My latest piece, "Zimbabwe: New Verse, Same as the First," has been posted for ISN Insights.
Here is the abstract:
The renewed crackdown against the political opposition in Zimbabwe sparked by fears of an Arab-style uprising illustrates how the illusion of a power-sharing government has merely served as plaster over a gushing wound.
I hope you and enjoy it, and please share at will.
[Crossposted at the FPA Africa Blog.]
2 comments:
Dr. Catsam,
I was hoping you could comment more on the "Whisperings of revolution" portion of your article. How likely is there to be an uprising, and when was the last time you were in Zimbabwe?
Chester --
I have not been able to go back to Zim in a few years -- especially since some of my best friends fled the country. Two in particular I stay with when I visit Cape Town and Gabarone respectively. I am trying to go back this summer. When I wrote several pieces that were critical of Mugabe and that appeared in South/southern African sources my friends made it clear that I ought not to try to cross over in the immediate future. I probably should have anyway, but to my own chagrin, chose not to.
I think the "whisperings" of revolution are more wishful thinking than anything. I've argued time and again that the issue with the "revolutions" going on in North Africa were subject to the first despot to be willing to use force to crush the opposition. In sub-Saharan Africa the depots often have even tighter control of the military and tend to share enough popular support to make revolution in the streets a deadly proposition.
dcat
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