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November 30, 2004
The stench of hypocrisy
So, after much debate, hand wringing, and media soul searching, the cricket tour of Zimbabwe is on. Never mind the 40,000 Matabele men who vanished shortly after Mugabe, darling of the Labour Party, Freedom Fighter (probably couldn't fire a weapon if he tried), Marxist (when it suits him and applies to everyone else), and general "Idealised Victim" came to power. Since then he has presided over several more massacres, innumerable miscarriages of justice, and blatant theft of the Treasury, land, and property. His "veterans", most of whom were not even born when the Bush War he "won" with the disgraceful help of the British government (Tory as it happens!) was ended.
Enter Mr Blair and Mr Hain, both of whom spent most of their University careers picketing South African companies, embassies, and sports matches, as the new "statesmen" whose avowed policy is to have no dealings with anything or anyone who may be unethical. OK, OK, we'll leave Iraq out of this, shall we? It is not that long since these two hypocrites (and the rest of those pious pontificators on the Labour Benches) would have been out on the streets fighting tooth and nail to prevent any British team sullying their ideals by daring to play cricket or even tiddlywinks with those nasty South Africans. Now, faced by a man who has had farmers murdered and their land seized, whose troops murdered 40,000 Matabele men (Mugabe and his coterie of thugs are all Shona), whose contempt for democracy is a matter of record, they do a Pontius Pilate act - and wash their hands of it all and pass the buck to the England Cricket Board and the International Cricket Board - saying piously that it is not a "political" matter.
Why does the air stink of hypocrisy at this?
Simple: these are the same arrogant and utterly contemptible weazels who, ten, twenty, and thirty years ago proclaimed that sport and sports tours to "pariah" states was a matter of politics! What has changed?
Ah, well, you see, they endorsed Mugabe. They even called him a "saint". He was their protege, their idol, the African Che Guevara. And now it is difficult to admit that they may have been wrong, that their idol may just have been nothing more than a well spoken and smiling thug all along.
Pass the water basin, let's scrub our hands again and hope it will all go away.
Posted by The Gray Monk at November 30, 2004 10:04 AM