Plans To Strip Mugabe Of His Honorary Degree

Twenty three years ago Robert Mugabe was presented with an honorary degree from Edinburgh University for “services to education in Africa”. However, plans are currently in action to strip Mugabe of this privilege.

Robert Mugabe KCB came to power in Zimbabwe in 1980, first as Prime Minister and later as executive President. Now his country is in turmoil. There is a state of hyperinflation, inflation rates have soared from 32% in 1998 to 2200% in March 2007. Only one in five are in full time employment. The average life expectancy is 35 years and most people live in constant fear of Mugabe’s brutal and oppressive regime. A little hypocritical one might think for a country who’s motto is “Unity, Freedom, Work”.

President Mugabe holds several honorary degrees and diplomas from other universities around to world and was also made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath by Queen Elizabeth II.

I agree with the decision to take away Mugabe’s honorary degree, indeed I think we should strip him of all honours and privileges that have been awarded to him. Not to do so, I think would be an insult to all of the remarkable men and women that these awards were created to acknowledge.

I find it hard to understand why someone doesn’t do something about it? Why don’t the USA, self appointed savours of the world go and stop him? They didn’t think twice about going into Iraq to get rid of Saddam Hussein.

Yes, Saddam was a monster but at least his country experience some sort of stability under him. Now it is experiencing a devastating phase of civil unrest. Zimbabwe, on the other hand is in pieces, it already has devastating civil unrest, and from the position that it is in now things can only get better.

This fact only reinforces the theories that the Americans only went into Iraq for the oil, either that or some kind of personal dispute between Iraq and the Bush family. It also reinforces the fact that none of the western world governments actually care about Africa. Yes, they do meet from time to time to talk about the subject of third world debt and poverty, but at the end of it all nothing really happens.

Again and again this point is shown. One good example is the Rwandan Genocide. The UN sent in a peacekeeping force, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda. However, the UN Security Council did not authorize them to intervene or use force to prevent or stop the killing.

When will the powerful intervene and attempt to help the weak? When will Mugabe finally be removed to allow the people of Zimbabwe to get back on their feet? The fact is we will probably never see an end to this sort of thing, it has always existed and it always will, however while we can not prevent the problems we should do what we can to stop them.

Virginia Tech Shootings

The world was stunned yesterday following a shooting at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia. It is the worst campus shooting in American history, with the number of deaths recorded at 33 (including the shooter, who took his own life).

At the present time all that is know about the gunman is that he is a 23 year old male, his name is Cho Seung-hui and that he originates from South Korea. There has also be little information about the circumstances that lead to this horrific incident, as there appears to be no motive.

It is a shocking event, as all shootings are, however what will be done, if anything, to stop this sort of thing happening in the future? I ask because this episode is just the latest in a long series of seemingly motiveless mass murders in the US.

It appears that gun laws in America really need to change. I know that there are some restrictions in place, that background checks are carried out and that the gun owners are registered and linked to their gun. However that doesn’t stop someone who is suicidal, as many of these mass murders are. It’s does nothing to prevent someone from killing people if they know that they won’t be alive to face the consequences.

Although the people who carry out these ghastly acts of violence are in a very small minority and most of the arms bearing American population are responsible and only use their personal weapons for sport or self defence, the deaths of innocent civilians cannot be ignored.

And while 33 people may not seem like many amongst the billions that live on this planet, they are still enough to warrant tougher restrictions on firearms ownership in the United States.

There are always the people who fight change in America by waving the constitution in peoples faces. The problem with the rights granted by the constitution, is the date in which they were granted.

The “right to keep and bear arms” was part of the Second Amendment which was ratified in 1791. At that time the most advanced weapon on the planet was the musket. A muzzle-loaded smoothbore long gun. Even a highly skilled unit of musketeers could only fire three shots per minute, now we have guns that can do that in less that a second.

So it makes sense that the rules should be updated, because the men who made the rules in the first place could never have imaged the weapons and technology that we have today.

And it is important to remember also that the victims of these school shootings are children and teenagers. They are not soldiers, they are young people. I am no fan of George Bush, but I think that what he said shortly after the attack sums up my thoughts exactly “schools should be places of safety and sanctuary and learning”.

I don’t know what drives these people to carry out mass slaughter, but whatever the reason, I doubt it justifies the lives that are taken.