The Dictator in Council

Council Member Charles Barron's decision to host the tyrant of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, at City Hall on the same day that President Bush appeared before the United Nations to make the case for attacking Iraq is only the latest in a series of increasingly embarrassing episodes involving the council member from East New York. Most notable among the earlier incidents was his appearance at the reparations march at Washington D.C., where he sang a shrill rendition of the same sad song, giving a speech in which he seemed to predicate "blackness," as it were, on the desire to do physical harm to white people.

In any event, escorting Mr. Mugabe into City Hall was an affront. Due to his brutal rule — this year, his government has killed 57 people for their politics, according to Amnesty International — Mr. Mugabe rarely has speaking opportunities of the sort provided him by Mr. Barron. Zimbabwe's leader for the past quarter-century is officially persona non grata in most of Europe, and his movements in America are restricted to within a close distance of the United Nations. Thanks to Mr. Barron's invitation, Mr. Mugabe was able to deliver a clichéridden speech — "the liberation struggle continues today" — at the Council chambers while standing beside a statue of Thomas Jefferson.

Mr. Mugabe has of late been accused of selective starvation of his political enemies by denying food to areas of the country where the opposition has strongholds. This is in addition to his land-grab policy of the past 29 months, in which white farmers have been forced off their land, much of which has ended up in the hands of politicians, military personnel, police officers, and government cronies, including family members of Mr. Mugabe, who has called criticism of this policy "racist madness." According to the African News Service, the taking of the farms has endangered the well-being of more than 1.5 million black farm workers and family members. The Daily Telegraph of London reports that about 6 million Zimbabweans, or just less than half the country's population, are in danger of starvation.

The speaker of the council, Gifford Miller, declined to attend Mr. Mugabe's appearance, which was hosted by the council's black, Latino, and Asian caucus, "as a matter of personal convictions." Mr. Barron has praised the dictator as a "dynamic, bold African man willing to stand up to the world for his people." This indicates nothing so much as the widening distance between the Council member and political reality. In the end, Mr. Barron will have only himself to blame for his increasingly marginal political position.