[Marxism] Mugabe had a justifiable complaint against Britain

[Ruthless Critic of All that Exists]

Full: <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/01/opinion/01holland.html?ref=opinion>

"By the end of 2007, as we sat together again after 28 years of his
rule, he exuded the air of a lost and angry man.

Why? Part of the answer came to me in our interview, as Mr. Mugabe
expressed almost tearful regret at his inability to socialize with the
queen of England. He feels that the West — and Britain in particular —
has failed to recognize his "suffering and sacrifice." As someone who
by his own estimation is part British, this rejection has taken on the
intensity of a family quarrel.

Much of the quarrel centers on the vexed issue of land redistribution.
As part of the pact that created Zimbabwe's independence, Britain
promised financial aid to help the young country redistribute land
from white farmers to blacks.

When this money was misused, the British government under Prime
Minister Margaret Thatcher began to withhold it. Mrs. Thatcher's
successor, John Major, agreed to restore the money. But before he
could do so, his successor, Tony Blair, reversed course, taking the
aid off the table, where it remains today. It is this grievance
against Britain for short-changing him on the land redistribution
issue that Mr. Mugabe craves understanding.

•

I left Mr. Mugabe's office with an uneasy sense of the futility of the
West's punitive diplomacy toward him. It was my feeling that he was
going to stop at nothing to prove that he had been wronged. Indeed, he
told me that he was prepared to sacrifice the welfare of his country
to prove his case against Britain.

That a precariously balanced individual like Mr. Mugabe is in charge
of a country and willing to destroy it to score points against an
enemy is a tragedy in itself. That he has an arguably justifiable
complaint against a major Western power — namely the repudiation of
the land reform pledge — is doubtless an embarrassment in the West.
But that Britain and others choose to shun Mr. Mugabe rather than
attempt to settle these differences is quite frankly reckless.

The West needs to change its approach to Mr. Mugabe. [...]

Full: <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/01/opinion/01holland.html?ref=opinion>