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The Fear: Robert Mugabe and the Martyrdom of Zimbabwe
Journalist Peter Godwin has covered wars. As a soldier, he's fought them. But nothing prepared him for the surreal mix of desperation and hope he encountered when he returned to Zimbabwe, his broken homeland.
Godwin arrived as Robert Mugabe, the country's dictator for 30 years, has finally lost an election. Mugabe's tenure has left Zimbabwe with the world's highest rate of inflation and the shortest life span. Instead of conceding power, Mugabe launched a brutal campaign of terror against his own citizens. With foreign correspondents banned, and he himself there illegally, Godwin was one of the few observers to bear witness to this period the locals call The Fear. He saw torture bases and the burning villages but was most awed as an observer of not only simple acts of kindness but also churchmen and diplomats putting their own lives on the line to try to stop the carnage.
THE FEAR is a book about the astonishing courage and resilience of a people, armed with nothing but a desire to be free, who challenged a violent dictatorship. It is also the deeply personal and ultimately uplifting story of a man trying to make sense of the country he can't recognize as home.
Godwin arrived as Robert Mugabe, the country's dictator for 30 years, has finally lost an election. Mugabe's tenure has left Zimbabwe with the world's highest rate of inflation and the shortest life span. Instead of conceding power, Mugabe launched a brutal campaign of terror against his own citizens. With foreign correspondents banned, and he himself there illegally, Godwin was one of the few observers to bear witness to this period the locals call The Fear. He saw torture bases and the burning villages but was most awed as an observer of not only simple acts of kindness but also churchmen and diplomats putting their own lives on the line to try to stop the carnage.
THE FEAR is a book about the astonishing courage and resilience of a people, armed with nothing but a desire to be free, who challenged a violent dictatorship. It is also the deeply personal and ultimately uplifting story of a man trying to make sense of the country he can't recognize as home.
Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2010
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About the author
Peter Godwin
23 books349 followers"Peter Godwin was born and raised in Africa. He studied law at Cambridge University, and international relations at Oxford. He is an award winning foreign correspondent, author, documentary-maker and screenwriter.
After practicing human rights law in Zimbabwe, he became a foreign and war correspondent, and has reported from over 60 countries, including wars in: Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Somalia, Congo, Ivory Coast, Sudan, Bosnia, Kosovo, Kashmir and the last years of apartheid South Africa. He served as East European correspondent and Diplomatic correspondent for the London Sunday Times, and chief correspondent for BBC television's flagship foreign affairs program, Assignment, making documentaries from such places as: Cuba, Panama, Indonesia, Pakistan, Spain, Northern Ireland, the Philippines, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, the Baltics, and the Balkans as it descended into war. His film, The Industry of Death, about the sex trade in Thailand, won the gold medal for investigative film at the New York Film Festival.
He also wrote and co-presented a three part series 'Africa Unmasked' for Britain's Channel Four. He has written for a wide array of magazines and newspapers including Vanity Fair, (for which he was a 2009 finalist for the Michael Kelly award) National Geographic, New York Times magazine and Men’s Journal.
He is the author of five non fiction books: 'Rhodesians Never Die' - The Impact of war and Political Change on White Rhodesia c.1970 - 1980 (with Ian Hancock), Wild at Heart: Man and Beast in Southern Africa (with photos by Chris Johns and foreword by Nelson Mandela), The Three of Us - a New Life in New York (with Joanna Coles) and Mukiwa, which received the George Orwell prize and the Esquire-Apple-Waterstones award. When a Crocodile Eats the Sun - a Memoir of Africa, won the Borders Original Voices Award, and was selected by American Libraries Association as a Notable Book winner for 2008.
He has taught writing at: the New School, Princeton and Columbia. And he is a 2010 Guggenheim Fellow."
http://petergodwin.com/about/
After practicing human rights law in Zimbabwe, he became a foreign and war correspondent, and has reported from over 60 countries, including wars in: Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Somalia, Congo, Ivory Coast, Sudan, Bosnia, Kosovo, Kashmir and the last years of apartheid South Africa. He served as East European correspondent and Diplomatic correspondent for the London Sunday Times, and chief correspondent for BBC television's flagship foreign affairs program, Assignment, making documentaries from such places as: Cuba, Panama, Indonesia, Pakistan, Spain, Northern Ireland, the Philippines, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, the Baltics, and the Balkans as it descended into war. His film, The Industry of Death, about the sex trade in Thailand, won the gold medal for investigative film at the New York Film Festival.
He also wrote and co-presented a three part series 'Africa Unmasked' for Britain's Channel Four. He has written for a wide array of magazines and newspapers including Vanity Fair, (for which he was a 2009 finalist for the Michael Kelly award) National Geographic, New York Times magazine and Men’s Journal.
He is the author of five non fiction books: 'Rhodesians Never Die' - The Impact of war and Political Change on White Rhodesia c.1970 - 1980 (with Ian Hancock), Wild at Heart: Man and Beast in Southern Africa (with photos by Chris Johns and foreword by Nelson Mandela), The Three of Us - a New Life in New York (with Joanna Coles) and Mukiwa, which received the George Orwell prize and the Esquire-Apple-Waterstones award. When a Crocodile Eats the Sun - a Memoir of Africa, won the Borders Original Voices Award, and was selected by American Libraries Association as a Notable Book winner for 2008.
He has taught writing at: the New School, Princeton and Columbia. And he is a 2010 Guggenheim Fellow."
http://petergodwin.com/about/
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 235 reviews
February 2, 2016
I read Dinner With Mugabe: The Untold Story Of A Freedom Fighter Who Became A Tyrant but I have this book in the shop. Does anyone know if it is worth reading as well, or it's all more-or-less in Dinner?
White journalists have a really bad perspective on Zimbabwe, citing all the evils Mugabe has commissioned, but never mentioning the even worse ones of Cecil Rhodes when the country was called Rhodesia. I wonder how this book will treat these two supremely evil governors, not to mention the vile Ian Smith?
White journalists have a really bad perspective on Zimbabwe, citing all the evils Mugabe has commissioned, but never mentioning the even worse ones of Cecil Rhodes when the country was called Rhodesia. I wonder how this book will treat these two supremely evil governors, not to mention the vile Ian Smith?
May 20, 2015
.
This review contains spoilers
.
In the middle of the book, Peter Godwin - describes why he has written it:
“I am bearing witness to what is happening here – to the sustained cruelty of it all. I have a responsibility to try to amplify this suffering, this sacrifice, so that it will not have happened in vain.”
And yes, that is basically what the book is about. A long litany of abuses – murder, rape, torture and beatings-up that have been inflicted on the opposition party and its supporters by Robert Mugabe's thugs during and after the 2008 elections. The opposition party – The Movement for Democratic Change - is headed by Morgan Tsvangirai. He and his two closest allies take refuge in South Africa after the election – it is just too dangerous for them to stay in Zimbabwe. But the persecution of members of his party continues with a vengeance. It is being called ‘smart genocide’ or ‘politicide’. Dr. Francis Lovemore, who works for The Counselling Services Unit in Harare, describes it this way:
“Politicide is the practice of wiping out an entire political movement….and now the murders here are accompanied by torture and rape on an industrial scale, committed on a catch-and-release basis. When those who survive, terribly injured, limp home, or are carried or pushed in wheelbarrows, or on the backs of pick-up trucks, they act like human billboards, advertising the appalling consequences of opposition to the tyranny….And in their home communities, their return causes ripples of anxiety to spread. “
The Movement for Democratic Change had won the Zimbabwe election without a doubt, but Mugabe and his party ZANU, (the Zimbabwe African National Union), had the results distorted via vote rigging – deliberate miscounting, the disenfranchising of opposition voters by polling station officials, and in some wards the results were just swapped. In other instances they simply subtracted a digit from the MDC vote. And then, after all that trickery and double-dealing, Mugabe had his supporters conduct hideous attacks on members of the MDC party, especially those who had held positions as officials in the party.
After the bloodshed of the 2008 elections in Zimbabwe the UN attempted to impose various sanctions against Mugabe. The proposal before the Security Council included an arms embargo, a travel ban, and a financial freeze on Mugabe - and a dozen of his top officials believed also to have been implicated. But it was vetoed by China, Russia, Vietnam and Libya.
Surprising developments were taking place though. Behind the scenes, in South Africa, an organisation called the South African Development Community persuaded Morgan Tsvangirai to return to Zimbabwe, and form a government with Robert Mugabe. This was to be called the Government of National Unity. Mugabe was willing to do this because he realised that his grip on power was tenuous unless he had Tsvangirai on board, and Tsvangirai did so in the belief that the alternative was civil war. In the event Mugabe stayed on as President. Tsvangirai was made Prime Minister….and that is that state of government today.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
General notes about Mugabe and Zimbabwe:
* Zimbabwe used to have the highest standard of living in Africa
* By 2008 only 6% of workers had jobs.
*Life expectancy has fallen from sixty years to thirty-six years.
* It has the world highest ratio of orphans.
* Mugabe is absolutely committed to blaming all Zimbabwe’s ills on the West – particularly it’s ex colonial power, Great Britain.
*Mugabe is now (2013) 89 years old.
*Many would argue that Mugabe’s supporters are military rather than political in outlook, and that Zimbabwe is to all effects a military dictatorship. His four closest followers are General Constantine Chiwenga (head of the army); Emmerson Mnangagwa (head of the Joint Operational Command); Gideon Gono (the Reserve Bank chief); and Augustine Chihuri (head of police).
* It is easy to ask why Mugabe still has any support at all. In fact he still has an almost “messianic reputation” as a liberation leader. In 1963 he was jailed in Rhodesia for 11 years, for subversion. After release he fled to Mozambique, and joined the guerilla war against white Rhodesian settler rule (although he was never a soldier as such). He is still seen by many people as an heroic figure - as a veteran liberator in Zimbabwe getting its independence.
*Mugabe decided to have a shrine build to himself at his home in Zvimba. Planned to be the size of a football field, it would house such mementos as his clothes, copies of his speeches, photos and letters.
*”The ‘land issue’ (breaking up farms owned by white farmers) was about so much more than land. It was about breaking up the million-strong voting bloc of black employees who worked on the farms, and who had voted for the MDC (Movement for Democratic Change). Magabe wanted to shatter that bloc.”
*Re farming nowadays….
-Maize production is the lowest ever since land reform began.
-Tobacco is down from two hundred and forty million kilos to fifty million.
-From six thousand five hundred productive farms in 2000, there are now only four hundred left.
*Diamonds are one of the few remaining sources of wealth in Zimbabwe, and Mugabe and the army need to control them to finance their ‘political machine’. “Legally the diamond rights belonged to African Consolidate Resources (who took them over from De Beers), but in 2006 the police chased them away, and they haven’t got back since, despite High Court orders. Mugabe’s ministers moved in and were soon making personal fortunes…Estimates put the potential haul as high as US$1.2 billion a year.”
*”The same Western powers that Mugabe demonizes…are the principal doners of food to his people. These towers of grain are all that stand between Zimbabwe and full-scale famine.”
*Both Catholic and Anglican churches have had buildings illegally confiscated and their preachers prosecuted since coming out against Mugabe
*One third of the Zimbabwean population have said to have fled the country. Whilst in Johannesberg in 2008 the author witnessed the most terrible attacks on foreign migrants – especially Zimbabweans. After 10 days of attacks the South African president sent in the army to restore peace. It is estimated that there are now over three million Zimbabweans in South Africa.
* A lot of African leaders supported Mugabe – especially the then South African president Thabo Mbeki. The only country that didn’t was Botswana.
* In 2008 Zimbabwe was also being ravaged by Cholera. The author stresses that this is entirely preventable, and is the result of poverty – due to the collapse of clean water supplies, sewage systems and the lack of good health care. “But no, according to Magabe’s current information minister – Sikhanyiso Ndlovu – it is a ‘serious biological chemical war…a genocidal onslaught on the people of Zimbabwe by the British….Cholera is a calculated racist terrorist attack on Zimbabwe by the unrepentant former colonial power which has enlisted support from its American and Western allies so that they can invade the country….”
The cholera epidemic affected 100,000 people, killing 4,000 of them.
*Other ills that beset Zimbabwe include Aids, starvation and collapse of the health care system. There was also hyperinflation. (Wikipedia update: "In 2009, Zimbabwe abandoned its currency. As of 2013, Zimbabwe still has no national currency; currencies from other countries are used".)
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Most of all the book is a testament to the terrible sufferings of those who were attacked and persecuted after the 2008 elections. It is also a monument to the incredible courage and tenacity of the politicians and their supporters in the Movement for Democratic Change, who stood their ground, and refused to be cowed by the terribly bullying by Mugabe’s mobsters. The author too put himself in a lot of danger in order to hear people's stories, at a time when most foreign journalists had fled the country.
A tough read, but excellent.
This review contains spoilers
.
In the middle of the book, Peter Godwin - describes why he has written it:
“I am bearing witness to what is happening here – to the sustained cruelty of it all. I have a responsibility to try to amplify this suffering, this sacrifice, so that it will not have happened in vain.”
And yes, that is basically what the book is about. A long litany of abuses – murder, rape, torture and beatings-up that have been inflicted on the opposition party and its supporters by Robert Mugabe's thugs during and after the 2008 elections. The opposition party – The Movement for Democratic Change - is headed by Morgan Tsvangirai. He and his two closest allies take refuge in South Africa after the election – it is just too dangerous for them to stay in Zimbabwe. But the persecution of members of his party continues with a vengeance. It is being called ‘smart genocide’ or ‘politicide’. Dr. Francis Lovemore, who works for The Counselling Services Unit in Harare, describes it this way:
“Politicide is the practice of wiping out an entire political movement….and now the murders here are accompanied by torture and rape on an industrial scale, committed on a catch-and-release basis. When those who survive, terribly injured, limp home, or are carried or pushed in wheelbarrows, or on the backs of pick-up trucks, they act like human billboards, advertising the appalling consequences of opposition to the tyranny….And in their home communities, their return causes ripples of anxiety to spread. “
The Movement for Democratic Change had won the Zimbabwe election without a doubt, but Mugabe and his party ZANU, (the Zimbabwe African National Union), had the results distorted via vote rigging – deliberate miscounting, the disenfranchising of opposition voters by polling station officials, and in some wards the results were just swapped. In other instances they simply subtracted a digit from the MDC vote. And then, after all that trickery and double-dealing, Mugabe had his supporters conduct hideous attacks on members of the MDC party, especially those who had held positions as officials in the party.
After the bloodshed of the 2008 elections in Zimbabwe the UN attempted to impose various sanctions against Mugabe. The proposal before the Security Council included an arms embargo, a travel ban, and a financial freeze on Mugabe - and a dozen of his top officials believed also to have been implicated. But it was vetoed by China, Russia, Vietnam and Libya.
Surprising developments were taking place though. Behind the scenes, in South Africa, an organisation called the South African Development Community persuaded Morgan Tsvangirai to return to Zimbabwe, and form a government with Robert Mugabe. This was to be called the Government of National Unity. Mugabe was willing to do this because he realised that his grip on power was tenuous unless he had Tsvangirai on board, and Tsvangirai did so in the belief that the alternative was civil war. In the event Mugabe stayed on as President. Tsvangirai was made Prime Minister….and that is that state of government today.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
General notes about Mugabe and Zimbabwe:
* Zimbabwe used to have the highest standard of living in Africa
* By 2008 only 6% of workers had jobs.
*Life expectancy has fallen from sixty years to thirty-six years.
* It has the world highest ratio of orphans.
* Mugabe is absolutely committed to blaming all Zimbabwe’s ills on the West – particularly it’s ex colonial power, Great Britain.
*Mugabe is now (2013) 89 years old.
*Many would argue that Mugabe’s supporters are military rather than political in outlook, and that Zimbabwe is to all effects a military dictatorship. His four closest followers are General Constantine Chiwenga (head of the army); Emmerson Mnangagwa (head of the Joint Operational Command); Gideon Gono (the Reserve Bank chief); and Augustine Chihuri (head of police).
* It is easy to ask why Mugabe still has any support at all. In fact he still has an almost “messianic reputation” as a liberation leader. In 1963 he was jailed in Rhodesia for 11 years, for subversion. After release he fled to Mozambique, and joined the guerilla war against white Rhodesian settler rule (although he was never a soldier as such). He is still seen by many people as an heroic figure - as a veteran liberator in Zimbabwe getting its independence.
*Mugabe decided to have a shrine build to himself at his home in Zvimba. Planned to be the size of a football field, it would house such mementos as his clothes, copies of his speeches, photos and letters.
*”The ‘land issue’ (breaking up farms owned by white farmers) was about so much more than land. It was about breaking up the million-strong voting bloc of black employees who worked on the farms, and who had voted for the MDC (Movement for Democratic Change). Magabe wanted to shatter that bloc.”
*Re farming nowadays….
-Maize production is the lowest ever since land reform began.
-Tobacco is down from two hundred and forty million kilos to fifty million.
-From six thousand five hundred productive farms in 2000, there are now only four hundred left.
*Diamonds are one of the few remaining sources of wealth in Zimbabwe, and Mugabe and the army need to control them to finance their ‘political machine’. “Legally the diamond rights belonged to African Consolidate Resources (who took them over from De Beers), but in 2006 the police chased them away, and they haven’t got back since, despite High Court orders. Mugabe’s ministers moved in and were soon making personal fortunes…Estimates put the potential haul as high as US$1.2 billion a year.”
*”The same Western powers that Mugabe demonizes…are the principal doners of food to his people. These towers of grain are all that stand between Zimbabwe and full-scale famine.”
*Both Catholic and Anglican churches have had buildings illegally confiscated and their preachers prosecuted since coming out against Mugabe
*One third of the Zimbabwean population have said to have fled the country. Whilst in Johannesberg in 2008 the author witnessed the most terrible attacks on foreign migrants – especially Zimbabweans. After 10 days of attacks the South African president sent in the army to restore peace. It is estimated that there are now over three million Zimbabweans in South Africa.
* A lot of African leaders supported Mugabe – especially the then South African president Thabo Mbeki. The only country that didn’t was Botswana.
* In 2008 Zimbabwe was also being ravaged by Cholera. The author stresses that this is entirely preventable, and is the result of poverty – due to the collapse of clean water supplies, sewage systems and the lack of good health care. “But no, according to Magabe’s current information minister – Sikhanyiso Ndlovu – it is a ‘serious biological chemical war…a genocidal onslaught on the people of Zimbabwe by the British….Cholera is a calculated racist terrorist attack on Zimbabwe by the unrepentant former colonial power which has enlisted support from its American and Western allies so that they can invade the country….”
The cholera epidemic affected 100,000 people, killing 4,000 of them.
*Other ills that beset Zimbabwe include Aids, starvation and collapse of the health care system. There was also hyperinflation. (Wikipedia update: "In 2009, Zimbabwe abandoned its currency. As of 2013, Zimbabwe still has no national currency; currencies from other countries are used".)
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Most of all the book is a testament to the terrible sufferings of those who were attacked and persecuted after the 2008 elections. It is also a monument to the incredible courage and tenacity of the politicians and their supporters in the Movement for Democratic Change, who stood their ground, and refused to be cowed by the terribly bullying by Mugabe’s mobsters. The author too put himself in a lot of danger in order to hear people's stories, at a time when most foreign journalists had fled the country.
A tough read, but excellent.
May 31, 2017
This is my third book by Peter Godwin in just under two weeks and it recounts the recent history in Zimbabwe during and after the 2008 elections. Godwin's work is unprecedented for his deep political insight and unparalleled local knowledge, which he obtains even at great personal danger. This book is not for the faint -hearted and I struggled sometimes to read through some of the details of the way Mugabe and his internal forces tortured murdered and disposed of so many of his people. However it is a must read and a testimony to all of the ignominious actions that this tyrant murderer dictator carried out to the detriment of his own people. Godwin's writing is seamless and keeps you engaged to the very end despite the difficulty of the topic. Personally I think he is one of the best journalism writers I have recently discovered. His personal love for his own devastated country is the overriding force and strength behind this powerful book. For anyone who is passionate about African politics and the recent history of Zim this is unmissable.
April 22, 2014
Brilliant book on the tragedy that is Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe. Peter Godwin, a native white Zimbabwean, sneaks back into the country in 2008 even though, as a "foreign" journalist, he is banned. The book is written like a memoir, with Peter visiting many old friends throughout the terror-torn country. It is very difficult to read more than 10 or 20 pages at a time, as the torture and rape and cholera and AIDS and poverty tend to drown one in horror. Godwin and his friends manage to keep their fighting spirit and often their good humor desire being beaten down again and again. I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in Africa.
January 23, 2011
author!
March 25, 2017
Peter Godwin, a white Zimbabwean, is a very talented writer. This book recalls his visits home in the aftermath of Robert Mugabe's stunning defeat by the MDC candidate in 2008. Refusing to cede power, Mugabe and his loyal followers launched a campaign to kill and torture their opponents. Since becoming Prime Minister in 1980 and President in 1987, Mugabe has destroyed the economy (by stealing or "jambanja'ing" farms), education (previously 92% literacy, highest in Africa), and culture. This book presents a stark and brutal picture of an African despot, who has amazingly managed to avoid the civilized world's wrath.
July 1, 2017
Till I bought this book, my knowledge of Zimbabwe was limited to the fact that it had a national cricket team, one among the twelve cricket playing nations in the world. A legacy left by the British as it did to other colonial nations. The moment I started reading the book, it was so depressing that many a time I wanted to quit reading it midway. This is a horrible account of the reign of terror unleashed by Robert Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe.
This a first hand account of the human rights violations, rapes, tortures, beatings and executions unleashed by Mugabe supporters and partymen on their own people who opposes his rule or the opposition party members thus tightening his grip on the country and its economy. I never thought such horrors were prevalent in the country. The author travels all over Zimbabwe and puts his observations into writing talking to the people most of them Mugabe's rivals or opposition party members. The only grouse was that the entire 350 pages were devoted to the horrors and tortures inflicted on the people most of them descriptive which makes you cringe. Would have liked if the author also delved a little more into the life of Mugabe. Also the book ended abruptly which left a lot more questions to be answered.
Warning: Please do not read this if you are faint hearted owing to the tortures inflicted in minute detail.
This a first hand account of the human rights violations, rapes, tortures, beatings and executions unleashed by Mugabe supporters and partymen on their own people who opposes his rule or the opposition party members thus tightening his grip on the country and its economy. I never thought such horrors were prevalent in the country. The author travels all over Zimbabwe and puts his observations into writing talking to the people most of them Mugabe's rivals or opposition party members. The only grouse was that the entire 350 pages were devoted to the horrors and tortures inflicted on the people most of them descriptive which makes you cringe. Would have liked if the author also delved a little more into the life of Mugabe. Also the book ended abruptly which left a lot more questions to be answered.
Warning: Please do not read this if you are faint hearted owing to the tortures inflicted in minute detail.
May 9, 2020
Peter Godwin is a white Zimbabwean who clearly loves his native country. He returns after the 2008 presidential elections because he expects to join with his fellow citizens in "dancing on Robert Mugabe's political grave." But what he finds himself doing over the next three months is bearing witness to Mugabe's brutal crackdown on the opposition who have clearly defeated him at the ballot box, but to whom he refuses to relinquish power. Godwin documents the systematic terrorizing of men, women and children through murder, torture, imprisonment and arson by government forces. Through it all, he documents also the steely determination of the Zimbabwean people to claim their political right to dissent and representative government. Gripping.
August 14, 2011
Not an easy read, as I had to take breaks from it. The brutality, cruelty, thuggery, manipulations, desperation of Robert Mugabe and his thugs can easily make someone angry and disgusted. How one man has spectacularly destroyed Zimbabwe and not gain greater world alarm for it....baffling. A fascinating, disturbing read.
P.S. I hope there is a special circle in hell waiting for Mugabe.
P.S. I hope there is a special circle in hell waiting for Mugabe.
July 3, 2012
If you need a good cry, or haven't yet solidified your hatred of Uncle Bob Mugabe, read this book. Godwin is a very, very good writer. This book is heartbreaking. Will the old bastard never die?
September 17, 2017
In 2008, there was a “democratic” election in Zimbabwe, which apparently defeated its long-time leader/dictator, Robert Mugabe. Mugabe, however, wouldn’t accept it, so while there was to be a re-vote, Mugabe’s people hunted down and tortured and/or murdered people known to be voting against him. The (white) author, who had been born in Zimbabwe, and was now a journalist elsewhere, decided to head back and talked to Zimbabwean people to bear witness.
The book followed the author as he travelled across the country to talk to the people. There were a lot of people and much of the book, particularly the first half, focused on telling the stories of those who had been tortured. Because there were so many people, I sometimes found it hard to follow – is this a new person, or is this one of the people already mentioned? Some of the other parts were a bit dry for me. It’s horrible, everything that happened, but I found much of the book (though not all) a dry read, unfortunately.
This book is copyrighted 2010, so I looked up Mugabe. The man, at 90-something years old now, is still alive and sadly, still the leader of the country.
The book followed the author as he travelled across the country to talk to the people. There were a lot of people and much of the book, particularly the first half, focused on telling the stories of those who had been tortured. Because there were so many people, I sometimes found it hard to follow – is this a new person, or is this one of the people already mentioned? Some of the other parts were a bit dry for me. It’s horrible, everything that happened, but I found much of the book (though not all) a dry read, unfortunately.
This book is copyrighted 2010, so I looked up Mugabe. The man, at 90-something years old now, is still alive and sadly, still the leader of the country.
April 27, 2022
For a private reason I find this book very important.
Apart from this, I think it is worth reading to realize and/or make yourself sure that the World does not learn from its own mistakes. What is more, it is never gonna happen.
The good thing going out of this book is the thought that everything ends. An evil too.
Apart from this, I think it is worth reading to realize and/or make yourself sure that the World does not learn from its own mistakes. What is more, it is never gonna happen.
The good thing going out of this book is the thought that everything ends. An evil too.
May 21, 2011
Short Version:
“This a book by a brave man about people who are braver still. Peter Godwin brings us closer to the filth of the Mugabe tyranny than is bearable and portrays with subtlety, authority, and respect those who, against all odds and at the cost of unimaginable suffering, continue the resistance against it. Their courage is the stuff of myth, and in Godwin they have found their chronicler.”
David Rieff
Long Version:
Some books are tough to read. Some we need to read. Peter Godwin’s newest, The Fear, is one of those books. By far one of the most haunting books I have ever read, this work chronicles the fate of Zimbabwe’s opposition after their victory, in a democratic election, to oust dictator Robert Mugabe after his thirty years of despotic rule. For their bravery in standing up and saying, “No more!”, followers of the MDC party faced torture, terror, intimidation, and death.
Right about the time that I felt as if this would be a book that I could not finish Peter returned to his wife and two young sons in New York, and he was feeling much the same way. While playing dinos with his boy he envisioned a chart hanging on the end of a young torture victim’s bed, upon which the nurses had put a fierce-some T-rex sticker-a symbol of the boy’s spirit. The dichotomy of his sons’ lives and those of the children in the land of his birth overwhelmed him.
In every act, every conversation, he flashed back to his homeland, and in doing so, he realized that he didn’t write this book for himself-he wrote it for the thousands of victims of thirty years of Mugabe rule in his beloved Zimbabwe. This was a story he was called to tell, for the simple reason that he could. He must bear witness to The Fear, bring the truth of it to the attention of the outside world, and bring hope to those actively engaged in their country’s fight for freedom from tyranny.
Knowing that Peter Godwin is a print journalist, I fully expected excellent reporting, and he definitely delivered. The book is well organized and any digressions from chronology are clear and well transitioned. Despite dealing with a huge cast of players, he gave enough information to remind the reader where they had met a person previously, and no person ever felt extraneous. Some levity is injected into an otherwise dark narrative in the form of an almost gallowsish humor. What I did not expect was the formidable strength of his ability to paint Zimbabwe in my mind-her stunning natural beauty, economic free-fall, collapsed civil structure, and complex society were vibrant within his prose.
Above all else, this book is about the triumph of humanity in the most wretched of circumstances. It is the story of people who stand, in the face of a reality so horrific that most of us can not even apprehend it, and refuse to be silenced, even unto death. Please read their story. Let Peter’s decision to write this difficult tale gain traction in your ability to share your reading experience with others you know. The fight in Zimbabwe is ongoing. If democracy is to prevail-and the suffering of thousands of torture victims be vindicated-the world must listen and speak and stand.
Star ranking: absolutely five stars
“This a book by a brave man about people who are braver still. Peter Godwin brings us closer to the filth of the Mugabe tyranny than is bearable and portrays with subtlety, authority, and respect those who, against all odds and at the cost of unimaginable suffering, continue the resistance against it. Their courage is the stuff of myth, and in Godwin they have found their chronicler.”
David Rieff
Long Version:
Some books are tough to read. Some we need to read. Peter Godwin’s newest, The Fear, is one of those books. By far one of the most haunting books I have ever read, this work chronicles the fate of Zimbabwe’s opposition after their victory, in a democratic election, to oust dictator Robert Mugabe after his thirty years of despotic rule. For their bravery in standing up and saying, “No more!”, followers of the MDC party faced torture, terror, intimidation, and death.
Right about the time that I felt as if this would be a book that I could not finish Peter returned to his wife and two young sons in New York, and he was feeling much the same way. While playing dinos with his boy he envisioned a chart hanging on the end of a young torture victim’s bed, upon which the nurses had put a fierce-some T-rex sticker-a symbol of the boy’s spirit. The dichotomy of his sons’ lives and those of the children in the land of his birth overwhelmed him.
In every act, every conversation, he flashed back to his homeland, and in doing so, he realized that he didn’t write this book for himself-he wrote it for the thousands of victims of thirty years of Mugabe rule in his beloved Zimbabwe. This was a story he was called to tell, for the simple reason that he could. He must bear witness to The Fear, bring the truth of it to the attention of the outside world, and bring hope to those actively engaged in their country’s fight for freedom from tyranny.
Knowing that Peter Godwin is a print journalist, I fully expected excellent reporting, and he definitely delivered. The book is well organized and any digressions from chronology are clear and well transitioned. Despite dealing with a huge cast of players, he gave enough information to remind the reader where they had met a person previously, and no person ever felt extraneous. Some levity is injected into an otherwise dark narrative in the form of an almost gallowsish humor. What I did not expect was the formidable strength of his ability to paint Zimbabwe in my mind-her stunning natural beauty, economic free-fall, collapsed civil structure, and complex society were vibrant within his prose.
Above all else, this book is about the triumph of humanity in the most wretched of circumstances. It is the story of people who stand, in the face of a reality so horrific that most of us can not even apprehend it, and refuse to be silenced, even unto death. Please read their story. Let Peter’s decision to write this difficult tale gain traction in your ability to share your reading experience with others you know. The fight in Zimbabwe is ongoing. If democracy is to prevail-and the suffering of thousands of torture victims be vindicated-the world must listen and speak and stand.
Star ranking: absolutely five stars
December 2, 2011
I don't know that I would recommend this book. I gave it five stars because the man who wrote it is fearless and amazing. I read this book because a woman I had been working with through a library vendor is from Zimbabwe and shared her story and her parents' story of escaping to South Africa.
The book is easy to read on one level as it is broken up into minute vignettes and pieces of stories that the author links back together. You have a sense of immediacy with this book and the narrative can really draw you in if you let it. At the same time there was for me a sense of apprehension of what might come next.
The history of Africa, black or white, is not a subject to be toyed with and by no means does this author give us a vacation in Zimbabwe. There are stories in this book that will haunt even the most calloused mind.
After meeting with my friend Diane I reread this book and the complexity of Subsaharan Africa from post-WWII through the independence movements of the '60's and the Civil Wars of the '80's leaves you with this weird feeling of putting together a "who's who" and so many of the leaders, the murderers, the icons, had roles in more than one country. Not an easy book to read on an emotional level and I really never touched on Godwin's own personal connections to the stories and people in the book, but he is also part of the Zimbabwe Diaspora that took place during Mugabe's tenure. His father is buried there. His mother, at the time of the book, still lived in London.
The book is easy to read on one level as it is broken up into minute vignettes and pieces of stories that the author links back together. You have a sense of immediacy with this book and the narrative can really draw you in if you let it. At the same time there was for me a sense of apprehension of what might come next.
The history of Africa, black or white, is not a subject to be toyed with and by no means does this author give us a vacation in Zimbabwe. There are stories in this book that will haunt even the most calloused mind.
After meeting with my friend Diane I reread this book and the complexity of Subsaharan Africa from post-WWII through the independence movements of the '60's and the Civil Wars of the '80's leaves you with this weird feeling of putting together a "who's who" and so many of the leaders, the murderers, the icons, had roles in more than one country. Not an easy book to read on an emotional level and I really never touched on Godwin's own personal connections to the stories and people in the book, but he is also part of the Zimbabwe Diaspora that took place during Mugabe's tenure. His father is buried there. His mother, at the time of the book, still lived in London.
April 22, 2011
This is my second Godwin book about Zimbabwe. If you are going to read just one, try "When a Crocodile Eats the Sun." Godwin wrote this by slipping into Zim following the 2008 presidential election which the opposition leader Tsvangirai won and long time president/dictator Mugabe lost. Mugabe's regime then cooked the results and brutalized areas that voted for the opposition leader so badly that the opposition conceded, but not before there was an agreement to form a unity government. The book's strength is Godwin's ability to tell the stories of a country of people utterly destroyed by a despot yet with the courage still to give their name, their hometown, and name the perpetrators. At the same time, this bearing witness can become relentless. So many people are tortured and killed in such horrible ways by Mugabe's regime that this book was hard to read in long doses. However, it is important that people do know what's happening. It also is a fascinating look at why the opposition has steadfastly refused to resort to violence even though (as a Quaker speaking), they have long since reached the point where it would be fair for them to strike back. Moreover, it's interesting that a country's racial wounds seem to have been worked out among the few whites left and the opposition blacks as they now all find themselves in this surreal world of trying to oust a dictator by the ballot box.
December 29, 2011
Reading this, I kept flashing back to, of all things, the Kol Nidre service for Yom Kippur. During it, at one particular moment, we all recite a list of all the sins we are all guilty of, a to z (arrogance to zeal for bad causes," an alphabet of woe. This book, at its core, is an alphabet of woe. It is a litany of miseries and failures and disasters and pains. It hurts to read, and reading it while taking the subway, or sitting on your comfortable couch, or wherever, is troubling and guilt-inducing. Alphabet of woe.
I did, I'll admit, find Mr. Godwin -- and his sister, oy vey, his sister -- kind of off-putting. The structure of the book felt like Mr. Godwin was visiting all his old Zimbabwean friends who, aw shucks, just happen to be some of the country's highest officials and biggest political celebrities but they're just his old buddies, you know. I get that he grew up there, spent a lot of time in very privileged circles, etc., but the tone of "what a strange coincidence!" was just . . . strange to me. More so, I wasn't sure what to make of Georgina. I assumed, from the way she's always spilling out packages of weight-loss supplements, trying to sell electronic cigarettes, talking about boyfriends and television, that she's about 20 years old and something of a Zimbabwean celebutante, but the internet seems to suggest otherwise. So there you go.
I did, I'll admit, find Mr. Godwin -- and his sister, oy vey, his sister -- kind of off-putting. The structure of the book felt like Mr. Godwin was visiting all his old Zimbabwean friends who, aw shucks, just happen to be some of the country's highest officials and biggest political celebrities but they're just his old buddies, you know. I get that he grew up there, spent a lot of time in very privileged circles, etc., but the tone of "what a strange coincidence!" was just . . . strange to me. More so, I wasn't sure what to make of Georgina. I assumed, from the way she's always spilling out packages of weight-loss supplements, trying to sell electronic cigarettes, talking about boyfriends and television, that she's about 20 years old and something of a Zimbabwean celebutante, but the internet seems to suggest otherwise. So there you go.
March 6, 2013
For the oldest race in the world, the Africans bring the best and worst out on show. This book an important one. It shows the depth of human depravity, avarice juxtaposing with the heights of en devour and struggle for survival. Mugabe is making a fool of the civilized world by breaking all rules of democracy. I would argue that if there was any real threat to democracy, it comes from 'democrats' like Robert Mugabe. Why the world is quiet in the face of such blatant and systematic mockery of all known rules of chivalry and good governance is beyond me. The only reason which makes sense is that Mugabe's Zimbabwe has little to offer in international business as it was for all intents a country relying on agri-economy. Otherwise why would the very White western civilized countries keep ignoring the torture meted out on all the whites of Zimbabwe?
The book was pretty readable as the author somehow managed to keep the interest alive by keeping the chapters short. otherwise for someone with little local knowledge it would have proven to be a difficult read.
The book was pretty readable as the author somehow managed to keep the interest alive by keeping the chapters short. otherwise for someone with little local knowledge it would have proven to be a difficult read.
September 27, 2014
"Any return to normality(after an agreement to power sharing with Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC) threatens Mugabe's power, she explains. Improvement in conditions is associated with the MDC coming into government. If it continues (small bit of normalcy), Mugabe is undermined so they (Mugabe & his thugs) will likely try to destabilize things in their own country."
Just a short quote from the book which was filled with humanity, horror, and surprisingly some seriously funny laugh out loud humor while reporting on the reality of the situation in his country of origin.
I recall his humor in reading one of his first books where he is growing up in Zimbabwe and his family buys a dalmation and all the whle neighborhood is freaking out saying a spotted leopard is on the lose trying to come right up and kill people when the family dog gets lose. Surprisingly funny these books but I suppose how could you read them otherwise? All death, murder and other injustices it would make a hard read.
Just a short quote from the book which was filled with humanity, horror, and surprisingly some seriously funny laugh out loud humor while reporting on the reality of the situation in his country of origin.
I recall his humor in reading one of his first books where he is growing up in Zimbabwe and his family buys a dalmation and all the whle neighborhood is freaking out saying a spotted leopard is on the lose trying to come right up and kill people when the family dog gets lose. Surprisingly funny these books but I suppose how could you read them otherwise? All death, murder and other injustices it would make a hard read.
July 31, 2012
"The Fear" is absolutely superb. I bought this book well over a year ago. I didn't read it straight away, as I was sure that I'd find it depressing. Well, I didn't find it depressing. I found it enthralling. It made me angry, it made me cry and it made me want to go back and rescue my beloved country, Zimbabwe, from the greedy, corrupt, amoral cartel who run it.
Of course the question is "how"?
Peter Godwin has shone a light on their evil actions. It's the only way we in the diaspora can hope to have an influence, since the rule of law was abandoned 12 years ago. We have to expose the regime for what it is - for the sake of the poor, hungry, dispossessed mass of people who live in fear of brutality - of rape, torture, beatings, mutilation and imprisonment.
Another election looms in 2013. The cycle of violence Peter Godwin has described will begin again. Zimbabweans do not deserve to suffer one moment longer. They have been through enough.
Of course the question is "how"?
Peter Godwin has shone a light on their evil actions. It's the only way we in the diaspora can hope to have an influence, since the rule of law was abandoned 12 years ago. We have to expose the regime for what it is - for the sake of the poor, hungry, dispossessed mass of people who live in fear of brutality - of rape, torture, beatings, mutilation and imprisonment.
Another election looms in 2013. The cycle of violence Peter Godwin has described will begin again. Zimbabweans do not deserve to suffer one moment longer. They have been through enough.
November 29, 2012
This is a very depressing read. It's less autobiographical than Godwin's previous two books about Zimbabwe (which are excellent) and more reportage of the events following the election in 2008. Which Robert Mugabe didn't win. So clearly the solution was to fiddle the results, and then send goons out to torture, rape and murder thousands of people who had had the temerity not to vote for him. Some parts of this book made me feel physically sick. It really makes you despair of human nature ... except for the courage of those tortured beings who stand up to him even after their bodies have been broken. Sadly, their efforts seem to have been in vain -- Mugabe appears to be untouchable. It's terrible to see Zimbabwe, once the bread basket of Africa, reduced to grinding poverty because of the megalomania of one man.
March 24, 2020
W Kampali, na centralnym wzgórzu tej olbrzymiej miasto-wsi stoi meczet. Jego budowę rozpoczął Idi Amin i nosi miano Kadafiego. Jest to jeden z nielicznych ciekawych i dobrze zachowanych zabytków ugandyjskiej stolicy. Witamy w innym świecie. W Zimbabwe do dzisiaj ukrywa się Mengestu, skazany przez etiopski sąd na dożywocie za spowodowanie klęski głodu i doprowadzenie kraju do ruiny. Los Mugabe, który przebywa w areszcie domowy, będzie podobny - nawet opozycja nie chce postawić go pod sądem. Tak wyglądają afrykańskie reżimy.
Książka Petera Godwina, “Strach. Ostatnie dni Roberta Mugabe” Petera Godwina (tłum. Paweł Lipszyc), to opowieść zimbabweńskiego dziennikarza (mieszkającego już wtedy w Nowym Jorku) o wyborach prezydenckich w 2009, w których Mugabe poniósł klęskę. Na przegraną zareagował terrorem, który objął głównie biedną ludność w wiejskich regionach, w przeważającej mierze zwolenników opozycyjnej partii MDC. Tortury, morderstwa, “inteligentne ludobójstwo". Godwin czasem z narażeniem życia dokumentuje zbrodnie reżimu i pokazuje, w bardzo przystępny sposób uwikłania lokalnej ale i międzynarodowej polityki. Jednocześnie dostajemy opowieść prywatną - dziennikarza obawiającego się o swoje życie, ale też życie klasy społecznej, z której pochodzi - białej, zimbabweńskiej inteligencji - nie tylko farmerów, których od końca lat 90. tępił reżim Mugabe, ale też lekarzy, pracowników korporacji czy ambasad. Dramat prywatny - rozdarcie pomiędzy byciem zimbabweńczykiem, a kimś ‘de facto’ obcym jest tu szczególnie ciekawie pokazany. Ale. Mam spore “ale" do tej opowieści. Godwin jest dziennikarzem od lat zajmującym się pokazywaniem problemów Zimbabwe na arenie międzynarodowej, dlatego zapewne uznał, że nie trzeba wyjaśniać zbyt obszernie tła wydarzeń z 2009 roku, a to dla polskiego czytelnika może być jednak istotne. Ale to pomniejszy kłopot, bo przecież mamy wikipedię i sobie możemy doczytać. Bardziej istotny kłopot stanowi rasa. To straszne słowo w zimbabweńską zimę wybrzmiewało wielokrotnie. Opowiem wam o tym.
Otóż zdaniem mojej przewodniczki po cudach zimbabweńskich parków narodowych (a są to może nie tyle cuda, co naprawdę ciekawe widoczki i piękna zwierzyna) jej czarni sąsiedzi (“african people") mają całkiem inną mentalność i nie rozumieją, że biały człowiek urządza im lepszy świat. Nawet teraz, gdy zobaczyli po wygnaniu większości białych, że runęła gospodarka oparta o masowe rolnictwo farmerskie (obok wydobycia diamentów, jednak ta przeżarta korupcją dziedzina miała wpływ jedynie na życie nielicznej elity), nie wydają sie bliżsi poznania oświeconej prawdy. Biała prawda wygląda tak, że tylko biali potrafią chronić przyrodę i dbać o komfort turystów. To jest jakaś prawda. Zimbabwe wygląda jak skansen, w którym czas zatrzymał się gdzieś pomiędzy 1980 a 1990 rokiem. Ma to swój urok - centrum Harare zachwyca modernistyczną i brutalistyczną (choć mocno nadwyrężoną) architekturą, a w prowincjonalnym Bulawayo co drugi pawilon przypomina słynną warszawską Emilkę. Jest to też niezwykle przygnębiające, bo w tych interesujących przestrzeniach straszą artefakty świadczące o niezwykłej biedzie. Puste półki, sprzęty z różnych epok, wielkie powierzchnie handlowe smutnie opuszczone. Gigantyczne bezrobocie, wciąż spadająca średnia długość życia, zniszczone rolnictwo, niewydolna policja, słaba edukacja, bankomaty bez pieniędzy, stacje benzynowe, na których nie da się zatankować paliwa. Do tego dochodzi niesamowita drożyzna - ceny na tzw. “poziomie warszawskim" a nawet drożej. Większości mieszkańców nie stać na nic poza najprostszym jedzeniem, a centrum Bulawayo śmierdzi uryną.
A obok tego są oczywiście enklawy bogactwa - centra handlowe, gdzie ‘fish and chips’ kosztuje ⅕ tutejszej średniej pensji, “normalne" sklepy i króliczki sprzedawane nie z przeznaczeniem na pokarm, ale do domowych pieleszy. I to 50 km od miejsca, gdzie mieszkańcy wsi polują na słonie, żeby się wyżywić. Enklawy pełne białych, których nie spotkasz nawet w centrum Harare. Biali przemieszczają się niezauważenie, poza oczami większości. Jakby w nieoficjalnym obiegu. Prowadzą biznesy (kierując nimi często z RPA), zajmują się safari i ochroną przyrody. Problem polega na tym, że oni też już są lokalsami, od ponad 120 lat. Każdy ma swoje racje i choć niekiedy możemy je odczytywać jako manifestacje rasowej wyższości, to lokalny kontekst nie jest taki prosty.
Podróżując między tymi dwoma światami, z lokalnego autobusu przesiadając się do Toyoty Hilux ciężko nie mieć etycznych rozterek i nie stawiać sobie wielu trudnych pytań. Jakkolwiek książka Godwina jest ciekawa od strony faktograficznej, tak jednak zbyt uparcie trzyma się wątpliwości tylko jednej strony konfliktu. Pokazując ofiary, Godwin oddaje im sprawiedliwość, ale wciąż jest jakas granica między nim, a światem dookoła, której nie udaje mu się pokonać. Dodać też trzeba, że jest to pozycja już mocno archiwalna, bo Godwin kończy snuć swoją opowieść w 2009 roku, a wiele się wydarzyło od tego czasu.
Pod koniec lipca odbędą się wybory prezydenckie. Zorganizowano akcję zachęcającą do głosowania. Hasło na plakatach brzmi: “Twój głos, twój sekret", co nawiązuje właśnie do czasów, gdy tajne głosy okazały się bardzo jawne. Tym razem ma być inaczej, ale czy będzie? Najwięcej plakatów ma przywódca ZANU-PF, Emerson Mnangagwa, który jest odpowiedzialny za masakry w Matabelelandzie w latach 80. i wiele innych przestępstw. Po drodze z Victoria Falls do Bulawayo, gdy mija się regionalną siedzibę partii Mugabe asfalt wydaje się gładszy, a budynki bardziej zadbane. Nawet znaki drogowe są nowe. Te ostrzegające przed przechodzącymi słoniami już dawno wyblakły. Piękna tragedia, którą ciężko pojąć. Książka Godwina trochę w tym pomaga, ale pozostawia dużo miejsca dla może odrobinę lepszych opowieści o tym niezwykłym kraju, w którym jest nawet Chinatown (na zdjęciu).
Książka Petera Godwina, “Strach. Ostatnie dni Roberta Mugabe” Petera Godwina (tłum. Paweł Lipszyc), to opowieść zimbabweńskiego dziennikarza (mieszkającego już wtedy w Nowym Jorku) o wyborach prezydenckich w 2009, w których Mugabe poniósł klęskę. Na przegraną zareagował terrorem, który objął głównie biedną ludność w wiejskich regionach, w przeważającej mierze zwolenników opozycyjnej partii MDC. Tortury, morderstwa, “inteligentne ludobójstwo". Godwin czasem z narażeniem życia dokumentuje zbrodnie reżimu i pokazuje, w bardzo przystępny sposób uwikłania lokalnej ale i międzynarodowej polityki. Jednocześnie dostajemy opowieść prywatną - dziennikarza obawiającego się o swoje życie, ale też życie klasy społecznej, z której pochodzi - białej, zimbabweńskiej inteligencji - nie tylko farmerów, których od końca lat 90. tępił reżim Mugabe, ale też lekarzy, pracowników korporacji czy ambasad. Dramat prywatny - rozdarcie pomiędzy byciem zimbabweńczykiem, a kimś ‘de facto’ obcym jest tu szczególnie ciekawie pokazany. Ale. Mam spore “ale" do tej opowieści. Godwin jest dziennikarzem od lat zajmującym się pokazywaniem problemów Zimbabwe na arenie międzynarodowej, dlatego zapewne uznał, że nie trzeba wyjaśniać zbyt obszernie tła wydarzeń z 2009 roku, a to dla polskiego czytelnika może być jednak istotne. Ale to pomniejszy kłopot, bo przecież mamy wikipedię i sobie możemy doczytać. Bardziej istotny kłopot stanowi rasa. To straszne słowo w zimbabweńską zimę wybrzmiewało wielokrotnie. Opowiem wam o tym.
Otóż zdaniem mojej przewodniczki po cudach zimbabweńskich parków narodowych (a są to może nie tyle cuda, co naprawdę ciekawe widoczki i piękna zwierzyna) jej czarni sąsiedzi (“african people") mają całkiem inną mentalność i nie rozumieją, że biały człowiek urządza im lepszy świat. Nawet teraz, gdy zobaczyli po wygnaniu większości białych, że runęła gospodarka oparta o masowe rolnictwo farmerskie (obok wydobycia diamentów, jednak ta przeżarta korupcją dziedzina miała wpływ jedynie na życie nielicznej elity), nie wydają sie bliżsi poznania oświeconej prawdy. Biała prawda wygląda tak, że tylko biali potrafią chronić przyrodę i dbać o komfort turystów. To jest jakaś prawda. Zimbabwe wygląda jak skansen, w którym czas zatrzymał się gdzieś pomiędzy 1980 a 1990 rokiem. Ma to swój urok - centrum Harare zachwyca modernistyczną i brutalistyczną (choć mocno nadwyrężoną) architekturą, a w prowincjonalnym Bulawayo co drugi pawilon przypomina słynną warszawską Emilkę. Jest to też niezwykle przygnębiające, bo w tych interesujących przestrzeniach straszą artefakty świadczące o niezwykłej biedzie. Puste półki, sprzęty z różnych epok, wielkie powierzchnie handlowe smutnie opuszczone. Gigantyczne bezrobocie, wciąż spadająca średnia długość życia, zniszczone rolnictwo, niewydolna policja, słaba edukacja, bankomaty bez pieniędzy, stacje benzynowe, na których nie da się zatankować paliwa. Do tego dochodzi niesamowita drożyzna - ceny na tzw. “poziomie warszawskim" a nawet drożej. Większości mieszkańców nie stać na nic poza najprostszym jedzeniem, a centrum Bulawayo śmierdzi uryną.
A obok tego są oczywiście enklawy bogactwa - centra handlowe, gdzie ‘fish and chips’ kosztuje ⅕ tutejszej średniej pensji, “normalne" sklepy i króliczki sprzedawane nie z przeznaczeniem na pokarm, ale do domowych pieleszy. I to 50 km od miejsca, gdzie mieszkańcy wsi polują na słonie, żeby się wyżywić. Enklawy pełne białych, których nie spotkasz nawet w centrum Harare. Biali przemieszczają się niezauważenie, poza oczami większości. Jakby w nieoficjalnym obiegu. Prowadzą biznesy (kierując nimi często z RPA), zajmują się safari i ochroną przyrody. Problem polega na tym, że oni też już są lokalsami, od ponad 120 lat. Każdy ma swoje racje i choć niekiedy możemy je odczytywać jako manifestacje rasowej wyższości, to lokalny kontekst nie jest taki prosty.
Podróżując między tymi dwoma światami, z lokalnego autobusu przesiadając się do Toyoty Hilux ciężko nie mieć etycznych rozterek i nie stawiać sobie wielu trudnych pytań. Jakkolwiek książka Godwina jest ciekawa od strony faktograficznej, tak jednak zbyt uparcie trzyma się wątpliwości tylko jednej strony konfliktu. Pokazując ofiary, Godwin oddaje im sprawiedliwość, ale wciąż jest jakas granica między nim, a światem dookoła, której nie udaje mu się pokonać. Dodać też trzeba, że jest to pozycja już mocno archiwalna, bo Godwin kończy snuć swoją opowieść w 2009 roku, a wiele się wydarzyło od tego czasu.
Pod koniec lipca odbędą się wybory prezydenckie. Zorganizowano akcję zachęcającą do głosowania. Hasło na plakatach brzmi: “Twój głos, twój sekret", co nawiązuje właśnie do czasów, gdy tajne głosy okazały się bardzo jawne. Tym razem ma być inaczej, ale czy będzie? Najwięcej plakatów ma przywódca ZANU-PF, Emerson Mnangagwa, który jest odpowiedzialny za masakry w Matabelelandzie w latach 80. i wiele innych przestępstw. Po drodze z Victoria Falls do Bulawayo, gdy mija się regionalną siedzibę partii Mugabe asfalt wydaje się gładszy, a budynki bardziej zadbane. Nawet znaki drogowe są nowe. Te ostrzegające przed przechodzącymi słoniami już dawno wyblakły. Piękna tragedia, którą ciężko pojąć. Książka Godwina trochę w tym pomaga, ale pozostawia dużo miejsca dla może odrobinę lepszych opowieści o tym niezwykłym kraju, w którym jest nawet Chinatown (na zdjęciu).
March 12, 2011
I don't usually read nonfiction, but this book grabbed me right from the start. I couldn't put it down. The author's account of the destruction of his country was stunning. I felt his pain as he compared the land where he grew up to the present day devastation. It made me want to read more on what was happening there right now.
July 28, 2015
Important, urgent, angry reporting, unfortunately marred by prose like "Deep in my stomach, I feel a hernia of panic rising, polyps of fear threatening to burst out of the abdominal wall of my calm."
March 8, 2021
Review tomorrow- it’s too late and I have a lot to say!
Peter Godwin certainly brings Zimbabwe alive in this book, almost too much so. The abuse and atrocities inflicted on the people were very hard to read, but it happened (probably is still going on) and the world should be made aware of it. The horror is right up there with the Holocaust, and yet no one was able to stop it.
I have often compared Donald Trump to Adolph Hitler, but I actually see him now as a clone of Robert Mugabe (Moo-GAH-bay). I prefer MUG-uh-bee! They are two peas in a pod. I’m listing there similarities because we haven’t seen the end of Trump!!
Vicious dictators that destroyed their countries by fear.
Incited riots by their radical voter base.
Denied they lost their elections and demanded recounts.
Raged incoherently and always cast the blame on others.
Got rid of anyone who didn’t agree with them. By Twitter or Murder.
Were power driven egomaniacs who thought they were Gods.
Had undeniable mental issues and abnormal lying rants
Only married their girlfriend/mistress AFTER a child was born out of wedlock.
Fortunately, we only had 4 years of Trump’s misguided leadership - Zimbabwe had 37 years of The Mug. No wonder they were in such a sorry state.
Peter Godwin certainly brings Zimbabwe alive in this book, almost too much so. The abuse and atrocities inflicted on the people were very hard to read, but it happened (probably is still going on) and the world should be made aware of it. The horror is right up there with the Holocaust, and yet no one was able to stop it.
I have often compared Donald Trump to Adolph Hitler, but I actually see him now as a clone of Robert Mugabe (Moo-GAH-bay). I prefer MUG-uh-bee! They are two peas in a pod. I’m listing there similarities because we haven’t seen the end of Trump!!
Vicious dictators that destroyed their countries by fear.
Incited riots by their radical voter base.
Denied they lost their elections and demanded recounts.
Raged incoherently and always cast the blame on others.
Got rid of anyone who didn’t agree with them. By Twitter or Murder.
Were power driven egomaniacs who thought they were Gods.
Had undeniable mental issues and abnormal lying rants
Only married their girlfriend/mistress AFTER a child was born out of wedlock.
Fortunately, we only had 4 years of Trump’s misguided leadership - Zimbabwe had 37 years of The Mug. No wonder they were in such a sorry state.
February 1, 2021
The third Zimbabwe-centered memoirs by the international journalist, Peter Godwin. The first two memoirs are deeply personal. This one is primarily concerned with documenting the horrific crimes of Mugabe and his political party/paramilitary/terrorist organization. The author displayed great courage visiting his homeland to write this book, as did so many of the political heroes/victims he has interviewed.
July 13, 2022
The events of this book happened in my youth and appealed to an unspoken trauma which Godwin enunciates in a powerful, no-holds-barred manner. Despite knowing what happened, one is still shocked by this account of the egregious events of 2008-2009 in Zimbabwe. It is a point of regret that the same violence by the same perpetrators still looms over the country over a decade after the events recounted in The Fear.
December 18, 2019
I began reading this book knowing very little about actual PROBLEMS of Zimbabwe, only that the leader who defeated the white minority regime had been manipulating elections to remain in power and become a dictator, and the fact that Zimbabwe has gone through an unprecedented hyperinflation pushing the economy into complete turmoil.
I had no idea what a violent monster Robert Mugabe was. You need a strong heart to actually read this book as there will be many instances when you will not be able to take any more. Story after story about people having their homes burned down, their limbs broken, and their livestock slaughtered, all for not supporting the political party dedicated to violence and terror, the ZANU-PF.
The horrific 33-year nightmare rule of Robert Mugabe has plundered the assets and ruined the vibrant economy of the country which was one of the fastest growing in Africa at that time when he took over and brought it down to the worst point. I googled and read many articles to realise Mugabe has overseen the systematic slaughter of over 20 thousand plus people in the south of the country, and caused the starvation of thousands more of the entire population by removing the farms of the very people who grew the food, the white farming community and slowly killed the entire economy.... it is tragic to see how the country was thrown to dogs with the entire world watching...
The 2 years that the brave author -Godwin- covered also coincided with my 2 years in Africa when i was in Mozambique and surprisingly these stories never reached us despite being neighbors so i can understand how successfully he was able to manage the world around him....
I had no idea what a violent monster Robert Mugabe was. You need a strong heart to actually read this book as there will be many instances when you will not be able to take any more. Story after story about people having their homes burned down, their limbs broken, and their livestock slaughtered, all for not supporting the political party dedicated to violence and terror, the ZANU-PF.
The horrific 33-year nightmare rule of Robert Mugabe has plundered the assets and ruined the vibrant economy of the country which was one of the fastest growing in Africa at that time when he took over and brought it down to the worst point. I googled and read many articles to realise Mugabe has overseen the systematic slaughter of over 20 thousand plus people in the south of the country, and caused the starvation of thousands more of the entire population by removing the farms of the very people who grew the food, the white farming community and slowly killed the entire economy.... it is tragic to see how the country was thrown to dogs with the entire world watching...
The 2 years that the brave author -Godwin- covered also coincided with my 2 years in Africa when i was in Mozambique and surprisingly these stories never reached us despite being neighbors so i can understand how successfully he was able to manage the world around him....
April 18, 2017
Książka jest okropna - jej zawartość jest straszna, przerażająca, nieludzka i (niestety) nie jest fikcją literacką, a przy tym (co aż źle brzmi w tym przypadku) czyta się ją naprawdę dobrze. Jest napisana w sposób, który jednocześnie wciąga i odpycha, informacje są tak dawkowane, że choć wszystko boli jak się je czyta, to zapewniają też chwilę (zwodniczego) wytchnienia, dzięki czemu (a może raczej - przez co) książka wciąga i niemal nie daje się odstawić na półkę.
September 8, 2016
Not for the faint-of-heart, The Fear was written while on a visit to Godwin's former home in Zimbabwe after interviewing hundreds of atrocity survivors in 2007. If you go to his website, you can follow up on his work as a journalist in Africa.
Others have reviewed this book extensively and well, so this is not a duplication. A few words of advice: obvious bias occurs against Mugabe and his followers, but as in many parts of the world, (especially the African continent) caution is wise when judging his personal opinions. Tremendous abuses are described here; it takes a strong stomach to finish this book, but remember, these kinds of abuses haven't just taken place in Zimbabwe. The causes are not so easily decided on by observers, however Robert Mugabe is directly responsible for those Godwin witnessed and should be put on trial by an international court. Because of his age, infirmity and security, that will probably not happen.
Remember Peter Godwin is an ousted former resident, defeated in the revolution, and citizen of Zimbabwe. Many of his friends remained and became citizens of the new country, hoping to retain businesses and farms, employing hundreds. What happened to them, including his mother, is where he begins his story. It devolves and even allowing for that, remains a compelling account of violence, horrific abuse of power and political despotism in modern Africa.
Mugabe had roots in the ANC with Mandela, Mbeki, Zuma, Mboya and other 20th century independence leaders in the sub-Sahara. They all knew each other. Mandela actually asked Mugabe to step down. Godwin's story includes some notes on where and how these men continued. It becomes a journey into a deeper and unseen side of post-colonial government including corruption and governmental inadequacy on that continent.
A majority of African countries overall have flirted with dictators or despotic regimes since the ending of European governmental control. A complex and unsettled situation has now merged with political and gang violence consistently erupting in the region including South Africa and Nigeria, Kenya and others.
What comes next with increasing huge foreign investment by Chinese, British and Arabian interests versus ongoing power struggles?
Others have reviewed this book extensively and well, so this is not a duplication. A few words of advice: obvious bias occurs against Mugabe and his followers, but as in many parts of the world, (especially the African continent) caution is wise when judging his personal opinions. Tremendous abuses are described here; it takes a strong stomach to finish this book, but remember, these kinds of abuses haven't just taken place in Zimbabwe. The causes are not so easily decided on by observers, however Robert Mugabe is directly responsible for those Godwin witnessed and should be put on trial by an international court. Because of his age, infirmity and security, that will probably not happen.
Remember Peter Godwin is an ousted former resident, defeated in the revolution, and citizen of Zimbabwe. Many of his friends remained and became citizens of the new country, hoping to retain businesses and farms, employing hundreds. What happened to them, including his mother, is where he begins his story. It devolves and even allowing for that, remains a compelling account of violence, horrific abuse of power and political despotism in modern Africa.
Mugabe had roots in the ANC with Mandela, Mbeki, Zuma, Mboya and other 20th century independence leaders in the sub-Sahara. They all knew each other. Mandela actually asked Mugabe to step down. Godwin's story includes some notes on where and how these men continued. It becomes a journey into a deeper and unseen side of post-colonial government including corruption and governmental inadequacy on that continent.
A majority of African countries overall have flirted with dictators or despotic regimes since the ending of European governmental control. A complex and unsettled situation has now merged with political and gang violence consistently erupting in the region including South Africa and Nigeria, Kenya and others.
What comes next with increasing huge foreign investment by Chinese, British and Arabian interests versus ongoing power struggles?
November 18, 2013
3 1/2 stars
This was such a difficult book to read and to be honest I was relieved when it was finally over. I started reading it just before my holiday to Vic Falls and looked at the country and its people in a whole different light when I was there.
The Fear is basically a collection of horror stories of intimidation, gratuitous violence and torture of the Zimbabwean people during the 2008 elections where Morgan Tsvangirai (for the first time ever) got the majority of votes.
Mugabe being the lunatic sadistic psychopath tyrant that he is never acknowledged this defeat and demanded a second round of voting – in this period between the first and second round the torture commenced. Anyone who was suspected of being an MDC supporter were either raped, killed, maimed and their property burnt to the ground.
During this time the author also visited SA at the hight of the xenophobic attacks in Gauteng (this really didn’t help to put SA in a great light….)
But these stories are needed – they SHOULD be read so the outside world can understand how completely out of touch with reality Robert Mugabe is however this book almost felt like its own worst enemy as it piled on one horror story after another to the point that I didn’t want to read it anymore, defeating its own purpose.
But in between all these atrocious stories it does demonstrate a sliver of hope and the resilient spirit of these brave people of Zimbabwe so I cautiously recommend this to anyone who is interested in African politics/Zimbabwe/African Oppression.
This was such a difficult book to read and to be honest I was relieved when it was finally over. I started reading it just before my holiday to Vic Falls and looked at the country and its people in a whole different light when I was there.
The Fear is basically a collection of horror stories of intimidation, gratuitous violence and torture of the Zimbabwean people during the 2008 elections where Morgan Tsvangirai (for the first time ever) got the majority of votes.
Mugabe being the
During this time the author also visited SA at the hight of the xenophobic attacks in Gauteng (this really didn’t help to put SA in a great light….)
But these stories are needed – they SHOULD be read so the outside world can understand how completely out of touch with reality Robert Mugabe is however this book almost felt like its own worst enemy as it piled on one horror story after another to the point that I didn’t want to read it anymore, defeating its own purpose.
But in between all these atrocious stories it does demonstrate a sliver of hope and the resilient spirit of these brave people of Zimbabwe so I cautiously recommend this to anyone who is interested in African politics/Zimbabwe/African Oppression.
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