Learning to Love Ireland by Althea Farren Page A

is a pleasant, uncritical companion.
    Now it’s 1980, and we’re glued to the radio in the art room at Gifford High School. Who has won the election? The entire school is holding its breath. Within minutes, we’ll hear an announcement that may change the course of our lives. If Bishop Abel Muzorewa wins (as we expect he will), then we can hope for a peaceful transition from white to black rule in Zimbabwe-Rhodesia. Of course we know we’re going to have to drop the ‘Rhodesia’, but we can live with that. If Joshua Nkomo wins, then we’re expecting a bumpier ride. But we don’t think this will happen – he’ll probably take all the seats here in Matabeleland, but Mashonaland and the other provinces are likely to go with Muzorewa...
    The announcement is made. The three of us stare at one another in disbelief, and move closer to the radio. Someone has made a mistake. The announcement is repeated. It’s not possible. Something’s gone wrong... Yes, we’ve heard of Robert Mugabe. He’s a vicious terrorist, a dedicated communist who hates whites...
    The years pass. 1986, 1990, 1994... Robert Mugabe is an intelligent man – impressively so... He’s proving to be a respected leader... He appears willing to forget the past... We’ve heard unsettling rumours about massacres in the bush, and we know that he’s neutralised the threat of the opposition – Joshua Nkomo and ZAPU – but... His speeches are frequently broadcast and televised – we all remark on his excellent command of English...
    In February 2000 he loses a referendum, (the first time he has lost a poll since he came to power twenty years ago). Swiftly he exacts retribution, a deadly scorpion lashing its tail... Within days, he orders the invasion of white-owned farms by ‘war veterans’. Zimbabwe begins the downward spiral that will see its economy ruined and its people impoverished.
    The radio is the most accessible source of information and the only affordable one for most. It’s largely propaganda now. If you live in one of the remote country areas, you may wonder why the predicted invasion by Britain hasn’t yet taken place. You’ll be disgusted by Britain’s ‘neo-colonial and imperialist intentions’. You’ll feel threatened by the ‘western sabotage’ that is responsible for the collapse of your country’s once-thriving economy. As for Morgan Tsvangirai, he is ‘a sell-out and a puppet of imperialists who are bent on reversing the gains of independence’. Come to think of it, he’s probably responsible for the cholera outbreak... After all, as Grace Mugabe, First Lady of Zimbabwe, stated on ZTV News (7 May 2008) ‘the MDC was founded by the West and lures people into voting for them by supplying them with scarce commodities... supporting the MDC is letting go of a God-given gift...’ Perhaps AIDS has something to do with Tsvangirai as well, although you’ll be aware that it’s the Americans who are responsible for introducing the disease to Africa...
    The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation is state-owned, and so are all but one of the daily newspapers. Mugabe cleverly manipulates the media under his control with the express purpose of influencing and directing people’s opinions and actions through disinformation.
    More than twenty years after independence, Mugabe has taken to blaming Tony Blair and George W Bush for all our financial and economic troubles. Such pronouncements as ‘Keep your England and I’ll keep my Zimbabwe...’ or ‘Never, never, never again shall Zimbabwe be a colony...’ are guaranteed to do terrible things to our blood pressure and stress levels. We can no longer bear to turn on a radio or watch ZTV.
    Avoiding the radio was an entrenched mindset, and it was months before we thought of turning it on in Ireland. It simply didn’t occur to us that we might be