The coup in Zimbabwe 津巴布韦政变
The coup in Zimbabwe 津巴布韦政变
The army sidelines Robert Mugabe, Africa’s great dictator 非洲的大独裁者罗伯特穆加贝被军队拉下马
The world should learn from his misrule, and help Zimbabwe recover from it 人们应当从穆加贝的蠹政中有所 领悟，并据此帮助重建津巴布韦
1 coup |ku:| a sudden, illegal and often violent, change of government 政变 2 Zimbabwe [zimˈbɑ:bwei] 津巴布韦 3 sideline |ˈsaɪdlaɪn| to prevent sb from having an important part in sth that other people are doing 把…排除在核心之外；使靠边
4 dictator|dɪkˈteɪtə(r)| 独裁者 5 misrule |ˌmɪsˈru:l| 管治不善；蠹政
Nov 18th 2017
CALIGULA wanted to make his horse consul. Robert Mugabe wanted his wife, Grace, to take over from him as president of Zimbabwe. The comparison is a bit unfair. Caligula’s horse did not go on lavish shopping trips while Romans starved; nor was it accused of assaulting anyone with an electric cable in a hotel room. Grace Mugabe’s only qualification for high office was her marriage to Mr Mugabe, a man 41 years her senior with whom she began an affair while his first wife was dying. Her ambitions were thwarted this week when the army seized power, insisting that this was not a coup while making it perfectly clear that it was
1 caligula [kə'liɡjulə] 卡利古拉（罗马帝国第三位皇帝） 2 consul |ˈkɒns| 领事 3 grace |greɪs| 人名 （非 恩泽; 优雅; 慈悲; 魅力的意思）4 lavish |ˈlævɪʃ|大量的；给人印象深刻的；耗资巨大的 5 thwart|θwɔ:t| 阻止；阻挠；对…构成阻力 to prevent sb from doing what they want to do
Thus, sordidly, ends the era of one of Africa’s great dictators. Mr Mugabe has misruled Zimbabwe for 37 years. As The Economist went to press, he was in detention but unharmed. Even if he is allowed to keep his title, his power is gone. At 93, frail and forgetful, he has finally lost control of the country he ruined. The wonder—and the shame—is that he lasted so long. There is much to learn from the failure of his revolution.
1 sordidly ['sɔ:dɪdlɪ]肮脏地; 污秽地; 不洁地 2 detention |dɪˈtenʃn| 拘留；扣押；监禁 3 frail |freɪl| (especially of an old person 尤指老人) physically weak and thin 瘦弱的 4 wonder |ˈwʌndə(r)| n 奇迹；奇观；奇事；奇妙之处
Coup de Grace 最后的一击
Mr Mugabe was once widely admired (and still is, among those who think anti-imperialist rhetoric matters more than competence). He fought against white rule in the 1970s, in what was then called Rhodesia, and legitimately won an election in 1980. He preached reconciliation with the white former oppressors. Buoyed by aid, global goodwill and good harvests, the new country of Zimbabwe prospered for a while.
1 coup de grâce |ˌku: də ˈgrɑ:s| 最后的一击 （尤指解除痛苦的）致命的一击 2 anti-imperialist ['ænti:ɪmp'ɪərɪəlɪst]反帝国主义者 3 rhetoric |ˈretərɪk|华而不实的言语；花言巧语 4 competence |ˈkɒmpɪtəns; 美 ˈkɑ:m-|能力；胜任
5 Rhodesia [rəuˈdi:zjə] 罗得西亚（津巴布韦的旧称）（非洲）6 preach |pri:tʃ|宣传，宣扬，宣讲（教义、生活方式、体制等） 7 reconciliation |ˌrekənsɪliˈeɪʃn|调解；和解 8 oppressor|əˈpresə(r)|压迫者；残暴的统治者；暴君
9 buoy|bɔɪ| v 鼓舞；鼓励；使振奋 10 aid |eɪd| 援助；救援物资；援助款项 11 global goodwill 友善；友好；善意；亲善 12 legitimate |lɪˈdʒɪtɪmət| 合法的；法律认可的；法定的
But like so many revolutionaries, Mr Mugabe could not tolerate any challenge to his rule. Viewing the second-largest ethnic group, the Ndebele, as disloyal, he used a minor insurrection as an excuse to crush them. In 1983 he unleashed his special forces (trained by North Korea) on the Ndebele, raping, torturing and murdering thousands of civilians. Survivors of village massacres were forced to dance on their neighbours’ mass graves, singing praise to the ruling party, Zanu-PF, in the language of the Shona majority. Unlike, say, Saddam Hussein or Idi Amin, Mr Mugabe did not particularly enjoy violence, but he never hesitated to use enough of it to stay in power.
1 ethnic |ˈeθnɪk| 民族的；种族的 ethnic group 民族,种族群体 2 Ndebele [əndə'bi:li] 恩德贝勒人 3 disloyal |dɪsˈlɔɪəl|（对国家、家庭等）不忠实的，不忠诚的；（对朋友等）不守信义的 4 insurrection |ˌɪnsəˈrekʃn|起义；叛乱；暴动 5 unleash |ʌnˈli:ʃ|发泄；突然释放；使爆发 6 massacre|ˈmæsəkə(r)| 屠杀；残杀 7 praise |preɪz|赞扬；称赞；赞美 6 Zanu-PF: The Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front 爱国阵线; 非洲民族联盟爱国阵线; 津巴布韦非洲民族联盟 patriotic|ˌpeɪtriˈɒtɪk| 爱国的 7 Shona |ˈʃəʊnə| 绍纳语（非洲南部绍纳人讲的方言，用于津巴布韦等地区）
His grasp of economics was revolutionary in the worst sense. He liked the language of socialism because it let him boss people around while posing as a champion of the poor. He spent public money wildly—some of it on good things like education, but much of it on patronage. When he ran out of cash, he started seizing things, such as white-owned commercial farms, and giving them to his supporters. His disregard for property rights scared off investors. He printed money to pay the army and the civil service, sparking hyperinflation so severe that, at one point, Z$1trn would not buy a boiled sweet. He tried to fight inflation with price controls, causing shops to run out of basic goods. All the while his cronies gleefully looted the country’s public purse and diamond mines. After nearly four decades of Mr Mugabe, Zimbabweans are on average a fifth poorer. This year a quarter of the population were short of food; perhaps 3m-5m out of 17m have emigrated in despair.
1 revolutionary |ˌrevəˈlu:ʃənəri| 彻底变革的；巨变的 2 boss |bɒs| v ~ sb (about/around) to tell sb what to do in an aggressive and/or annoying way 对（某人）发号施令 3 pose |pəʊz| ~ as sb to pretend to be sb in order to trick other people 佯装；冒充；假扮 4 patronage |ˈpætrənɪdʒ; ˈpeɪt-| 资助；赞助 ** In some countries the term is used to describe political patronage, which is the use of state resources to reward individuals for their electoral support. 5 spark |spɑ:k| ~ sth (off) to cause sth to start or develop, especially suddenly 引发；触发 6 hyperinflation |ˌhaɪpərɪnˈfleɪʃn|恶性通货膨胀；超通货膨胀；过度通货膨胀 7 boiled sweet 硬糖（常加水果味）8 crony
|ˈkrəʊni|好友；密友 9 gleeful |ˈgli:fl| 欢喜的；高兴的；幸灾乐祸的 10 loot |lu:t|（暴乱、火灾等后）打劫，抢劫，劫掠 11 purse|pɜ:s; 美 pɜ:rs|资金；财源；备用款 12emigrate |ˈemɪgreɪt|移居国外；移民 13 the civil service（政府的）文职部门，行政部门；（统称）政府工作人员，公务员
Will the coup improve matters? It is hard to be optimistic. Coups are never legal and usually spread misery. The generals and ruling-party old guard who engineered this one are not reformers; they are part of the grubby system Mr Mugabe created. Many have profited handsomely from it, and intervened this week not out of principle but to stop Mrs Mugabe and her younger supporters from taking their places at the trough. Emmerson Mnangagwa, the 75-year-old man who may end up in charge, is a longtime Mugabe loyalist and every bit as nasty as his ex-boss. (He was security minister during the Ndebele massacres; during an election campaign in 2000 his supporters burned his opponent’s home down.) This bloodstained crew of plotters make unlikely national saviours.
1misery |ˈmɪzəri| 痛苦；悲惨 2 old guard（守旧的）元老派；保守派；卫道士 3 engineer |ˌendʒɪˈnɪə(r); 美 -ˈnɪr|密谋策划 4 grubby |ˈgrʌbi| 肮脏的；邋遢的；污秽的 卑鄙的；可鄙的 5 handsome profit 客观的利润 6 intervene |ˌɪntəˈvi:n; 美 -tərˈv-| 干涉;干预;介入 插嘴；打断（别人的话）7 trough |trɒf; 美 trɔ:f| 饲料槽，饮水槽 8 every bit as good, bad, etc. (as sb/sth)（和某人、某事物）同样好、同样坏等 9 massacre |ˈmæsəkə(r)| 屠杀；残杀 10 bloodstain|ˈblʌdsteɪn|血迹；血污 11 crew |kru:|一群（或一帮、一伙）人
12 plotter |ˈplɒtə(r); 美 ˈplɑ:tər|阴谋家；秘密策划者 13 saviour |ˈseɪvjə(r)| 救主，救世主（耶稣基督）
A big ditch to climb out of
Nonetheless, there is a sliver of hope. Zimbabwe’s ruling elite have long honoured the forms of democracy,and have occasionally lost elections despite cheating on a grand scale. Mr Mnangagwa may be a thug, but he is a pragmatic one, free of the Messiah complex that caused Mr Mugabe to lose touch with reality. He knows that the treasury is empty, and that Zimbabwe needs urgent help from donors such as the IMF. He has put out feelers to the opposition. He talks of ending some of Mr Mugabe’s woeful policies, such as the law requiring all companies above a certain size to be majority-owned by black Zimbabweans (in practice, ruling-party fat cats).
An election is due to be held by the middle of next year. Any aid to a new, transitional government should be conditional on a free and fair ballot. Exiles, whose remittances have saved countless Zimbabweans from destitution, should be allowed to vote. The polls should be monitored by neutral observers such as the UN and the EU. South Africa will no doubt play a role in the transition, but it may not be a constructive one under Jacob Zuma—another ruler who tolerates grotesque corruption and wants to put his former wife on the throne. China, which propped up Mr Mugabe for a while but then decided he was a deadbeat, has not made its intentions known.
There are two morals to draw from Mr Mugabe’s long, ignominious career. The first is that bad policies, corruptly implemented, can wreck a country with alarming speed and go on wrecking it long after you would have thought there was nothing left. Venezuela has little in common with Zimbabwe culturally, but has also achieved disastrous results by embracing a Latin version of Mugabenomics. By contrast, Botswana, Zimbabwe’s culturally similar but well-governed neighbour, was roughly as rich in 1980 but is now seven times richer.
The second moral is that, for all its disappointments, democracy remains the best antidote for bad rulers. Had Zimbabweans been allowed to choose, they would have tossed Mr Mugabe and his henchmen out long ago. Were there an honest vote now, his successor would start out with real legitimacy.
The world has abandoned Zimbabwe to its fate too many times before. This time, outsiders should offer a hand to help it climb out of the ditch into which Mr Mugabe drove it.
参考链接：
a. 穆加贝妻子购物狂人 http://news.china.com/focus/jbbwzb/13001288/20171118/31684390_all.html
b 参考消息：全面报道 http://news.163.com/17/1116/10/D3BV8RDM00018AOQ_all.html
c 用线缆打嫩模新闻 http://news.sina.com.cn/w/2017-08-18/doc-ifykcqav9768382.shtml
d 穆加贝生平（参考消息） http://www.guancha.cn/Third-World/2014_08_24_259868.shtml
4 穆加贝生平（个人公总号） https://wallstreetcn.com/articles/3041644