Meanwhile, in Africa...

Today my poor old liberal heart bleeds for Zimbabwe, Bush. It was not last night but the night before that I watched a BBC report on the eviction of thousands of impoverished people from the shacks and shambles where they have been squatting, perhaps illegally, for years, in the only place they can afford to call home. And now the despotic government of Robert Mugabe sends in its police to throw out the people, and wreck and burn their homes, along with all but the few pathetic possessions they manage to carry with them in their terrified flight. To nowhere, Bush. They have literally nowhere to go. Mugabe’s Minister of Whatever, in silk suit and tie, calm-faced and articulate, explained to his interviewer with the utmost patience how the action was taken to prevent the spread of disease and crime, and how new, appropriate housing would be provided when the slums were cleared. He did not mention where the people might be housed in the meantime, nor when the building of new homes might be commenced. The more likely theory, voiced by the reporter for the BBC, was that this was a vicious act of revenge, on the part of Mugabe, for the fact that these poor people supported his rival in the recent travesty of an election, conveniently rigged to assure his return to power.

Meanwhile, it seems, the world stands by and watches as the greater part of sub-Saharan Africa goes through its dreadfully familiar agonies, with tyranny, exploitation, violence and corruption the rule, and disease and poverty running rampant everywhere. I admire such people of conscience as Bob Geldof, who announced plans for a repeat of his rock extravanganza of a few years ago, not only to raise aid funds, but also to confront the G8, at their scheduled conference in Scotland, with the desperate need to help this continent in turmoil with such actions as the forgiving of debt and serious aid programs. The European countries have already done much better than ours, Bush, in making good on their pledges; and Tony Blair and other leaders are urging further commitments. The African crisis results, after all, in large part, from the colonial heritage they created. Your $15 billion was a hopeful gesture; but, when I last heard, it remained a gesture, nothing more: not a dime of actual money has resulted. While you await the arrival of democratic governments of which you can approve before you make good on your promises, thousands are dying daily of as a result of armed conflict, starvation and disease.

I do realize that there are no easy answers here. Pouring money into the coffers of corrupt regimes is risky and unprofitable business. But if we can spend countless billions ousting one corrupt dictator in Iraq, it’s a shameful puzzle to me that we can sit on our hands and gape while others use whole swaths of this great continent as their personal fiefs. And meanwhile, you spend your time on such pressing items as social security reform...