With hindsight, the biggest surprise in the buildup to Robert Mugabe’s resignation was probably how so many people assumed Zimbabwe’s president of 37 years would step aside lightly. Surely one of the essential qualities one looks for in a successful autocrat is a dogged refusal to relinquish power.
No matter, the goose has finally been removed from the oven for the man who was until yesterday the world’s oldest head of state. Although his resignation came after the Weekly went to press, we look back on a life that took Mugabe from liberator to dictator, and hear the view from the streets of Harare where joy mixed with disbelief.
That’s inside the paper. The Guardian Weekly splash this week delves into the murky but fascinating world of the digital disruption games. As radical libertarians forge curious alliances with some of the world’s most autocratic leaders in an effort to undermine liberal institutions, Julian Borger asks exactly why this is happening and what these unlikely bedfellows hope to achieve.
Elsewhere we catch up with unexpected chaos in Germany, where Angela Merkel’s efforts to form a coalition government look to have failed. There’s a world diary from the Caribbean island of Barbuda, struggling to recover in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma. And a special report takes in a new Guardian US series, Break the Cycle, that aims to challenge perceptions around gun crime and control in America.
Also from the US, don’t miss Gary Younge’s Weekly Review lead on his travels through angry white America, where he encounters racism, desolation, drug abuse and the Trump revolution. And, in the aftermath of the Bonn climate talks, we take a positive look at progress made towards global environmental goals.
Elsewhere, among many other things, you’ll find discussion on the merits (or otherwise) of revenge, a reassessment of the cinematic canon from the female perspective, arguments in support of a four-day working week (I’m in favour), and even a review of Paddington 2, which seems to be that rarity of a film that can delight all ages.
The daylight hours are drawing in rapidly here in London, but there’s no shortage of good reading in this week’s Guardian Weekly. Thank you for your support through your subscription, and I hope you enjoy the edition.
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