Thursday, June 09, 2005

Mugabe speaks on squatters -- incoherently

Squatters have called for a general strike in Harare to protest Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's drive against them. Mugabe, as detailed in a prior post, has made 200,000 people homeless and arrested 30,000 after demolishing their homes. This Associated Press dispatch quotes Mugabe as calling the demolition campaign "a vigorous cleanup campaign to restore sanity."

It is, rather, Mugabe who is acting insane, if he thinks that destroying the homes people have lived in for years will improve their lives.

Sadly, the article also notes that, since only about 6 percent of Zimbabwe's 12 million people work in formal sector jobs, a general strike might wind up being impossible to implement and thus a failed protest strategy.

No comments: