Like most other folk who hope for a world where everybody gets a decent life chance, I’ve watched the situation in Zimbabwe deteriorate in a process of unravelling from corrupt oppression, through violent intimidation, to what is now a tangled mess of human misery, fear and suffering, and the very real possibility that Mugabe is there to stay for the foreseeable future. My emotional responses move from visceral outrage, to impotent rage to headshaking disbelief at the lack of international machinery capable of removing such a brutal threat to the lives and wellbeing of an entire nation.
Discussions, arguments, negotiations, opinions, resolutions, – there is a very real danger in our world when there is no international forum capable of withstanding the defiance and violence of those who seize power and use it against their own people. The United Nations once again presents as an instituiton so administratively cumbersome, so politically timid, so addicted to rhetoric, so crippled by the impossible expectation that it can perform balancing acts capable of meeting the vested interests of the key actors, that it has been marginalised in a process that has gone on now for years. And the South African President who has favoured quiet background diplomacy is now identified with an election that wasn’t only dishonest, a sham and a mockery of the people of Zimbabwe, but an election which has also become a dangerous focus of polarised enmities and intimdiation. Neighbouring states and African para-national organistations will have their own reasons for non-intervention – but whatever else those reasons are, it is hard to consider them humanitarian or motivated by any balancing concern for political and social justice.
I’ve never pretended that this blog is a place of political expertise, and on serious matters it is more important to be wise than clever, reticent than outspoken.The contemporary political complexities of Africa are so tied up with colonial history, imperial legacies, economic inequities, tribal hostilities and nationalist and political ideologies, that it is is hard to see past them to the human tragedy of a continent rich in resources, so vibrant with human life in its diversity and possibility. So I’m not looking for, becuase I’m not sure if they are there to be found, quick, painless or even painful solutions.
But as a Christian theologian I am not prepared to back off as if the Gospel of Jesus Christ has no relevance, as if our calling as ministers of reconciliation has no practical purchase in such an unreconciled world, and as if our bearing witness to Jesus as the one in whom the Kingdom has, is and will come, was and is merely wishful thinking. So I am spending a while today thinking about Zimbabwe; wondering what crucifixion and resurrection, love and reconciliation, mercy and judgement, as revealed in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, might lead me to conclude and to pray –
- for the people of Zimbabwe
- for Robert Mugabe
- for the United Nations
- for Africa and its future
I invite you to join your voice with all those praying for justice, peace and reconciliation.
Update
Just watched the Andrew Marr show and heard Desmond Tutu followed by John Sentamu. Two Anglican church leaders, with deep, deep roots in Africa, speaking truth to power and doing so as those with moral authority. Their right to speak on behalf of the people of Zimbabwe, and the influence their words have, give further strength to the international community. Off to church now, to pray and imagine a hopeful future for those who live in fear and despair.
Leave a Reply