Can you frontpage an Egypt protest?

I think Zimbabwe's already getting some action from international bigwhigs, but we can prevent Egypt from becoming a Zimbabwe in 20 years if we get international attention on it within the next 80 hours!

See this story:
http://eteraz.org/story/2007/3/22/113045/538
-Katie

As a Zimbabwean i cant begin to express the fear i feel when i hear and see the bad news of happenings in Zimbabwe. I live in Australia and stil have family and friends that live in Zimbabwe. I am appauled at the manner of a man (Mugabe) who says that he helps "his people", nothing but extreme poverty and disaster has been the result of his ruling. I cant beleive that neighbouring southern african countries have not come to their aid!! No one seems to care of what happens to people there, its all talk and no action, he doesnt have democracy rulings so there is no democratic way of getting him out of power!! Enough is enough, many people have died, are still dying and suffering extremely, when will the light show at the end of the tunnel for them????? When will people there be able to start living a "normal" life, instead of a life that is filled with nothing but "HARDSHIP"!!!???? Nearly every country sees whats happening there on their news broadcasts, but none has done anything to help!! Therefore to most Zimbabweans it must seem that they are condoning Mugabe's behaviour rather than condeming it!! The world would definitely be a better place without him and his regime!! I say Good riddance to bad rubbish!!! GET HIM OUT OF POWER!!

I am a South African. I am totally against what Mugabe and his Government is doing to the people. On the 21st March, South Africa celebrated the Human Rights Day; it was shocking that the SA Government could not say a word about Zimbabwe's state of affairs and how they are planning to take action. It's time for our SA leaders to speak out against Mugabe's acts. This is the 21st Century. We can not just let them die of hunger!

This is such a shame. I lived in Zimbabwe for over 40 years. My children were all born there. What a fantastic country, pity the people now controlling the country are nothing but egotistical, money grabbing, tyrants. The trouble there now is 100% worse than during the war years.

IT'S NOW OR NEVER

Nations move like rigor mortis
When Zimbabwe stands in need
Or more cautious than slow tortoise
Wind their necks in with great speed

Is it diamonds more than truncheons
That now make them take brief note
Midst more pressing business luncheons
With scant time to spare a quote

Words are used to pad excuses
Or to verbally evade
When there are no handy Bushes
Blairing judgments won't be made

Many leaders fail to comment
Lest all eyes are turned on them
Zim events may be a portent
Of their own deserved mayhem

Tarnished silence can't be golden
When crass tyrant deeds are known
Gutless wonders will embolden
Would-be monarchs on false throne

What more poignant proof is needed
To put paid to Bob's bold lies
Must grim cell cries go unheeded
Till all opposition dies

Don't repeat Hotel Rwanda
Or be tied to genocide
Take a tip from likes of Banda
Worse things have been prophesied

Nations now must be united
And together play their part
Zimbabwe by Bob benighted
Needs a more enlightened start

© duaneudd.com
21st Mar 2007

OF TYRANNY AND IRONY

GO HANG is what Mugabe said
To all his Western critics
And further brutalized instead
With ZANU PF civics

Will some redraw the party line
And spare the opposition
Or with insanity align
With no room for contrition

Can they condone atrocities
And be judged for compliance
In future criminalities
Or form a new alliance

Survival seems to be the game
For Bob and his banditos
Who will together bear the blame
For world defying deathblows

Or sad one-sided civil war
To justify aggression
With death squads going door-to-door
Increasing Zim's oppression

One nearby neighbor now speaks out
On her domestic battles
While others still leave room for doubt
In spite of Zim's death rattles

Now is the time for all good men
To stand up and be counted
Like Daniel in the lions' den
Who circumstance surmounted

Mugabe's horde of hangers-on
May be deemed part of his gang
Who World Court will pass sentence on
With Mugabe's words GO HANG

© duaneudd.com
22nd Mar 2007

I'm an American who just spent 2 months in Zimbabwe living in one of the High Density areas of Harare. When I arrived in January the cost of bread was 1200 Zim dollars. When I left last week bread, (when it was available) was 5000 Zim dollars. The reality for most Zimbabweans is that even if you have work, you can't buy food and pay rent. Petrol when you could find it translated to $52 US Dollars a liter and going up every day. People are very hungry, and beginning to be very angry. Even though I was living in Harare, I only heard about the Govt. violence against the opposition party rallies from an American who was visiting the house. Television media is completely state controlled and no news is getting to the people. Yet people are talking and meeting and putting themselves at risk because they know nothing will change without it.

emotion sky

Mugabe is unfortunately the result of colonial rule. The reality of redressing land issues where one grouping had 'unfair' domination over another has widespread support - even in South Africa, and it is this injustice that has to be seen as the cause - not necesarily the man. While his (Bob's) actions cannot be condoned, ownership of land in a rural and essentially uneducated (by western standards) environment is important, even if it means not having the means to work that land. This ground support cannot be denied as a means to an end.
This is an explanation, not a vote of support.

· Is the real situation in Zimbabwe that white liberals forged an alliance with white supremacists to stop black self-determination?
· The Observer, 10/04/05 - President Thabo Mbeki told a South African Communist Party rally: "You get reports that something like three million people have died in the Congo over the last few years. But the amount of noise that you will hear about Zimbabwe, and no noise about the Congo, you must surely raise the questions as to why."
· The white liberal view of Zimbabwe is summed up by Anthony Lewis, New York Times, 5 May 2001: 'The title of worst government on Earth, the most brutal, destructive, lawless...can probably be claimed by Robert Mugabe's regime in Zimbabwe', was the verdict of the opinion page editor of the New York Times. This view is backed by The Guardian, The Independent and Amnesty International.
· Yet, the opposition in Zimbabwe has been created by white big business inside and outside Zimbabwe and white farmers.
. In September 1999, the IMF suspended its support for economic adjustment and reform in Zimbabwe.
. In April 2000, the Zimbabwe Democracy Trust was established by mainly white Zimbabwean commercial figures, British ex-foreign ministers and former US assistant secretary of state for Africa, Chester Crocker. Its stated objectives are 'to help the democratic will of the people flourish'. Its patrons include Crocker, a director of Ashanti Goldfields which owns Zimbabwe's largest gold mine, and Sir John Collins, the driving force behind the trust, is the Zimbabwean chairman of National Power, a British company with a US$1.5 billion contract to develop a power station in the country.
· 4 August 2002, The Sunday Mail in Harare reported: "...the British government had funded the opposition party to the tune of nearly Zim$10m in the run-up to the parliamentary elections. The opposition party has also confirmed this." The report reveals that the MDC receives financial backing from Germany, Holland, Denmark and the US.
· South African president Thabo Mbeki commented on the 'oppressive media laws'. He said: 'The opposition had introduced amendments that had been accommodated in the bill, making it acceptable to all parties. If the opposition is happy, your (Western) interest then is not about democracy but the need to control.'
· In February 2005, the Daily Telegraph reports that President Mkapa of Tanzania exonerated Mugabe of blame for politcal violence, economic crisis and food shortages. Mkapa had been selected by Tony Blair to promote Africa round the world.
· The Independent, 04/04/05, reported that the 2005 elections were monitored by the African Union, and government delegations from Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi and South Africa. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, head of the Southern African Development Community, said: "We are saying that this election was free. The process was credible. It reflects the will of the people of Zimbabwe."
· The Tanzanian observer mission's conclusion of the 2002 Presidential elections was: "The results of the election are the wishes of the people of Zimbabwe." A similar conclusion was reached by missions from Mozambique, Russia, the former OAU, China, Zambia, Malawi, the December 12th Movement from the US and Iran.
· By 2003, 150 people in Zimbabwe had been killed, nonetheless, there were calls for military intervention. Yet, Zanu-PF reported that in March 2003, during the MDC's demonstration to bring down the Government, the MDC's 'hired thugs' beat up people going to work and in Harrare burned a bus taking children to a play centre. In Kadoma, they blew up bridges, petrol bombed shops and caused over $300m damage.
· Barrie Collins is a researcher at the London School of Oriental and African Studies. In February 2002, he wrote: 'The real issue for the West is not the accountability of the Zimbabwean government to its people, but the West's dissatisfaction with the Zimbabwean government's lack of compliance with its demands. Since the end of the Cold War, the USA and the UK have got used to a high degree of compliance on the part of African governments - and they are no longer prepared to tolerate those that insist doing things their own way. Faced with less than full compliance on the key issues of land reform and military withdrawal from the Congo, the international community is bringing out the big stick.'

How can I cry for Zimbabwe - a country that declared me persona non grata twenty years ago simply for accepting an athletics scholarship in Texas? I can because the people that stripped me of my citizenship were 3 white police officers - Messers Blake, Hart-Davies and Jarvey - who told me, "Zimbabwe has no place for a college educated colored. Don't come back!"
And so I do cry for Zimbabwe - as I see Zimbabwe from an angle very few have been afforded. I saw with my very eyes the actual crime against Zimbabwe - the crime that has led Mugabe to become the vilified man that he is today. I saw British agents visit Mazda Motor Corporation (in Hiroshima Japan where I was working as an international business ventures consultant) in 1997 and very early 1998 offering Mazda $32 million dollars to help in destroying Zimbabwe's economy - Quote: to make life so hard for the local black population that they will overthrow Mugabe. We want Mugabe out! He has become too inflexable for our needs... he is now talking about imposing a tax on tobacco production and sales. He must be stopped before he moves onto other areas. We have tried talking to him but...
We have no probelm with the government of Zimbabwe. It's just Mugabe. And we have the guaranteed support of his cabinet. In fact we already have a replacement lined up... the whole exercise shouldn't take more than 18 months.
We are not asking you to directly take part in a coup d'etat but only to help us collapse Zimbabwe's economy. And we have the support of the Japanese prime minister's office. We are asking you to relocate your Zimbabwe operations to South Africa.
All white business owners in Zimbabwe have agreed to support us by temporarily closing their businesses for a about a year. The Commercial Farmer's Union has guaranteed us the support of all its members.
You (Mazda) are the only Japanese company that is showing reluctance to join our campaign." sic.

In the 1998 they came back to Mazda and made a cash offer to Mazda - "How much will it take to get you to leave Zimbabwe temporarily? We are offering you $32 million.
Mazda's Mr. Tone told them, "You're crazy people. We don't do coup d'etats. And besides we make more than that amount in part sales alone to Zimbabwe every year. Please leave and don't come back!
They left but didn't mince their words, "If you won't listen to us then your government will get you out of Zimbabwe. Which do you think your government will want to protect - the $4 billion trade Japan enjoys with Britain or the $40 million trade you have with Zimbabwe?

From just after the first visit by the agents in 1997 Mazda received a letter from the Japanese foerign ministry which told Mazda to leave Zimbabwe. It specifically said, "We have given Zimbabwe the lowest priority status of all nations in our foreign policy. If you do not leave Zimbabwe we will cancel your export insurance and protection. You will be on your own.

Soon after the second coup plot appeal from the British in 1998 the Japanese foreign ministry again wrote to Mazda. This time the letter said, "In response to the request by Nelson Mandela and the South African government to move all Japanese business operations in Africa to South Africa you are asked to move your operations out of Zimbabwe immediately and to relocate to South Africa.
Note: nothing was mentioned about Mazda's operations in Kenya and other parts of Africa. It was specifically Zimbabwe.
At the same time - from late 1997 through early 1998 Suzuki Muneo (a Japanese political figure who held strong influence in the foreign ministry) called the Zimbabwean ambassador to his office three times to shout at him, "Get out of Zaire! What is your country doing in Zaire? We don't want you there! You are influencing our affairs...
In 1997 Koizumi, then health minister of Japan made an unannounced visit to Harare and demanded to speak ot Mugabe. The request was denied. Upon his return to Japan he was quoted in the English language papers saying, "The rudeness of Mugabe cannot go unpunished. I will make sure that no African country will ever get assistance from Japan again. I will destroy Zimbabwe.

Here I am as a person of Zimbabwean heritage seeing all these plots being hatched against my country. It would have taken an idiot not to forecast the conseqences.
People today are stumped to explain the so-called South African silence. How can South Africa say anything against Mugabe when South Africa is part of the cause of the whole reason that Zimbabweans are suffering and dying today?
The villian to me is not Mugabe but the people I have mentioned who created the hardships in the hopes that it would make Zimbabweans overthrow the person they were not in agreement with - Robert Gabriel Mugabe! And simply for the sake of money!!!!!
May their gods have mercy on their blood drenched souls.

24.COM BLOGGERS TAKE UP THE FIGHT FOR ZIMBABWE!!

I am a South African who does not agree with my country's "quiet diplomacy" stance on Zimbabwe (and a lot of others feel the same).

A bunch of us on 24.com blog have heeded the cries of our fellow Africans and are blogging, informing people, getting people to sign the petition etc

We wish you strength in your fight for democracy!!!

WE ARE WITH YOU IN SPIRIT!!!!
Xena

many days and years have gone,
i am still who i am .
time can change nothing but my age!

While the situation in Zimbabwe is terrible, it is surely worse in Equatorial Guinea. Why is nobody doing anything about the lunatic defiling that country? That nation starves while he sells his oil and makes a fortune. How is this allowed to continue??! while the mercenaries who would have done that nation a huge favour are left to rot because they are not lucky enough to have more important parents.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/country_profiles/1023151.stm