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UK Diplomat to Zimbabwe blast White Zimbabwe Farmers for racism

by Ndou Paul
05 Jun 2011 at 14:59hrs | Views
A Former UK diplomat to Zimbabwe left no stone unturned on the Robert Mugabe engineered Zimbabwean Land Crisis as he blasted some of Zimbabwe's white farmers for racism.

In his revolutionary book titled 'Zimbabwe Years Of Hope And Despair' Phillip Barclay writes saying the attitudes of most white farmers he met would be intolerable in western societies.

Barclay, a former diplomat to Zimbabwe between 2006 and 2009 who said his book reveals his personal views and not the United Kingdom government's, makes history as he attempts a broader view of Zimbabwe's political crisis probably more than any other piece of literature to date has.

"Most Zimbabwean Farmers l have met have attitudes that would simply not be tolerable in modern Western society√¢‚Ǩ¬¶.As they got used to my presence, they started  to joke about farm dogs chasing black labourers. In no time they were happily talking about niggers and kaffirs. With a change in accent, they would have fitted right into 1950s Mississippi√¢‚Ǩ¬¶" , Phil Barclay writes.

Using plain easy to read English, Phil Barclay's tell it all book however does not spare Zimbabwe's aging dictator Robert Mugabe either, who he also blasts for his hypocricy and political exploitation of black people:

'Mugabe took little interest in farming for first twenty years in power. Indeed during the 1980s his government issued a thousand letters to immigrants into Zimbabwe – people without any association with the colonial era…..Most have been thrown off the land they purchased from Mugabe's own post- independence Government, which falsely labelled them colonial relics in the process.'

Both metaphorically and also paradoxically , Phil Barclay concludes, 'The land is rich and the rainfall is heavy, but nobody gets enough to eat…..l love Zimbabwe, but l hate it too'.

Phil Barclay was also an observer in Zimbabwe's 2008 infamous elections and supported non-governmental organisations during his short stay in Zimbabwe.

He commented saying he was charged a lumpsome USD300 for a T shirt so that he could become an observer for the 2008 elections.

Zimbabwe Years of Hope And Despair book copies can be purchased online at Amazon.

Phillip Barclay met Zimbabweans in Leeds on 02 June 2011 and has said he is looking forward to another meeting as soon as possible. The function was sponsored and hosted by ZimEye Media. 

Source - Zimeye
More on: #Racism, #Diplomat