More African intrigue?
Doctor who left a curse on Zimbabwe Mugabe loses key ally as leader of war veterans and scourge of white farmers dies Andrew Meldrum in Harare and Chris McGreal in Johannesburg Tuesday June 5, 2001, The Guardian Few will mourn the death yesterday of Chenjerai Hitler Hunzvi, the war veterans leader who, as much as Robert Mugabe, spearheaded the invasion of hundreds of white farms in Zimbabwe and led his supporters to murder with impunity. Drivers in Harare made clear their feelings about the death of the man who never actually fought in the liberation struggle against the white Rhodesian government as they honked their horns in celebration. But outside the hospital ward where Hunzvi died yesterday, his supporters stood vigil and vowed revenge on the celebrants. Almost everyone was left wondering what it will mean for Zimbabwe to lose a man who was more widely loathed than Mr Mugabe, yet also wildly popular among his supporters. The war veterans' leader was one of the very few who dared to threaten and cajole the president, and he arguably posed as much a potential threat to Mr Mugabe's power as any political opponent. But so long as Hunzvi was on the president's side, he was also Mr Mugabe's greatest asset as the leader of the shock troops in the assault on the political threat to Zanu-PF's rule. Hunzvi, 51, collapsed a fortnight ago and was confined to a heavily guarded hospital room. The official diagnosis was malaria but his battle with Aids was well known and evident from the occasional infections that afflicted his face. Hunzvi, a qualified doctor, first reared his head in the public consciousness five years ago when he was accused of ripping off a government fund to pay compensation to veterans of the liberation war. He allegedly greatly exaggerated the extent of their injuries, and invented a few for himself even though he never took up a gun against Ian Smith's white regime. In 1997 he was elected head of the war veterans. He proved a dynamic leader, transforming a do-nothing organisation of has-beens into the most threatening and powerful group in the country. Initially the group turned against Mr Mugabe when Hunzvi forcefully demanded hefty pensions and gratuities for the 40,000 war veterans. Zimbabwe's president was unused to threats and, realising that the potential power of the war veterans could be used against him or by him, reached a swift compromise. The old soldiers got their money - although Hunzvi stood accused of embezzling about £500,000 of it - and Mr Mugabe got a private army. He was to need it, because the hefty, unbudgeted cost of buying the war veterans off triggered Zimbabwe's economic crisis and helped turned public opinion even more against the president. After Hunzvi was let loose, he liked to be called Hitler. Do you know why they call me Hitler? he spat at a white farm manager last year. It is because I am the biggest terrorist in Zimbabwe. I am the most dangerous man in this country. And you must do what I tell you. There were not many in Zimbabwe - friend or foe - who disagreed with that description. Hunzvi spearheaded the violent invasions of 1,800 white-owned farms. Nineteen people were murdered - 12 black labourers and seven white farmers - in the process. Countless others were beaten. Some were raped. After the assault on the farms was under way, Hunzvi turned his attention to last June's parliamentary election campaign. The war veterans were let loose on the opposition Movement for Democratic Change and its supporters, killing 40 people and brutalising thousands more. The violence and a good bit of rigging helped Mr Mugabe retain control of parliament by a slender margin. When the election results were challenged in the courts, witnesses prepared to testify against Hunzvi were singled out and beaten. Hunzvi's reward was a seat in parliament for the Chikomba constituency. In the last two months Hunzvi sent his veterans to invade more than 100 factories, beat up managers - black and white - and extort large sums of money. Inevitably, the favoured targets were companies thought to fund the opposition. The war veterans' leader was no respecter of diplomatic protection either. He bluntly threatened foreign diplomats and lastmonth his war veterans assaulted the Canadian high commissioner to Zimbabwe, prompting the Ottawa government to halt all financial aid and impose other diplomatic sanctions. Neither was Hunzvi reluctant to set an example to his men. He publicly beat opposition supporters with an iron bar and human rights groups accused him of personally torturing Mr Mugabe's opponents in his medical rooms during the parliamentary campaign. Earlier this year Hunzvi threw a petrol bomb at four opposition members of parliament and ordered 60 of his followers to beat them. Why should we observe the law? This is our country and we can do what we like, Hunzvi said. In case there was any doubt, Mr Mugabe settled the issue by
Re: African intrigue-- QUERY ON FORMAT????
Keaney Michael wrote: Patrick Bond on potential Zimbabwe coup reports: Probably just white folks' gossip. It always gets a bit out of hand in these parts. = Perhaps. Nevertheless I'm sorry -- I completely lost track of who was saying what in this post. What is the separator separating? Carrol
Re: Re: African intrigue-- QUERY ON FORMAT????
http://csf.colorado.edu/pen-l/2001II/ - Original Message - From: Keaney Michael [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2001 11:42 PM Subject: [PEN-L:12466] African intrigue Patrick Bond on potential Zimbabwe coup reports: Probably just white folks' gossip. It always gets a bit out of hand in these parts. = Perhaps. Nevertheless the Guardian reports are very detailed (considering the general aversion to foreign news) and plausibly argue that the military's interests, including those in Zaire/Congo, would be under threat were Mugabe to lose the forthcoming election, or, worse still, lead the country further into chaos as food and fuel shortages take hold. The articles also claim that the otherwise loyal military resents the insertion into their ranks of the war veterans by Mugabe, in an apparent attempt to shore up the military's commitment to the present regime. = More interesting is the overall balance of forces in Mugabe's ZanuPF, after a couple of (apparently truly accidental) car crashes the past few weeks which killed two militarist loyalists in the cabinet. ZanuPF looks like it'll lose next year's election pretty convincingly. = Assuming that the election is allowed to take place at all. It is not clear that a military coup would be necessary for the cancellation of this election, given Mugabe's desperate efforts to cling on. = (My book, Zimbabwe's Plunge, is out at publishers' review. A sneak preview's at http://csf.colorado.edu/jwsr (this issue)) = Thanks for the tip. We could have mentioned elsewhere just how notable was the success of the IMF here too. = And as for Powell, here's what we think of his appearance at our uni last Friday: = Blair's sudden interest in Africa is timely if Britain, as the former colonial power and overseer of the transition to Mugabe rule in the first place, is expected to take a leading role in any post-Mugabe clean up. This would be consistent with a pattern observed in the Balkans, whereby the US undermines, to the best of its ability, whatever inconvenient regime stands in its way, and others clean up afterwards. The latest fiasco in Macedonia seems to confirm that pattern. Speaking of white folks' gossip, what do you make of the plot to oust Mbeki involving Ramaphosa et al.? Michael K. - Original Message - From: Carrol Cox [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2001 6:13 AM Subject: [PEN-L:12477] Re: African intrigue-- QUERY ON FORMAT Keaney Michael wrote: Patrick Bond on potential Zimbabwe coup reports: Probably just white folks' gossip. It always gets a bit out of hand in these parts. = Perhaps. Nevertheless I'm sorry -- I completely lost track of who was saying what in this post. What is the separator separating? Carrol
Re: African intrigue
From: Keaney Michael [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Thu, 31 May 2001 09:42:57 +0300 Perhaps. Nevertheless the Guardian reports are very detailed (considering the general aversion to foreign news) and plausibly argue that the military's interests, including those in Zaire/Congo, would be under threat were Mugabe to lose the forthcoming election, or, worse still, lead the country further into chaos as food and fuel shortages take hold. The Yes but a) fuel shortages are now a couple of years old, with most people figuring out how to make do; and b) regular predictions of food shortages -- and more general economic meltdown -- have, in the context of fairly decent rainy seasons (the last few) always failed to materialise. I gather there may be some problems with wheat coming up. But Zim is a country that muddles through, sometimes surprisingly well. If the lefty opposition ever get serious about trying to pressure Mugabe via sanctions, they will have to be incredibly surgical to have an impact. articles also claim that the otherwise loyal military resents the insertion into their ranks of the war veterans by Mugabe, in an apparent attempt to shore up the military's commitment to the present regime. The otherwise loyal military is soft at the base. (See below.) But that doesn't mean that the generals will knock off Mugabe. This isn't quite so vulnerable a situation as was DRC under Laurent Kabila. Assuming that the election is allowed to take place at all. It is not clear that a military coup would be necessary for the cancellation of this election, given Mugabe's desperate efforts to cling on. Yes, I spent last June doing official election observing in the eastern province of Zim. I'll send you my report off-list. I saw serious rural terror, worse than I've seen in SA's apartheid townships, Chiapas, Port-au-Prince... Thanks for the tip. We could have mentioned elsewhere just how notable was the success of the IMF here too. Sure. That's the subject of some debate, but not enough. My rap on Zim hinges on the fact that the WB/IMF gave Mugabe the highest possible evaluation score for structural adjustment during the mid-1990s, but since that had no correlation whatsoever with reality, and since Mugabe knew he was in a terrible neolib cul-de-sac, he then began (around September 1997) his left zig-zagging. The other crucial element was the rise of left civil society opposition processes. But Mugabe is still limited to classic nationalist talk-left, act-right posturing. Speaking of white folks' gossip, what do you make of the plot to oust Mbeki involving Ramaphosa et al.? I just see yet another mediocre hack around Mbeki (in this case, police minister Steve Tshwete) making a mess, trying to shore up his boss prior to next year's ANC congress. There was never any likelihood of Ramaphosa, Sexwale and Phosa running against Mbeki. But Tshwete wanted to signal that the ANC would play hardball, engaging in character assassination to intimidate any blocs that are residually hostile to Mbeki. In my book Elite Transition (Pluto, 2000) I reported on a fair number of key folk who have suffered similarly, what with... the often painful fading within ANC power circuits of potential competitors and critics from 1995-99: Bantu Holomisa, Pallo Jordan, Patrick Lekota, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Mac Maharaj, Mathole Motshekga, Jay Naidoo, Matthews Phosa, Cyril Ramaphosa, Tokyo Sexwale, Max Sisulu. Though by no means were any consistently left-leaning (save Jordan and perhaps Sisulu, who in any case gracefully accepted redeployment to the arms manufacturer Denel), and although at least two (Lekota and Madikizela-Mandela) were accepted back into the ANC leadership fold, Mbeki earned himself a durable level of mistrust by movement activists. The most extensive biography of Mbeki to date (by conservative Star reporters Adrian Hadland and Jovial Rantau) is blunt about an aspect of Thabo's style that has persistently caused him problems: an uncomfortable sense among colleagues and opponents alike that behind the suave facade lurks a Machiavellian and ruthless manipulator ... Holomisa said the following shortly after his expulsion from the party: `He is a manipulator and he uses the media and manipulates to get to the top. He used [Mandela's] stature to climb the ladder to the top of the ANC leadership. He always crushes opposition as he did with me' ... As one senior ANC member has described, `You don't know that Thabo has stabbed you in the back until you feel the blade against your sternum.' Now back to Zim: Financial Gazette, 31 May 2001 Anti-MDC crusade reveals rift in army By Sydney Masamvu, Political Editor 5/31/01 7:34:06 PM (GMT +2) THE recent crusade by Zimbabwean army commander
Re: Re: African intrigue
Date: Thu, 31 May 2001 17:48:25 + From: Rob Schaap [EMAIL PROTECTED] Back in the sixties, when I lived in those parts, tribal lines were politically decisive, too. I wonder if there remains a dangerous tension between Shona and N'debele, and if it's still true that an acceptable leader would pretty well have to be a Shona, Patrick? Yaah, probably so. But the opposition Movement for Democratic Change has handled the ethnicity issue extremely well. And in a way, so has ZanuPF, after a fierce fight against Ndebele folk during the early 1980s, leading eventually to a unity pact between two once ethnic-grounded parties. So there are today few, if any, surface hints of ethnic tension (aside from white/black) in politics. And there are a few other smaller ethnic groups (tribes), who mainly support opposition parties. Speaking of white folks' gossip, what do you make of the plot to oust Mbeki involving Ramaphosa et al.? I thought this story, or at least the 'plot' angle, was of Mbeki's authorship? I tend to agree with the Beeb's take on this. What are state instruments doing involving themselves with internal party matters? And what's so illegitimate about Ramaphosa having a go, anyway? He knows that he's the lead candidate for president in 2009, but he keeps screwing up large companies in the meantime. Which way would the unions jump, I wonder? Probably out of the ANC/SACP/Cosatu Alliance within the next decade. For now, they were very angry about the Plot story, as it showed they had no real role in the process of affecting internal ANC politics. They do seem to have an on-again off-again relationship with their old comrade. Mostly off. But the ANC big tent keeps opening up the left flank to let them in for a wee while... but that too will change.
Re: African intrigue
From: Keaney Michael [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Thu, 31 May 2001 11:00:18 +0300 Patrick's views here would be interesting. I ask this because much is made of Ramaphosa's new identity as a successful businessman Well, Ramaphosa as leader of Black Economic Empowerment is farcical, given that he was steering two large corporate ships that went down over the past few years (and is now being sued by his former partner). I do a long, bitter, twisted argument about BEE that goes like this (from the book Elite Transition): Black economic disempowerment There is a tendency in South African political discourse to blame the victims, and failed black entrepreneurs--an easy target for leftists--are no exception (ANC MP Ben Turok, for example, was amongst the most regular and belligerent of white petit-bourgeois critics of an aspirant black bourgeoisie). At one level, such disdain has been provoked, for the neuveau- riche character of Black Economic Empowerment (`BEE') means that the objective sometimes degenerates--as in a 1996 endorsement by then-deputy trade and industry minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka (a former trade unionist)--into becoming, quite simply, `filthy rich.'(52) But matters are always more complicated in South Africa--letting the cat out of the bag, one Star Business Report journalist observed, `The white establishment use black faces to gain access to the new government and often pay the blacks in the form of shares in their companies. So at the end of the day, it is a handful of black people that are being enriched.' The actual number? Controversial hawker-entreprenuer Lawrence Mavundla counted 300 people in Mlambo-Ngcuka's `filthy rich' camp (not much of a new `class' there)-- whom he reckoned were already very well off-- and argued that BEE as it was already understood by late 1996 was a `sham.'(53) Instead of disdain or envy, a more appropriate sentiment might be pity, for if ever there was a case that white South African elites laid a neoliberal ambush for their successors, BEE is it. The trajectory was hinted at by political scientist Sam Nolutshungu during the early 1980s, when he described `the inability of the system of dominance to provide terms of black submission to the social order that collaborating black classes could themselves uphold, and, in their turn, purvey to others persuasively.' Thus, he continued, `It is in recognition of this fact that the regime now seeks to incorporate the black elites, a measure which, at this late hour, and in the manner of its conception and execution, more resembles a strategy of counter-insurgency than a commitment to fundamental reform.'(54) At a political level, the mass democratic organisations prevented Pretoria's co-option strategy from proceeding very far, and in any event collaborating classes were given few real opportunities for accumulation aside from homeland patronage until later in the 1980s. At that point in late-apartheid's mutation, the most aggressive of BEE hucksters took over: white free-market propagandists, desperate for allies. Billboard images erected during the 1980s by the public-private Small Business Development Corporation depicted 70,000 kombi-taxi drivers as the economic motors of the New South Africa. `Free Enterprise is Working!,' the billboards shouted. The Johannesburg Star newspaper was an important site of liberal ideological signposting, with journalist Patrick Laurence waxing eloquent in 1989 that, `The robust, competitive taxi drivers can be seen as evidence that capitalism is alive and well, and that even within apartheid South Africa, where for decades Black business was shackled, the capitalist ethos is strong and growing.' Likewise John Kane-Berman, a director of the SA Institute of Race Relations (which was in the process of transforming from a liberal to neoliberal institution, in a manner that later characterised the Democratic Party), would in 1990 describe the black kombi-taxi industry as `the most dramatic black success story so far'-- though three years later, after a taxi flareup in Johannesburg's central business district that left four people dead and terrified the occupants of downtown financial institutions and mining houses, he admitted that the industry was better termed a `debacle.' Indeed after that incident, Financial Mail editorialists finally voiced concern that, `It will be tragic if many black small businessmen [kombi owners] burn their fingers on their first encounter with capitalism.'(55) The sad reality was that the first organic encounters that many South Africans had with petty capital accumulation--the sale of goods and services in township and rural spheres previously unexplored, prohibited or severely distorted by large-scale capitalists--were of severe overtrading (overaccumulation). Loan defaults, bankruptcies and other evidence of market failure emerged especially in the high- profile areas--taxi transport, commerce (spaza shops),
African intrigue
Patrick Bond on potential Zimbabwe coup reports: Probably just white folks' gossip. It always gets a bit out of hand in these parts. = Perhaps. Nevertheless the Guardian reports are very detailed (considering the general aversion to foreign news) and plausibly argue that the military's interests, including those in Zaire/Congo, would be under threat were Mugabe to lose the forthcoming election, or, worse still, lead the country further into chaos as food and fuel shortages take hold. The articles also claim that the otherwise loyal military resents the insertion into their ranks of the war veterans by Mugabe, in an apparent attempt to shore up the military's commitment to the present regime. = More interesting is the overall balance of forces in Mugabe's ZanuPF, after a couple of (apparently truly accidental) car crashes the past few weeks which killed two militarist loyalists in the cabinet. ZanuPF looks like it'll lose next year's election pretty convincingly. = Assuming that the election is allowed to take place at all. It is not clear that a military coup would be necessary for the cancellation of this election, given Mugabe's desperate efforts to cling on. = (My book, Zimbabwe's Plunge, is out at publishers' review. A sneak preview's at http://csf.colorado.edu/jwsr (this issue)) = Thanks for the tip. We could have mentioned elsewhere just how notable was the success of the IMF here too. = And as for Powell, here's what we think of his appearance at our uni last Friday: = Blair's sudden interest in Africa is timely if Britain, as the former colonial power and overseer of the transition to Mugabe rule in the first place, is expected to take a leading role in any post-Mugabe clean up. This would be consistent with a pattern observed in the Balkans, whereby the US undermines, to the best of its ability, whatever inconvenient regime stands in its way, and others clean up afterwards. The latest fiasco in Macedonia seems to confirm that pattern. Speaking of white folks' gossip, what do you make of the plot to oust Mbeki involving Ramaphosa et al.? Michael K.
Re: African intrigue
Keaney Michael wrote: Patrick Bond on potential Zimbabwe coup reports: Probably just white folks' gossip. It always gets a bit out of hand in these parts. I know a lot of people are expecting some serious hunger in Zimbabwe over the next few months, and that the atmosphere is right for yet more polarising and volatility. But it seems strange that the air force should be nominated as the coup leaders. Even if this were true, they'd need support on the ground, and there's no sign of that from the other services. That said, it's hard to see good coming from what's been going on. The cupboard's bare, hard times are afoot, the government doesn't have the confidence of the majority, and the opposition (if press reports are at all comprehensive) is a policy-free zone. Back in the sixties, when I lived in those parts, tribal lines were politically decisive, too. I wonder if there remains a dangerous tension between Shona and N'debele, and if it's still true that an acceptable leader would pretty well have to be a Shona, Patrick? Speaking of white folks' gossip, what do you make of the plot to oust Mbeki involving Ramaphosa et al.? I thought this story, or at least the 'plot' angle, was of Mbeki's authorship? I tend to agree with the Beeb's take on this. What are state instruments doing involving themselves with internal party matters? And what's so illegitimate about Ramaphosa having a go, anyway? Which way would the unions jump, I wonder? They do seem to have an on-again off-again relationship with their old comrade. Cheers, Rob.
African intrigue
Rob writes: Speaking of white folks' gossip, what do you make of the plot to oust Mbeki involving Ramaphosa et al.? I thought this story, or at least the 'plot' angle, was of Mbeki's authorship? I tend to agree with the Beeb's take on this. What are state instruments doing involving themselves with internal party matters? And what's so illegitimate about Ramaphosa having a go, anyway? Which way would the unions jump, I wonder? They do seem to have an on-again off-again relationship with their old comrade. = Patrick's views here would be interesting. I ask this because much is made of Ramaphosa's new identity as a successful businessman (as opposed to dangerous revolutionary, etc.), while Ramaphosa was, together with former Finnish President (and International Crisis Group gopher, saviour of Namibia, EU inspector of Jörg Haider) Martti Ahtisaari, an impartial inspector checking the IRA's munitions dumps as part of the current political process in Northern Ireland. Clearly, Ramaphosa has international connections which could be used to emphasise how safe a pair of hands he has compared to the relatively unpredictable Mbeki. Again, intensified US/UK interest in Africa might not be mere coincidence. Michael K.
African intrigue
Penners Splashed across the front page of yesterday's Guardian was a large article warning of an impending military coup against Robert Mugabe, led by Air Marshal Perence Shiri, who cleaned up Matabeleland during the 1980s. Explicit links were made with Colin Powell's tour of Africa and statements re Zimbabwe becoming a totalitarian state. Meanwhile Blair declares Africa a prime policy area for his second term. Thoughts, anyone? Michael K. Michael Keaney Mercuria Business School Martinlaaksontie 36 01620 Vantaa Finland [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: African intrigue
From: Keaney Michael [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Wed, 30 May 2001 17:37:38 +0300 Splashed across the front page of yesterday's Guardian was a large article warning of an impending military coup against Robert Mugabe, led by Air Marshal Perence Shiri, who cleaned up Matabeleland during the 1980s. Explicit links were made with Colin Powell's tour of Africa and statements re Zimbabwe becoming a totalitarian state. Meanwhile Blair declares Africa a prime policy area for his second term. Thoughts, anyone? Probably just white folks' gossip. It always gets a bit out of hand in these parts. More interesting is the overall balance of forces in Mugabe's ZanuPF, after a couple of (apparently truly accidental) car crashes the past few weeks which killed two militarist loyalists in the cabinet. ZanuPF looks like it'll lose next year's election pretty convincingly. (My book, Zimbabwe's Plunge, is out at publishers' review. A sneak preview's at http://csf.colorado.edu/jwsr (this issue)) And as for Powell, here's what we think of his appearance at our uni last Friday: Date sent:Sun, 27 May 2001 11:39:20 +0200 From: Salim Vally [EMAIL PROTECTED] Organization: EPU To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: What the U.S. media won't tell you-Powell's visit to S.A. Send reply to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Two students, David Masondo and Nicholas Dieltins, suffered serious head and facial wounds during a protest against Colin Powell at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. They were attacked by security personnel from Powell's entourage. Hundreds of students and staff from a wide range of progressive organisations were protesting the acting vice chancellor's (Leila Patel) decision to host Powell who many consider a war criminal. Text of a pamphlet distributed at the protest is attached: A simple matter of human rights_ 25 May 2001 To members of the Wits Community, We protesters are here to provide an appropriate welcome to Colin Powell, US Secretary of State. Mr Powell is responsible for the foreign policy of the world's worst rogue nation. Powell is personally responsible for an attempted cover up of the horrific 1968 My Lai massacre of women and children by US forces in Vietnam; for participating in the mid-1980s cover-up of the Iran-contra Arms Scandal; and for covering up and downplaying 1991 Gulf War syndrome diseases as well as violations of the Geneva Convention associated with mass slaughter of retreating Iraqi troops. Powell's responsibilities for human rights violations continue through * Washington's coddling of the terrorist state of Israel, which with US financial and military support (R80 million daily) is killing hundreds of Palestinians, * the ongoing illegal blockade of Cuba, in the wake of at least 17 asssassination CIA attempts on Fidel Castro; and * a $1.5 billion escalation of an alleged drugs war in Colombia which in reality is merely another failing counterinsurgency in the tradition of Indochina, Central America, and Southern Africa. In all such cases, the US has been, and continues to be, on the side of oppressive, undemocratic regimes. The US must still apologise, and provide meaningful reparations, for CIA support to the apartheid regime, and encouragement of the apartheid invasion of Angola in 1975, from which that country has still not recovered, for promoting civil war in Mozambique which left a million people dead, and for Ronald Reagan's constructive engagement policy which prolonged apartheid's life during the 1980s. Powell, more recently, has been associated with the Bush Administration, a regime which came to power through a banana-republic election in Florida, and which shows its regard for the rest of the planet's citizens through: * a massive military boondoggle in the form of the Star Wars missile defense programme; * the refusal to honour more than $1 billion in United Nations dues; * the retreat from international efforts to curb illicit money laundering, which mainly occurs through US banks and their hot money centre subsidiaries; * the rejection of obligations to stop trashing the planet - which the US does more than any other country -- through the Kyoto Protocol on carbon dioxide emissions; *a brand new US Office of the Trade Representative attack on Brazil's ability to produce anti-retroviral generic drugs to combat HIV-AIDS (similar to the 1998-99 US attack on the South African Medicines Act); *a refusal to fund organisations that provide family planning and abortion services in the Third World; *sabotage of Korean peace talks; * nomination of men with appalling human rights records to the UN and Organisation of American States; * insistence on Third World countries' repayment of illegitimate foreign debt to the World Bank and IMF, debt whose origins in many cases (like South Africa's) can be traced to US (and IMF/Bank) support for dictators and tyrants; and * continuation
