1984 in Zimbabwe

This is the reason that I stress the novel 1984 by George Orwell as the last book the seniors read before leaving high school.

Yahoo! News has a great little article describing the latest in Zimbabwe, where it is even unsafe to have an election.

The U.N. Council even stresses how unfair it is:

The 15-nation council said late Monday it "condemns the campaign of
violence against the political opposition ahead of the second round of
presidential elections," which has resulted in the killing of scores of
opposition activists and other Zimbabweans.

The novel 1984 reminds us of what could happen in a world like this--but most
importantly, 1984 tells us how a world depicted in the novel can come about.

Zimbabwe is leading down that path, where even

opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew from the vote — reportedly fearing for his safety — and police raided his Harare headquarters, hustling away dozens of his supporters.

Imagine a world where you are completely unsafe to support a political candidate--or be on the ballet itself. The U.N. needs to make sure that the world condemns these actions. And my seniors will hopefully realize that the book I am making them read is more than just a book.

Unfortunately, we live in a world where there are no end of examples of politics becoming like 1984.