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Debate Info

2
7
Yes, hope is now dead. No, it was pointless.
Debate Score:9
Arguments:5
Total Votes:12
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Argument Ratio

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 Yes, hope is now dead. (1)
 
 No, it was pointless. (4)

Debate Creator

geoff(738) pic



MDC was wrong to pull out of the Zimbabwe run-off election.

Highlighting facism or desertion?

Yes, hope is now dead.

Side Score: 2
VS.

No, it was pointless.

Side Score: 7
1 point

For MDC to give up indicates to the people and the world's stage that Zimbabwe is doomed and will continue as a fascist state until it inevitably collapses. Hope is dead. Millions of innocent lives will continue to be slaughtered. Had Morgan Tsvangirai held steadfast he might have inspired revolution or intervention. As it is now, many more skulls will be crushed before sanity is installed.

Side: Yes, hope is now dead.
3 points

I personally think the MDC had a very difficult decision to make, and in the light if recent development, made the correct one. Zanu(PF) and Mugabe started a campaign of systematically hunting down and intimidating or even killing any opposition. Regardless of who may have won the election, it is clear that Mugabe will never willingly give up power. He even quoted himself that only god could take power from him. The elections would not be free and fair, and the MDC, in my opinion, made the right choice. The UN needs to step in.

Side: No, it was pointless.
2 points

It is disappointing to see the failure of democracy in this instance, but MDC can't really be faulted. It was a good attempt to stand up and represent the people, but when assassination is a very real possibility, it becomes more than an issue of democracy for him. The decision is too personal for us to judge it right or wrong.

Side: No, it was pointless.
0 points

That's true. You and I would probably back away too once a machete is waved threateningly in front of our faces. Zimbabwe has never had a democracy and it only looks possible once the entire country has collapsed with millions more violent deaths.

Side: No, it was pointless.
1 point

ZANU-PF Political Bureau member: “We’re giving the people of Zimbabwe another opportunity to mend their ways, to vote properly... This is their last chance.”

Mugabe's campaign strategy so far has involved assassinating activists, beating and brutally torturing people even suspected of voting against him, and contesting election results in the oppositions favor, all the while using state resources to do so. Who does he think he's kidding anymore? Journalists, human rights lawyers, and election monitors have been jailed and threatened. Even non-partisan schoolteachers have been beaten and intimidated for the sole purpose of replacing their spot at the poll booth with loyal party members, sending many into hiding, and crippling the education system. Mugabe won't let go of his stranglehold on power no matter how election results turn out. Tsvangirai acted prudently in calling off this farce, hopefully avoiding further bloodshed.

“We are not going to give up our country for a mere X on a ballot. How can a ballpoint pen fight with a gun?” -Mugabe

Supporting Evidence: Assassins in Zimbabwe Aim at the Grass Roots (www.nytimes.com)
Side: No, it was pointless.