A Little Light Reading
This is something I only just uncovered on a blog/online newspaper called The Zimbabwean, and I thought that it'd be worth a heads-up.
So little understanding of the issues
By Georgina Godwin
LONDON - Plastic awareness wristbands are the new charity ribbons. Where once people sported red ribbons for AIDS or pink for breast cancer, now a whole industry has grown up around different coloured plastic bands which are worn as much as a fashion statement as anything else.
This craze is sweeping across Britain and America. Undoubtedly the trendiest band to wear is the white “Make Poverty History” accessory. But hang on, how do you distinguish that, at first glance, from the white “Emphysema and Lung Cancer” wrist band or the white “Star Wars Jedi Knight” band? And if you wear the Emphysema band should you wear the Blue “Anti Smoking” band too or might that be confused with the blue “Beat Bullying” or even the blue and white “Tsunami Relief” band. So many dilemmas, so many wardrobe crises, so little understanding of the real issues.
When political issues become a fashion statement, and collectors are as likely to wear the green “Kiss me, I’m Irish” band as the black and white “Stand up Speak Up” anti racism band, how committed are the wearers to the causes they profess to espouse?
Slogan politics, headlined by pop stars, has to be better than nothing I suppose, but is it going to change the world? G8 comes ever closer, and Bono and his chums (all wearing their wristbands) are doing the media circuit with a vengeance talking about debt relief and making poverty history in Africa.
The premier British news analysis programme, Newsnight, carried an excellent interview with Labour MP Kate Hoey last week. She had just returned from Zimbabwe and was describing the devastation she saw. The next guest was Bono. Questioned on Zimbabwe the U2 front man looked uncomfortable. He was asked if Mbeki should be prevented from attending G8 because of his inaction over Zimbabwe.
Bono said what was happening in Zimbabwe was “very sad, very upsetting” and that he believed Thabo was working behind the scenes to sort it out or words to that effect. He continued, saying that Mbeki’s presence was necessary because “we need a deal for Africa”. And then came the point… “You can’t diminish what is happening in Zimbabwe, but you have to remember Africa is not just one country. It’s 50 countries”. Well, 54 actually Bono, but hey, when we can be so easily dismissed, who is counting?
It would appear from the outside that the Zanu (PF) regime is stronger than ever, and the latest round of abuse has served to crush the people very effectively. Other African nations have endorsed the election results; South Africa refuses to speak out. The West has imposed targeted sanctions and withdrawn aid.
Theoretically, the foreign bank accounts of our corrupt leaders have been closed, and as far as Britain, the EU, America and some of the Commonwealth are concerned, Zimbabwe is a pariah state. So what? Mugabe is still in power. People are still suffering.
He has used the very regulations put in place to protect citizens, against his people. All those international treaties – respect sovereignty, non aggression, human rights etc…
For this brutal man is also clever, and has used the rules to subjugate the people. The rules were made at a different time, when it was thought that leaders would always try and do the best for their people. After the horror of the Second World War, it was presumed that evil on that scale would not, could not, rise again. But it has.
So, what does he want? Blood? He has had plenty of that. Money? He has that too. Mugabe has reached the point where he simply does not care what anyone thinks of him. Or has he? I believe it is respect, particularly from the West that he craves. Maybe, like a playground bully, if we just tell him he has won, he’ll stop?
Will he let people eat and stop destroying homes, businesses, lives if we say he was right all along?
Of one thing I am certain; no wristband is going to make a difference, unless it is on Mugabe’s arm, is made of metal and comes with a key.
So little understanding of the issues
By Georgina Godwin
LONDON - Plastic awareness wristbands are the new charity ribbons. Where once people sported red ribbons for AIDS or pink for breast cancer, now a whole industry has grown up around different coloured plastic bands which are worn as much as a fashion statement as anything else.
This craze is sweeping across Britain and America. Undoubtedly the trendiest band to wear is the white “Make Poverty History” accessory. But hang on, how do you distinguish that, at first glance, from the white “Emphysema and Lung Cancer” wrist band or the white “Star Wars Jedi Knight” band? And if you wear the Emphysema band should you wear the Blue “Anti Smoking” band too or might that be confused with the blue “Beat Bullying” or even the blue and white “Tsunami Relief” band. So many dilemmas, so many wardrobe crises, so little understanding of the real issues.
When political issues become a fashion statement, and collectors are as likely to wear the green “Kiss me, I’m Irish” band as the black and white “Stand up Speak Up” anti racism band, how committed are the wearers to the causes they profess to espouse?
Slogan politics, headlined by pop stars, has to be better than nothing I suppose, but is it going to change the world? G8 comes ever closer, and Bono and his chums (all wearing their wristbands) are doing the media circuit with a vengeance talking about debt relief and making poverty history in Africa.
The premier British news analysis programme, Newsnight, carried an excellent interview with Labour MP Kate Hoey last week. She had just returned from Zimbabwe and was describing the devastation she saw. The next guest was Bono. Questioned on Zimbabwe the U2 front man looked uncomfortable. He was asked if Mbeki should be prevented from attending G8 because of his inaction over Zimbabwe.
Bono said what was happening in Zimbabwe was “very sad, very upsetting” and that he believed Thabo was working behind the scenes to sort it out or words to that effect. He continued, saying that Mbeki’s presence was necessary because “we need a deal for Africa”. And then came the point… “You can’t diminish what is happening in Zimbabwe, but you have to remember Africa is not just one country. It’s 50 countries”. Well, 54 actually Bono, but hey, when we can be so easily dismissed, who is counting?
It would appear from the outside that the Zanu (PF) regime is stronger than ever, and the latest round of abuse has served to crush the people very effectively. Other African nations have endorsed the election results; South Africa refuses to speak out. The West has imposed targeted sanctions and withdrawn aid.
Theoretically, the foreign bank accounts of our corrupt leaders have been closed, and as far as Britain, the EU, America and some of the Commonwealth are concerned, Zimbabwe is a pariah state. So what? Mugabe is still in power. People are still suffering.
He has used the very regulations put in place to protect citizens, against his people. All those international treaties – respect sovereignty, non aggression, human rights etc…
For this brutal man is also clever, and has used the rules to subjugate the people. The rules were made at a different time, when it was thought that leaders would always try and do the best for their people. After the horror of the Second World War, it was presumed that evil on that scale would not, could not, rise again. But it has.
So, what does he want? Blood? He has had plenty of that. Money? He has that too. Mugabe has reached the point where he simply does not care what anyone thinks of him. Or has he? I believe it is respect, particularly from the West that he craves. Maybe, like a playground bully, if we just tell him he has won, he’ll stop?
Will he let people eat and stop destroying homes, businesses, lives if we say he was right all along?
Of one thing I am certain; no wristband is going to make a difference, unless it is on Mugabe’s arm, is made of metal and comes with a key.
posted by Will Templeton at 9:52 PM
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