Comrade nathan
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ROME – The leaders of Zimbabwe and Venezuela teamed up at a U.N. hunger forum Monday to blame the United States and other wealthy nations for famine, war and pollution, with the African leader calling President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair “unholy men.”
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe described Blair and Bush as “two unholy men of our millennium,” comparing their alliance in the Iraq war to that of Adolf Hitler and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in World War II.EFE
“Countries such as the U.S. and Britain have taken it upon themselves to decide for us in the developing world, even to interfere in our domestic affairs and to bring about what they call regime change,” Mugabe said.
“The voice of Mr. Bush and the voice of Mr. Blair can’t decide who shall rule in Zimbabwe, who shall rule in Africa, who shall rule in Asia, who shall rule in Venezuela, who shall rule in Iran, who shall rule in Iraq.”
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, a fierce critic of Washington, accused “the North American empire” of threatening “all life on the planet.” American and British delegates said Mugabe and Chávez made a mockery of the forum, while the verbal attacks generated applause from other delegates at the gathering of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.
U.S. Ambassador Tony Hall, who protested against Mugabe’s presence at the celebrations, told Reuters it was “very unfortunate” that the Zimbabwean leader had politicized an event that was supposed to draw attention to world hunger.
“I think he chews up his own people and spits them out,” said Hall, who visited Zimbabwe in August. “He has taken a perfectly good country and ruined it.” Blair’s spokesman told reporters: “Nothing that Mr. Mugabe says surprises us or will deflect us from our view of what is going on in Zimbabwe, which is far from a laughing matter”.
According to U.N. estimates, some four million of Zimbabwe’s 12 million people urgently need food aid. Critics say Mugabe’s policies have considerably worsened their plight, though he denies this. Mugabe’s government has seized thousands of white-owned commercial farms since 2000 under a land-reform program critics say has crippled Zimbabwe’s agriculture-based economy and contributed to widespread hunger there.
Mugabe defended the seizures as “redressing the past gross imbalances in land ownership which were institutionalized by British colonialism.” Until 2000, whites farmed 17 percent of the country and earned most of its export revenue.
Recent constitutional changes in Zimbabwe will prevent white owners from recovering confiscated farms and could be used to strip critics of their passports and right to travel.
The European Union has imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe that include banning Mugabe and other government officials from traveling to EU countries. But an agreement between Italy and the FAO allows all delegations to visit the U.N. agency’s headquarters, FAO spokesman Nick Parsons said.
Chávez praised Mugabe’s policies, saying the African leader had been “demonized” and that Venezuela was enacting similar reforms to undo “the unfair structures of colonialism.”
The Venezuelan government has deployed soldiers to occupy dozens of privately owned farms and food processing plants in recent months while authorities investigate the validity of property titles and inspect lands. Chávez also railed against climate change, agriculture trade barriers and Third World debt – all problems he blamed on rich countries. He called on wealthy nations to cancel debt or give poor countries a grace period of at least a year on interest payments.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva urged rich countries to put hunger on their political agendas while calling on developing nations to root out corruption that often diverts aid.
“Poor countries must give an example of honesty, of ethics, so that we truly deserve the solidarity from millions and millions of people who would like to contribute but sometimes are not sure their money will go where it should go.”
The U.N. agency said it signed a deal with Brazil to run food programs for children in developing countries around the world. Paraguayan President Nicanor Duarte denounced “asymmetric protectionism” as the cause of much of the world’s poverty, particularly among nations with emerging economies. “Our peoples don’t need charity. We need fairer international trade (and) globalization in which we all win” with open markets in the sectors in which our countries are competitive,” he said.
By Daily Journal Staff
with AP, Reuters and EFE
http://www.thedailyjournalonline.com/article.asp?CategoryId=10717&ArticleId=200752
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe described Blair and Bush as “two unholy men of our millennium,” comparing their alliance in the Iraq war to that of Adolf Hitler and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in World War II.EFE
“Countries such as the U.S. and Britain have taken it upon themselves to decide for us in the developing world, even to interfere in our domestic affairs and to bring about what they call regime change,” Mugabe said.
“The voice of Mr. Bush and the voice of Mr. Blair can’t decide who shall rule in Zimbabwe, who shall rule in Africa, who shall rule in Asia, who shall rule in Venezuela, who shall rule in Iran, who shall rule in Iraq.”
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, a fierce critic of Washington, accused “the North American empire” of threatening “all life on the planet.” American and British delegates said Mugabe and Chávez made a mockery of the forum, while the verbal attacks generated applause from other delegates at the gathering of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.
U.S. Ambassador Tony Hall, who protested against Mugabe’s presence at the celebrations, told Reuters it was “very unfortunate” that the Zimbabwean leader had politicized an event that was supposed to draw attention to world hunger.
“I think he chews up his own people and spits them out,” said Hall, who visited Zimbabwe in August. “He has taken a perfectly good country and ruined it.” Blair’s spokesman told reporters: “Nothing that Mr. Mugabe says surprises us or will deflect us from our view of what is going on in Zimbabwe, which is far from a laughing matter”.
According to U.N. estimates, some four million of Zimbabwe’s 12 million people urgently need food aid. Critics say Mugabe’s policies have considerably worsened their plight, though he denies this. Mugabe’s government has seized thousands of white-owned commercial farms since 2000 under a land-reform program critics say has crippled Zimbabwe’s agriculture-based economy and contributed to widespread hunger there.
Mugabe defended the seizures as “redressing the past gross imbalances in land ownership which were institutionalized by British colonialism.” Until 2000, whites farmed 17 percent of the country and earned most of its export revenue.
Recent constitutional changes in Zimbabwe will prevent white owners from recovering confiscated farms and could be used to strip critics of their passports and right to travel.
The European Union has imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe that include banning Mugabe and other government officials from traveling to EU countries. But an agreement between Italy and the FAO allows all delegations to visit the U.N. agency’s headquarters, FAO spokesman Nick Parsons said.
Chávez praised Mugabe’s policies, saying the African leader had been “demonized” and that Venezuela was enacting similar reforms to undo “the unfair structures of colonialism.”
The Venezuelan government has deployed soldiers to occupy dozens of privately owned farms and food processing plants in recent months while authorities investigate the validity of property titles and inspect lands. Chávez also railed against climate change, agriculture trade barriers and Third World debt – all problems he blamed on rich countries. He called on wealthy nations to cancel debt or give poor countries a grace period of at least a year on interest payments.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva urged rich countries to put hunger on their political agendas while calling on developing nations to root out corruption that often diverts aid.
“Poor countries must give an example of honesty, of ethics, so that we truly deserve the solidarity from millions and millions of people who would like to contribute but sometimes are not sure their money will go where it should go.”
The U.N. agency said it signed a deal with Brazil to run food programs for children in developing countries around the world. Paraguayan President Nicanor Duarte denounced “asymmetric protectionism” as the cause of much of the world’s poverty, particularly among nations with emerging economies. “Our peoples don’t need charity. We need fairer international trade (and) globalization in which we all win” with open markets in the sectors in which our countries are competitive,” he said.
By Daily Journal Staff
with AP, Reuters and EFE
http://www.thedailyjournalonline.com/article.asp?CategoryId=10717&ArticleId=200752
). As a direct result of Mugabe's policies production of food has dropped substantially and economic activity in general has nosedived.