RUTHFULLY YOURS

On November 11th 1965 the Union Jack came down in Harare Rhodesia one of the saddest tales of decolonization in Africa. Africa’s breadbasket and most thriving nation disintegrated under the rule of Mugabe. Famine, epidemic, and the systematic government seizure and destruction of productive farms led to the chaos that reigns today. The apathy and disinterest of the Congressional Black caucus and prominent Americans proved that African Black lives don’t matter. It is a tragedy and failure of monumental proportions…..rsk

Zimbabwe, one of Africa’s most resource-rich nations, suffered a steep economic decline under the decadeslong rule of Robert Mugabe, and his successor will face an arduous task in reviving it.

Unlike most other sub-Saharan Africans, Zimbabweans are considerably poorer today than they were some three decades ago, according to the World Bank and other agencies, with fewer people employed and more people going hungry.

Once considered Africa’s breadbasket for its productive agricultural sector, Zimbabwe is now the 22nd poorest nation in the world, according to International Monetary Fund data. Millions of its citizens have emigrated in search of work after a cycle of crises stoked an inflation rate that peaked in 2008 at 79.6 billion percent.

The country’s economy is again on a precipice. With the budget deficit ballooning to 10% of gross domestic product, U.S. dollars—Zimbabwe’s effective currency—are in such scarce circulation that people have begun sleeping outside banks.

“Macroeconomic stability is threatened by high government spending, the foreign-exchange regime is untenable, and the pace of reform inadequate,” said Gene Leon, the IMF’s Zimbabwe mission chief.

The country’s stubborn state of economic emergency marks a spectacular decline from when Robert Mugabe took its helm in 1980, ending white-minority rule after years of armed struggle amid widespread jubilation. His first 15 years in power were broadly reformist, characterized by consensus building and large investments in education and infrastructure. In those years the economy continued to expand.

BERLIN—The fate of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, reeling from the collapse of coalition talks, could hinge on a party that has shed almost half its voters and lost every single general election over the past 15 years.

Ms. Merkel’s attempt to forge a disparate alliance of conservatives, free-marketers and environmentalists collapsed on Sunday, putting a spotlight on the Social Democratic Party, which suffered a searing September defeat at the polls.

The country’s president, conservative allies of Ms. Merkel and even prominent opposition figures this week called on the venerable center-left party to help solve the political crisis by joining Ms. Merkel in reassembling their “grand coalition” of ideological rivals.

SPD Chairman Martin Schulz, the party’s eighth leader in 18 years, has so far rejected the overtures. Andrea Nahles, the recently appointed parliamentary leader, said this week that her party wouldn’t act as Ms. Merkel’s “power-political reserve.”

But some experts say the SPD may not have a better option. Should it refuse to be wooed, the result could be snap elections, for which it is woefully unprepared.

“The SPD finds itself in a dilemma…it got caught on the wrong foot,” said Thorsten Faas, a political-science professor at Berlin’s Free University.
Little LeftThe Social Democratic Party, Germany’s largestmainstream left-of-center party, has lost about halfits voters in the past 15 years.SPD general-election vote shareTHE WALL STREET JOURNALSource: Germany’s Federal Returning Officer*Last SPD general-election victory
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After delivering the party’s worst postwar election result, Mr. Schulz has lost authority. Two opinion polls released this week suggest the SPD wouldn’t do any better at the ballot box today.

As with other social-democratic parties in Europe, the 142-year-old SPD has yet to find a solution to the gradual loss of its old audience of blue-collar workers, civil servants and trade unionists.

In Germany, the demographic problem was compounded by the unpopular economic overhauls of Gerhard Schröder, which alienated the party’s left-wing base when he served as the latest Social Democratic chancellor from 1998-2005. Ms. Merkel’s embrace of center-left policies, including a minimum wage and same-sex marriage, also eroded support.

After the poor September election results, SPD leaders had hoped a four-year spell in opposition would re-energize the party and give it a good shot at the chancellery in 2021.

“The SPD has to be careful about its election results. If it falls below 20%, people will get nervous there,” said Tilman Mayer, politics professor at Bonn University. “To simply steal away and say we will only do opposition, that’s simply not enough. And I’m not sure this would be rewarded in snap elections.” CONTINUE AT SITE