The ThunderDragon

Previously published at The Wardman Wire:

The Rwandan parliament now has women in 55% of its seats. Under the Rwandan constitution, 30% of parliamentary seats must go to women and women elected in these reserved seats are not allowed to represent any party. There are also 3 seats in the 80-seat parliament reserved in other ways - 2 for youth representatives and one for a disabled person.

Whilst it is inevitable that this result will be proclaimed as a “breakthrough” for women and as “the way it should be everywhere,” I can’t help but disagree completely.

In any other situation, a parliament with 55% of women would be something to celebrate, but with the extent to which a quotes have been set does not make it a celebratory achievement. True democracy does not want quotas.

I do not like the Rwandan democratic system at all. Quotas are the very opposite of democracy. They give some a higher position than others, rather than leaving everything up to the choice of the people.

Rwandan “democracy” is not democracy so long as quotas survive. Representation does not require that parliament is a mirror image of society, just that parliament takes in to account the views and opinions of the entire society. Quotas enforce inequality in ine way or another, and since candidates for these female-specific seats cannot represent any party, the entire democratic legitimacy of the Rwandan parliament itself is fundamentally undermined.

Democracy and equality are inextricably linked. Without equality, there can be no true democracy, and without democracy there can be no true equality. Rwanda does not currently have democratic equality because the quota system means that men are discriminated against.

Zimbabwe under Mugabe is thoroughly undemocratic. It has become the worst kind of dictatorship, the kind that doesn’t even bother to hide the disgusting things that it is doing, and just ignores, beats up, or kills anyone who disagrees with it.

Mugabe has destroyed the economy, taking Zimbabwe from the bread-basket of Africa to the basket case of Africa. His claim to power rests not on the ballot box, but through militias on the streets. He fights his opposition not in debates over the facts and over visions for Zimbabwe’s future, but with mass and extreme violence committed against people who have nothing wrong bar supporting the wrong political party.

When it has come to the state that the opposition candidate has to pull out, you know it’s bad.

But, put simply, there isn’t much that we can do.

We can tell Mugabe that he’s been bad, impose more sanctions, and strip him of his knighthood. We can can all even refuse to recognise the results of the presidential run-off election.

Yet it will have bugger all effect.

Due to historical colonialism, anything that we do - not just Britain but the entire West - will be condemned by Mugabe and other African leaders as an attempt to reclaim an empire. Hence, there is only only group of people that have the power and position to stop Mugabe.

I wish that this group was the Zimbabwean people, but they do not have the power as Mugabe terrorises them and restricts their choices at the ballot box to one.

No, the only group of people who can stop Mugabe and save Zimbabwe are the other African leaders. They must make the stand. They must tell Mugabe that enough is enough, that he may have been a great freedom fighter thirty or forty years ago, but now is no more than a despotic tyrant who is murdering his own people. They must grow a pair of balls and tell him to stand down and, if necessary, ask for Western help to achieve it.

It is up to Africa to save Zimbabwe. If they don’t, we can’t. If they won’t, Zimbabweans die.

Kofi Annan calls for Africa to take the lead in condemning Mugabe and dealing with the problem of Zimbabwe. He said:

Yes. Zimbabwe is an international issue. But there is no way that the rest of the world - and especially Britain - can get involved beyond the occasional statement of regret at the current situation until Africa asks for help.

It is up to Africa to ask for help over Zimbabwe. It is up to Africa to make the first move against Mugabe’s dictatorship. Until the African leaders and people have the desire, the international community can do nothing - as otherwise they will face the inevitable accusation of a new colonialism. Zimbabwe may not be a problem that Africa alone can fix, but no-one else can do anything to help until Africa asks for it.

That Kofi Annan is saying things like this, and that the UN is to have talks with African leaders over dealing with Zimbabwe, is a very welcome development. Hopefully it will all result in an end to the Mugabe dictatorship over the people of Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe appears to be on the brink of finally getting rid of Mugabe and establishing proper democracy. At the very least, Mugabe’s party has lost control of the parliament, but still has 94 of the 210 seats, with the main Opposition party only two ahead on 96. So it is hardly a crushing defeat for him - but a defeat nevertheless.

We can all hope that this result means that the end is nigh for the tyrant Mugabe. We can all hope that Zimbabwe can at last go down a democratic - and hopefully less economically destructive - route in to the future.

Mugabe should accept the defeat and step down. If he forces a Presidential run-off vote, he will almost certainly be humiliated. And if he doesn’t, he will just end up with the same result as in Kenya - certainly not a good thing for anyone. But if he steps down now, he can ensure a better future for Zimbabwe and a less damning legacy of his own regime*.

This is an opportunity for Zimbabwe to move in a new, democratic, and brighter future. Let’s hope that opportunity is grabbed with both hands.

* Less damning, but damning nevertheless.

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, writes in the Guardian about how “saving Zimbabwe is not colonialism, [but] Britain’s duty”:

Yes, Zimbabwe needs international intervention - but it is up to Africa to invite us in. Until they accept that Mugabe is “the worst kind of racist dictator” and has “enacted an awful Orwellian vision”, there is nothing that can be done. As it is, Brown’s refusal to even potentially have a “Straw moment” with Mugabe has led to African nations refusing to go to a summit, so how much worse a reaction would be received if he - or any other non-African nation - suggests direct intervention?

In this article, Sentamu has a weird argument with regards to colonialism, using it as a basis of both intervening and not intervening in Zimbabwe. He says that “saving Zimbabwe is not colonialism, [but] Britain’s duty”, that “the time has come for Mr Brown… to slay the ghosts of Britain’s colonialist past by thoroughly revising foreign policy towards Zimbabwe and to lead the way in co-ordinating an international response” and also that “Britain needs to escape from its colonial guilt when it comes to Zimbabwe.” All of these cannot be true. I don’t think that Britain’s colonialist history is anything to be ashamed of or to feel guilty for. To start with, it happened in a different time and culture, and we were by no means the worst perpetrators of the bad aspects. If anything, we should feel more guilty for ending colonialism in much of Africa when we did than for doing it in the first place.

When it comes down to it, I think that we do need into intervene in Zimbabwe, but in the current political climate, we can’t until Africa - or at least much of Africa - asks for us to do so. Whilst they stand beside Mugabe and his dying Zimbabwe, there is nothing that the rest of the world can do. Zimbabwe may not be a problem that Africa alone can fix, but no-one else can do anything to help until Africa asks for it.

Source: The Guardian

Yes, this isn’t the sort of post that I expected to write either. But for this stand, he deserves it. It’s just a pity about almost everything else he says and does.

Brown is right to do this. Mugabe should be banned from any and all international summits, and at last Brown is making the right move. Even if it is mainly to ensure that he doesn’t end up with a “Straw moment” and have to shake hands with Mugabe.

But the right move is the right move - even if it is dictated by spin.

Source: The Times