Letter from Zimbabwe: The Destroyer
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
How does Mugabe seem to see himself in regards to the Tree of Knowledge?
"What does it matter that I'm weary of living as a murderer of all the life around me? I know good and evil, and this way of living is good. Therefore I must live this way even though I'm weary unto death, even though I destroy the world and even myself...I will grow without limit. To be limited is evil. I will steal the fire of life from the hands of the gods and heap it up for my growth, and that will be good. I will destroy those kinds that do not serve my growth, and that will be good...And because these things are good, they must be done at any cost. It may be that I'll destroy the garden and make a ruin of it...to grow without limit is good and to accept the limits of the law is evil...And if the groans of my progeny fill the air throughout the world, I will say to them, 'Your sufferings must be borne, for you suffer in the cause of good. See how great we have become! Wielding the knowledge of good and evil, we have made ourselves the masters of the world, and the gods have no power. Though your groans fill the air, isn't it sweeter to live in our own hands than in the hands of the gods?'" (Ishmael, page 163).
Robert Mugabe is the very essence of the Adam in the passage above. He has eaten off the Tree of Knowledge and deluded himself into thinking that he has the knowledge of what is good and what is evil. To him, whatever he can justify doing is good. It is because of this falsified belief that Zimbabwe is at the state it is now. The inflation rate of 11 million per cent, the desolate houses, the reeducation camps, the violence, the malnutrition and starvation, the HIV/AIDs rate, the low life expectancy rates, the black markets, the corruption, the bribery, the kleptocratic style of government are right, for Mugabe can justify his doing so. After being omnipotent for 28 years, Mugabe has become so engrossed in his vision and thirst for power that the killing and murdering and the people no longer matter; he has to continue to grow without limit. He has to wipe out everything that is in his way so that he may live with in his own hands, rather than the hands of the gods.
The vision of "empowerment", providing the people with the power to do something, was merely his excuse, his justification to do all the things he has done. It was merely a way to reach his goal of being the gods' equal, and living without limits. The schemes to benefit black "indigenous Zimbabweans" have been used by those in positions of authority and influence to benefit themselves. Mugabe and his circle are living an updated lifestyle of the whites that were driven away by Mugabe. This is rather ironic, and reminds me of the pigs in Animal Farm. Mugabe liberated his country from white colonists, yet he became like one himself. In his address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Mugabe said "Those who falsely accuse us of violations are themselves international perpetrators of genocide, acts of aggression, and mass destruction." To him, those who "falsely" accuse them are evil, for they do not serve his growth.
He is insatiable. He cannot and will not stop. He has to continue to grow. He knows what he is doing. He knows the state of his country. But to him, they are nothing. According to Paul Verryn, Mugabe hasn't "'lost it'...he knows exactly what he is doing...he's politcally astute, and he thinks this is the way you run a country." To him, these things are right. These things are good. He can and will pay any cost for growth, for power.
Indeed, Mugabe and his supporters believe that what he is doing is good. Zimbabwe and its people are no longer in the hands of the gods. Mugabe's nephew, Leo, said, "By 2010, we will be flying!" His supporters believe that Mugabe is their "own Moses". At the UN General Assemby address Mugabe said Zimbabweans were now "masters of their own destiny."
Mugabe and his country are spiralling downwards towards collapse and destruction because he is deluded in thinking he has the knowledge of good and evil. The gods had warned us. Now we can only hope that Mugabe will realize, or rather, admit that he has no such knowledge, and leave his, and his country's destinies to the gods. The same goes for the Takers, for on the day we eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, we were doomed to die. Now we can only hope that there is a way out of this, that there is a way to prevent us from devouring ourselves.
Click
here for the full New Yorker article on Robert Mugabe.
Labels: global ethics
