The curse of black Africans: their unrequited obsession with the white man

Andrew Kenny:

The curse of black Africans, in Africa and abroad, is their unrequited obsession with the white man. They have little interest in black people beyond their borders but enormous interest in white people. If there is an atrocity in an African country, black people outside that country will not care unless there are white people concerned, either as instigators or as victims.

When Mugabe slaughtered 20,000 blacks in southern Zimbabwe in 1983, nobody outside Zimbabwe, including the ANC, paid it the slightest attention. Nor did they care when, after 2000, he drove thousands of black farm workers out of their livelihoods and committed countless atrocities against his black population. But when he killed a dozen white farmers and pushed others off their farms, it caused tremendous excitement. Mugabe became a hero in the eyes of black activists in South Africa, the United States and England. That he has ruined Zimbabwe, a beautiful and naturally blessed country; that he has turned it from a food exporter to a hungry food importer; that he has caused 80% unemployment and 600% inflation; that he has killed tens of thousands of Africans; that he has crushed democracy; that he has reduced life expectancy from 55 years in 1980 when he came to power to 33 years now -- none of this matters compared with his glorious triumph in beating up a handful of white farmers.

Whenever there is a South African radio phone-in program on Zimbabwe, white South Africans and black Zimbabweans denounce Mugabe, and black South Africans applaud him. Therefore, one theory goes, Mbeki cannot afford to criticize Mugabe. This explains Mbeki's constant support for Mugabe, his endorsement of the fraudulent presidential election in 2002, and his recent statement -- made after Mugabe had shut down independent newspapers, rigged the voters' roll, terrorized opposition supporters and banned opposition party meetings -- that "I have no reason to think that anybody in Zimbabwe will militate against elections being free and fair."

Around the Blogosphere:

South Zimbabwe?