that of any country) is most enhanced when all of its
> citizens -- not just a chosen few beholden to the ruling political
party
> on the basis of tribe, greed, etc. -- are given the opportunity to
> participate in the political and other processes which constitute
its
> overall development process. Therefore, directly answering your
> question, there can be no higher priority for Zimbabwe than to
promote
> the participation of all its citizens in its development, including
its
> political process.
> >
> > That is a lesson which holds just as true for our own country. I
> particular, the more SL's characteristically clueless politicians
engage
> in undemocratic governance by precluding the maximum participation
of
> our people in our development process, including the political
process
> -- especially the imminent presidential election -- the more they
> diminish our country's chances of development.
> >
> > I hope the above information adequately addresses your fair
questions.
> >
> > Sincerely,
> >
> > Moh'm
> >
> >
> >
> > --- In SALONEDiscussion@yahoogroups.com, CECILBLAKE@ wrote:
> > >
> > > Dear Brother Moh'm:
> > >
> > > Happy Easter! Two quick and short questions regarding the title
of
> the subject line of the posting below: (1) Is the content in the
subject
> line a priority for Africa among its numerous structural and social
> problems? (2) Is the key issue in Zimbabwe one that is dealing a
blow to
> "democracy," or one that is involved with the leadership quagmire in
> Africa as the struggle for organizing national and continental
> priorities is marred by misplaced interests?
> > >
> > > Regards,
> > > Cecil Blake
> > >
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: MohmJ@
> > > To: SALONEDiscussion@yahoogroups.com
> > > Sent: Mon, 9 Apr 2007 5:16 AM
> > > Subject: [SALONEDiscussion] A Step Backward for Democracy in
Africa
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > April 8, 2007
> > >
> > > In Zimbabwe, Mugabe Critics Face Beatings
> > > By MICHAEL WINES
> > >
> > > HARARE, April 5 ââ¬" Keith Charumbira had just stepped off a
> minivan taxi in southwest Harare three weeks ago, fresh from a
Friday
> evening gathering of civic advocates in Zimbabwe's capital city,
when he
> saw the knot of policemen walking toward him. It was too late to
flee.
> > > "They started asking questions," he said. " `Why are you active
in
> an opposition party that is against the needs of the government?
Don't
> you know you are part of a leadership that is leading to
violence?' "
> The officers rifled his pockets, he said, and took his cash,
amounting
> to about $60. Then, for the next 20 minutes, they beat him.
> > > "They used batons," he said. "My head, my chest, on my legs. I
had a
> head injury." When the officers tried to tie him up with his own
shirt,
> Mr. Charumbira said, he managed to slip out and run away, fleeing
first
> to a relative's home, then to a Harare hospital. He spent six days
there
> recovering.
> > > There is nothing subtle about the reaction of President Robert
G.
> Mugabe's government to the latest surge of political unrest in
Zimbabwe.
> By the scores ââ¬" by the hundreds, some opposition figures say
> ââ¬" people critical of Mr. Mugabe's rule are being cornered on
> sidewalks, hauled to jails or simply abducted from their homes in
early
> morning raids, and then savagely beaten.
> > > The main faction of the leading opposition group, the Movement
for
> Democratic Change, says that at least 500 of its members have been
> attacked in the last month. The numbers of attacks on civic
advocates
> and other opposition figures is less clear but appears substantial.
> > > Some of those attacked are left with fractured skulls or broken
> limbs. A few have been shot. At least one has been killed: a week
ago, a
> 65-year-old former cameraman for the state-controlled Zimbabwe
> Broadcasting Corporation was found bludgeoned to death in a field 50
> miles from his home in Glenview, a south Harare slum that is a
locus of
> antigovernment sentiment.
> > > [On Friday, a police spokesman in Harare said a murder
investigation
> had been opened in the case.]
> > > The cameraman, Edward Chikombo, was rumored to have sold to
foreign
> broadcasters videotape of a March 11 police assault on
antigovernment
> protesters that sent 50 activists to Harare hospitals. He was
abducted
> from his home on March 29 by a group of armed men driving a 4x4
vehicle,
> according to the Media Institute of Southern Africa, a regional
> journalist-rights organization.
> > > That March 11 assault, which seriously injured leaders of the
> Movement for Democratic Change and other top civic figures, drew
> worldwide condemnation. Mr. Mugabe's government appears to have
> responded with a crackdown that strikes some here as an act of
paranoia,
> if not desperation.
> > > Mr. Mugabe was widely quoted last month as saying that "the
police
> have a right to bash" protesters who resist them, and added that the
> main leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, Morgan
Tsvangirai,
> deserved the beating he got on March 11 ââ¬" leaving him
> hospitalized with a head wound and possible skull fracture.
> > > An international furor erupted this week after The Herald, a
> government-controlled newspaper that frequently speaks for
officials in
> power, suggested that one British diplomat that it accused of aiding
> opposition figures might return to London "in a body bag, like some
of
> her colleagues from Iraq and Afghanistan."
> > > "This is not a regime that is ensconced in the affections of the
> people," Iden Wetherell, an editor of the weekly Zimbabwe
Independent,
> said in his downtown offices this week. "There's a real fear of
popular
> mobilization. Look at the pattern of beating people up, of declaring
> Harare a zone where no demonstrations can be held, of breaking up
news
> conferences. It's clearly an attempt to prevent the leadership of
the
> opposition from communicating with its members."
> > > Civic advocates, opposition figures and human-rights advocates
call
> this a low-intensity war on Mr. Mugabe's critics that represents a
new
> chapter in the government's years-long effort to stifle dissent.
> > > "These abductions cannot happen without the knowledge of senior
> military chiefs, senior police chiefs and senior intelligence
chiefs,"
> Selvan Chetty, the deputy director of the South Africa-based
Solidarity
> Peace Trust, a human-rights group, said in an interview. "They have
to
> be sanctioned somewhere."
> > > Precisely who is behind the attacks is often unclear. Some,
like Mr.
> Charumbira, have been attacked by uniformed police officers, and
> frequently have been imprisoned as well. At least 25 victims of
attacks
> have faced charges in Harare courts in the last week alone, Tafadzwa
> Mugabe, a lawyer for Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, said in an
> interview. "Most of these guys are picked up at midnight or the
early
> hours of the morning," he said. "They're terribly beaten, and then
> they're put in jail."
> > > But many more beatings and abductions, like that of the
cameraman
> Mr. Chikombo, are anonymous, carried out by men in plainclothes
driving
> unmarked vehicles.
> > > Nelson Chamisa, a member of Zimbabwe's Parliament and a top
official
> of the main faction of the Movement for Democratic Change, was
walking
> into Harare's airport terminal on a Sunday morning two weeks ago,
bound
> for a meeting with European Union officials, when he found himself
> surrounded by eight men in civilian clothes.
> > > "Before I realized what was happening, one of them produced a
metal
> object and hit me in the face," he said. "I fell to the ground. I
was
> hit with metal objects in my face, my neck, my head, my back. All I
can
> remember is that there was this guy with his foot on my neck. I was
> bleeding profusely."
> > > Mr. Chamisa said he was assaulted for at least five minutes as
the
> airport's police officers stood idly by. The attackers took his
carry-on
> bag, containing a laptop, documents and some $2,000. When a crowd
> gathered, the men raced to two new Nissan sedans without license
plates,
> fired shots in the air to scatter onlookers, and sped away.
> > > The police have yet to interview him or begin an inquiry into
the
> attack, Mr. Chamisa said. Nor has the government said anything
about the
> incident, which sent him to a hospital with severe head injuries.
> > > Some opposition figures and civic advocates say they believe
that
> the government's tactics will backfire, drawing more international
> condemnation and leaching away the support from neighboring
governments
> that is seen as critical to Mr. Mugabe's government. And in fact,
Mr.
> Mugabe's threat to "bash" dissidents drew a mild rebuke this week
from
> South Africa's president, Thabo Mbeki, who told The Financial Times
that
> African leaders were dismayed by photographs of bloodied and beaten
> protesters.
> > > For the present, however, the effect of the attacks has been to
> terrorize the government's critics, some of whom have gone into
hiding,
> changed their mobile telephone numbers or simply fallen silent.
> > > "The regime does not any longer believe that there is a civil
> society that should participate in politics," said Tungamirai
Madzokere,
> a ward leader for the Combined Harare Residents Association in
Glenview.
> "They're now after everyone."
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company
> > >
> > >
> > >
>
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