As many know, some of my family and I recently returned from Southern Africa. During that trip, we went to Zimbabwe. Well sort of… we went to Victoria Falls town which is in Zimbabwe. We spent three days there.
As I have told people about being there since I have been home, I would guess maybe 50% of them actually realized that when I said we had been in Zimbabwe that we were in a place of turmoil. Like they didn’t really know what was going on, but knew they had heard something on the news. Of those, I would guess 10% actually had a pretty good idea about the situation. And the other 50%… “Oh wow that sounds amazing!” they would say. No idea even where Zimbabwe is I don’t think.
That is fine though. To each their own on whether they care about what is going in the rest of the world. Trouble is, even those who supposedly care the most, don’t seem to.
For those that don’t know, Zimbabwe is currently the site of one of the world’s most difficult political situations. Robert Mugabe, leader of the Zanu PF, has been the president of Zimbabwe ever since it gained its independence from Great Britain some thirty years ago. Mugabe was a huge figure in the independence movement and has garnered much respect for that work ever since. Mugabe’s grip on power weakened in the late 90’s as many (dominantly black) people felt that despite the independence movement, White Zimbabweans (English decent) still owned the majority of wealth in the country. As part of a move to strengthen his political support with the overwhelmingly black population, Mugabe started a program of land re-distribution in 2000 where the government basically made it compulsory for land to be taken by the government and given back to the lack population. There have been, of course, countless reports and questions that the redistribution favored Mugabe supporters, but it turns out that was irrelevant as the whole economy came crashing down.
Here is where a bit of a lesson in fundamental economics comes in. There are obviously countless complex theories on the inner-workings of market-based economies. However, at the most fundamental level, the whole idea of free market economy is underpinned by the strict observance of property rights (the idea that what you earn something in the market, it is yours to keep). In this case, Mugabe’s program of land retribution obviously deeply undermined this most fundamental requirement for a free market to thrive. And the trouble begins…
Ever since, the economy of Zimbabwe has been in a horrible downward spiral. Everybody likes to claim reasons ranging from sanctions by the west to drought but the simple fact is that when people doubt their personal property rights, they stop producing. With no production there is no income and no goods available for sale. Goods must then be imported except that the government has lost all tax revenue so they begin assessing huge tariffs on imports. The government continued to “print” money but there is nothing to buy with it making the money worthless. Worthless money creates hyper-inflation.
Inflation estimates are all over the place but I sat and looked at a lunch menu in Zimbabwe that inflated its prices by 10% per day. That is compounded to equal 117,000,000,000,000,000% (117 quadrillion percent) per year!!
Anyway, with such harsh economic conditions, there was of course again a movement to vote out Mugabe and his party. This time there was nothing Mugabe could do but cheat in the elections, incite violence and intimidation, etc. And that is where we stand today… Zimbabwe is a huge mess and its people are suffering.
Here is my question. At what point should outside parties ACTUALLY get involved. I don’t think we should, as the USA, go medal around in other people’s domestic affairs. Maybe it would be a good time for the UN to get involved. After all, if there was ever time the UN charter would apply, I would think this is it. I quote from the preamble of that charter “WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS DETERMINED to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples”.
Yet we know they are totally ineffective in dealing with anything of this scale (Cambodia, Rwanda, Yugoslavia, Somalia, Liberia, Chechnya, and others come to mind). I DO NOT have an answer for this question, odd as that seems to hear me say. I do know that the people of Zimbabwe were great and don’t deserve what they are living through. I do know that it is a crying shame that the whole world is scared to visit one of the world’s most prolific natural wonders because of the situation. I do know that when people have had enough and that when they try to stand up for themselves (which they clearly are doing), it is probably time to help them out.
What I do encourage most is awareness… so watch BBC news instead of the crap local news. Besides, it’s commercial free! Maybe one day when international consciousness is higher, we can have an effective international organization to protect basic human rights around the globe.
