Old Tricks [Might be] the Best Tricks

In last night’s MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture, Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa urged England to cancel the Zimbabwean cricket team’s tour of the UK, planned for the summer of 2009. According to Archbishop Tutu, Zimbabwe’s cricketers should be barred from playing in England for as long as Robert Mugabe remains in power, since competition with Zimbabwe would lend “a legitimacy and respectability to a country that is in a shambles” because of Mugabe, whom Tutu has dubbed an international “pariah”. In response, English players have said that they will consider a boycott.

Sports boycotts are an old—but effective—strategy when it comes to advancing political agendas and, increasingly, advocating for human rights in a media-saturated global culture. Overshadowed by discussions of human rights and this summer’s Olympic Games in Beijing, a decision about the England-Zimbabwe match up will likely be deferred for some time. Meanwhile, the already grave human rights situation in Zimbabwe continues to deteriorate. In recent days, Mugabe and the Zanu-PF have implemented Operation Dzikisai Madhishi, or “Operation pull down your satellite dish” (hat tip: This is Zimbabwe). This campaign of oppression is intended to cut off Zimbabweans’ access to any media coverage except that provided by propagandistic state television.