We recently asked Kubatana’s SMS subscribers:

With the MDC pulling out of Friday’s vote can you suggest an alternative activity that builds hope and confidence? Let’s take back our future.

The hundreds of text messages we received in response were rich and widely varied, but fell within several main themes. Most of these were predictable – about 15% advocated for prayer, and another 15% for mass demonstrations. Another quarter hoped for intervention by SADC or the AU, and a quarter for negotiations and a transitional government.

But there was also the striking presence of a solid 15% or so advocating for an armed struggle and saying that Zimbabweans should fight back against the dictator on his own terms. While, from time to time, we get the occasional subscriber making this suggestion, in today’s responses this has a much higher prevalence.

Below is a small selection of people’s suggestions:

Prayer

• A nation that stands united in PRAYER on friday
• The only activity that can bring hope & confidence is PRAYER & never 2 lose heart coz GOD IS IN CONTROL not Mbuya Nehanda. Zimbabwe is about to rise. (Rom: 8-28)
• 1st Prayer. 2nd int’l community must help us. GOD wil judge Mgabe harshly
• Lets start with prayer of thanksgiving. As africans tinoombera tisati tagashira. So lets thank God for deliverance
• The only hope is God interving through prayer sessions nd mass education to the Pple wht politics means nd how best to choose a leader
• We must pray to God

Civil Disobedience

• Massive stay aways mo international pressure eg their children in foreign schs 2b sent bek home
• Shld do mass mobilisation against e regime
• We should go into the streets! Everywhere there should be a campaign of Mugabe must go!!
• Lets all disobey mugabe to the very end. He must retire with world record stress levels
• Let Mugabe declare one man state. There’s no democracy in this country. We have to unite & demonstrate against this tyrant. This is not his kitchen. He has to go
• Well first and foremost if what i hear is correct that Zanu intends to proceed lets boycott these sham of an elections and build morale and confidence
• One way i think is to start by completely boycotting the herald and chronicle and manica post. no shld buy or advertise in those zanu propaganda and brain-washing material
• GNU is out ö è qn. It’s betrayal ö those that lost their lives ä props in è struglge. also zanu has neva bn sincere. mass mobilisation 4 civil disobedience is one option

International Intervention

• The UN AU & SADC should agree to bring peace keepers and have run-off in August
• We need UN, AU and SADC 2 take do same election within a month
• On that day we all send email/sms messages to ff: UN/ SADC/EU/US govt/UK govt to insist they take decisive action NOW! Stuff MBEKI:-@
• The MDC shld gather as much evidence as possible abt grave cases of ZANU violence & present it to the SADC AU & UN & lobby for the ostracization of the dictator from all international issues. MDC can use fliers to communicate with the masses
• The way 4ward is 4 mdc 2 pressure SADC into 4cing mugabe 2 implement guidelines in election conduct
• The aspirations of MDC will remain intact To continue to lobby the UN until they force the regime to deploy peace keepers and to make AU see sense in our situation and come to condemn their friend Any election in future to be supervised by UN not ZEC
• I cant suggest war. Marching has failed so i think the inter community can assist even to push for stiffer sanctions a way that does not call for bloodshed

Armed Struggle

• Removing a military government requires a military rebellion. These guys claim they got into power through blood so lets remove them through blood
• We need an armed struggle to claim back our birth right
• My immediate reaction is to organise all opposition forces and get armed to liberate ourselves. It appears PF can only understand the language of the barrel
• MDC should buy their own weapons. WAR is the last solution. The gvt is taking advantage of fact that pple are afraid of MUGABE
• I rather opt 4 a war(to liberate ourselves)

Negotiation, Dialogue, Transition or a Government of National Unity

• A caretaker gvt that will level the electoral field & build pple’s confidence in the whole system
• Lets go back 2 dialogue 4 a trans gvt nd new election
• Install a transitional gvt that allows the nation to rehabilitate to repair to heal to restore justice and to hold free and fair elections within a year
• G.N.U similar to the Kenyan style. A new but more influential post shld be created for Morgan. f not then a push to the UN to address current challenges
• 1st step:MDC shld join hand in glove with NCA in support of new constitution since rule of law is tantamount & military junta is in control of this State. 2nd step:MDC MPs shld elect either Mr Tsvangirai/George Sibotshiwe as speaker of Parliament who shld be the leader of an inclusive govt with Francis Nhema deputy
• They should focus on the GNU and amendment of the constitution for elections to be held in two years time
• The alternative is to bring all progressive groups to negotiating table to try to negotiate a government which includes all
• I think a GNU between the two parties can lessen our burden or defer the poll to a later date and allow MDC to campaign in a peaceful environment

In addition, we received several suggestions for creative non-violent acts of defiance, such as:

• Fill up pot-holes, rehabilitate children’s play grounds, parks and grow lawns and flowers at homes.
• Lets all wear black on friday as a sign of saying no to violence and run off
• To give hope 2 è citizenry i suggest è people’s party comes up with a fund 2 assist è victims of è terror campaign thru medical bills, building destroyed houses etc
• Lets list and make public all companies that are backing Mugabe to boycott them eg Imago Y&R Western Union & other MTAs. Mugabe will be history shortly
• I suggest that all those voting on friday do a spoilt paper – this another way of showing MUGABE not wanted
• Passive resistance. Not buying Herald for example. Wearing black on Friday to show that we are mourning. Mass prayer
• Lets boycott gono’s blood money
• Theatre. Its e strong room of ideas hopes &dreams. Staging open air performances. Taking a stance will ignite hope. Getting Theatre 4 Dvlpment up &running
• First up we’ve all got to get rid of this whole victim mentality & get on with the business of masterin our destiny & claiming our rights

Sifting through the spam than inundates my inbox at work, I spotted this one – “Serial killer on the loose”.

Made me think that spam has gotten to be rather like google advertisements – smart enough to reflect the context of your present situation!

The magnitude of the state organised violence in Zimbabwe is mind blowing. In previous elections, zanupf did whatever it could to prevent people trying to vote. This time round they’re forcing people to go and vote for Mugabe in the presidential run-off election.

Their threats include post-election beatings of anyone ‘found’ to have stayed away or voted the ‘wrong way’. In true Mafia-style, they have threatened to beat the extended family of recalcitrant non-voters.

Long gone is any notion of a secret ballot. People are being told that they will have to report to a zanupf representative after they vote. They will be required to provide the receipt number on their ballot paper together with their national identity number. This way the ‘authorities’ will supposedly know how they voted.

The public are also being ‘informed’ by zanupf zealots that they will arbitrarily choose and beat the same number of people living near a polling station as there are votes NOT cast for Mugabe.

All very bizarre now that we know the run-off election is a one horse race.

There is indeed a serial killer on the loose.

Even the silent ants
Trampled upon by giant elephants
Do sing a silent song
They shall surely know
How to shoot
The great foot
Weighing heavily on them

~ Albert Nyathi

I received an email about an interactive discussion under the theme Feminist Currents. I quite like the concept of currents. That individuals tap into ideas, debate, and formulate expressions around various issues. In these spaces individual and collective thought processes foster intellectual growth and abilities to envision and act on long-term strategies for the redress of injustices. In Zimbabwe there are currents which desire political change – and in my mind, they are feminist currents.

The interactive discussion proposed to examine feminist currents through posing questions, including: Was Elizabeth Edwards right when she claimed her husband (democratic candidate John Edwards) was more of a feminist than Hillary Clinton? Who should Black women support: Obama or Clinton? These two questions got me thinking about what feminism is all about and why it’s often a taboo word in Zimbabwe. Seems to me the taboo-ness is a result of narrowly equating feminism to a singular (Western) line of thought only concerning (white) women. More accurately, feminisms concern men, women, and children regardless of the colour of their skin. They seek to represent a range of voices which outline affinities and differences while also attending to the sundry mixture of divergences and paradoxes to build more pliable understandings of and solutions to complex issues within the human condition. Simply put, feminisms are lines of thinking. They are expansive, inclusive, attentive to diversity, and vibrant currents aiming to advance positive change. A poem by Betty Makoni of the Girl Child Network serves as a useful reminder of what is meant by feminist currents and the ways they are visionary. The poem was published by Pambazuka and is entitled Promises, Choices, Spaces: Voices for Women. The opening stanza is as follows:

Ever seen a four every word punctuated title?
Question mark? comma, full stop. exclamation mark ! in one
Women lives full of thus
Patriarchy domineering , feminism under backlash
Women have negotiated, still negotiate, will ever negotiate
Promises promised, never premised
Spaces shrunk, voices thwarted
Seems this men’s world, makes and breaks laws
Makes and breaks promises
Women lives punctuated, back and forth

Yes, Makoni’s poem focuses on women. However, the stanza above and the piece overall articulates feminist currents which are about change as well as the ideas, hopes, dreams, and intellect pertaining to peace and equality. I made a few word changes in the poem to further emphasis the relevance feminist currents hold in Zimbabwe and the world over.

Promises, Choices, Spaces: Voices for Zimbabweans

Ever seen a four every word punctuated title?
Question mark? comma, full stop. exclamation mark! in one
Zimbabwean lives full of thus
Patronage domineering, equality under backlash
Citizens have negotiated, still negotiate, will ever negotiate
Promises promised, never premised
Spaces shrunk, voices thwarted
Seems this government’s world, makes and breaks laws
Makes and breaks promises
Too many lives punctuated, back and forth

MTV’s US university campus outreach wing is promoting the Avaaz petition on Zimbabwe. Their site includes several different advocacy videos, a piece by the Dispatch Foundation, and a series of short video interviews with Morgan Tsvangirai on questions like “What do you think young people can do to help the situation?”, “Do you believe music is a force for mobilising change?” and “Power Corrupts – how do you make sure this doesn’t happen to you if you come into power.” Have a look here.

Every effort is being directed at putting out the light . . .

MDC have been banned by the ‘ruling party’ from campaigning on local TV
People have been told to take down their satellites as they are picking up ‘outside’ news reports
wind up radios have been declared a tool of opposition
NGO’s have been banned
recharge cards are unavailable for many cell phone networks  – no ‘juice’
many land lines are down – cables stolen
Biti is still in jail
militia camps have been set up in all high density and many low density suburbs in Harare
Zanu youth roam the streets at night
forcing people to all night rallies
to join the ranks of the destruction

E’s old father left his rural home last week
threatened by Zanu youths for voting wrongly
last night he had to return
called back by the invaders to face them
‘or we will burn the whole village’
an old man held to ransom
showing such courage
his fate is still unknown

it is a dark curtain that has been pulled over the land

and yet . . .

the light still shines
in small bubbles

in the back yard of a mechanic’s garden
where they celebrate work completed on his minivan
by sitting in the back
and imagining the places they will visit
the mechanic, his wife, their 2 large dogs, the assistant mechanic, and the old sekuru who cleans the yard
all crowded into the back
imagined what they were seeing
a wonderful escape
all without moving

out of the isolation of having the home fires broken
they gather in an old woman’s small kitchen at night
a mother with her 3 children from a house in the next suburb
an old woman who has brought 2 girls in from the rural areas
a man who has his arm in plaster from a police beating in Marondera
all have walked through the fire

new found friends at a new fire
gently praying for this to end

in the circle at Kufunda
when they dedicate this time to gathering their gifts
and holding their spirit

in a suburban garden
where an activists sits – alone
at the foot of an oak tree
watching the leaves fall
listening to its wisdom

in a suburban garden where 70 young children
left behind in the invasion of their villages
are being cared for
awaiting their scattered parents return

on our veranda at night
watching the gold of the sunset through masasas
and the bush babies at the feeding tray
and the acrobatics of two joyful jack russels

and our back door in the morning
counting the new flowering of the sweet peas

from this place of such beauty and courage and grief
to a web of light out there that holds us
I wish you a golden sunset