Introduction/Zimbabwe

Hello there! I see you've found your way to my blog. In the coming weeks and months, I hope to inform the public as to my thoughts on current issues as well as give advice to that same public, telling them how they can get involved and affecting change on this wonderful planet of ours. I was inspired to make this blog by my good friend, Peterson Toscano. Peterson is an activist playwright and one-man show. He has his own blog, viewable here. He held a discussion group over the weekend on the subject of activism and how to get involved in your community. One of the mentioned methods was blogging, so here I am, making a blog.

Before I go on, I feel obliged to warn you that I have no expertise with blogging, so the quality won't be up there with the writings of Dickens. You have been warned!

Very well, with the introduction finished, we can progress to the next topic of interest. An issue that has been pressing on my mind lately has been the abysmal condition of many African countries. Of course, the crisis in Darfur has been well publicized, but there are other countries at risk. Prominent among them is Zimbabwe.

Several years ago, Zimbabwe was the bread basket of sub-Saharan Africa. As a result of climate change, it now has only 8.24% arable land and has to rely on other countries for food, not being able to grow much itself. This has resulted in one of the most severe economic turmoils in the world. As of 2006, the official inflation rate was 1000%, and has skyrocketed since then. That figure was almost certainly underestimated, too, because it was done by the Zimbabwean government. Private estimators have put the figure much higher. The Zimbabwean dollar is significantly overvalued within the country in an attempt to make more of a profit on what little tourism still exists there.

This has had a terrible effect on the people of Zimbabwe. An astounding 80% of the population is unemployed and below the poverty line. Store shelves are empty because store managers cannot afford the exorbitant prices on food.

President Robert Mugabe has not improved matters, spending most of his time resorting to questionable methods to keep himself in power rather than dealing with the dire problems facing his country. Not only that, but he has worsened them. He has restricted or ignored many civil rights during his reign, and faces international criticism as a result. It has been theorized that his 2005 attempt to rid the country of slums was focused on areas in which people opposing the government were housed. Even if this wasn't the case, his project left 700,000 homeless.



Despite the terrifying conditions of life within Zimbabwe, there is hope. The independent band "Dispatch" held a series of three reunion shows at Madison Square Garden over the summer, with all proceeds going to aid in Zimbabwe. This is a YouTube video outlining the story of Zimbabwe and why they did the show. They managed to raise over a million dollars in ticket and merchandise sales alone. More money is sure to be made when a DVD of the show is released in the coming months. While this show really helped Zimbabwe financially, it also brought its dire situation into the light on a national level. I myself had not heard of this crisis before the show was announced. Hopefully, this will lead to more attention being paid to Zimbabwe and possibly political action.

If you are looking to personally get involved with helping Zimbabwe, The Elias Fund is a great way to help. They are accepting monetary donations, and are eagerly searching for volunteers.


Phew! First blog post over. Feel free to post with any comments about the situation in Zimbabwe or anything else.