would you like to give us details of these 'terrorist attacks'? And it's an ironic comment coming from someone who was himself once a terrorist.

Use your brains. Why is Mugabe a monster now when we were told that he killed 20,000 in the early 1980s and then years later was given a medal by the Queen? (I've seen no evidence to support this 20,000 figure. And I'd love an answer from the many, so-called black and white humanitarians who support the West against Mugabe.)

The media has not told you what happened recently. The MDC demo was preceded by bomb attacks on the police and destruction in Highfields, Harare. 30 police officers were attacked by 1,000 MDC demonstrators. The police response was criminal - they beat up MDC leaders.

Ask yourself why we are getting this hysteria? Is it because a leader has been thrown in jail indefinitely? Is it because the opposition leader has been assassinated? Is it because opposition villages have been burned down? No, it's because after years of sometimes violent opposition by Morgan Tsvangirai, he's been beaten up. In the last two elections African monitors have said that Zanu-PF victories has expressed the "will of the people". This is supposed to constitute the actions of a "brutal dictator". This is laughable.

The only real question black people ought be asking is: is the defiance of Western domination worth it for black Zimbabweans and or should they just accept it?

Well done Brian.

for more info.
www.africaspeaks.com/articles/2007/1503.html
US AND BRITAIN ARE FUELING VIOLENCE IN ZIMBABWE
By Ayinde,  rastafaritimes@yahoo.com, Updated: March 16, 2007

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6450621.stm

ah, no doubt all Western imperialist stooges, all of them.

"white person" (for thats what muzungu means....) where is the mention of why there is no paper for passports. Where is the mention of the counterproductive sanctions against Zimbabwe?

Heres Netfa Freeman talking about them in an interview with Greg Elich, which is worth reading for many reasons, including a discussion of the way that Western media misrepresents Zimbabwe, and how the left have been muted when it comes to issues of global justice:

"The sanctions have exacerbated a shortage of foreign exchange and also, as a result, instigated a black market in exchange of Zimbabwean currency for foreign currency. This is reaping crippling effects on the economy, making foreign currency that much more scarce for the government and banks, which of course need it to conduct business in the international economy. Because the Zimbabwean currency had become too physically cumbersome to carry and complicated to calculate, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe introduced a new currency while we were there that slashes three zeros from the bills. They were phasing in this new currency while phasing out the old. The measure wasn’t expected to reduce the hyperinflation but merely to make currency more manageable.

......

The effects of the illegal and immoral sanctions are evident. I refer to sanctions as “war without guns or bloodshed.” Only the imperialist powers have the ability to enforce sanctions and are therefore always exempt from them. Because of this reason sanctions are always immoral. It’s a blatant lie that the sanctions are confined to travel and financial assets of government officials. In fact maybe I should not say it’s a lie because those imposing the sanctions publish public information that would easily dispel such a misrepresentation. Basic needs such as gasoline have become scarce, making it susceptible to exploitation on the black market. While the black market offers national currency at much lower than official rates, it offers gasoline for triple, sometimes four times, the official market price. People need gasoline, so if they have the money, they pay it. Almost everywhere we went there were power outages. Because the country imports electricity the outages are a means of conserving energy. In spite of all these things the people seemed to adjust to the challenges and for many sanctions seem to harden them with either animosity and/or the resolve to oppose the governments of Britain and the U.S."

mp3 of an interview with Freeman

Why not put aside your addiction to state media and tell us in your own words how you think that justice can be achieved for the working class of Zimbabwe?

I'm sure it'll be fascinating.

Blair & co. condemn Mugabe so he can't be a tyrant...
Bit of a childish approach isn't it?

The Smith regime suffered 14 years of far more stringent sanctions, and left the country far better off than it is now, so I think we can forget that excuse.

Land distribution is one thing; giving it to your mates who are incapable of farming it is another.

Mugabe was elected - well, here is a source which is not the BBC:

 http://www.africa.upenn.edu/afrfocus/afrfocus041805.html

Oh, and by the way, you still haven't told us anything about the 'terrorist acts' of the opposition. Details, please.

"The Smith regime suffered 14 years of far more stringent sanctions, and left the country far better off than it is now, so I think we can forget that excuse."

Have you any evidence that the sanctions against Smith "were far more stringent"? Or are we playing the game where you DEMAND proof but don't feel a need to provide it yourself?

Theres clear evidence that when Zimbabwe was receiving aid, Mugabe was quite happy to use it on public services, which improved. The honeymoon came to an end however when cooperation with the IMF/WB meant dissent on the streets, compounded by Britain's failure to honour land redistribution promises - primarily because it didn't really want to see the land issue redressed. Theres also evidence that drought has further eroded output, which naturally fell as there was no capital to get the farms working once they had been seized.

But hey, unless you think that 'muzungus' have more right to African land than Africans, you can't really complain about the land being taken. The white farmers had a long time when they could voluntarily sell the farms, and guess what - they sold back the most unproductive land only.

If your argument is that Mugabe is soley responsible for the economic disaster that is visited upon the working classes of Zimbabwe, and that the West, despite its withdrawal of aid and funding along with sanctions has no part to play, then you are clearly a very lopsided chap.

Anyways, for as long as the game is about bad Mugabes and good muzungus, African leaders will have no choice but to side with Mugabe.

Thats a legacy of colonialism for you.

Sanctions against Rhodesia:

 http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,840760,00.html

'By a vote of 11 to 0—with four abstentions—the council declared an international embargo on 90% of Rhodesia's exports, forbade the U.N.'s 122-member nations to sell oil, arms, motor vehicles or airplanes to the rebel territory or to provide it with any form of "financial or other economic aid."'

Against Zimbabwe:

 http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/275C6010-245A-425C-931F-93FC0E49D345.htm

'The sanctions include a ban on 125 Zimbabwe government officials and ministers from the Zimbabwe African Union-Patriotic Front party of Robert Mugabe, the president, from travelling to the 27-nation bloc, officials said.
The blacklist names those allegedly involved in human-rights violations.
The sanctions first were imposed in 2002 to protest human-rights violations in Zimbabwe and Mugabe's authoritarian rule.
The punitive measures also include a ban on arms sales and freezes Zimbabwean assets in European banks.
A separate decision also suspends most development aid projects under a special EU-Africa aid and trade deal.'

Since you don't like the Beeb, there's AlJazeera.


And, as I said, land redistribution is one thing, handing out to your mates as a political favour is another.

Now, then, these terrorist attacks ...???????????????????????

"For all its apparent toughness, the resolution calling for sanctions lacks the teeth necessary to enforce them. Voted down was an amendment to penalize nations that ignore the boycott. The Security Council, in fact, left it up to each member nation to police its own trade with Rhodesia. Shortly after last week's vote, South Africa, which supplies most of Rhodesia's oil and is its principal trading partner, announced that it had no intention of obeying the resolution. Without South African cooperation, the sanctions seemed doomed to fail."

That'd be the paragraph after the one you quoted from Time.

Heres footnote (3) from the Zimbabwe and Pan-African Liberation article:

"(3) On December 21, 2001, President Bush signed into law S. 494, the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001. Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina, the one-time supporter of apartheid Rhodesia, sponsored the bill. The law instructed American officials in international financial institutions to "oppose and vote against any extension by the respective institution of any loan, credit, or guarantee to the government of Zimbabwe," and to vote against any reduction or cancellation of debt. The law also authorized President Bush to fund opposition media and organizations in Zimbabwe. U.S. officials in international financial institutions were joined by British and Western European officials in ensuring the near-total cutoff of foreign currency flowing into Zimbabwe, a crippling blow for a nation that had to import 100 percent of its oil and 40 percent of its electrical power supply."

Hmm, so its your assertion that the sanctions lacking teeth applied against Rhodesia were stronger than the US, EU and UK governments working together to cut-off the flow of foreign currency to Zimbabwe? Thats quite a desperate assertion you know.

As to the "proof" of terrorist acts, you'll have to wait for Brian - it's his articles claim, not mine.

If you're really lucky, he might well post this article:  http://raceandhistory.com/selfnews/viewnews.cgi?newsid1174364097,19984,.shtml

enjoy :)

This story has had little or no coverage in the western press

'Zimbabwe: MDC Bombs Women Cops

The Herald (Harare)

March 15, 2007
Posted to the web March 15, 2007

Harare

THREE policewomen were badly hurt in a petrol bomb attack at Marimba Police Camp in Harare at midnight on Tuesday, two receiving serious facial burns and the third burns on her body.

A police post in Mkoba, Gweru, was also bombed the same night.


Police suspect MDC supporters were responsible for both attacks and have since arrested five men in connection with the Gweru attack.

The raiders cut the wire along the northern boundary of Marimba Police Camp and threw petrol bombs and teargas canisters at three houses, the most serious damage and all the injuries occurring at a house shared by the three women constables.

Constables Busani Moyo and Pretty Mushonga had their faces seriously burned while Constable Brenda Makamba escaped with less serious burns on the chest, legs and arms.

All three are now being treated at Parirenyatwa Hospital.

Cst Makamba said they were fast asleep only to be shaken awake by an explosion and finding the house on fire and filled with teargas.

She quickly raced into the other room shared by her two colleagues, and found their mattresses and blankets already ablaze.

She woke the two and together they shouted for help while forcing the door open. Police on duty in the charge office rushed to their rescue.

Most of their property was damaged or destroyed.

The other two houses were less badly damaged.

The Gweru attack was on Nehanda Police Post in Mkoba 16, with teargas thrown first and the petrol bomb following swiftly, said police chief spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena.

Besides the two bombings, four other suspected opposition supporters, believed to be part of a gang of seven, were arrested in Masvingo for beating up vendors and a soldier in the city.

Asst Comm Bvudzijena yesterday said the MDC orgy of violence was spreading across the country.

Investigations into the petrol bombings at Marimba Police Station were still in progress although no arrests had been made by yesterday evening.

Asst Comm Bvudzijena said the violence was the work of the MDC's so-called democratic resistance committees.

"The violence is now taking a grave dimension. The attacks are assuming a militia-style form and the response by the police will be proportionate to such types of attacks.

Police were keen to investigate the origins of the teargas that the MDC supporters are using in the attacks.

He appealed to Zimbabweans to make use of the law whenever aggrieved, saying those resorting to violence to achieve political ends would face the full consequences of their actions in terms of the law.

"We all know that we have periodic elections in this country and we also have courts, which these people can use instead of the violent path they are opting for.

"Let me say as police, we will be revising our policing strategies to match such violence and perpetrators of violence will face the full wrath of the law," said Asst Comm Bvudzijena.

The incidents follow another rampage by the MDC in Glen View on Tuesday morning, when youths barricaded roads and stoned commuter omnibuses carrying people to work.

There has been MDC-linked violence since last month when police blocked the party from holding a rally at Zimbabwe Grounds in Highfield.

Following the violence, police imposed a three-month ban on political rallies, gatherings and demonstrations in Harare and Chitungwiza in terms of the Public Order and Security Act.


The MDC has, however, continually defied the ban. Last Sunday the party was thwarted by the police from holding a rally at the same venue.

The MDC tried to circumvent the ban by operating under the cover of the so-called Save Zimbabwe Campaign and holding the rally under the guise of a prayer meeting.

This resulted in clashes between police and rowdy MDC youths, leading to the shooting to death of former MDC Glen View district youth chairman Gift Tandare.


 http://allafrica.com/stories/200703150031.html

The sanctions against Rhodesia were world wide and included all the sanctions currently in force against Zimbabwe, and much more. They were UN sanctions, applied by America, Europe, and most of Africa except South Africa. No one in Africa is applying sanctions against Zimbabwe. No one in Asia is applying sanctions against Zimbabwe.

Yes, the 'rule of law' in Zimbabwe probably is being broken by the opposition. On the other hand, if you make laws that are sufficiently oppressive, then it is going to be difficult to have any form of protest which is not illegal.

You're probably not interested in Amnesty International, but for what it's worth:

 http://web.amnesty.org/report2005/zwe-summary-eng

 http://www.amnesty.ca/zimbabwe/

 http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/zimbabwe/index.do

How many times have i got to say it: The MDC is funded by the US and UK and is the white landowners own choice of party... just as in Venezuela, the opposition cant gain power because the people knows it is backed by these foreign powers, and Tsvangarai, if he ever gains will REALLY launch a reign of terror against Black Zimbabweans.

This latest about US and palace coup:

'US signals support for palace coup to remove Mugabe
03-21-2007 09:38:37

The US Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Christopher Dell has effectively signalled US support for a palace coup to remove Robert Mugabe as President of Zimbabwe.

Dell was reported on RTE.ie this morning saying he ‘believes that the country has reached a turning point, following violence against opposition activists by the country's security forces and that people were now no longer afraid of the regime’.

My take is the opposition party MDC is still too weak to pull off a coup themselves, however if they were supported by dissident elements of Mugabe’s ZANU-PF Party, perhaps combined with some CIA support they would stand a fair chance of ousting Mugabe in a palace coup.

Momentum against Mugabe has been building following the recent violent crackdown on the opposition, where Morgan Tsvangirai leader of the MDC party had his skull cracked by security forces.

Mugabe will be gone in a matter of days. '
 http://www.politics.ie/news_index.php?topic_id=17904

Now where has the US recently been backing palace coups...VENEZUELA.

I have already given you one link that casts doubt on the election.

And it really isn't that difficult to get elected when you own all the TV and radio stations, give the food aid to bribe people to vote, and bomb the printing presses of opposition newspapers.

You must have some reason to support a demagogue like Mugave, but I've failed to see it.

'I have already given you one link that casts doubt on the election.

And it really isn't that difficult to get elected when you own all the TV and radio stations, give the food aid to bribe people to vote, and bomb the printing presses of opposition newspapers.

You must have some reason to support a demagogue like Mugave, but I've failed to see it.
=================================================

Since when does Mugabe own all the TV and radio stations? Does he own the print media as well? Not that i can see.


You can cast as much doubt sa you like, but theres no evidence the elections were rigged...thats just an excuse to explain whyMDC keeps losing. Thats because zimbabweans know MDC is backed by the very people who stole their land.