Evil Askew

So it seems that his reign of terror is over. No, not George W. Bush, not yet, but Robert Mugabe. You should have seen the negative press he got in the UK in 2003 and very likely to this day. He was evil incarnate, kicking white people off their productive private land and impoverishing his nation. Then I knew many people of colour who saw him as a hero though they kept their voices down. But in Britain there were even calls to cancel cricket matches in Zimbabwe and impose sanctions and support the opposition. Sounds familiar.

But now he seems to have been unseated. A coup perhaps? An invasion from several neighbouring armies you might be thinking. Maybe he was assassinated by a British agent? Surely no democratic process would have unseated this tyrant, this least of democrats.

Again this is yet another example of an "evil" regime actually following the rules. There was an election. No cheating no stuffed ballot boxes. He lost, fair and square. And not just a meaningless loss either but Mugabe may not be president in a few days time. How the mighty have fallen.

Now this election demonstrates to me that the previous elections were also free and fair (for the most part because which state actually holds free and fair elections). Therefore the majority must have been behind him. Obviously he ran out of steam which is hardly unexpected given he has been in power for so long and had done many terrible things.

It also makes me think of Hamas, the rightful government of Palestine. They obeyed the rules but learned that if you're labeled "evil" you might as well not play the game. But Palestinians voted for them in droves. They were their democratic choice for better or worse.

Hopefully we'll see some similar tyrants unseated. Let's start with Hosni Mubarak in Egypt. Oh wait, he's a friend. Don't expect any calls for him to step down or for him to hold free and fair elections from the "good" governments of the world.

Anyway farewell Mugabe. I'm sure there's a bullet or hangman's noose waiting for you. Now I wonder how quickly international financial institutions will be on Zimbabwe like crows on a corpse. "We'll save you", I can already hear them saying. "Just sign here and we'll give you all the money you need".