Melville Cooke
IT WAS not supposed to happen ... not again. Robert Mugabe was not supposed to win another term in office as President of Zimbabwe, but last Thursday he did.
The Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), won a massive two-thirds majority, with the process being endorsed by observers from the 11-country South African Development Comm-unity (SADC). The head of the 55-member mission, Phumzile Mlambo Ngcuka, a South African Cabinet member, said: "Let me congratulate the people of Zimbawe for holding a peaceful, credible and well-organised election which we feel reflects the will of the people."
It has not, though, reflected the will of the United States, Britain, Canada and the European Union, which is a nice way of saying that the result of the Zimbabwe election has not satisfied white leaders (who may or may not represent the will of their people).
And, considering that Mugabe has spearheaded a programme to correct the basic economic imbalance that resulted from white parasitism on the darker races of the world, land ownership, that is not surprising.
ELECTION
In other words, these countries physically far removed from Zimbabwe know better than the black folk next door, which is about par for how they think.
An election is the perfect tool for minority rule to parade itself as the choice of the majority, a supposed democracy that is the be all and end all of systems of government. The wealthy few align themselves behind a set of people willing to either do their bidding or leave the rich room to do as they will (which is the same thing, really). The media, owned by the wealthy, programme the voting populace to do their bidding and duly congratulate the winner.
On the rare occasion when an election actually reflects the will of the majority of the people, which has happened in Zim-babwe and, last year, Venezuela, said media trumpet the supposed deficiencies of the process complete with the views of the wronged 'opposition', naturally.
Get over it. Whether Mugabe is a 'good guy' or 'bad guy', he has been elected and it will stand.
But (and this demands usage of the much more expressive Jamaica language) cu pan all dem deh whe a chat bout election no good. The United States, which has brought us the wonderful democratic models of Iraq and Haiti, interim governments and all; Britain, the ho to the U.S.'s hum of cluster bombs; Canada, full party to the latest coup in Haiti; and a European Union which has done nothing of significance to upset the oil cart in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Fine ones to talk about democracy, aren't they?
Speaking of democracy, the will of the Haitian people, as expressed at the polls and thwarted by last year's coup, is gathering force on the streets. The media that gave us breathless blow by blow reports on the overthrow of Aristide were very silent on the cleansing that took place immediately after, only to regale us with tales of 'gangs' loyal to Aristide causing disturbances as the inevitable backlash took place.
The street protests that took place to mark the anniversary of the constitution have not been given the front-page treatment that the coup of the murderers got, but they are no less significant. Not every vote takes place at a polling station, you know.
THE POPE
Pope John Paul II has died and, to me, as an event that affects my life it is neither here nor there. I was very interested in the man, though, when he visited Cuba from January 21 - 25, 1998. It was billed as the clash of Catholicism and Communism, the Revolut-ionary vs. the Righteous, the Military vs. the Moralist and whatever classic match-up taglines you can come up with. There was hope in many quarters that the pope's visit to Cuba would spark such an upsurge in feeling that Castro would be swept out of the way. Of course, it did not happen, and although Castro broke a knee he is very much still alive (and kicking).
So we can add John Paul II to the list of persons that Castro has seen off the field of play in one way or the other, a list that includes U.S. Presidents Ford, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, Carter, Johnson, Reagan, Bush Sr. and Clinton and could very well include the little Bush. Cigars, anyone?
Melville Cooke is a freelance writer
