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| Hopes Dashed |
The following statistics perhaps more than any demonstrate the sorry decline in living standards.
Life expectancy at birth for
males in Zimbabwe has declined from 60 years to 42 years. A Zimbabwean can hope
to enjoy good health for only 39 years. Infant mortality has risen from 53
deaths per 1000 children to 81. By 2009 1.2 million Zimbabweans had HIV.
10 years ago this week during the 2003 Cricket World Cup Andy Flower, now England Cricket Director, but then a Zimbabwean legend nearing the end of his cricket career and Henry Olongo, a young black fast bowler, united to stage a dramatic protest. They issued the following statement:
"In all the circumstances, we have decided that we will each wear a black armband for the duration of the World Cup. In doing so we are mourning the death of democracy in our beloved Zimbabwe. In doing so we are making a silent plea to those responsible to stop the abuse of human rights in Zimbabwe. In doing so, we pray that our small action may restore sanity and dignity to our Nation".
Both players sported black armbands in a World Cup match in Zimbabwe.
In so doing they effectively ended their international careers and both were forced to leave their homeland. Neither has returned.
Little has changed in Zimbabwe over those last 10 years, but the 'Black Armband Protest' demonstrably cast a spotlight on the injustice wrought upon the people of Zimbabwe,
Few sportsmen have entered the political arena in such stunning fashion. There are of course parallels with Tommie Smith and John Carlos' Mexico Olympics Black Power Protest. Their exile calls to mind Basil D'Oliveira.
In 2009 at the height of political resistance to the 're - election' of President Ahmadjinedad in Iran, 7 Iranian national team players wore green armbands, symbolising solidarity with the Opposition, during a World Cup qulaifier in Seoul, South Korea. In a demonstartion of the power of a simple gesture, the live TV coverage was blacked out in Iran. The players were ordered by their coach to remove the armbands at half time. The captain Mehdi Mahdavikia retained his throughout the game however. The Government later announced that the players 'had been retired'.
Henry Olonga, who forfeited a career which might have endured for years, has since forged a new life as a musician and public speaker in the UK.
Asked about his motivation, Olonga stated that he wanted to be 'the slave who defies the emperor'. It had been Flower's idea after he read about the torture of a prominent opposition politician. Flower knew that the protest needed a black figurehead and that Olongo could be that man. The pair were not personally close, but united behind a common cause.
Flower of course has been as successful as a coach as he once was as a player. He averaged 51 as a test player.
He has coached England to 2 successive Ashes series victories. He has raised significant sums for Zimbabwean charitable causes and to fight melanoma.
Regrets? Olonga summed it up best "if I hadn’t embraced the moment, I could have been a nobody, had a mediocre World Cup, and no one would have remembered. Now I’m remembered as the guy who wore a black armband".
Breaking News 12.2.13
Sout Korean footballer Park Jong Woo has been allowed to receive his Olympic Bronze medal from London 2012 in spite of breaching the Olympic Charter by holding up a banner at the end of an Olympic match which proclaimed 'Jokdo is Ours'. The IOC Discipline Commission has let him off with a severe warning and South Korea has been obliged to introduce an education programme.
10 years ago this week during the 2003 Cricket World Cup Andy Flower, now England Cricket Director, but then a Zimbabwean legend nearing the end of his cricket career and Henry Olongo, a young black fast bowler, united to stage a dramatic protest. They issued the following statement:
"In all the circumstances, we have decided that we will each wear a black armband for the duration of the World Cup. In doing so we are mourning the death of democracy in our beloved Zimbabwe. In doing so we are making a silent plea to those responsible to stop the abuse of human rights in Zimbabwe. In doing so, we pray that our small action may restore sanity and dignity to our Nation".
Both players sported black armbands in a World Cup match in Zimbabwe.
In so doing they effectively ended their international careers and both were forced to leave their homeland. Neither has returned.
Little has changed in Zimbabwe over those last 10 years, but the 'Black Armband Protest' demonstrably cast a spotlight on the injustice wrought upon the people of Zimbabwe,
Few sportsmen have entered the political arena in such stunning fashion. There are of course parallels with Tommie Smith and John Carlos' Mexico Olympics Black Power Protest. Their exile calls to mind Basil D'Oliveira.
In 2009 at the height of political resistance to the 're - election' of President Ahmadjinedad in Iran, 7 Iranian national team players wore green armbands, symbolising solidarity with the Opposition, during a World Cup qulaifier in Seoul, South Korea. In a demonstartion of the power of a simple gesture, the live TV coverage was blacked out in Iran. The players were ordered by their coach to remove the armbands at half time. The captain Mehdi Mahdavikia retained his throughout the game however. The Government later announced that the players 'had been retired'.
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| Player Solidarity with Opposition Protest |
Henry Olonga, who forfeited a career which might have endured for years, has since forged a new life as a musician and public speaker in the UK.
Asked about his motivation, Olonga stated that he wanted to be 'the slave who defies the emperor'. It had been Flower's idea after he read about the torture of a prominent opposition politician. Flower knew that the protest needed a black figurehead and that Olongo could be that man. The pair were not personally close, but united behind a common cause.
Flower of course has been as successful as a coach as he once was as a player. He averaged 51 as a test player.
He has coached England to 2 successive Ashes series victories. He has raised significant sums for Zimbabwean charitable causes and to fight melanoma.
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| United Against Injustice |
Breaking News 12.2.13
Sout Korean footballer Park Jong Woo has been allowed to receive his Olympic Bronze medal from London 2012 in spite of breaching the Olympic Charter by holding up a banner at the end of an Olympic match which proclaimed 'Jokdo is Ours'. The IOC Discipline Commission has let him off with a severe warning and South Korea has been obliged to introduce an education programme.
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