BY ALEX MATTHEWS
Military control over diamond mining in Zimbabwe’s eastern Marange district has resulted in a brutal mix of massacres, forced labour, beatings and rape.
This is according to a comprehensive report released last week by Human Rights Watch (HRW), the New York-based rights NGO, which interviewed over 100 people in the region in February 2009.
Mining [...]
Massacres, forced labour haunt Zimbabwe diamond fields
Iran: oversimplifying the issues or supporting the demand for civil political rights?
BY JAKE
The state of civil unrest in Iran and how many of us have been responding to it has got me rather bothered. On several occasions, I’ve been accused of “polarising the issue” or making hot-headed judgments about the situation when I don’t have a real understanding of the political climate in Iran.
This note is [...]
A more effective approach in Zimbabwe
Rory Short argues that it would have been far better for the MDC to have called on the
people of Zimbabwe to actively refuse, whilst ZANU-PF illegitimately clings onto power, to recognise any aspect of government as legitimate.
Zimbabwe’s government of national unity is a failure
Alex Matthews argues that the MDC serves merely as a legitimising mechanism for Zanu PF’s totalitarian agenda. Little wonder, he says, that the country is still falling apart when Zanu PF shamelessly grips onto power. Stalling reforms proposed in the GNU agreement, it’s sent a clear message that it remains the party calling the shots.
