Embark on nation-wide hunger strike against the Dictator.
If you are subjected to similarly senseless restrictions as I am, or if you feel as I do that this President is trampling on your human rights, then I invite you to join me in an indefinite nationwide hunger strike until our civil liberties are restored. To join in the strike all you have to do is just sit outside your gate and refuse food and/or drink until arrested or until hunger or corona virus kills you. Maybe then the world will realise that dictators are using LOCKDOWN as an excuse to grab powers that no one ever gave them; powers that no democratic constitution could ever give them; powers that we do not need a lawyer to tell us that the President does not have.
President Masisi knows that had he and his BDP candidates told the nation at last year's general elections that he would prevent liquor stores opening IF A SARS LIKE DISEASE BROKE OUT, he would not have won a single seat in parliament. Had he told the nation that he would prevent people going out of their houses to buy groceries IF A SARS LIKE DISEASE BROKE OUT, he would not have won a single seat in our parliament. The fact that he did not tell the nation those things, and he is doing them now, means that he is a fraud. To get elected, he pretended to be what he is not. The nation has every right to want to get rid of him. But the nation has no guns to confront the armed goons that he has posted outside our houses. Therefore our only recourse is civil disobedience, hence the hunger strike.
We know that Covid-19 corona virus is among us. We do not want to contract it, and if we already have, we do not want to pass it to anybody else, least of all to our loved ones or our neighbours. Nobody wants to contract the virus from us either. It is for these reasons that we all dutifully wash and/or sanitise our hands on entry to grocery stores and in all other similar situations. LOCKDOWN should be a measure to help isolate those who would otherwise not take the necessary steps to protect themselves and other people from infection. LOCKDOWN should not be used to trample on citizens' rights, such as denying people access to food! No corona virus is going to infect me if I take a necessary drive, alone to the only supermarket that sells low fat milk (which I depend on to control my cholesterol levels). No chief has the right to refuse me a permit to drive to the supermarket on the spurious grounds that he (the chief) has appointed some public transport operators to take orders for purchase of groceries from people in the village. I do not know the said taxi operators, and I have no reason to trust their sense of hygiene, let alone their reliability to buy exactly what I need. I cannot begin to understand why I have to depend on a taxi driver to go buy me food when I have my own vehicle that I can drive, alone to go to the same shop and buy myself groceries.
I stay alone, and do not drink, habitually. The las time that I drank anything alcoholic was perhaps two or three months ago, when I drank a small bottle of beer. That said, I am convinced that many who drink more than I do, have as much right to drink as I have to eat. For them alcohol consumption is a human right. But all liquor stores and bars are closed, by decree of President Masisi. We watch helplessly as the immunity to disease of those affected tanks. These are our people who simply exercise their right to drink something that has existed since long before President Masisi was thrust upon us; in fact since long before he or we, were even born! President Masisi's supporters claim that lockdown does not prevent anybody drinking; but what's the point of having permission to drink what you have no permission to buy or to brew?
I have seen people running as exercise (with masks on) under lockdown conditions in other countries. No one bothers them, as long as they isolate themselves. I can't run, but for me exercise is mandatory. I have to exercise by walking every day if possible, on medical grounds. I normally walk alone from my dwelling for some two hours along roads where no one ever comes within ten metres of me, and most of the time not even within a hundred metres of me. i do not enter anybody's yard. I carry a face mask just in case I meet some careless person who may approach me to talk, as happened when I was stopped by armed soldiers and police the other day. They asked me where I was going; I answered "home". They asked where from; I answered "home". That made them mad. They threatened to lock me up, old as I am. I tried to explain to them that I have to walk, on health grounds. They told me that if I need to walk, I should just walk around the house, inside the yard. In theory that is a possible solution. I have no problem with that. But is it really necessary? Their argument was that even though I have no contact with anybody else during my walks, the "optics" of the whole exercise is bad. People watching me walk outside my yard may also want to do the same - and end up viditing friends. That is possible of course, if the people concerned have not been sufficiently sensitised about the health implications of visiting friends! But should I be denied exercise just because some people do not yet understand the social distancing message? Is there any proof that an old man walking alone down the street would cause those who see him to want to emulate him? I don't think so, but I have since abided by the commands of the President's men nonetheless. I have stopped walking for exercise.
The lockdown has denied me the right to visit my doctor in town, fifteen minutes' drive away. Maybe if I could be given a permit to visit my doctor, he might give me written recommendation to be allowed to walk. The permit to visit my doctor can only be obtained from a nurse at the local health clinic - a clinic I have never used in my more than ten years of living in this village. I have no dobt that the interview that the nurse will subject me to in order to grant me a permit will be no less excruciating than the interview the chief subjected me to when I requested permission to go buy groceries in town. The chief ended up denying me the permit, and his word is final; there is no one to appeal to. If I disobey his ruling and try to drive to town, the armed goons that are manning all the exits from the village will only be too happy to spray me with bullets. As I write, I still do not have the low fat milk that I need, and I am not prepared to send the chief's public transport operator to go and do exactly what I could do for myself, with no danger of contamination to my food or to anybody else. But like I said, I do not have any means to confront the President's armed goons, other than civil disobedience. That is why I ask you to join me in an indefinite hunger strike starting Thursday 16 April 2020, unless the lockdown stops trampling on our civil liberties before then. We do not need advocate Sydney Pilane to help us fight for the human rights we know we are entitled to. We know what an efficient lawyer he is, but we do not even have the money to afford his fees. All we have are our lives and our numbers. If we take up the hunger strike in sufficiently large numbers, the dictator will soon have so many corpses on his hands that "victory" against coronavirus will be rendered moot.
I stay alone, and do not drink, habitually. The las time that I drank anything alcoholic was perhaps two or three months ago, when I drank a small bottle of beer. That said, I am convinced that many who drink more than I do, have as much right to drink as I have to eat. For them alcohol consumption is a human right. But all liquor stores and bars are closed, by decree of President Masisi. We watch helplessly as the immunity to disease of those affected tanks. These are our people who simply exercise their right to drink something that has existed since long before President Masisi was thrust upon us; in fact since long before he or we, were even born! President Masisi's supporters claim that lockdown does not prevent anybody drinking; but what's the point of having permission to drink what you have no permission to buy or to brew?
I have seen people running as exercise (with masks on) under lockdown conditions in other countries. No one bothers them, as long as they isolate themselves. I can't run, but for me exercise is mandatory. I have to exercise by walking every day if possible, on medical grounds. I normally walk alone from my dwelling for some two hours along roads where no one ever comes within ten metres of me, and most of the time not even within a hundred metres of me. i do not enter anybody's yard. I carry a face mask just in case I meet some careless person who may approach me to talk, as happened when I was stopped by armed soldiers and police the other day. They asked me where I was going; I answered "home". They asked where from; I answered "home". That made them mad. They threatened to lock me up, old as I am. I tried to explain to them that I have to walk, on health grounds. They told me that if I need to walk, I should just walk around the house, inside the yard. In theory that is a possible solution. I have no problem with that. But is it really necessary? Their argument was that even though I have no contact with anybody else during my walks, the "optics" of the whole exercise is bad. People watching me walk outside my yard may also want to do the same - and end up viditing friends. That is possible of course, if the people concerned have not been sufficiently sensitised about the health implications of visiting friends! But should I be denied exercise just because some people do not yet understand the social distancing message? Is there any proof that an old man walking alone down the street would cause those who see him to want to emulate him? I don't think so, but I have since abided by the commands of the President's men nonetheless. I have stopped walking for exercise.
The lockdown has denied me the right to visit my doctor in town, fifteen minutes' drive away. Maybe if I could be given a permit to visit my doctor, he might give me written recommendation to be allowed to walk. The permit to visit my doctor can only be obtained from a nurse at the local health clinic - a clinic I have never used in my more than ten years of living in this village. I have no dobt that the interview that the nurse will subject me to in order to grant me a permit will be no less excruciating than the interview the chief subjected me to when I requested permission to go buy groceries in town. The chief ended up denying me the permit, and his word is final; there is no one to appeal to. If I disobey his ruling and try to drive to town, the armed goons that are manning all the exits from the village will only be too happy to spray me with bullets. As I write, I still do not have the low fat milk that I need, and I am not prepared to send the chief's public transport operator to go and do exactly what I could do for myself, with no danger of contamination to my food or to anybody else. But like I said, I do not have any means to confront the President's armed goons, other than civil disobedience. That is why I ask you to join me in an indefinite hunger strike starting Thursday 16 April 2020, unless the lockdown stops trampling on our civil liberties before then. We do not need advocate Sydney Pilane to help us fight for the human rights we know we are entitled to. We know what an efficient lawyer he is, but we do not even have the money to afford his fees. All we have are our lives and our numbers. If we take up the hunger strike in sufficiently large numbers, the dictator will soon have so many corpses on his hands that "victory" against coronavirus will be rendered moot.
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