Zimbabwe Information Center in North America
A project of the North American Coalition for a Free Zimbabwe (NACFREEZ)
MDC
By Stanford G. Mukasa
Letter from America
October 1, 2007
Lessons from Myanmar : Zimbabwe needs its own Buddhist monks to lead the anti-Mugabe rebellion
Zimbabwe’s dictator, Robert Mugabe’s speech at the United Nations was overshadowed by demonstrations in Myanmar, formerly Burma, where thousands of people demonstrated against the military regime.
With the exception of sycophants, no one in his or her right mind would have seen Mugabe’s speech as anything other than a desperate diatribe from a geriatric who has far outlived his relevance to Zimbabwe.
If anything, Mugabe’s speech, in which he relished with monotonous regularity on his infantile pastime of attacking the United States and Britain for everything that has gone wrong in Zimbabwe, must be seen as the last kicks of a dying horse. With the situation in Zimbabwe being what it is, this could have been the last time Mugabe appeared at the United Nations.
Mugabe’s speech at the UN was far less significant to the Zimbabwean struggle than the lessons that could be learned from the demonstrations in Myanmar where 10,000 Buddhist monks staged a spectacular demonstration against the repressive military regime.
Anyone who watched the demonstrations must have been impressed by their organization. The Buddhist monks came in their characteristic long maroon robes and some barefooted as they marched in the center of the capital city of Rangoon.
Their resilience, stubborn determination and seriousness of purpose won the Buddhist monks popular admiration and respect. By the end of the day over 100,000 people had joined the Buddhist monks.
It was estimated that for every Buddhist monk there were nine to ten protesters, many of whom formed a protective ring around or along the marching monks.
What lessons can be learned for the Zimbabwean struggle?
The Buddhist monks are regarded as the strongest political force in the opposition movement in the country. They are well organized. They have a history of demonstrations. Their Buddhist religion has taught them strict rules of self discipline and selflessness. They have no selfish ambitions because they are guided by the spiritual idealism of a virtuous life. They live a frugal lifestyle. And they have endeared themselves to their populations.
Looking at the situation in Zimbabwe the leadership in the opposition movement may occasionally demonstrate virtuous leadership qualities. One example was when MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai walked to his office in solidarity with the struggling workers, or when he and his colleagues sustained savage assaults from Mugabe’s barbaric police and thugs.
But such leadership qualities are sometimes undermined by bickering and other unnecessary quarrels that amounted to washing one’s dirty laundry in public.
The opposition leadership in Zimbabwe need not be Buddhist monks, but they certainly can and should exhibit leadership qualities that reflect a serious, organized and resolute cadre of leaders.
There is a strategic balance between good and skillful leaders, on one hand, and an equally committed followership, on the other hand.
The leadership skills demonstrated by the Buddhist monks were well compensated by members of the public who, without any prompting at all, joined in the march and swelled their ranks to an estimated 100,000 freedom fighters.
In the case of the Zimbabwean public no such dedication has been exhibited, even after numerous calls for mass action.
The latest spate of demonstrations in Myanmar was triggered by just one event - the doubling of the price of oil by the military dictatorship.
In Zimbabwe Mugabe has committed literally hundreds outrageous and provocative acts, each of them enough to trigger a spontaneous uprising. Yet Zimbabweans have remained docile.
They have on many occasions just watched like sheep while their colleagues were being assaulted by the police. They became stupefied spectators when their badly injured leaders were brought in and out of prison to the courts and paraded like common criminals. Many pictures that show a few demonstrators being assaulted by Mugabe’s police also show a very disturbing spectacle of crowds just standing and watching. No one lifted a finger to protest.
Some apologists for the inaction by Zimbabweans have argued that the people are too hungry, too oppressed and too poor to ever stage a meaningful popular demonstration.
But Myanmar is one of the poorest countries on earth. It is ruled by the military. Yet it was those impoverished and unemployed people who took courage and inspiration from the demonstrating Buddhist monks and became be part of the historic struggle.
Faced with this crisis of followership the opposition leadership can sometimes be forgiven for feeling demoralized and frustrated.
A strong leadership in the opposition movement needs dedicated followers. Without a committed mass public who can be relied upon to demonstrate when called upon to do so it will be difficult for the leadership to extract meaningful concessions from Mugabe.
Mugabe only understands the language power, influence and force. He will never regard himself as an equal to the MDC in any negotiating process because MDC has nothing to show by way of strength.
If Mugabe were convinced that MDC can mobilize thousands of Zimbabwe in a sustained protest Mugabe would be more willing and ready to give meaningful concessions. Mugabe has been told that MDC has the capability to mobilize but he has not seen any signs of that strength on the part of the MDC.
The Myanmar experience cannot, of course, be superimposed on Zimbabwe.
But there are some very valuable lessons civil society and the opposition movement in Zimbabwe can learn from Myanmar.
First, the opposition movement needs a strong dedicated leadership made up of individuals who are highly motivated to carry on the struggle through thick and thin.
Demonstrations will not always bring down a regime. Sometimes they will be effectively suppressed. But a dedicated leadership will remember, and be inspired by, the words of Amilcar Cabral, former liberation hero of the Guinea Bissau: Do not expect easy victories. Prepare for a long drawn struggle.
The opposition movement also needs a leadership who will not engage in meaningless bickering or humiliating each other in public. Public interest demands that the leadership show tolerance as well as help each other with ideas and logistics. Although the opposition movement is made up of a number of parties the leadership should not allow this division to undermine the movement. They should, instead, transform into a multiparty democratic movement whose members respect each other and share a common vision to get rid of not only Mugabe but ZANUPF from the vicious stranglehold they have on Zimbabwe.
While some people in the opposition movement may not agree with the action taken by the MDC to support the passage of the constitutional amendment No. 18 they should avoid gratuitous insults and needless attacks on each other. At this point no one in the opposition has a monopoly of, or claims to have, a strategy that is guaranteed to yield the desired results.
What will ultimately bring Mugabe down is a combination of forces, factors and strategies. This means each party in the opposition movement has a role in the struggle to end Mugabe’s reign of terror.
The next step will be to give the Zimbabweans their sovereign right to choose through free and fair elections the individual and party that will rule the post-Mugabe Zimbabwe.
Based on lessons learned from Myanmar Zimbabwe needs its own Buddhist monks. Not in the literal sense but in character. These will be a group of dedicated people who have the vision, the determination and the courage to blaze a new revolutionary path towards a real confrontation with Mugabe. This group of Buddhist monks could be civil servants, youths, women, men, school teachers, or any other social formations.
In what appears to be an endless struggle against Mugabe and ZANUPF it is very tempting for people to lose hope and give up.
What is needed are dedicated Zimbabweans who will keep the flame of the anti-Mugabe revolution burning.