NGO Act : Zimbabwe
- Thread starter Rick van Opbergen
- Start date
letz all write letters to thge pres
President Robert Mugabe
Office of the President
Private Bag 7700
Causeway
Harare, Zimbabwe
President Robert Mugabe
Office of the President
Private Bag 7700
Causeway
Harare, Zimbabwe
Mugabe isn't one to listen. We'd likely be better off putting pressure on our elected officials to put pressure on Mugabe.
Write your MP and demand that something be done. Aid and trade are the usual tools. Suggest that pressure be put on the international community as a whole, especially the US and France since they are most active in Africa.
Also sign up for Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.
Also sign up for Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.
I don't know whether it would be a good idea to stop aid or trade. Zimbabwe is currently struggling with both food shortage as well as a raging HIV/AIDS epidemic. A boycot would only hurt the people, and it will have little effect on Mugabe; I even think that Mugabe can use a boycot by the West or the UN to "prove" his point that "we" are after Zimbabwe and its inhabitants.
Specific areas of trade can be targeted though, Rick. The catch is that for that approach to be effective it has to involve the world community as a whole. Little other than putting pressure on the Mugabe governent is available, unfortunately.
This is one of the areas where countries like Canada (and the Netherlands for that matter) can be helpful. We are not world powers and tend to have the trust of a lot of nations, so pushing for this sort of thing tends to run across the spectrum.
It's far from perfect, but it's pretty much all we've got.
It's good to hear that you're in Amnesty International through school, SJ. Maybe you can work through them to start a group of students to work on things like this.
This is one of the areas where countries like Canada (and the Netherlands for that matter) can be helpful. We are not world powers and tend to have the trust of a lot of nations, so pushing for this sort of thing tends to run across the spectrum.
It's far from perfect, but it's pretty much all we've got.
It's good to hear that you're in Amnesty International through school, SJ. Maybe you can work through them to start a group of students to work on things like this.
Zimbabwe army 'moves onto the land
....Five years after Mr Mugabe ordered the seizure of the white-owned commercial farms, agricultural production has halved.
Mr Mugabe has admitted that the people to whom he gave some 4,000 farms have some responsibility for the country's current problems.
"Mugabe is now saying that the people who are on the farms are opposition supporters and that they are sabotaging the country. He says the army must take over," the major said.... more
Re: RE: NGO Act : Zimbabwe
Spare me.
The Liberals love Mugabe.
Chretien defended him and helped keep him in the Commonwealth.
I'm surprized he didn't offer him a job as personal advisor.
Reverend Blair said:
Spare me.
The Liberals love Mugabe.
Chretien defended him and helped keep him in the Commonwealth.
I'm surprized he didn't offer him a job as personal advisor.
Re: RE: NGO Act : Zimbabwe
At the moment though, all the aid we send for the people to combat hunger and AIDS is grabbed up by Mugabe and his cronies, so it's a moot point. We send aid, they don't get anything, we stop it.. they still don't get anything.
The only way for Zimbabwe to get back on it's feet is to continue to put pressure on Mugabe through our Government, or wait for someone in his own country to knock him off.
Rick van Opbergen said:
At the moment though, all the aid we send for the people to combat hunger and AIDS is grabbed up by Mugabe and his cronies, so it's a moot point. We send aid, they don't get anything, we stop it.. they still don't get anything.
The only way for Zimbabwe to get back on it's feet is to continue to put pressure on Mugabe through our Government, or wait for someone in his own country to knock him off.
:roll: Have you double checked your timeline Colp? Though not. You realize the support from the EEEvil liberals was before Mugabe started pulling his shit tricks and Fu<king up his people.
Jo Canadian said:
Oh, so you don't consider throwing whites off their land, terrorizing, beating, murdering them, and destroying the country's ability to feed itself a "sh!t trick and Fu(king up his people"?
Chretien came to Mugabe's defense when the Commonwealth was considering condemning Mugabe for that.
God, Zimbabwe was better off under Ian Smith.
:x What the Fork is that supposed to mean? Just because I asked you to check the timeline doesn't make me endorse what has been done or make me a liberal...don't be a TOOL.Colpy said:
Since I never heard of that, I would love to read something like that but I haven't found anything. Besides you're throwing in Cretin + Support + Mugabe = Rah! Rah! Rah! All Liberal Bad! I have a feeling there's more to it, whatever amount of support there may have been wasn't very effective and certainly didn't last long.Colpy said:
June 8, 2000:
Mugabe tells an election rally that all white-owned farms can be seized and given to landless blacks.
June 24-25, 2000:
The ruling ZANU-PF is stunned as MDC wins 57 of the 120 seats up for grabs in parliamentary elections. ZANU-PF takes 62 seats and ZANU-N wins one. ZANU-PF and MDC are virtually tied in the popular vote.
May 11, 2001: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1326034.stm
Ottawa cuts off development aid to Zimbabwe as a protest against Mugabe's tacit approval of the harassment of white farmers.
Funny you couldn't find anything, I found this in about 30 seconds:
from Macleans Magazine
Chrétien Stumble on Zimbabwe Policy
Printer Friendly Version
Chrétien Stumble on Zimbabwe Policy
In his first eight years as prime minister, Jean CHRÉTIEN didn't exactly dazzle when it came to foreign policy. But in 2002 all that was supposed to change: this would be the year he made his international mark. The vehicle for the Prime Minister's belated bid for world statesman status is a big initiative to boost aid for Africa at the G-8 summit at Kananaskis, Alta., in June. Apparently, though, nobody told Zimbabwe's thuggish president, Robert Mugabe, about the need to make sure Chrétien had a nice, smooth run-up to what will surely be his last turn to host the annual gathering of political leaders from the leading rich democracies.
Mugabe unleashed a campaign of violent intimidation at his political opponents before his country's elections last week. Deciding how to react was the first test of Chrétien's grasp of his new foreign-policy specialty. The outcome, at least initially, has hardly secured his reputation as a deft Africa hand. Not that Chrétien shied away from trying to influence the international reaction. At a meeting of Commonwealth heads of government in Australia just a few days before Zimbabweans went to the polls, Chrétien boasted that a "Canadian compromise" on what to do about Mugabe's misbehaviour had prevailed. The question is whether a more uncompromising stand - suspending Zimbabwe from the club of Britain and its former colonies - would have better served Canada's reputation as a moral player in world affairs.
Britain and Australia wanted to go that far, but African leaders at the Commonwealth meeting were against anything nearly so drastic. Canada suggested holding off until after the voting, and then deciding on the basis of what impartial observers reported. That wait-and-see approach was adopted, but critics, especially in Britain, felt the Commonwealth had shamefully missed a last chance to put real pressure on Mugabe before he stole the election. Even Prince Charles, in a rare political comment, was quoted as saying: "If the Commonwealth could not stand up for liberal democracy and human rights, it deserved to be treated with international contempt."
from Macleans Magazine
Chrétien Stumble on Zimbabwe Policy
Printer Friendly Version
Chrétien Stumble on Zimbabwe Policy
In his first eight years as prime minister, Jean CHRÉTIEN didn't exactly dazzle when it came to foreign policy. But in 2002 all that was supposed to change: this would be the year he made his international mark. The vehicle for the Prime Minister's belated bid for world statesman status is a big initiative to boost aid for Africa at the G-8 summit at Kananaskis, Alta., in June. Apparently, though, nobody told Zimbabwe's thuggish president, Robert Mugabe, about the need to make sure Chrétien had a nice, smooth run-up to what will surely be his last turn to host the annual gathering of political leaders from the leading rich democracies.
Mugabe unleashed a campaign of violent intimidation at his political opponents before his country's elections last week. Deciding how to react was the first test of Chrétien's grasp of his new foreign-policy specialty. The outcome, at least initially, has hardly secured his reputation as a deft Africa hand. Not that Chrétien shied away from trying to influence the international reaction. At a meeting of Commonwealth heads of government in Australia just a few days before Zimbabweans went to the polls, Chrétien boasted that a "Canadian compromise" on what to do about Mugabe's misbehaviour had prevailed. The question is whether a more uncompromising stand - suspending Zimbabwe from the club of Britain and its former colonies - would have better served Canada's reputation as a moral player in world affairs.
Britain and Australia wanted to go that far, but African leaders at the Commonwealth meeting were against anything nearly so drastic. Canada suggested holding off until after the voting, and then deciding on the basis of what impartial observers reported. That wait-and-see approach was adopted, but critics, especially in Britain, felt the Commonwealth had shamefully missed a last chance to put real pressure on Mugabe before he stole the election. Even Prince Charles, in a rare political comment, was quoted as saying: "If the Commonwealth could not stand up for liberal democracy and human rights, it deserved to be treated with international contempt."
Nice spin, Colpy. The truth is that Chretien tried for a compromise because, although the British and the Austrailians wanted to boot Zimbabwe out of the Commonwealth, the African nations did not. He was afraid that going ahead with the ban would have made things worse, so he came up with a compromise that sanctioned Mugabe without booting him out of the Commonwealth.
I don't agree with Chretien's position, I think that Canada could have gained the support of at least some of the African nations in removing Mugabe from the Commonwealth, but saying that he came to Mugabe's aid is incredibly misleading. He sought a compromise in order to bring sanctions against Mugabe.
I don't agree with Chretien's position, I think that Canada could have gained the support of at least some of the African nations in removing Mugabe from the Commonwealth, but saying that he came to Mugabe's aid is incredibly misleading. He sought a compromise in order to bring sanctions against Mugabe.
Reverend Blair said:
That is correct.
I have no tolerance for murdering dictators.
Before you reply, remember Bush was elected.
Re: RE: NGO Act : Zimbabwe
I do admit that I had thought Chretien's involvement with Mugabe was deeper than it appears it actually was. It was bad enough. I just remembered Chretien defending the SOB with a shrug. Bastard.
BTW, Rev, don't ever start acknowledging your own errors.....the net has only so much room.
Not that I'm worried about that ever happening.
Reverend Blair said:
I do admit that I had thought Chretien's involvement with Mugabe was deeper than it appears it actually was. It was bad enough. I just remembered Chretien defending the SOB with a shrug. Bastard.
BTW, Rev, don't ever start acknowledging your own errors.....the net has only so much room.
Not that I'm worried about that ever happening.