Zimbabwe upheaval

By Jennifer J. Foster

Published: June 22, 2008

From CNN:

Robert Mugabe apparently retained his presidential post Sunday after the opposition candidate dropped out of this week’s runoff because, he said, asking Zimbabweans to vote was asking them to risk their lives.

“The courageous people of Zimbabwe, of this country, and the people of the MDC have done everything humanly and democratically possible to deliver a new Zimbabwe and new government,“ candidate Morgan Tsvangirai said after a closed-door meeting of his Movement for Democratic Change.

A government official, however, said Tsvangirai dropped out only because he fears being handed a “humiliating defeat” in the runoff.

Um, right. I’m sure it has nothing to do with this:

Zimbabwe’s opposition party said four of its activists and the wife of Harare’s mayor—an opposition member—have been killed by supporters of President Robert Mugabe, just days ahead of next week’s presidential runoff.

Thursday’s report came as U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accused Mugabe of sponsoring efforts to starve, beat and kill supporters of his opponent Morgan Tzvangirai so he can win the election ...

A spokesman for the MDC blamed Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party for the five most recent deaths, saying they brought to 70 the number of MDC party members killed since a bitterly contested election three months ago.

The body of the mayor’s wife, 27-year-old Abigail Chiroto, was found in a mortuary close to the couple’s house north of Harare. She had been beaten so severely with rocks and iron bars that her face was almost unrecognizable, MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said.

Chiroto was kidnapped, along with her 4-year-old son, on Tuesday. Some of her kidnappers wore military uniforms, Chamisa said. Chiroto’s son was released unharmed.

Her husband, Emmanuel Chiroto, is an MDC member who was recently elected mayor of Harare. He was not home at the time of the kidnapping.

Also Thursday, the MDC said that four other activists were found dead in Chitungwiza. The victims’ bodies showed evidence that “they were heavily tortured until they died,“ an MDC statement said.

“It’s unbelievable the way people are being killed or murdered,“ Chiroto said. “It’s almost mass butchering.“

From the Associated Press:

On Monday night, Abigail Chiroto, the wife of opposition mayor elect of Harare, and her four-year-old son, Ashley, were seized from their house in the suburb of Hatcliffe, family friends said Thursday. The friends, who did not want to be identified for fear of repercussions, said the two were taken to a nearby farming area where Chiroto’s body was found Tuesday.

The boy, who was left at a nearby police station, told family members that he saw his mother being blindfolded and taken off into the bush. When Chiroto’s body was found, she was still wearing a blindfold. Her body was identified Wednesday by her husband Emmanuel Chiroto who was out of town at the time.

What is worse: Your last memory of your mother being blindfolded and dragged into the bushes, where she was beaten to death and beyond recognition? Or not remembering your mother at all?

Americans forget how good we have it. We whine about the tone of the primaries—Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton “attacking” each other, for example—while forgetting that there are plenty of places around the globe where candidates and their supporters really do attack each other, in the organic sense of the word ... and there are places where, because of violence and intimidation, there are no elections at all.

The American campaign finance system may be in shambles. But thank God that atrocities like this—political atrocities like this—are unheard of in the United States.

Don’t take your vote for granted this year. Remember what goes on beyond our borders, and don’t take your vote for granted. Ever.