Impossible? Inconceivable? So far, yes. But many of these things have happened within the last year, in European and African countries.
Joe Nathan
Within the next two days, you will know who was elected. This column was written last week, so I didn’t know the results as I was writing.
But I am sure we won’t see the kind of violence in Cambridge, Isanti, Braham or Anoka that others have encountered around the world, within the last year, after elections. Here’s a sampling:
Just last month (October 21): (From Ohmy News) “Kenyan Ministers Guilty of Funding Post –Election Violence”
“A judicial commission of inquiry appointed by President Mwai Kibaki in May to investigate the causes of the violence that erupted soon after the Dec. 27, 2007 elections has compiled a damning report indicting prominent people among them ministers of planning and funding the violence in which 1,000 people were killed and 350,000 others displaced, with some still living in Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camps.
From Reuters, Reuters: April 10, 2008
Amnesty International says post-election violence in Zimbabwe appears to be coordinated
NEW YORK, April 10 -- As leaders of Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) states prepare for an emergency meeting on the political crisis in Zimbabwe, Amnesty International said today it was disturbed by reports of widespread violent retribution against supporters of opposition parties, including attacks reportedly orchestrated by soldiers and police....According to information received by Amnesty International, incidents of post-election violence are widespread -- suggesting the existence of coordinated retribution against known and suspected opposition supporters.
From the International Herald Tribune, March 2, 2008
Yerevan, Armenia -- Tanks blocked central streets in the capital of this tiny mountain country Sunday, a day after the Armenian authorities clashed with demonstrators in a violent confrontation that left at least 8 dead and more than 130 wounded.
Twelve years ago, in August 1996, the following appeared a “New York Times” article by James C. McKinley, Jr. (before recent changes, Mogadishu, Somalia had descended) “ into a post-apocalyptic frenzy of rape, robbery and random killings, human-rights lawyers say. More than 20 people were being killed on an average day by thugs masquerading as militia members and women were frequently raped and abused.”
True leadership needed
We’re a long way from this. God has blessed America. But over the last two weeks in the U.S., people have thrown eggs at pictures of one candidate, and some candidates have called others “anti-American.”
Americans have fought and died to protect free speech. I hope the next president and Governor Tim Pawlenty will remind us that we don’t want to go where too many countries are – making dissent and disagreement crimes punishable by death.
— Joe Nathan, a former public school teacher and administrator, directs the Center for School Change, Humphrey Institute, University of Minnesota jnathan@hhh.umn.edu
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