Liu Xiabo was awarded the Nobel Peace price his struggle for human rights in China this year. Liu Xiabo is currently a political prisoner for "counter revolutionary behaviour" after calling for political reform and the end of Communist one party rule in China. China has also strongly reacted to the announcement of of the award to Xiabo.
In Harare, media remains silent on the issue. It appears as if events taking place beyond the Zimbabwean borders are not as important as the the country's own problems. Yet, there are many similarities between the situation for members of the opposition in China and the treatment of political opponents in Zimbabwe. Though it is true that media is far from free in Zimbabwe one would expect the discussion to take place on the streets. The fact remains that most Zimbabweans have stopped following the news. As a Zimbabwean friend of mine once said, news are "allegations". It is unfoortunately quite a good description of the media available to describing real or fictional stories about the offences committed by individuals.
Those that dare to contradit the powerful remains to be silenced by government actors in China as in Zimbabwe. Members of the opposition are still imprisoned without a trial. Fear amongst the peeople is widespread. Most Zimbabweans chose to remain silent. On the other hand there are also brave people such as Liu Xiabo risking their life for the rights that every human being are entitled to. People that after spending over 20 years in prison are still able to say "I have no enemies."
Wednesday, 13 October 2010
Monday, 4 October 2010
The Voice of Bob
The diplomatic community were invited to an inauguration ceremony at President Mugabe’s residence. Most of the diplomats were represented and on time. Yet, they were left waiting to shake the President’s hand for seven hours. No refreshments were provided.
The following day the Herald, a newspaper also known as ”the voice of Mugabe”, published a picture of President Mugabe and the new head of the European Commission on the front page. The headline read ”EU: Zimbabwe press is free”. The picture showed Mugabe shaking hands with the European Commission head. The picture had, however, been manipulated to depict Mugabe, who’s a sort man in reality, stretching high above the head of the European Commission delegate bowing down before him. This must had been quite embarassing for the European delegation in the country. The head of the European commission later apologised to the whole diplomatic community for the unfortunate misquotations in the article.
I find it interesting to discover just how far the diplomatic community can stretch for the purpose of maintaining diplomatic ties. At president Mugabe’s sister’s funeral a couple of weeks ago the diplomatic community were also represented. It gave the President the perfect opportunity to tell all diplomats present to ”go to hell!”. And he did. Several times.
The following day the Herald, a newspaper also known as ”the voice of Mugabe”, published a picture of President Mugabe and the new head of the European Commission on the front page. The headline read ”EU: Zimbabwe press is free”. The picture showed Mugabe shaking hands with the European Commission head. The picture had, however, been manipulated to depict Mugabe, who’s a sort man in reality, stretching high above the head of the European Commission delegate bowing down before him. This must had been quite embarassing for the European delegation in the country. The head of the European commission later apologised to the whole diplomatic community for the unfortunate misquotations in the article.
I find it interesting to discover just how far the diplomatic community can stretch for the purpose of maintaining diplomatic ties. At president Mugabe’s sister’s funeral a couple of weeks ago the diplomatic community were also represented. It gave the President the perfect opportunity to tell all diplomats present to ”go to hell!”. And he did. Several times.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)