User talk:Rhodie

Rhodesia
I saw what you added to the RHODESIA page. Hope you didn't mind, but I used some of it to embellish the UDI page. I took the time to read Smith's book BITTER HARVEST. It really shows things in a revealing light. Expatkiwi 22:22 18 November 2005 (UTC)

Glad it was helpful. If you have any other questions, let me know, since I remember the day very well. User:Rhodie

Which day: 11 November 1965? I take it that you were listening to Ian Smith on the radio in Salisbury?

Yes, it was on 11 November 1965. I was 16 and attending school at the time (near the city of Bulawayo). I and two others got in a bit of trouble because we went and took down the Union Jack at the school's flagpole and put it up upside down! There was general support for what Smith had done as well as a great deal of apprehention. The thing that struck me the most was that at the end of his speach to the nation, he said "God save the Queen". Also, if you read the start of the UDI document you will see that the words basically mirror the US Declaration of Independence. In the end Smith's fear of communisim proved to be correct. What Mugabe has done to the country is nothing short of criminal. Reasonable people can debate about land distribution etc. but to deny his people any hope makes Mugabe a criminal of the first order.

No denying that Mugabe is a racist, a despot, and murderer, and an idiot. He has no business running a manure stand in a pigsty, let alone a country. Then again, if it wasn't for US and British appeasement of the OAU, the coup in Portugal, and South Africa's backstabbing, Rhodesia would still be in existance today. By the way, I have a framed copy of the UDI hanging on the wall next to a copy of the USA DOI. Expatkiwi. P.S. Hope you didn't mind me putting the flag on your title page.

Not at all. Thanks.

By the way, I was alive too at the UDI. True, I was only 17 months old and in New Zealand, but still......   Ian Smith sounds like he was a very good man. Its a shame the way he was villified internationally. Incidentally, I did step foot on your home soil on the way back to New Zealand from South Africa in '87. I had a 10 hour layover in Salisbury (I don't care for the name Harare).

New pages
I expanded some on the Rhodesia articles and created Politics of Rhodesia and Elections in Rhodesia as well as a template Template:Politics of Rhodesia. They are not overly great though so perhaps you can work on them some. Expatkiwi

Ill give it a shot in the next couple of days after the holidays. Merry Xmas. --Rhodie 21:26, 24 December 2005 (UTC)

WikiProject Rhodesia
Hi! Just thought of this! With the proliferation of national WikiProjects, even one for Austria-Hungary, 90 years gone, do you think you could network enough Rhodies to justify such a project as this? See WikiProject Burma/Myanmar if that sounds worthwhile. CheersChris 18:38, 21 December 2006 (UTC)