# Countrymen starving? What to do? Charge farmers with crime of growing food! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 8, 2007, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countrymen-starving-what-to-do-charge-farmers-with-crime-of-growing-food/421914 "2007-10-08T08:25:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countrymen-starving-what-to-do-charge-farmers-with-crime-of-growing-food/421914/21 "2007-10-08T14:40:26Z")
[QUOTE=A Monkey With a Gun] Damnit, you beat me to it. [/QUOTE] That’s ok, we can be like Hale and Bopp. Or Shoemaker and Levy. We’ll call it the Brazillian Monkey Law. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mellivora\_capensis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mellivora\_capensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mellivora_capensis)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countrymen-starving-what-to-do-charge-farmers-with-crime-of-growing-food/421914/22 "2007-10-08T14:50:21Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan] Ever heard of the USSR? The population there was “intimidated” for some 70 years. [/QUOTE] Fair point **Tuckerfan** , and I’m no USSR expert, but my understanding is that the USSR was not a western styled democracy. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countrymen-starving-what-to-do-charge-farmers-with-crime-of-growing-food/421914/23 "2007-10-08T14:58:41Z")
[QUOTE=brazil84] Fuck Bush!! [/QUOTE] Yeah, but Clinton got a blow job. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countrymen-starving-what-to-do-charge-farmers-with-crime-of-growing-food/421914/24 "2007-10-08T15:05:03Z")
The crap with the farms has been a cock up since it’s conception, and implementation. The situation is really fucked up, and still it’s the white farmer’s fault. It will never be the government and new farmer’s fault. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countrymen-starving-what-to-do-charge-farmers-with-crime-of-growing-food/421914/25 "2007-10-08T15:05:33Z")
[QUOTE=Mellivora capensis] **jjimm** , election fraud has its limits, my point being that if an overwhelmingly HUGE majority of people vote against Mugabe, the [del]fraud would be for naught[/del] election would be ignored. [/QUOTE] TFTFY. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countrymen-starving-what-to-do-charge-farmers-with-crime-of-growing-food/421914/26 "2007-10-08T15:12:35Z")
Maybe I’m completely naive here, but what is Mugabe’s motive? Does he want his entire country to starve? Or is he truly a racist who thinks once the White Menace is wiped clean his country will become a world power? Surely he’s not that blind? Is he on a level with other dictators, who can drink French wine and nibble Iranian caviar, and not hear the cries of the starving peasants? And where is the UN in all this? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countrymen-starving-what-to-do-charge-farmers-with-crime-of-growing-food/421914/27 "2007-10-08T16:14:49Z")
[QUOTE=Mellivora capensis] **jjimm** , election fraud has its limits, my point being that if an overwhelmingly HUGE majority of people vote against Mugabe, the fraud would be for naught. [/QUOTE] Just like in Burma! Oh, hang on… IOW: what colour is the sky in your world? ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countrymen-starving-what-to-do-charge-farmers-with-crime-of-growing-food/421914/28 "2007-10-08T16:22:12Z")
[QUOTE=Mellivora capensis] Fair point **Tuckerfan** , and I’m no USSR expert, but my understanding is that the USSR was not a western styled democracy. [/QUOTE] True, but if I’m remembering my sixth grade [del]propaganda[/del] current events classes correctly, the USSR _pretended_ to have the trappings of a Western-style democracy, sort of like what Saddam did when he had that “election” where he took 100% of the vote. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countrymen-starving-what-to-do-charge-farmers-with-crime-of-growing-food/421914/29 "2007-10-08T16:58:36Z")
[QUOTE=ivylass] what is Mugabe’s motive? [/QUOTE] I think he’s just pandering to the anti-white/anti-European sentiment prevalent in the native population. ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countrymen-starving-what-to-do-charge-farmers-with-crime-of-growing-food/421914/30 "2007-10-08T17:16:14Z")
[QUOTE=Crafter\_Man] I think he’s just pandering to the anti-white/anti-European sentiment prevalent in the native population. [/QUOTE] I agree. It’s a time-honored tradition for dictators and other jerks to abuse, persecute, and opress minority groups. i.e. to pander to peoples’ racism and class envy. Really it’s the same idea that Mike Nifong had. Probably Mugabe didn’t anticipate the kind of problems that would be caused by seizing the farms. But at this point, it’s difficult to change course. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countrymen-starving-what-to-do-charge-farmers-with-crime-of-growing-food/421914/31 "2007-10-08T17:21:19Z")
I’ve always wondered why things went so differently in Zimbabwe and SA, post-Apartheid. They started in more or less the same place . . . ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countrymen-starving-what-to-do-charge-farmers-with-crime-of-growing-food/421914/32 "2007-10-08T17:21:28Z")
[QUOTE=brazil84] Probably Mugabe didn’t anticipate the kind of problems that would be caused by seizing the farms. But at this point, it’s difficult to change course. [/QUOTE] For Mugabe, it’s damned if you do, damned if you don’t: If he expels the white farmers, his people will stave. At this stage of the game, if he does _not_ expel the white farmers, the people will revolt. Better to have them starve than revolt, I guess. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countrymen-starving-what-to-do-charge-farmers-with-crime-of-growing-food/421914/33 "2007-10-08T17:45:51Z")
There is a huge difference between owning a farm and running a farm but not much between seizing a farm and buying the farm. ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countrymen-starving-what-to-do-charge-farmers-with-crime-of-growing-food/421914/34 "2007-10-08T17:51:01Z")
I would have thought that it’s pretty easy to run a commercial farm, but apparently not. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countrymen-starving-what-to-do-charge-farmers-with-crime-of-growing-food/421914/35 "2007-10-08T18:21:27Z")
[QUOTE=brazil84] I would have thought that it’s pretty easy to run a commercial farm, but apparently not. [/QUOTE] Are you whooshing us? I’m not aware of the issues facing a farmer in Zimbabwe, but those of which come to mind in the US include: Machinery capital investment and repairs, outbuilding maintenance, environmental regulations re pesticides, market forces on finished product, crop rotation, irrigation, and put the whole effort at the mercy of weather and pests. Turn off the reruns of Green Acres, because it ain’t that simple. What Mugabe has done is effectively fire the guys running the assembly line, and turned the factory over to the fellow who installed hubcaps. Hrm. I wonder why there are no cars coming out the door. Perhaps that’s the key to understanding the mess-beforehand, the indigenous Zimbabweans were at the bottom of the economic ladder, and the evil white farmers made profits. Now everyone is equally fucked. And hungry. ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countrymen-starving-what-to-do-charge-farmers-with-crime-of-growing-food/421914/36 "2007-10-08T18:36:12Z")
[QUOTE=danceswithcats] Are you whooshing us? I’m not aware of the issues facing a farmer in Zimbabwe, but those of which come to mind in the US include: Machinery capital investment and repairs, outbuilding maintenance, environmental regulations re pesticides, market forces on finished product, crop rotation, irrigation, and put the whole effort at the mercy of weather and pests. [/quote] Yes, I think you are right. However, Mugabe may not have thought it through that carefully. He may have focused on the claim that the whites had all the good land and figured that good land = productive. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countrymen-starving-what-to-do-charge-farmers-with-crime-of-growing-food/421914/37 "2007-10-08T19:16:57Z")
Heck, just knowing how to drive a tractor is pretty difficult. Add to that actually plowing a field, when the field needs to be plowed and when the conditions are right for that and a very common task in farming is actually quite complex. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countrymen-starving-what-to-do-charge-farmers-with-crime-of-growing-food/421914/38 "2007-10-08T20:01:26Z")
[QUOTE=brazil84] I would have thought that it’s pretty easy to run a commercial farm, but apparently not. [/QUOTE] The United States has an entire university system just for educating farmers. Modern farming is an extremely complex discipline and you have to be everything from a heavy equipment mechanic to a meteorologist to a logistics genius to make it work. Mugabe seems to think you can just plop a bunch of uneducated people who have never grown crops before on a bunch of farmland and they will be able to grow crops. It’s a little more complicated than just throwing some seeds in the ground and waiting for them to grow. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countrymen-starving-what-to-do-charge-farmers-with-crime-of-growing-food/421914/39 "2007-10-08T20:03:11Z")
Sorry, but as far as I am concerned, the entirely of Africa between the Sahara and South Africa is hopeless. And, to a large extent, they have brought it on themselves. ☹ Invading won’t do any good, except to temporarily get everyone to join together to get US out. After an invasion, the nation will just slide into more anarchy and tribalism, 'cept now they’ll blame US. ☹ Sorry, it’s just more RO. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countrymen-starving-what-to-do-charge-farmers-with-crime-of-growing-food/421914/40 "2007-10-08T22:21:36Z")
Corruption + a Head Of State who is sadly uneducated + Xenophobia = Total National Train Wreck. Which could apply to the US, too…now that I think of it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countrymen-starving-what-to-do-charge-farmers-with-crime-of-growing-food/421914.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countrymen-starving-what-to-do-charge-farmers-with-crime-of-growing-food/421914.md?page=3)