Trotsky once remarked that if poverty was the cause of revolutions, there would be revolutions all the time because most people in the world were poor. What is needed to turn a million people’s grumbling discontent into a crowd on the streets is a spark to electrify them. Read more from the BBC on recurring patterns in revolutions

The more publicity the better:

When people take to the streets and the army is called out to stop them, at least two things can happen: Tunis, or Tiananmen. When the world is watching, a peaceful outcome is more likely. A threatened regime, when they think they’re immune to scrutiny, is a very dangerous thing.
- Ethan Zuckerman on the revolution in Egypt

I had exactly the same response as Penelope Chester when I read Ethan Zuckerman’s blog about the events in Gabon. I immediately Googled Gabon and found that the top stories were about football, not the political crisis in that country.

What makes the events in Egypt more compelling for media houses and news agencies around the world? Read both Penelope and Ethan to learn more about the situation in Gabon.

Ethan reminds us:

We are challenged to witness people’s struggles, whether or not they take place in countries we already know and fear. We are challenged to ensure that authoritarian regimes don’t crush dissent because they know no one is watching. Increasingly, we have the tools to pay attention to revolutionary change anywhere in the world – now we just have to live up to our responsibilities.

This just in from NANGO: The director and two researchers of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum have been taken into custody at Harare Central Police Station. They are being questioned regarding research they were conducting in Highfields about transitional justice.

Earlier today, the Youth Forum offices were raided by police, who questioned why the organisation is encouraging young people to register to vote.

Read this statement from the Youth Forum:

Youth Forum Offices Attacked, Closed

Six unidentified men, suspected to be state agents, stormed the Youth Forum Offices today demanding to know why the organization is encouraging young people to register to vote. The attack is a direct reaction to the Youth Forum’s program where it’s encouraging young people to register to vote by sending SMSs.

The suspected state agents stormed the offices and started unplugging the organisation’s computers and laptops from the main power supply violently saying they were looking for what they termed ‘Mass Communications Equipment’ that the organization is using to send SMSs to young potential voters. After realising that they could not find such equipment at the Youth Forum’s Headquarters, they became very violent and started pushing around furniture and equipment and shoving around the organization’s secretariat. They were so violent that they frightened a few of the organization’s youth members who had come to the offices with complaints that they were failing to register as voters due to a lot of bureaucracy.

The men demanded to know why the organization is sending SMSs urging young people to vote when the country’s presidents has not yet declared the date of elections. They said these SMSs are causing a lot of problems as the Registrar General’s Office is now clogged with a lot of young men and women who want to register as voters. They also insulted the organization’s national coordinator with words that cannot be spelt out in public notifications like this one. They left after grabbing some literature from the offices and threatened the Youth Forum secretariat with unspecified action if the SMSs continue to reach its targeted audience. They threatened to come back with more arsenals to ‘deal with the organization’. For the concerns of security, the offices of the organization have been temporarily closed until the situation normalises. The national coordinator has visited the offices of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights for legal advice on the matter.

The Youth Forum is currently carrying out a campaign to urge young people to go out and register as voters. The campaign consists of a number of activities that will ensure that most youths become registered voters and will cast their ballots in any election. Among the activities being carried out in the campaign includes the sending of SMSs to an average of 18,000 youths at least three times every week urging them to take their National Identification Cards and proof of residence and go to their nearest Registrar’s office and register to vote. It is these SMSs that have resulted in a lot of youths visiting the responsible offices in their droves trying to register as voters. The Youth Forum is also concerned by the number of youths who are being turned away because of lack of documentation including the death certificates of parents and grandparents. We would like to urge the registrar Generals office to reconsider certain requirements for registering as voters as these are disadvantaging a lot of youths from registering.

We would also like to categorically state that no amount of intimidation or harassment will deter the resolve of the organization from encouraging its members to register as voters. The youths shall register to vote and will vote come election time and no amount of such threats and coercion will stop the youths from voting as this is their democratic right that cannot be taken away from them. The actions by these suspected state agents should be condemned with the strongest terms possible as it only undermines the efforts by the government to democratise the country.

On her way from work one night two men approach Cecilia and say, “Happy new year”. She responds and says, “Happy new year” and continues to walk. As they pass her one guy says, “Damn girl, Santa must have left you as a late Christmas present for me”. As Nyasha walks down the street passing a bus terminus, a group of kombi touts comment about her figure, “Iri iheavy” (‘You tight’) and before she even knows it she is the centre of attraction and the men are singing, ‘mutumba asekuru!!’ These are remarks women are given in the public and most women can relate to Cecilia or Nyasha’s experiences.

Holla Back, a group that works to fight against street harassment by encouraging people to speak out against gender based harassment provides a definition of public harassment as:

“Occurs in a public space when one or more individuals (male or female) accost another individual-based on the victim’s gender-as they go about their daily life. This can include vulgar remarks, heckling, insults, innuendo, stalking, leering, fondling, indecent exposure and other forms of public humiliation. Public sexual harassment occurs on a continuum starting with words, stalking and unwanted touching, which can lead to more violent crimes like rape, assault and murder.”

Public harassment has serious adverse effects on women. Susan Griffin in her book ‘Feminism and Psychology’ discusses the ‘protection racket‘, where harassed women seek male escorts in public to protect them. In addition women associate their bodies with shame, fear and humiliation due to the lewd remarks they hear from the streets. Victims can also become suspicious of innocent gestures and hostile towards non-harassing men.

The Sunday Mail of December 12-18 2010 had a feature in their In-depth titled “Relief for Heavily Built Women“. The reporter wrote that as a heavily built woman made her way past a bus terminus in Harare she was subjected to whistles and lewd remarks. ‘Mutumba asekuru’, a derogatory slur was being used to describe her heavily built woman’s stature. Lawyers and non-governmental organizations have pointed out that calling women offensive names is a sexual offence.

Chapter 9:23 (77b) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act says that:

“Any person who knowingly or realising that there is a real risk or possibility that he or she will be heard, utters or makes use of indecent or obscene language in or near a public place, or in or near a private place within hearing of another person shall be guilty of public indecency and liable to a fine not exceeding level nine or imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months or both.”

In November of the same year a beauty queen who held the Miss Big Matofotofo pageant title had a hugely embarrassing moment in a local bar. As she entered the bar people started to sing ‘mutumba asekuru’. As if this was not enough, two young men blocked her way and fondled her buttocks. The beauty queen took the two to court in December 2010 in December 2010 and they were slapped with a US$80 fine or two months in prison. Public verbal harassment is a growing issue of concern and has multiple depressing effects on women and society at large. However very little attention is being directed towards this matter. This could be because both women and men view harassment as minor and with a tender heart. Gardner (1995) reported that many women use romanticised rhetoric in response to harassment. From this perspective women may view harassment as flattery, due to the nature of men (i.e “boys will be boys”) or as harmless.

It is interesting to note that in countries like Japan, Mexico and Brazil ‘Women Only Public Transportation‘ has been introduced to prevent the sexual harassment females face. However, I feel that such measures where there is gender segregation to try and curb harassment will not work in most situations, as it does not address the root problem. What I think is more ideal is that women should be encouraged to speak out and take their offenders to court. At the same time men should refrain from making comments about women.

South Africans help Egyptians to cry out, “Bread! Jobs! Education! Dignity! Democracy! Freedom of Expression!”

Today Friday the 4th of February 2011 at 2:40pm at the Egyptian Embassy in South Africa, COSATU, with people from organisations and groups around Gauteng will protest outside the embassy to raise their voices in support of the demands of the Egyptian people.

Read the story here