"Ben Freeth did not expect to be alive today," reads a harrowing piece in Newsweek about the racist henchmen of Zimbabwe strongman Robert Mugabe brutalizing white farmers. "Just after midnight this morning, the white farmer was lying face down next to a bonfire, beside Mike and Angela Campbell, his wife's parents. He had no idea where his own three small children and his wife, Laura, were, only that a marauding band of loyalists from the ruling ZANU-PF party was hitting all the white farms in their district near the town of Chegutu, about 60 miles southwest of Harare. The three had been abducted from their farm by an armed gang and brought to their base. By midnight, they had been beaten for seven hours, while their tormentors danced around the bonfire and told them they'd kill them." Three cheers for Newsweek for covering this ongoing tragedy. If the farmers were black rather than white, if the place were called Rhodesia rather than Zimbabwe, if the perpetrator were Ian Smith rather than Robert Mugabe, the media coverage would be inescapable. Alas, the villains and victims don't fit the script.

Aren't we told that racism is a one way street? Apparently it is so in the minds of the media. And apparently this applies to genocide as well.

This thug was cheered at the recent African Union conference.

It may be so that he was cheered at the AU conference, but a piece I read just noted that the AU just condemned his "election" as a fraud.

Maybe there's some hope for that continent yet then.

asdf wrote:
"Maybe there's some hope for that continent yet then."

Maybe I'm becoming a bit cynical with the years, but I'm just not sure about Africa. Yes, a large dose of their current problems can be tied to Soviet colonialism during 30 years of the Cold War. But anyone with half a brain (which excludes leftists) can look at the continent of Africa--especially sub-Saharan Africa--and notice that these nations are not "ready for prime time." They just don't seem ready for modernity, do they?

After traveling the world with the Navy and the Marines I've come up with a few theories to explain this unfortunate phenomenon. Maybe after a few beers tonight I'll get into it. :-)

Morgan

Morgan,

You're not being cynical. You're being realistic as far as I can see. I was just throwing out a note of optimism with regard to the Dark Continent as it could be an aid to our interests to see a stable and productive Africa. Not to mention it would be great to see some positive results from all the money we’ve thrown at them.

But I don't see that anytime soon as, without the cultural and organizational influences that colonization brought there, chaos has been a way of life for some time and still is.

Who can say what makes a culture successful, really? There is a vast morass of possible variables, and while we can pick out a few, that will by no means be an exhaustive list, or a prescription for what to do to make your nation a prosperous one. Whatever "it" is, most of Africa doesn't have it.

I would say that the 'it' is the establishment of an organized government that creates and encourages the enforcement of a set rule of law and that the population under that government follow those laws and willingly participate in that government.

This is something that a majority of third world countries don't have and what usually distinguishes them.

Rhodesian Army T-Shirts Be A Man Among Men - Rhodesian Army Recruiting Poster

"I would say that the 'it' is the establishment of an organized government that creates and encourages the enforcement of a set rule of law and that the population under that government follow those laws and willingly participate in that government.

This is something that a majority of third world countries don't have and what usually distinguishes them." - asdf

Many would argue that that is only an effect of even more primary causes.

If you're referring to that last sentence, I'll take it that what you mean is that primary causes might be poverty and/or lack of the cultural tools to adopt a better or, for that matter, any real form of government?

If that is the case, many of these countries may not ever come out of the dark ages. Ingrained culture might never allow then to create anything close to what they got when they were being run by European Colonials and the rules that they brought with them.

I have many South African friends who can vouch for the devolution of throwing off a European Colonial type government there.