Call that a democracy?

You almost have to wonder just what the term democracy means today. If you compare most of the countries in Europe to the U.S. or Canada or Australia, you'd discover a totally different meaning to the world democracy. But the country that really takes the cake on this one is Zimbabwe.

For those of you who don't know anything about this South African country, the president has ruled since the late 1980s. Not a big deal, but the problem is the way he is currently remaining in power.

Parliamentary elections in Zimbabwe took place on March 31. President Mugabe's ruling party, the ZANU-PF, won a sweeping two-thirds majority. Of course, if you consider the fact that all opposition supporters were harassed, intimidated, and threatened with starvation, that's not a big surprise. Through in the fact that Mugabe announced four days before the election that anyone who voted for the opposition was a traitor, it becomes even less surprising. And if you add in all of the ghost voters - votes counted that number thousands above the number of those registered to vote in certain areas, what's surprising is that the opposition got any seats.

The presidential elections in 2002 were even worse. Hundreds of people were arrested, violent protests abounded, and countless lives were lost. Both elections have been declared fraudulent by the European Union and the U.S., but it has little effect on the ruling party or Mugabe. The president even traveled to Rome for the pope's funeral last week, ignoring a travel ban that keeps him and his ruling party members out of all EU or U.S. controlled areas.

So what's the problem? Well for one thing, 70 percent of the population is facing starvation. Mugabe began a land reform plan in 2000 that takes white owned farmland and gives it to landless black farmers. At least that's what it's supposed to do. In reality, the white farmers have been pushed off of their land, but the land was then given to Mugabe's friends, who know nothing about farming and don't care. As a result, the land lies idle, and a country that was once a breadbasket for surrounding countries is now threatened with total famine.