A break in the silence

An unpopular truth

[Reprinted from Issues & Views June 16, 2003]

Syndicated columnist Nat Hentoff continues to ask those embarrassing questions about the lack of interest in the turmoil now going on in Zimbabwe, where President Robert Mugabe is brutally repressing popular dissent and creating a food crisis with his land redistribution policies. In earlier commentaries Hentoff asked where were those who took up the cause of rape and slavery in Sudan -- the editorial writers, the civil rights groups, the women's groups, the Congressional Black Caucus, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Why have they been silent?

Now, we learn from Hentoff's latest column, that some black voices are speaking out. They are led by William Lucy, international secretary-treasurer of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. In a letter to Mugabe, also signed by a half dozen others, Lucy wrote that the signers "view the political repression underway in Zimbabwe as intolerable and in complete contradiction of the values and principles that were both the foundation of your liberation struggle and of our solidarity with that struggle."

The letter goes on to state, "We do not need to recount here the details of the increasing intolerant, repressive and violent policies of your government over the past three years, nor the devastating consequences of those policies. The use of repressive legislation does not, in our respectful view, render such actions justifiable or moral, because of their presumed 'legality.' . . . We have shared our concerns that land redistribution in Zimbabwe be used to fight the poverty of the majority and not to promote the narrow interests of another minority. . . . We ask that you initiate an unconditional dialogue with the political opposition in Zimbabwe and representatives of civil society aimed at ending this impasse. We call upon you to seek the diplomatic intervention of appropriately concerned African states and institutions, particularly South Africa and Nigeria, and SADC and the African Union, to assist in the mediation of Zimbabwe's civil conflict."

Among others who signed the letter were Bill Fletcher, Jr., president of TransAfrica Forum, Willie Baker of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, Horace Dawson, director of the Ralph J. Bunche International Affairs Center, and columnist Julianne Malveaux, a TransAfrica Forum board member.

In a separate statement entitled, "Why We Spoke Out on Zimbabwe," TransAfrica's Bill Fletcher writes, " . . . as with my other colleagues and co-signatories, it became clear that silence and inaction on the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe was no longer acceptable. Indeed, it is not clear that failing to comment on developments there had ever been a proper course of action."

Time will tell if any members of the Congressional Black Caucus or leaders of any of the civil rights organizations will join their voices to those who signed William Lucy's letter.

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