By now, many stories of terror tactics being employed by Mugabe's mob have reached the media. But now, an excellent blog in the country, This is Zimbabwe, has embarked on a project to map all the reports of attacks and terror that reported to them.
It is not the first time new internet mapping techniques have been used to raise awareness about tragedies. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum used Google Earth to first map the Darfur crisis, and then to map the holocaust itself.
The use of the technology to confirm the widespread genocide occurring in Darfur had a strong political effect - while UN bureaucrats were discussing what to call the atrocity, there was suddenly some visible pulling together of what had, until then, been a series of personal tragedies. Attacks on villages were built up into the bigger picture of widespread massacres.
Let's hope its effect in Zimbabwe will be to shake South Africa and other African neighbours out of their slumber and take firmer action against Mugabe.
Black Africa wanted rid of whitey and colonial rule. They got what they asked for and this is the predictable result.
Zimbabwe is nothing to do with us, let the Africans sort themselves out, although I won't be holding my breath for a solution.
Posted by: Keith Lonsdale | Thursday, 19 June 2008 at 12:51 PM
Keith Londsdale, member of the UKIP speaks out!
Yes Keith, I'm sure Africa would be much better if the colonials were still in charge...no wonder no-one except the other racist loonies takes your pathetic party seriously.
Posted by: Mr Bollo | Thursday, 19 June 2008 at 02:47 PM
I'd have to agree with Keith one one side, they got what they asked for. The african people just don't have the knowledge to govern themselves (not to say they can't). However the reverse racism on Mugabes part and the other 'freedom' fighters of Africa cannot be justified by the actions of the old colonialists. Enough is enough, grudges aside we need to pull together and oust Mugabe, help Zimbabwe's people and make sure these kinds of things don't happen again (yes, yes when hell freezes over).
On the other hand we are still human and even though its predictable people are dying.
T.I.A
Posted by: Sipho | Thursday, 19 June 2008 at 04:09 PM
Mr Bollo, I suspect that you know very little about Africa, other than the rantings of the trendy, left wing, tree hugging greenies who equally have never been and LIVED there.
I have lived there,and Keith Lonsdale is correct. You are misguided and plain wrong.
Posted by: Steve H | Thursday, 19 June 2008 at 06:38 PM
So, Steve H, you think people like you should be in charge of Africa, do you? And anyone who disagrees with you is a tree hugging greenie? You claim to have lived there, even if you have it doesn't necessarily mean you are an authority on it - there are plenty of ignorant people everywhere.
Posted by: Mr Bollo | Thursday, 19 June 2008 at 08:48 PM
Mr Bollo, I see that you have found somewhere else to air your ignorance.
Tell me, what do you know of Africa, its people and its politics? How many of its countries have you visited and lived/worked in? How many Africans have you actually ever spoken to at length?
I've had the benefit of working in nine of the continents countries and have lost count of the number of real Africans that I have met, worked and socialised with.
I look forward to you qualifying your implied experience and authority. And, for the record, I did not suggest that Africa should be run by the former colonial powers, merely that Black Africa got what it asked for.
Unfortunately for you, I am not intimidated by being called names and am unperturbed by unsubstantiated allegations. It really is about time that you and your left liberal chums came up with something a little bit more original than simply accusing anyone who does not subscribe to your own political dogma as "racist".
You would get on well with "Dirty European Socialist" (another coward hiding behind a silly pseudonym)as you have a great deal in common; he/she is also unable to rise above rabid obtuseness and regularly pontificates on subjects about which he/she knows little or nothing.
Posted by: Keith Lonsdale | Friday, 20 June 2008 at 01:03 AM
PS: The nine African countries I mentioned does not include those on the Mediterranean coast, that would make 12 in total:-)
And Sipho, there is no such thing as "reverse racism" (or "positive discrimination" for that matter); discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity is plain racism and plain wrong, regardless of who is dishing it out and who is on the receiving end.
It is not, however, in any way racist to recognise cultural differences or to criticise collective failure. Democracy and the rule of law have all but failed in many parts of Africa, in many cases due to inter-ethnic rivalry and in many others due to the self-protectionism of despotic regimes; I challenge anyone to prove the contrary to be true (not you Bollo, you don't have the wit).
Posted by: Keith Lonsdale | Friday, 20 June 2008 at 01:41 AM
Keith, it is a pity that all your experience of travelling and working in other countries has done nothing to broaden your mind, but seem to have turned you into an isolationist, looking back to some golden age of empire when Britain was 'Great Britain', rather than the relatively insignificant little island of call centres that it is now. It is also more than a little ironic that someone who supports a political party who wishes to put a freeze on UK immigration makes his living working abroad! Or perhaps you aren't capable of seeing that?
I didn't claim to be an expert on Africa, I merely objected to the tone of your comment, which I think speaks for itself. The implication of your statement is clear to anyone with half a brain - Africa was better when 'we' were in changed, and it was obvious that black Africa would never be able to run its own affairs. Your veneer is wearing very thin.
Posted by: Mr Bollo | Friday, 20 June 2008 at 10:36 AM
"Zimbabwe is nothing to do with us".
Same about all the murders and the condition over there but I couldn't agree more.
Why do our useless British governments keep on meddling with other countries.
They are a compulsive Country molester, continually fiddling about with Countries they have previously fiddled about with.
Afghanistan, Iraq, Burma, Israel, umpteen countries that the British governments just can't keep their hands &/or minds off.
It is a PERVERSITY.
A PERVERSITY.
If Britain was a person it would have been locked up ages ago and rightly so!.
Britain the Country Molesting Pervert!!.
Posted by: Sean Hamerton | Friday, 20 June 2008 at 10:44 AM
Mr Bollo: "I merely objected to the tone of your comment"-No you didn't, you made a vitriolic, false and completely unsubstantiated allegation, not just against me, but also against many others, and not for the first time.
I have absolutely no desire to see a return to colonial rule in Africa, either by the UK or anyone else. However, it is an inescapable, if uncomfortable fact, that a great many Africans were better off before indigenous governments were installed; Zimbabweans more so than just about any others. Mugabe has taken the country that used to be the breadbasket of Africa from feast and surplus to famine and poverty. The decay of postcolonial indigenous rule is evident all over the continent, but this is what Africa wanted so they must sort it out for themselves.
There is no ironic conflict between working abroad (which I do no longer) and being against uncontrolled immigration. Many governments and international companies have people representing their interests abroad, which is what I was engaged in. I have no objection to similar arrangements in the UK. There is no other country on Earth with such ludicrously lax and unsustainable immigration rules as NuLabour Britain.
I am certainly not isolationist, and neither is UKIP. International cooperation is essential in today’s World and can be achieved without the need for political integration; NATO is a shining example of this.
I want to be governed from Westminster, by a democratically accountable government, not from Brussels by an unaccountable commission. Neither am I (or UKIP) anti-European. Europe and the European Union are two completely separate entities; one is a geographical collection of independent nation states, each with its own distinct cultural identity. The EUropean Union is a power hungry, undemocratic and corrupt socialist behemoth. It exists only to serve itself, not its people.
Finally, Britain has the Worlds fifth largest economy and considerable global influence, which anyone who has travelled extensively will know (although our credibility has been seriously dented over the last decade), hardly an "insignificant little island of call centres". And you have the gall to accuse me of narrow mindedness? Dream on…..
Posted by: Keith Lonsdale | Friday, 20 June 2008 at 06:43 PM
Continent debate.
Black Africans, as a white European, I ask you but one simple question: Would a white European ruled Africa be happier?
Posted by: paul maleski | Friday, 19 December 2008 at 06:15 PM