Benjamin Gilman: “Mr. Speaker, the people of Zimbabwe will go to the polls next weekend to elect their parliament. Since its independence…”

“Mr. Speaker, the people of Zimbabwe will go to the polls next weekend to elect their parliament. Since its independence 20 years ago, Zimbabwe has been, in effect, a one-party state. The liberation party of President Robert Mugabe, which emerged from a war, for majority war with slogans shouting for equality and justice, has become thoroughly corrupted by the absolute power that it has enjoyed these past 2 decades. Change is now at hand. The people of Zimbabwe are patient, but their patience appears to have come to an end. Candidates from parliament for the opposition parties have registered in record numbers. The leading opposition party appears to have overwhelming support among the urban populations of Zimbabwe. But President Mugabe and his party cronies who have grown rich in government do not want to accept an honest political contest. He has used land reform as a political wedge issue for years, refusing credible programs that would have addressed the issue in favor of a soapbox for demagoguery. Now he has taken extreme measures, provoking widespread violence against farmers, teachers, and farm workers. The citizens of Zimbabwe remain steadfast. The murders, the beatings and harassment that have been visited upon them have merely strengthened their resolve. H. Res. 500 expresses this Congress' profound dismay at these kinds of practices.”