Is Zimbabwe Heading Toward Great Change or a Colossal Fall?

I have been eaten with anxiety as Zimbabwe's national election loomed closer this March 29th. My mind is torn between the agonizing wait and the fear of the day's arrival. Some of us are terrified at the endless possibilities of violence and death that civil disobedience will bring. I fear the inevitable; I hope to be wrong. Yet, I am also roused by a still beating heart from the people who are caught in this drama; a people so dogged in their determination to survive such prolonged oppression. A people so determined to have a voice. Zimbabwe is a place one cannot help but love. It is a rich land of olive-colored rolling hills and exotic animals; a spirited populace that continues to be courageous and resilient. Zimbabweans inspire me. A group of individuals that collectively have survived more wreckage than our consumption addicted country could ever know.

It is a tiny spot on the planet infested with poverty, disease and corruption at the hands of an 84 year-old syphilitic man that has hoarded power beyond the expiration date. Even when the people of this country say NO to another term of Robert Mugabe, he refuses to allow a fair and free election.

President "Bob" is running for his 6th consecutive term in office. He controls the media, the army, the Central Intelligence and the police force. He oversees the bank system, the food supply and the distribution channels. There is nothing that this man has not tobacco stained with his endless greed and corruption. I have seen it with my own eyes. His reign of terror is so wide and so powerful, that it followed me into South Africa after my deportation from Zimbabwe.

Mugabe continues to stay in power through his maniacal use of fear -- thought erasing, palm sweating, heart thumping fear. As the election draws ever closer, bribery, battery and bruises are every Zimbabweans one meal-a-day. The prevalence of fear has caused many families to leave the country until after the election. Some have had their lives threatened, others have decided on self-imposed exile, and the rest have given up and permanently moved to neighboring countries.

Like the Grinch on Christmas Eve, Mugabe flings presents at the very people he has hurled into poverty; people with so many stories, so few heard. Money drops from the sky to erase the tears from land gone barren and shriveled up crops. The Grinch's laugh echoes through the night as his cronies hoard the cash.

I am confused by Mugabe's last ditch efforts. Did he have a flicker of fear as he thought, "Could I lose this election"? Did he not print out enough phony ballets? Why is he wasting money when the results of the election are pre-determined? Will his tweaking of the constitution to station police at the polling stations hurt him?

The starvation I witnessed last august was on the brink of catastrophic with empty stores and an ever decreasing food supply. Seven months later, dog food has become a staple food. Last week a butcher got caught selling human meat at his store, under the guise of pig meat. Apparently the butcher had been killing Albino men and women and selling their meat. After hearing this story over the phone, I truly found it hard to believe. I cannot begin to understand that level of desperation or the barbaric action, so I am mute. I feel a colossal empathy and sadness for this beautiful country and the people who are driven to their knees. And I wonder, in this election, if someone hands you a bag of maize, would you choose another meal of rage?

There are real heroes among the people still living in Zimbabwe. The current opposition candidates are at the top of that heroic list: Simba Makoni, Langton Towungana and Morgan Tsvangirai. These men have put their personal lives at risk to create a different country. They know very well the danger that they welcome by listing their names on the ballot, by shaking someone's hand and saying "Vote for me".

There are other everyday heroes that the world will never know; human beings that will never make it to the front pages of a major newspaper even though they will have lost their lives standing up for what matters: The mother with six children who fights to be heard over screams of outrage at a systematic eradication of femininity though rape and abuse. She remembers somewhere in the recesses of her mind, that women can still create change. Another hero is the father, who once witnessed the president as a savior and watched his steady decline into corruption. He refuses to continue to give such a man his vote. Or the idealist youth, excited about their future and volunteers to put a candidate's poster up on the streets. Their belief continues to be that change is possible even when they are beaten and thrown in prison. Their only sustenance is the tattered remains of the posters. These everyday champions risk arrest and physical abuse, and are often forced into submission, but hope still sputters.

I'm scared for our country too. We have many critical issue to deal with in the United States right now; Issues that need a good plan and solid execution to American's to feel we are back on track. We have limited resources, and we need to choose carefully where we focus our time and energy and money. We cannot afford to be the Global Problem Solver. Yet, if we are to continue to be a nation that shows global leadership, we must help less fortunate countries. Zimbabwe is one of those countries. Yet, the United States is clearly absent as this drama continues to unfold. I have to question our criteria in assisting other countries. Is our decision of assistance dependent on intersecting needs or are monetary gains are involved? Where are human rights issues in that evaluation process? Are human rights on American's list at all?

I can't stand the fact that the only countries in Zimbabwe to help create a fair and free election this weekend are Russia and China. Where are all the other African leaders? How can they hide as they bear the brunt of a mass exodus from Zimbabwe? Do they not understand how it taxes their own countries and creates more crime and poverty? Are their pockets lined so deeply that they cannot get up from their plush leather chairs to see the line of beggars on the sidewalk below?

I am done. The truth is, even writing doesn't comfort me now, or reduce my anxiety. I am mostly resigned to the outcome of Saturday's election and can't bear to read a newspaper this weekend.

I wish someone would accuse me of spreading enormous exaggerations about this rogue inhabited country. It might give me someone else o focus on; to yell and scream at during this agonizing wait. The problem with that scenario is that anyone calling me on gross exaggerations would be wrong. They would learn that my words only scratch the surface of the atrocities unfolding in Zimbabwe. The helplessness I feel is shallow compared to Zimbabweans who are trapped in a world not of their own making. American's absence in this unfolding tragedy is criminal.

Follow Michealene Cristini Risley on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@mcrisley

Comments

[PierreLeClerke]

These United States of America cannot hope to hold the Light of Liberty again until we have broken the grip of greed that holds the tyrants torch firm.
Join U.S. April 19th in the great City of Philadelphia at Independence Hall @ 9am to begin a Constitutional Convention and ABOLISH this criminal government sitting our course firmly again on the path of Liberty for all Nations to see the Light of Liberty held high.

[Michealene]

PierreLC-check out my new blog...and respond to this person.

[mikeinvail]

I laud you optimism , but I fear the worst. For Mugabe to allow true election results would be so out of character as to be jaw dropping.
There is always hope.

[peterg76]

There is something noble about people risking life to participate in an election that they know is rigged. US voters could learn something.

[Michealene]

I completely agree with you. I have always dreamed of a incentive to get to 100% voting record in the US. Big Goal, yet-wouldn't it be great? We are so spoiled in the US- many don't think politics affects their daily lives.

[ZimboChick]

I am as resigned as you are. I am glad you have your facts to a tee although I have to tell you I did not hear about the Albino story. I will have to ask my mother. My reasoning is that when he dies - give or take 5 years - his henchmen will also be dead - the Mutasa's and company. As a Zimbabwean it is unheard of to wish someone death but that is all that is left. I am pleasantly surprised that Morgan and Simba think they have won. Tobaiwa Mudede's voice will be droning in the airwaves tomorrow to announce that Mugabe has won - OH HOW I WISH I COULD BE WRONG. You know - this is how Hitler killed people coz everyone was too busy tossing the issue around. I think it is almost fashionable to write about the aftermath. It happened in Rwanda (under Bill and Hillary Clinton's watch) and it is happening now in Darfur. To you Americans - vote wisely. Politics as usual will not do. Politics as usual lines pockets and allows people to lie in your face and you still rush like sheep to vote for them. I dare someone to challenge me but they have to explain why George Bush is in office? This is too much. Politicians hold our lives in their palms...

[Michealene]

I promised myself that I would not waste another written word on our current president. I have no idea how he ended up in a first or second term...probably fear and ignorance. This doesn't bode well for the intelligence of American people!

I wish the Albino story was the only I heard. The stories haunt me. I feel so incredibly helpless. We can't afford to let Zimbabwe suffer any longer, human rights should be at the top of our list. Rwanda continues to be a tragedy, but I have to say...that one of the very few who was passionate and concerned on Zimbabwe was Senator Clinton. No only when I went to Washington, but when I met her at an event in Hillsborough, California. She said "Why aren't we doing something to help them!" Why aren't we?

[Michealene]

Zimbo-check out the new blog-I would love for you to have dialogue on this. MCR

[Vista2020]

Anxiety is a good word about both the U.S. and Zimbabwe right now. Our Country seems to appear at the bottom of most surveys that I have seen regarding human rights so it is no surprise that we are not there to help. What is happening in Zimbabwe is beyond words and I cannot even imagine having to live like their citizens do day after day. We share the same anxiety. You see clearly.

-PEACE

[Michealene]

I wonder what the gift of clarity is when it strangled by helplessness.

[Orikinla]

My message to the people of Zimbabwe is very, very simple. We have come a long way in this democratic struggle. We have another fighting opportunity against this dictatorship for food and jobs - give it a try. If Mugabe steals it the people of Zimbabwe will know that their vote has been stolen and that he would be ruling by decree. But this is a referendum on Robert Mugabe's misrule over the last 10 years. I don't think that any sane Zimbabwean will cast a vote in favour of Zanu PF or in favour of Mugabe."
~ Morgan Tsvangirai , Presidential Candidate and the leader of a faction of Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change in an interview by Violet Gonda of SW Radio Africa on Friday March 7, 2008.

Millions of Zimbabweans will go to the polls tomorrow, but, will the ruthless life President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugaabe allow a free and fair election?

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has boasted that more than 90, 000 polling officers have been employed and deployed to the 8, 998 polling stations countrywide.

2, 400 local and 70 foreign observers have already been accredited.
400 local journalists and 5 international reporters have been accredited.

I hope President Robert Mugabe will lose in the presidential election. This would be the answer to the prayer of everyone who wants to see the end of the evils plaguing Zimbabwe

[TheSuaveOne]

It's been more than 24 hours since the last ballot was cast, yet there is no whiff of official results.Considering that results for the last two elections came out within a matter of ours, something tells me that there is something fishy.The symptoms are there, like Kenya, the delay could be used to doctor the elections, the initial rigging attempts having been overwhelmed by the will of the masses.I am glad the liberal side of America understand.

Even though I am British, my roots are in Botswana,and I know the impact Mugabe's regime has had on his people by the number of immigrants who run off to Botswana for something better.We have accountants doing piece jobs, washing cars, trained teachers in doing manual jobs.My heart goes out to the people of Zimbabwe, whose dignity has been stripped away, reduced to unwanted folks in diaspora.However, Mugabe's audacity for thuggery knows no bounds, so I am not holding my breath.Exit polls won't match up with 'official results'. the army will come out to mow the people down, and we will all be abck to square one.However, I hope I am wrong.

ZimboChick, I hope the best comes out of this.

[ZimboChick]

Dumela ma! (my Tswana is so bad lol). I really thank you and I have to tell you that I am humbled by everyone's comments and support. In the meantime we just wait.

[Michealene]

I am praying!!!