Thursday, January 11, 2007
State Machinery Might actually Trigger A Revolution Than Stop It
I have mentioned it a number of times here that the state machinery that Mugabe uses to supress the nation does not live on Mars. They are affected in the same breath as any other ordinary Zimbabwean. The fact that they have allowed to be used by the sitting government has lulled them into thinking that they could escape the harsh economic environment that Zanu PF has created. Some were affected by Murambatsvina but as the economic meltdown started taking a bite some members of the police started resorting to crime in order to survive. Junior policemen are despensable and any that were caught would be arrested and convicted of the aforesaid crimes. If that was not enough the straw that broke the camel's back must be reports that the demoniac youth militia or the green bombers, a violent Zanu PF militarised youth wing is being paid more than a junior policeman as Mugabe strengthens his grip on Zimbabwe. A junior policeman is paid Z$27 000 a month in a country were the basic of most commodities cost Z$105 000 to survive for a single month. The Z$600 000 which is being paid to the green bombers is a slap in the face even for partisan police. The stomach churning issue is the fact the very same green bombers are being paid to beat, torture and main members of MDC all at tax payers expense. If thats not revolting enough peep this, the green bombers are not formal employees of the government they are a militarised wing of a political party therefore the money they receive is tax free. In a secret memo to the Home Affairs Minister, the police chief Augustine Chihuri warned of a revolt, which is not surprising as the police in Zimbabwe wake up to the fact that Mugabe has ruined Zimbabwe. They cannot continue to bury their heads in the sand immune to the collapse of Zimbabwe.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
In A Dictatorship The Control Of Information Is Of Paramount Importance!
Edward Lowassa is truly the last of the dying breed that includes luminaries such as Nelson Mandela, Jomo Kenyatta, Kwame Nkrumah... amongst many, he is the current Prime Minister of Tanzania. I am not well versed into the politics of Tanzania to truly comment if he walks the talk, but something in me stirred when I read excerpts of his speech to the 14th Conference On The State Of Politics in Tanzania. Given the mediocrity in the quality of leaders Africa has birthed, I am sure you too would have found Mr Lowassa's comments on 25th of July 2006 to be truly refreshing especially when uttered by one of our own, which quickly dismisses the notion that true democracy is a Western notion and cannot be applied to Africa. Mr Lowassa spoke eloquently on democracy, urging the Tanzanian opposition sort themselves since a vibrant opposition is needed to make any democracy robust. I cannot imagine Robert Mugabe urging MDC to sort its internal squabbles for the sake of democracy, on the contrary Mugabe's goons such as Didymus Mutasa were rubbing their hands with glee when dissidents led by Welshman Ncube left MDC for the sake of Mugabe's gravy train. Mr Lowassa went on to say that Civil society had a role to play in a democracy, and any absence of such a vibrant civil society in any country would stop it from fully realising a sound democracy. The most important part to his speech was on freedom of media which form the basis of my piece today you can read the report on Mr Lowassa's speech for yourself here which is can be aptly applied to Zimbabwean dictatorship of Robert Mugabe. He said "The country should ensure the public is well-informed through dissemination of correct information. Media in our country have a noble role of setting the agenda on national issues and encourage political competition among political parties, government and other stakeholders from time to time. A dictator strives to ensure that he puts tighter leashes on free flow of information so that he retains power and rules forever.”
For a dictator to fully entrench his powers he/she will ebb the flow of information to the nation. As a matter of fact Information is regarded as worse than poison by totalitarian regimes. Its simple, if Information flows freely within a nation, people will be better informed, in turn they will be able to make better judgements on issues of governance and that's is the last thing a dictator wants. History is littered with dictators that have tried to stop the flow of information to the people. From Hitler to Sterling to Mao Zedong just like all dictators in repressive regimes these dictators control all the forms of media from newspapers to television to Internet.People will only be informed on a need to know basis, other than that they will be fed propaganda. Propaganda is two fold on one hand it portrays the dictators themselves in a good light as it over emphasises their achievements and sometimes blaming evil forces (whatever that means) for their ruinous watch of the country's economy. On the other hand the propaganda is churned to brainwash the nation, normalising an abnormal situation such chronic shortages of food and other basic commodities. At the same time the dictator also knows that the outside world knows that he is nothing but a corrupt despot and he/she will do all he/she can to stop the flow of information from outside into the country. The dictator will also know how they have crippled their country's economy, the collapsed health care , the apathetic school system but will do all they can to stop the people knowing that. The dictator will also start believing his propaganda, living in cloud-cuckoo land where everything is normal they are not conscious of the suffering they are inflicting on the people. The control of information is also vital to the dictatorship because they would not want the world to see the atrocities they are committing against their own people. Other dictators like Mugabe are even worse they have become so insular to the suffering they cause their own people that even leaks of human Rights abuses and torture in their countries will be vehemently denied or defended using the usual chutzpah.
If the erstwhile dictators controlled print, radio and television, the 21st century technological advances means the current crop of dictators such as Mugabe, Omaral-Bashir of Sudan, Than Shwe of Burma(Myanmar)... will have to do a whole lot more if they need to control the flow of information. For instance many TV programmes are now beamed via satelite therefore no matter how Mugabe wants us to watch hondo Yeminda on ZBC 1, the middle class with money can watch the hard-hitting reports unwatered-down on CNN or BBC News 24. Internet offers a myriad of information on any subject, sensitive or insensitive to the dictatorship. Mugabe know this, but most of Mugabe's cabinet are ignorant don't be fooled by the bookish degrees they boast, they are are not pro-active rather react to situations and rely heavily on repressive laws that they keep enacting to stop the flow of information in Zimbabwe. Reports Sans Frontiers notes that since September 11 2001 democracies around the world have been curtailing freedom of internet use, a lot of dictators have been using September 11 a an excuse in order to fully stem the flow of information they enacting new laws in the guise of fight against terrorism. As democracies steadily slide towards monitoring the Internet, dictatorships are tightening their grip on it. The situation has worsened in the past three years and today more than 70 cyber -dissidents are in prison and censorship is increasingly effective. The Internet clearly alarms dictatorships. Each Internet user is a potential editor more so now in the era of web 2.0 so it seems hard to monitor the flow of material in cyberspace. From yesterday all website in Iran have to register with Ministry of Culture & Islamic guidance before viewers in Iran can see them.
It does need a rocket scientist to see that Zimbabwe is a dictatorship, let me just walk you through some of the events that have stopped the flow of information in my country. The very first instance Mugabe's insensitivity to media was highlighted when he ordered the promotion of Geoff Nyarota to some managerial post the then Editor of The Chronicle in 1987 in order to silence him when he had published an expose' on how government ministers were abusing their positions in government by obtaining cars at low cost at a government held parastatal Willowvale Motor Assembly before selling them for vast profits to the unsuspecting public.
In 1999 beset by economic problems and controversy over its military involvement in the Democratic Republic of Congo civil war, Robert Mugabe's illegal government increasingly clamped down on independent media and their efforts to question his rule. The most egregious attack on press freedom in Zimbabwe in 1999 was the illegal arrest and torture in January of Mark Chavunduka and Ray Choto, both journalists with the Standard newspaper, after they published an article claiming that 23 army officers had been arrested for plotting a coup. Government agents reportedly beat the journalists, applied electric shocks to their hands, feet, and genitals, and submerged their heads in drums of water. When Chavunduka and Choto appeared in court in January, both bore visible cigarette burns on their bodies. The two journalists were charged under the Law and Order Maintenance Act (LOMA) of 1960, a discredited relic piece of legslation from the colonial government used to suppress black nationalism. In February 1999, four journalists from the Zimbabwe Mirror newspaper were also arrested and charged under the same law, but charges were later dropped. President Mugabe fully supported the army's arrest of Chavunduka and Choto. He also defied a court order to release them. In a February 1999 address on state TV and radio, an angry Mugabe threatened "very stern measures" against the independent press and suggested that the Supreme Court resign. These statements came in response to a letter from three Supreme Court justices asking him to "confirm that the rule of law is accepted as a necessary ingredient of a democratic Zimbabwe." The letter also asked him to reassure the judiciary that the army had no power to arrest civilians, that the government did not tolerate torture, and that the government would act in accordance with Zimbabwe's constitution. On February 4 1999, Minister of Information
Chen Chimuntengwende announced that the government was planning to introduce more-stringent measures to regulate private media organizations in Zimbabwe. On March 8 1999, Senior Secretary for Information, Posts, and Telecommunications Willard Chiwewe added that the government was drafting a new media law to "facilitate" the
operations of various media organizations in Zimbabwe. Among other things, the new law would create a media council to regulate the professional conduct of journalists. In April, Mugabe vowed in the state-owned Sunday Mail to strengthen state powers against the media, including the broadening of the country's criminal-libel laws, "so that journalists will not be able to use their pen as a bloody sword." In the same vein, Zimbabwe's draft constitution, unveiled in December, includes a section calling for the creation of a media commission with powers to take disciplinary action against media workers "found to have breached any law or code of conduct applicable to them." On November 21 1999, a package arrived at Choto's home in Harare, containing a teddy bear, two live bullets, and an anonymous note threatening him and his family. On November 28 1999,Choto received a second anonymous letter, saying that he was being watched and providing details about his movements on a certain day. Part of the letter reportedly read, "We nearly pulled the trigger, but you should thank the lady who came to speak to you."
Propaganda started in earnest when Jonathan Moyo nicknamed 'Goebbels of Africa' an erstwhile critic of Mugabe was appointed Information Minister. The radio and TV programming and format was changed,a 70% local content was enforced, Jonathan even recorded his own propaganda CD, Hitler must have smiled from the grave at his efforts. In 2002 he started crafting the dreaded Access To Information and Protection of Privacy Act he did so because he said foreign media was lying about Zimbabwe. It was rashly passed through parliament that year, the Information law defines anyone who writes a publication as a journalist, and requires them to register with the government. It also requires all newspapers to pay large fees for permission to publish. As in all totalitarian countries, persecution for offences of opinion can reach the height of absurdity. In Zimbabwe a 20 year sentence to death awaits anyone who as a Zimbabwean or a foreigner makes a false statement to a third party with the intention of incitement to public disorder, negatively effecting the Zimbabwe economy or undermining the authority of the security forces. You can extensively read on the erosion of press freedom in Zimbabwe here.
Its alarming to hear that now the government wants to close down the remaining two independent newspapers in Zimbabwe. They continual jam the SW Radio Africa's broadcasts on shortwave. CIO in the Midlands area started illegal consficating people's short wave radios in order to effectively deny them the means to listen to broadcasts such as SW Radio Africa. The have raised the accreditation fees to discourage journalists from registering.
It will be difficult now for them to fully control the new media that's emerging such as Podcasts, Mobile Phone Content, Blogs such as this. The are busy enacting new laws to force ISP to give content of emails, they want the other two mobile phone operators to channel their calls through the government gateway so they can monitor and listen to people's calls. Its truly a repressive regime!
For a dictator to fully entrench his powers he/she will ebb the flow of information to the nation. As a matter of fact Information is regarded as worse than poison by totalitarian regimes. Its simple, if Information flows freely within a nation, people will be better informed, in turn they will be able to make better judgements on issues of governance and that's is the last thing a dictator wants. History is littered with dictators that have tried to stop the flow of information to the people. From Hitler to Sterling to Mao Zedong just like all dictators in repressive regimes these dictators control all the forms of media from newspapers to television to Internet.People will only be informed on a need to know basis, other than that they will be fed propaganda. Propaganda is two fold on one hand it portrays the dictators themselves in a good light as it over emphasises their achievements and sometimes blaming evil forces (whatever that means) for their ruinous watch of the country's economy. On the other hand the propaganda is churned to brainwash the nation, normalising an abnormal situation such chronic shortages of food and other basic commodities. At the same time the dictator also knows that the outside world knows that he is nothing but a corrupt despot and he/she will do all he/she can to stop the flow of information from outside into the country. The dictator will also know how they have crippled their country's economy, the collapsed health care , the apathetic school system but will do all they can to stop the people knowing that. The dictator will also start believing his propaganda, living in cloud-cuckoo land where everything is normal they are not conscious of the suffering they are inflicting on the people. The control of information is also vital to the dictatorship because they would not want the world to see the atrocities they are committing against their own people. Other dictators like Mugabe are even worse they have become so insular to the suffering they cause their own people that even leaks of human Rights abuses and torture in their countries will be vehemently denied or defended using the usual chutzpah.
If the erstwhile dictators controlled print, radio and television, the 21st century technological advances means the current crop of dictators such as Mugabe, Omaral-Bashir of Sudan, Than Shwe of Burma(Myanmar)... will have to do a whole lot more if they need to control the flow of information. For instance many TV programmes are now beamed via satelite therefore no matter how Mugabe wants us to watch hondo Yeminda on ZBC 1, the middle class with money can watch the hard-hitting reports unwatered-down on CNN or BBC News 24. Internet offers a myriad of information on any subject, sensitive or insensitive to the dictatorship. Mugabe know this, but most of Mugabe's cabinet are ignorant don't be fooled by the bookish degrees they boast, they are are not pro-active rather react to situations and rely heavily on repressive laws that they keep enacting to stop the flow of information in Zimbabwe. Reports Sans Frontiers notes that since September 11 2001 democracies around the world have been curtailing freedom of internet use, a lot of dictators have been using September 11 a an excuse in order to fully stem the flow of information they enacting new laws in the guise of fight against terrorism. As democracies steadily slide towards monitoring the Internet, dictatorships are tightening their grip on it. The situation has worsened in the past three years and today more than 70 cyber -dissidents are in prison and censorship is increasingly effective. The Internet clearly alarms dictatorships. Each Internet user is a potential editor more so now in the era of web 2.0 so it seems hard to monitor the flow of material in cyberspace. From yesterday all website in Iran have to register with Ministry of Culture & Islamic guidance before viewers in Iran can see them.
It does need a rocket scientist to see that Zimbabwe is a dictatorship, let me just walk you through some of the events that have stopped the flow of information in my country. The very first instance Mugabe's insensitivity to media was highlighted when he ordered the promotion of Geoff Nyarota to some managerial post the then Editor of The Chronicle in 1987 in order to silence him when he had published an expose' on how government ministers were abusing their positions in government by obtaining cars at low cost at a government held parastatal Willowvale Motor Assembly before selling them for vast profits to the unsuspecting public.
In 1999 beset by economic problems and controversy over its military involvement in the Democratic Republic of Congo civil war, Robert Mugabe's illegal government increasingly clamped down on independent media and their efforts to question his rule. The most egregious attack on press freedom in Zimbabwe in 1999 was the illegal arrest and torture in January of Mark Chavunduka and Ray Choto, both journalists with the Standard newspaper, after they published an article claiming that 23 army officers had been arrested for plotting a coup. Government agents reportedly beat the journalists, applied electric shocks to their hands, feet, and genitals, and submerged their heads in drums of water. When Chavunduka and Choto appeared in court in January, both bore visible cigarette burns on their bodies. The two journalists were charged under the Law and Order Maintenance Act (LOMA) of 1960, a discredited relic piece of legslation from the colonial government used to suppress black nationalism. In February 1999, four journalists from the Zimbabwe Mirror newspaper were also arrested and charged under the same law, but charges were later dropped. President Mugabe fully supported the army's arrest of Chavunduka and Choto. He also defied a court order to release them. In a February 1999 address on state TV and radio, an angry Mugabe threatened "very stern measures" against the independent press and suggested that the Supreme Court resign. These statements came in response to a letter from three Supreme Court justices asking him to "confirm that the rule of law is accepted as a necessary ingredient of a democratic Zimbabwe." The letter also asked him to reassure the judiciary that the army had no power to arrest civilians, that the government did not tolerate torture, and that the government would act in accordance with Zimbabwe's constitution. On February 4 1999, Minister of Information
Chen Chimuntengwende announced that the government was planning to introduce more-stringent measures to regulate private media organizations in Zimbabwe. On March 8 1999, Senior Secretary for Information, Posts, and Telecommunications Willard Chiwewe added that the government was drafting a new media law to "facilitate" the
operations of various media organizations in Zimbabwe. Among other things, the new law would create a media council to regulate the professional conduct of journalists. In April, Mugabe vowed in the state-owned Sunday Mail to strengthen state powers against the media, including the broadening of the country's criminal-libel laws, "so that journalists will not be able to use their pen as a bloody sword." In the same vein, Zimbabwe's draft constitution, unveiled in December, includes a section calling for the creation of a media commission with powers to take disciplinary action against media workers "found to have breached any law or code of conduct applicable to them." On November 21 1999, a package arrived at Choto's home in Harare, containing a teddy bear, two live bullets, and an anonymous note threatening him and his family. On November 28 1999,Choto received a second anonymous letter, saying that he was being watched and providing details about his movements on a certain day. Part of the letter reportedly read, "We nearly pulled the trigger, but you should thank the lady who came to speak to you."
Propaganda started in earnest when Jonathan Moyo nicknamed 'Goebbels of Africa' an erstwhile critic of Mugabe was appointed Information Minister. The radio and TV programming and format was changed,a 70% local content was enforced, Jonathan even recorded his own propaganda CD, Hitler must have smiled from the grave at his efforts. In 2002 he started crafting the dreaded Access To Information and Protection of Privacy Act he did so because he said foreign media was lying about Zimbabwe. It was rashly passed through parliament that year, the Information law defines anyone who writes a publication as a journalist, and requires them to register with the government. It also requires all newspapers to pay large fees for permission to publish. As in all totalitarian countries, persecution for offences of opinion can reach the height of absurdity. In Zimbabwe a 20 year sentence to death awaits anyone who as a Zimbabwean or a foreigner makes a false statement to a third party with the intention of incitement to public disorder, negatively effecting the Zimbabwe economy or undermining the authority of the security forces. You can extensively read on the erosion of press freedom in Zimbabwe here.
Its alarming to hear that now the government wants to close down the remaining two independent newspapers in Zimbabwe. They continual jam the SW Radio Africa's broadcasts on shortwave. CIO in the Midlands area started illegal consficating people's short wave radios in order to effectively deny them the means to listen to broadcasts such as SW Radio Africa. The have raised the accreditation fees to discourage journalists from registering.
It will be difficult now for them to fully control the new media that's emerging such as Podcasts, Mobile Phone Content, Blogs such as this. The are busy enacting new laws to force ISP to give content of emails, they want the other two mobile phone operators to channel their calls through the government gateway so they can monitor and listen to people's calls. Its truly a repressive regime!
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
2006 Another Annus Horibillis For Zimbabwe - Do Not even Hold Your Breath For 2007
2006 has come and gone and nothing has changed in Zimbabwe if not the situation there has become worse. If Murambatsvina (A Shona word meaning drive out filth) characterised 2005, 2006 was marked with torture of anyone who dared demonstrate against the spiralling cost of living and the erosion of their wages in a galloping inflation which is still the highest in the world. Amongst the documented cases of torture, were The entire leadership of ZCTU the Zimbabwean labour body who were severly beaten and denied medical attention after being tortured in custody you can watch the torture video here on this blog.Also tortured was The President of NCA and its entire membership. Jenni Williams the leader of WOZA (Women Of Zimbabwe Arise) pressure group were also severly tortured.
Inflation continued to rob Zimbabwean workers any real buying power to ther wages, despite the Reserve Bank Governor slashing three zeros from the hyper-inflated currency in a bid to woodwink ordinary Zimbabweans into thinking that the prices had gone down. Despite the feeble attempt the inflation in Zimbabwe is still the highest pegged at an incredible 1100%. As we enter 2007 it should be noted that Zimbabwe is in its 7th year of recession and showing no signs of recovery. It does not need a rocket scientist to see why, the money that Zimbabwe used to earn from agricultural exports such as beef, tobbacco, flowers amongst many is no more.
I asked a few confidants if Mugabe was shaking after Saddam Hussein was hanged on Saturday. "No" they said "for his a killer, a killer cannot fear to be killed" they quipped.
Inflation continued to rob Zimbabwean workers any real buying power to ther wages, despite the Reserve Bank Governor slashing three zeros from the hyper-inflated currency in a bid to woodwink ordinary Zimbabweans into thinking that the prices had gone down. Despite the feeble attempt the inflation in Zimbabwe is still the highest pegged at an incredible 1100%. As we enter 2007 it should be noted that Zimbabwe is in its 7th year of recession and showing no signs of recovery. It does not need a rocket scientist to see why, the money that Zimbabwe used to earn from agricultural exports such as beef, tobbacco, flowers amongst many is no more.
I asked a few confidants if Mugabe was shaking after Saddam Hussein was hanged on Saturday. "No" they said "for his a killer, a killer cannot fear to be killed" they quipped.
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