Why don the people of Zimbabwe stand up?
The Zimbabwean BY ROY BENNETT Beaten down, beaten up, many victims of Murambatsvina have been forcibly relocated three or four times. Some have died, millions are without food, shelter, water or hope. And yet the world continues to ask: “Why don’t the people of Zimbabwe stand up?” Roy Bennett speaks to Revd Dr MARTINE STEMERICK. Roy: People often say “Why don’t the people of Zimbabwe stand up?” Explain to me how you get a person who has been completely dehumanized and brutalized and has had his dignity taken away to stand up. At any time he is called, he is told: ‘Sit down!” He lifts his feet up. He is beaten on the bottom of his feet. He’s got no one to complain to. He can’t go to the police to get any protection. He’s got no legal representation. There’s no Red Cross. There are no human rights organizations that can help him. And outside in the rural areas, if people stand up for opposition politics, they are beaten. Their homes are destroyed. The food is politicised. Those people da
