Saturday, May 21, 2005

How to destroy a nation

Zimbabwe was once an exporter of food to southern Africa, thanks in part to white-owned farms formed during British colonization.

Starting in 2000, Zimbabwe’s president Robert Mugabe allows pensioners and squatters to seize the farms. Some farmers are beaten and killed. The number of white farmers in Zimbabwe drops from 4,500 to 400 today.

Agricultural production plummets and now Zimbabwe needs to import food.

Farms are failing, people are starving, the economy is a basket case. What do you do?

Invite the white farmers back.

White farmers evicted by Robert Mugabe's government have reacted with contempt to an offer that they should return to Zimbabwe to take part in "joint ventures" with those who brutalised them and stole their land.
Simply unbelievable. BTW, isn’t this the plot for Atlas Shrugged? Please, John Galt come back and save our farm!

Extra – Jane Galt (how appropriate!) has some additional input on Zimbabwe’s spiraling economy.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why, yes. That does sound very similar to Atlas Shrugged. The only way the parallel could be closer is if the Zimbabwean government sends agents to kidnap the famers and torture them until the agree to save the people that drove them away and stole their land.
ER

Synova said...

You have to admit... she did get some things right.

What a mess.