The situation in Zimbabwe is one of a dissatisfied ruling elite using their monopoly on violence to manipulate and control society. This will not change the fundamentally oppressive, and inegalitarian structures of that society.
Parliament cannot really play an important role because, since the coup, the government can make laws without parliament. We need a mobilization of civil society, its representatives and also of all MPs who believe that out of this crisis must come the restoration of democracy and peace.
The attempted military coup in Turkey and the possibility of a President Trump may have more Americans considering the military option. It's tempting to conclude that the same folks who approve of a military intervention into politics support Donald Trump's intervention into politics. Trump is, in a way, a one-man coup. He is an outsider. He has contempt for the normal workings of democracy.
Last month's removal by the army of the Mohammed Morsi government and the subsequent bloody dispersal of Muslim Brotherhood camps in Cairo have provoked contradictory emotions about the situation in Egypt. This is the second time in as many years that the generals have acted. In both cases, it was unparalleled, insurrectionary-like mobilizations prompting them to strategically head off boundless anger against two discredited rulers in a row.
The violent clampdown by security forces has all but ended the possibility of a rapprochement with the Muslim Brotherhood. A cross section of Middle East analysts discuss the implications of the latest wave of violence in Egypt (in Al Jazeera)
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