[Marxism] US reveals its efforts to topple Mugabe

[Walter Lippmann <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Yesterday there was a great deal of spirited debate about Zimbabwe
in various forums on the Internet. Here in the virtual world, there
is a veritable marketplace of ideas. It's like a gigantic class-
room. Every opinion is equal, right?

Some people disputed the notion that there is an imperialist drive
to discredit the government of Robert Mugabe and to drive him from
office. Perhaps at the very moment the different points of view on
this topic were being fought, the facts came out to confirm that a
big international campaign HAS been underway. The proof didn't come
from some supporter of Mugabe, but right from the horse's mouth in
Washington. 

It's the very same kind of activist effort, both financed and
orchestrated from Washington, which also targets Cuba, Venezuela
and Iran, countries whose governments the U.S. wants to drive out
of power. Below this article from the South Africa Mail & Guardian,
a newspaper bitterly hostile to Mugabe, you will find direct quotes 
from the U.S. State Department further confirming all this. 

Would it seem unreasonable, in light of this, to hope that, maybe
those who've been so vociferous, so strident against Mugabe, some
even doing to in the name of Marxism, will stop for a moment and 
meditate over what has now been made public by the U.S.?

The revolution is not a spectacle. There are no spectators.
Everyone participates, whether they know it or not...


Walter Lippmann
Havana, Cuba
"Un paraiso bajo el bloqueo"
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/

===================================================================
FURTHER REFERENCE MATERIAL:

ZIMBABWE: West's Campaign Against Country Doomed
http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/200704040071.html

THE BLACK SCHOLAR EDITORIAL ON ZIMBABWE
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/message/64053 
===================================================================

US reveals its efforts to topple Mugabe          
06 April 2007 07:59

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/&articleId=304054#

The United States admitted openly for the first time on Thursday that
it was actively working to undermine Robert Mugabe, the President of
Zimbabwe.

Although officially Washington does not support regime change, a US
state department report published on Thursday acknowledged that it
was supporting opposition politicians in the country and others
critical of Mugabe.

The State Department also admitted sponsoring events aimed at
"discrediting" statements made by Mugabe's government.

The report will be seized on by Mugabe, who has repeatedly claimed
that the US and Britain are seeking regime change.

The comments are contained in the state department's fifth annual
Supporting Human Rights and Democracy report. It sets out in detail
actions the US government is taking worldwide to promote human
rights.

The report has had a troubled history. Three years ago publication
had to be hastily delayed when details emerged about US human rights
abuses at Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad.

The US, compared with the United Kingdom, was initially slow to
criticise Mugabe, but has since adopted an increasingly critical
stance, most recently at the Human Rights Council in Geneva last
month.

In an unusual piece of candour, the State Department report says: "To
encourage greater public debate on restoring good governance in
[Zimbabwe], the United States sponsored public events that presented
economic and social analyses discrediting the government's excuses
for its failed policies.

"To further strengthen pro-democracy elements, the US government
continued to support the efforts of the political opposition, the
media and civil society to create and defend democratic space and to
support persons who criticised the government."

While the US and British governments still insist their aim in
Zimbabwe is not regime change, they have been encouraging the main
opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangarai, who was beaten up last month.

The report says that while Zimbabwe is nominally democratic, the
government of Mugabe is "now authoritarian".

At a press conference to launch the document, the Assistant Secretary
of State, Barry Lowenkren, said the US goal was not necessarily
regime change but to create a level playing field for all parties. He
added that where there was a country with record levels of inflation,
denial of basic human rights and other abuses, the US had a duty to
speak out so that people in Zimbabwe knew they had support.

Asked whether US efforts to promote human rights worldwide were being
undermined by the hundreds of of people being held at GuantÃnamo,
Lowenkren insisted the issue was not raised by non-governmental
groups at conferences he attended and participants were more
interested in what the US could do to help them in their own
countries.

He also denied the report was softer on authoritarian governments
allied to the US, such as Belarus, than to Zimbabwe.

Lowenkren said $66-million was being spent on promotion of democracy
and human rights in Iran, about half of which was devoted to
broadcasts from outside the country and the rest spent on support for
non-governmental exchanges, cultural exchanges such as the visit by
the US wrestling team and a Persian internet service.

The report is critical of Russia, noting the killing of the
journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

It says: "Political pressure on the judiciary, corruption and
selectivity in enforcement of the law, continuing media restrictions
and self-censorship, and government pressure on opposition political
parties eroded the public accountability of government leaders.

"Security forces were involved in additional significant human rights
problems."

University considers revoking degree Meanwhile, the University of
Massachusetts (UMass) is considering revoking an honourary doctorate
of law it awarded Mugabe in 1986.

Some students at the Boston campus have circulated a petition asking
for the university to revoke the degree, and officials say they are
considering doing so.

"Mugabe's actions during the past decade show he's fallen from being
a good citizen of the world," said Shauna Murray, a graduate student
who helped circulate the petition. "He has a track record of
suppressing basic human rights like free speech and the right to
protest, and that doesn't represent what students here stand for."

The issue also has surfaced at the University of Edinburgh in
Scotland and Michigan State University, which gave Mugabe honourary
degrees in 1984 and 1990, respectively.

Terry Denbow, a Michigan State spokesperson, said administrators have
received letters requesting that Mugabe's degree be rescinded.

"There have been discussions, but I know of no formal process for
rescinding the degree," Denbow said.

Officials at Edinburgh said the issue of Mugabe's degree was under
review.

According to the UMass policy, honourary degrees are handed out to
people "of great accomplishment and high ethical standards".

Recipients have included former South African president Nelson
Mandela, former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan, author
Toni Morrison and comedian and educator Bill Cosby.

Once lauded as a model for African democracy, Mugabe has tried to
crush opposition to his power and has threatened to expel Western
envoys for criticising his government.

The country's Roman Catholic bishops said last month that health,
education and other public services "have all but disintegrated".

"Mugabe has become a scourge of his people and a scourge of Africa,"
said Michael Thelwell, a professor in the UMass Afro-American studies
department.

But Thelwell and others cautioned against revoking the degree just to
appease Mugabe's critics.

"The task of intellectuals is to seek the truth, not to be swayed by
pressures of the moment," said Bill Strickland, a UMass politics
professor. "If they take away the degree, they have to look at all
the facts surrounding what is happening in Zimbabwe and not simply
blame just one person." - Guardian Unlimited  Guardian News and
Media Limited 2007, Sapa-AP

************************************************************************************

On-The-Record Briefing on the Release of the Annual Report,
"Supporting Human Rights and Democracy: The U.S. Record - 2006"

Paula Dobriansky, Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global
Affairs; Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and
Labor Barry F. Lowenkron

Washington, DC April 5, 2007
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/rm/2007/82655.htm

QUESTION: My question is this: It doesn't appear that this kind of --
that these kind of things, i.e., discrediting the government's
excuses for failed policies and support -- overt support for people
who are critical of the government, happened, at least is being
reported for these other countries. And my question is this:

President Mugabe has often talked about how he thinks the West, the
United States and Britain in particular, are trying to -- are trying
for regime change in Zimbabwe, and this is exactly what this appears
to look like, what you've acknowledged doing through your programs in
Zimbabwe. And I'm just wondering, is it the United States -- does the
United States believe that it's its responsibility to discredit the
government's excuses -- the government and to openly support people
who criticize the government? And if it is, which is what you're
saying, why is Mugabe wrong when he says that you're trying for
regime change?
--------------
ASSISTANT SECRETARY LOWENKRON:
What I would like for the Zimbabwean people is something very, very
simple: Give them a level playing field -- let them compete openly,
let them compete fairly, let them compete transparently, let them
compete freely -- so President Mugabe could stand there and say these
are my policies and let the people of Zimbabwe decide on whether or
not those are the policies that they wa



________________________________________________
YOU MUST clip all extraneous text before replying to a message.
Send list submissions to: Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism