Tables could turn in Zimbabwe
Withholding of food magnifies the hunger for change.

ZHULUBE, Zimbabwe - Hundreds of bags of cornmeal were stacked in front of a bar near here this month, rising as high as its roof. The only problem for the hungry people of this drought-stricken area was that the food, like the bar, was controlled by officials from the ruling party. With a crucial election nearing, they weren't about to give it to just anyone.

The officials first held a rally by their impressive mound of food, witnesses here said. The next day, as hundreds of people from surrounding villages gathered to collect the 110-pound bags they had ordered and paid for months before, ruling party officials announced that only their supporters were eligible. When the names of opposition voters were called, they were simply handed back their money, according to several people who were turned away. The leftover bags went on sale hours later for twice the price.

Opposition chances
Human rights reports say withholding food from opponents is nothing new for the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front, the party of President Robert Mugabe. But this year, the threat of starvation is creating a potentially potent backlash against ZANU-PF.

Many people in this tiny, impoverished village in southern Zimbabwe say that their votes in Thursday's national parliamentary elections will be based less on their immediate food needs than on which party offers the best chance to reverse Zimbabwe's five-year-old economic decline and end recurrent food shortages. Opposition party leaders say the issue might represent their best chance to make inroads into Mugabe's traditionally strong rural support.

Food shortages in a Marxist régime. Where have I heard about this before? USSR, China, Cambodia, Cuba, North Korea, Chile, ...... I am sensing a pattern here.