The Liberty Papers

Sadly, I’m speaking literally:

Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was in intensive care with a suspected skull fracture on Wednesday after what he says was a brutal attack by President Robert Mugabe’s police.

Images of a battered Tsvangirai appearing in court have fueled world outrage over a crackdown on political protests by Mugabe’s government and its treatment of opponents.

…

Tsvangirai, speaking to a radio reporter from his hospital bed, said he was attacked after arriving at a police station to check on supporters who had been detained with him on Sunday when the government broke up a planned prayer vigil.

“It was almost as if they were waiting for me,” he said in remarks broadcast on South Africa’s national radio.

“Before I could even settle down I was subjected to a lot of beatings, in fact it was random beatings, but I think the intention was to inflict as much harm as they could.”

I think we’re reaching the endgame of Mugabe’s tyranny. We’ve basically seen the collapse of society in an orgy of socialist dictatorship. Tsangvirai was the head of the opposition group protesting Mugabe’s attempt to extend his rule even further into the future.

The arrests came as Zimbabwe faces a deepening economic crisis with inflation at more than 1,700 percent, unemployment of 80 percent and shortages of food, fuel and foreign exchange.

Mugabe originally proposed adjusting election dates to extend his current term by two years to 2010, and then said that if necessary he would be willing to stand in elections in 2008 — meaning he could remain in office through 2014.

Zimbabwe was known for decades as “the breadbasket of Africa”. Bad policies by Mugabe have destroyed the economy and turned a nation with a surplus of food into a land of starvation. In a nation with such obvious problems, the people have nothing to lose. This may be the rallying point for the citizens of Zimbabwe to finally take down Mugabe.