Speaking of storms brewing...
Robert Mugabe has begun dismantling the shanty-town communities of Zimbabwe. Families, neighborhoods and businesses are being torn down to "restore sanity and order" to the urban areas.
"Residents say truckloads of police descended on their neighborhoods, declared all the buildings to be illegal and ordered the residents to tear down their own homes." -NPR Online
The problem is that there are now 200,000+ homeless and jobless citizens. Mugabe and his government are destroying entire established economic systems because, some say, these areas voted against him in the last elections.
It makes me wonder, what will these 200,000 homeless, politically disgruntled people do with their frustration? What will the government do to respond? I feel a sense of foreboding.
posted by Erin 12:30 PM
4 Comments:
Foreboding indeed....
Do we really need, as a global community, MORE people killing people over space? Mugabe (idiot and dictator that he is) is simply lowering himself to the tactics that the Israeli government has used against the Palestinians as a means of political, social, and economic repression for years now. My perennial question in such situations is, "WHY in the hell is this necessary?" What does he hope to gain by leveling thousands of homes? It's not like he's going to be rebuilding on top of these shanties to create more office space, more businesses, more jobs, and a better economy. He's destroying just to destroy.
And the saddest part is that the average American on the street has no clue this is going on. They couldn't even pronounce Zimbabwe, much less know where it is. The fact that 200,000 politically active persons (this is probably lower if you remove the children of the families) have been displaced from their homes does NOT bode well for political stability in a country that has been notorious for tampered-with elections and other forms of repression.
What do we do with this information? That is the key for me. What do I, as a politically and globally aware American, do with the information that there's the possibility of an uprising in Zimbabwe, when we have YET to address what's going on in Darfur/Western Sudan? What do I do? Any ideas??
N,
Interesting comparison between Mugabe and Israeli tactics. I hadn't made that connection, but I think it is legitimate.
Being overwhelmed by these issues is too familiar. It is especially so because we largely process them in isolation from our exterior lives (work, family, etc). It is hard to merge these global concepts with our "regular" lives.
I think it helps to be a voice- a person that is not afraid to bring these issues up even in our every day conversations. We can be people of justice on large and small scales. And we can pray.
I really don’t know what the answer is. The pat reply is: We can’t be an answer on our own, but we can start on the road toward change. I don’t know how to do that in Zimbabwe. How do we begin to fight for justice in a country that is being eaten up from the inside?
Good questions, N. Any other thoughts out there?
Erin
Mugabe is a monster a la Idi Amin . As for the Jews having Israel I am all for it. Whether they are in Israel or dispersed all over the world people still hate and mistreat them. The Arabs cannot get over the fact that Israel is in their midst!
Paul,
I think that I have to disagree. The mistreatment of Jewish people should not force them into geographical isolation. The problem will never be solved that way, nor will it be solved by allowing them to trample the Palestinians.
With both Israel and Zimbabwe, individuals must make a choice for peace, and governments must choose to support policies that respect all human life.
But that still leaves the problem of what we should do as individuals in the meantime. How do we move from nominal awareness to active justice?
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