Letter From the Diaspora !

1st December 2007
Dear Friends,

It's been over two months since I wrote; my long silence has been one of the consequences of moving house and losing my internet connection. That meant I couldn't listen to SW Radio or read Zim News; in short I was cut off from home and it was a very frustrating experience. Phonecalls and letters together with the occasional newspaper item here in the UK kept me in the picture and once a week there was The Zimbabwean to fill in the details. One advantage I had over similarly news-starved Zims at home was that I was not faced with the nightly barrage from the ZBC or the poisonous propaganda of the Herald!

When I was finally connected again, I was struck by how little I had missed. It seemed that nothing had changed - except for the worse. Power cuts are now a daily occurrence all over the country, lasting for days at a time. Fuel is still unobtainable except on the black market at astronomical prices. In two months inflation has doubled; basic food items have become even more scarce and the supermarket shelves are still virtually empty. ( People from home phoned to say that they had forgotten what bread tasted like and one friend told me he had come across bread being sold on the black market in one of Harare's townships at $600.000 a loaf.) Violence against the civilian population has gone on unabated despite the Mbeki-led negotiations between the two main parties.

Looking in from the outside at the near-silent 'talks' I was struck as I so often am by the unbelievable naivety of the opposition that they could consider talking to the very people who are so clearly intent on their destruction. Surely, even in a situation of outright war, the guns have to be silenced before the two sides can sit down to negotiate the peace, yet the opposition continues to negotiate while their followers at home are being beaten and imprisoned, refused food aid and blocked from any form of democratic protest. Perhaps I'm missing something here but its hard to understand how a supposedly mature political party can go on believing in the integrity and trustworthiness of Zanu PF when all their past dealings have shown them to be precisely the opposite. Has the opposition learned nothing of the true nature of the ruling party over the long years of betrayal, of lies and deceit and rigged elections? Such naivety is criminal when one considers the effect it has on ordinary people. In my two months of isolation from events back home I was reduced to tears on several occasions by heartbroken calls from an opposition political activist, a friend of mine, wanting to know what the hell was going on and how he and his fellow activists were ever going to keep up the spirits of the growing numbers of opposition supporters in the rural areas when the leadership appeared to be selling out to Mugabe and co. It was not a question I could answer.

While Zimbabwe continues on its seemingly inexorable path to ruin, we have seen one example of how, very slowly and with a good deal of pressure from outside-democracy takes root. In Pakistan, after a period if intense political upheaval, President Mushareff has taken off his military uniform and promised to lift the State of Emergency and hold free and fair elections. He has released the thousands of detained opposition supporters and allowed his two main rivals back into the country. None of this happened without a great deal of pressure, particularly from the Americans, who need a democratic Pakistan to help them in their 'war on terror'.

In the southern African context, some people had hoped that President Mbeki would be the one to put that kind of pressure on Mugabe; it hasn't happened and it looks unlikely that it will happen. Mugabe attends the EU/ Africa summit in Lisbon next week and will no doubt strut his usual stuff and spew his usual lies and distortions about how his country's problems are all caused by sanctions imposed by the west. Thabo Mbeki will be there to support him no doubt. Gordon Brown won't be there; he says he wont sit down at the same table as Robert Mugabe. With or without Brown, it's unlikely anyone will challenge Mugabe; he seems to be having it all his own way at the moment.

Perhaps all hope is not lost however; Mugabe's great friend and political ally Hugo Chavez might well provide another example of how dictators always get their come-uppance in the end. Chavez is trying to abolish the time limits on his presidency so that he can remain in office until 2030 but his plan has run into considerable opposition on the streets. One of the reasons for this is the shortage of basic food stuffs! Like his friend in Zimbabwe, Chavez has introduced strict price controls and, hey presto, no milk, no eggs, no sugar, no flour and no cooking oil in the shops. Middle-class Venezuelans are emigrating in droves, apparently. A 'Yes' vote in Sunday's referendum on the constitution will give Hugo Chavez absolute control over the enormous oil reserves, and the right to expropriate private property and censor the media 'in times of emergency' You have to wonder at the similarities between these dictators; they learn from each other apparently.Unlike Venezuela, however, Zimbabwe does not have huge oil reserves at its disposal and since Mugabe has already destroyed the economy; there is not much left for him to exploit - except the suffering masses. ' We know you're short of bread' he told the people at a recent rally, 'but just wait patiently.' Tell that to the starving children, Mr President.

Yours in solidarity.
PH