A message from the Chair
This section was first started by Richard Bourne to give a monthly update for readers and supporters of The Round Table journal on developments leading up to the centenary celebrations of our journal (started in the Edwardian era).
Due to its popularity, it is now being continued by the new Chair of the editorial advisory board, (known since the early twentieth century as the Moot), Stuart Mole.
View the messages by selecting any of the links below:
March 2011
2011 has seen the blossoming of 'Arab Spring'. Many have watched with awe and astonishment as the all-enveloping blanket of arbitrary rule across the Arab world has been thrown back, at some of its seemingly most secure points, like Egypt, Tunisia and Libya. Surprise, too, that the quiver of change should be running through far less obvious targets, like Bahrain. Most striking of all is the awesome power of a risen people, meeting brutish violence with courage and unwavering determination and in the process stripping away whatever authority their former rulers and oppressors ever had.
It is a revolution in pursuit of freedom, not religion: spread not by mullahs and madrassas, but by Facebook, Twitter and viral marketing. This surging people power has left established opposition leaders and parties floundering in its wake. It has resisted those who would channel and dissipate its force; in Egypt, Tahrir Square, the seat of popular legitimacy, was reoccupied after the army attempted to evict protestors; and in Tunisia, the people are back on the streets, suspicious of an interim government tainted by the past.
Yet Libya is proving the sternest test - both for a poorly armed and trained people against brutal and sophisticated military power, and for the international community and its wavering commitment to the "Responsibility to Protect".
How far will the contagion of democratic ideals spread? Will Colonel Gadaffi's stubborn resistance give fresh hope to dictators everywhere? Or will democracy's sun continue to rise, spreading its light more widely still?
Robert Mugabe has seen the warning signs and has acted quickly, reportedly sending mercenaries to support his old friend. Zimbabwe's Defence Minister, Emmerson Mnangagwa, was not involved in that decision, much less Morgan Tsvangirai, the Prime Minister in the crumbling 'inclusive' government.
Back in Zimbabwe, violence and human rights abuses have escalated, as the prospect of elections to break the political deadlock draw near. In the notorious Chikirubi maximum security prison near Harare, six pro-democracy activists have been charged with treason and face a possible death sentence. Their crime was to be among a much larger number who were arrested by the police on 19 February for being present at a peaceful (and legal) gathering to watch video footage of the protests in Egypt and Tunisia.
One of the six now in solitary confinement is Tafadzwa Choto who, until her arrest, was due to take up a fellowship at the Commonwealth Policy Studies Unit this month. Tafadzwa, who last year had delicate brain surgery and who is asthmatic, has been beaten and tortured, and denied medical treatment.
Thus is her fight for justice our cause and our responsibility: and the democratic values that the Commonwealth proclaims are those same ideals that are now struggling for life in Tripoli and Harare.
Stuart Mole