Zimbabwe Information Center in North America
A project of the North American Coalition for a Free Zimbabwe (NACFREEZ)
By Stanford G. Mukasa
Letter from America
May 7, 2007
Mugabe is, in fact, afraid of mass action
MDC
By Stanford G. Mukasa
The news coming out of Zimbabwe points to a rapidly deteriorating situation and an escalation of State- sponsored violence against unarmed civilians.
Zimbabwe has become a textbook case of everything that has gone wrong. What was once a robust and promising post- independence democracy and economy now lies in tatters. Zimbabwe is now a country of informal traders where individuals sell whatever they can to make a living. The strong central engine of economic growth and development, a tripartite structure of commercial agriculture, manufacturing and mining all of which collectively contributed the bulk of the country’s wealth has all but collapsed.
So desperate, so chaotic, so pathetic is the situation now that most middle class Zimbabweans who built their wealth on the robust economy of the formative years of Zimbabwe’s independence have been reduced to a destitute life.
It must be heart rending to read of former teachers, nurses, accountants, and even businesspeople, who are in exile and are now doing cleaning and other menial jobs in order to survive.
Ironically, many rural people have managed to survive even as their conditions deteriorate. They had built strategies for resilience right from the early days of independence because they were traditionally on the periphery of any development plans. Most post colonial regimes focused their investments in the urban areas – building prestigious structures like towering mansions and hotels, modern airports, expensive cars and imported consumer goods, all of which served , at the end of the day, mostly the interests of a few wealthy people.
The Robert Mugabe regime has now abandoned any pretence to governing in the interest of the masses. The 83-year-old geriatric Mugabe, whose father, Matibili, came from Malawi, has used all the tricks and chicanery to maintain his rule.
A self proclaimed Hitler ten-fold, Mugabe has demonstrated no intention to allow for a peaceful transition to democracy in Zimbabwe. It, therefore, should come as no surprise that Mugabe has openly and unashamedly not only loudly praised the barbaric and savage assaults on the opposition by his thugs but he has encouraged the thugs to do even more. He has also used taxpayers’ money to reward the thugs and promote them into higher ranks of the police, army and CIO.
The uncomfortable truth here is that Zimbabwean taxpayers are footing the very expensive bill of their oppression and savage assaults. This was what the British colonialists did – charging the blacks the so called hut taxes for their colonization and administration.
The severity of Mugabe’s barbarism boggles one’s mind, considering the fact that he is doing this almost unchallenged in any significant way. Mugabe has virtually reduced Zimbabwe to a situation that, quite frankly, makes the twin evils of Ian Smith’s Rhodesia and apartheid South Africa come in second place. With a few exceptions, whites who opposed either the Smith regime or apartheid were denied their rights to vote or to campaign freely. As a matter of fact, while the blacks were denied their democratic rights most whites who opposed Ian Smith and the apartheid regime enjoyed unprecedented freedoms without being savagely assaulted as is the case in Zimbabwe today.
A major question is what will it take to get Zimbabweans to participate in a civil protest? Haven’t Zimbabweans been pushed against the wall, have they not been humiliated enough, and have they not been assaulted, tortured enough to be able to react?
True, there have been protests and strikes. And at the beginning of this year it seemed like Zimbabweans would sustain a prolonged series of protests. But the early enthusiasm and show of energy has fizzled into sporadic hit and run incidents.
What is probably wearing Mugabe down is, as Sekayi Holland once put it, people’s resilience, or the fact that neither the MDC, the opposition movement nor the people of Zimbabwe have disappeared after all that harsh oppressive rule.
There is both a historical and contemporary precedence to this. The geopolitical map of the world is littered with mass protests - some violent others peaceful – that have seen masses rise and confront their oppressors. What has not been analytically and thoroughly discussed is how Zimbabweans can stage the kind of civil protest that will go a long way in reclaiming their country from the clutches of the dictator Mugabe.
Many people easily throw up their arms and argue that mass action is impossible in Zimbabwe, and that the Mugabe regime is too brutal, and willing and able to use the instruments of violence. This is a defeatist argument. It feeds and nurtures the fear factor among Zimbabweans.
There are essentially three strategies to confront Mugabe.
One is to stage a guerrilla struggle which would involve the use of guns and acts of sabotage. Another is to do nothing but sit by the rivers of Babylon and weep and prayerful hope that things will change somehow. These are two extreme positions. Neither is, for a variety of reasons, acceptable. There is, however, another strategy of peaceful protest. This strategy relies on the strength of numbers.
If people pour in literally hundreds of thousands they can overwhelm Mugabe’s police and thugs. Mugabe’s hit men are human beings who are conscious of what can happen to them in a confrontation with thousands of protesting people.
Some people will argue that it is impossible to bring thousands of Zimbabweans into the streets. But very few people have ever asked the question: What can we do to bring thousands of people into the streets for a mass demonstration. Other people will argue that attempts have been made in the past to do exactly that - but without success.
The strategy for mass protest must be placed in the context of a process, not necessarily an end itself. The process is dynamic and long-term in the sense that it is constantly being monitored and evaluated and waged over a long period of time.
A key formula for mass action is the Zimbabweans must convince Mugabe that they have the motive, the means and intention to stage mass action. Half the job has already been done for them by Mugabe’s military and intelligence chiefs who, in a leaked memo, advised Mugabe that Zimbabweans can wage a successful mass protest and overthrow him.
This means Mugabe is aware that Zimbabweans have the motive to, and can overwhelm him in mass confrontation. What Mugabe is not sure of is whether Zimbabweans have the intention to do so. Power in any form is based on convincing your enemy you have not only the motive, capacity but intention to exercise it. It may well be that Mugabe believes people are too afraid to use their power of mass action.
The role of the opposition leadership is to show Mugabe that the people have the intention to stage mass demonstrations. Discussions among the opposition leaders should focus on what went wrong with previous attempts at mass action and what new strategies or approaches can be put in place, at least, to harness this power of mass action.
Mugabe and ZANUPF may appear invincible. But they are all apprehensive that the geopolitical environment does not augur well for them. Inflation is spiraling out of control and estimated to reach 3,000 percent before the end of the year. The so-called Look East policy has not brought any radical improvements to the economy. Mugabe knows only too well that the seeds of a people’s revolution have been planted and are probably germinating right now.
It was undoubtedly against this background that the so-called factions within ZANUPF reportedly kissed and made up last week, and agreed to field Mugabe as their sole presidential candidate for the next elections.
These so called factions were aware they were all in the same predicament – they are going to face equally the consequences of their criminal acts.
It was, therefore, not in their interest to fight among each other but to cooperate, just like two criminals on the sinking Titanic would rather cooperate than fight for the loot they stole.
The keyword here is Zimbabwe is a sinking Titanic. There is no escape for the criminals. The best they can at this moment is to postpone their internal difference and fights, and to help each other out of this disaster.
There can be no better time than now for the opposition to plan their next move towards civil action against the Mugabe regime. Such plans can come in many forms.
One plan would be to mobilize regional and international support , not just from governments, but also from civil society groups. The other would be internal and involves looking at the wide variety of strategies that can be used as part of the civil disobedience campaign that would lead to mass action.
In today’s Letter from America Dr. Stan Mukasa argues for the revival of the strategy for mass action as the only effective and non violent confrontation with the increasingly brutal Mugabe regime.