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Hope in the Face of Torture and Theft: Life of a White Farmer in Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe

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Date and Time
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Location
1st floor/Wintergarden
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Featuring
Featuring Ben Freeth, MBE, Zimbabwean Author, Farmer and Human Rights Activist; with comments by Craig Richardson, Professor of Economics, Winston-Salem State University; moderated by Marian L. Tupy, Senior Policy Analyst, Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, Cato Institute.

Ben Freeth and his father-in-law, Mike Campbell, were successful Zimbabwean farmers and model employers. The family farm, purchased after Robert Mugabe came to power in 1980, was declared of “no interest” to the government in 1999. Yet they were later evicted and savagely beaten by government thugs. Mike, who would later to die from his injuries, launched a legal battle against the Zimbabwean government. He won a landmark case in the Southern African Development Community’s regional court, the SADC Tribunal in 2008. Ben will speak about the struggles of daily life and promotion of human rights, property rights and the rule of law in contemporary Zimbabwe.