Why Do So Many Western Leftists Defend Robert Mugabe?
Apologetics for a kleptocratic tyrant have nothing to do with anti-imperialism.
President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe listens as Prof. Alpha Oumar Konare, chairman of the Commission of the African Union, addresses attendees at the opening ceremony of the 10th Ordinary Session of the Assembly during the African Union Summit in Addis Ab aba, Ethiopia, Jan. 31, 2008.USAF Tech. Sgt. Jeremy Lock / Wikimedia
Why do so many Western leftists feel the need to defend a counter-revolutionary, kleptocratic despot like Robert Mugabe? Is it because a country like Zimbabwe and its struggles only matter for them to score points against their interlocutors in the United States or Europe?
Mugabe is almost universally reviled among his own people. His corrupt, authoritarian regime was about as far from any desirable socialist project as one could possibly imagine and he hijacked a popular movement performing actual land reform in order to save his stumbling autocracy.
He remains a harsh social conservative who advocates legal action against LGBTIQ persons. Gays are “worse than dogs and pigs,” he once said.
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