[Marxism] Roman Catholic bishops urge Mugabe to quit, head off popular uprising

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The description of the situation, especially in the countryside, is
interesting. It seems unlikely to me that the Bishops could afford to
grossly exaggerate the unrest since the statement is being posted in
churches across the country, where parishioners would have some idea whether
it reflects reality.
Fred Feldman


NY Times April 9 
April 9, 2007
Roman Catholic Bishops in Zimbabwe Urge President to Step Down 
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
HARARE, Zimbabwe, April 8 (AP) - In an Easter message pinned to church
bulletin boards around the country, Zimbabwe's Roman Catholic bishops called
on President Robert G. Mugabe to leave office or face "open revolt" from
those suffering under his government.

The letter, titled "God Hears the Cries of the Oppressed," was the most
critical pastoral message since Zimbabwe won independence from Britain in
1980 and Mr. Mugabe assumed leadership of the country for the first time.

Once prosperous, the country is reeling under hyperinflation of more than
1,700 percent a year, 80 percent unemployment, shortages of food and other
basic goods and one of the world's lowest life expectancies.

"As the suffering population becomes more insistent, generating more and
more pressure through boycotts, strikes, demonstrations and uprisings, the
state responds with ever harsher oppression through arrests, detentions,
banning orders, beatings and torture," the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops
Conference said in the message.

A majority of Zimbabwe's Christians - about a quarter of the population -
including Mr. Mugabe, are Roman Catholics. Several thousand worshipers who
packed the cathedral in Harare clustered around the bulletin boards to read
the message after morning Mass on Sunday.

"Many people in Zimbabwe are angry, and their anger is now erupting into
open revolt in one township after another," the nine bishops wrote.

"In order to avoid further bloodshed and avert a mass uprising, the nation
needs a new people-driven constitution that will guide a democratic
leadership chosen in free and fair elections," it said.

There was no response from the government on Sunday to the letter, and Mr.
Mugabe was out of the country.

A similar letter in the nearby nation of Malawi pressed the longtime
dictator, Hastings Kamuzu Banda, into holding a referendum in 1992 and
calling democratic elections. He lost, ending 30 years of brutal rule.

"We cannot yet say what the response of our congregations will be, but basic
biblical teachings apply," said the Rev. Oskar Wermter of the Catholic
communications secretariat in Harare. "Oppression is not negotiable. It must
stop before there can be any dialogue."

Father Wermter said the bishops wanted the contents of the letter to receive
the widest possible distribution. The letter was delivered in the
traditional rural strongholds of Mr. Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party across
the country, where priests showed what he called a very strong interest in
it.

In Pope Benedict XVI's traditional "Urbi et Orbi" Easter address from the
central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, the pope singled out Zimbabwe among
troubled countries.

"Zimbabwe is in the grip of a grievous crisis, and for this reason the
bishops of that country in a recent document indicated prayer and a shared
commitment for the common good as the only way forward," the pope said in
his Easter message, which he read to tens of thousands of faithful in St.
Peter's Square.

The bishops called for a day of prayer and fasting on April 14 and said
there would be a prayer service for Zimbabwe every week after that.

The Anglican Church has been more muted, with its leaders generally toeing
the ruling party line.

The police violently broke up what attendees described as a
multidenominational prayer meeting on March 11, calling it a banned
demonstration. Two pro-democracy activists died and Morgan Tsvangirai,
leader of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change, and a dozen
senior colleagues were hospitalized after beatings.





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