The Mugabe Diet

When hamfisted land reform threw the security of Zimbabweans' property tenure into turmoil, food production dropped through the floor. So now the country's trying to fix that by nationalizing all the land.

Comments

[rst]

So this is a tragedy, not justice.

I never said it was just. But they brought it upon themselves anyway. The people played right along, without even considering the effect of confiscating that land. It seemed like a good idea on its face to take from the white devil who took from them. On the whole the situation is no more or less just than say, revenge.

[Joe L.]

rst, As Gandalf said, "I have pity even for Sauron's slaves..." Not everyone in Zimbabwe supports(ed) this. It's not like the opposition in Zimbabwe got to participate in fair and free elections.

So, I don't see this as something that can be blamed on the "people". You might want to move on from gloating about the darkies gettin' their comeuppance...

This is going to have dire consequences for Zimbabwe, and IF the government were popularly elected I'd be saddened, but would have to agree with you that "they" are gettting the government they deserve. As "they" really didn't get much say in this government I feel a great deal of sorrow for what is about to happen.

I am astonished that Mugabe is taking this route, it's not like it hasn't been tried in Tanzania and Mozambique before and things went so well THERE. It's not like there isn't some evidence for what works and doesn't work in nation and economy-building.

[Sir Real]

So, when do we liberate Zimbabwe? I mean, isn't the purpose of our military to bring peace and plenty to oppressed peoples the world over?

[rst]

You might want to move on from gloating about the darkies gettin' their comeuppance...

Please.

Like the government being popularly elected would make any difference? You have been conditioned to react to such attitudes as to one happy that some "darkies" are "gettin' their comeuppance." Quaint, and ignorant. "Democratically elected" and "popularly supported" have no autocorrelation except for those with raging hard-ons for democracy.

[KentInDC]

Mark S.,
I cannot believe that I am defending Bono, but when I read his rationale for forgiving third world debt, I was sympathetic. If I remember his argument (at least one of them) correctly, he said that the money was loaned to dictators like Mugabe and Mobutu, who used it to live lavish lives and oppress their people. The money is gone and the people left to pay it back received no benefit from the money.

Also relying on memory, I think that Mises advocated defaulting on all government debt for similar reasons, as well as discouraging people from ever making a loan to a government again.

[Jason Ligon]

Stupidity, followed by formalized stupidity.

In what way was the land not nationalized before? The government had demonstrated their willingness to seize land on a whim. This is just another in a long list of African kleptocracies that will doom their people to starvation for generations.

[Jason Ligon]

Joe L.:

I have to say that Mugabe aside, the populist seizing of land by occupation and terror in Zimbabwe gives an element of accountability to the folks who participated. In some sense the people of Zimbabwe are being lorded over by a theif who will destroy their lives, but in another, the populace was perfectly willing to loot from others given half a chance.

More than anywhere else in the modern world, Africa gives credence to Hobbes. What passes for a horror movie in the western world actually happens there. The stories from the Hutuu massacres vs. Six Days Later - which one is scarier? I try very hard not to think about it, because I don't believe there is a solution for the misery in Africa.

[Joe L.]

Jason,
I don't absolve the people of Zimbabwe, just like I don't absolve Germans for Hitler, but I do think that this a great tragedy in the making and I see the citizens more like the steerage class passengers on the Titanic than as culpable oppressors.

I like to HOPE that Africa can improve. If we wash our hands of it, it will take longer for it to improve. If we enable the kleptocrats and simply act as if that's the way things are supposed to be. Akin to Brandt's "Ost Politic" which seemd to assume and grant a legitimacy and permanence to the DDR that wasn't merited.

So if you and others want to criticize USAID feel free, or if you want to point out the bad behavior of US clients go ahead. If we give money to small groups and companies, not Mobutu or his ilk, things will get better. If we expect the US to not support non-democrats then slowly things may get better.

Africa is just joining modernity. Think what was going on in Europe from 1618 until 1715 and ask yourself are Africans "backward" or just progressing thru an equivalent period in their history?

[Jill]

Lets put this in perspective. What is happening in Zimbabwe is NOT a black vs white thing; the majority of black Zimbabweans did not support the land invasions. Shortly before the land invasions began in 2000, a referendum was held to solicit voter approval for a constitution giving the government greater powers to seize land. This was rejected by the majority of voters. It was this result which frightened Mugabe and his henchmen into their desperate attempt to hang on to power at all cost, as they saw the voters turning away from their corrupt regime.

The land invasions and subsequent violence were carried out by Mugabe's paid thugs, and had no other purpose than to attempt to keep this psychopathic dictator in power.

[Rick Barton]

"This leaves South Africa as the only black African country with private land ownership."

What about Senegal, Ghana and Ivory Coast, in W. Africa? I know that for a long time they had more economic freedom in parts of W.Africa, relative to the rest of Black Africa.

[Ruthless]

Sir Real said:
"So, when do we liberate Zimbabwe? I mean, isn't the purpose of our military to bring peace and plenty to oppressed peoples the world over?"

I know he's being sarcastic, but to make this simple for Dubya, does a shoe-repair person make house calls? (And the US military making house calls is a far cry from the shoe-repair person doing so.)
If shoes need fixing, they get brought to the shop. The US is the shop.
But, before we are overwhelmed by shoes, Dubya could get started by simply making all Spanish-speaking Caribbean islands into our 51st state.
That would make it clear nearby "shoes" are welcome on the mainland, if they choose.

Is shoe phobia greater than war phobia? My plan would find out.

[Hydroman]

Greed reigns power to the few and oppression to the masses.(Africa 2004)

[John Hensley]

"See Kenya." Noted. That's what I get for trying to find information in the Zimbabwe Daily Herald/Liar.

I note that the system of 99-year leases that the government proposes to adopt is similar to how privatization is done in China. Also that China is a major development partner of Zimbabwe since the latter ruined its credit.

The background to this decision is that while the government was inflating the currency to cover its loss of revenue from the commercial farms, (around 400% last I heard) there was a huge run on real estate. Naturally the government concluded that real estate ownership was to blame.

[rst]

I accused YOU of "gloatin' bout the darkies".

"as to one...", i.e., I was informing you that your accusation was ignorant.

An autocorrelation is the degree to which the conditions mutually imply each other. Whether a leader is democratically elected, and the degree of popular support his every action enjoys, have nothing to do with each other.

That having been said, Mugabe didn't just appear out of nowhere, the man was a black nationalist guerilla *elected* to power in 1980. That you give no credence to ZANU's questionable electoral practices is of no consequence.

[Joe L.]

Whatever rst, I do give credence to ZANU's recent electoral abuses, hence my pity for Zimbabwe's citizenry...

"Whether a leader is democratically elected, and the degree of popular support his every action enjoys, have nothing to do with each other." is true. Hitler and Stalin were NOT elected but very popular, it is true, but only for THEM and not the systems they created. If one desires a Cult of Personality and adopts an "aptres moi le deluge" attitude it can suffice as a foundation for government action. But overall elections provide a continued legitimacy to a government, or in the immortal words of Dennis the Peasant, "Supreme Executive Power comes from a mandate from the Masses."

[Gary Gunnels]

John Hensley,

As I recall, all land in Tanzania is owned by the President; people lease the land for fixed periods of time.

"I note that the system of 99-year leases..."

You know there are towns in the US that operate similarly; one is Daphne, Alabama. The entire town is owned by the town government, and they hand out 99 year leases to people.

[Jesse Walker]

Gary: I think you mean Fairport, Alabama, which is near Daphne but is not the same place. It was the first of several towns cum land trusts founded by the Henry Georgists.

I've been told that Hong Kong had a similar system of land tenure before the Chinese took over, though I don't know the details.

[Gary Gunnels]

Jesse Walker,

I think you mean Fairhope; and you're right. 🙂 I'm from Mobile County, not Baldwin; screw the fuckers from the eastern shore! 🙂 Ever been to Bayou la Batre? Or Dauphin Island?

[Jesse Walker]

Yes, Fairhope. Sorry about that. Fairport is a Convention.

[grizzly]

Is Mugabe trying eradicate the entire population? Genocide via famine? If he is, he's doing a pretty good job.

[John Hensley]

Looks like Comrade President ran out of whites to steal from.

This leaves South Africa as the only black African country with private land ownership.

Comrade President insists that everything's OK and the bumper crop is coming. If he's lying and the people don't take his head come harvest time, perhaps they deserve him.

[Joe L.]

I blame the Imperialism of the patriarchal machano-capitalist global system for the problems of Zimbabwe, a system that exploits gays, lesbians, the transgendered, women, the poor, and people of colour.

Confronted with global hegemons, what else was Mugabe to do, BUT nationalize the land, to prevent its exploitation by the alien compradors intent on expropriating the surplus value of the people's resource for the benefit of their patrons in the 1st world?

And who says a Liberal Arts degree is worthless?

[rst]

Hah! I hope they starve.

[Joe L.]

Well rst, "they" are going to be the people of Zibabwe, not the Mugabes of Zimbabwe. That's the tragedy, "they" are about to be in a train wreck, NOT of their own making. So this is a tragedy, not justice.

[Andy]

What's so different about that than what goes on here in the US? You can lose your land/building to someone with a bigger checkbook than you so that a hotel or stadium can be built. You only own your property until the government decides they want to do something else with it.

(Here in San Diego, Gran Havana Cigar Factory is losing their building and $3M investment so that Marriott can build a hotel. And don't forget everyone that got ousted to build the new stadium downtown).

[Joe L.]

Exactly so Andy, and the elections are rigged too! And the camps are just waiting to be opened!

Really, your post is over the top! US does NOT equal Zimbabwe, OK. What is happening with eminent domain is a far cry from what is transpiring in Zimbabwe.

One is bad and one is HORRIBLE. Let's try to keep the two in perspective, one yields money to Nordstroms, property owners, and politicians, one yields corruption, starvation, and misery, there IS a difference.

To a purist there may be no difference,but in reality there is.

[Gary Gunnels]

"This leaves South Africa as the only black African country with private land ownership."

Ahhh, no. See Kenya.

[Mark S.]

A few weeks ago, U2 lead singer and whiney activist, Bono, gave a commencment speech to the graduating class at the University of Pennsylivania. Since Africa is one of his pet causes, he implored the grads to use their knowledge to save the desperate starving people who are unfortunete enough to live their.

While I'm not arguing with sentiment, I call his tactics into question. One of the main causes of the problems in Africa are tin pot scumbags like Mugabe. No amount of good intentions are going to stop the years of petty tribal violence. Western doctors may find the cure to AIDS, but it doesn't help if the local leaders attribute the disease to evil spirits rather than a virus.

I doubt a wide-eyed, upper-middle class kid was a sociology degree is going to help much. A .45 ACP hollow point, placed between the eyes of Mugabe and other tin-pot slimeballs like him would be a much greater service to the people of Africa. Get the people causing the problem out of the way, then we'll talk about sending in the "experts" to clean up the mess.

[kevrob]

The 99-year leasehold is a form of land tenure that is popular in Britain and in the many countries that were her colonies. Where the local administration is honest, and the system transparent, it works well. China has even copied it from Hong Kong, as a way to facilitate development, without giving up the ideological point that land must belong to the state.

Some don't think that land you hold the title too, but have to pay property taxes on, is functionally different from land you rent from the state, as long as you can still get a mortgage, or sell the leasehold to someone else.

If Zimbabwe converts all private land to leaseholds, they will undoubtedly make a hash of it, not because the leasehold system can't work, but because those running it are gangsters. If they were not crooks, the Harare government would be smart to not only NOT chase away the successful farmers, they'd be hiring them to teach new land-grantees how to run their spreads. That's not likely.

Kevin

[KentInDC]

Jesse Walker,
I am impressed that you are even aware of Daphne!