Action speaks louder than words (even if you use a loudspeaker). I have received a couple of emails from concerned readers who don’t know what to do.
First of all, read about it. That way, you can raise awareness without getting the facts wrong, you can write papers about it for school, you can blog about it, you can send an email to all your contacts about and, most importantly, you can respectfully hound your government into taking action. A great place to start is on the CBC website, here and here, as well as on the BBC website, here.
Second of all, raise awareness. Talk about it, blog about it, email your friends about it, get the word out. Send emails and/or letters to your school newspaper, to your corporation’s newsletter, to your local newspaper. If you don’t feel comfortable talking at length about the topic, just write a short introduction about how you are concerned with the situation in Zimbabwe and questioning why no one is doing anything, then refer them to websites (like the three mentioned above) where they can find information, then encourage them to get in touch with their government representatives.
Third of all, contact your government representative to get them to take action. Here are some things that Canadians can do (international readers, please feel free to post advice relevant to your country! You can also email them to me at [email protected] and I’ll include them in a future post). Remember: be respectful but firm, and make sure your tone is informed and urgent.
- To reach her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, email her at [email protected];
- To reach the editor of the Conservative Government’s official website here.
- Check here to see who your MP is, then send them an email and a letter (yes, and!).
- Send letters to your local newspaper
I’m also looking into different ways to get in touch with the various branches of Canadian government. If you have any ideas, please do not hesitate and post your advice below!
Very Good Post Sahar! 🙂 and good advice too.
Our leaders (who seem incapable of actually LEADing us on situations like this without a lot of ‘lobbying’ by people who feel strongly enough over the situation in an organised way, or in overwhelming numbers).
I like that you are willing to act as a focal point and information source. Well Done. I wish there were more people with your Heart on this planet who act as they believe.
I heard from a member of the legally elected Zimbabwe Government (Mugabe opposition) speak yesterday saying they do NOT want Foreign troops to use force in Zimbabwe to oppose Mugabe as they do not wish to have such action start a trend for violent action in his country – or Africa in general.
Since i opposed the same for Afghanistan/Iraq (whether it be by the US in 2001/03 – or by Russia/Ussr 3 decades before) i really should be agreeing with him – but while Mugabe holds on to control of the armed forces of Zimbabwe i don’t see any effective way of removing him.
Still, i respect the opposition spokesman’s view but know that many more people will continue to die until Mugabe is removed and brought to trial for his crimes.
All those in ‘free’ countries who care for the lives of people who are much like them, who have family, young babies, who want the best life for them they can provide and who want to live in peace and have a decent way of providing for them, and who are often bound by the way their government rules their economy, should be saying in a loud and clear voice to their members of Parliament or Congress to make life as hard for Mr Mugabe (or anyone like Him who places personal position and glory above the lives of their country’s people) as hard as possible and let them know they WILL be held accountable for their disgusting actions.
And that goes for the leaders of countries such as South Africa (or Russia/China in the case of North Korea’s dictator family) who continue to support such criminal regimes.
This should not be about Socialist/Capitalist, East v West ideologies, but about HUMAN values. No country should be assisting Mugabe remain in power. And that includes selling him any kind of military aid/munitions.
Lets do all we can to help raise our country’s leaders awareness of the disaster Mugabe causes and get them all together uniting against this man and the countries who offer him free access.
The International Criminal Court should be lobbied by our leaders to indite Mr Mugabe so that he is not allowed to escape without paying the accountability he owes ‘his people’ who are suffering in the millions while he lives in luxury.
Keep up the great work! 🙂
<B
Thank you for commenting! My favourite part definitely was: “This should not be about Socialist/Capitalist, East v West ideologies, but about HUMAN values.” Excellent, excellent point!
I would like to kindly disagree with you on one specific point in your comment: I think that there are many, many people out there who have amazing hearts, most of them bigger than mine – it’s just that they don’t know what to do about the pain and anguish they see around them. I also think that by me and others such as yourself taking a stand and doing what they can to help, we will inspire others to do the same. To use some overused yet very important clichés, Rome wasn’t built in one day, and anthills aren’t made by one ant!
You are right in pointing out that instead of acting as the high and mighty West (like we unfortunately often do, be it with the best or worst of intentions), we should be asking the people of Zimbabwe what they want. I guess I kind of got carried away by the shock, thank you for putting me back on track!
And I think that in the 21st century, there isn’t always the need for war to make things better. Just like you pointed out, often war doesn’t make things better. I can’t help but wonder if a war waged for the right reasons would have a positive outcome, but do we really want to test this type of theory? I’d rather not.
What this situation seems to be doing it to emphasise yet again how vital it is for people who live in democratic countries to hold their governments responsible. I just wish that making life for Mugabe difficult could be possible without making life difficult for the people in Zimbabwe.
Sometimes I wish we could just ask for an ultra-secret international police operation that would simply arrest Mugabe. Like you said, couldn’t the International Criminal Court simply charge him with crimes against humanity? Then wouldn’t that make Mugabe’s arrest possible?
Maybe we should not only lobby our government representatives, maybe we should start flooding the ICC with letters, emails and calls. What do you think?