While I strongly believe that goodness lies at the core of human nature, there are regions of our world so tormented by human cruelty, so desolated by human selfishness, and so beset by human tyrants that I find it difficult to sustain my faith. I tell myself that the suffering of every day people in countries like Zimbabwe stems from the capacity of narcissistic despots to convince their beleaguered populations that all would collapse were it not for the benevolent father who so bravely and selflessly shields them from the rest of the exploitative world. I tell myself that uneducated people stand no chance against these manipulative rulers who have mastered every Orwellian trick of the authoritarian trade. I tell myself many things, but I cannot shake the feeling that I am fooling myself. For if I am right, if man is fundamentally good unless, or until, he is twisted by his fellows, by his environment, then why don't we remember this and use this priceless knowledge against the next wolf in sheep's clothing? Why don't we see beyond their populist facades to the ugly truths hidden inside them? Why don't we stop them before they have inculcated us with there violence, convinced us to revel in their vainglory? Why don't we learn from history? Perhaps I'll never find an answer to this question, but so long as I search I will remember The Fear by Peter Godwin. For there can be no more vivid a demonstration of the consequences of acceding to a tyrant.
Mr. Godwin, a native of Zimbabwe and now a journalist residing in New York, offers us not even a milligram of numbing anesthetic before relentlessly branding us with his searing tale of life in modern-day Zimbabwe. Opening in 2008, with what were then thought to be Robert Mugabe's last days, this piece of Gonzo Journalism enthusiastically chronicles that year's Zimbabwean presidential election in which the all-but-outlawed opposition party, the MDC, miraculously triumphed over Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF. However, the sweetness of victory soon fades when it becomes clear that the MDC has only managed a plurality of votes, a fact which Mugabe uses as an excuse to hold onto power until a presidential runoff later that year. Mr. Godwin documents how, in the intervening months, Zanu-PF viciously and systematically hunted, tortured and killed MDC candidates, community organizers and even voters in a campaign of terror designed to convince the battered Zimbabwean population to restore Mugabe to his rightful place as unchallenged leader.
Mr. Godwin gathers up first-hand accounts of these atrocities and publishes them here in what quickly becomes a narrative of crimes against activists, dissidents and political opponents. Their stories, raw retellings of appalling acts of sadistic cruelty, must be heard to be believed. For these are human beings who are raped and beaten, burned and broken, for nothing more than asserting their right to be free. And what befalls them in order to express this most basic right surpasses description. They are sins beyond naming.
This is exceptional work. Though Mr. Godwin devotes most of his efforts to lifting the curtain on Zanu-PF's crimes, his own remembrances of Zimbabwe and his descriptions of daily life in that wracked nation are equally well-done. The Godwins are a reflection of their homeland, souls trying to escape cynicism and despair by grasping at hope, no matter how faintly it flickers. The author's scalpel-sharp portrayal of Mugabe is scornful, his depiction of Zanu-PF's victims is memorable, and his tapestry of Zimbabwean life will not be forgotten. For no one who reads this book will be able to walk away unmoved by the suffering the ignorant heap upon the willful. The piece is only marred by an all-too-brief history lesson on Mugabe's years as Zimbabwe's ruler. I'm sure, for many of his readers, this is a familiar subject. However, for many more, Zimbabwe is yet one more resource-rich, self-destructive African country cursed by the shadow of colonial misrule. For these, more background was required.
Utterly unforgettable. (5/5 Stars)
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