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Where Citizenship Went to Die in Zimbabwe - By PETINA GAPPAH NYTimes.com

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If you think it can't happen here, read about Zimbabwe: "AT the Registrar General's office in this city, queues form as early as 3 in the morning...desperate people stand skin to skin... In this chaotic atmosphere, the government issues the documents that confirm the identity of Zimbabweans, and that entitle them to go to school, to drive, to get jobs, to travel and to marry, the documents that confirm that they exist.

The first circle of this hell is the birth certificate office, where mothers are asked publicly about the paternity, and often the legitimacy, of their babies. The innermost circle is Room 100, where citizenship comes to die."

"The new Constitution addresses these citizenship headaches once and for all. It states clearly that citizenship by birth cannot be taken away."

When we read somehing like this article, we Americans can grasp how fragile our democracy is
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I began teaching in 1963,; Ba and BS in Education -Brooklyn College. I have the equivalent of 2 additional Master's, mainly in Literacy Studies and Graphic Design. I was the only seventh grade teacher of English from 1990 -1999 at East Side (more...)
 

Related Topic(s): Citizenship Test; Democracy; People, Add Tags
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