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Africa Subsaharan
Lost paradise of the big white chief
2007-11-25
Ian Smith, who died last week, maintained white rule but became an unlikely hero for the black Zimbabweans suffering under the Mugabe dictatorship

RW Johnson

Ian Smith, the former Rhodesian prime minister, who made his unilateral declaration of independence from Britain in 1965 and fought a bitter rearguard action to prevent black majority rule, never lost the ability to inspire strong emotion. When he died last week, aged 88, he was still hated by many for his unrepentant belief that white rule was better for all races in Rhodesia.

It is quite common to hear him blamed for having created Robert Mugabe and having thus helped to father the human catastrophe of present-day Zimbabwe. Yet the odd truth is that in retirement after 1980, when Mugabe took over, Smith not only did not fade away but grew both in stature and popularity.

As Mugabe’s regime became steeped in blood and violence, Africans of all persuasions flocked to Smith’s house to consult him. The (all black) student body of Zimbabwe University gave him a standing ovation for his ringing condemnation of “the gangsters”, as he always called Mugabe’s corrupt ruling mafia.
Posted by:anonymous5089

#8  Posted by: Steve White 2007-11-25 11:49 But one point that should be made: the old Rhodesia denied basic political and human rights to most of the population. That was not just wrong, it was untenable in the modern world.

Steve: Not suggesting any sort of sjambok nostalgia, but nearly from the birth of his nation, Smith was fighting an insurgent war. A communist insurgency hosted by the usual suspects, Russia, Cuba, and every other communist country able to send arms, advisors, and finances. It was an MSM unpublisized conflict, ignored by the west, and fought on all borders resulting in a dreadful list of casualties. In fact, Rhodesia suffered WIA/KIA in proportion to it's population, far greater than the US suffered in Vietnam. The enemy, by the way.... were not disgruntled Swedes or mad Englishmen. The "denial of political and human rights" can often be the product of martial law as a nation struggles to survive. Following Pearl Harbor FDR signed Executive Order 9066, and the Canadian government took similar measures. General Tommy Franks has predicted extreme measures to include martial law, should our country come under attack in the GWOT. Smith was a patriot who did the best he could do with what was available to him. He clearly predicted the outcome we see now and he was saddened by it.
Posted by: Besoeker   2007-11-25 14:20  

#7  That was not just wrong, it was untenable in the modern world.

Seems to work in Venezuela and many other places. long as the thug is spouting anti-Yankee rhetoric he's the darling of the elites and media who don't give a rat's ass about human rights. Such regimes receive special protection of the League of Thugs UN and the Security Council.

If the people don't eat, if they're not secure in their person, family, or property, the facade of government doesn't make any difference.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2007-11-25 13:16  

#6  Nyathi and Smith, of course, had missed a golden opportunity.

I realize there's a crowd here that thinks the old Rhodesia was better than the current day Zimbabwe, and in a number of ways they're right. But one point that should be made: the old Rhodesia denied basic political and human rights to most of the population. That was not just wrong, it was untenable in the modern world.

Smith tried to fix that by installing a puppet black government, but that got no support from the majority population.

Smith then made his big mistake by negotiating with Mugabe.

If he's gone with the other tribes in Rhodesia and set up a true, federal, inclusive government, Mugabe might have been pushed aside. That would have made life today a lot better.
Posted by: Steve White   2007-11-25 11:49  

#5  Paul Themba Nyathi, a leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, who had fought SmithÂ’s regime tooth and nail, told me that in retrospect SmithÂ’s Rhodesia had been “a paradise”.

"We're f*cked"
Posted by: Frank G   2007-11-25 09:54  

#4  I finished Robb Ellis' "Without Honour" while I was in the ITO. Robb really does explain the futility of western "think." Let me know how your reading goes.
Posted by: Besoeker   2007-11-25 08:26  

#3  Besoeker, I plan to buy those in a couple months

THE BUSH WAR IN RHODESIA (there was a related dvd named "The Saints", with materials from the time, but it appears to be gone).

FIREFORCE
Posted by: anonymous5089   2007-11-25 08:20  

#2  "They shall not grow old,
As we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them,
Nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun,
And in the morning,
We will remember them.
We will remember them."

Dankie Smithy, and dankie ooks jou ananymous.

Posted by: Besoeker   2007-11-25 08:11  

#1  It's depressing to unlearn things that we learned as children as we grow up.
(1) There is no Santa.
(2) Ain Rand was an anal retentive.
(3) Josef Mccarthy wasn't a fiend in human form.
(4) Ben Gurion screwed up biiiig.
(5) George II is his father's son.
(6) Colonialists weren't so bad.

I could go on, and on, and on....
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2007-11-25 07:55  

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