UPDATE: Zimbabwe’s RC bishops posted a strident Easter Sunday letter stating that “Oppression is sin and cannot be compromised with.” They urge Mugabe to leave office peacefully. Most Zimbabweans, including Mugabe are RC. Scholars see little hope of regional powers interfering sucessfully with Mugabe’s tenure.
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Hard to believe that the Robert Mugabe we know today was once lauded as a Freedom Fighter and showered with honorary doctorates from U-MA Amherst, Michigan State University and the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. But it’s in print, so it must be true.
Students and alum from these schools are pushing them to revoke the honorary degrees. Yet neither U-MA nor MSU, it seems, has a mechanism for revoking honorary degrees. Strange, because universities can and do revoke actual earned degrees when the student was found to have cheated or faked data. One wonders why brutally raping a nation doesn’t rise to the seriousness of copying from your neighbor’s test or “cleaning up” data.
Some say that since Mugabe deserved the accolades at the time he received them that revoking the degree would be tantamount to revising history. Others say that recipients of honoraria accept with the degree the burden of being beacons of light, and when Mugabe laid down that burden he forfeited his degree. What say you? Poll below.
…in the UMass-Boston paper a month ago. There was an accompanying graphic, which is sadly not online, that was a picture of Mugabe sporting a UMASS sweatshirt. It was much more amusing than me writing about it.
of megahomophobe Mugabe in a kilt accepting his scroll…
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Happily, Edinburgh University is actively considering the revokation of Mugabe’s degree. Mugabe faces reelection in 2008, and his opponents (the people of Zimbabwe) are looking for anything that will draw international attention to their plight while emboldening opposition candidates.
…regarding the revocation of an honorary degree (who gives a tinker’s damn about honorary degrees, anyway? they’re just given out to induce someone to speak at a graduation ceremony) than the fact that Zimbabwe’s neighbors–including South Africa–don’t seem to care what is going on there, despite the fact that Mugabe’s policies in Zimbabwe are disrupting the whole region.
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Why Mbeki isn’t weighing in on what’s happening in Zimbabwe is something of a mystery. He could crush Mugabe like a fly hit by a fly swatter. Why doesn’t he?
raj, i agree that honorary degrees are relatively unimportant topics of discussion in and of themselves. as pointed out by Mugabe’s opposition in the article from scotland linked to above, however, it is a good mechanism for getting westerners to pay attantion to what is going on in ZImbabwe. And it worked – you did! đŸ™‚
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As for Mbeki, I am not an expert in African politics, but I think your assertion that he could just go in and crush Mugabe is overly simplistic. After all, how did that work for us and Saddam?… I’ve heard that Mbeki is concerned about fair elections in 2008, but whether he’s using political capitol to see them through I have no idea. Mugabe is absolutely entrenched. I would love to hear more analysis posters with some real knowledge of counry.
Mbeki is brokering talks, but is not considered by all to be an unbiased party. He has a history of not criticizing Mugabe.
Regarding Mbeki and Zimbabwe, it was reported here in Munich’s newspaper of record, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, that Mbeki is looking for a permanent seat for South Africa on an expanded UN Security Counsel, and he doesn’t want to do anything that might upset that possibility.
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I’m not exactly sure why South Africa’s engaging Mugabe might upset the possibility of them getting a permanent seat on the UN Security Counsel, but that was the reason that was given for them avoiding engaging Mugabe.
If Mr. Mugabe is reprehensible now, that it is very likely That Mr. Mugabe was reprehensible then. A leopard does not change its spots.
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There are meny men that come to mind that were lauded by a segment of society much to the chagrin of others. Time proved that one shouldn’t act in haste, especially when it comes to giving accolades to tyrants. Americans seem to have a propensity for this.