By Morgan Brooks
A new movement is taking place this year to help the people of Zimbabwe. It calls for African leaders to “abandon the policy of quiet diplomacy and recognize that Zimbabwe has no legal government,” according a BBC News Article entitled “Hunger strike for Zimbabwe change. Activists of this movement formed protests on Monday, January 26.
Reporters from BBC World News have issued statements, saying that with “food shortages, a cholera epidemic” in which more than 2,200 people have died, and destroyed “health care and educational systems,” hope is dead for Zimbabweans.
Under Robert Mugabe’s presidency, Zimbabwe’s economy has suffered from an inflation rate of 300%, severe food shortages, and a destroyed farming system. In 2004, it was estimated that the country grew one-third poor since the five years previous. Because of the actions Mugabe has committed since becoming Zimbabwe’s first Black elected president in 1980, many Zimbabweans and leaders of the international community now view him as a tyrant. For example, Mugabe approved programs such as “Drive Out Trash” in which Zimbabwe’s urban slums and shanty towns were demolished, leaving 700,000 people homeless.
However, although to some, hope may be dead, the people of Zimbabwe continue to fight. Citizens have begun hanging anti-Mugabe signs on their churches. Many people, such as Kumi Naidoo are committing themselves to 21 day water fasts in solidarity with the people in Zimbabwe. Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, who is 77 years old, has begun fasting one day a week, and has pledged to continue doing so until his Zimbabwean friends are free from the rule of Robert Mugabe.
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